“I know,” I said in a softer voice. “But you did anyway.”
He looked at Katia, who had left Vance behind and was heading toward the trees by herself. “Maybe I should go after her. Try to explain.”
Poppy shook her head. “Maybe later . . . a whole lot later. Right now, she probably wants to be alone. I would.”
Felix stared at the trees where Katia had disappeared. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
Devon put his hand on Felix’s shoulder. “Let’s go play volleyball or something. Give Katia some time to cool off. I’m sure she’ll come around in a day or two. She might even find someone else that she likes before she leaves town. Vance certainly seems interested in her.”
“Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
Felix stared at the trees a few seconds longer before he let Devon steer him away from the picnic table.
Despite the awkwardness with Katia, the four of us went down to the beach, grabbed a volleyball and an open net, and started a friendly game, with Devon and Felix facing off against Poppy and me.
I leaped up into the air to get the ball that Devon had tried to hit over me, then spiked it back over the net. Felix dove for the ball, but all he got for his trouble was a mouthful of sand.
“Ha!” I said, pumping my fist. “Match point! We win!”
Poppy and I grinned and high-fived each other. Okay, okay, so maybe the game wasn’t entirely friendly. Or maybe I was just that competitive. Yeah, it was definitely that last one.
Felix got up and dusted the white sand off his khaki cargo shorts. “Did you have to spike the ball right in my face?”
“Nope,” I replied. “That was just an added bonus.”
He gave me a sour look, but we all laughed, including Felix.
By the time we finished our second match, which Poppy and I also won, it was after eight, and the sun had started to sink behind the mountains. Pixies zipped along the sand, building bonfires on the beach, and the orange-red flames flickered up into the twilight sky, chasing away the worst of the shadows.
When the pixies were done with the fires, they zipped along the beach a second time, passing out chocolate bars, along with marshmallows and graham crackers so we could all make s’mores. Devon grabbed a couple of metal skewers and threaded marshmallows onto them, while Felix stacked chocolate bars and graham crackers together.
“Not too brown,” Poppy said. “I want to taste the marshmallow, not burned goo.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Devon said, saluting her with the skewer of marshmallows. “Some lightly toasted marshmallows, coming up.”
He held the marshmallows over the fire for a few seconds, and then we all stuffed ourselves with s’mores. Crispy graham crackers, melting chocolate, sticky marshmallows. So good.
Poppy drifted off to talk to some other folks she knew, and Felix tagged along with her. That left Devon and me alone in front of the bonfire. Even though it had been in the eighties today, it was cool down here by the lake, now that the sun had fully set, and I found myself shivering.
“Here,” Devon murmured. “Maybe this will help.”
He reached into his duffel bag, pulled out his black cloak, and draped it over my shoulders. I wrapped the cloak around my body, while Devon sat down in the sand beside me.
We didn’t talk for several minutes, just enjoying the crackle-crackle of the fire, the steady, soothing, splash-splash-splash of the lake against the shore, and the distant murmurs of music and conversation that floated up and down the beach.
Devon reached up and slid his arm around my shoulder. Startled, I looked at him.
“You’re not the only one who’s cold,” he said, grinning.
“Oh. Right.”
I lifted up the cloak, and he slid in next to me, the warmth of his body soaking into my own and driving away the chill. I breathed in, and his crisp, pine scent filled my nose, even stronger than the trees around us. We stayed like that for a while, my body tense and rigid, Devon’s totally relaxed.
I don’t know when exactly it happened, but I slowly started to relax too. Devon scooted a little closer to me. I turned to look at him and realized just how close he was. I tried to duck my head, but I was too slow, and my eyes locked with his. My soulsight kicked in, letting me see just how much he cared about me, letting me feel just how intense that spark was deep down inside his heart, the one that flared a little hotter and brighter every time he looked at me.
The care, the feeling, the spark—it all terrified me.
Because I felt the exact same way about him.
We’d had this connection, this warmth, these feelings between us ever since I’d come to work for the Family, and with each passing day, they got harder and harder to ignore, no matter how much I tried.