Fin scrambled to open his bag, and Giselle smirked as she bent to gather the last of her snow embers.
“I’ve been carrying this with me everywhere,” he said as he produced a black object on bended knee.
“You really never gave anyone a puck before?” Hailey brushed her fingertips against it. Oh, how she wanted that damn puck. But Asher would kill him—and her.
She pulled her hand back.
“I can’t accept this.” Her heart plummeted into her stomach. “Asher’s…” She frowned and puffed out a cloud of white breath. “I’m with Asher.”
Fin studied her right eye then her left, and he wrapped her hand around the puck. “It’s not a ring,” he said, standing. “It’s just a hockey puck.”
As Hailey pressed the puck to her chest, Giselle pointed skyward.
“Hey lovebirds,” she called, pulling out her Magnoggles, “Northern Lights.”
Lifting her gaze, Hailey gasped.
The sky was…unreal.
It was like God dunked a great feather into an ink well of pulsing iridescence and dragged it across the night. Hailey turned to Fin, eyes wide with excitement,and for the first time she noticed how bright his eyes were. Brown and bright and warm and…safe. She blinked a few times before shoving the puck in her coat pocket and pulling on her goggles.
While Fin oooh’ed and Giselle ahhh’ed, Hailey didn’t see diddly-squat and huffed loudly. “They’re beautiful, but they don’t look any different with these things at all.”
Shaking his head, Fin reached over and clicked a switch near her temple.
“It helps if you turn them on.”
“Whoa…” she breathed. “This is…it’s a slow-motion, glowing electron cloud…and they’re making shapes—is that a rose?”
Giselle answered nicely for a change. “They look different to everyone through Magnoggles. Some say you see what’s in your heart…” Her voice trailed off.
Both Hailey and Fin turned to stare at the banshee.
“What?” Giselle spat. “I’m sure it’s just bullshit.”
“What did you see?” Hailey asked her.
Giselle hesitated. “Something I’ve never seen before,” she said simply.
“You see a rose?” said Fin to Hailey with a knowing grin.
“Yeah,” she answered. “But now it’s…it kinda looks like…”
Fin—it looked like Fin. Hailey turned away.
“What do you see?” she asked him.
“Heaven,” he answered without elaborating, and the three lay in the snow and marveled at the sky for nearly an hour before Hailey shivered.
“It’s getting cold out here.” She stood when the wind picked up.
“It’s not that cold,” Fin said.
“You have a layer of man-hair keeping you warm.”
“Then your legs should be nice and toasty,” he taunted.
“I’ll have you know,” she said grabbing his arm and turning him to face her, “I actually shave…now that I have a razor…” She gave him a “so there” raise of the eyebrows, stuck her nose in the air, and pushed ahead of him on the trail.
