“Where are we going?” I asked, a sudden burst of energy making me bob up and down on my toes within the cage of Gage’s arms.
Gage chuckled, letting go of me and grabbing my hand instead. “One of my favorite spots in the city. I’ve been wanting to take you for a while now, but…” He trailed off.
He didn’t have to finish his sentence because I knew what he meant. It’s hard to take a girl on a date when you’re almost dead, then missing, then turning into a hellhound.
Watcher problems.
“Anyway,” Gage said with a shake of his head, “I think you’re really going to like it, and the best part is, it’s just you and me tonight.”
I pretended to be offended, but I’m sure the smile stretched across my face didn’t look convincing. “What, do you mean to tell me you don’t enjoy the company of my friends and family?”
“Oh no, I’m a fan of both.” He looked down at me and squeezed my hand. “I’m just a bigger fan ofyou.”
Gah.So cheesy, but I was still melting inside.
But that was the magic that was Gage. In that moment I somehow went from feeling the crushing weight of pressure from all the responsibility that had been placed on my shoulders, to this lightheartedness.
“Let’s go,” he said as he tugged me toward the door.
I froze. “Right now? I need to get ready.”
Gage looked me up and down, a confused look on his face. “You look great as usual.”
I yanked my hand out of his and ran into the bathroom. “Give me five minutes!”
Ten minutes later my hair was pulled in a loose braid over one shoulder and my lips were kissed with bright cherry red gloss. I moved my hands down the tight spandex of the black miniskirt dress I’d borrowed from Drea and watched as Gage’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.
“Worth the wait?” I gave him a sheepish smile.
“You have no idea.” He grinned and then pulled me down the hall, out of the dorms and into the warm New York summer night.
Rather than taking the subway or a rideshare, Gage and I walked through the streets hand in hand, just enjoying our time together. In the summer, the days were longer, so even though it was nearly eight p.m., the sky was still a blush shade of pink and the air a perfect warm breeze.
We kept the conversation light as we strolled. It wasn’t that I was avoiding telling Gage about my sister, but rather I was soaking up this unspoiled moment with him. We hadn’t had enough of these, and my news of my sister could wait a little longer.
Gage pointed out different parts of the city that held memories for him as we strolled: an alley wall he’d graffitied as a teen, a club where he defended his first portal; an ice cream store his mom took him to on one of their visits before she died. Most of my memories were over the water in Brooklyn, but there were a few places we passed that held meaning to me as well. We lived so close to each other for the better part of the last decade, but we might as well have been worlds apart.
Finally, we stopped in front of a restaurant with a green awning that read “Luigi’s.” I smiled up at Gage. “Italian?”
“Yeah, I think you’re going to love it.” He squeezed my hand and tugged me forward into the restaurant.
It wasn’t a huge place, but certainly not small for Manhattan standards. At least a dozen tables with red and white checkered tablecloths dotted the restaurant. Small brass chandeliers hung from the ceiling above each table along the sides, and a larger more ornate one above the middle of the room.
To my surprise, the middle-aged man behind the hostess stand recognized Gage, smiling broadly when he caught sight of him and asking where Gage had been for the last couple of months. Gage lifted a brow and tipped his head in my direction as way of explanation, and then chuckled along with the man when he said, “I see.”
After exchanging pleasantries, we were seated at a booth in the back corner that was notched into the wall. The placement afforded us some privacy, but still gave us a partial view of the rest of the restaurant. Gage slid into the bench seat next to me and handed me a menu. The overhead light glistened on the bracelet he wore, but I pretended not to notice as the waitress dropped off waters.
Gage had spent the first few days after he’d returned from the Netherworld in an apartment across the street from the Lumen Compound because he couldn’t move through the wards unencumbered. Now that he was a fully shifted hellhound, the wards treated him like they would any other demon, preventing him from reentering the compound once he left.
Aurelia and the other master Lumens had looked for a relic that could stop Gage’s shifting and suppress his powers, to no avail. Thankfully, the bracelets like my mom and Indigo wore had worked on Gage to cloak his power and allow him through the wards too, but they weren’t powerful enough to keep him from shifting.
With Arthur gone, we all felt it was safer now for Gage to move about the city as he wished, but unlike my mother and Indigo’s bracelets, Aurelia attached a GPS locator to Gage’s, which I know he didn’t like. He’d kept his mouth shut about it just the same. I was thankful they’d found something that allowed him to remain with us at the Lumen Compound, but I could only imagine the tracking ability made Gage feel like a criminal at times.
Forcing a smile, I picked up the plastic covered menu and scanned the entrees. “What do you suggest?” I asked as I glanced over at Gage.
He leaned toward me with an easy smile of his own. “There’s one thing this place is really known for,” he said, and then tapped one of the items on the sheet in front of me.
Bacon lasagna!I think my head just exploded.
