"So… you finally started that band," Ace commented when they were far enough away from the gala.

"Yeah," Coda said, extending his hand to help her hop down a steep stone bridge in the garden. "The guys are great. A little dorky, but that's why they joined in the first place."

"What do you mean?"

Coda sighed and took a second before replying, "They dropped out of Red Fountain with me."

"You dropped out of Red Fountain?"

He gave a derisive laugh before saying, "Yeah, it cost Mom a lot of money to keep that out of the news."

Ace was quiet as they walked around the side of the school. Looking over at Coda, she admired the way his profile cut a smooth line through the moon, which hung elegantly behind his head. She tried not to visibly swoon, but she was starting to understand why Orlando acts so stupid around Delta.

"Why?"

"It just wasn't a good fit, y'know?" he began. "I was never meant to be a hero, not that my dad ever cared."

Ace recognized the bitterness in his voice. She probed with more questions, hoping to get a happy answer out of him, but every reply grew more and more bitter.

"How did your family take it?"

He let out a huff. "Ha. I don't really want to talk about them. I haven't even talked to them in a year."

"Oh. Well… what about Piper?"

"What about her?"

"I mean," Ace paused and thought about what it would be like to go a whole year without speaking to Ena or Beti, "she's your sister."

"My dad is just insufferable. I couldn't stay there anymore," he explained, picking at the frays of his jackets. "I don't want to be a part of that family."

"How is any of that your little sister's fault?"

Coda didn't say anything.

"Come on, I want to get away from here," Ace said, pulling him by the lapel of his jacket towards the main road outside of the school.

He laughed again and smiled down at her, following obediently. She looked over her shoulder to see him watching her with a pensive look on his face.

"What?"

"Nothing."

She blushed again.

They walked down the main road between Alfea and Red Fountain for what felt like ages, talking about trivialities like his music and her photography. He was the first person to ever ask to see her photos, so she promised to show him someday.

"Coda?"

"Hmm?"

Ace looked up at the boy with whom she had spent most of her night. He held her white pumps in one hand and the other was still holding her hand. His violet eyes were trained on the night sky as he thought another beautiful thought, she was sure. She wanted to know all his thoughts and curl up in his mind forever. She wondered if this was what adults meant when they talked about teenage fever.

"You should join my team."

He paused. She looked down at the hem of her mint green skirt, now a dirty jade from being dragged along the road.

"Like… as your hero?"

"Yeah."

He bit his lip regretfully when he said, "Acacia, you know I'm a musician, not a hero."

"I know, but... I don't have one and I really like you and-"

She cut herself off before she could embarrass herself anymore. Ace clenched her small fingers in the silk of her dress and contemplated begging the earth to swallow her whole. She stopped that train of thought, though, when she realized that as a harvest fairy, the earth would probably literally obey.

"I like you too."

She looked up at him with a cautious smile as her cheeks burned pink. He scratched the back of his neck and tried to look anywhere else.

"I'm just not the hero type."

She couldn't even feel dejected after his admission. Her smile was threatening to tear her face in two.

"Just… think about it," she suggested. "We're leaving on a mission Wednesday at noon. If you don't show…" She shrugged nonchalantly and his eyes tracked her bare shoulders. "I'll know your answer."

His mouth opened and closed a few times before he finally just nodded. When she stumbled back into the dorm, pink-cheeked and starry-eyed, she didn't even care what her friends had to say about the gala getting wrecked by rogue ghosts, or an epic battle, or anything other than the way that boy had looked at her.

She got the scoop next morning, though. Apparently, it was insane.

Love, Ru