Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 51: Passing Information

Dawn scowled at Tom. She didn't think he would lie to her, but then again, he had hidden things from her in the past, and he'd never made her any guarantee that he would tell her the truth. In fact, if he thought it would protect her, he probably would lie to her. But why would he think not knowing Ever would protect her? Was he just afraid of leading them to the court faeries again? He hadn't been so nervous about it before. She tried to think of what Professor Lal had told them when asking them to contact Ever.

Corrie and Edie started to argue with him, while Naomi, Rico, and Roe looked on in bafflement. Dawn held out her arms to stop them from arguing. "Hang on, hang on. He probably knows her, he just doesn't know that name. Remember, Professor Lal always calls her 'the faerie you know as Ever'? She must have more than one name."

Edie and Corrie stopped complaining, wrinkling their brows. Tom just folded his arms and smirked. After a moment, Corrie nodded. "That's right. When we looked at those old yearbooks, she always had a different name. I don't remember any of the others, though."

"None of them are her real name, probably," Dawn said. "Okay, Tom, the faerie we're looking for pretended to be human at the beginning of the semester. She had blue hair and an oak-leaf tattoo on her chest."

He shook his head. "I don't pay that much attention to you humans. Some of the faeries who go among you tell me about it, some don't."

"What did she look like when we saw her without her glamour a while back?" Corrie asked. "She was sort of... bland. Brown hair, brown dress."

"When she agreed to join the court faeries," Dawn said, suddenly remembering. "I don't know if it was a change in glamour or what, but she turned into a sort of leafy bushy looking thing. There were leaves covering her face."

"Ah, Derwen!" said Tom. "Of course. Why didn't you say so in the first place?"

"We didn't know that name," said Roe. Dawn rolled her eyes. Of course, Tom already knew that.

Tom shrugged. "Well. Why do you need my help with her?"

"We just want you to contact her without letting the court faeries know about it," said Corrie. "You know she's living there now, right?"

"Indeed. But you seem to know a lot. Are you sure you want me to be the one to contact her?"

"It's not safe for us to get close to them, and we need to talk to her." Dawn raised her eyebrows. "Unless you want to be the one to spy on them for us, of course."

Tom raised his hands in mock surrender. "Did I say I wouldn't do it? Of course not. I am quite happy to contact Derwen. But how will you get close enough to talk to her?"

"We're hoping she'll be able to come far enough out of the woods that we won't be on the court faeries' radar," said Dawn.

Edie fished in her pockets and pulled out a small notebook and a pencil. "She can write us a note, if she wants."

"Wait, I thought we were going to try to talk to her tonight," said Roe.

Tom took the notebook and pencil. "I can bring these to her. She is fond of humans and I am sure she will be pleased to have a way of writing. Where shall she leave the note?"

"Can she get to the small grove of trees near the environmental co-op?" asked Edie. "She could stick it to a twig there. I'd be able to find it."

"I believe that should be possible," said Tom.

"If she's available to talk tonight, can you get a message to us somehow?" asked Dawn. She rubbed her hands together, feeling the cold. "We can't hang around outside all night, but maybe we can stay in the common room of our dorm and you can knock on the window. Do you know where it is?"

"I know where your dorm is and which window is yours," said Tom. "What if I threw a few pebbles at it and you came down?"

Dawn nodded, though it felt a little creepy that he knew which window was hers. "I guess that works. Just don't break the window. Um, thanks."

Tom nodded. The notebook and pencil had vanished somewhere on his person. "Is that all of the message? Derwen should contact you because you want her to spy?"

"I guess so," said Dawn, glancing at the others. "We'll have more information for her when we see her, but I didn't think you wanted the full explanation."

"No indeed," said Tom. "I am gone." He jumped up into the tree above them, and he was.

Dawn shivered. Rico put his arm around her shoulders. "Come on," he said. "Let's get back where it's warm for as long as we can."