Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 54: Tense Waiting

Dawn watched with mild interest as Roe flipped over a few of the cards and moved them around with the tip of one finger. One of them was the Eclipse card, but she didn't immediately recognize any of the others—Minor Arcana, she decided, from what she could see of them upside-down. Then Roe abruptly gathered them up and pushed them back into the box. "I'd better not get any soup on them."

Dawn laughed. "Definitely not." Despite her anxiety, she ate quickly, as did the others around her. She must have been hungrier than she thought. She kept glancing toward the window, though she didn't even hear anything now. Tom might be out there any minute to call them down.

"So, er," she said at last, wanting to break the silence, "has anyone done anything interesting in the last hour or so?"

"Edie, Roe and I were trying to figure out what might be on Professor Lal's final," said Corrie. "Do you think there will be anything about the tarot?"

"There will have to be, I think. Didn't she say something about it?"

"She said there wouldn't be much detailed knowledge," said Corrie, nodding. "But of all the things we've studied in the second half of the semester, I would think the tarot would be easiest to test. And her midterm was tricky."

"Maybe it will be more of a practical." Dawn scraped out the last bits of vegetable and noodle from the bottom of her bowl of soup. "Though I don't know why she'd want to test us on our elemental or trance magic. She's seen us do it all already."

"She has to give a final exam," said Edie. "There's a regulation about it. All classes have to have either a final paper or exam, and everyone has to schedule a time for it. So there will be something."

"Professor Rook told us he expects us to practice our elemental and trance magic throughout the month," said Rico. "So he'll probably be looking for improvement when it comes to the exam. Maybe Professor Lal is the same way."

"True," said Dawn. "I don't think any of us need to worry about the exam, though."

"Good point," said Corrie. "If nothing else, she's seen us in action."

They lapsed into silence again. Dawn and Rico shared a bowl of tomato soup—Rico had most of it, but Dawn was hungry enough to need more than just the one bowl. Finally, Naomi spoke. "What do you think is taking Tom so long?"

Dawn shook her head miserably. She had no idea, and she was trying not to think about it. "He probably has to be sneaky," said Corrie after a moment. "If Ever is doing stuff for the court faeries, he can't just walk in there. Maybe he has to wait for the right moment."

"She might not be available to talk tonight after all," said Edie. "Maybe she's left us a note and we'll see it tomorrow. Roe's vision didn't say it would necessarily be tonight, did it?"

"No," said Roe. "We couldn't figure out any indication of what time it was, except that it was pretty dark, so it must have been at night."

"But maybe the red tree you saw was really a sunset," said Edie. "If that's true, then it would be too late tonight for the vision to come true."

Roe frowned and turned the box of Tarot cards over. The Eclipse card was displayed on the side that was now facing up. "I guess that's possible."

Dawn sighed and rubbed at the window, which was lightly fogged from the cold outside, with her elbow. "I wish we'd come up with some way for Tom to tell us if Ever can't talk tonight. Or a time limit or something. I don't know if he knows how much sleep humans need."

"Why don't some of us go down and check the orchard?" said Edie. "If there's a note there, we can bring it back up and stop waiting."

"That's a good idea," said Corrie. "I don't like just sitting around."

"I guess I'd better stay here," said Dawn. "If you guys see something, call me, but if Tom gives me his signal, we can go find you at the orchard. Do you have a flashlight?"

"I have one in my room," said Edie. "That would make it easier to find each other."

"I'll go too," said Naomi, standing up.

"Just a second," said Dawn. She got up and fished around in her purse until she found a dollar bill, which she held out to Naomi. "If there's nothing there, get me a candy bar or something from the vending machine on the way back."

Naomi grinned and stuck the dollar in her pocket. "Good plan." She grabbed her coat, and she, Corrie, and Edie left.