Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 64: Breakfast

Edie and Dawn waited in Edie and Corrie's room, reading, while they waited for Corrie to get out of the shower. They didn't have to wait long; once Corrie was dry and dressed, they left again and knocked on the doors of their friends. However, none of them responded—except Salome, Annie's roommate, who reported that Annie was asleep and seemed very disappointed not to be able to say the same for herself—so the three of them went off to breakfast alone. It was kind of nice, Edie thought; not that she didn't love her other friends, but Corrie and Dawn were her best friends, and she didn't get much time alone with them anymore.

For the first few minutes after they'd gotten their food, they were all quiet, too hungry to talk. After Edie had eaten her first three pancakes, though, Dawn broke the silence. "So that was a pretty intense morning."

Edie nodded. "I'd be happy if nothing like that ever happened again."

"Me, too." Corrie sighed. "I had no idea things were so complicated over there. It sounds like we changed everything for them."

"Was it really us?" Edie asked.

"We're part of it," said Dawn. "Mardalan would never have been attacked if she hadn't been going after Leila. I guess she could have done it without you, but Leila might not have gotten so angry if she hadn't had you."

Edie nodded, her stomach twisting. She didn't like to think about that time—her memories of it were far too fuzzy. "But Mardalan would probably still have tried to get Leila back. I think it's the... their politics that are screwy. It's not us."

"We did mess with them, though," Corrie pointed out. "Right at the beginning of the year."

"I don't know if that has to do with anything," said Edie. "Except that it means that Ever is back with them."

"Who knows?" said Dawn. "We could have started a chain reaction. But there's no point in worrying about it, since we can't do anything about it now. Let's worry about weirder things. Like our friends who go running even after being woken up at five AM for emergencies and climbing trees."

Edie and Corrie both laughed, but Corrie shook her head. "I did a shortened run, since it was already late and I figured I'd be too tired for a full one, but I still feel itchy. Like I didn't do enough." She yawned. "I am actually pretty tired, though, so it was probably good. I'll just have to drink some coffee."

"Me, too," said Edie. She wrinkled her nose. "Or maybe tea. I hate coffee."

"Put a lot of cream and sugar in it and you can't tell," said Dawn. "I wish there was someplace on campus to get a decent latte."

"Doesn't the coffee cart in the humanities building have an espresso machine?" Corrie asked.

"Decent latte. Emphasis on decent," said Dawn, and they all laughed.

"Seriously, though," Edie said, leaning forward over the table. "Do you think there's anything we can do? I'm a little worried about Leila."

"Really?" Corrie turned to her with a frown. "I thought she could take care of herself."

Edie shook her head. "She's so tired. The winter is taking a toll on her, and it's barely started. But she's still going to keep an eye out."

"What did she say?" asked Dawn.

"She'll protect Ever if Ever gets in trouble," said Edie. "Which is kind of a relief on the one hand, but on the other hand... I don't want either of them to get in trouble." She frowned.

"Was that all?" Dawn asked.

"She said something..." Edie pushed around a piece of pancake, soaking up all the thin syrup left on her plate. "She wondered about something, but wouldn't tell me what it was. I tried to get it out of her, but she just said it wasn't my business." She grimaced. "I guess that's not all that unusual for Leila."

"Do you think she was lying and it is something to do with you?" asked Corrie.

"Oh, no, nothing like that! But... she said Mardalan wouldn't be as interested in her if it weren't for me. And that we had interesting ideas. Maybe she's going to do something like we would do? But I don't know what that might be."

Dawn sighed. "I have to get to class. Can we pick a time to go talk to Professor Lal today, and tell her what Ever said about sending her notes? And Edie, you can tell her what Leila said."

"Sure," said Corrie. "I'm free between one and two, or after four."

"After four sounds good to me," said Edie. "Though I don't know if I should tell Professor Lal. Leila didn't really say anything useful."

"If it bothers you, you should tell her," said Dawn. "Let's meet at the magic building around four-thirty. Let the others know if you see them. Okay?"

"Okay," said Edie. Then she saw Annie coming and waved her over. They could fill her in on everything right now.