Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 71: Puzzling It Out

Dawn reeled—not literally, because Rico still had his arm around her, but mentally. She stared at Tom in astonishment, though she didn't really have any trouble processing his words. "Who is it?" she finally managed to ask.

"Her name is Siffyd," Tom said with a shrug. "I do not know what she calls herself to humans."

Edie was staring, too. "How could there be a faerie working at the library without Dawn knowing about it?"

"I didn't know she didn't know." Tom shook his head. "They must be cleverer than we thought. Unless, of course, it is a complete accident that you have never seen her."

"That seems unlikely," said Dawn. She frowned. "But couldn't she be a faerie like you or Leila, who mostly looks like a human? Maybe she had her ears or whatever covered up, and I just didn't notice." She started mentally going through a catalog of other workers at the library. It couldn't be Emi, it obviously wasn't John or Alex, maybe Magnolia...

"No, no," said Tom. "She's a faun. She's very short and has enormous horns growing out of her head." He gestured above his own head, presumably indicating how the horns grew. "You would notice her."

Dawn was still going through her catalog of other workers. Then she hit on it. "Sarah!"

"So you have seen her?" Edie asked.

Dawn shook her head. "That's the thing. Emi referred to her on the phone... when we were talking about the book, actually. I can't remember whether Emi said she was the one who brought in the donated books, but it might be. I remember thinking it was odd that Emi was talking about someone named Sarah as though I should know her, when I didn't."

"There you have it," said Tom. He sighed. "I suppose you'll want my help again."

"Don't you want to help?" Dawn asked, raising her eyebrows.

He shrugged but didn't otherwise respond. Dawn said, "Actually, I don't know what to have you do, if anything. But this is probably a piece of the puzzle, so thank you." Her mind was trying to run in several different directions at once. She forced it back to the path of Tom, and what he could do. He could get in touch with Ever for them... "Actually, do you know if Ever knows Sarah—um, Siffyd?"

"I do not know. But I can ask."

"That would be great. We're going to have to track down Sarah, and probably talk to Professor Lal and tell her that there's a student involved." She sighed and leaned her head against Rico's shoulder. "This probably does mean that they were targeting me directly, if Sarah knows who I am and what my shift at the library is."

"You mean with the book, not with the knife?" Tom asked.

"Yes. Well, both, apparently. I don't get it, though." She clenched her fist, remembering how it had felt to do trance magic. "The problems with the magic didn't hurt me—well, they made me tired, but that was all. They mostly affected the magic on campus. But the knife affected me, and me only. My Sight doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the campus."

"Maybe that's the point," said Edie. "They wanted to mess up the campus magic, but you were getting in the way with your Sight."

"My Sight didn't have anything to do with us figuring out what was wrong with the book, though."

"Maybe it was me," Edie said softly.

That made Dawn look directly at her. Edie was hugging herself, and Dawn didn't think it was just because of the cold. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe the book was given to you just because you're friends with me. It would make more sense for me to use it than you, wouldn't it? I'm the one who would want to learn magic on my own, since I'm not taking magic class."

"But why would anyone want to target you with a bad book on magic?" Rico asked her.

"Your magic is weird," said Dawn. "Corrie and I have both noticed it."

"What do you mean?" Edie asked.

"It looks funny. When we go into trance, you know, and can see other people's magic? Yours looks different. More like Professor Lal's."

Edie's eyes were round. "What does that mean?"

"I have no idea," Dawn admitted. "But maybe if you'd used the bad trance magic advice, you would have messed up either yourself or the campus worse than I did. Maybe it does have more to do with the attack on Leila's trees than with the book."

"Should we go talk to Professor Lal?" Edie asked. "Tell her about Sarah and... everything?"

Dawn yawned. "I think it can wait until tomorrow. Corrie, Roe, and I will see her for magic class anyway. I'll just have to keep clear of the library. Tom, do you—"

But he had disappeared—gone sometime while they were talking, Dawn assumed. She sighed. Well, she knew how to get hold of him if she really needed to.