Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 76: Friday Fuddlement

When Dawn had finished photocopying all of the pages, Miss Pettifer directed her where to set out the study tips; the sheet on sexual health would be sent over to the administration building later. Dawn wasn't sure why the administration building was any more of an appropriate place than the library, but she did as she was told. She supposed there was a nurse's station there, though of course none of her friends had ever had any reason to go there—they either came out fine or went to the hospital, it seemed.

She'd just finished stacking the papers when she saw Edie beckoning to her. After glancing at Emi to make sure she wasn't needed for something urgently, she hurried over to her friend. "What's up?" she whispered.

"Just thought I should tell you that Roe is upstairs," Edie whispered back. "So she'll be around if you go back up there."

There were more returns on the cart, so Dawn probably would be up there. And she was glad that Roe hadn't forgotten, even though she didn't think there was any need to have her friends keep an eye on her. "Thanks," she whispered back.

There was nothing else interesting for the rest of her shift; she just shelved books, both from the cart and from the tables where people had left them out, and occasionally waved at her friends. By the end of her shift Annie had also arrived at the library, and they all decided to get dinner together.

Dawn explained to everyone—including Corrie and Rico, who had also joined them after they'd called and told them they were having dinner—what she'd learned about Sarah that day. "So one of us is going to have to go in on a Friday afternoon," she said. "Probably not me—or at least not me by myself." She'd accepted her friends' desire to keep her protected.

"A couple of us should go, but not too many," said Corrie. "I mean, we just want to check her out, right? Make sure she is who we think she is. And talk to her without tipping our hand."

"If the book was put there for you guys specifically, it probably shouldn't be Corrie or Edie, either," said Annie. "And maybe it would be safest if it was me and Rico. She's least likely to know us."

"If she's been paying attention to me, she knows Rico is my boyfriend," said Dawn. "And that you guys are my friends."

"We have to hope that she's not paying that much attention to you, or we'll never be able to be sneaky," said Roe. "Anyway, don't you think you would have noticed if she was following you around?"

"If she was, yeah, but we're looking for who her friends are. Maybe she has a friend who's really good at sneaking." Or invisible. Could faeries be naturally invisible, or would it have to be glamour? They would have to ask Professor Lal, though Dawn doubted that there was anything faeries couldn't be.

"You shouldn't go look for her until after our Friday magic class, anyway," said Corrie. "Professor Lal said she would ask around about Siffyd, so we might have more information by then."

"Did they say she only works on Fridays?" asked Edie.

"I don't think either Emi or Miss Pettifer said specifically that she only works on Fridays," said Dawn. "But it sounded like it. Why?"

"Well, she couldn't have just brought in the books on her shift and left them there until someone found them, right?" Edie asked. "Because the library is open on Saturdays, but you don't work until Sundays."

"I think the books went through the donation box," Dawn said. "I mean, they weren't just sitting around somewhere until someone picked them up."

"But she couldn't have counted on you being the one to pick them up, could she?" Edie said.

Dawn shook her head. "No, she probably couldn't. Not without doing something more specific." She frowned again. "And you know, I remembered Sarah because she'd interrupted Emi when I called. But that wasn't a Friday. I can't remember which day it was, but it was definitely not a magic class day. So she must hang around more often or something."

"Or she interrupted her with magic," said Corrie. "We don't really know what she can do."

"No, we don't," said Dawn. "Which is why I'm really hoping that Professor Lal will find something out about her, because I don't want any of us to have to deal with her when we don't know anything. Oh... none of you saw anything odd at the library, I take it?"

"Nope," said Roe. "Unless you want to hear some of the graffiti I read on the study desks."

Corrie laughed. "People are so dirty."

"Disrespectful of library property," Dawn said, shaking her head and grinning.

"Better the desks than the books," said Edie. Dawn couldn't argue with that.