Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 80: Birthday

Corrie shook her head, making the pom-pom on top of her hat bounce. "No, I haven't told her about that. I let her say 'I told you so' about Paul so I wouldn't have to." She smiled weakly. "I didn't want her to know. You understand."

"Of course," Dawn said, nodding. They hadn't told most of their friends about the faeries because they were confident that knowing about them put people in more danger. Dawn hadn't been able to keep the knowledge from her aunt, but they hadn't told her parents.

"What did you tell her about Paul attacking you?" Edie asked.

"Well, I'd already told her about the spell that the Circle of the Goddess people put on him, so I explained that we were meeting him to take that off. And I told her about how he attacked us. I just didn't say anything about turning the knife into a tree root. I said I didn't know how I got knocked out, which is kind of true." Corrie glanced back at the bathroom door, but it was still shut. "I figured since the knife was found, it doesn't matter that it was different at some point. And we don't really know anything about where it came from, do we?"

"No, that's true," said Roe. "Professor Agnew hasn't gotten back to us about it yet."

"They're probably waiting to deal with it until all the magic professors are available or something like that," said Dawn. "It's a dangerous object." The bathroom door creaked open, and she quickly fished for another subject. "So I should be finding out what my hours at the library for finals week are soon." That was true; she expected an email from Emi with all the student workers' schedules any day now. "I'll send it to you guys so you can keep me company if you want."

"Sounds like fun," said Naomi with a smirk as Dawn sat down. "Studying into the wee hours of the morning, adventures wandering the stacks..."

"There'd better not be any adventures in the stacks," Dawn said. "If you knock books down, I have to re-shelve them. Besides, you don't even have any studying to do, do you?"

"I have a paper to write," Naomi said. "I can do that in the library. I will come and keep you company if I need a break from the art building."

"I don't even want to think about finals week ahead of time," said Roe. "I'll just take everything as it comes. But I'll probably be in the library a lot."

"Do any of the rest of you have jobs?" Deborah asked. "Corrie wanted to, but under the terms of her scholarship she's not supposed to get any outside money."

"I have a job at home during the holidays," said Roe. "But I'm glad I don't have to do anything during the semester other than study. I don't know how you manage it, Dawn."

"I like to keep busy," Dawn said. "I hate having unfilled time. Of course, I'm not working full time. I don't think I'd be able to do that and go to college, at least not while having a social life at the same time." She popped the end of her ice cream cone into her mouth and chewed it; it had gotten soggy with the melted ice cream that fell to the bottom of the cone.

"I'd say it can be done, but I never actually finished college," said Deborah. "I might go back someday, though."

"You should come to Chatoyant College!" Naomi said with a grin. "You can take all Corrie's classes with her and annoy her!"

Deborah laughed. "I wouldn't mind taking magic classes. But if I do go back, I'll probably go to community college—more flexibility." She stood up and crumpled her napkin. "And since you girls all seem to have finished your ice cream and can't talk about anything besides school, I should probably walk you back."

"Thanks, Mom," Corrie said, getting up and hugging her. "This was fun."

"You're welcome, sweetheart," said Deborah. Dawn thanked her, and the others did as well. Then they walked outside, waving goodbye to Kira.

The temperature had dropped even more by the time they got outside—or maybe it was just the warmth of the ice cream shop that made it seem that way. Still, the air was truly icy, and Dawn wondered if it was going to snow again. How did the faeries who lived in the woods deal with snow? Tom probably hated it. Maybe she would ask him sometime if he seemed to be in a good mood.

They showed their IDs to the gate guard to be let inside, and made it without further effort. Corrie and her mom said goodbye at the door to Gilkey, and then the students went inside. As they walked through the hallway to the stairs, Charlie, one of the RAs, came out of this room. "Hey, Corrie," he called. "Happy birthday."

Corrie turned to him, looking as confused as Dawn felt. "Uh, thanks."

"Here. These are from your dad." He held out a bouquet to Corrie. Her eyes widened, then she laughed as she took it. Dawn saw that they were silk flowers, which explained why they still looked good in December.

"Thanks," Corrie said, grinning. "I mean, tell him thanks."

"I will." Charlie grinned back. "See you later."