Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 95: Seeking

"So who would know where Leila is?" Edie asked, trying to conceal her rising panic. "Does she have any friends among the court faeries? I'm sure she's never mentioned any..."

Ever shook her head. "Not that I've ever seen. As far as I know, she doesn't have any friends at all. She's kind of like me." She grinned. "She likes playing with the humans more than spending time with the faeries."

Edie felt as though she'd been struck in the stomach. She took a half-step back. "Her human friends—the other theater lesbians. I hadn't even thought of them. Maybe they've seen her."

"Would she really tell them what she was doing without telling you?" Corrie asked.

Edie shook her head. "I doubt it. She never has before. But it's worth asking them."

"How will you find them?" Naomi asked.

"Oh, I'm sure they're at the theater now. They might be busy, though. I don't know exactly when rehearsals end." Edie hadn't paid much attention to the preparations for the campus production of A Midsummer Night's Dream since Leila had decided not to participate, but she knew the others would be there most of the time, getting ready for the show to start.

"Have you tried calling her?" Ever asked. "Some of us respond to our names better than anything else."

"We've said her name plenty of times," said Edie.

"Maybe it has to be you, or you have to call her three times," said Dawn. "I'm supposed to say Tom's name three times to call him, and he doesn't come if anyone else calls him—just me."

"And you've said Leila, right, not Yedara?" said Ever.

Edie nodded. "I guess it's worth a try." She turned to the tree and took a few steps toward it. She took a deep breath, then called, "Leila, Leila, Leila." She paused. The only sound was the wind in the trees. So she tried "Yedara, Yedara, Yedara." The name seemed strange in her mouth, but there was still no response.

She turned back to the group and shrugged. "Maybe I should head back to campus and see if the others have heard anything."

"I wonder if Tom might know," said Dawn.

"That's right," said Corrie. "He likes to watch everybody."

"What do you mean, watch?" asked Ever, her eyes wide.

"He thinks the court faeries are entertaining or something," said Corrie. "You never noticed? I know you two are friends."

"Not exactly." Ever wrinkled her nose. "Though that does explain how he knew exactly where to find me."

"Maybe he can help me," said Celao in a small voice.

Dawn looked at him, her mouth twitching slightly. "I doubt it. Maybe he'd do it as a favor to me if I really wanted him to, but I'm not sure I do. Not unless you help us."

"I could help look for Yedara," he said eagerly. "Maybe she's shopping at the market. I could go there."

"Oh, I don't think so," said Ever. "We'd never find you again."

"It might be worth a shot," said Roe. "One of us could go with him to keep an eye on him."

"I don't think anyone is safe in the market except me," said Dawn. "And maybe Ever."

"I suppose I could go there with him," said Ever. "I doubt she's there..."

"It will give you something to do," said Corrie. "I think two of us should go back to campus with Edie to find Leila's human friends, and two of us should go with Dawn to find Tom. Obviously Rico is going to be one of those. And I'm going with Edie."

Edie nodded along to Corrie's suggestions. "That seems like a good plan to me. Then we can meet back here and share whatever we've found. Corrie and I and whoever's going with us will probably be the longest."

"I'll go with you," said Naomi with a grin. "I want to meet these theater lesbians."

"Don't you have a boyfriend?" Dawn asked Naomi, but she only responded with a shrug.

"Fine," said Ever. She took Celao's arm and gave him a shake. "Maybe I can get more information out of this one while we're alone."

"Okay," said Edie. She felt her heart pounding in her chest. It was still cold out, but she'd long since gotten used to the temperature. She held her hand out to Corrie. "Let's go."

She, Corrie, and Naomi turned away from the rest of the group as Dawn, Rico, and Roe went a different direction. Edie hadn't realized how dark it had gotten, but she still knew the way back to campus. It was pretty easy, really—they just had to strike directly west.

"You didn't get lost this time," said Corrie as they reached the grass.

Edie smiled and shook her head. It still bothered her that she'd gotten lost on her way to Leila's tree. She'd never done that before, and she'd gone to Leila's tree plenty of times. "Come on. There's the theater building." She pointed toward the cluster of academic buildings in the center of campus, and they crunched through the frozen grass.