Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 101: Magic Muffler

"Would she have to be awake or alive for the protection to still be there?" Dawn asked. "I mean, Professor Lal said that the spells on Edie would only have broken down if either Leila did it on purpose or something happened to her, so if something happened to her to make other spells end, wouldn't the tree spell work the same way?"

Ever shook her head slowly. "I'm not sure. I don't know much about dryads, really. Tom, do you know?"

"It's her tree," he called down from above. "If she was dead, the tree would die too. But the tree should hang on to spells that are cast on it, even if she's not there, because it's part of her." He swung down from the branch, clinging on just by the tips of his fingers. "At least, that's how it ought to work. I wouldn't know, not being a dryad myself." He landed, standing, on another branch, and leaned against the tree trunk with one hand.

Edie visibly brightened. "So she's definitely still alive."

Dawn's shoulders relaxed. That was good news indeed. "But she might not be here, or awake at all."

"She might not," Tom agreed. "I'd be inclined to think she wasn't here, considering I only fell out of the tree and wasn't choked by the branches or something along those lines."

Dawn raised her eyebrows at him. "You expected that, and you tried to climb it anyway?"

He grinned slyly. "Being choked can be fun."

Before any of the rest of them could respond to that, Corrie spoke hastily. "Ever, you were going to explain to us how the forgetting magic works."

"Right." Ever sighed and plopped down cross-legged on the ground. Dawn noticed she sat where she could keep one eye on Celao. The others sat more slowly.

"Okay, first of all, the magic that makes people forget faeries when they leave is the same magic that keeps people from wondering about faeries," Ever said. "The people who know about us are sort of immune to that in the first place."

"So that's why people never noticed that Professor Lal—and you—are in multiple yearbooks, looking the same every time," said Corrie. "I'd wondered about that."

Ever nodded. "It's just enough magic to keep everyone from finding out about us. The ones who know have the same motivation to keep it quiet as we do. For one thing, there could be trouble from the outside world if rumors about faeries started coming from Chatoyant College—it's already bad enough with people not believing in the magic major—and the magic also sort of muffles the presence of humans from the faeries in the woods who would like to predate on them."

"It doesn't always work as well as we'd like," said Tom.

"Right," said Ever. "But it usually works well enough. So when a faerie leaves or disappears from campus, the magic has to deal with that. Humans don't suddenly disappear—well, they have, obviously, but it's rare enough to invite comment, and that's exactly what the magic is supposed to prevent. So it makes it so they never existed at all. That way there's nothing strange about it. And of course that doesn't apply to people who are already ignored by that magic, like all of you." She gestured at the humans in front of her.

"But it doesn't happen every time a faerie goes off of campus," said Edie. "I didn't forget about Leila... well, I wouldn't, I guess, even before I knew she was a faerie. But her friends never seemed to forget about her either."

Ever shook her head. "Leila kept a magical connection to the campus at all times. It's not exactly as though there's a shadow version of the faerie on campus, but it's sort of like that; it keeps the magic aware of their presence. Anyone who wants to be a student or teacher has to learn to do that so we can go back into the woods if we want to, or even go into town with friends or something like that. So when I traded myself for Annie and went to live with the court faeries, I broke that connection, and anyone who didn't know about faeries forgot the student Ever... well, ever existed. But if you know the faerie Derwen, you'll remember the student Ever, too."

"So the connection has to be broken voluntarily?" Roe asked.

"No," said Ever. She sighed. "It can be broken by outside forces, the same as any other spell, like the ones you said were on Edie that broke. When Professor Lal turned Marlin's spell back on him and killed him, that broke his connection as well as any other magic he might have practiced. And there might still be a stone version of him on campus, but if it isn't really him anymore, no one will remember him."

"So we still don't know," said Edie. "Something still could have happened to her—someone stronger than her might have hurt her."