Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 104: Finder

Corrie led them to the hall where the magic professors' offices were. It was dark, with no light showing through any of the doors. They must have all gone home, or wherever it was the faeries went at night. They walked to the end of the hall, and Corrie knocked confidently on the door.

"Are you sure she's there?" Edie asked softly.

"She's always been there before," Dawn said. "Even when all the other magic professors are gone. I think she lives there."

It didn't take long for the little old faerie woman to open the door. She was as naked as always, and Edie and Rico both widened their eyes and turned away. Edie turned back after a moment. The faerie woman was smiling and peering up at Corrie. "Hello again," she said in her oddly accented voice. "I thought you weren't supposed to come back."

Corrie smiled back at her. Dawn thought it looked slightly strained, but friendly enough. "I don't know if we are. But no one has told us not to, and you've been so helpful in the past, we thought we'd ask for your help again."

The faerie woman's smile widened. "How sweet of you to think of me. Do you want me to find your friend again?"

"No, she's right here." Corrie gestured at Edie, who squirmed a little. "We actually want you to find a different friend of ours. We know her as Leila, but we've also heard her called Yedara. She's a dryad."

"A dryad at the school?" the old woman said, her smile fading a little and her voice quivering.

"She's not at the school right now," said Edie. "At least, we don't think so. But if you could check for us, that would be really helpful. Do you need any more information about her?"

"No," said the faerie woman. "That is enough. But I don't think there are any dryads at this school."

Dawn's stomach clenched. What did that mean? It might just mean that Leila wasn't on campus, which they already knew. "Were there ever dryads at this school?" she asked.

The faerie woman turned to her, still squinting, her lips pursed. "No dryads," she said. "Not on the campus."

"But—" started Edie.

The faerie woman had started shaking her head slowly, swinging it from side to side like a cow. Corrie held up her hand to stop the questions. "It's all right. Just look for her for us, please?"

The old faerie's expression cleared and she nodded. "I won't be long. Wait out here." She stepped back into the room and closed the door.

"What did she mean?" Edie asked, turning to Corrie.

"I don't know," said Corrie. "But didn't you see how upset she was getting? I don't think she understood our questions. Or at least she didn't understand why we didn't accept her answers. Maybe there's some rule against dryads being on campus, though if that's so, I would think Leila would have known about it, or at least Professor Lal."

"I think it's a time thing," said Dawn. "She got really confused when I asked if there were ever dryads. I don't know if she understands time the same way we do. Maybe if there are no dryads on campus right now, that's the only thing that's relevant to her. They might be here in the past and the future, but she can't find through time."

"She understands the passage of time," said Corrie. "She knew we'd been to see her before. Other than the first time we asked her for help, she's always commented on us coming back."

"No, that makes sense," said Roe. "She doesn't have to find us. We come to her. That she might view linearly, but when she's finding things she can only look at the present moment. Remember when she said there were pieces of Edie in the orchard? She didn't say that Edie had been there, only that some of her was there."

"Pieces of me?" Edie asked. "I left pieces behind when I healed the trees? I wonder if they're still there..."

"Maybe we could ask her," said Dawn, but at that moment the door opened again. The faerie woman looked calm and pleased, and Dawn's chest relaxed. "You found her?" How could that be? Had Leila returned to campus in between Edie talking to her friends and now?

"Yes," said the faerie woman. "Not on campus. She is in another place."

Edie gasped. Corrie said, "I thought you could only find things that are on campus."

"In this world, I can only look on the campus," she said. "In the other worlds, I can look. The dryad Yedara is in Faerie."

"In Faerie?" Dawn said, astonished. "It's... it's a place?" She'd read about Faerie existing in books, of course, but since all of the campus faeries seemed to live in the natural world, she'd assumed it wasn't real.

"How do we get to her there?" Edie asked quickly.

"You can't," said a familiar, gravelly voice. Dawn spun to see Professor Lal leaning against a wall with her arms crossed, looking at them. How long had she been there? "You cannot go to Faerie."