Chatoyant College Book 2: Initiates

Chapter 8: On Our Side

"I guess you better keep your eye out for more faeries, Dawn," Edie said.

"I will," she said thoughtfully. "Though I think it depends on how good their glamours are--I couldn't see through Ever's, at least not consistently."

"It might be good to make a list or something," Lorelei said. "It would be harder to write down students if you don't know who they are, but I guess you could just put descriptions..."

"You're really worried about this, aren't you?" Corrie asked.

"Of course! Faeries are dangerous. If they're trying to infiltrate the campus, who knows what they could be up to?"

"Calm down," said Edie. She could hear Lorelei's breathing becoming more labored, and that worried her. "Just breathe. And, uh, try not to say anything more about faeries."

Lorelei nodded, taking a deep, gulping breath. Dawn looked at her with concern, but said, "I'm worried too, but I don't think they're planning anything. Professor Lal said there's an agreement that faeries can't harm students. That makes sense, since the queen in the woods--or whoever she was--looked like she was about to kill me but then the leaf creature reminded her about the agreement."

Lorelei coughed. "This doesn't count as harm?" Her voice was strained.

Dawn shook her head, her brow wrinkling. "I guess not. She said kidnapping Annie didn't count, either."

"Creepy as that is, I don't think faeries are capable of thinking the same way as humans," said Corrie. "Though I'd really like to see the text of that agreement, if it's written down."

"Me too," Edie said. She had a feeling it wasn't, though.

"Oh, I'm not saying you're wrong," said Dawn. "I completely agree. I just get the feeling that Professor Lal is on our side, if anyone is."

Lorelei nodded slowly. Her breathing had calmed down. "I was really surprised to hear what you said about Professor Marie--she's really popular and I like her a lot. So maybe she's different from... the others."

"I hope so," said Dawn. She looked up at the clock on the wall. "I have to get to class. Do you guys want to meet for dinner later?"

"Sure," said Corrie. "I have class in half an hour, but we can go when I get back."

"Works for me," said Dawn, picking up her bag. "See you later."

"I should go, too," said Lorelei. "I missed a couple of classes while I was in the hospital so I've got to track down the teachers, explain, and get the syllabuses."

"Good luck," Edie said as they left.

"So how were your classes, Edie?" Corrie asked, closing the window with all the pictures of professors.

Edie shrugged. "Decent. The French class looks like it's going to go well, but the FYE class is really boring."

"Really?" Corrie made a face. "That's what I have later. Well, every other student has lived through it, so I guess we will too."

Edie spent the time waiting for Dawn and Corrie to get back from class reading, knitting, and starting her French homework. It wasn't due until Wednesday, but she might have more work to do for her Tuesday/Thursday classes, and she didn't have anything else urgent to do. It seemed she had a lot of free time when she had nothing to do, but that was a good thing; she would certainly have more and more challenging homework to do in the future, and she would be happy to take this time to do it. She thought back to how anxious she had been that night and morning and smiled to herself. As she'd predicted, there had been nothing to be anxious about. Of course, she had other classes tomorrow, so she might well pass another sleepless night. She told her mind firmly that there was nothing to be anxious about and everything would be fine.

"I return victorious!" came Corrie's cry from the doorway.

Edie held her knitting needles still, so she wouldn't drop them, and looked up, grinning. "Did your class go well?"

Corrie nodded, tossing her bag on her bed. "Well, I survived it, anyway. The teacher is really nice--and he is super cute--but it does look like it's going to be a very boring class."

"Well, you can pass the time daydreaming about him," Edie teased. She finished the pattern repeat and put her sock away. "Ready to go to dinner, then?"

"Yeah. Let's just see if Dawn is back."

She was, and on the way down they collected Duncan, Rico, Lorelei, and Charlie. They staked their claim on one of the long tables in the dining hall, each of them putting a bag or ID card on one of the spots. When Edie returned with the mostly-healthy dinner she'd managed to convince herself to get (it involved a big salad that actually looked quite tasty), there was another ID card claiming the spot next to hers--they hadn't taken up the whole table. She put her dishes down and bent to look at the card. That was a familiar face. Marlin. His last name was, apparently, Pennington.