Chatoyant College Book 4: The Flicker

Chapter 39: Comparing Notes

Dawn opened the door after just a moment. "Hi! Back from your study session?"

"All done for today," said Corrie. "And it's almost time for the Rainbow Alliance meeting."

"Can we talk in our room?" Edie interjected. "I hope you don't mind but I need to change my pants. These are soaked."

"Ooh, we get a show?" Dawn teased. "Okay, let me grab my umbrella." She went back into her room briefly, then came out again with her umbrella and jacket in her hands. The four of them went into Corrie and Edie's room. Edie kicked her shoes off, then went straight for her chest of drawers and dug through her jeans drawer until she found the pair she'd bought on her shopping trip with Dawn and Corrie at the beginning of the semester.

"So?" said Corrie to Dawn.

"So what?" Dawn asked. Edie stepped into her closet so she could have some privacy, but kept it open so she could hear what they were saying.

"You know exactly what we want from you," said Annie.

"Oh, you want my love, don't you? Sorry, I'm taken. Ow!"

Edie couldn't see what was happening, but from Dawn's cry, she guessed that Corrie had hit her. She couldn't help but giggle.

"Don't mock my pain," Dawn said. "Okay, okay. You want to know what I saw when I looked at Troy?"

"Stop drawing out the suspense," said Corrie.

"I didn't mean to. There's nothing to be suspenseful about, anyway. I just didn't see anything."

"Nothing?" asked Edie. She finished buttoning her jeans and came back out of the closet. "Like how you couldn't see Marlin at first?" If this guy was connected to Marlin, she would find some way to distance herself from him, even if it meant dropping the class.

Dawn shook her head quickly. "Not like that. I mean I didn't see anything interesting. Just a guy. His hair was wet."

"We were all wet. It was raining," Corrie said with a sigh. "There was nothing unusual about him at all? No sparkle or anything when he moved or when you first looked at him?"

"Nothing," said Dawn. Edie walked slowly over to her desk chair (Annie was sitting on her bed) and sat down, trying to think. Why would clovers show them something different than what Dawn could see with her Sight?

Corrie let out a sigh and sat down on her bed so hard she bounced slightly. "Okay. Let's compare notes. It's possible that you saw something different from what we saw."

"Sure," said Dawn. "Dark hair. Maybe black, it was hard to tell since it was so wet. Long enough to be plastered to his skull. Pretty pale skin. Taller than me, not as tall as Corrie, medium build."

Corrie was nodding. Edie didn't hear anything to disagree with. Dawn continued, "Okay, he was wearing... khaki pants, I think, and a polo shirt? I didn't notice what color it was."

"It was red," said Annie. "Dark red."

"Right, I remember that now. Black sneakers." Dawn pursed her lips and shook her head. "I really can't think of anything remarkable about him."

"Me neither," said Corrie. "Do you remember his eye color? I think it was blue."

"Blue sounds right to me," said Dawn. "I'm not certain of that. But it really sounds like we were seeing the same thing."

"I guess so," said Edie. "At least he's not another Marlin." She remembered something that Annie had said and turned to her. "Did you talk to Professor Rook about it?"

"Oh yeah!" Annie nodded. "I'd almost forgotten. He, uh... seemed really startled that I knew about clovers. And said something about talking to Professor Lal."

"He probably thinks she should have told him," said Corrie.

"Probably," Annie agreed. "But I don't think he had any new information. He said it must be some kind of strong illusion. And that we shouldn't worry about it."

"I think we have to accept that this is some kind of illusion that's not a glamour," said Dawn. "I think my ability is pretty consistent. If it were a glamour, I would see through it, and the clover would do more than just make him flicker."

"I didn't tell Professor Rook who it was," said Annie. "Do you think we should tell the professors about it? They're probably better equipped to deal with it than we are."

"We still don't know that it's really a problem," said Corrie. "I think Troy thinks it's more of a problem that we know about it than that it exists."

"Are you sure?" Edie asked, thinking back to class the day before, when Corrie had blurted out that Troy was the source of the strange flicker. "He seemed pretty upset by the concept of an illusion."

"True..." Corrie shrugged, then glanced up. "Oh! We'd better go or we'll be late for the meeting!"