Chapter 4: Replenishing

After they had located Dawn's shoes (still on the floor in Annie's room) and everyone else had gotten theirs on as well, they trooped off for some lunch. Annie invited Salome, but she declined. Edie enjoyed the lunch, glad to be having a normal interaction with friends again after the strangeness of the night before. Her mind couldn't stop wandering to Leila, though, and she looked around the dining hall surreptitiously, hoping to see her. She didn't, however, and decided with disappointment that Leila was not here; she doubted she could miss that tall form and flame-red hair.

Partway into their meal, Annie looked at Edie and asked, "Hasn't your friend Marlin been joining us? Where is he?"

Edie tried not to choke on her sandwich and succeeded, quickly swallowing her mouthful. She hadn't been thinking about Marlin as a student. If she had bothered, she would have assumed that the same magic that had allowed people to forget Annie and then Ever would have caused everyone to forget him, as well. But maybe it didn't work on Annie now that she knew about the faeries--it was certainly true that she and Corrie remembered everything now, even though they didn't have the Sight like Dawn. Hastily, she tried to come up with a cover. "Um, I haven't seen him since last night. Don't know where he is." The first part was true, the second wasn't; she knew he couldn't have moved from where he was. She glanced over at Dawn, who was frowning slightly, but nodded reassuringly at her. Maybe later, Edie thought, they could show Annie the new 'statue.' They could probably show Roe as well.

She was quiet as they walked back to Gilkey. The six of them returned to the room she shared with Corrie, sitting on the floor, chairs, and beds. It was still hot, though they weren't as tired and sweaty after eating in the dining hall, so Corrie pushed one of her shoes under the door to keep it open. That helped with the breezes, though it was noisier and Edie felt less private; then again, there wasn't much privacy to be had with six people in the room anyway. She picked up her knitting bag and took out the lace sock she'd been working on, realizing how little she'd done on it since she arrived at college. True, she only had a couple of pattern repeats until it was time to do some ribbing and bind off the ankle, but normally she would have finished a pair of socks like this within a week, and she hadn't even finished the first one now. Of course, at home she would hide away in her room and knit for hours, and she no longer had time for that; she had friends to spend time with, adventures to go on, and a lot more homework to do. At least she could knit while talking, or at least while listening.

"So, is there anything interesting planned on campus for this afternoon?" Dawn asked from her position lying on the floor on her stomach.

Annie shrugged. Corrie said, "I don't think there's anything else happening today. Tomorrow is the club thing--that's in the administration building too, I think."

"Oh, yeah?" Dawn frowned slightly. "What time is that? I have to work tomorrow."

"It's from like one to five," Corrie said.

"Oh, good. I should be able to go to part of it then."

"Where do you work, Dawn?" asked Annie.

"At the library. I just started. It's pretty fun though."

"Does anyone else have a campus job?"

They talked about jobs for a while until Rico and Duncan decided to go. Edie took that opportunity to suggest her idea. "Um, Annie, I didn't entirely tell you the truth about Marlin. There's something we should show you."

"Oh!" Corrie sat up quickly from her laid-back position on her bed. "Yeah, Annie should know." Dawn nodded in agreement.

Annie looked around at the three of them, baffled. "What are you talking about?"

Edie glanced out into the hallway. She could only see a little bit of it from her bed, so she couldn't be sure no one was out there to hear them. "We'll explain when we get there." She looked over to her other two friends. "We should show Roe if she'll come, too."

"Yeah, definitely." Dawn pushed herself to her feet. "Annie, did you hear about Roe's vision last week?"

Annie nodded. "I couldn't help it--didn't everyone? Are you saying Marlin was in the vision?"

"As it turned out, yes." Corrie smiled sympathetically at Annie. "Don't worry, we'll explain everything. Come on."