Chapter 6: Finding Clovers

Dawn shrugged, crouching down to look at the grass like Edie had. "I think it's too late to worry about that. The faeries already know about us, and it's worth it to get the protection of the clovers."

"Yeah... I guess you're right." Annie followed suit, stepping a little way away from the statue to find a good patch of clover.

"Wait, I'm confused," said Roe. "The clovers protect us?"

"Well, they let us see the truth, I guess," said Corrie, who was sitting in the grass and parting the patch of clover with her hand. "It's the protection of knowledge."

"Okay." Roe crouched down with the rest of them. "I do want to have a four-leaf clover. It's creepy to think that I've been taught by a faerie and didn't know about it. Do you think I should stop taking lessons with Professor Strega?"

"No, I doubt that's necessary," said Dawn. "She doesn't seem dangerous. Besides, she has helped you with your visions, hasn't she?"

"Yes, she has." Roe sighed. "I don't know how effective all of her lessons were, but she at least helped me with recall. I'll have to wait until I have another vision to see how the meditations and stuff work."

"Well, I think it's really important that you learn how to control and use your visions," Edie said, a little more emphatically than she'd intended. She lowered her voice. "I guess you should just... be careful. Pay attention."

Dawn nodded. "And Professor Lal has your back--did I mention that? She was sort of paying attention from her office, so if anything really weird happens, she'll notice and be able to do something about it."

"But she's a faerie too, isn't she?" said Roe.

"Yeah, and I admit I didn't trust her at first, but she did save Edie's life."

"I trust her!" Edie put in.

"But in most of the stories, faeries are kind of inconsistent, aren't they?" said Corrie. "I mean, I don't want to worry anyone, but I don't think we can assume anyone's intentions from a single action."

"And that's why we want to know who is a faerie and who isn't, so we can keep a closer eye on the faeries," Dawn said. She held up a clover. "Conveniently, I have just found another four-leaf clover." She stood up to put it in her pocket.

"That reminds me, Dawn. You didn't see any faeries at the poster sale, did you?"

"No, I didn't," she replied. "Of course, I was mostly looking at the posters."

Edie stood up and stretched. Her knees and back felt stiff from crouching and bending over the clover, so she took a few steps to loosen them up. "I don't think we're going to find any more clovers this afternoon."

"Actually, I think..." Annie trailed off, looking closely. "Yeah! Wow, this is weird." She stood up. "I found two. Right next to each other."

"Weird!" said Corrie, standing up too.

"I guess you don't have to share, then! That's... awfully convenient." Dawn took the clover out of her pocket and handed it to Edie. She held it tightly by its stem. She didn't want to drop it, but she didn't want to tear it either. Corrie's had kept working after it was torn, but she didn't know how messed up the clover could get before it lost its magic, so she would be careful.

Roe scrambled to her feet, accepted the four-leaf clover that Annie handed to her, and frowned at it. "Do you think they're real?"

"Well, let me see them." Dawn looked at the two Annie had picked up. "I don't see any glamour about them. It just seems strange."

"There is a lot of magic around here," Corrie pointed out. "A bunch of magic was used in this spot just last night, and lots of magic has been used on this campus for centuries. I know enough about magic to know that places pick up residues and can be affected by the magic that was used in them. Probably one of the effects on the campus is that it grows more four-leaf clovers now."

Roe still looked worried. "But if they're created by magic, can we really trust them?"

"I don't think these are any more created by magic than the one I found last night, and it worked." Corrie shrugged, looking up at the trees. "Magic is a tool. Faeries might use it for evil, but I don't think the land knows the difference." She looked back at them and grinned. "But this is awfully philosophical for a Saturday afternoon. Come on." She started to walk back toward the path. After a moment, the others followed her, and they all headed in the direction of Gilkey.