Chapter 40: Questions, Part 2

Instead of immediately confirming or denying the theory, as Corrie had expected, Professor Lal merely looked thoughtful. Of course, she shouldn't have been surprised. The faerie rarely seemed to talk in absolutes, after all, though Corrie thought that was a teacher thing rather than a faerie thing. Then she asked a question Corrie had not expected. "Are you sure she wasn't sensitive before that?"

"Well--no, I guess not," Corrie responded, looking at Dawn.

Dawn shrugged. "I don't even know what you're talking about."

"Oh... I guess we didn't tell you about it." Corrie turned back to Professor Lal. "But we never noticed it until a couple of days ago, anyway."

"Tell me about how you found out," Professor Lal said.

"We're not even sure if that's exactly what it is," Corrie began awkwardly. Briefly, she told Professor Lal about the Circle of the Goddess meeting and how Edie had felt tingling during the spell that Corrie herself hadn't felt.

"Interesting," Professor Lal said when she was done. "I knew about that club, but I didn't know they were doing real magic. Frankly, I didn't think they knew how--I don't believe the leaders have ever taken any magic classes..."

"They knew about silk being protective. They put silk curtains all around every time they meet."

"Well, that's a question for another time, anyway. I'm sorry I don't have a definitive answer for you on this. It's possible that what I did caused it, it's possible that what he did caused it, and it's possible that she was always sensitive and just didn't know." Professor Lal sighed. "I wish she would take a magic class, though. It's a bit too late to add it, but I hope you'll encourage her to enroll in one next semester."

"I'll definitely encourage her," Corrie agreed. Hopefully, by next semester Edie would have finally gotten over her skepticism regarding magic. In fact, maybe she had gotten rid of it already. She certainly hadn't seemed too upset about the magic going on at the Circle of the Goddess meeting.

"I don't think it will be too hard," said Dawn. "She loves to read, and she sees us reading stuff for magic class all the time. Plus, we can just tell her how much we love the class!"

Professor Lal laughed. "Glad to hear it!"

"Okay, another question," said Corrie. "Probably another you won't answer."

"You never know until you try," the professor said. "And I don't want to discourage you from asking questions." She looked at the clock on her desk. "Though admittedly, there's not a lot more time before I have to go to a meeting."

"Okay, well, what do you do when you're not teaching? I don't mean during the summer or anything, I mean in the years when you're not in the yearbook."

"You're quite right. That's a personal question and not one I want to answer."

"Fine." Corrie hadn't been too worried about that one. She was still curious, but she could live with the curiosity. At least she thought she could. "I have just one more question. In one of my other classes, I tried looking around while touching the clover, just to see if there were any faeries we didn't already know about. I didn't see anything obvious, but there was sort of a flicker out of the corner of my eye. I couldn't place it."

"There are a few faeries that I know of in the student body," Professor Lal said, nodding. "There may be some that I don't know of... but not if they're officially enrolled, so I doubt they would be in classes."

"So that could be it?"

"Perhaps, or it could be a different kind of illusion. You'll learn more about illusions later in the semester, naturally, but right now it is relevant to know that four-leaf clovers do not only allow the holder to see through glamour: they affect other illusions as well. However, they do not cut straight through other illusions, so what you may be seeing is the effect of your clover magic attempting to break the other illusion and that illusion fighting back. But..."

"What?"

"It is very difficult to create an illusion so strong that all you saw was it fighting, and no difference in the illusion. I can't even do it. If you find whoever that is, please let me know."

"Jeez," said Corrie, sighing. "Nothing's ever straightforward, is it?"

"Ah, good," said Professor Lal with an odd little smile. When Corrie wrinkled her brow at her, she said, "You're growing up."

"Oh. Well, I guess that's what college is for."

"Indeed. Especially this one. Now unless you have another quick question, I'd really better be going."

Neither Dawn nor Lorelei volunteered anything, so they said their goodbyes and left.