Dawn

“I understand.” Charlie stood again. “Sorry to kick you out, but I’ve got to get to class. I assume I can trust you two to keep quiet about this.”

“Of course,” agreed Dawn. “But can we tell Edie? She’s Corrie’s roommate and we probably should have brought her with us, but she has class right now.”

Charlie opened his door. “If you can trust her to keep quiet,” he said, ushering them out. “I don’t want this getting all over campus, you know? People are still really superstitious, even if they know magic.”

Dawn looked at Corrie for her reaction. She was certainly curious to see some proof, but once again, she felt that it was Corrie’s choice. If werewolves really existed, then that was just one more point in favor of the man who said he was Corrie’s father being truthful—and she didn’t think Corrie actually wanted it to be true.

“Really?” said Corrie skeptically.

“Really,” said Charlie. He stood up. “I have class soon, but there should be enough time for you to get a good look at me.”

“I’d like to see it,” Dawn offered.

Charlie didn’t react to that, except to draw his brows together a little in polite confusion. “You don’t know who your father is?”

Corrie shook her head. “No, but I think you do.”

There was silence for a moment. Dawn considered saying something, but this was really between Corrie and Charlie. She was just there for support. She would only speak if it became really necessary.

Finally Corrie said, “Do you or do you not have communication with a man off-campus?”

When Roe had gone, Corrie turned to Dawn. “Do you have anything to do right now?”

Dawn shook her head. “I have another class later, but I don’t have anything in particular to do until then. Why?”

Corrie looked down at her hands, one of which was picking an imaginary piece of fuzz off her T-shirt. “Would you come with me to talk to Charlie?”

Magic class was just as stimulating as it always was. It was impossible to fall asleep in this class, as Corrie had discovered on Monday; Professor Lal always noticed, and woke you up with pointed questions. Not that Dawn ever tried to fall asleep in class. Even if she had been that tired, the sight of Professor Lal’s true face, with its terrifying mouthful of sharp teeth, was enough to keep her alert.

That reminded her… she ought to give her aunt a call.

Wednesday, October 8

Edie seemed to wake slowly from a heavy sleep. She blinked hard at the sunlight coming in her window and slapped at her alarm. The alarm stopped, but the sunlight didn’t go away. She sat up and yawned hugely. The sleep still hung over her. She’d had a dream… hadn’t she? She reached for it, but it was gone.

Well, it would be time to get some breakfast soon. Yawning some more, she picked out clothes and dragged them on. Her limbs were heavy. Maybe some food would wake her up. She needed to be awake before it was time for French class, certainly.

Corrie wouldn’t have believed it was possible to be even antsier than she had been that morning and afternoon, but it happened anyway. She wrote three pages of her paper, which, for four days before the paper was due, was plenty. At least once she got into that it distracted her already. But Edie continued to not return to the room. She tried playing computer games to calm her nerves, including ones that involved shooting things, but it only helped a little.

Tuesday, October 7

Tuesdays were never a fun day for Dawn. They started at what she thought was an unreasonable hour with her FYE class (though at least she got more sleep than she had that weekend, with her parents wanting breakfast at the crack of dawn). She did not understand why the class had to be so early, especially since she was sure none of her fellow students stayed any more awake and alert than she did.

Rico’s eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. “Pretty easy, I guess. I mean, he’s always available for questions about classwork. He says asking him questions counts as working hard, and working hard is the only way we’re going to pass his class.”

“So what you’re saying,” Troy said slowly, “is that Edie’s not herself. Her reaction is based on faerie magic. So she probably won’t just come around to forgiving you.”

“Exactly,” said Dawn.

“In that case, shouldn’t you talk to one of the magic teachers about it? I mean, I only know Djanaea magic. I don’t think I can do anything to help you.”

“We already talked to Professor Lal,” Corrie explained. “She says she’ll keep an eye on Leila, but doesn’t think she’s much of a threat. Don’t you know anything about illusions that could help us?”