Chatoyant College

Professor Lal’s eyes widened, then she nodded quickly. “I’ll be back in a moment. I believe I have the book that goes with that deck in my office.” Before Corrie or Roe could say anything, she had turned away and was walking smartly out of the room. It was a measure of how much the class respected her that the noise level in the room did not rise when the door shut behind her.

The classroom was already almost full when they arrived, which made sense when Corrie thought about it, because Professor Lal always seemed to show up to class when everyone had already arrived. They walked around passing out Tarot decks randomly. Corrie held onto one she found particularly appealing, a small box with colored pencil drawings in soft shades.

“Crap,” said Corrie without thinking. She sat down quickly and started shoveling food toward her mouth. “Will you tell us about it? Or I guess we should wait until we find Professor Lal, so you don’t have to tell it more than once.” She spoke around her breakfast, wanting to get finished as quickly as possible. Based on Roe’s expression, whatever the vision was, it was not a happy one.

Roe nodded. “I’m pretty exhausted, but I couldn’t skip class after that, even though I’m sure Professor Lal would understand.”

Monday, December 1

When Corrie and Edie reached their room, Edie pulled off her coat threw herself down on the bed in her clothes. Corrie did the same, but a little more slowly. Edie was trying to fall asleep—Corrie didn’t think she would be able to. She lay down in the fetal position, knees curled to her chest, and stared across the dark room. Thoughts buzzed in her brain, and they weren’t going anywhere useful. Why had Paul attacked Dawn? Which faeries were behind it, if any? How could they protect themselves in the future? How could Ever help?

Corrie nodded. “I was also wondering…” She hesitated. She didn’t know if this was something Professor Lal wanted to talk about, or even wanted known.

Professor Lal gestured with an open hand. “Please, ask.”

Corrie stayed quiet for the ride back to campus. Nothing she wanted to say could be said in front of the police officers. True, there was a partition in the police car separating her, Edie, and Professor Lal from the officers, but she doubted it was soundproof.

Edie, sitting in the middle seat, rested her head on Corrie’s shoulder. Corrie wasn’t sure whether she was asleep or just pretending. Professor Lal sat straight up and stock-still. Corrie stared out the window, even though it was so dark she could see almost nothing.

“All right, I think that’s enough,” said Officer Pell. She had walked around the room and to Corrie’s side without Corrie noticing. Now she put her hand on Corrie’s shoulder. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Corrie stared at Paul in complete disbelief. She’d saved that argument for last, and if he wouldn’t respond to it, she had absolutely no idea what to do. Of course, she had never intended to get back together with him—and maybe she wasn’t the best liar—but she thought that, after all the time and effort he’d spent trying to get her to do that exact thing, maybe he would at least respond to it.

Dawn and the others brought their flames closer so they could see what Roe was holding. It was definitely some kind of root, brown and thick, with a little bit of dirt on it and a few tiny rootlets springing up around the pointed bottom end. It wasn’t really shaped like a knife, but then, turning it into a root shaped like a knife wouldn’t have helped very much, would it?

“How do we know if it’s really the right one?” Dawn asked finally.

It was tedious, unpleasant work, with the dim light, the cold, and the frozen ground. Dawn wished she’d brought a flashlight or some other portable lamp, then immediately realized that she didn’t need one. She lifted her hand and created a small flame. It wasn’t much and she didn’t want to bring it too close to the ground for fear of melting the mud, but it lit her way better than just the emergency light.