Corrie

Corrie picked at the bagel in front of her, pulling out one of the raisins. She lifted it to her mouth and nibbled at it, still staring at her plate. It was quiet in the coffee shop, the loudest sound the hiss of the heavy rain hitting the roof and the sidewalk outside. The view was even distorted from rain running down the window.

Leila immediately walked inside, her long legs carrying her across the rooms in a matter of seconds. Ignoring everyone else in the room, she sat on the bed and took Edie’s hand in hers. For a moment the two of them just smiled at each other silently. Corrie watched Leila carefully, but she didn’t seem to be doing anything out of the ordinary.

“Oh, Edith, I am so sorry,” Leila finally said, the words tumbling out of her in a rush. “If I had realized it was my sister—”

Leila turned to face Corrie as soon as the door opened. Her eyes narrowed. “Where is Edith?”

“Inside,” said Corrie, shutting the door firmly behind her. She was glad she still had her jacket on. She pulled the hood over her head to protect it from the rain, though it was still pretty light. “What are you doing here?”

“I am looking for Edith,” Leila said, sounding impatient. “Let me come in.”

Corrie shook her head. “She’s fine where she is. I’m not just giving her up to you.”

Leila frowned. “Is she awake?”

“You’re in my room,” Lorelei said quickly, passing Edie a bottle of water. “You needed to rest.”

Edie accepted the bottle, twisted at the top, and then looked at it in perplexity until Corrie took it and opened it for her. It was clear that Edie didn’t have the strength to even do that. Corrie and Dawn helped Edie sit up so she could drink the water. She gulped down almost half the bottle before taking a deep breath and asking, “How did I get here?”

“We carried you,” Corrie told her. “You passed out in the forest. Do you remember?”

There was silence for a few moments following Corrie’s question. Then Dawn, standing but also leaning against the wall, brightened. “We don’t have to. We can just take her to Lorelei.”

“You don’t think she’ll mind?” Corrie asked. “It’s kind of late.” She was watching the stairs, but apparently no one was inclined to come downstairs at this time of night. Which was a good thing, since she didn’t know how they would explain having her unconscious roommate propped against the wall.

“Of course she won’t mind. It’s her job, isn’t it?”

“Ever?” Corrie repeated, dumbfounded. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you—weren’t you back there with them?”

“I should be,” Ever said with a little grin, “but Mardalan was distracted. I slipped out. I was going to wait for her to stop paying attention to Edie and get her away, but you got there first.”

“So you saw what happened?” Dawn asked.

“Some of it. I figured you would need some help. But come on, you’d better get out of here before the fight ends. I don’t think you want to leave Edie in the sight of whoever wins.”

Corrie screamed at about the same time Mardalan did. However, the gout of blood she’d been expecting didn’t appear. The wire looked, from her point of view, like it had ben to the side rather than going directly into Mardalan’s neck. It was still clear, however, that she was not unharmed. She continued to scream, not even taking a breath, and clapped her hands to her neck.

The lights were real; Corrie immediately put her hand into her pocket, where she was keeping her four-leaf clover, and they were still there. They glowed in the sky, near the tops of trees, like they were hanging on an immensely high ceiling. But she couldn’t see how they were being held up. Maybe faerie magic was good for something besides illusions after all.

“Cold iron,” Leila breathed, staring at Corrie’s bracelets. “Like this stick.” Her head came up swiftly before Corrie could reply. Her green eyes bored into Corrie’s. “You created these as a weapon against me.”

Corrie swallowed. It was the truth, but she couldn’t say that. “We created them to protect ourselves. People keep attacking us—Edie and our other friends. Edie probably told you about Marlin?”

“Yes.” Leila made some gesture with the steel wire that made Tom jump back again. “But this wouldn’t be the first time you used iron to attack me.”

After a moment, the breeze moved the trees enough that some light showed through. Corrie realized it was Charlie and stepped forward to hit him lightly on the arm. “Don’t scare us like that!”

“Sorry,” he said, grinning and not looking sorry at all. “I heard you guys coming and the grown-ups are all talking about boring stuff, so I couldn’t resist coming out to greet you.”

“Grown-ups?” Corrie laughed. “Aren’t you like twenty-one?”

“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean the stuff they talk about isn’t boring. Did you guys have a good chat?”