Chatoyant College Book 2: Initiates

Chapter 42: Playing Statues

Thankfully, Dawn must have been getting more used to seeing faeries all over, since she managed to neither slam the door nor jump out of her skin. In fact, she forced her face into a pleasant expression and walked forward into the small office, though her heart was beating so hard she thought it might be visible through her shirt. Now she wished desperately that she had asked Rico to come along, but it was too late now. She couldn't exactly call her boyfriend to come help her without looking suspicious, and Professor Strega didn't seem to have noticed Dawn's reaction.

Then again, it was hard to tell; she had a flat, lizardlike face, with yellow eyes that didn't seem to show any expression at all. She had pointed ears like Professor Lal's, but they were the same pale, slightly greenish color as the rest of her skin, and she had no hair. She wore normal clothes--black slacks and a grey puff-sleeved blouse--like Professor Lal did, but her arms were very long and seemed to have an extra joint, and her bare feet had long toes with round ends like a gecko's. She stood balanced on the tips of them, and the top half of her body was bent forward at an odd angle.

Roe, obviously, saw nothing unusual. She gave a friendly smile. "Hi, Dawn. This is Profesor Strega."

"I am pleased to meet you, Dawn," said the faerie in accented English. Her mouth (which seemed merely an opening in her face without lips) barely moved as she spoke. She held out a hand to Dawn--at least that didn't look like a gecko's foot, though it was still greenish and the fingers were unnaturally long.

Nervously, Dawn took a step forward and shook the hand. "You too, Professor Strega." She stepped back quickly. "So what can I do to help?"

"I think that seeing some of the people from her vision may help Roe with recall," Professor Strega explained. Dawn began to relax; if she had noticed that Dawn could see her true self, she probably would have indicated it by now. "All you need to do, Dawn, is stand there. Roe, focus on her and relax your mind, as I showed you."

Dawn turned to look at Roe, who stared back at her, her eyes slowly going out of focus. It was quiet enough that Dawn could clearly hear the ticking of a clock somewhere in the room. After a few minutes, she began to feel uncomfortable, then Roe said in a soft voice, "Dawn, can you raise up your arms?"

Dawn did as requested, lifting her arms high. Roe slowly shook her head. "Lower." Dawn lowered her arms to about halfway, feeling as though she was pretending to be a zombie, but Roe nodded slowly, so apparently that was the right thing. "Bend your elbows," Roe instructed. Dawn did so. "And... put your hands out flat." She did that too.

There was another several minutes of quiet, then Roe sighed and her eyes came back into focus. "Well, that's how Dawn was standing in the vision--at least part of it--but I can't get any other context."

"Still, that is more than we had before," said Professor Strega. "Dawn, what do you think?"

Dawn looked down at herself. "It feels like I'm trying to stop somebody, or keep them away."

"Yes, that is what I think too." The professor's eyes narrowed slightly. Dawn wished she could see the glamour so she knew how she was supposed to react. "Well, I think that is all we can do tonight."

"Maybe next week we can get Corrie and Edie to come too," suggested Roe.

"Yeah, if you let us know in advance I'm sure we can all come. You still have no idea who the fifth person in the vision is?"

The blonde shook her head. "No, I think I might know him if I saw him, but he isn't someone I recognize."

"It is late," said Professor Strega suddenly. "I am sorry, girls, I did not realize the time. You should go home! I will walk with you."

They left the office, Professor Strega turning off the light and locking the door behind them, and walked back down the hall toward the door. Dawn went to turn the hall light off, but the professor told her that it was a motion sensor and would go off on its own. They left the building and turned down the dimly lit path toward Gilkey.

"How do you girls like this college so far?" Professor Strega asked conversationally.

"Oh, it's wonderful," Roe said. "Of course, just being able to get training from you is much better than what I would be able to get at any other college."

Dawn wasn't sure what to say. The college itself was good, she supposed. But the fact that it was infested with faeries didn't work out so well for her. Besides, she'd only been there for a week and a half, and she certainly didn't have any other colleges to compare it to. She settled for a shrug. "It's hard to tell at this point, but I have made some good friends, so I'm glad I'm here."