Chatoyant College Book 2: Initiates

Chapter 46: Targets

"You're welcome," said Professor Lal. "It's the least I could do after all these years. Am I right to assume you are a friend of these two?"

Dawn nodded. Corrie straightened up and took Edie's arm possessively. "She's my roommate."

Professor Lal shook her head in amazement. "I doubt this is the last that you three will hear from the less human-friendly of us."

"What about the other statues?" said Dawn. "You said you've been watching for years... you knew the other students who were turned to stone?"

"I didn't know all of them personally," she said, nodding, "but yes, I knew a faerie must be responsible and I wanted to find out who it was. I thought he was a friend, but apparently he was quite as deceptive as we can be."

"Why didn't you heal them like you did just now for Edie?"

"It's too late now. They've been turned fully to stone, fused with the ground, and they've been dead for years. I couldn't heal them before because I didn't know how the curse was done." She rubbed her hand across her forehead. "I deeply regret that I could not save them. I'm glad I followed my instincts to keep an eye on you tonight, Dawn."

"You were watching me?" Dawn wasn't sure how to feel about that, but "glad" wasn't really on the list. "Shocked" was, as well as "nervous." "Why? And since when?"

"I was in my office working late, and, I admit, wondering how Roe's session with Concetta was going. When I heard you arrive in the hallway I became nervous. Concetta did not react well to being found out as a faerie, and I feared she might try to silence you. I am glad to see I was wrong about that, but if she ran away when you found the four-leaf clover, she is still fearful. She is not from this land and she does not seem to know how to react."

"So you were trying to protect me."

"Yes, that's right."

Well, that was interesting information. Professor Lal could be lying, but why would she? And she had protected them, even taking away a threat they hadn't known about before that night. Maybe what she had said the first day that Dawn met her was the truth--she took her job as a professor seriously and wanted not harm to come to her students. Dawn exhaled slowly. "Well, thanks then."

"You're welcome. But Concetta was right about one thing: you should not be outside so late at night, at least not in so small a group, especially since you three seem to attract unwanted attention so easily. I will walk with you back to your dorm." They walked back to the path (Dawn felt a little more relaxed when they had reached it) and started walking back toward Gilkey. When they passed the statue of Vertiline Gravette, all four of them looked at it, seemingly unconsciously. The darkness made it hard to see, but Professor Lal sighed, and Dawn felt a surge of pity for both her and poor Vertiline. She wondered if the girls who'd been turned into statues had ever gotten funerals.

Corrie spoke up after they had passed it. "Can I ask you a question?"

Professor Lal smiled. "You may ask anything you like, but I do not guarantee an answer that will satisfy you."

Corrie smiled slightly in return. "Well, I was wondering where you go when you're not teaching. Do you live in the woods with the other faeries?"

"I'm sorry, Corrie, that's one of the questions I won't answer."

"But..." Corrie seemed to struggle with that for a few moments, then shrugged, defeated. "Okay. But now I want to find out the answer. I'm a very curious person."

That made Professor Lal laugh. "That's all right. We're very practiced at keeping secrets."

They had arrived at the door of Gilkey. "Thanks again for everything, Professor Lal," Dawn said.

"You are very welcome. I just hope I don't have to do anything like it again. Now get to your rooms. I'll see you in class on Monday."

They said goodbye and the girls went into the dorm. Dawn, too, wondered where Professor Lal was going now, but she tried to put it out of her mind. "Can we go talk to Roe? If she doesn't hate us now... Maybe if we try to explain a little better she'll believe us." She and Corrie quickly explained to Edie how Roe had reacted to their revelation that there were faeries on campus and the other two agreed that it was a good idea to convince her that they were telling the truth.

"How's your arm, Edie?" asked Corrie as they started up the stairs.

Edie stretched it out. "It's fine now. I'm still pretty freaked out, though."

"I could tell," said Dawn. "You were even more quiet than usual."

"Do you still have that four-leaf clover?" Edie asked Corrie.

"Yeah. You want to see it?" She handed it to Edie, who looked at it, then handed it back. "I guess there's nothing different to see here."

"No, but that's okay. I think I've seen enough today. Maybe later I'll carry it around and see what some people really look like."

"We're going to have to come up with some way to protect it," Dawn observed, seeing that the stem was a little squished and the one leaf was still torn. "I wonder if you have to be physically touching it, like iron?"

"We can ask Professor Lal on Monday," Corrie said firmly.

"Yes, I guess it's not urgent."