Chatoyant College Book 5: Parents' Weekend

Chapter 14: Marlin and Leila

"This statue?" Aunt Pru asked when they had reached it, blinking in confusion. "That's right, we never did get around to discussing it, did we? I suspected it must be a faerie creation."

"In a way," Dawn said. "You knew that there were a whole bunch of statues of girls all around campus, right?"

"Sure," said Pru. "Nobody really knew who they were, though. I figured they were distinguished alumni or something."

Of course, the internet hadn't existed—or at least hadn't been very common—when Dawn's aunt went to college, so she would probably have given up after a short attempt to figure out the origins of the statues. Dawn stared at the twisted, shapeless stone statue, chewing on her lip and trying to figure out where to start. "I, uh, don't think they were alumni at all. They never finished school, I mean. They were killed before they could."

"Killed? By a faerie?" her aunt asked sharply.

"Right." Dawn wasn't looking at her aunt; she couldn't tear her eyes away from the statue. "His name—at least when we met him—was Marlin. He tried to get Edie to date him. When she refused, he started to turn her into stone. We were just lucky that Professor Lal showed up in time to catch him and stop him." It was a simplified version of the story, of course, but hopefully her aunt would understand the danger Edie had been in. "She turned his spell back on him. He didn't have a real appearance, which is why the statue doesn't look like anything much."

Now she looked over. Her aunt was frowning, and also staring at the statue. "But didn't you see him? Didn't you notice something was strange?"

"The Sight isn't exactly flawless. The problem was, because he didn't look like anything, I didn't even notice he was there."

"That's so horrible," her aunt said softly.

"Yes," Dawn agreed. "Now do you understand why I said I have to do something if Leila is a faerie?"

"But Leila hasn't done anything to hurt Edie, has she?" Pru asked, finally turning to Dawn.

"Not that I know of. That's why I'm conflicted. If I tell Edie, then I don't know what she might do. She might break up with Leila, and then she'll be lonely—she seems really happy with her, and I don't want to hurt that." The words were spilling out of her, possibilities taking shape only as she said them. "Or she might say something to Leila, and if Leila doesn't want anyone to know that she's a faerie, she might do something to Edie. Or she might do nothing but Leila could still find out I know. And what if we're wrong? Then Leila might just think she's crazy, or if they break up, she'll never know why. But if I don't tell Edie, it feels like I'll be betraying her, because she could be in danger. And if something does happen to her and I didn't tell her, it will be my fault."

Aunt Pru put her hands on Dawn's shoulders. "Dawn. Calm down." Dawn took a deep, shaky breath, and nodded. She was a little calmer. Pru looked into her eyes. "You need to figure this out, I know. But I don't know Leila at all, and I know Edie even less. You need to talk to someone who does know them and can help you."

Dawn nodded again. Her aunt was, as always, right. "Of course. I'll talk to Corrie. She's Edie's roommate, and she's met Leila before, too."

"Good." Aunt Pru smiled and gave Dawn's shoulders a squeeze, then let her hands drop.

"But before I do—I doubt I'll have a chance to talk to her privately today anyway—I want some information from you."

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything you can remember about where you've seen Leila before. I have to be as sure as possible."

Pru closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't remember very much, I'm afraid."

"Whatever you can tell me. It doesn't matter."

"Okay. Well, I mostly recognized her hair—I've never seen anyone else with long, straight red hair like that. She was an actress. I remember her playing Lady Macbeth... and Lady Windermere. Her voice sounded the same, too, or I wouldn't be sure it was her."

"That's all?" Dawn asked.

Pru opened her eyes, her expression sad. "Yes. I'm sorry. I didn't really socialize with the theater department, they were always kind of insular. But you know me, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to go see a play, and almost everything was free for students."

"Okay. I... I guess I'll talk to Corrie. When I get a chance." Dawn knew it was going to be really hard to keep the information from Edie over the rest of the day. But she had to wait until she was sure about what to do.