Chatoyant College Book 5: Parents' Weekend

Chapter 48: Part of My Job

Professor Lal nodded. "That's no surprise. I can't exactly hide the fact that we have a student with the Sight—"

"Why not?" Corrie interrupted angrily.

Professor Lal turned a cool glare on her. "As I was saying, Dawn would inevitably be found out by others, and they wouldn't be happy if they learned I'd hidden your existence from them. And we do have to hide our existence from the rest of the world, if not from you and your friends."

"But we would have found out she was a faerie sooner if you hadn't told her," Corrie protested.

Professor Lal nodded once, sharply. "And that's another reason. We are, for the most part, trying to live here in peace, teaching and learning. You can't be allowed to harass anyone who might not be entirely human."

"We wouldn't harass them," Dawn said. "We just want to know where they are. After Marlin and, what was it, Mardalan? The ones in the woods. Can you blame us for being on our guard?"

"No," said the professor. "But after what Ever did, can you blame us for wanting to keep ourselves hidden from you?"

"That was her choice," said Corrie. "She felt guilty for getting Annie kidnapped." Not for the first time, Corrie wondered if Ever would ever return from the woods, where she had joined the group of faeries that had kidnapped Annie. Was she doomed to live with them permanently, as the other kidnapped humans had apparently been? Or was she more free because she wasn't human herself?

Professor Lal smiled faintly. "Yes, she has a good heart. But not everyone feels the same way, and they are afraid of having their choices reversed through no fault of their own."

"So is there anything we can do about Leila?" Roe asked.

"Why would you want to do anything about her?"

"She's dating our friend and hiding the truth from us," Roe said.

Professor Lal shook her head. "I just explained why she might want to hide from you."

"I really don't think it's that simple," said Dawn. "She gave me a really creepy look after she'd taken her hair down. She knew I'd seen her ears. She might not have known that Annie used a clover to look at her, but if she knows I'm the one with the Sight, she knows I couldn't have missed them."

Professor Lal pursed her lips. "To be honest, she is not someone I know very well. I don't know what her motivations might be. It does seem strange that she would continue to try to hide from you when she knows it is too late." She touched Corrie's arm lightly. "But please, allow me to worry about it. That is, after all, part of my job. I will keep myself aware of her and her activities. There is nothing more the three of you could do."

Corrie knew the conversation was over. She, Dawn, and Roe walked out of the room slowly. Once they were out of the building, Corrie glanced back, then said, "I'm not giving up."

Roe shook her head hard, sending her wavy blonde hair tossing. "Neither am I."

"She's right, though," said Dawn. "We can't do anything about Leila. Our only advantage over the faeries is that we can see what they are—and it looks like that advantage has limited use now."

"I know," said Corrie. "But we can keep trying to convince Edie. If we can just get her to use her clover when she's with Leila, then she can take whatever measures she needs to protect herself. Of course I'd prefer if she stopped dating her, but it's her choice."

"We should ask Troy for advice," said Roe.

"Troy? Why?" Dawn asked.

"Well... he has experience not being human."

"But he doesn't have much experience pretending to be human," Corrie pointed out. "Not that I have anything against him or anything, but I'm not sure how much help he'll be."

"Maybe we can talk to Link too," said Dawn. "He has more experience."

"I guess it's worth a shot," Corrie said. She flipped open her phone to check the time. "I have a little while before I have to go to my next class. Do you want to go look for them right now? Or does one of you have one of their numbers?"

Roe shook her head. "I'm not even sure they have cell phones."

"Well, they have room phones, right?" Corrie shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Do either of you have anywhere else to be right now?"

"Nope," said Dawn. "To Darnel it is, then."