Chatoyant College, Book 13: The Teeth

Chapter 75: Waiting

Edie still felt a little uncomfortable sitting in the chairs, where just last night the members of the Circle of the Goddess had sat with Payton and Elena's blood all over them, but they seemed to have been cleaned well; she couldn't see any trace of blood on them. Anyway, she was sure she couldn't stand here all night, or however long it took for Troy and Link to attract Gerlina's attention, so she took a chair and dragged it over to the window.

Corrie followed her example. Dawn grabbed two chairs and placed the extra with its back against the window, the seat pointing toward the three of them. "You can put the stones there," she said, gesturing to the seat.

"Good idea," Corrie said. She put the four stones in a row along the front of the seat. Edie took her notebook back out and set it behind the stones so they could all see it, though it would be harder to see as the light dimmed.

"I hope we can see which stone is which when it's fully night," she said, frowning. "They're all pretty dark. There are no emergency lights here, are there? Maybe there will be enough moon."

"I don't think so," Corrie said. "The moon is barely a quarter. It might give us some light, but not enough to see colors."

"We should memorize which is which while we can," Dawn said. She tapped the stone on the left, then each one in the line as she said the professor's name. "Rook. Strega. Lal. Ginny. Is that right?" She bent over to look at Edie's notes, then nodded. "Right."

"And... Rook, Strega, Lal, Ginny." Corrie pointed in four different directions as she said the names, then she, too, bent over the paper. "No, I got that wrong. Rook, Lal, Ginny, Strega." She sighed. "We'll have to work on memorizing their positions, too. Thanks for writing it down, Edie. Obviously, I would be completely unable to remember which was in which direction if you hadn't."

"I'm glad I could do something useful," Edie said, leaning back in her chair. "I don't know how much good any of this will do, though. Are you two really going to be able to see anything?"

"Probably not," Corrie said with a laugh. "But you're right, it's good to at least try to feel useful."

"I doubt I'll see anything, but I might be able to sense something in the air currents," Dawn said. "Actually, I should check that now. Maybe I can find the cold spot and keep a... metaphorical eye on her."

"If you do, can't we just send the magic professors over to her now?" Corrie asked.

Dawn shook her head, her eyes closed. "When we went looking for her before, even though I'd just found the cold spot, it wasn't there anymore. I think she saw us coming. The best way probably is to lure her out, so they can be waiting for her instead of vice versa."

"The professors really seem to think that having the Djanaea come out is the best way to lure her," Edie said. "I wonder if that's true. She would have to be wandering around precisely in Troy's path if she's going to see him, wouldn't she?"

"Messing with the campus magic is probably dangerous in itself," Corrie said. "I'd want to avoid that, too. And if they're right, now that she knows Troy is on campus, she'll go looking for him. She just hasn't been able to find him because he hasn't been outside at night."

Edie nodded. That made some sense. She still didn't feel entirely good about the plan, but she probably wouldn't feel good about any of it until Gerlina was actually caught and trapped.

"Anything, Dawn?" Corrie asked.

Dawn opened her eyes and shook her head. "No, if she's on campus, I can't find her. No cold spot."

"Hopefully that means she's wandering around looking for Troy," Edie said.

"Do you think she's really still upset about her sister?" Dawn asked.

"I would be," Edie said. "If I thought somebody had caused Leah's death... I mean, if Leah died, and there was anything I could blame, even if it was a disease or something, I would be mad at that thing forever. I doubt it's any easier if you're a faerie."

"Maybe worse, actually," Corrie said. "Faeries live a really long time. I don't know if they even expect to die—they don't die of old age, right? So she probably feels like her sister lost out on the hundreds of years she's had. Do you remember whether anyone said which is the older sister?"

Edie thought back to what Leila had told her when she'd asked for more specifics about the two sisters from the Djanaea's story. "No, I don't think so. I assumed Gerlina must be older, though, trying to take care of her little sister."

"Yeah," Dawn said. "It seemed that way to me, too. But I don't have a sister."

Edie nodded. She was the only one here who knew what it was like to be a sister.