Chatoyant College Book 7: Upon What Soil

Chapter 31: Don't Tell Me

She didn't have to go very far, not once she got out of the trees. In fact, she'd only gone a few more steps when she saw Corrie, passing her on the path. She called out and waved. Corrie turned so fast she almost fell over, then stopped and waved back, grinning. Edie caught up to her quickly. "It must be really early," she said ruefully. "I've never been up early enough to see you in your running clothes before."

Corrie laughed. "No, I guess you haven't. But I'm glad to see you—I was kind of worried when you weren't in your bed this morning." She took Edie's arm, and they started walking back to Gilkey. "What are you doing up so early anyway? And where were you all night?"

"I, um, was out with Leila," Edie explained. She hoped she wasn't blushing. "We spent the night out in the woods. I think that's why I'm up so early—the ground isn't exactly a comfortable place to sleep in."

"Oh, that's true, I've noticed that with camping. So you had a good night?"

"Of course. Did you?" She was relieved that Corrie wasn't asking any more probing questions. "Oh, sorry I missed your calls."

"That's okay. I didn't really expect you to answer." Corrie seemed to be hurrying her towards the building rather quickly, actually.

"So how was the party? Did you eat a lot of candy?"

"Well... not really." Corrie slowed down once they were inside. She looked around hastily.

Edie felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. "Don't tell me. Faerie trouble."

Corrie nodded. "Unfortunately. Somebody slipped something to Dawn."

Edie gasped involuntarily. "Dawn? Really? But shouldn't she be able to tell?"

"I don't know. I would have thought so, but how do we know what abilities the Sight gives her, besides being able to see through glamour? We haven't really tested it."

"No, I guess not. What happened?"

Edie listened to Corrie's explanation of the previous night as they climbed the stairs. From the description of how Dawn had been acting, she absolutely agreed that it was out of character—she hadn't wanted to get her body painted, and she would definitely not have danced with anyone other than Rico normally, guy or girl, faerie or not. And the fact that she'd fallen asleep so quickly was worrisome. "Is she awake yet?"

"I don't know," said Corrie. "I didn't knock before I left because I figured Naomi would be sleeping too. But she might be awake now."

"Probably not. But we should knock anyway." Edie hurried up the steps. The idea of Dawn being affected by faerie magic was really creepy. She'd always thought of Dawn as the safe one. The fifth floor hallway was empty when they reached it, and she jogged to Dawn and Naomi's door, Corrie right behind her. Then she knocked and held her breath.

Thankfully, it was only a moment before it was opened—and Dawn opened it. She raised her eyebrows when she saw, them, probably because of the sighs of relief they both let out. "You're up!" Corrie said, and immediately dived forward for a hug.

Dawn laughed and hugged her back, then pushed her away. "Ew, you're all sweaty. Why are you so excited?"

"Sorry," said Corrie, wrinkling her nose. "Um, I didn't know if you'd be awake."

"Yeah, but it's morning... I mean, I know it's early, but that's no reason to be this excited."

"You don't remember falling asleep last night?" Edie asked.

"No, but I never remember falling asleep. I guess we were out pretty late, I forgot to get changed." She tugged on her shirt. "I really need a shower, too."

"So... you don't remember being drugged," Corrie said.

"Drugged?" From the shocked expression on Dawn's face, she obviously didn't. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't remember getting your back painted and dancing with a faerie?" Corrie asked—rhetorically, Edie assumed.

"What? No!" Dawn's jaw dropped and her eyes got, if possible, bigger. "I... what are you talking about?"

"It must be a side effect of the drug," Edie said. "Or magic. Whatever it was. That she doesn't remember."

"What are you talking about?" Dawn said again.

"Okay, this is kind of insane," Corrie said, rubbing her eyes. "Is Naomi up yet?"

Dawn glanced back into the room and shook her head. "And Jerry's here, so... I don't exactly want to try to wake her."

"That's fine," said Corrie quickly. "Look, I really want a shower, but maybe we can discuss this over breakfast."

"A shower and breakfast sound great," Dawn muttered. "Did I really get my back painted?" She lifted her shirt in the back and twisted her head around, trying to see. Edie could see swirls and lines of black and purple on the side of Dawn's back.

"It looks like it," Edie said. "Good luck washing that off."