Chatoyant College Book 7: Upon What Soil

Chapter 46: Searching

"Well," said Edie, "she doesn't have a cell phone—she usually finds me, actually. And you guys probably know that she doesn't really live on campus, she just kind of pretends to be a student..." She looked down and dug into her pocket for her cell phone. Dawn thought she looked sad and uncomfortable, and wondered why. Had she had a fight with Leila? But then why would Edie suggest they go find her?

Edie found her phone and flipped it open, still staring at the screen. "She usually calls me on one of her friends' cell phones, if she's going to call. She might be with them. I'll call Chris." She pressed a button, then held the phone to her ear.

"Let's walk back to Gilkey as long as we don't have a specific plan," Corrie said softly and quickly, before Edie's call was answered. She started walking, gesturing for the others to follow her. "And stay on the paths."

Dawn couldn't help glancing back as they walked away, trying to see in through Brandon's window, even though the blinds had been drawn again. Where had he gone? And how? If he had really teleported somewhere, as it seemed, was that magic that anyone could learn, or only faeries? Another thing for the list to ask Professor Lal... or maybe Leila, if they could find her.

"Hi!" Edie was saying ahead of her, smiling now into the phone. "Yeah, I'm okay, how are you? Good, good. I was actually hoping to get ahold of Leila. Is she with you?" There was a pause, and Dawn knew that it wasn't going to be that easy. "Okay. No, it's really not a big deal, don't worry about it. She's not lost or anything. I just saw her... um, last night. I'll probably see her tonight. Sorry, not today, maybe some other time? Yeah. Thanks. You too." Edie was obviously having trouble getting out of the conversation. Finally she managed to hang up the phone, then gave a sigh as she tucked it back into her pocket. "Well, I guess you all heard that she's not with them."

"Should we try the grove by the environmental co-op?" Dawn asked. She knew Leila didn't really live there, as she had once claimed, but she seemed to spend a lot of time in the trees.

Edie nodded. "I think that's a good place to start. If she's not there, I should probably be able to find my way to her tree. That's the most likely place to find her."

"Then why don't we go there first?" asked Roe.

"Because we have to go through the woods first, right?" asked Corrie.

Edie nodded. "Getting there probably isn't safe. If I thought she might be at the theater, I would check there, but that's where her friends are. She would pretty much be there, in the grove, or in the woods somewhere."

"So let's check the safest places first," Dawn said, nodding. Rico took her hand again, and she squeezed it, smiling gratefully at him.

She wasn't surprised when they looked through the grove and Leila wasn't there, though the déjà vu she felt, from the time they'd searched here for Edie and not found her, made her shiver. Then again, maybe it was the cold. The sun was getting close to setting, and it was November; the temperature was dropping fast. "Before we go into the woods, I want to go get a warmer coat from my room," she told the discouraged group. "It's going to be even colder in there."

Rico put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "I can keep you warm."

She grinned at him. "I know you can, love, but there's a lot of us, and I will get very offended if you put your arm around some other girl."

Corrie laughed at them. "You're so cute. I'm not cold, but I want to get my other bracelet. Two is better than one."

"Oh, good idea," said Roe.

Dawn frowned at Rico's arm as they walked back to the dorm. "We should make bracelets for you, too."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "I'm not exactly the bracelet-wearing type."

"Think of them as gauntlets," she said. "They're protective. And they're weapons."

"Well, if you can make me some that don't look girly, I guess that's okay."

"I'll give Naomi the assignment. I'm sure she'll take it as a challenge."

After preparing themselves, they walked quietly out to the woods. Every time Dawn crossed the numinous line from the college's land to the faerie territory, she liked it less and less. Probably because something else bad happened every time, except when she went to see Tom. At least Edie seemed to know where she was going, with only occasional pauses. Finally, they reached a giant maple tree, that, like the others, was almost bare of leaves, dark branches reaching into the sky.

There was no one there.