Chapter Five

“Well, that was abrupt.” Nathan said as he turned to leave.

“Hey,” Summer said brusquely. “Stop hanging out with Myra.”

“Why? So you can keep protecting her by keeping things from her? I'm the one who can give her answers, especially now. You saw that tonight. I even started teaching her magic.”

“You what?!” Summer jumped up, eyes flashing in anger.

Illa didn't speak. Her face reddened in shame and her eyes fell to the floor.

“See? Neither of you will or can do anything to really help her. I can.”

“Like hell.” Summer growled. “Like you helped us? Like you were there for us? The teachers went feral when those humans showed up and you were nowhere while our friends died. How could you think in all the seven dimensions that we would believe you?”

Nathan smirked. “Yes, how in the seven dimensions. How could I ever believe that you'd use your brains and think for once. Maybe I was hiding. Maybe I was scared.”

“Yeah, so scared. So scared you were the only one to survive alone. So scared that you joined in with them in hurting those humans. The others told us.”

“Yep and halflings never lie, right? Just because it's hard, they never do? And they're never mistaken? No, I'm mistaken that you could ever think for yourselves, but I will never stop helping Myra or teaching her.”

“Even if you lead her into dangerous situations?” Summer said. “This is your fault. None of it would have happened if you weren't here.”

“Maybe not this way, but yes, someone would come after her. You know that, otherwise the lord wouldn't have talked to you. You wouldn't be here if he didn't think someone would attack her.”

Summer had no reply.

“But no,” Nathan said. “Plan on your own, keep Myra in the dark of even who she is, and I'll actually protect her.”

He stormed out, ignoring Summer's huff behind him.

“He's right,” Illa said. Summer was about to round on her when Illa continued. “We have to come up with a plan to keep Myra safe.”

“We have a plan. Keep her here and keep all other fae out.” Summer said, stressing the word all.

“It has to be better than that. We have to strengthen the wards, put up alarms, and...” Illa paused. “Maybe let Nathan help us and be in on the plan.”

“You have to be kidding. If we work with him, she'll definitely be killed or taken hostage and used against her dad.”

“And if we aren't good enough? If someone sneaks around us? What about Amoria?” Illa's earlier bravado melted away to show her fear. They had messed up and in a very big way.

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Summer waved a hand dismissively. “She'll be easy to get rid of. All we have to do is prove that Myra is fae. You told her that yourself.”

“And if she comes back before then?” Wards, alarms, they would help, Illa thought. But only two fae? They had gotten away from Amoria because of a technicality and bluffing. Sure, she seemed young and immature, but she was certainly older than Summer, Illa, and Nathan alike. With that came experience, power, and friends. Who knew who else could be on her side? “We have to tell her father,” Illa said.

“We will. He'll know, but not yet. Let's do the wards first and then get some sleep. We can get Myra through the next couple days and tell him about it when the trial is set. I'll go in the morning and talk to Kiam. He'll be able to help.”

“Alright, but the second anything goes wrong, I'm calling him.”

“Fine, now help me.”

The two girls stood and walked around the perimeter of their rooms. They held hands, focusing on shielding the rooms from all outside entities, both human and fae. There was no telling if Amoria would use someone human to do her bidding. Illa imagined bricks going up along the exterior of the walls like a castle. Not for the first time, she was glad that their rooms were on the edge of the building. Though, she'd convinced the staff to give them the rooms.

At the same time, Illa knew that Summer was imagining her own wards, that of an impossible abyss to cross. They had done this so many times over the years, though before it was just on their rooms. This time, they carefully snuck out, looked around for any teachers, and continued with the hallway. It took much longer and they couldn’t really watch for anyone while they built up new wards, but even if someone did come across them, they could just glamour the person into forgetting.

When they came to each corner, the girls switched tactics and imagined piercing sirens that would go off in their heads only if someone entered the hallway, came through the walls, or entered their rooms. Out in the hall, they used a weaker version so that the rising sun would wash it away. It would drive them nuts to get an alarm every time another student or teacher passed through.

The girls in their dorms, even though they didn’t know it, had charms that allowed them through the wards and past the alarms without triggering them. They had put charms on flower pendants for each girl that all of them wore each day. As long as they wore the charms, they could come and go as they pleased. Once Maria left hers in the bathroom, but she was compelled to go get it before entering their rooms. A second charm had been woven into the first, compelling the girls to never lose it and always have it on them in some manner.

Dropping with fatigue, Illa and Summer headed back down the hall.

“We could at least let Nathan know what we are doing,” Illa said.

Summer stopped, her eyes suddenly alert. “No, we can’t. You know what the others told us. We can’t involve him and we can’t keep letting Myra see him.”

“You know that’s not happening, Summer. Myra is going to do what she wants and we can keep the other fae away from her, but we can’t control her.”

Summer glowered, but didn’t say anything.

“He’s not going to go away and Myra probably won’t accept it easily if he chooses to. She’s certainly not going to push him away, even now. Maybe what we thought didn’t actually happen. Maybe-”

“It did and he’s lying. You know that.”

They stopped at the entrance to their dorms. Illa knew she wasn't going to be able to change Summer's mind, at least not now. The girls went in and parted ways to their own bedrooms.

Illa lay awake for what seemed like a long time, mulling over what she knew about Nathan and Myra's current situation. Even if Nathan had done something bad in the past, it didn't mean he couldn't change like Summer seemed to think. On top of that, who knew? Maybe the other fae were wrong. The attack had been total chaos. Illa wasn't quite sure she remembered everything exactly.

Humans showed up somehow. Illa had never figured that part out. And their teachers went berserk, completely bloodthirsty in their desire to rid Faery of the intrusion. She'd never seen anyone react like that before, not even during their skirmishes with vampires. Those were calculating, driven. This was pure hatred and unchecked furosity.

She didn't remember seeing Nathan before, during, or after. Getting out was a frenzied mess, so much that the memories only stuck out in individual pictures in her mind.

Illa drifted off into sleep, her thoughts merging so seamlessly into dreams that she didn't even notice. As she slept, she re-lived that day over and over.