Breakfast the next day was quiet. Dan and Nina didn’t have much to say and, with my guilty conscience, I couldn’t think of a thing. As soon as I could get away without starting Dan’s suspicious mind turning, I said my goodbyes and headed out. I took my book bag, checking to make sure the front pocket was still zipped. Not sure what one packed to go on a quest, I’d thrown in some cash and my phone charger.

Cumat was waiting for me outside the fake wall. “Good morning, Miss Trisha.” First time I’d ever been called that. He took off and I followed him inside, the feeling of passing through the portal not quite as weird this time.

“What excuse did Starren give the school so they won’t check with Nina about me skipping?” I asked as I followed Cumat down the long white hall. We were probably headed for the same door we went through yesterday, but since I hadn’t counted and all the doors looked the same I couldn’t tell for sure.

Without answering, Cumat flung one of the doors open, bowed and gestured for me to go ahead of him. I stepped in and then nearly jumped back out of the room.

“Trisha Penchant, meet your doppelganger,” Wade’s voice came from somewhere over by the far wall. I’d missed seeing him until he spoke up, so busy staring into my own face that I had no idea who else was in the room. I really needed to work on that. The whole tunnel vision thing.

I waved my hand in front of the other me’s face. She was even dressed like me. This was so awesome. I was never going to school again. Creepy thought though, how had they known what I was wearing today?

Wade pushed off the back wall where he had been leaning and sauntered toward us.

“I will tell Ms. Starren you are here,” Cumat said. He left and shut the door.

“She isn’t perfect. She might not answer questions correctly and won’t talk much, but she should get you through the day without anyone knowing you’re gone. They’ll just think it’s one of your space cadet days.” He lifted an eyebrow and gave me that grin, the one I used to not be able to resist. Used to. The grin slipped off and he got a puppy dog look on his face, one that I’d never seen before. “Trisha, I…”

I growled at him but didn’t have a chance to say anything before the door swung open again. Starren marched in, followed closely by an almost running Cumat.

“Are you two quite ready yet?” she asked.

“Yep,” Wade answered, going back to not talking to me now that other people were here.

“I’m not, how’d you get another me?”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Starren barely glanced at me. “Someone else’s gift. I told him I wanted another you, here she is. Her clothes have switched three times today, know anything about that?”

I felt my face flush red. I’d been trying to find a good questing outfit, then figured out the temperature in California might be warmer than here and changed again. I was done asking questions now.

“Cumat,” Starren said, nodding toward me number two, “take… that to Trisha’s school. Make sure it gets inside, but don’t be seen.”

Cumat muttered something grumpy under his breath. “What?” Starren asked sharply.

“Nothing. Nothing at all. Come along, doppel.” He waited until the second me was through the door, then slammed it behind them. It had to be hard for the poor guy, a dwarf working for the fae. Lots of species lived in Faerie, not just the fae, and they didn’t usually get along. He probably had a pretty interesting story. At some point long ago in history he would have been considered fae too, but the classes had been split by a previous Council and now dwarves were of the lower class. Assuming that some of Mom’s bedtime stories were more than stories.

“So are we just supposed to wander up and down the streets of California looking for this guy? How do you even know that’s where he is?” I asked once the door was solidly closed.

Wade snorted. “No.” He nodded toward the far wall. There was a slight kid sitting there, his blond hair almost covering his eyes, big framed glasses sitting on his nose. Between me number two and Wade, I hadn’t even noticed him. His features were much more petite than Wade’s, not as masculine. Until now, Wade was the only male fae I’d ever met, so this was interesting. This kid may not have looked like I would have expected, but he was still really cute.

“That’s where Cray comes in.” He must have seen the blank look on my face. “He can sense fae energy. Anything out of the ordinary passed by an area in the last three days and he’ll know. He’s been out in Cali the last two days already, getting a lead for us. Now it’s our turn to come in and protect him, just in case Jaden has caught on.”

I watched the kid for a second. Okay, maybe not kid, he had to be older than me to have his powers if he went by normal fae rules and didn’t cheat like I had somehow. What was his story? What made him so sad and quiet? Maybe his girlfriend had killed him. Just the thought made me send a glare at Wade. He shrugged, looking mystified. Like he didn’t know what I was miffed about.

“Ready?” Starren asked the kid in the back in a surprisingly gentle tone. Sure, she’d started out like that with me at first too. It would be interesting to see how she treated him by the end of the day.

The kid, Cray, nodded. Starren walked over and grabbed a backpack off her glass desk, then charged for the door. Did she rush everywhere she went?

Wade took off right behind her, then me after him. I heard Cray’s footsteps following me. Starren turned left out of the door, heading deeper down the long hallway. If we just kept going, how long would it take us to reach Faerie? I squinted, trying to see a change, to guess how long the passage was, but it just stretched on and on.

Starren stopped three doors down from her office. I made it into the room just in time to see her open another door, step through and disappear. Poof, just like that, she was gone. Wade didn’t even pause, then he was gone too. I waffled for a moment. Mistrust of Starren and Wade aside, this would have been really interesting. But as it was, a little intimidating. I glanced toward Cray, who just looked at me like I was crazy.

I took a deep breath and jumped through the portal after Wade, hoping against hope that there wasn’t a padded cell on the other side.