The next morning I pulled up to headquarters early, just like Cumat had told me. Wade was the one waiting on me today. My heart gave a little thump, seeing him leaning against the wall waiting on me. I whacked the offending organ and put a scowl on my face.

“Starren had something for Cumat to do,” he explained as soon as I stopped my bike.

“Okay.” I could be civil. I really could. At least I could try. “Ready to go in?”

“Actually, Cray hasn’t found us anything that isn’t registered with the Council yet, so we have nothing to track. Starren wants you to go to school, make sure your doppelganger is doing an okay job as you.”

Well wasn’t that nice of her. Not. “I can’t stay here and work with Cumat? He’s teaching me stuff.”

“Nope. What Starren says, goes. Cumat is running errands.”

I jumped on my bike and shoved off without answering.

“Trish, come on, at least talk to me,” Wade yelled after me. I didn’t give him the satisfaction of looking back. It was so confusing to be around him right now. I could really use this day off even though I just wanted to get this whole thing over with. What were we now? Obviously not boyfriend and girlfriend. Not even friends. Teammates, I guess, but somehow that didn’t seem to cover it. I groaned and pedaled faster, trying to get my mind off the whole mess. It didn’t really work.

What happened if Cray found something while I was at school? Served them right if they needed me later and couldn’t get me out of math class. Hopefully Starren had locked the other me up in some closet. It wouldn’t do to run into myself at school. This was probably my fault though, refusing to work with Wade. Starren might have let me spend the day at headquarters learning more fae tricks if I’d had a teacher. He could be teaching me something useful right now, instead of me heading to school where I’d be trying to memorize the periodic table. How was that helpful again?

It was strange riding to school. It had only been two days, but it was almost another life. Thursday, right? Now my days were getting mixed up. I should know though. Nina had been all misty eyed this morning over the fact that it had been a week since I went missing.

Once I made it to school, it was surreal. I had always known I didn’t belong here, that I should be off in some woods somewhere with the rest of the fae, but just didn’t know what the fae world was like. Now I did. A little bit anyway.

Mrs. Hemp watched me as I walked past her to my desk, intently enough to give me the creeps. What had the other me done to attract this much attention? I settled in to listen to the story of Odysseus, which made me wonder, how many other legends were true? Most people didn’t believe fae existed, yet here I was, sitting in the middle of them. Maybe Odysseus was fae. Or the sirens were under fae. So many possibilities.

When the bell rang, I shot out of class at top speed, not giving Mrs. Hemp the chance to call my name. I stumbled through my next two classes, hardly even there.

At lunch I grabbed a tray and started through the line.

Yum, tacos today. I loaded my plate with two soft shells and two hard, then slathered on the sour cream. A little extra never hurt. I turned to look around the room, actually thinking about where I should sit for the first time since I came to this school. I sighed. Making friends would create a great excuse for me to be gone at night, but I had no idea where to start. I’d never cared before. Plus whatever progress I made today would probably be destroyed by my look alike tomorrow. And really, tomorrow was all I needed if everything went well. Cray would figure out where Jaden was tonight, we’d go get him in the morning. After tomorrow, I’d be free. Hopefully. If we could break our losing streak.

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I started for my regular table against the wall in back, the perfect place for me. I could see everything going on but still stay under the radar.

“Trisha, wait up.”

I turned, trying not to let my face show any emotion. So far the only time someone had wanted to talk to me here it hadn’t turned out so good for me. I saw who it was. Never mind, I had to take that back. It was Rissa. She’d asked about me earlier this week. And now she was talking to me again. Twice in one week? The world really was going crazy. But that didn’t change my initial reaction. What did one of the popular girls want with me?

“Um, hi,” I said brilliantly. What a great come back.

“Want to sit with Amy and me for lunch today?”

Sit with her and Amy? Okay, yes, it was possible for me to die. I was going to fall over dead from shock. That was something any other girl in this cafeteria would just about kill for. Problem was, it wasn’t such a good idea for me.

When I’d been thinking about the need to make friends, the two most sought after girls in school hadn’t even crossed my mind as possibles. Especially since I’d spent my time here doing my best to be ignored. Sure, they’d been nice, but to ask me to sit at their table? A whole different story.

But saying no would be a major insult, resulting in attention I didn’t need right now. “Sure?”

“Great!” She linked her arm through mine and tugged me toward the diva table. We got there and she dropped her tray in her normal spot. “I got her to come,” she stated the obvious to the other girl at the table.

“Great, glad to have you, Trisha.” Amy smiled.

I studied her for a moment while the two of them chatted, trying to figure out why I was here. Same dyed hair, black underneath, blond on top, check. Designer jeans, holes pre-ripped, check. Same intense green eyes, check. Why was she staring? Had she asked me something?

“Sure,” I said, looking down at my plate and hoping with all my might that she hadn’t just asked if those jeans made her look fat.

“Great,” she smiled again. This wasn’t so bad. I could do this. If she stopped saying great. Great was getting annoying. “Meet us out front after school.”

Meet them out front? Meet them out front for what? Obviously I’d missed something important. Amy stood. “Sorry, we were just finishing up and I’ve got to get to the gym. See you after school.”

“See ya,” I said. She didn’t seem to notice, she was gone, Rissa following right after her.

I just sat at the diva table for a full minute, no longer interested in my tacos. What just happened? And what had I agreed to do after school? I came-to enough to pay attention to the lunchroom. Kids were pretending not to notice me sitting at the diva table by myself, but I caught the quick glances and whispers. Suddenly the thought of eating those tacos made me sick.

The walk to the trash can by the door to the hallway felt like it was farther away than the portal had been back in the woods. I ignored everyone I passed, something I’d gotten really good at doing. After dumping the contents of my tray into the trash, I slid into the hallway.

Now what? I’d rushed out of class and got to lunch early, so now with me skipping the food I had way too much time, at least forty-five minutes.

Almost without thought, I wandered toward the gym. There was a small window in the swinging doors, mostly there so a person didn’t slam someone going the opposite direction. I snuck up to it and peeped through the three-inch square.

There was Amy, playing some one-on-one basketball with a girl I didn’t know. When she’d said she was heading for the gym, I’d automatically filled in the blank with cheerleader. Basketball player? Never crossed my mind.

“Who are you watching?” a voice asked from behind. I jerked back from the window and turned that way. What in the world was she doing here?