Chatoyant College, Book 1: New Student Orientation

Chapter 50: Escape

It wasn't long before they arrived. Without warning, Ever turned and stepped between two trees. The others hastened to follow, and suddenly they were in the same clearing again. Edie gulped and clutched at the keys she shared with Corrie. Yes, this was the same place; there were the faeries, there were the human musicians, though some of them were in different positions. The bald woman and the man with the fox's tail seemed to be involved in a much more intimate conversation than they had been before.

The human-looking, but misshapen, woman who had seemed to be the leader was staring at them. "So. The humans have returned, have they?"

"They just want their friend back," said Ever. She took a step forward.

They? That couldn't be right. Had Ever just intimated that she wasn't human? She glanced over at Dawn, who was nodding slowly, staring at Ever. Rico was looking around with a confused, unfocused expression.

"Repented your actions, have you?" said the woman with a cruel, twisted smile.

Ever nodded. "Give her back."

The woman shook her head slowly. "No. She is ours now. The contest has been lost; no bargain has been made."

"I will make a bargain," said Ever. "I offer myself."

The woman stared, then threw her head back and laughed. "You offer to trade yourself, to take the place of this human musician?"

"Certainly," said Ever. Edie couldn't see her face, but it sounded like she was smiling. "Unless you don't want me, of course."

"Oh, we want you." The woman opened her arms as though to embrace Ever. "It is fair. The bargain is made."

There was a jangling of music, and then movement from the musicians--and then Annie was running toward them, her eyes wide, the instrument she'd been playing clutched in one hand. She was shorter than Edie had thought, and slim as a tree branch. Her pale hair was a mess and her skin was paper-white. "Let's get out of here!" she cried, her voice breathy and surprisingly hoarse. "Before they change their minds!"

Rico seemed to stare at her, then responded to Dawn's urgings and slowly turned. Annie grabbed Edie's arm and started pulling her in the direction they'd come from. She stumbled after the fair-haired girl, Corrie following along quite willingly. Before she turned, she saw a glimpse of something, but she couldn't say exactly what it was; it was as though Ever's oak leaf tattoo was spreading over her whole body, turning into leaves that sprouted from her arms and roots that anchored her to the ground, leaving only catlike eyes behind.

Then they were running through the forest, Annie in the lead, still holding onto Edie's arm. After a few yards, though, she stopped and looked around, bewildered. "Oh, no, which way is in and which is out?" Edie tried to look at the sky, but couldn't determine the position of the sun, nor would she have known whether the campus was east or west from where they were.

Dawn pushed past them. "I know where it is," she said shortly. Annie shook her head, but they followed Dawn.

"Is it your magic, Dawn?" Corrie asked as they followed. Edie could now see ahead of them that the forest was brighter and less forbidding--the opposite of the difference she had noticed when she and Corrie had started to hold the keys.

"I guess so," Dawn responded, not slowing her pace. "I don't know how I know, I just feel like I know which way the campus is." She stepped into the brighter place and breathed a sigh of relief.

Annie did the same a moment later. Edie relaxed and let go of Corrie's hand. Annie didn't let go of her arm, though. "We're out of the faerie lands," she said with a smile.

Rico shook his head, pressing the heel of his free hand (the one Dawn wasn't holding) to his forehead. "What just happened?" he asked, sounding dazed.

"Like I told you," Dawn said. They could spread out a little more now, since they were following a defined path. Edie could see the campus buildings ahead of them. "We went to get Annie back from the faeries. You couldn't see them?"

"I saw..." He looked back at Annie and laughed shakily. "I don't know, it was very strange."

"Did you see a banquet hall?" Edie asked. "With people all dressed up in really nice clothes?" That was what she remembered seeing before Dawn had her pick up the iron.

He nodded as they moved out of the woods and into the bright early-afternoon sunlight of the campus. "Something like that."

"Oh." Dawn's shoulders slumped. "I thought maybe you were seeing what was really there through your contact with me. I guess that isn't enough. Why didn't you try to join them?"

Rico shrugged. "Why would I?"

"Remember, they were trying to convince me and Edie to come eat with them or whatever," Corrie said. "Ever probably distracted them from trying."

"Ever." Dawn shook her head. "She's so strange. I guess she must have been a faerie, but why did she help us?"

"I think she--" Annie started to say, then slumped suddenly against the doorway of Gilkey, pulling Edie over with her.