Chatoyant College, Book 1: New Student Orientation

Chapter 53: Found

"Are you feeling better now, Annie?" Edie asked.

Annie smiled. "Yes, much better. Thank you. I can't thank you enough. I just hope I can get back into the swing of things easily."

"Well, you have plenty of time to eat and sleep before classes start tomorrow morning," Dawn said.

"I think I'll be really glad to do something as mundane as go to class!" Annie laughed. "But I am worried about settling back in. Do I still have somewhere to live?"

Dawn, Corrie, and Edie all looked at each other. They hadn't thought of that. "I don't think anyone has moved in to your room with Salome," Corrie said after a pause. "But if she doesn't remember you, it might be hard to convince her to let you back in."

"We could get Lorelei to say you arrived late and you're assigned to be her roommate," Edie suggested. "Or Charlie, if Lorelei's not back yet. He's the RA for the first three floors."

"She did say she thought she just didn't have a roommate for some reason," Dawn said. She frowned. "It was really strange, actually. I thought she might have been in on it."

"That's a scary thought," said Rico.

"She could just be enchanted," said Corrie. "Or sort of enchanted. Like the rest of us. Edie and I certainly didn't remember you until we saw you, and we wouldn't have had any idea what happened if Dawn hadn't remembered and been worried about you."

Annie stood up from her chair, clutching her oboe in one hand. "Well, no point in standing around and talking about it. Let's just go and see what happens."

"Sounds fair," Edie agreed. They all stood up and walked out into the hallway, letting Annie lead. She went down the hall to the room she had shared with Salome and tried the door. It was locked; she checked her pockets, but found nothing. That was no surprise, Edie thought, since the faeries wouldn't have wanted her to bring keys with her. She still felt a sense of unreality, of distance from her own thoughts, when she thought about faeries. She tried to turn her thoughts to the situation at hand. Annie knocked, but there was no answer.

Then the heavy fire door at the end of the hall slammed, and they all turned. There was Salome, or rather, her skirt-clad legs and the top of her dark head, with two paper bags full of groceries hiding the rest of her. She walked up to the door without seeming to see them. They all backed away, but she looked up as she set the bags down and grinned.

"Annie! Hey! I was just wondering where you were," she said. Annie opened her mouth to respond, but Salome continued blithely on, getting out a key and unlocking the door. "Sorry I went grocery shopping without you. But if you help me put this stuff away we can go grab dinner. Sound good?"

Annie's mouth worked a few times, then she grinned with relief. "Sure. I just hope I can find my keys."

"Oh, they're on your desk," Salome said. "I noticed you left them there this morning. Don't forget them next time!"

"I won't," she said, turning to wave at Corrie, Edie, Dawn, and Rico. "See you later, guys." They waved back. It was obvious that Salome had no memory of her roommate having gone missing. If that was faerie magic, at least it was working in their favor this time.

"I think Salome's suggestion is a good one," Rico said.

"Dinner?" Edie asked. As soon as she said the word, her stomach began to remind her just how long it had been since she had eaten. "Definitely. Just have to get my card." They collected their things, as well as Naomi and Rico, then headed out of the building.

"It's going to be weird not having Ever around," Dawn said.

"She was memorable," Edie agreed. "But we'll probably get used to it."

"Ever?" Naomi asked. "Who's that?"

Corrie, Dawn, and Edie just looked at each other, then let out surprised, relieved laughs as they walked carefully down the path toward the dining hall.