Page 185 of Pixie Problems

"Yeah," I muttered, reaching for my phone. "And I think I'm going to turn on my weather alerts. I just have a bad feeling about this."

I was tapping at that when a branch snapped. Immediately, the three of us shifted, putting our backs together the way we'd been taught in defensive combat. My phone was forgotten. Hawke's tablet was inside his hoodie again. There was a strange sensation in the air that made me think magic - and then a foot scraped in the leaves. A girl giggled next.

I let out a sigh and relaxed just as Nevaeh came around the corner - and Hawke tensed. "What the fuck?" he snarled.

Nevaeh squealed in surprise. Immediately, Poppy Hawthorne rushed forward, revealing herself. The girl's hands were up and green light flared up between them, evaporating the moment she saw us.

"Rain?" Poppy asked.

"Why the hell are you out here?" I demanded.

She gestured at Nevaeh. "She said there's an enchanted item on the grounds that is calling the Hunt! She said she told you!"

Keir just huffed out a laugh. "So you're looking for it? Did she tell you who it's for?"

Poppy just lifted her chin and stepped forward, dispelling her magic. "I will have you know I choose the fae. Not Summer or Winter. Not even the sidhe. I choseallfae, and that includes wildlings."

Hawke finally relaxed, but his head tilted a bit as he looked the girl over again. "Your mother is a proud supporter of Summer," he pointed out.

Poppy rolled her eyes. "And she was here on vacation when the gates closed, but I've heard the stories. I have friends who lost their parents." Shegestured to Nevaeh. "I know this isn't a seasonal thing. It's not even a power thing. This? It's about our survival, and if we want to keep magic in the world, then we all have to work together, right?"

"Why do you care?" I asked her. "You've got an in. You could be one of the jesters if you wanted. Poppy, why have you always been nice to me?"

She laughed once, looking down at her feet in the process. "Because you were nice to me, Rain. You don't give me shit for being in eleventh grade, or for not being cool. You also noticed me. Everyone else calls me the little Hawthorne, thinking I'm just a carbon copy of my mom, but you know what? My dad raised me too."

"A human?" Keir guessed.

"Faeling," Poppy admitted. "He was born here, lived there, and then came back here. Dad called himself an adventurer, back when it was cool."

"When was that cool?" I asked, ready to crack a joke.

But Poppy just shrugged. "Like the eighteen hundreds. You know, before they had the whole world mapped out. But that's the thing, right? Once, there were things we didn't know. Now, there are things we've been told - but my dad raised me on history. Mostly Earth history, and I've seen these patterns before. They never end well when one 'kind' is the best and the other should die."

"No, they never do," I agreed. "So where have you checked?"

She pulled out her tablet and came closer. "We started after breakfast over here..."

Hawke woke his up and we did a little comparing. Then there was some planning. It didn't take long before the delegating started, and the strangest part was how they all looked at me.

I was used to being ignored, not relied on. Strangely enough, I found I liked the sensation. I'd like it even more if we found this damned Hunt sign!

Chapter Fifty-Four

RAIN

By Wednesday, the allure of spending so much time outside had faded. With the help of Poppy and Nevaeh, we'd marked off almost two hundred dots. Well, one hundred and ninety-six, to be exact. Yep, I was counting. Only about eight hundred to go, give or take a couple dozen.

Because - surprise, surprise - a school for the fae was covered in enchanted items. Thankfully, my dads had agreed to check out the ones in teacher's homes. Liam said he would respect our desire to keep this to ourselves. Bracken pointed out that Nevaeh likely wouldn't keep her mouth shut, not if she'd already told Poppy, so he thought my insistence on secrecy was foolish.

I didn't care. Granted, the newest rumor at Silver Oaks was that Keir was now getting some from Hawke on the side. That was why Torian had been in detention for the last two days. Someone had asked Keir if he liked fucking "little boys," and Torian had responded in the least magical way possible: by punching the idiot in the face.

In Torian's defense, he hadn't stripped the guy of his magic, so all of us were counting it as a win, including Ms. Rhodes. Yet the tensions were high, and Torian's recent attitude made the court prime targets. After all, there was nothing a bully loved more than getting a reaction, and Torian just couldn't help himself.

As I climbed the flights of stairs to get from the Never to my math classon the second floor, I was dragging. Jack kept up a litany of words and caws to keep me going, but it didn't help. The bell for the hour rang just as I turned down the hall. By the time I stepped into class, Aspen was starting to look worried.

"Miss le Fae?" my teacher asked.

"Sorry," I said. "Magical drain sucks."