Page 212 of Pixie Problems

"Who?" Hawke asked right as the door burst open and Liam rushed in. "Is she ok?" he demanded, forcing me back so he could see her. "Rain?"

"She's drained," Bracken said, moving behind Liam to wrap his arms around the guy. "She's fine. She didn't get hurt. She just burned a lot of magic that wasn't hers to begin with. Kinda like passing out drunk."

The clack of hard soles announced Ms. Rhodes making her way down the hall. Torian moved to open the door the rest of the way as she rounded the corner. This time, she wasn't wearing a business suit. Her jeans were tight; her shirt fit much too well. The sound I'd heard came from boots that hit just under her knee, and they looked like they'd been specially crafted. The sort of thing often found at renaissance faires.

"Hawke, if you'd let me in there?" she asked, but she didn't slow down to wait.

The headmistress marched around the bed, reached down, and placed her hand in the middle of Rain's belly. Vivid green flashed in the room and Rain gasped, sitting up quickly just to sink back against the pillows.

"What the..."

"Oh thank god," Liam said, clutching one of her hands. "How do you feel?"

"Heavy," she answered.

Bracken just thrust a water bottle filled with amber liquid at her. "Drink this, Rain. As much as you can take."

"Nectar?" she asked.

"Yeah, it really does help with the magical burnout."

On her other side, Ms. Rhodes sat gently on the edge of the bed. "While she finishes that, I want to know what happened. I don't care who tells me."

"We were looking for the Hunt sign," I explained. "Poppy Hawthorne's group has been helping. One of the 11th graders made an interactive map, Poppy has been removing the dots we can identify, and we'd eliminated a few hundred items on the grounds."

"Then Rain saw the storm coming," Wilder explained. "We were walking to the next spot, but that storm came out of nowhere, and I've heard about it happening before."

Ms. Rhodes narrowed her eyes. "You can tell me about it later."

"I can tell you about it now," he assured her. "Keir and Rain both know I'm a duke."

"And your promise?" Bracken asked.

Wilder scoffed. "I didn't promise to keep my title secret. Rain figured it out because of Jack. Keir has known since New Year's Eve. He also doesn't care. Neither do I." He gave Ms. Rhodes a look. "But my father told me stories of when the Hunt started coming after the Winter Court. He showed me some of the enchanted items used to summon the Wild Hunt. Often, the enchantments made by Summer nobility wouldn't activate until they were in the presence of Winter magic, so we couldn't see them until it was too late. Well, the four of us had just passed a few trees outside when Rain suddenly saw the storm, and it reminded me of those stories."

"Shit," I breathed.

"That's why you asked about the trees?" Rain wanted to know.

Wilder nodded. "Yeah. But that's the thing. Taylor Valentina? Harper's mother? She lived in the palace."

"She had nothing -" Torian's words stopped hard. "She..." He strained. "That woman never saw the Queen!"

"She did from a distance," Ms. Rhodes said. "She's also exactly the kind of person who'd bring those tactics here." She scanned all of our faces. "And yes, I remember when those things were something courtiers bragged about. It was what convinced me I no longer belonged in that world. I will not hunt my own people. I don't care if that is Summer, Winter, or Wild." With each type of magic listed, she looked from Torian, to Aspen, then finally at Rain. "How did Rain get the weapons, Wilder?"

"Her shadow did," he explained. "The damned thing stood up, folded on itself, and then came back and pulled their weapons from its darkness."

"That's what you called peter-panning?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, and trust me, the description does not do it justice."

"Jack yelled at my shadow," Rain explained. "It just stood up, and before I could even reach for my magic, it was gone. I was thinking I shouldn't push shadows through Keir's shield, because they might break it, and then it was back with swords."

"On its own?" Ms Rhodes asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, it does that."

"Wait," Torian said. "Where is her shadow?"