Page 232 of Pixie Problems

RAIN

It rained overnight. Friday morning, I woke up to a soft pattering of drizzle on the windows in the school halls. Thankfully, Ms. Rhodes assured me that not only was it supposed to stop by noon, but the skies would be clear all night since the weather had been completely used up.

Ok, I may have asked. Freaked out was probably a better word, but this was a big deal to me. Then, the moment the rain stopped, I sent messages to everyone to make sure we were still a go. Keir assured me even the courtiers were excited about this, so it was definitely happening.

That evening, I hid in the bathroom to send another flurry of texts. Everyone was supposed to be outside and ready by seven p.m. When they notified me they were there, I tried to casually ask Aspen if she'd be interested in walking outside with me for a little birthday date.

She looked at me like she'd heard something off, but she agreed. What impressed me the most, though, was Jack. He fluttered over to my shoulder, then cawed rather normally. I pointed out that it had been a while since I'd taken him out to fly with the crows, and that our first date had been taking Jack to fly.

My bird nodded, Aspen giggled, and I realized I was getting pretty good at this fae truth-telling thing. After all, all of that was true, but I'd left out the big part - and I was pretty sure she didn't have a clue. So, as we werewalking out across the grass, I made a point of telling her I was sorry she didn't get some big birthday thing.

Aspen just shrugged. "I've never gotten to have a real birthday bash, Rain. Why change now?"

"I mean, growing up doesn't have to be all serious and shit, right?" I caught her hand, twining my fingers in hers. "Not to kill the mood or anything, but isn't that what you and Torian have been fighting about?"

She shrugged. "Kinda, yeah. He wants me to plan out my future, and I want to worry about school first, then the rest next."

"And fun in the middle of all of that," I said as we rounded a cluster of trees. "So..."

"Court!" Jack yelled, launching off my shoulder to shoot ahead of us.

That was the sign, so everyone yelled, "Happy Birthday, Aspen!" at the top of their lungs.

Sucking in a breath, she pressed both hands over her mouth, looked at me, then back to the crowd who were all still cheering and clapping. That was when her eyes fell on her brother.

"Torian?" she asked.

"Happy birthday, big sis," he said.

She squealed at the top of her lungs and ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck. He caught her and hugged back so hard he picked her up. Aspen's legs bent so her feet were in the air, and the giggle? Oh, that was the sweetest sound I'd ever heard.

"How?" Aspen asked. "I didn't... you knew about this?"

He winked at her, then turned to show all the courtiers who'd shown up. "We had some friends help. All I had to do was not let anything slip."

Aspen squealed again, looking at everyone who'd shown up. Both of my dads were here, along with the headmistress, the entire court, and Poppy with most of her courtiers.

Aspen hurried over to Poppy next. "Oh, this is amazing. And Nevaeh, you're here. Oh!" She saw someone else, and made her way through the group, greeting all eight of the courtiers who'd made a point of helping her celebrate turning eighteen before turning to her teachers.

Which was when Hawke slipped in beside me. "Sword arm?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"I need the other one."

Flashing me a smirk, he took my offered arm and turned it so my left palm was up. "It's her birthday, but this is my way of showing appreciationfor standing up even when my best friend is wrong. And for understanding that sometimes helping him isn't the same as disagreeing with you."

He buckled on a wide leather strap. No, it was a cuff, and the thing was carved intricately. I had to wait until he secured both of the buckles that held it on my wrist, and then turned my arm over to see the crow stone sewn onto the top, but something was different about it.

"Hawke?" I asked, looking up.

He shrugged. "Wilder, me, and Torian worked together on it."

The stone had a soft purple glow. That was the same color as my magic, which meant someone had put Wild magic into this, and there was only one person that could be.

"But you can't talk about it, right?" I asked.

"It would be better if I just avoided all of that, yeah. But itisa big loophole, and Torian said this is a question we can answer, because our promise doesn't cover it."