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Chapter Twenty-Eight

RAIN

T he week passed slowly. Aspen was spending most of her time with Torian, but I understood.

She'd had a very traumatic experience, and he was the only family she had.

It also seemed to help. Whatever the two talked about when they were locked away made both of them look more relaxed when they rejoined the rest of us at lunch.

And slowly, more people were returning to our classes.

I kept going the whole time, but only because I didn't know what else to do with myself.

When I stopped for too long, I started thinking about the chaos of that battle, and the way I'd felt so confused.

Lost, even. I was supposed to be this big and impressive thing, but I didn't have a damned clue what I was doing.

Thankfully, Keir showed up at the gym the next day, and every day after.

Suddenly, my detention class was more like therapy.

Not that we talked about it, exactly. It was more about pushing myself, making sure I could actually use this steel blade my zez had given me.

The physical exertion kept my fears at bay.

But over the weekend was the worst. That was when Silver Oaks held the memorial for Fin.

No one cried, but there was a stillness in the student body I never could've imagined before.

Too many of us kept looking over our shoulders - at the sky.

It was clear and blue the whole time, even though it was cold.

But living among a few hundred sullen students was a lot. Jack tried to keep me amused, even going so far as doing tricks. Evidently, he could do a pretty good string of somersaults! And yeah, it was cute, but I really found my peace when I took him outside to fly.

Not to the atrium. That felt gloomy. Instead, I wandered around the same grounds where we'd fought so he could mingle with the other crows. What bothered me the most, however, were the lingering marks that made it clear this hadn't been a dream.

Hoofprints had dug into the cold mud. I found scuffs where the ground had been gouged with a body, a blade, or something else. On one hand, it proved how many people had been out in the smothering sleet. On the other, it felt like affirmation.

We had fought back.

When running away had been the sensible option, so many had run out to help instead.

Hunters had been pulled to the ground. Those creepy horses of theirs had stumbled, leaving ruts where their hooves had slipped.

Evergreens had broken branches from someone crashing into them, and blood still stained the ground a strange shade that bleached the color from the dried grass beneath.

I did my best to hang on to that. We'd made a dent. A group of teachers and teenagers had pushed back what the fae feared the most. The Wild Hunt was an unstoppable force, but we'd stopped them - for now. Yet the one thing I couldn't forget was that they would be back.

On Monday, most of the students returned to their normal schedules.

According to the whispers I overheard, the ones still missing were injured.

Most had been students in Aspen's botany class, but she'd done her best to help.

Hearing secondhand how she'd frozen the ground, made the hunters' weapons brittle enough to shatter, and pulled all their attention to her?

No wonder she was having a hard time. She'd sacrificed herself, but instead of praising her for it, everyone seemed to act like she'd somehow done something stupid. I preferred to think she'd trusted me, knowing I would never leave her out there to fight alone.

But after class, she was gone again. To prove I hadn't been forgotten, there was a new plant on my desk. It was big! The thing had deep indigo flowers, which were almost trumpet-shaped. They hung from tendrils that would likely grow long enough to be called vines.

"Hi, plant," I whispered, reaching out to caress a leaf. "Do you have any cool tricks?"

One of the arms twitched, sending a thorn at the wall beside my door - which was not where I was standing. A big thorn, because the bit sticking out of my wall was over an inch long. Twice as much had been embedded into the drywall.

"Well, ok then," I muttered. "So, can we be friends?"

It shifted to trail one of those tendrils across my wrist, almost like a caress. Jack flapped over to slide to a stop on the desk beside it, rattling in a comforting way.

"Court!" he announced.

"From Aspen?"

He slung his beak up and down, confirming it. I had no clue how he knew these things, but Ms. Rhodes kept talking about the inherent abilities of wildlings. Things that gave them special powers they couldn't turn off. Clearly, Jack had a few, so I was just going to trust him.

I managed to get changed into something comfortable, since I now had an entire wardrobe, and was debating what to do with myself when there was a knock at my door.

"Court!" Jack declared.

But not Aspen, because she wouldn't knock. And yet, when I opened the door, I was still confused to see Hawke on the other side. As if in explanation, he lifted his tablet. The cover of my math textbook was on it.

"Studying?" I asked, almost confused.

"Yeah, um..." Letting out a sigh, he slipped past me and into the room. "It was an excuse. I'm going to kill someone if I don't get out of my room - "

"Problems with Wilder?" I asked, showing I knew his little secret.

But Hawke just waved that off. "No, he's ok. Worried about Aspen, of course, but Keir's avoiding his room, and Torian's being overly protective of Aspen. They want space, so Keir's in my room, and..." He trailed off with an annoyed growl.

"So studying sounded good." I nodded to show I understood. "I think I left my tablet in Aspen's room. Let me get that and - "

"How do you feel about the lounge?" he suggested, looking suspiciously at my new plant.

"Uh, sure..." I kept going, raising my voice so he could still hear me. "Why?"

Hawke waited until I was back. "Because I'm not going to fuck with a Monarch's Assassin."

"The plant?" I asked.

He nodded slowly. "Yeah. They were bred to guard the walls of Avalon."

"Where? "

"The Isle of Apples," he said. "That's basically what it translates to, but it's the island where the Winter Court is."

"A whole island?"

"Yeah, we have those." He opened the door and gestured for me to join him. "It's a beautiful place, covered in our version of wisteria. Well, looks similar, has similar colors, but..." He waited until Jack flew into the hall, then closed the door. "They're attack plants, Rain."

"You mean the same kind as that one?"

"Yep. C'mon, Jack." Pressing a hand between my shoulders, he turned me down the hall, towards the front of the building. "Aspen got you a good one, at least."

"Morrigan!" Jack agreed.

But I had to ask, "How can you tell?"

"The color," he explained. "The dark ones can only be grown by those with a tie to plants. Considering her mother was one of the court gardeners?"

That made me stop in my tracks. "Really?"

"Mhm," he agreed, pressing me forward. "Aspen spent her early years just outside the palace, Rain. Her mother tamed the flowers, creating hedges, lover's nooks, and all the pleasantries the nobility wanted."

"So she wasn't noble?" I asked. "Her mom, I mean. You know, since Bracken's mom was, and they're, you know." I didn't want to say related out here in the halls.

Hawke gave me a smile, then turned into the lounge area for the girls' side. "Minor. I know she was a lady, which means yes. She wasn't a baroness or anything, though, so minor. I also haven't asked much more than that."

"Me either," I agreed. "It's a touchy subject."

"Dead parents usually are."

"Court!" Jack yelled. "Court, court!"

Hawke chuckled at my bird and paused to scan the area, which was basically empty. "Guess we get our pick."

"Jack!" my bird said even as he flew upwards, clearly knowing where he wanted to be.

Yep, that was getting to be normal. Granted, I didn't really mind. Trying to keep up with Jack, making sure he always made it through the doors and was acknowledged in conversation? It was a full-time job. A good one, but I didn't mind a few minutes to myself either - or with a friend like Hawke.

So I chose a set of couches and soft chairs near the back.

Here, sunlight drifted in, and it wasn't close to the television.

It was currently playing music, with a black screen that only said the artist and song name.

Ambiance worked, but if someone came in and put on a show, I'd never pay attention to math!

"What about yours?" I asked as I woke up my tablet.

"My what?"

"Parents," I clarified. "Not that you have to tell me, but I'm curious."

He laughed once. "Well, my mother was a fool and I never knew my father."

"Uh-huh," I murmured, nodding to show I didn't understand at all. "I think that's getting to be the norm, huh?"

"Exactly," he agreed. "I also got out when I was a boy. Well, was gotten out. A guard took pity on me, showed me how to get to the gates, and convinced the man guarding it to see nothing."

"How?" I asked, trying to figure out how hard escape really was.

"With the hilt of his sword." Hawke chuckled at the memory.

"It was the moment I decided I wanted to learn how to fight for myself.

As a kid, I wasn't exactly popular. The ones who should've been my friends were scared of me.

Hell, even Torian is, I think. Well, in his own way, but that's also why we're friends. "

"Doesn't sound like something to build a friendship on," I pointed out.

He shrugged it off. "We were all scared.

Nothing but lost children, parentless, trying to wade through a world that was a myth.

From cast-iron skillets to never saying the wrong thing, there were so many mistakes that could be made, and we couldn't trust anyone.

None of us, Rain. Not just the court, but all the kids here. "