Page 40 of Rebellious Royals

"Ok, yeah, that's a good point," I relented.

"And I can't even tell them how you did it," she said. "We barely understand what you do with your magic, Rain. Joan wasnothing like you. Yes, she was a Morrigan, and yes, she had the power of Wild magic, but she was trained to fight in a very different way. Joan relied on iron more than magic. You? Well, you make it up as you go along, and that seems to work best."

"Because swinging swords was done in Joan's day," I reminded her. "It was normal. Now? It's a weird historical thing that only really appears in fantasy books and movies."

"And when dealing with creatures who are all but immune to lead," she added. "But you killed one. Not stopped. Not sent away. You took the life of a hunter. The Wild Hunt is supposed to be immune to all things - but not you, apparently."

"But I don't know what I did!"

"I have noticed you often hold with your magic," she said. "First with Harper. Most recently, the four who attacked Aspen. You send your magic out like a net to trap them."

"It's actually more like animals," I admitted. "The magic takes on an animal's form, I mean. Wolves are common. Rabbits when I need it to be fast."

"Always Earth creatures?" she asked.

"No. A harpy helped with one of Aspen's attackers."

"And do you pick the form?"

I simultaneously shrugged and shook my head. "I don't know. I have a feeling like fast or strong, but it's Wild magic. It always feels like it has a mind of its own, so I just, I dunno, trust it?"

On the wall, Shadow was nodding, so Ms. Rhodes turned to it. "Does she pick the form?"

Lifting a hand, Shadow rocked it back and forth. The gesture was one I knew well, one that meant "sorta."

"Does sheneedto pick the form for it to work best?" Ms. Rhodes tried next.

And that creepy seam of no-shadow appeared, curling upwards into a smile. Slowly, Shadow shook its head.

"So is this an ability unique to Rain le Fae?" Ms. Rhodes tried next.

Shadow nodded. Then it did something that shocked me. Putting its hands together, the sentient Shadow used its hands to make the shape of a flying bird on the wall beside it.

"So Rain's bond to Jack is why her abilities aren't like other Morrigans of the past?" Ms. Rhodes tried.

Shadow thrust out its hand with the thumb up.

"See?" I said. "This is why I just sort of wing it. A lot."

"Then keep doing that," she told me. "So far, it seems to be working. And yet it's also creating a lot more questions than answers."

Chapter Twelve

RAIN

The graffiti was gone by the time first period was over. Thanks to magic, I was willing to bet. In second period, Jack returned to my shoulder and cuddled against my neck. That was nice, but it made it hard to concentrate on math. But when that class was over, he took off with Aspen again.

In my fourth period class, Jack flew into the room on his own. Clearly, the crow had learned his way around the building better than I'd expected for a bird. But he wasn'tjusta bird, was he? He was the Crow Prince. Not that I really understood what that meant, but I'd been a little too busy to try to make sense of his paltry vocabulary.

The rest of the day was normal. Sure, people talked about the graffiti. Most were trying to figure out who would do such a thing. The "how" seemed to be accepted, but it also implied some pretty impressive magic. Once, I heard someone speculate Torian had done it. Needless to say, I quickly shut that down - and earned a dirty look from my Zez for interrupting his class.

He didn't really mean it, though. He just had to treat me the same as the other students in his class. That was the downside of having one of my adoptive fathers as my teacher.

But when everyone else was released for the day, Keir and I still had one more class. Technically, it was considered eighth period for me, and treated as an extracurricular instead of an actual class, but I always thought of it as my detention hour. Here, I was supposed to learn how to be the Morrigan, whatever that meant.

Mostly, we focused on my combat skills. Sometimes, we talked about how my magic worked with Keir's. Lately, Hawke had been staying to help, and now I finally had someone to ask about Wild magic, or so I thought.

My plan was simple: I'd wait until the three of us were alone, then see how much Hawke felt comfortable talking about. As a jevadu, he was supposed to be a fae monster, but he didn't seem very monstrous to me. The question was whether he'd feel comfortable saying anything in front of Keir.