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Chapter Thirty

RAIN

A s soon as I ran, Jack took off, soaring beside me. Sadly, I didn't have any armor. I hadn't picked up my sword. The one thing I did have was magic, simply because our practice sessions resulted in me missing blocks enough to be constantly fueled up.

"Jack, go back and get Hawke!" I told him.

"Morrigan!" he said instead.

"So tell Shadow!"

And from the edge of my vision, darkness shot away towards the gym.

The sensation was leading me toward a cluster of trees I knew far too well.

We'd fought the Hunt beside them once. Over there was where the lure for the Hunt had been hidden.

My first semester, Aspen had been burned with iron around here, and we'd also laid in the winter grass, feeding Jack as we figured out this relationship thing we were doing.

Once, I'd found her around here with the Huntsman trying to drag her away.

My guts were tying themselves into knots as I hurried to find her.

Somewhere, she could be dying, or fighting for her life.

My job was to protect her. Not because I was the Morrigan, either.

No, it was because I loved her - and I did.

Aspen was the entire reason I was happy.

She was everything good in the world, all wrapped up in a beautiful, pale package.

But when I made it around the Forge, I stopped hard.

Aspen's entire class was there, and no one was struggling or shoving.

Instead, a few people were looking up. Some had a hand over their mouths.

Others were pale with wide eyes. I saw a girl with her head pressed into a guy's shoulder. Clearly, she was crying.

"What's wrong?" I demanded, scanning the group for Aspen. "Where's Aspen!"

A guy pointed nervously, refusing to look that way.

So I followed his gesture. In two steps, I saw her between a pair of trees, clearly concentrating on her conjuration. Pale light sparkled around her, and Ms. Linden, the botany teacher, was hovering as if worried.

"Aspen? Are you ok?" I asked.

"She's preserving the evidence, Morrigan," Ms. Linden said. "You may not want to look."

Which meant I had to. Closing the distance, I tried to see what so many were staring at, but even when I did, I couldn't make sense of it initially. Brown was the most obvious thing. There was some red as well, a bit of white, and ice was quickly frosting the leaves of the tree it had been hung in.

Not it. Her .

Suddenly, the horror of the situation made sense, because that mess in the tree, far above where a human could climb, was a person - or what was left of one.

"Jack?" I asked, holding up my arm so he could land. "Make sure my zez comes too?"

"Dad!" he agreed before taking off again.

Right now, I really didn't want to distract Aspen.

I wasn't sure what exactly she was doing, but it had to be her way of helping.

Sadly, I was pretty sure that was merely a body in the tree, not a living person.

Thankfully, it didn't take long before Hawke, Keir, the sentinels, and my zez came running over.

"What happened, Flora?" Bracken asked, looking at Ms. Linden.

"Oh, Brack!" she gasped, hurrying over. "We were gathering boughs, and one of the girls saw her first."

"Who?" Hawke demanded, his eyes locked on Aspen.

Ms. Linden licked her lips. "I'm not sure. I only know it's a girl because of the skirt."

Ok, I'd missed that part, but the thing in the trees was a mess.

I also really didn't want to look at it too hard.

I was sure it wasn't person-shaped anymore.

More like it had been crushed and broken.

I had a bad feeling the brown was old blood, the red was new, and the white was probably bones.

Some of it had to be flesh, but nope. I was not going to look up again.

Then Aspen dropped her arms. "I've preserved the area," she said, standing a little straighter when she saw us. "Rain! Bracken! Oh, I'm sorry, I was - "

"Busy," Bracken finished for her, gesturing for her to come over, away from where she'd have to look at that. "Flora, I'd like everyone who found this to stay, but can you take the rest of your students..." He paused. "Elsewhere?"

"Somewhere happy," Aspen told her. "There are flowers on the west lawn." She paused, her eyes losing focus for a moment. Then a weak smile touched her mouth. "We'll make sure there are enough blooms for them to be distracted."

Ms. Linden pushed out a trembling but relieved breath. "We are in your debt, Your..." She paused. "Aspen. I don't want to leave you with this..."

"It's ok," Aspen told her, clasping the woman's hands. "There's no debt at all. Think of it like teaching me responsibility - and protecting them."

"I'll handle the kids here," Bracken told her. "I've already sent someone to get Ivy."

"Sadly, she really doesn't need this right now," Ms. Linden said. "We already have the parents in an uproar."

"Because of me?" Aspen asked.

"Because of this ," Ms. Linden said. "Because they want this school to be completely fae, but as safe as what humans would have. Sadly, we can't have both."

I couldn't help myself; I mumbled, "School shootings aren't safe."

"They are to us," Bracken reminded me. "Now get the kids out of here, Flora. Aspen, we do not need Torian or Wilder. They can stay where they are. Rain, I'd like you to get the sentinels to cordon off an area around that tree." My zez swallowed hard. "Facing out would be preferred."

Aspen just gave Bracken a tired look. "We've seen death before."

"That doesn't mean you should have to see it again," he said. "Also, I have a feeling the guards will be to keep people away, not hold anything in." And he nodded for me to go.

"What about Aspen?" I asked, refusing to make it so easy.

"She's with me," Bracken said.

"I'm fine," Aspen assured me.

More than merely being fine, she was in charge. She didn't say that, but I could see it for myself. Aspen stood a bit too straight, but she wasn't horrified like so many others. Then again, I had a feeling she'd seen plenty of atrocities through Torian's eyes.

So I met up with Keir, Hawke, Pascal, Bran, Axel, and Daivon. There were four others beside them as well. All were sentinels, and while I'd seen the other group in class and around the school, I didn't exactly know them well.

"We're supposed to make a ring around that tree," I told them as I joined the group. "Bracken wants us to keep other students from seeing the body."

"So that is a body?" Beverly asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. I don't know whose, but sounds like a girl. Bracken said he'd prefer we face outward. He says to watch for anyone heading our way. I don't see a reason we need to be spaced out evenly."

"Heard!" the eight sentinels said in unison, making me flinch.

Pascal grinned at my reaction. "You are the Morrigan, Rain. That makes you our commanding officer, basically."

"Between you and Bracken," a guy named Marlowe explained, "we're supposed to listen to you first, then him. Bracken said that's because you'll likely already be listening to him, and if you aren't, it's because you're doing the right thing."

"I'm..." I looked between them. "Guys, I'm just starting my weapons training."

Keir hummed thoughtfully. "And yet Jack chose you. Ok, how about we triangulate? Marlowe, your group over there. Axel, take three over there. We'll stand over here." Keir pointed where he meant with each location.

"We're off by one," Daivon pointed out. "Take Pascal, because we all know Rain will get called away. Puts at least three of us in each group."

"Oh, I see how it is," Pascal said even as he shifted closer to me. "Let's do this."

Our groups began to move, and while the sentinels acted like this was no big deal, I noticed no one was looking up. It was almost a strange form of gallows humor to pretend to be lighthearted in an attempt to ignore the reality of what we were doing.

"Is it a student?" Hawke asked, clenching his jaw.

"You ok?" Keir asked him.

"Yeah," Hawke said. "And everyone here knows about me."

"Knows what?" I asked, aware they were avoiding something.

"Jevadu," Pascal said, the word a whisper. "As fae, we've heard stories, but I don't exactly know how much is true."

"Same," Keir said.

"I know nothing," I admitted, drifting closer to Hawke as we walked. "Do they think you're going to vamp out or something? Show off your sexiness some more?" I meant his wings, but I was pretty sure my subtle hint at them was failing.

He ducked his head and chuckled, then proved me wrong. "They're not scared of wings, Rain." And he lifted his hands. "It's these."

Which was when we reached our spot. Keir moved a little closer. "Can I see, or is that weird?"

"My talons?" Hawke asked.

"Is that what you call them?" Pascal wanted to know.

So Hawke turned his hands over, showing the underside of his nails. "The fingers are useless. Just normal like yours. My thumbs..."

Using one hand, he lifted the slightly long nail away from the tip of his finger - well, as much as anyone could lift a nail.

That was when I realized how thick that nail was.

And while the end was pointed, it wasn't exactly a true point.

More like a coffin nail shape. I'd assumed it was some punk thing boys were doing and had forgotten all about it.

In truth, his thumbnails weren't even what a girl would call long!

"How does it work?" Pascal asked. "And please, stop me if you don't want to answer."

"I..." Hawke glanced up at me, then back to his hand. "So, Rain, this isn't the sort of thing most people talk about in polite company. It's like guys discussing dicks, or girls talking about periods? I don't know about that since I'm not a girl."

"Which means you don't have to talk about it," I told him.

He shrugged. "I mean, it's ok. I get it. It's just that people are usually scared of me."

"She's not," Pascal pointed out.

"You are," Keir countered. "And Rain gets a pass because she didn't grow up on our faerie tales."

"I didn't either," Pascal reminded him. "Shit, I think I heard more from you, Keir, than anyone else. Being a foundling and all that."

Keir chuckled, proving these two had a bit of history. "Fair."

But Pascal jerked his thumb up and behind us. "So do you think that was meant to look like something a jevadu would do?"

And we all turned to look at him, the smiles gone. "What do you mean?" I asked.

Pascal just lifted his hands. "Easy there. All I'm saying is that before spring break, Torian was supposed to be a jevadu. Then he's a prince. If someone wanted to cause problems, would they use that, and then how would it affect Hawke?"

"Shit," Hawke grumbled. "I thought that once he made his announcement, people would stop thinking about jevadu."

"Um..." Pascal quickly looked between us. "Ms. Rhodes is coming, but can I ask one more question?"

"Might as well," Hawke said.

"How can you be a duke and a wildling? I've been trying to figure that out, but the best I can get is they must be teaching us the wrong shit here."

"She's human and a wildling," Hawke said, pointing at me.

But Keir waved them down. "An heir to the throne, when deployed away from the monarch, can assign rank to anyone they choose. Torian's mother isn't around, so he can promote Hawke to duke. Jack's father isn't around, so he can promote Rain to Morrigan."

Pascal nodded. "Nice." Then he jerked his chin. "Rain, I think they're going to need you."

"Me?"

And Pascal looked over, meeting my eyes. "I can't imagine Aspen wants to do this alone, so yes. You."

"Go," Keir said, nudging me that way. "He's right."

"And he wants to ask more questions," Hawke said with a little smile. "It's ok."

So I went. Behind me, those three pulled closer, clearly whispering about something. Probably dicks - because they were guys. But the botany class had cleared out, Ms. Linden was gone, and Aspen looked like she really didn't want to be here either.

"Hey," I said as I moved in beside Aspen. "Are you ok?"

"Her name," Ms. Rhodes told me, "was Carol Dumont." Then she paused, glancing away. "And she was a Winter student."

"Is there a chance this was supposed to look like a jevadu attack?" I asked.

And immediately everyone's attention was on me. "Who would know about that?" Ms. Rhodes demanded.

"Before spring break," I reminded her, "everyone thought Torian was one. What if they still do?"

"She was ripped apart," Aspen said. "Bent, broken, and literally ripped, Ms. Rhodes."

"That's not how jevadu feed," Bracken pointed out.

"But I don't think people know that," I said. "And she was a Winter user, but she wasn't frozen. How did she end up in the tree?"

Ms. Rhodes' eyes lifted to where I was sure the girls' body still hung in the branches. "Vines, insects, and crushed. That took some impressive magic, which limits the suspects."

"Or it was a group," Bracken told her.

Ms. Rhodes sighed heavily. "True. But Aspen's known to like plants. I hadn't thought about the jevadu angle, but I can't rule that out either. Whoever did this..."

"Was Summer," Aspen said. "Ask Bracken. He'll be able to tell too. The residual magic on her was not my season!"

Ms. Rhodes gently rested her hand on Aspen's shoulder. "I know you didn't do this, Aspen."

But I had to ask, "How? You can't just say you trust her. Someone will ask, so how do you know?"

"Because Carol Dumont was last seen this morning.

Aspen has been inside the building the entire time.

Trust me, I make sure I know when my monarchs are somewhere the Hunt could reach them.

That's why I waited so long to include them in your training, Rain.

I don't like them crossing the yard unless I can be sure they are safe.

And yes, that means I can track their general area. "

"All of yours," Bracken told me. "That doesn't mean we'll do anything with it."

"Except come to your aid," Ms. Rhodes clarified. "After all, the entire court outranks me."

But from the branch above, Jack rattled as if upset, then cawed, "General."

"Now that," I said, smiling at Ms. Rhodes, "is a very good word."

"Mhm," Aspen agreed. "Much better than - "

"Bitch!" Jack said, then rattled in his avian laugh, clearly amused at his own joke. "General Bitch!"

"And that," Ms. Rhodes said, "is a title I can get behind." But she sighed again, and I realized her eyes were too glossy. "Ok, let's get Carol down and put her to rest."