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Chapter Forty-Seven

RAIN

O k, Wilder was a scary motherfucker when he snapped.

He was also exactly as cold as I'd expected, almost like it was in his bloodline or something.

Yet while Pascal, Keir, and I got the attackers under our control, Torian spoke with Wilder and Hawke, saying something that made those two react a bit.

They also took Aspen with them as they headed downstairs. Poppy and Nevaeh volunteered to get Ms. Caldwell down to the nurse for more healing. Torian? He gestured for us to lead on, but that muscle in his jaw was jumping again.

I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but the idiot I was holding kept trying to pull away.

Thankfully, magic made it easy to keep them contained, and I was pretty sure it wasn't all mine.

When we headed for the stairs, the doors magically opened for us.

But when we came out on the first floor, we weren't alone.

Some guy had another in a headlock, pulling him to the office.

Two of his friends were holding their prisoner's arms. On the other side of the long glass wall that separated the main office from the hall, I could see nearly a dozen people all crammed together, and they looked like they were pushing or writhing.

Too many were scuffed up, had ripped clothes, or were holding something to a wound as if it might be bleeding.

"Enough!" Torian roared as he opened the door for us and the other group to head inside. "If I have to, I will stall everyone in here so we can get this sorted!"

One of the fae behind the front desk looked up. "Ms. Rhodes would appreciate it, Torian."

So he lifted his hand and snapped. The woman who'd given him permission simply smiled, proving she'd been kept from the magic. When the door to my dad's office opened hard, I realized Torian had been very selective in his enchantment.

Liam rushed out. "Rain?" He sounded worried.

"What's going on?" I asked.

But my dad was gaping at the people frozen like statues. "What..."

"Local area time-stop," Torian explained. "I like this one. Why are you moving?"

"Dad!" Jack cawed, sweeping in through the open office door. "Jack-Dad." And he landed on Liam's shoulder. "Dad-dad?"

"Bracken's at the gym," Liam told the bird. "Well, somewhere between here and there. Sounds like there was another group tackled out there and he's trying to bring them here."

"Where's Ms. Rhodes?" Keir asked.

The woman behind the desk sighed. "Busy," she said. "We've had at least seven attacks simultaneously. The dean is on the A wing, first floor."

"Shit," I breathed, trying to comprehend just how bad this was.

But my profanity made the woman smile. "That does sum it up nicely, Morrigan."

"Rose, we need to secure the perpetrators, get statements from the witnesses, and probably get Robin some help," Liam said. "Torian..."

"What do you need?" he asked.

Liam just shook his head. "I don't know. I have a feeling you do, so do it."

And Torian smiled. "I think I like this fairy-godfather kick." He paused to look around. "I need a door that won't be accidentally used."

"Rose?" Liam asked. "He's going to make a gate."

The administrator pointed to the side and up a hall. "The broom closet. Where will it go and who do we need to move through it?"

"A room in the Never," Torian said, "and we'll send everyone who attacked someone through it. The witnesses will stay here." He gestured for her to lead on.

"Yeah, and..." Keir pointed to Pascal who wasn't moving. "He can help, Tor. You just have to unfreeze him."

"Not yet," Torian said as he followed Rose up the hall.

"Paranoid bastard," Keir grumbled.

But Liam moved to clasp Keir's shoulder. "It's not paranoia if someone really is after you." Then my dad offered me a weak smile. "You ok, kiddo?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Wilder got this group before we could get there. Torian pulled me from biology."

"Pascal and I were almost to the cafeteria," Keir admitted. "I think Aspen and Hawke gated in too."

"They did," I agreed. "Shadow's alert is turning out to be more helpful than I expected."

And we all looked down at my feet. Surprisingly, my shadow seemed completely normal. Jack rattled in amusement.

"Morrigan," he cawed. "Court. Courtiers." And he nodded. Then, "Shadow." He shook his head at that.

"Sounds to me like you kids had it," Liam said, but his eyes were jumping to the people in the room. "This is also incredibly creepy. I'd been told he could do this, but I've never seen it."

"Aspen can as well," Keir said just as Ms. Rhodes marched into the office with my zez hauling a guy in behind her.

"What the - " She stopped hard. "Torian!"

"We're dealing with it, General!" Rose replied instead.

"The attackers will be held in the Never.

The witnesses will be sorted. Robin's going to need some help, because we have a lot.

.." She made her way back into view and gave Bracken a confused look.

"Oh. Yours is still moving. He should probably go through first."

"I'm stalling the room," Torian called.

"Go," Ms. Rhodes told Bracken. "Rain?"

But I turned to Jack. "Can you tell us which were the attackers, Jack? Then we'll know who to move and who should stay without Torian needing to snap over and over."

"Enemy!" Jack cawed as he launched from Liam's shoulder.

Ms. Rhodes headed behind the front counter to touch a few people, pulling them from the slow-conjuration.

From there, it was easy. Jack told us who needed to be moved.

Ms. Rhodes could remove Torian's conjuration from that person.

Bracken and Keir marched them up the hall to the closet where they were pushed through a gate and into a holding chamber.

Torian waited in there, making sure everyone was frozen again.

Yep, magic made things a lot easier.

Somewhere in there, Poppy and Nevaeh showed up with Ms. Caldwell. Others arrived as well, the attackers they brought were tossed into the Never, and the witnesses were all unfrozen. By the time we were done, my stomach was growling, and I knew I was probably going to miss lunch.

But Liam heard. "Ivy, you need to cancel classes for the rest of the day. None of these kids have eaten, and lunch ends in ten minutes."

"I'll get it!" a pretty blonde offered. I was pretty sure she was the secretary who'd given me a tablet on my first day at Silver Oaks.

It all took a while, and somewhere in there, Liam moved my group into his office. Pascal was looking around with wide eyes. Keir had his legs kicked out and was leaning back like he was napping. Jack was now riding on Ms. Rhodes' shoulder, helping her somehow.

"So, what the fuck happened?" Pascal finally asked.

"Torian slowed you," Keir explained. "Well, he slowed almost everyone."

"Not that part," Pascal said, flicking a finger at the windows that allowed us to see the main office. "I'm talking about that mess."

"I don't think Ms. Caldwell was the only one attacked," I explained. "They said there were at least seven different places. I've counted at least three attackers at each one. I'm pretty sure there's about thirty people in stasis down in the Never right now."

"All bad guys?" Pascal asked.

"The Silent," Keir told him. "They make a vow that prevents them from giving us any information."

And the door to Liam's office opened hard. Ms. Rhodes walked in, stopping at Liam's desk to lean over it with her hands holding her weight. "Rain, I need you to get as much magic as possible tonight."

"Ok?" I asked, unsure where she was going with this.

She sighed heavily. "The problem with expelling students is that we're just building up a group of resistance out there. At this rate, we'll lose a quarter of the student body before the semester is up."

"So?" Pascal asked.

Ms. Rhodes looked up, her eyes landing on him. For a little too long, she said nothing. Her eyes shifted to Keir, then to me, almost as if checking to see if we thought she should speak in front of him.

"Pascal's done nothing but help us," I told her. "I don't know if he can lie, but I do know Keir can hear it if he does. He's also helped Aspen, so I think he can be trusted."

"You are too nice," Ms. Rhodes pointed out.

"But she's right," Keir said. "We're sentinels because we volunteered to risk our lives for this place. I can't think of a single person in that group, friend or not, who I wouldn't trust."

"Like I do my soldiers," she said softly. "Ok, so - "

The door opened again. This time, Torian entered. Liam and Bracken were right behind him, and Jack shot through the doorway, heading straight for me. Without thinking, I thrust up my arm, giving him an easy place to land.

"Morrigan," Jack said.

Yet just as the door clicked shut again, someone else wrenched it open. Surprisingly, it was Poppy and Nevaeh who came in.

"I want to know what's going on," Poppy demanded.

"You," Ms. Rhodes told her, "are not on the court."

"I," Poppy shot back, "am the one who organized the courtiers. We are trying to help, Ms. Rhodes, but we can't do that unless we know what we're supposed to be helping with."

"And I," Torian growled at her, "am the one making the decisions. You are not on my court."

"Shove your fucking court up your ass," Poppy told him.

"In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm helping because I'm sick of this Winter and Summer bullshit.

I'm so tired of people trying to attack my best friend.

Didn't all of you spend the weekend making it clear Winter and Summer magic are basically the same thing? Well, too bad for you, I bought it!"

Torian chuckled once. "Yeah, I like her."

And that made quite a few heads snap over to him, checking to see if he'd lost his mind. Sadly, that was pretty much the sort of thing I expected from Torian now, and yet he had a point. Poppy wasn't a suck-up. She wasn't scared of him either.

But the girl was on a roll now. "So, how about I make you feel better, Torian?

You want me to bend the knee to your court?

" She looked at me, then paused. "Well, I'm not a wildling, so Rain's out.

" Then her eyes slid over to Keir. "So you.

I'll vow my loyalty to you, Keir Delaney.

You've been the Steward of the Earth. You've been the one saying this seasonal bullshit is stupid, and I agree.

I vow to follow you, your Morrigan, and the Crow Prince that's helping us fix this crap.

I will vow to support the fae here , on Earth.

What I don't support is the Mad Queen's son, a king's bastard daughter, or anyone else born to make decisions the rest of us just have to follow.

I am here because we deserve to make our own decisions, not be ruled by any authoritarian system.

So yes, I will follow Torian and Aspen, but I'm doing it because they're trying, not because of how they were born.

" And her head snapped over to Torian. "So does that count?

I'm now a supporter of Earth's Steward."

"His title," Torian said calmly, "is Defender of the Morrigan."

"Not to me," Poppy said.

"I mean, I'll take it," Keir said. "No offense, Tor, but fuck monarchies. They made your mother."

"True," Torian muttered.

Which made Ms. Rhodes slap her hand down on the desk.

"Enough. I know everyone is tense. What I need is for Rain to be full of Wild magic.

Bracken? Liam? We're going to need as many teachers as you can find who aren't blindly in support of any season - and that includes Winter.

Liam, you're going to need to speak to a few of these kids.

They're shaken, and with good reason. Pascal, if you're willing to help, then I'm going to need some sentinels willing to take guard duty in turns.

Once we figure out who is actually guilty and who just got caught up in paranoia, I'll have to enchant their rooms, because it will be impossible for this many students to be moved quickly. Some don't have anywhere else to go."

"How do I help?" I asked.

Ms Rhodes looked over at Keir. "Take your Morrigan to lunch. Haul Torian with you, if you think you can."

"I can haul him," I offered.

Which made Torian glance at me. His head dipped slightly. It wasn't enough for most to notice, but to me it felt like a sign of approval.

"Poppy, if you really want to help, can you and your courtiers get statements from any students who may have seen what happened, but didn't want to come tell me? I'll accept an anonymous report if the one taking it can hear the truth of it."

"I can do that," Poppy agreed.

"And your afternoon classes are all cancelled," Ms. Rhodes said as she stood up. "So get out of my office!"

Everyone else started filing through the door, but I felt a hand on my arm. Looking back, I found Liam holding me, with Bracken right behind him. That was clearly a request for a word before I took off again.

So I waited until the rest of the office was empty. Ms. Rhodes was last, but she just offered a smile before closing the door behind her. Then my dad pulled me in for a hard, tight hug.

"Rain, I'm worried," Liam breathed against the top of my head.

"And she's strong enough to handle this," Bracken said, wrapping his arms around both of us.

"You're worried too," I pointed out.

Which made my zez chuckle. "Busted. Still, both things can be true at the same time."

"And even the strongest can need a shoulder," Liam pointed out. "Rain, we're here. I don't care what time it is, we are here. If you need to talk, or have a moment alone, or anything else, Brack and I will make it happen."

"Because," Bracken said, reaching in to clasp my upper arm, "that's what dads are for, Rain. To us, it doesn't matter how important, or immediate, or necessary this stuff is. If you need us, everything else waits."

"You may not have had a family to lean on before," Liam said, smoothing down my hair, "but you do now. You also have two dads who understand that you really can handle this, so I just wanted to make sure that's out there, ok?"

"Yeah," I breathed, looking up at both of them. "I was thinking that maybe, like for my birthday-graduation celebration, I can spend a night with you two again? You know, a quiet one?"

Bracken just mussed up my hair. "I will definitely make a cake, and since you've earned it, I'll even cook meatloaf for you, Rain." Then he made a face.

"Nope," I said. "I want a good fae meal, some K-dramas, and maybe a little, um... What sport is on right now, Dad?"

"I'll record some fencing competitions," Liam said. "That way it'll be something all three of us can understand."