Page 55

Chapter Fifty

RAIN

T he murmur of conversation in the cafeteria returned after only a moment.

Ms. Linden said a few more words to Aspen and Wilder, then shooed us off to get our meals.

Keir quickly moved ahead of me. Hawke claimed the place behind me, with Torian, Aspen, and Wilder bringing up the last of our group.

We kept close, and all of us were quiet. Too quiet.

"Please tell me you saw that shield?" I asked Keir.

"And the mirror," Torian said, leaning around Hawke.

"Not here," Aspen hissed from further back in the line. "I feel like too many people are watching us."

Which made me glance around. She was right, but not the way she thought. No one was looking at us specifically, but everyone seemed to have their heads on a swivel. The way students had jumped when the mirror crashed? The yelps of fear? Yeah, I was pretty sure we were all a little traumatized.

Two days ago, multiple attacks had happened simultaneously.

The court had all rushed to help Wilder, but other students had been forced to fend for themselves.

How many people had been taken by surprise?

For some, this was probably the first time they'd had to make the decision to ignore it, risk jumping in, or maybe even seen violence firsthand.

Which meant the attacks were working. People were scared. Most probably knew someone who'd been injured recently. All of us had either seen it or heard enough to feel like we had. The result? Everyone at Silver Oaks was just waiting for it to happen again.

I thought about that as I made my way through the line, picking out a meal that would be light enough for the twisting in my stomach, but fuel me enough for an afternoon in the gym.

On impulse, I decided to add a few of those sugared flowers to my plate.

After all, the sugar would give me a little boost, wouldn't it?

When we finally reached our table, Jack fluttered over to claim the back of a chair for his perch.

That made Torian lean to grab another for himself.

Aspen pushed around him, claiming the spot beside me.

Keir took the other side. Hawke and Wilder filled in the gap, and it was like we were all waiting for someone to break the silence.

Wilder did. "I thought Ms. Linden was Summer," he said, looking over at Aspen.

"She is," Aspen agreed.

I glanced at the wall closest to us, looking for Shadow. It wasn't there, so I looked down. Nothing. Well, my shadow was lost under the table, but Shadow wasn't doing anything to show itself this time.

"What?" Hawke asked when I straightened again.

"Checking on Shadow," I explained. "See, when all that was going down, I saw it on the wall. It looked... Different."

"Different how?" Keir wanted to know.

I waved that off. "Please tell me someone else saw that shield Poppy conjured?"

"Yeah," Keir said, dragging the word out.

"I was going to ask if you'd taught her that, Keir," Hawke told us.

But Keir shook his head. "Nope. Poppy Hawthorne is quite a bit stronger, magically, than me."

Torian didn't even bother to look up. "She's not."

"Look," Keir told him. "I know you think that's going to make me feel better, but just because I have more experience in defensive use of magic - specifically my mess of magic - doesn't make me as strong as you seem to think.

I can't do half the shit some of these faelings can, ok? I'm also fine with it."

"No," Torian said, finally lifting his head.

"Listen to me, Keir. You are trying to judge your power on the wrong scale.

That's like calling Rain weak because she can't make a glamour.

That's not what she's supposed to do, ok?

But you? You don't fumble, you never even have to plan before your shields are up, your healing is helping, or anything else.

Never mind that those shields don't shatter.

Your concentration doesn't waver. Your healing doesn't fade after a few minutes. "

"I've worked hard to get here," Keir told him.

Torian nodded slowly. "Because powerful abilities tend to push back.

Trust me on that." Then he tipped his head at Aspen.

"She fought for years to get control. It took a crown to help her find it.

Granted, she would've with time, but having a few pounds of ancient focus stones makes it a lot easier. "

"Ok," I said, looking over at Torian, "so why was Poppy's shield iridescent today?"

"I didn't see it," he admitted.

"The colors were like an oil slick," Hawke said. "Where Keir's magic tends to be the full spectrum of the rainbow, Poppy's was more greens, blues, and purples than pinks and oranges, but they were still there."

"And Ms. Linden's mirror shattered white," Aspen mumbled.

"It also flared white when she conjured it," Wilder pointed out. "I thought it may have been pale green, and it happened so fast I didn't think anything of it. Not until she dropped it."

"Her hair," Torian said.

But while they all talked, I sat there, trying to put the pieces together.

Something was going on. It felt like something big, but that could've been my paranoia trying to make mountains out of mole hills.

But I felt like I was missing something.

Something at the edge of my mind. Something that would make this all make sense.

"Those pale streaks just bleached out right in front of my eyes," Aspen said. "And while cool, I've never seen that happen to anyone without their control."

"Could it have been someone else doing it to her?" Wilder asked.

"But her magic was white today!" Aspen shot back.

"And Poppy's was rainbow," I said, mostly to myself.

"Court!" Jack cawed, flapping his wings to make us look.

"We're trying," Torian told him.

Which made the bird grumble in annoyance.

Then Hawke sucked in a breath. "Shit. Pascal!"

"What about him?" Keir asked.

"I was so sure he was Summer," Hawke explained.

"When he let me pull magic, it tasted like sunshine and summer days.

I took enough that I'm sure of it. There was no fresh snow or starlight to it - and yes, I would know the difference.

I think I've had more than enough opportunities to compare the seasons. "

"That's just weird," Keir told him, but it was with a smile.

Hawke grunted. "But my point still stands. Pascal was Summer, but a Legacy. Then, out of nowhere, he suddenly manifests Winter magic?"

And that last piece slammed into place in my mind. I sat up quickly. "No, it wasn't out of nowhere!"

"What do you mean?" Aspen asked.

So I gestured with my hands, rewinding everything.

"It started with Pascal, right? The guy's been around since I've come here.

He's been a sentinel, in class with Hawke and Keir for who knows how long before that.

Nothing changed, but when the entire court started practicing with those four. .." I looked around. "Do you remember?"

"He helped Aspen. Because of that, he got attacked," Torian said.

"And then he made a big deal about how he was loyal to her over you," I told Torian. "Pascal thanked Aspen - because I don't know what other word to use - by making it clear he would fight for her."

"He offered his sword," Keir said. "That's damned close to a knight's vow, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Wilder said, looking over at Torian. "And you rejected the jesters when they tried."

"But right after the attacks," I went on, "what did Poppy do? She told Torian off by swearing her loyalty to Keir, since she doesn't agree with inherited power or something."

"Monarchies in general," Keir said.

Torian set down his fork. "She called you the Steward of Earth."

Keir scoffed. "Because I haven't hidden the fact that I never wanted to claim a season. Usually, when people asked, I said I was here, not there."

"No," Torian said, waving him down, but his eyes were on me. "I think Rain's on to something."

"Because," I continued, "what did Ms. Linden just do? She swore her loyalty to Wilder - Winter - as a way to show her appreciation."

"And through him," Aspen said, "to me." She leaned a bit to see her brother. "Tor, is that even possible?"

He pushed his plate away. "No."

So I pushed it back at him. "Define possible for me? Does 'it's never happened before' mean 'it can never happen in the future?'"

"I don't know," Torian admitted, sounding like the words were pulled from his gritted teeth.

"Rain, I've never heard of anyone switching the season of their magic.

Not in my lifetime, and not in fae history.

I can't even begin to think of a mechanism to cause it, and if it was possible, why wouldn't people like Nevaeh be using the magic of the court they're a part of? "

"Ask Ms. Rhodes," Wilder suggested. "Maybe she's heard of something. If not, she has access to more ways to research it than we do."

"I can do that during my control class," Aspen offered. "But how else could this be possible? And if it's not possible, then what explains away the fact that it's happened?"

"Jack!" my bird said.

"Doesn't help," Hawke told him.

Which earned him an annoyed caw. Then, "Jack, Morrigan!

" he tried next. "Jack-Shadow. Morrigan-court.

Enemy, enemy, enemy! Courtiers." He nodded emphatically.

"Bitch! Shadow. Morrigan. Court, court, court, court - courtier!

Knight, Morrigan. Jack. Shadow." And he made a point of looking at each of us.

Wilder just scooped up a forkful of food. "I got exactly none of that, Jack, but it was a good try."

And I swore my crow grumbled in frustration. Still, he'd said one thing I hadn't mentioned yet.

"So, when all of that was going down," I said, "I spotted Shadow on the wall behind us."

"It does that, or so it seems," Aspen said.

I nodded. "But this time, it had one white eye, one green, and its smile was iridescent-looking."

So Keir looked at Jack. "Does that mean something?" he asked.

Jack nodded.

"Do you have words to explain it?" Keir tried next.

Jack shook his head.

So Torian lifted a finger. "Jack, is any of this dangerous for us?"

In response, Jack tilted his head, proving that was not a simple yes or no answer.

Torian tried again. "Is Shadow directly malicious to anyone on the court, including you?"

Jack shook his beak emphatically. "Jack. Jack-Shadow. Shadow-Morrigan!"

"Ok," I said. "But Shadow clearly has a mind of its own, right?"

That got a yes.

So Aspen decided to try. "Is Shadow somehow responsible for people's magic shifting?"

To that, Jack ruffled his feathers. Then, he even flapped his wings. Needless to say, everyone turned to me for the translation of that.

"He doesn't answer that way enough for me to know what it means. Sorry, guys. No clue."

"Jack!" he cawed, hopping and nodding.

"Wait?" Hawke begged. "So the flapping and feathers thing means you don't know?"

This time, Jack nodded.

Wilder bumped Hawke's shoulder with a cute little smile. "Funny how you're so good at understanding wildlings."

"Asshole," Hawke shot back, but playfully.

"Ok," I said, trying to keep them from getting distracted.

"So what we know is Shadow has its own thoughts and intentions that Jack doesn't always know about.

" My bird nodded, so I kept going. "And yet, Shadow doesn't mean to harm us, but Jack can't be sure it wouldn't harm us if Shadow thought that was its best option? "

Jack nodded again. "Rain!" That felt like he was cheering me on.

"But you, Jack, are completely on our side, trying to help this court fix the mess the Mad Queen has made of magic, stop the Hunt, and deal with anything else that happens along the way?"

One more time, Jack nodded. "Jack-Rain," he told me. "Morrigan!"

"But you've mentioned before that you can talk to it," I reminded my bird.

Jack twisted his head a bit.

"Or that Shadow can talk to you?" Hawke tried.

"Court!" Jack said with another nod. "Duke!"

"Well, well," Torian said. "Looks like everyone at this table has a word for them except me now."

But Jack laughed at that. "Bitch!" he said. "Bitch, bitch, bitch!"

"Sounds to me," Keir teased, "that you have a word too. You can be our bitch, Torian."

I shoved a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing, but everyone else was grinning at the look on Torian's face. The guy really wanted to say no, but he also couldn't, and his mouth flapped as he tried to think of a true way to get around that circle of lies.

"Fine," he finally said. "I can be 'bitch.' I figure if it's good enough for Ms. Rhodes, then it's not an insult."

"And yet," Aspen pointed out, "we're no further ahead now than we were earlier. At least three people's magic has changed in some way."

"Two changed to Winter," Wilder said. "Maybe that's because there are so few of us?"

"Could they have a Winter ancestor somewhere?" Hawke asked. "I mean, even peasants sometimes married or partnered with other seasons."

"Never mind that Ms. Linden said she's married," Torian pointed out. "Ms. Caldwell is Winter."

"But they don't share that with the students," Keir said. "I've had Caldwell for Taxonomy, and I didn't know she was wed."

"Or," I offered, "maybe it was an Earth wedding? The sort of thing that makes life easier here, and not the mess the fae make of it there?"

"Which means we don't know," Aspen said again. "But I think we should all start thinking about it. Mostly because lunch is almost over."

"Shit," I breathed, shoving some more food into my face. "And Jack? If you can help us, we'll gladly play twenty questions with you."

"Jack-Rain!" he said. "Rain-court. Morrigan, queen, bitch. Knight, duke, duke." And he nodded.

Then, my bird did the last thing I'd expect. He bowed his head toward the center of the table and chattered in a dozen crow sounds that made no sense to me.

"I'm going to assume that's your agreement?" Torian asked.

Jack nodded.

So Torian dipped his head at my bird. "Then I'm in your debt, Your Highness."

Jack shook for no. "Court!" he replied. Oddly, that one word said enough.

We were one court. He was a part of it, so the Crow Prince was helping in his own way. No debt was necessary. This? It was merely our duty.