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Chapter Fifty-One

RAIN

T hat afternoon, Keir tried to ask Pascal what he knew about his magic, hoping for some story about how the change in seasons had happened.

Sadly, Pascal was so new to it he didn't really understand what Keir wanted.

He gave an answer that had something to do with feeling like he was finally a real faeling, then mentioned how he was surprised at his season, but happy about it too.

But he said something that stuck with me.

Summer was the default. The Winter students stood out.

Most of them looked Winter. Well, Ms. Linden's hair had changed while the court watched.

But why did Winter look like their season, but that rule didn't necessarily apply to Summer?

In desperation, I asked my zez about it during our practice hour.

"Humans," Bracken said with a smile. "Rain, throughout the history of humanity, the fae have been a myth lingering at the edge of your awareness. Sometimes we were evil. Other times we were miracle makers. Likely, both are true."

"And?" I pressed.

My zez smiled slyly. "And flowers are more alluring to superstitious people than ice.

A kid with a talent for gardening was a good thing.

One who froze ponds in summer was likely banished, left to starve out there, or brought back to Faerie to be treasured by their fae parent.

Thus, the warm tones became normalized here on Earth.

And by here, I mean this country. Blondes, chestnut browns, and redheads fit in seamlessly with the human population.

Aspen's white hair? Well, she's too young to be grey, isn't she? "

"Ok, there's that," I agreed.

"And faelings grew up on Earth," Bracken said.

"They learned the same expectations you did as a human.

Because of that, our appearance is the default because you made it so, not because Winter is somehow special.

Just like how your ethnicity is pretty normal in America, but you'd stick out in other countries. "

All of that made sense. Never mind that we hadn't had anyone shift from Winter to Summer - that we knew of. So, the changes were obvious because they were always one-sided. And yet, no matter how hard we tried to figure it out, none of us could think of why three people's magic had changed.

According to Torian, vows had been made across seasons throughout fae history.

No magic had changed. The next morning, Ms. Rhodes confirmed she'd never heard of such a thing.

But my newfound curiosity about the color of magic and the appearance of the person wielding it had me paying just a little more attention.

Normally, students crowded the halls between classes. Seeing one of the instructors was pretty rare. It had always felt like they stepped back, allowing us that short time to have fun with our friends. But now, I saw quite a few teachers standing beside the doors to their classrooms.

Eyes scanned the students passing by. As the day went on, I saw some step in to stop bullying or other minor squabbles. Warnings were called to people down the hall, making it clear their disobedience had been noted.

So while we weren't on lockdown, it felt like security had been stepped up.

Maybe the wounds caused in The Silent attacks had been healed away, but the memories were still fresh.

Students wore obvious charms on their wrists, in their hair, and hanging from their uniforms. People moved in groups now, and seeing the lone person running to class was much less common than it had been even last week.

And that night, a note was slipped under Aspen's door.

We were in the room when it happened, so we saw the paper skid across the floor. When I sat up, intending to see what it was, Aspen stopped me. I had to remind her that fae magic wouldn't hurt me. Only then was I allowed to open the folded piece of paper.

Aspen, a pair of girls in the 2C bathroom were saying you deserved what you got. They were talking about how to get you away from your brother so they could take you out. Please be careful.

There was no signature on it, not even an initial.

She wanted to ignore it, but I was done with trying to fight an invisible foe without help.

Pulling out my phone, I scrolled through the list I now had until I found a number most students didn't get access to.

Tapping the contact that was just a picture of a leaf, I began typing.

Rain:

Someone slid a warning under the door. Aspen and I are bringing it over.

Then I shoved the paper in my pocket, caught Aspen's hand, and headed to our chaperone's door. I didn't even get to lift my hand before the door opened, with Ivy Rhodes on the other side wearing a baggy pair of sweats.

"What do you have?" she asked, gesturing for us to come inside.

Tag was sprawled on the sofa with her arm hanging conspicuously out of sight. I saw and smiled even as I handed Ms. Rhodes the note.

"We didn't see them," Aspen said. "We also didn't look."

"I'm less worried about that than the threat," Ms. Rhodes admitted. "Anita, babe?" She looked over. "I don't care if they know you have a beer."

"Good," Tag said, lifting her arm to take a long drink. "How can I help?"

"I'm stuck," Ms. Rhodes told her. "I can't put protections on the court because anything Rain touches would be negated."

"Ok?" Tag asked.

"But I need some ideas of ways to get around that," Ms. Rhodes explained. "They already have an alarm system of a sort, but I'd prefer it if we can work out a way to blend our magic, Rain's, and Keir's. I can't even think of how to make that work, so maybe you two can come up with something?"

Tag nodded. "We can try. We'll play with it tomorrow, Rain. Sound good?"

"Works for me," I agreed.

"And the threat?" Aspen asked.

Ms. Rhodes pressed her lips together for a moment, thinking hard. "The bathrooms are a problem. I hadn't considered that, but I also can't monitor them."

"So," I told Aspen, "use the one in our room or the main office. If you're late, then you're late."

"I'm more worried about Torian," Aspen admitted, "and we both know he won't think about it."

"Tell the sentinels," Tag suggested, proving exactly why Ms. Rhodes had dragged her into this. "They'll follow him around - and no need for charms or protection. Just normal, mundane eyes."

"Nice," I said, imagining just how much Torian would hate that. "It'll do for now, but we're eventually going to need something better."

"We have to work that out," Ms. Rhodes said. "I will not lose an entire generation of royalty on my watch."

So we headed back, but the moment Aspen opened her door, we both stopped hard. "Ms. Rhodes?" I called.

Her door re-opened quickly, and both she and Tag rushed out. "What is it?" Ms. Rhodes asked.

"Notes," Aspen said. "Lots and lots of notes."

So I bent for the closest.

"Do not touch those!" Tag snapped.

I picked up a handful anyway as Ms. Rhodes said, "She's the safest one of us to do so."

But the contents inside were short and simple. I flipped through them one after the other.

Ocean Timbers hopes the Silent kill all Winter fae.

There's something wrong with Poppy Hawthorne's magic. It doesn't look the same.

Lark Butters thinks her roommate knows something, but she's scared to talk to anyone.

This morning, I saw Crispin Rowan running away from a guy. Mr. Cove didn't do anything to stop it. I don't know if he's ok.

A nd on and on they went. Each one was a warning or information of some kind. In total, there were sixteen, and I turned them over to Ms. Rhodes willingly. Not a single one gave any hint of who'd written it.

"If they feel safe enough to tell me," Aspen decided, since it was her door and not mine they'd been pushed under, "then I'm going to make a sign for it.

" And she turned to Ms. Rhodes and Tag, raising her voice so it would carry down the hall.

"They're scared, but they're helping me.

Me! I will do everything I can to make sure they don't suffer for it. "

"Yes, Your Majesty," Ms. Rhodes said, dipping her head in respect. "I don't have the authority to make you reveal anything to me you don't want to."

Tag just chuckled, proving she understood exactly what nuances were being played out here - and that we were all likely being watched. Yeah, I was sure that was probably a magical thing, but whatever. I was getting used to that sort of stuff now.

So, for lack of any other way to make sure people knew, Aspen found a pen and some paper. A little magic made sure it stayed on the door, and the message was a simple one. "Information welcome. Anonymous ok. Put under the door."

The next morning, we woke up to find a few more notes. When we made it back from the gym that evening, the paper had been replaced with a painting on posterboard. Not a crappy one, though. This looked like a fine work of art.

Winter fields were lined with snow-covered evergreens.

A trail led through them, fading out as it got too small to see.

On a hill overlooking it all was a white castle.

The other corner had a crown made of snowflakes sitting among some kind of winter flowers.

The middle of it was nothing more than pristine snow - or pure whiteness.

Only one thing marred the perfection of the art: a red heart drawn with one of the dry erase markers magically stuck to the wall beside her door.

"I'm going to say that's a sign of approval," I joked.

Aspen rolled her eyes at my bad pun, but she put the sign on the door before we headed to class. I took the notes with me, delivering them to Ms. Rhodes. It seemed we were getting a system down.