Library

Chapter 6

6

Isat down across the lunch table from Melia, with my specially wrapped meal in front of me. Another damn sandwich. Another two pieces of dry toast and nearly inedible lunch meat, but hey, at least it wasn’t laden down with garlic, I tried to remind myself.

I also had a bag of potato chips and a crumbling cookie looking like someone had fished it out of a box in storage. I wasn’t surprised to see a thin layer of dust on the plastic.

Melia stared at me with her mouth full and a curious expression lighting her eyes. “You have something you want to say?” she asked around the food. “You’ve got a look on your face. You can’t hide anything from me. What did you find out? Something about the exchange students?”

“You bet.”

She waggled her eyebrows. “Tell me, then. Don’t keep me waiting!”

I shifted closer to lessen the odds of someone overhearing and told her everything I’d learned from Zinnia and the others. Which wasn’t much, but it was a start. And if anyone could help put the pieces together it would be the halfling in front of me. She was a brainiac by very definition, her mind constantly working.

Plus she was always reading about current events and news. Not just in this world but in Faerie. If anyone would know more about the broken portal then it would be Melia.

“What do you think?” I asked her when I finished, grabbing the sandwich and lifting it without taking a bite. “What’s your take on this whole situation?”

She drummed her fingers on the table. Her gaze focused on nothing as she thought and connected the pieces. “I’m not sure, really. I haven’t heard anything about our sister school or any issues there. Wouldn’t a damaged portal make the news? It’s a pretty big deal. As far as I’m aware, there are only three portals in the entire North American continent. Canada, the United States, and one in Central America. Yeah, it’s a big deal if one goes down.”

“That’s what I think too,” I said with a conspiratorial wink.

“It doesn’t make sense for it to not be reported. If the portal just broke down temporarily, then maybe, because a minor breakdown isn’t newsworthy. But you said they told you it was destroyed. They actually used the word destroyed?”

I swallowed over a lump of extremely dry wheat bread. “Yeah, I think so. I guess it could have been an accident? But it didn’t seem like this was something they wanted to discuss. It seemed like they preferred to keep it a secret. The other two who weren’t so chatty looked like they wanted Zinnia and Saffron to shut the hell up about the portal.”

“Are we talking about this again?” Mike wanted to know as he sat. He sighed and adjusted himself on the seat. “It sounds like you’d rather focus on this than classes, Tavi. Keep up that kind of negative mindset and I’ll definitely displace you for number one top student. Mark my words.”

“In your dreams, Mike. And yes, I’m still talking about this because it’s weird and it doesn’t feel right. You agreed with me earlier.”

We always tried to keep the conversation light when we ate together. We were a man down from last semester. Mike had introduced me to his friend Roman on our first day and we felt his loss keenly.

Then again, he’d been trying to kill me.

Roman had been another half-shifter hiding in plain sight, although his motives for being here were still murky. He’d said something about working to make sure Mike kept his place here at the school.

I didn’t understand. Thus I’d pushed it to the back of my mind. Mike pointedly avoided looking at the empty seat next to him where his friend Roman had once sat. None of us cared to talk about his death and the policeman who shot him.

“Do you think you could ask your parents about it?” Melia turned to Mike and fixed him with her version of a hard stare. It still didn’t work, although I knew she’d been practicing in the mirror. There was nothing hard about my friend. But I wouldn’t tell her that when she’d been practicing so diligently.

Mike looked like he’d just bitten into a lemon and came up with a worm. “I’m not going to talk to the old bastard,” he insisted.

It must be nice to be able to talk about the King of Faerie in those terms. If I tried to insult the monarchy, surely Mike’s special guards would be over here in a hot second ready to drag me away.

Still, I hadn’t seen those guards anywhere. Either Mike had insisted he could go it alone this semester or they were that good at their jobs. Invisible.

I worked to keep my response neutral. “Okay. How about your mom?”

He stuck his fork in a slice of meatloaf and it stood straight up. The scent of garlic rose from the tine puncture holes. He scrunched up his nose. “Yeah, I can ask her. I told her I’d call when I got here, anyway. I forgot.”

“You’re a model son,” Melia told him with mock seriousness. He only grunted in response.

Melia and I both focused our attention on Mike, watching him chew. He swallowed hard and his gaze darted between the two of us. “What’s the look for? You want me to call her now?”

The two of us nodded in unison.

“At least let a guy get his garlic intake for the day,” Mike joked. He wiped at his mouth with a napkin. “It’s going to help me keep the rest of my admirers at a three-foot distance, at least.”

Okay, I could agree with him there. “Finish eating and then we’ll go.” In fact, he should eat all of it just to make sure those girls stayed away.

“We can use my room,” Melia offered. “Fourth-year privileges.”

She had her own space, which could come in handy at times. I tried not to take advantage of her offer to stop by at any time, because knowing me, I would. I’d be there whenever possible because it was better than where I slept.

At the moment the only place I found any respite from Persephone and her friends was the library. My bunkmate wasn’t big on studying, although I’d seen her in there a few times. Unless I wanted to bring a lamp into the secret passages, Melia’s room was the best place for me to escape.

After lunch, the three of us slipped into her room and locked the door behind us. It was a small space, large enough for a bed, a dresser, and a desk, but full of light and decorated in shades like an autumn wood. Most of the rooms in the castle appeared to take inspiration from the seasons and nature itself. Just as I’d noticed most of the professors had names featuring natural elements.

“Stay out of sight,” Mike warned, holding one hand up and keeping his cell phone close with the other. “I don’t want to have to answer any strange questions and Mom is generally full of them. If she catches even a glimpse of one of you, she’ll never stop.”

“Strange questions like what?” Melia asked. She bounced on the bed and sent a pile of pillows scattering with the movement.

Mike didn’t answer as he dialed the number.

“Okay, maybe one strange question before we start.” I raised my hand like we were in class. “Are you seriously going to use a phone to call across dimensions? Like, how does that work?”

At least he didn’t make fun of my ignorance. “Magic, probably,” he answered with a tiny hint of sarcasm.

Yeah, magic. Of course.

Melia and I stayed out of sight while Mike called his mom on video chat.

The queen, I reminded myself. High Queen Laina of Faerie. That wasn’t intimidating at all.

She picked up on the second ring and her voice filled the room as though she stood there with us. “Michael? What’s the matter? Are you all right? Why didn’t you call? Oh my, I knew we should have sent you with a new set of bodyguards this semester. Did you make it safely?”

Mike narrowly resisted rolling his eyes at the phone and I watched him plant a wide, fake smile on his face. “I’m fine, Mom. I got busy and forgot to call is all. Please don’t panic,” he told her.

“I always panic. It’s my job to panic. You understand that, don’t you?” she continued. “You’re my baby boy.”

I hid a smile behind my hand. How nice it must be to have a mom to worry about you. I’m sure Mike didn’t see it in those terms, but because I’d grown up without mine, it was my first thought. I’d gladly take the babbling and the excess worry if it meant I had my mom back.

“I do understand, but try to calm down because I’m fine. Bodyguards aren’t going to help me fit in. Besides, if you remember, the ones I had last semester didn’t work out so great,” he said.

He was thinking about Roman again. And there came my guilt, burning me from throat to abdomen like I’d swallowed acid. Mike didn’t understand the full details of what had happened, only how Roman tried to attack me but the detective stopped him.

I heard the tears in Queen Laina’s voice when she spoke again. “I’m sorry about your friend, honeybun. I’m glad you’re all right. I just miss you already.”

“I miss you too, Mom,” Mike said softly. “I really do.”

“You started your classes this morning, didn’t you? Things are going well?”

He turned slightly and I saw him grinning at the screen. “Things are fine, Mom. I just wanted to talk to you about something. We, ah, we got a busload of new exchange students last night.”

A slight pause answered him. “Exchange students, Mikey?”

Melia and I shared a look and I snickered under my breath at the nickname.

“Yeah, from our sister school in Canada. Do you know anything about the other academy’s portal being broken? Apparently, they’re holing up with us until graduation so they can use ours.”

Another long pause. Then Queen Laina laughed. “Oh goodness, I’d almost forgotten. My heart is pounding a mile a minute. Yes, dear, it’s actually quite the scandal. I’m surprised I didn’t mention it to you when you were here.”

Mike held a finger outside the view of the screen and gestured for us to pay attention to her next words.

“Their headmaster found the portal in pieces a few days before the start of their winter break. It appeared to have been intentionally destroyed but there are no clues as to who did it or why. Your father was furious! The backup plan has always been for students to travel via the Fae Academy for Halflings in the event of a similar disaster. I suppose you should have been informed of the news but it surely slipped your father’s mind. He has so many things going on these days. Try not to let the oversight bother you.”

“But why are the students here now? Wouldn’t they have to wait until the end of the spring semester to see who stays and who goes?” Mike questioned. “The academy here only has a single portal ceremony in June, not one each semester.”

“Different rules for different schools, my love,” Laina answered. “The Canadian Halfling Academy likes to do a smaller ceremony at the end of each semester.”

“Seriously?”

“Things don’t always work the way you’re used to, my dear. As far as I know, the school is working to fix their portal but they have to call in a council of elders to assist because it takes a great deal of power to set up a portal. Power and materials and time no one has readily available. The council has been quite busy attending to other matters. That’s probably why it’s taking a long time to fix. Be kind, welcome them, and focus on your studies.”

“Okay, awesome, Mom. Thanks for the information. How are you doing?”

“I’m well, darling boy. Well as always. Busier than usual for this time of year, as you know,” Laina said. “Preparations are being made for—”

I felt bad listening to their private chat but Mike made no move to take the call off of speaker phone.

They made small talk for a while more before Mike finally hung up. Clicking off the screen, he turned to the two of us with his brows set and his lips a thin line. All business. “As my mother said, it will take a lot of power to set up the portal again. By the same token, it would take a lot of power to destroy a portal to Faerie,” he told us softly. “But someone did. Someone left it in pieces.”

A shiver ran through me at the word. Pieces. Not just broken, but broken in a way it would be impossible to fix quickly.

“Holy crap. Who would be able to do something so powerful?” Melia asked. She drew a pillow against her chest and clutched it, looking much younger than her actual years.

Mike scratched the side of his head. The hair stood on end. “I’m not sure. I mean, the only ones I know with enough power would be the council of elders, like Mom said. They are the ones called in to build the portals in the first place. But if they’re working to fix the one up in Canada, then they wouldn’t be the ones behind its destruction. Right? Or am I missing something? Maybe I’m grasping at straws. I just don’t get it.”

“I think…I think someone wanted those students here this year. They knew we were the backup plan,” I said.

Mike and Melia shared a look. “Good theory,” Melia began, “but why?”

Exactly. Why? That was the burning question.

One I had a feeling we would have to solve before it was too late.

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