Chapter Five: Martin

This wasn't the first time Martin was called into Professor Umber's office. The dragon shifter professor glared at him, sharp and calculating. They were joined a moment later by Professor Z'Hana, an older, stern-faced woman though not quite as old as the infamous potions lecturer.

Both professors examined him wordlessly for a moment, and he didn't know why.

"It seems we have failed in our duty of care to our students," Z'Hana finally said, arms folded. "Something like this should have been obvious from the start. His sister was asking me questions, sharing her concerns, but this…"

What the hell were they talking about?

"It's not the kind that's affected by telling the truth, at least." Professor Umber also folded his arms, mirroring Z'Hana's posture. "We'd see an entirely different pattern in that case. We should speak to the principal, however."

"What's going on? Do I need to be here?" Martin asked, a little annoyed they were speaking as if he were a deaf-mute.

"Yes, sorry," Umber said. "Though you might want to sit down." He pushed an uncomfortable-looking wooden chair toward Martin, who made no move toward it.

Now Z'Hana spoke. "What we wished to discuss with you is to perhaps extend some of our assistance in your search for your missing friend. Your sister has given me some information. And it seems that we have not been providing the kind of help a student of ours deserves."

"Wait, what? Really?" Martin gaped at them, unwilling for a second to believe since no one had really tried to help him aside from his sister. His parents' help consisted of persuading him every other day to think about his future and return to school, not wanting him to waste his time on the very thing that bothered him the most. As for other friends… none here were as close to him. It made for a terribly lonely five months.

"It turns out your search most likely aligns with something we're also investigating," Z'Hana said. "Something that's also affected Umber's nephew recently. Something that I suppose we will need to send out a formal warning about to the other academies. I really don't want to have to deal with the Archon lot again…"

Umber snorted.

"What happened with your nephew?" Martin asked, surprised to hear that the professor even had a nephew. The professors didn't share much about their personal lives with their students.

"He was enchanted." Umber said, frowning, "by a member of what we believe to be the Unseelie Court. Are you familiar with the courts, boy?"

"Uh… I know of the fae realm and a little of the courts, but not a lot."

"That's about the extent of what we expect you to know." The dragon professor glanced toward Z'Hana as if debating what to say next. "We have some reason to believe they are meddling more in the affairs of mortals, making contracts and deals when they should be keeping to themselves. It's dangerous for the fae to do too much. It… can cause some strange things to happen in our reality."

A cold wind seemed to rip through Martin as he realized what the professors were driving at and why they'd brought him in from the dining hall, plucking him from an otherwise lovely bonding opportunity with a sorely needed friend after everything that had happened.

Strange things happen in our reality.

"Strange things… like perhaps an entire coast appearing in a place where it shouldn't be?" he whispered.

"Something like that," Umber agreed. "We want to also assist you in searching for this place. From my understanding, though, it sounds like a temporal location, not a permanent one, like the swamp or the wildland areas."

"Temporal locations are extraordinarily infuriating," Z'Hana growled, looking far more dangerous and more like how Martin imagined a professor specialized in curses and dark magic would look like. "You'll get ones that may only appear on a Tuesday morning every twenty years or every time Halley's Comet appears." Now, her gaze focused on Martin. "We'll be asking you questions relating to the circumstances of this location. You've probably answered many of them already, but we'll need everything."

"What changed your mind?" Martin asked. "Why are you now more willing to assist me now when you wouldn't before?"

"Because," Umber said, drawing himself up regally, "as I said, my nephew was enchanted by an Unseelie agent. It also appears you, too, have been enchanted by something fae, most likely Unseelie as well."

Martin froze, trying to process the information. With those words, the cloud in his head disappeared. He became painfully aware of a strange, pale green light just on the edge of his vision. When he turned to the side, he couldn't actually see it, but it continued to float there, maddeningly just out of reach. "Am I crazy, or is something glowing?"

"You're not crazy. You have a green glow emanating from your back." Umber went into a drawer and dug out a hand mirror. "Here. You can see it in this."

He held the mirror to Martin, and for the first time, Martin saw the green glow wisping from his back in what appeared to be a circular pattern. "What?"

"You have a magical glamour on you at the moment. It'll appear like that on your skin," Z'Hana said. "You'll barely notice it unless you drink a potion of Truesight, which reveals enchantments temporarily."

"But I didn't drink a potion…?" His voice trailed off. His mind swept back to when he sat at the dining hall table with Willow. He recalled the bottled drink she'd given to him, which he'd drunk without question.

"We asked Willow to give the potion to you, but without you knowing," Umber said. "For a good reason. It can be very dangerous to inform certain enchanted people that they're enchanted. There are a select few enchantments that trigger a cascade reaction if their enchanted subject ever finds out. Thankfully, those types are very rare. However, we didn't want to take the risk."

The tiny tinge of betrayal faded away as he considered the professor's statement. Yes… he did remember something vaguely about enchantments and glamours, although nothing about devastating consequences should a person find out about it. Still, it wasn't nice to think of Willow being complicit in that. It explained some of her nervous energy, though he'd thought it was related to being nervous around him because she wanted him to like her almost as much as he liked her.

The vague sense of betrayal turned to disappointment, further compounded by the fact that the professors planned to help him now only because it tied in with some things they'd noticed. It hadn't mattered before. It had taken them five months to wake up and pay him some attention.

A part of him wanted to shrug off their offer and growl about why it had taken them so long, but another part recognized that he couldn't do this alone. Plus, Willow wanted to help him, but not without extra assistance. Had she gone behind his back with this as well? But no – it was his sister who was in cahoots with the professors.

It all boiled down to his sister. He needed to talk with her later.

"What does… this glamour tell you exactly?" he asked, after reason won out over the other, less pleasant impulses. "And can you get rid of it?"

This being Professor Z'Hana's specialty, she stepped forward to check out the pattern herself. She paced around Martin like a prowling tiger. "With these glamours, you can recognize certain signatures. However, you already need to be aware of the types of signatures that exist; for example, wind magics tend to have a similar signature even though there are different ways to express them. What we see here is an Unseelie Court signature. The court has different magics, but those trained in the court with glamours all tend to have this kind." She gestured to the circles within the circle pattern as if weaving an enchantment herself. Then she rested a hand on Martin's back. He watched through the mirror as she squinted intently at the pattern.

Finally, after the silence stretched out for much longer than Martin hoped it would, she said, "This one appears to be a compulsion."

He gave a cold shiver. "I want to find the cave again," he said, and the shiver seized his brain and spine, flooding him with that terrible knowledge that he must find it again. There was no choice in the matter.

"Yes. Whoever placed this there – they want you to return, although it may be a cruel joke if it's a place that only appears in rare conditions. I don't see it as a joke, though. The Unseelie have been quite purposeful in their actions as of late. If only I knew what that purpose was."

Umber shook his head in disagreement with the statement. "I don't see that much purpose, just fae being as capricious and uncaring as usual."

"Perhaps," Z'Hana said, but with clear doubt in her tone. "However, just because we can't necessarily figure out their motives doesn't mean they're not up to something more."

"You're the dark magic expert," Umber said, shrugging. He turned to Martin. "Anyway, Martin, I suggest we take some time now for you to describe exactly the conditions where you found this place, such as if it was an accident, etcetera."

"To answer your last question," Z'Hana added, "this is not really the type of enchantment we can get rid of unless you satisfy the initial compulsion, be shocked out of it with something distracting and powerful, or realize it for what it is. Now that you have that knowledge, you may be able to work on getting rid of it yourself."

"There's no kind of artifact or anything that can help with it?" Martin asked.

"There are two. Neither are on hand, nor are they easy to obtain permission for. But if things work out, you have a good chance to combat it yourself."

Martin didn't feel prepared to combat something he didn't understand. At the back of his mind, that anxiety, that longing to find the cave and find his friend, still had a hold on him. That same urge had been with him for months, but he just assumed it was because of the tragedy and that he needed to work through it.

It never occurred to him that something magical might be driving that urge. A part of it didn't even make sense. The professors encouraged him again to tell them about the events of that day. At least they asked in a more gentler manner than the local police. He settled in to tell them as much as possible, though he couldn't remember everything, and a part of him still felt outraged and alarmed at the notion that an enchantment was pressing on him – one that he should be able to combat now… but how?

Several times, he licked his lips as his mouth became dry from talking, and the effort increased.

"So, your friend already knew about the place…" Z'Hana said, cutting into his description for a moment.

"Yeah, he wanted to show us the place. He wanted to prove that it existed."

"That's… auspicious."

Martin glared. "Is it?"

Z'Hana smiled thinly. "If he knew how to get there and had already been there recently, then it suggests that the location may not be that far away or at least something that may appear every few days or weeks. Did he tell you when he last visited it?"

"Uh…" Martin tried to remember but only drew a blank. "No, he didn't, or I don't recall. He just said he'd found this really cool place, and he wanted to show it to us."

"Yannick Margrave, you said?" Now Umber broke in, clearly curious on this point.

"Yes, he was the one who was showing us the place."

"We'll need to do a background check on him," Z'Hana said thoughtfully. "What kind of magic did he have?"

"Uh, he worked with potions. I think he was very good at mixing them and coming up with new ones. He bragged about a night vision potion he'd made."

"An enchanter," Z'Hana said, and suddenly, Martin saw where they were going.

"Wait, you don't think Yannick is responsible for my glamour. He's dead like the others!" His voice was shrill. Surely, they didn't think his friend ended up leading everyone to that place just to have them all die?

Except me. I didn't die. And I still don't know why. Or why Yannick's body wasn't there with the others. But he died. I'm sure of it. He was… he was drowning, too…

For a moment, the memory parted in his mind like a curtain, and he saw them all, pressed against the wall in a panic as the chamber filled with water, watching it rise, higher and higher...

"We don't know. We are just gathering information," Z'Hana said. "And everything must be considered. So your friend, an enchanter, wanted to show you this place. He had been there at least once before and knew how to get there. You also mentioned that the day was foggy. Perhaps it was sea fog from the coast leaking through."

Sea fog. That thought had occurred to Martin as well, which was why, every time the woods filled with a foggy miasma, he went exploring, trying to find that strange doorway into that other place.

"What was the date?"

"It was a Saturday in June. The third, I think?"

"Good to know." The professors continued to extract the information, jotting it down on Umber's phone before he saved it as a file and sent it as an email attachment. "You can add to it if you remember anything else. You can share with the water student, too. If, for any reason, we must go to that place again, a water witch or warlock would be fairly useful. We can look into acquiring one as well if we figure out how to access it."

He smiled then, looking tired. "Please don't think poorly of Willow, by the way," she added." She wanted to help, and when we thought you might be under an enchantment, we needed to verify it because it seems we have neglected to help you in the way we should have. Some enchantments are dangerous if left on for too long."

"Is… is mine dangerous?" He again felt that vicious impulse to keep looking, to find that cave, to find his lost friend and bring his body home.

At this, Z'Hana sighed. "It depends on how dangerous the thing is that you are compelled to seek and if you notice compulsive behaviors like random late-night wanderings that might leave you to die of exposure, for example."

Late-night wanderings.

He had… definitely done some of that. Usually in tiger form, though.

"Try to remember to update people with what you're doing. When you feel you want to do anything, message someone. That can also help distract you from the compulsion. In time, the enchantment can fade. Keep us up to date as well. If you discover this place before we do, message us. Do not go there alone, do you understand?" Her dark eyes shone like black holes. "If you go alone, there is every chance you'll die."

"I'll try not to," he said, though a few beads of sweat did start forming on his brow. There were a few times when he thought he would go straight in if he found it. But he didn't know at the time that something more than grief was driving him.

He left the teachers with far more questions than answers. That was the nature of this type of enchantment. Every question seemed to lead to even more. He still didn't quite know what to make of Willow spiking his drink, either.

However, spiking his drink did lead to all of this, to being believed on a more official level, which was nice, he supposed. But the thought of people literally gathering behind his back to conspire against him, even if they had good intentions, was annoying.

The road back home was tranquil, full of fallen leaves from the last of the trees scattered on the ground. It had rained recently, so the leaves didn't crunch underfoot. They looked trodden into the mud, wet lumps of yellow, orange, and brown.

It was a beautiful place to grow up. It was a fantastical place, with the magic blooming around the edges of the path and creeping into some of the plants. He'd walked this path hundreds of times as a child, going back and forth from the academy. There were places he'd loped through as a tiger, racing against other tiger shifters from his clan, all the way up to the mountains.

He hadn't noticed the beauty lately. Something had soured in him, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. And in his mind, an obsession burned.

Find the cave. Find my friend. Bring him home once and for all.

No fog today, however. He made a loop through the Oakwend woodland just for a quick inspection before waiting for his sister to return home from her studies.

She instantly knew something was up when she returned, whistling to herself as she scrolled through her phone, only to freeze, then awkwardly shuffle around him.

"Oh, sister," he said sweetly. "I hope you had a lovely time at the academy."

"Yes?" She continued to shuffle toward the stairs and subsequently to her bedroom. "Did I do something wrong? Because you're looking at me like you want to murder me."

"Am I still glowing?"

"What?" She squinted at him. "No?"

"It appears you have been talking to people a little more than we agreed on," he said, folding his arms and leaning forward.

"Ah," she said, her face now a little more wary. "Everything I discussed was all to do with helping you out with this situation. I don't believe I said anything that wasn't relevant to it."

"You shared too much. Professor Z'Hana and Umber cornered me for an intervention. And Willow slipped a potion into my drink, which I didn't really appreciate. I thought we were just meeting for lunch. Now I know I'm under some sort of glamour, just to make things even better."

Eva's expression softened, though it didn't do a whole lot to ease his annoyance. "The problem is, dear brother, it had to be this way. We were extremely concerned that you might be under an aggressive enchantment. There are a few of them that have a bad effect on their target if that target finds out about it. That meant we literally had to do some things behind your back. There was no other way to it was possible."

Eva's words made sense, but they still left him with a profound unease. Some of that unease came from the burden of knowing that not all of his thoughts, his actions, were his own without knowing exactly whatthe distinction was.

They meant well. He knew that on some level. But it'd take him a little time to reconcile their intentions with their actions.

"We proved it," Eva continued. "So, you'll now be able to get the help you deserve unless you'd rather keep searching for the coast alone until it eventually traps you and kills you like the others."

That was harsh but necessary for him to hear. "Yeah, okay. I was… I am a little obsessive about it and maybe not thinking clearly." That would also make sense if he had a glamour. They didn't allow clear thinking. Perhaps things might be simpler if it wasn't Willow who invited him to lunch and smiled at him, all the while knowing that his drink was tainted.

It really, really bothered him that it came from Willow.

"If you want, we can explain this all to our parents."

"Let the teachers do that," he said sourly. "They didn't want to get involved in any of this. I don't see why that should change."

He stalked past his sister, still annoyed, as he wrestled with the chaotic thoughts swirling in his mind.

The next day brought a little more relief, a little more acceptance of the whole situation. Plus, he got a message from Willow.

Willow: Good morning. Hope you're feeling better. Sorry about… yesterday, too. It was kind of a shitty thing to do, and you didn't deserve that.

Martin: Morning! Thanks for saying that. It wasn't great, but I do see where everyone was coming from, what with the dangers of an enchantment. Do you know what happened after the professors took me away?

Willow: They sent that email. It included everything you'd said about the coast location appearing.

Ah, right. They were planning to share that with everyone.

He spent a couple of minutes getting dressed before responding again.

Martin: I'm happy at least that now I'll be taken more seriously. I just wish it hadn't taken so long.

Willow: I'm worried about all this Unseelie Court drama. Why couldn't it just be something simpler, right?

Martin: Oh yeah. It's completely getting in the way of a nice, normal day.

Willow: I wouldn't mind spending a nice, normal day with you, to be honest.

He grinned, reading those words. A growing kind of warmth infused his body, and he found himself glancing more and more at his phone, eager for her response. A small whisper of disappointment still lingered from the unsolicited Truesight potion, but it still wasn't enough to make him not want to talk to her and spend time with her.

He wondered if she was feeling the way he felt. If she, too, felt that warmth, that little surge of happiness whenever he texted. They messaged each other some more, complaining about the Unseelie Court, wondering how the hell they'd be able to pinpoint such an elusive location and whether or not any of the people they might get to assist would be famous investigators.

Willow: Imagine if they got that woman who saved the president. I heard she spoke with some students from our school last year! All the alumni seem to be on a kind of contact list, which is really cool.

Martin: Nah, they wouldn't send someone like that, no way. Maybe Grish – he's pretty big in Washington, and he's an alumnus of Dreadmor.

Willow: Oh, I didn't know that! I see him in the news all the time!

Martin: By the way, there's something I want to say. It's nice to be believed when I was sure I never would be. I was worried about that with you as well – I really wanted to talk to you, but well…

Willow: Yeah, I get it. Though now I'm thinking – were you hunting for students who might have my type of magic?

Martin: Honestly, I was visiting the spot where my friends used to hang out. Finding someone with powers hadn't really occurred to me, but the moment I saw you playing with the water, I just knew I needed you.

He paused after that last message, semi-aware of how… intense it might seem. It didn't feel that intense when he texted it, but now, staring at it, it seemed to swell in his mind, becoming more dramatic as if it revealed something hidden.

I'm overthinking it.

Plus, not responding straight away didn't mean anything. People were busy. They didn't look at their phones twenty-four-seven.

Another five minutes later, the phone buzzed once more.

Willow: I hope I can help. Truly. You deserve to have closure. To be rid of whatever the hell those evil fairy people put on you. Have to get ready for lessons now, talk to you later.

She added a little x at the end. He stared at the whole sentence, re-reading it a few times. Strange how such a simple little syllable made his heart stutter.

"Someone's happy," Eva observed when he bounced into the kitchen, ready to prep breakfast and start the day strong. "Usually, you walk in here like some dead-eyed zombie."

"I'm allowed to be happy sometimes," he said, deftly weaving around Eva to grab a mug and place it under the coffee machine. Eva had already primed the machine, so he flicked the switch and hunted for bread and butter.

"Yeah, but you're… really peppy." She munched on a piece of bread, highly amused. "I take it this means you're not really mad at anyone anymore."

"I slept on it. I'm over it."

"Glad to hear that," she sang, handing him over his coffee. He drank it black. He didn't like milk in it – he felt it ruined the overall flavor. "I don't suppose you've been messaging anyone recently? Say, a certain water witch…?"

"What about it?"

"Oh, nothing," she said in an infuriating tone that made him want to step over and shake an answer from her. He didn't, of course.

"Have you two been talking behind my back by any chance?"

All she did was grin, which confirmed his suspicions. As much as he wanted to know what they'd been saying, he also didn't want to ask her, as he knew she'd spend the next few months teasing him about it. It wasn't worth the risk.

He"d rather just deal with a little light teasing and no more. His sister quickly lost interest in trying to rib him and acted relatively normal for the rest of the morning. In the end, Martin found himself slinking into the Dreadmor Academy library an hour after she left to browse the digital archives.

The librarian checked his library card, something all students were handed and didn't need to relinquish, even when they no longer attended – and he quietly went to the second floor to the sleek row of computers with their cheap keyboards and mice.

It took him a couple of tries to remember his own log-in password, and then he was free, delving into the world of the courts, the complex nature of glamours and potions, and the places that sometimes appeared in specific conditions all over the world. Shapeshifters like Martin didn't have any strong resistance against such enchantments either, which was a shame. He absorbed all the information until his attention started spinning, and a mild cramp crept up his thighs.

"Hello there, stranger," a voice purred. Low, feminine, familiar. The kind of voice that sent shivers down his spine. "Fancy seeing you here doing the same thing I was planning to do."

"Willow!" He got up to hug her, and she accepted it without question, arms, and palms pressing tight into his back. The tactile sensation threatened to overload the remainder of his ability to think. It took him a couple of blinks before he managed, "I promise I'm not stalking you or anything."

"I promise the same. We do keep showing up in the same places," she replied with a mischievous grin.

Damn. He blinked, taken back by her calm, casual appearance. He didn't know a whole lot about makeup, but whatever she'd done, it somehow made her cheeks look luminous, and her eyes were warm and dark under heavy eyelashes. Her hair cascaded down her back, with little fluffy tendrils accentuating her face. A hunger stirred within him, instinctual longing.

His reaction astonished him. It took him over like an assassin, stabbing him where he was vulnerable, making him painfully aware of an acute loneliness, an acute longing to have someone fill that gap and understand and love him for who he was.

It wasn't that he wanted to pin those kinds of expectations on Willow. It was more… clouds parting, revealing something he didn't even realize he wanted. Up till now, his life had been clenched like a fist with the obsession with the cave and the loss of his friends.

Her fingers lightly brushed his shoulder – a casual, simple act that pressed on him heavier than she would ever know. "I'm sorry again for what happened yesterday. Eva messaged and said that you needed some time – but then you were messaging me, and I guess I got swept within it."

"It's fine. Really." He flashed a smile before conspicuously patting the computer next to him. "Come and join me on my adventures at the Unseelie Court."

"Don't mind if I do." She plunked herself down on the chair, booted up her own account, and glared when a pop-up asking for an update appeared, blocking the screen. "Never mind, not this one." She shifted to the other computer. "I'm surprised there aren't any students up here. Usually, it's fight just to grab a spot."

"Maybe they've all been whisked away to the fae realm," Martin said. "And we can have the entire school to ourselves."

"If we were to theoretically roam around the school because we have it all to ourselves…"

"Oh, we'd definitely strip naked and run around the corridors. Maybe try and break into some of the professors' offices."

"Huh, not bad." Willow nodded, wrinkling her lips as if impressed. "I was thinking that we'd have free food in the dining hall. Maybe we could check the artifact vault the academy has as well. I bet they've got some neat relics hidden away there."

"Kind of risky, no? I've heard some artifacts can tear your soul out, flay you – all the fun stuff."

At that, Willow shuddered a little. "Oh no. Maybe not. I'd be the idiot who touches something I shouldn't, and then that'd be the end of it…"

He nudged her, grinning. "Clumsy, are we?"

"Shut up." She glared at him but failed at holding it for long. "Have you ever done any research? Maybe I should move and leave you alone."

"No, no, please stay. I like having you here," he said. A small flush bloomed on her cheeks, and she tilted her head so that her hair covered her face to conceal the shyness. "Also, I did some research. I did a lot of research, actually. I just didn't find anything useful."

"Story of my life."

Still using her hair as a curtain, she went through some sites. He noted she was checking up specifically about realm overlaps and wetlands. He focused more on the Unseelie Court and general court shenanigans. Apparently, the fae absolutely adored meddling in mortal affairs. It was their bread and butter. Their chaotic, perfect lives in the fae realm became ever more chaotic and perfect if a mortal wanted to try and make a deal or had a sort of greed or corruption in their hearts. They loved wayward souls, and they loved watching people screw up their lives with their own poor choices.

Capricious beings, indeed.

The one thing he did notice was that the courts had kept themselves largely out of human affairs after the Second World War. The Unseelie Court, in particular, went radio silent, and for decades, no one had heard of it making a deal. The other courts surfaced now and then – but the Unseelie – nothing.

Until now.

Coastal locations related to the Unseelie Court. Most of his search results drew up nonsense or advertisements for beachside holidays.

"Hey, I have something!" Willow said, and he snapped to attention, craning his neck to eye Willow's screen. It looked like a huge wall of text, and he very quickly lost the patience to read it.

"What is it?"

"Some good stuff about how we get overlaps with other places in our world. I need just a little longer to read it, but I think we're on the right track here."

"Sure!" He rubbed his eyes, wondering if it might be worth trying to sneak a coffee into the library. "I'll keep with my piece, I guess. I got something about the court dynamics with the fae realm."

She gave him a thumbs up, though she clearly wanted to focus deeper on her piece.

Other students began to take up the spare computers, and it soon became a little too crowded for Martin's liking. He heard someone clear their throat and noticed Willow looking at him, her dark eyes intense.

"I know a better place than this if you want a little privacy," Willow suggested, and something in her tone made him shiver.

"Where were you thinking?"

"One of the lower-level classrooms. There are a few of them that have computers, and some are rarely used outside of lessons. We could take the room near the potions classes, and we should be fine."

The thought wove through his mind of making it to an abandoned classroom, being there together, alone, door closed, without anyone to see them, except anyone who might stumble in on them by accident. His heart raced a little and then a little more when she placed the tip of her fingers on his shoulder.

"Martin?" He was startled by her touch, and she withdrew her hand as if burned. "I'm okay. I'm fine, I think. We've nearly covered everything here anyway," he rasped. Was that a look of disappointment flitting over her face? Surely, he must have imagined it.

"Suit yourself." She browsed her web page in silence, and he wondered if he'd somehow made a mistake or offended her.

Focus,he told himself. You're here to solve the mystery. Nothing more.

Don't get distracted by other people. Especially don't get distracted by Willow Colson, even though he wouldn't mind getting distracted by her.

I just want to get to know her, that's all.

The attempts to ground his thoughts worked somewhat, and he absorbed the information until his head started spinning from all the tiny words on the screen.

"Hey," Willow spoke after what felt like an insurmountable silence. "So, that was a lot of interesting stuff. Most of it I didn't even know about. Did you know, for example, that we can have crossovers from other realms – like an alternate earth, maybe an earth that got destroyed or some alien planet millions of light years away?"

"Nope. Sounds pretty wild."

"They're super dangerous, so we don't want those. Luckily, what we may be dealing with is a bit less dangerous. Uh, no offense to what happened to you." She squinted back at the screen, once more using her hair as a screen to hide her embarrassment. "From what I gather from everything I've read so far… if the location we're looking for is a part of the fae realm and a fae court, they tend to work more around days that are considered important to mortals. So, they're a little more in tune with our world than other places. The summer solstice, for example, is when the Seelie Court and Summer Courts find it easier to cross over into our realm. The Unseelie is closely related to the Winter Court, so they tend to be stronger near the winter solstice, whose date varies depending on which part of the hemisphere you live. Interesting, right?"

He nodded encouragement to her, trying to ignore the stare of one student whom he recognized from his year.

"Anyway, it's November now, but your incident happened around five months ago. The third of June, you said?"

"Mmm." He closed his eyes, feeling a coldness prickle over his skin.

"Other things that can affect the courts making an appearance can be things like the weather, phases of the moon, a designated holiday in the region, or a rest day… anything that ends up having some significance in the human world will also have a similar significance in the fae world."

She pursed her lips, fingers now drumming lightly against the keyboard. He also reflected.

Significant dates. What was significant about the third of June? That day, there was fog. It was a Saturday. He remembered that because there were no lessons, everyone was available, and they left around midday. But if it was a day of interest, he had no idea.

"The third of June," Willow repeated, brow wrinkling. "I may as well type it in." She did, and he watched as she entered the question into the search bar, asking what was important about the day.

Before them, one of the most prominent results revealed it was a full moon. "Huh, it was a Strawberry Moon. I guess they give namesto each full moon of the year." They gaped at the data. Neither had ever heard of the Strawberry Moon.

"Surely that can't be right," Martin said. "I don't think it was a full month ago that Yannick thought we should go and visit."

"Technically, the moon looks full over three days," Willow replied absently. "It's why the werewolves need to take medication. The true full moon is only really full for a few minutes, but it's more noticeable on one day than on the others – but overall, it looks full to us in this period. So, if your friend had found this place a day before… then it's possible."

Martin considered the information. "I'm sure I've checked under a full moon as well. I went every day. I'd notice."

"Ah, hmm." Willow deflated slightly. "Yeah, okay, that's a good point. Drat, I really thought we were on to something."

"It might still be related to the moon." Martin folded his arms, thinking for a moment. "You also said something about the weather?"

"Yeah. Oh!" She perked up again. "What if it needs to be foggy and a full moon?"

"Maybe!" he said, catching some of her excitement. "That could make sense, but… that would mean we have to wait for both a full moon and fog."

"Well, It's something. We should pass on this information and see what the others think of it." Already, she hunted for her email, and he smiled at her enthusiasm. "Okay, done. Now I actually have to go to my lesson. Sorry. Will you still be here later?"

"Maybe. Text me." Honestly, he'd planned to go back home after this, but Willow's hopeful expression made him discard that idea. Of course, he'd wait for her. He wasn't a monster. And, if he did plan to wait, staying in the academy he'd abandoned five months ago, he may as well see if there was anything else to be done.

He browsed a bit longer after her departure, but his heart wasn't really in it anymore. The information they'd found – the idea of the full moon – there was something to it. He felt it deep in his bones. The last thing he checked was how the courts tended to treat full moons. He learned that their powers were stronger when the moon presented its full, reflective face. The fae courts liked the dark side of the earth with the moon at its brightest. Something about it enabled and unlocked their strange, otherworldly magic.

He didn't pretend to understand all of it, but at least he knew they were on to something.

A reply email from Professor Z'Hana looked promising.

I think you're on to something with this, Z'Hana wrote. I have a fae contact. A true fae, not one with diluted blood. They are… not always the most reliable sources since, as you know, the true fae just doesn't regard life and morality the same way we do.

The fae has confirmed that some of the strongest realm crossovers happen on dates of sacred importance to mortals – even if those dates might be more recently invented. It's the power of expectation and belief that has some pull on them. Weather can also play a role, sometimes leaking through and providing a path.

He said that the Unseelie Court has been even more secretive as of late and harder to contact. Some of the ambassadors of the Seelie Court to which he belongs have not returned from what should have been purely diplomatic missions.

Whatever's going on there, it is of enough concern for some of the other courts to break their silence and start reaching out to us to perhaps do something. Fae don't really like to ask for help, so I'm a little concerned that the issue is a lot bigger than what my liaison was willing to admit.

Another thing – it may not actually have to be foggy and a full moon. There's some evidence that the fog is directly from the coastal location. I would recommend trying to find out if Yannick practiced some kind of ritual that brought the fog. He was a wind-based magician.

Martin's heart raced after he finished reading the email. A ritual from Yannick?

The only way to find out anything about that was to try to contact his family. But they were less than willing to talk to the person they believed was responsible for the accident.

That left only one thing to do…