The healer leaps into action, shoving me back and forcing the patient to hold still and open his mouth, but magic can only do so much. Sometimes, even magic isn’t enough.
It’s not in this instant.
Not five minutes later, the fairy is dead.
Chapter 22
Two weeks. The entire campus is to be on lockdown for two weeks. No classes in the rooms, only through the computer, meaning more assignments and projects and even papers. No one in or out. Nothing at all while the security forces do their best to locate the arsonist and thief.
But I have no faith they’ll do anything. Silver Brightbird, the fairy who died, deserves so much more. Orchid and all of the other victims of the thefts deserve so much more. The students all displaced from their dorm deserve so much more, and so do the students who had been chased out of their classrooms.
Neither building has been rebuilt yet. The dorm has at least been all cleaned up, but the site of the school building remains in shambles.
A week into the lockdown has me ready to rip out my wings. “I have to get out of here,” I tell the others.
“And go where?” Wren asks.
“To see who?” Delia asks.
“I just need to fly around a bit,” I say.
Orchid shakes her head. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Good idea or not, I can’t stay in here a minute longer,” I declare.
Orchid lifts her eyebrows. “Who knew you could have such a flair for the dramatics? But then again, look at who your sister is.”
“Ouch,” I say good-naturedly.
“You can’t deny it.”
“If you notice, I didn’t.” I head over to the window.
“Be careful,” Orchid murmurs, and the other fairies nod their agreement.
“I’m always careful,” I say lightly in much the same tone I always told my parents that I always behave when they ask me to. They know, and I know, that I don’t always. They just don’t know the extent of it.
They do, however, know at least some of the details concerning the lockdown. After all, they were highly upset when Bay and I stopped coming home. The academy never did notify the parents about the lockdown, which, if you ask me, is terrible on their part, but most if not all of the parents know by now.
All I have to say is that life is crazy and unpredictable.
I open the window and fly out of the room. Since I have no destination in mind, I just loop around the campus. Maybe I’m hoping to see something suspicious. Maybe I should reconsider because my flying about could be seen as suspicious.
Not five minutes into my flight, a fairy zooms up toward me. At first, I stiffen, expecting her to be a security guard, but it’s just a student.
“Hi, you’re Rosemary, right?” she asks in a rush.
I nod, my stomach turning. She knows who I am, but Sage hadn’t.
“I just wanted to thank you,” she says in a rush. “What you did was amazing. If you hadn’t been late to class…”
“I don’t make a habit of it,” I say lightly.
“But when you do, you become a hero.” She grins and blinks back tears. “I was one of the ones you helped.”
“You’re welcome,” I say, trying not to feel uncomfortable.
“You might be wondering why we were down there,” she continues.
“The thought did cross my mind, but it’s not—”
“Oh, you can ask me anything and everything!” She waves her hand. “All of us… we found that room a few days into the semester. We usually would wait until after the last class to go down there, but that day… Silver managed to get his hands on some rum. You know, one of the humans’ alcohols? We all wanted to try it, and… The fire cut off the route to the door, and we couldn’t leave.”
My jaw drops. I don’t know what to say.
“Don’t worry,” she rushes to add. “I won’t touch the stuff again. Humans like so many different foods and drinks.”
“Yes, but we’ve taken some of their foods and included them in our diet,” I point out, thinking about salads in particular.
“And it’s fun to experiment sometimes, but… not now.” She shudders. “And not for a long time for me at least. Anyhow, I saw you flying around, and I just… I wanted to thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me.”
“I do!” She wiggles her fingers and starts to fly off.
Compelled for some reason, I now fly with purpose straight to the ruined remnants of the classrooms. Movement behind me alerts me to the fairy following me, and neither of us talks as we make our way through the skeletal frame down to the bottom, where I blasted the floor to reach them.
“Do you know where the fire originated?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “We did see something before we were able to escape, though.”
“What was it?”
She flies forward and points to a scorched line on the burnt stone. “We thought it might’ve been sugar, but why would there be sugar down here?”
“Small white particles,” I murmur.
She nods. “Yeah.” She hugs herself and rubs her arms as she glances around. “I really don’t want to be here right now.”
“Let’s go.”
We fly out, and I start back toward my place when she starts to laugh.
“I never even told you my name.” She giggles. “I’m Magnolia.”
“Rosemary, but then you knew that.” I grin at her and think of Sage all over again.
See? I’m not the only one who forgets to introduce herself.
“I’ll see you around, Magnolia.”
She beams. “If you ever need anything, please let me know!”
Magnolia breaks off and heads to her dorm room, and I enter mine a few minutes later.
“Orchid, do you remember anything being in your room when you realized your talisman was gone?” I ask in a rush.
She blinks a few times and closes the book she had been reading. “Can you repeat that?”
“When your talisman was stolen, did you notice anything in its place?”
She blinks a few times. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Anything at all?” I press, not wanting to mention my suspicion for fear of planting an idea in her head.
Orchid grimaces and bites her lower lip. “You know, now that you mention it, there was something on the dresser… I brushed it off.”
“What color was it?”
“Gray. No. No, it was white. Why?”
“Wren, did you see anything?”
“I wasn’t in the room where the fire started,” she says. “I didn’t see anything. Just smoke.”
I nod slowly.
“Why all the questions?” Delia asks.
I ignore her. “Wren, are you still trying to get with that guard?”
“Yeah, Pine. He’s not too receptive to being anything more than friends, but I’m working on it.”
“Ask him if anyone else noticed white near where items were stolen,” I instruct.
“What is the white stuff?” Orchid asks, but I’m already out of the window, back to flying, this time heading for my sister’s cottage.
Thistle eyes me. He’s the only one sitting around the table. “How’s the project coming along?”
“I’ll need your help on that,” I tell him, “but later. Where’s Bay?”
“My help?”
“Yeah. You see, Professor Jewel isn’t an idiot. She’ll know if you didn’t help, and she’ll grade you separately. You want me to do it all, you’ll fail. You’re choice.” I shrug. “Now, where’s Bay?”
“Right here.”
I turn around to see my sister adjusting her top. No dress for her today. Her top barely covers her chest, and her skirt is so short that it barely covers her ass.
I jerk my head toward the window. “Fly with me?”
“My sister wanting to ignore the rules of the lockdown. What a daredevil.” She grins and chuckles.
I scowl.<
br />
Her laugh dies, and she frowns. “I’m sorry,” she murmurs. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
We fly out of there, and I don’t wait long at all to start talking.
“How well do you know your friends?” I ask.
“As well as you know yours.” She eyes me curiously.
I stop flying and hover, needing to look her in the face. “Bay, I’m serious.”
“So am I. I trust them. Why are you doubting that?”
“I don’t doubt that. I just… Who supplies their fairy dust?”
“Why?” She stares at me suspiciously. “You aren’t going to turn to that because a guy treated you like shit, are you?”
“If I wanted some, I’m sure Thistle will supply me,” I say coolly. “I don’t want it. I just want to know who gives it to them.”
“Why?” she challenges, lifting her chin.
I hesitate. “I’m not sure. I just have a theory, that’s all.”
“Tell me about your theory.”
I bristle. “I’m worried, okay?”
“Worried about what?”
“I think the thief and the arsonist might be the same person, and I also think…”
“What do you think?” Bay asks, her tone bitter, her scowl fierce.
My swallow gets lodged in my throat, and I cough.
“What do you think, Rosemary?” Bay repeats.
I’ve never seen her this furious before, and I haven’t even gotten to the serious part yet.
“This is just a theory, remember?”
“You said that,” she says through gritted teeth.
“The theft might have left behind traces of fairy dust at the crime scenes.”
Chapter 23
Two seconds pass. Bay blinks a few times. Her scowl deepens, and she looks like a frozen, furious figure, a doll suspended in horrified anger.
“Do you mean to tell me that you think one of my friends is behind all of this?” she asks, waving her arms.
Her question is so loud that I wince and have to refrain from covering my ears.
“I asked about their supplier for a reason,” I say soothingly. “I’m not accusing anyone, and like I said—”
“Just a theory. I heard,” she snaps. “Who else have you told your theory?”
I hesitate.
“Who else? Your friends? Including the one who has been up that one guard’s grill the entire time?”
“His what?”
Bay rolls her eyes and waves her hand. “I can’t believe this—”
“My friends don’t know your friends. They certainly don’t know about what your friends like to do in their spare time. Besides…”
Shut up, Rosemary. Just close your mouth.
But I don’t listen to my very wise advice. “Fairy dust isn’t illegal, but it’s illegal here on the grounds of the academy.”
Her eyes flash. “You said might. The thief might be leaving behind traces of fairy dust, but it could be any number of things, right?”
I nod.
“So why do you automatically assume the worst? Why is it that the first thing that crosses your mind is my friends?”
“They’re the only ones I know who are using the stuff!”
“They aren’t the only ones on campus who are.”
I want to ask how she knows that, but I don’t.
“Go ahead and ask. I know you want to,” she says. “How do I know that? Let me tell you how.”
Bay leans in close, far too close for comfort, but I don’t dare pull back. I won’t let her know how unnerved I am.
“Because I’m the supplier,” she hisses.
I jerk back so violently that I drop a few feet in the air. Slowly, I rise back up to where she’s hovering but with some space between us.
“You-You’re… W-Why?” I sputter, unable to comprehend the meaning of all of this.
“Why not? It makes my friends happy, which makes me happy, and it pays the bills.”
“What bills?” I cry. “Mom and Dad pay for our schooling, and they’ve bought us everything we ever asked for!”
“That’s just it. I don’t want to ask.”
“Then get a real job,” I snap.
“How when there’s a lockdown?”
“There are jobs available on campus!”
“So why don’t you apply to one so you can keep your nose and your wings out of other people’s business, Rosemary? I get it. I do. You tasted the part of being a hero with that stunt of flying into the burning building, but, Rosemary, if you play with fire, you will get burned.”
I swallow hard. “That almost sounds like a threat.”
Her eyes narrow. “Unbelievable! Are you listening to yourself? I swear that Sage guy has made you paranoid and insane. He doesn’t trust you, so now you don’t trust anyone. It’s not a threat, Rose. It’s reality. If you mess with bad shit, bad shit is going to end up happening to you. It’s the law of the universe. It’s how things have always been. Besides, nothing good can last forever. Everything ends up falling apart.”
“Who knew you were such a pessimist.”
“I’m a realist,” she counters. “I see the world for what it is. Do I try to make sure I come out on top? Yes. Is that a crime? No. The world isn’t black and white no matter what the fairies try to say. There isn’t just good and bad. There’s a hundred-thousand different shades of gray, of variations of good and bad. That’s life. That’s just the way it is.”
I say nothing. It’s not often that Bay’s this passionate about something. Normally, she tries to play everything down, to be cool and aloof. I’ve really hurt her. Just like I really hurt Sage, and I hurt Orchid at times too. I still don’t like who I am, but I’m trying. I’m not the hero Magnolia thinks I am, and up until now, the thefts and the fires haven’t affected me personally. Now, I’m embroiled in it, and I can feel the heat closing in. Bay’s right. If I’m not careful, I’ll get burned or de-winged, and that’s the last thing I want.
“You’re light. No matter what you do, you’re light.”
“I have some darkness too,” I protest.
“That’s not necessarily a good thing,” she mutters.
“I realize that, but—”
“But nothing,” she snaps. “Stay out of this, Rosemary. I’m begging you.”
“Why? Do you know something I don’t? Do you know who is doing all of this?”
“I don’t,” she barks, “and if I did, I would tell the authorities. The authorities, Rosemary, not you.”
“Would you?” I challenge. “Would you turn in one of your friends?”
“A fairy died, Rosemary! Do you really think I would condone that? Fuck, Rosemary, I’m not a demon!”
“I never said you were! I never accused you of anything! I didn’t even accuse your friends! My first thought was their supplier, not them! I had no idea—I never thought—You…”
“Yes. Me.” Bay’s face is curiously blank, void of all emotions. “Do you think I had anything to do with any of it?”
“No, of course not.”
“Trust me. There are plenty of others who also use. Not just my friends.”
“Is that why they’re friends with you?” I ask.
Such a terrible question to ask.
A cloud passes over her face, and her expression flickers from rage to sorrow.
“Is that what you think?” she asks quietly. “Do you honestly believe that I can only have friends if they get something from me? Isn’t that how friendships work, though? Give and take. A listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, and all that shit? Or do you think I’m incapable of making true friends? I saw the way you were that one day, when all the boys were flocking to me. They still do, by the way. Is that my fault? Am I doing something wrong? Or maybe I’m doing something right.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You didn’t mean a lot of things,” she says. “You didn’t mean for Sage to think you were me, but why
would he think that? Our personalities are nothing alike, and as soon as he realized there were two of us, he could pick out the time we spoke.”
“Maybe I need to do a better job of meaning what I say, and I mean this.” Now I’m the one to crowd Bay’s personal space. “I am going to try to get to the bottom of the crimes. The security guards haven’t yet for whatever reason, so I’ll step in. And if one of your friends is involved, I will notify the authorities. You might want to stop associating with them so you don’t get burned.”
“Oh, didn’t you know?” Bay snaps. “I’m part phoenix. Burn me, baby, and I’ll rise again from the ashes. Nothing and no one can put me down and get away with it. Not even my own twin.”
She glowers at me.
I shake my head sadly. “How did we get to this point?”
“We look alike, but we aren’t alike. We’re two different people who wear the same face. You’re you, and I’m me, and just because we’re twins doesn’t mean we have to be friends. We don’t have to be close. We can do our own things and wave or nod as we pass the other by. That’s it.”
I swallow hard. “Is that what you want?” I ask quietly.
“Do you?” she counters.
“No.”
Bay blinks a few times. “Rosemary, you don’t even like me. Admit it.”
“I do!” I protest. “We’re twins. We have history. We’re sisters and friends!”
“Are we?” she argues. “You never come to see me.”
“How many times have you come to see me?” I retort.
“I thought that after Sage, it would be better for you to seek me out than for me to visit. I didn’t want to remind you of what happened,” Bay says quietly. “Fuck, Rosemary, did you forget how much I defended you to that ass?”
“He has a very fine ass,” I mumble.
Bay bursts out laughing and shakes her head. “Does it look as good unclothed as it does when he wears those tight pants of his?”
“Oh, so you’ve been checking him out?”
“I just want to make sure he’s not flirting with anyone else or doing anything to hurt you.”
“But we aren’t friends,” I protest dramatically. “That’s not what friends do! Oh, wait…”
Light Fae Academy: Year One Page 11
