Bay exhales through her nose. “I do care and love you, Rosemary. Contrary to what you believe.”
“I know you do,” I say quietly. “I just hope you know it’s mutual.”
After a moment, Bay nods.
“My questions… none of it was personal,” I murmur, almost afraid to bring it up again.
“I get it, but seriously, be careful with this. The perpetrator, whoever it is, is literally playing with fire, and I will not be happy if you get burned.”
“Trust me. I wouldn’t be happy about that either.”
We laugh, even if it’s weak laughter. Things are still somewhat shaky between us, but things are that much shakier between Sage and me.
Maybe it’s time to change that. At the very least, it’s way past time for us to talk. Not that I’m looking forward to that conversation.
Chapter 24
Security guards are starting to make their rounds, but I avoid them and head to the dorm where Sage lives. My stomach twists as I knock on the door.
A fairy who is in Divination with me opens the door. “Rosemary,” he says.
I almost smile. At least he recognizes me, but that’s not saying much.
“Hi, Ash. Is Sage around?”
“They say there aren’t stupid questions, but considering we’re under lockdown, where else would he be?”
“I’m under lockdown, but I’m here, aren’t I?” I ask, tilted my head to the side and crossing my arms.
“Fair enough. Come on in.” He chuckles. “You really are a daredevil, cutting it so close to their rounds.”
I flinch, but he doesn’t notice since he’s turning around and calling for Sage.
“What are you squawking for?” Sage complains as he walks into the room. He draws up short when he sees me.
“Hi, Sage. I, ah…”
“I’ll give you to the room.” Ash walks backward a few steps and then turns around and leaves.
I swallow hard.
“Rosemary?”
I nod.
Sage stares me down. His gaze is intense, penetrating. I used to love the heat of his stare, but now, it feels like he’s burning me with hatred.
“Do you?” I whisper.
“Do I what?”
“Do you hate me?”
He rolls his eyes. “Honestly, that’s why you came here? To ask if I hate you? Are you that insecure? Is that why you didn’t tell me your name?”
“I’m not insecure,” I protest.
“Are you sure about that? Because maybe you never gave me your name for a reason.”
“I swear I—”
“You might not have consciously kept your name from me. Just subconsciously.”
“And you’re going to hate me now because of something I did subconsciously,” I say flatly. Coming here’s a mistake. That much is very clear already.
“A person’s subconscious is important. It’s what you’re used to, what you do automatically. It reflects your ideals, your morals, your principles. And it also reflects lack of morals and principles.”
“Are you serious right now?” I exclaim. “You think I don’t have any morals? Yes, I admit that I never told you my name, but that was an oversight. A mistake! If you can’t get over yourself long enough to realize that fairies are fallible, then fine. So be it. We’re done before we hardly even started.”
He grimaces. “I don’t… I know fairies are fallible, and—”
“She’s a badass,” Ash calls from another room.
“Ash, can you stay out of this?” Sage snaps.
“I mean, seriously, if you don’t want to be with a hero—”
“I’m not a hero,” I mumble.
Ash pops his head back in. “How can you claim otherwise? You flew into a burning building and helped to save fairies! Rosemary, if he isn’t willing to see when a goddess flies before him, then please, I beg you, consider me.”
He’s being so melodramatic that I have to laugh. “Ash, please.”
“I’m serious!” he protests. “I’ve been wanting to ask you out since you saved me.”
I roll my eyes. “That’s the only reason why.”
“No. Because that’s when I realized that I might have a chance with you. Sage’s an idiot.”
“I’m standing right here,” Sage says.
“Yeah, well, we’ve talked about this.”
I lift my eyebrows. “You’ve talked about me?” I ask, but then I shake my head. “Ash, please. We need to talk alone.”
Ash pouts but winks at me. “Don’t forget about me.”
“Ash!” Sage shouts.
After another wink, Ash disappears.
“I’m not a hero,” I mumble. “I… I don’t know who I am, but I do know that I like you Sage. I really do.”
He swallows hard. “I know fairies make mistakes, but, learning that you aren’t who I thought you were… I don’t know who you are, and now you’re saying you don’t know who you are either…”
“Does anyone know who they are?”
Sage just gives me a look.
“I just… Do you have any siblings?”
He shakes his head. “That’s how my mom died. She died giving birth, and the baby… My sister died hours later.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not common. It wasn’t supposed to happen, but it did. I… I never know how to answer that question, if I have siblings or not.”
“You do,” I say quietly. “Even though she doesn’t fly on this plane doesn’t mean she never existed. She matters. Her life might have been short, but it counts. She counts.”
Sage gives me a ghost of a smile. “Thank you. I know she matters, but if I say yes, that means that everyone wants to know more, and I don’t always want to share.”
“I understand,” I murmur. “The reason why I asked… sometimes, when you have siblings, you almost feel like you get lost in the shuffle. And with Bay, everyone gravitates to her. With you, I don’t know. I didn’t know if you knew about Bay, so I never brought her up. I just… I wanted you to see me.”
“So with me, you pretended to not be a twin.”
“Yes,” I admit.
“You hid a part of yourself from me.”
“I wanted a chance to be the only one you knew.”
“But I don’t know you at all,” he protests.
“Don’t you?” I whisper. “You told me about your sister.”
“Yes, but I didn’t tell you her name,” he points out.
“I didn’t ask.”
“No.”
I close my eyes and fight back sudden tears. “You know the power a name has over a fairy.”
“I do, but it’s not as if any of us give all of our names away. You don’t even know my surname, do you?”
I shake my head. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask for his full name, but I don’t because I know he won’t tell me.
Instead, I venture, “If you want to know my full name—”
“I won’t ask that of you.”
I bristle. “If I’m offering it freely—”
“I don’t want to know your full name,” he says bitterly.
“Do you want to know Bay’s full name?” I ask.
Sage jerks back. “I would ask her if I wanted to know it.”
I nod slowly several times. That he didn’t answer my question doesn’t escape my notice.
“Still, you told me you had a sister,” I persist. “You didn’t have to share that. I’m glad you opened up to me.”
His lips quirk. “I know you like honey wine.”
“Yeah, but how many fairies don’t?” I quip, rolling my eyes.
“I know what your fingers taste like after you’ve fed me honey cakes.”
I shiver. He’s flirting with me. Am I making progress finally?
“I might be persuaded to do that again,” I offer.
Sage grins, but then he rubs his chin. “Is that Rosemary talking or Bay?”
“Excuse me?”
&nbs
p; “You were flirting with me. I was talking to Bay, and—”
“You were talking to Bay,” I repeat flatly. Just like that, my bubble pops.
“Yes, and she told me a lot about you and a lot about her and your differences, and she told me that you don’t know how to flirt.”
I swallow hard. “Well, maybe Bay doesn’t know everything there is to know about me, and maybe a person can learn how to flirt especially if she really likes the guy. She might, I don’t know, put forth more effort.”
Sage appraises me. “Maybe but I can’t help noticing something.”
“What’s that?”
“Your clothes. Since you revealed to me your real name, you’ve changed how you dress.”
“Ah. More conservative?”
“That’s… Yeah.”
“Maybe I wanted to distance myself from how Bay dresses. Maybe I wanted to, I don’t know, where clothes I feel comfortable in. Let me tell you, wearing a dress that goes down to here that you have to tug up twenty times a day isn’t all that comfortable.”
His gaze shifts down to my chest for a moment before returning to my face. “A guy might like that.”
“I don’t want just any guy looking,” I point out.
“Sage?” a female voice calls from somewhere in the dorm.
“I’ll be right there,” he calls back.
My eyes widen. “Oh. Do you have a girlfriend? I didn’t mean to—”
“We’re just working on a project together for Animal Communication.”
“You can communicate with animals?” I ask eagerly.
“It’s not easy,” he says.
“If I could do that, I would have a bee come and—”
“Sting me?”
“Pollinate your favorite flowers and bring you a bouquet.”
“Guys typically give girls flowers. Not the reverse.”
“I do what I want,” I say lightly, brushing my hair back.
His gaze falls to my neck, and I recall him nibbling me there. My eyes close.
And then open. “You shouldn’t make her wait. I guess… I guess I’ll see you in class. Whenever they reopen again.”
“Yeah.”
“Bye,” I say even though I hate that word.
“Goodbye.”
I zoom out of there and return to my dorm and head straight to bed. It’s getting late, and I don’t want to think about his partner being there, in his room, maybe sitting on his bed. He might not be interested in her, or maybe he is, but she could very well be interested in him.
Visiting Sage hadn’t been a colossal mistake, but I’m not sure if I made things better or worse.
Chapter 25
That night, I toss and turn, uncomfortable, unable to sleep. I really don’t like the term Ash used. I’m not a hero. Even more so, I hate that I confessed to Sage that I don’t know who I am. It seems that I’m cursed to tell him the truth, to provide as many details as possible, almost as a sort of penance to make up for the lie by omission.
Maybe, just maybe, subconsciously, I specifically hadn’t told him my name. I do know I specifically never mentioned my sister. Selfishly, I wanted Sage all to myself, and look what happened.
But earlier today, talking to Magnolia and even Bay despite our fight made me feel capable again. It made me feel like I’m me again, or maybe it’s helping me to be the fairy I want to be.
Either way, I know what I’m doing in the morning. It’s Sunday, so no virtual classes again, and I’ll be able to do what I can to try to get to the bottom of all of this chaos.
As soon as the sun is up, I’m out of bed. The first thing I need to do is talk to the other victims of the thefts. Maybe the others noticed the white substance too.
“What are you doing?” Wren asks with a yawn.
I hold up a pad and pen. “I’m so glad you’re awake. I need your help.”
“With what?”
“I made a vow last night.”
Her eyes widen. A fairy vow is unbreakable, meaning that whatever a fairy vows, that fairy is bound to. It is impossible for fairies to cheat on one another once they make marriage vows. We do not share the human concept of divorce.
“To Sage?” Wren asks, shocked.
“No! Not to him or to anyone. I vowed to get to the bottom of the thefts and the arson.”
Wren blinks a few times. “Finally willing to help me, are you?”
“You’ve always wanted to go your own way,” I say dryly. “You’ve asked for help here and there but never a partner.”
“Well… You have a point,” Wren admits, “but I do want a partner. Just not you.”
“Pine?” I ask.
She nods.
“Do you mean to say you really like him? It’s not just using him?”
Wren’s lips curl into a frown. “You aren’t the only one with an affinity toward light,” she says, her tone hurt. “I would never just use him or anyone else.”
I lift my eyebrows, but before I can apologize, she holds up a hand.
“Okay, so maybe at first, I was a little… overzealous,” she confesses, “but the more I’ve talked to Pine, the more I realize that I do like him.”
“It probably helps that he’s one of the youngest security guards.”
“And the handsomest,” she says dreamily. Wren’s smile fades away. “How can I help you? Do you want to talk to Pine?”
“No, no. You have that angle all to yourself. I just need the names of everyone who had been a victim of theft.”
“Oh, that’s easy.” Wren flies over to the desk, shuffles through her papers, and hands me one. “Here.”
In her flowery script is not only the list of victims’ names, but their dorms and the items stolen.
“The talisman, golden statues, a gilded mortar and pestle set, magically enhanced gemstones…” I blink.
“All items people desperately want back, all with sentimental value,” Wren says.
“And all with monetary value,” I say slowly. “Selling any one of these items to the right person would net the thief a lot of money.”
“You think the thief is selling the items instead of hoarding them?” Wren scratches her head. “The mortar and pestle has gold, yes, but it’s also spelled to be more effective than most. I assumed the thief wanted the set for him or herself.”
“But a spelled mortar and pestle would be worth a lot of money to some,” I point out.
“So the thief is someone who suddenly has new clothes?” Wren jokes.
“That’s not funny,” Orchid says quietly, coming up behind Wren.
“I’m sorry.” Wren looks stricken. “I tend to have what’s called gallows humor. Inappropriate humor as a means to cope. But if this is about money—”
“And the talisman—my talisman—could net the thief a fortune by itself,” Orchid says. Her face falls. “Maybe the thief did sell it, and then the new owner sold it again. That could explain why we haven’t been able to locate it with magic. It’s being passed around too much.”
“Maybe all of the items are passing through a lot of hands,” Wren murmurs. “We might have been looking at this all wrong. The academy might not be trying to protect one of their own after all.”
“But if the thefts are about money, why the arson?” Orchid asks. “What’s the point of setting the fires?”
“Maybe there are two culprits?” Wren suggests.
“Maybe, maybe not,” I murmur. “There’s no way to check your old dorm building since it’s been dismantled entirely, but with the second building, there had been scorch marks from what might have been burned…”
“Burned what?” Orchid asks.
“Fairy dust. The thief is addicted to fairy dust. I think at least. He or she stole the items to sell to get the dust.”
“Maybe while high, the fairy sets the buildings on fire?” Wren suggests.
“Maybe it’s a fairy with an affinity toward fire,” Orchid offers.
I swallow hard and hate myself for immediately wonderin
g if Bay follows in Dad’s wings and shares his affinity toward fire. It’s possible she doesn’t have an elemental affinity at all, and yes, she might be supplying students with fairy dust, but that doesn’t mean she’s using it herself. She would never do anything like this. She wouldn’t steal items. She wouldn’t need the money because she’s getting it from the student buyers.
But how did she get her hands on that first batch of fairy dust to sell in the first place?
My stomach twists into knots. “The thought was that the fires had been set naturally, though, not through magic.”
“So maybe the fairy has an affinity toward water and set the fire and tried to use magical water to put it out and failed?” Wren puts forth with a frown.
Orchid and Wren begin to argue, but now I’m wondering if Bay does have a bit of Mom in her. Mom’s affinity is toward water.
No. Bay didn’t do this, and I’m not in denial because she’s my twin. She might have some darkness to her, but she’s not that dark. Whoever did this belongs to be locked up in Dark Fae Penitentiary, and that is so not the place for Bay.
While the two talk, I slip out of the dorm room and talk to the other victims. Most of them do recall seeing a white powder, but not all of them, and I find it ironic that not one of them could identify it. All of these fairies are light to the point of being naïve.
That used to be me, but not anymore. I think I want to be a fighter. I want to do my part to make Light Fae Academy a safe place of learning once again. It’s not going to be easy, getting to the bottom of all of this, but I’m going to try. Even if it jeopardizes my relationship with my twin, I’m going to do whatever is necessary to unmask the thief and arsonist, regardless of their being one and the same or not.
Chapter 26
The next day, the headmaster announces that regular classes can resume. I’m shocked but also glad because I just can’t focus in my room when my roommates are all trying to attend their classes too.
Morning classes are good, I guess, and I can’t wait for lunchtime. I try to find Bay so we can talk, but she’s nowhere to be seen. Her friends, though, they I find.
Thistle spots me first. He says something to the others and zooms over to me. “We, ah, we should work on the project together. Tonight?”
Light Fae Academy- Year One Page 12
