Chatoyant College Book 12: Chapter 16: The Sisters

Corrie and Annie waited around after finishing their breakfasts to stay with Edie, though Roe headed back before they did, saying she had homework to do. When Edie finished, the three of them headed back to Gilkey.

Corrie had something she was wondering about that she hoped Edie might have asked Leila—since Leila was the only one likely to have an answer for them. She didn’t know whether to ask about it in front of Annie, though. It might be a really uncomfortable question for Leila, if she really had been involved in the story that Link had told them.

And she didn’t want to bring up Leila in front of Annie any more than she had to. She was still hoping that Edie and Leila would break up for good and that Annie would then be able to date Edie.

So she didn’t say anything, and they reached the top floor of their dorm without talking about anything more consequential than the class Corrie and Edie were taking with Professor Strega to learn how to do trance magic correctly.

“What are you guys up to the rest of the day?” Annie asked, pausing in the hallway in front of her room.

“Homework,” Edie and Corrie said at the same time, and all three of them laughed.

“But I got a lot done yesterday, so it’s not going to take all day,” Corrie added. “I’m up for doing something if you want.”

“I was thinking of heading over to the library to look at that history of Chatoyant College exhibit again,” Annie said. “Just for fun, and it would be more fun with friends.”

“I’ll go with you,” Edie said. “I have to go to the library to return a couple of books anyway.”

“Sounds good,” Corrie said. “Knock on our door when you’re going.”

They agreed, and Edie and Corrie continued on to their own room. “You’re done with those French books you had?” Corrie asked.

“Yeah, I think I’ve done everything I can with them,” Edie said. “I wish the college would offer Old French, or that I had another course I could do, because trying to learn from textbooks and dictionaries isn’t very helpful. But I would have to go to grad school for that, I think.”

Corrie sat down on her bed and started to dig through her bag for her homework assignments. “Is that something you’re interested in?”

“Maybe?” Edie wrinkled her nose, standing at her desk and looking down at it. “It seems so far away, but it’s not like I could make a career in magic after school, so I don’t know what I would do then.”

Corrie nodded. “Yeah, I understand that.” She had no idea what she wanted to do for her career, either. She’d just grown up knowing the value of education, and when she’d continued to get good grades into high school, her mom and grandmother had encouraged her to apply for colleges and scholarships. They’d insisted she go when she did receive a scholarship to Chatoyant College that was enough to let them afford it, but she couldn’t really imagine herself doing different jobs than the ones she’d seen them doing when she grew up.

“So,” she said, deciding to change the subject, “you had the same thought as me last night, right? About those two faerie sisters from Link’s story?”

Edie straightened up and turned to her, smiling. “Yeah, I did. So when Leila didn’t want to talk about enrolling as a student, I asked her about that.”

Corrie put down her handful of papers. “She wasn’t involved, right? Link said the one sister died, and as far as we know it’s just her and Mardalan. But she told us she was there when the agreement with the Djanaea was made.”

“That’s right,” Edie said, nodding. “But she says the two sisters from the story weren’t related to her at all. Their names were Balyan and Gerlina. Balyan is the one who was in love with the Djanaea prince, and she died. Leila said she died of a broken heart, and I don’t know if she was being hyperbolic or if that’s actually something that happens to faeries.” She shrugged.

“What about Gerlina?” Corrie asked. The name wasn’t at all familiar, but she’d seen lots of faeries at Mardalan’s court, and she only knew a few of their names.

“Leila didn’t know what happened to her, just that she wasn’t around anymore. She might have died, or she might have made a bargain with Alaineth to let her leave campus. She could be anywhere in the world.”

Corrie sighed. “I guess I was hoping for a more romantic ending.”

“Dying of a broken heart isn’t romantic enough for you?”

“Well, maybe.” She picked up her papers again. “I just hope Troy’s ancestor ended up happy with whoever he did marry, and that she was happy too. It’s sad to think that he found his perfect match and then couldn’t marry her.”