Chatoyant College Book 13: Chapter 38: Trust

Edie wondered what her magic professor could possibly have to talk to her privately about. Had she done something wrong? Or was it just something that she didn’t want Derwen to hear about? Much as Edie liked hanging out with Derwen, she had to admit that the faerie girl wasn’t the most discreet.

“You and your friends know a lot more about the truths on this campus than most other students,” Ginny said, looking Edie in the eyes. “In fact, I’m pretty sure you know more about it than any other humans.”

“Not exactly humans,” Edie couldn’t help saying with a grimace. She wished she hadn’t interrupted the professor—she was really curious where this was going.

Ginny smiled, the skin around her eyes crinkling. “And it’s true, maybe that’s why you know so much. Or maybe you never would have figured things out if it hadn’t been for Dawn’s Sight. I’ve heard the stories. But my point is this. You, Corrie, and Dawn have the potential to be extremely helpful to the magic professors, with your knowledge and unique abilities.”

Edie nodded, though she was still confused. What could they possibly want their help with? When Professor Strega had asked for help from her and Dawn, that had made sense, because she had been trying to keep her actions secret from the rest of the magic professors. But Ginny couldn’t have any need for that, could she?

“Will the three of you come meet with us this evening?”

“Um, sure,” Edie said. “I mean, I can’t speak for Corrie and Dawn, but I’m free, and I’m pretty sure they are, too. Who is ‘us’?”

“The rest of the magic professors. Me, Professor Strega, Lal, and Rook. Can you come meet with us at seven? We’ll explain everything then. I don’t want to say too much now.”

“Yeah, we can do that, probably. Where?”

“There’s a lounge on the second floor. I can walk with you downstairs and show you how to find it.”

Edie shook her head. “That’s okay. I’ve been there before, with Professor Lal.”

“That’s perfect, then. If you find out you can’t come, will you send me an email? You don’t need to come alone if your friends can’t make it.”

Edie nodded. Normally she wouldn’t be worried about going alone to meet a professor, but all four of them in one room would make her nervous, especially since she hadn’t even met Professor Rook. “Okay, I’ll do that. Thanks.”

As she left, she wondered what this was about. Did it have something to do with the deaths on campus? Why would the professors want their help with that? Didn’t they know anything?

Maybe Dawn was wrong—maybe the administration wasn’t really hiding anything. Maybe they just didn’t know what was going on at all, so they wanted a part-faerie, a half-werewolf, and someone with the Sight to help out.

She hoped some other people had been invited to this meeting. She really wasn’t sure what the three of them together could do.

Edie forgot to bring it up when she and Corrie had their literature class because Corrie showed up late, and then they were discussing the people who’d decided to leave campus, so she got distracted. When she remembered it later, though—during her theater class, during a boring voice exercise—she wondered if that was why the professors wanted their help. Maybe they needed to reach out to the rest of the students and convince them to trust the campus again.

But if there was really something on campus, a faerie or something else, that was attacking people, how could the professors expect them to do that?

When Edie got back to the dorm after theater class, Corrie was sitting in bed, reading a book. She put it down when Edie came in. “Hey,” she said, “Professor Strega talked to us after class. She wants the three of us to meet up with her tonight.”

Edie stopped. “Ginny wants the same thing. And she said it was all the magic professors.”

Corrie laughed. “Okay, hopefully they didn’t get their wires crossed or anything, then. Did she say seven o’clock at the lounge on the second floor of the magic building?”

Edie grinned. “That’s exactly what she said. Okay, that works out, then. We’re all going?”

“Yeah, I guess we’d better. Do you think it’s about the deaths?”

“It has to be. I thought maybe they want us to convince other students it’s safe to stay on campus.”

“Huh.” Corrie shook her head. “They’ll have to convince us, first.”

“That’s kind of what I was thinking. Okay, I guess we’ll have dinner in a little while, then go over and meet with them.”

“Sounds good to me. Bring a four-leaf clover, I guess.”

And whatever else they could think of that might be useful to protect themselves. “Good plan.”