One by one, we went to the front and selected wood from several unlabeled bins, tasked with discovering which woods “spoke” to us. I paused by a container on the end with pale planks stacked inside, positive I’d heard a subtle tinkling noise. When I leaned forward to investigate them, comforting warmth pulsed from the pile and bathed me in the very essence of hope and confidence. I plucked a plank from inside and turned it over in my hands, mystified by the subtle notes that seemed to play for my ears alone when I ran my fingers down its sanded surface.
“White poplar,” Tristal said in a quiet voice. “Not commonly chosen by most fae. Then again, you aren’t most. This one is for protection and shielding.”
“And these?” I looked down at the different woods I had collected, four in all. “I know oak is strength. That’s what this one is, right?”
“It is. This one here is ash, which is known mainly for healing, but in your case, I’d say it’s the lesser known aspect of its affinity for solar magic that has drawn you. And, this is elder wood. Good for driving out dark energies.”
“So basically, my box isn’t a happy Dream Box.”
The professor surprised me with a sympathetic smile and a squeeze to my hand. “You’ll be doing more than inspiring young mortals. Your magic will protect them, and your box will reflect that. Now, head back to your seat.”
Over the course of the next hour, she guided us through the glamours required to craft our boxes. Magic fused the wood bits together, and everyone ended up with a small chest the size of a shoebox, though the designs and hues varied. Mine was a plain, polished box with beveled edges.
Supposedly, no one but the faerie who had made the box could open it. Of course, back in the day, some of my more mischievous kin had started rumors among the mortals, which had birthed the story about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and all sorts of attempts by the mortals to get their hands on our magic.
Tristal returned to the front of the room. “Good, everyone is done. Now, each time you tend to your charge and feed off their energy, save a little. Store it in your box. That energy manifests itself as dust, if you will.”
Someone in the back laughed. “Pixie dust, y’all!”
“Yes, Mr. Gregory, though you won’t be sprinkling it on people to make them fly.” More laughter. “Now then, as you go along through your daily lives, you’ll tend to come across small objects infused with energy. Maybe it’s a marble your charge played with as a child and lost, or a down feather from the first robin born that spring. As you come across these talismans, place them in your box. The energy will add to your stored magic and enhance the effectiveness of each glamour you create.”
“How do we recognize these items?” Pilar asked.
“The same way you selected your wood. It will stand out and call to you. For your final practical exam at the end of the semester, I expect each of you to have gathered three items for your box. You will need them to pass.”
Outside, the clock tower tolled the hour. Tristal released us for the morning rather than making us stay for the last thirty minutes of class, on the condition that we walked the campus grounds in search of our first talisman.
Everyone rushed out before she could change her mind. Liadan waited for me, and we caught up to Pilar outside the building. They were both clutching gorgeous boxes—Lia’s sporting engraved flowers and Celtic knotwork, and Pilar’s covered in a brilliant mosaic rivaling ancient art, but mine looked plain by comparison.
“Your box is so pretty, Lia. Yours too, Pilar.”
Liadan smiled bright enough to make up for Pilar’s scowling face. “Thanks. Do you really think we’ll find items on campus?”
“I wouldn’t put it past her to have hidden things herself. Like a scavenger hunt,” Pilar grumbled. “Now I know why my father said to keep a keen eye out this year.”
“At least you got that much of a heads-up,” I said.
Ben caught up with us while we were strolling past the fae fountain dedicated to King Oberon and Queen Titania, the two portrayed in marble and forever captured mid-dance. “How are my favorite campus ladies?”
“Frustrated,” Pilar answered for us all. “Tristal sent us out on a wild goose chase.”
His gaze dropped to the boxes in our hands. “Oh wow, I’ve never seen one up close before. Can I see—”
When Ben reached out, I jerked my box away then blinked at my own rudeness. He stared at me, but then dropped his hand back to his side.
“Sorry,” I said. “These are sorta personal.” Instinct must have kicked in to protect it, even though I didn’t have a drop of magic funneled into the chest yet.
“Nah, it’s all good.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and grinned. “I guess I’d be the same way about my Grimoire. We start those next week, and I can’t wait.”
“I foresee lots of tedious copying in your future,” Liadan teased. “With a quill.”
“Yeah, my hand is already cramped from practicing on scratch parchment.”
Despite our best efforts, we didn’t find anything to add to our boxes. So we gave up the hunt and hurried to our next class. Talismans would have to wait until after Biology.
And sleep.
* * *
Five hours of sleep was all I managed before I woke up and laid in my bed, staring at the ceiling. I tossed and turned another half hour before plucking my phone from the nightstand and texting Gabriel.
Are you awake?
A few moments passed before, I am now, appeared across the screen. What’s up?
Sorry, I replied.
Don’t worry about it. Shifters don’t need as much sleep, remember?
The resilience of shifters didn’t stop at their awesome regenerative ability. Since they could get by on little sleep, most of them used their bonus time pumping iron at the gym.
I forgot. You and Ama want some company?
Rodrigo has friends over, but I have a better suggestion. How about we hit the road and leave campus for a while?
Really?
Yeah. Get dressed for class tonight and meet me at the garage in twenty minutes.
I sent back a grinning emoji, then hustled out of bed into the shared bathroom between mine and Pilar’s bedrooms. Liadan had one of her own, albeit smaller, and Holly used the guest bathroom downstairs.
After rushing through a shower in record time, I piled my hair into a messy bun, slipped into a sports bra, tank, and shorts, and then laced my sneakers. Gabriel lurked outside the garage in his black gym shorts and T-shirt when I arrived, checking his watch.
“I’m not late.”
He snickered. “I didn’t say you were. Honestly, I was just figuring out how much time we had to chill before Martial Arts.”
“Depends on how fast you drive. I practiced my Inconspicuous glamour over the summer with Dad and his sentinel.”
“Sweet.”
Once we were in the garage and out of view, Gabriel trapped me between his body and the passenger door. One strong hand curled around my hip, anchoring me in place, before he claimed my mouth in the sort of unrushed, heart-pounding kiss I’d waited the entire week to have, because every kiss leading up to it had felt like a tease.
Gabriel made kissing an artform.
When he leaned away seconds later, I commanded my heart to stop double thumping. It didn’t listen, and I wondered if intimacy with him would ever get old. “So, uh, where did you plan to whisk me off to?”
“I thought we could pay a visit to Sharon’s neighborhood to save you from telling an unnecessary lie.” Fae were awful liars, and when we fibbed without just cause, it supposedly cost us a small portion of our light and ultimately became addictive, leading down a one-way road to the darkness.
I didn’t think one white lie was going to turn me into a cannibalistic orculli hellbent on descending from the clouds to eat my own kind, but I appreciated the gesture.
“And after I play peek-a-boo in Sharon’s bedroom window? What then?”
He open
ed the passenger door for me and crossed to the driver’s side. “Dunno. Enjoy a walk down Navy Pier maybe?”
I belted in and grinned at him. “Sounds like a plan.” We could get lost in the crowd, stroll through the garden, and grab something to eat. Maybe ride the Ferris wheel for fun.
“By the way, I’m shooting a wedding Friday evening. Can we reschedule our usual check-in with Sharon, or do you wanna just do that together after? It’ll be a few hours, but—”
“I just so happen to own a cute dress if you need a date.” Gabriel needed the cash from his freelance photography gig to make up for his parents cutting him off from the family bank account. “If I won’t distract you from your work, that is.”
“No, I’d love to have you come along.”
The car slid from the campus garage and onto the university road. Gabriel glanced at something through the window, tension filling his frame. When I leaned to look, whatever had bothered him was out of sight.
It didn’t take too long to reach Sharon’s neighborhood with a glamour making Gabriel’s vehicle difficult to discern from any other car driving the speed limit.
“Are you going to pop out with me, or stay in the car? It should only take a minute or two.”
“Nah. I’m good right here. Peeking through a girl’s window gives me the creeps. You spot them doing all kinds of things you can’t unsee. I’ll be here. Take your time.” His phone buzzed, but he didn’t reach for it.
Was it his ex?
Gabriel sighed. Jada definitely, because I’d learned to tell a Jada-sigh from a Mom-sigh over the past few weeks since school began. The latter always turned his eyes sad, but calls and texts from Jada put tension in his jaw.
I kissed his cheek and trusted him to handle it, leaving him behind to cross to Sharon’s window. With the sun beginning to set, it was still light out, but the clouds had gone all pretty and watercolored.
Crossing into her room through the Twilight, I stepped into a paradise of purple and complimentary shades, the decor accented with silver and pale touches of pink. As for my charge, she was downstairs eating dinner with her parents, so I decided to take the opportunity to do a little faerie magic on her behalf.
I crossed over to her dresser and picked up her hairbrush, imbuing it with a few subtle charms.
“Curls. You should give curls a try. Something soft though, and loose around your shoulders.” The brush sparkled with enough good luck for three good hair days. Like so many young women, Sharon tried to tame her natural waves with straightening products instead of allowing her hair to flow naturally.
From there I took my time going through her makeup case. Yes, no, don’t use that one, use the black pencil for a flawless smoky eye. I went through each piece and glamoured them with helpful insights.
A faint, pink shimmer at the bottom of the case caught my eye. When I picked up the silver link bracelet, a memory flickered through my mind, accompanied by a flurry of emotions—the warm glow of a first crush, giddiness as the same boy asked her to a school dance, and the crushing sorrow of her very first heartbreak. Sharon had worn this bracelet every day until the boy moved on to a different, prettier girl. Then she’d cried herself to sleep and tossed the bracelet away, never to wear it again.
“Well, we don’t need this in here reminding you of bad times.” I reached into the Neverspace where I kept my Dream Box and dropped the bracelet inside.
Noise downstairs and footsteps on the stairs warned me of Sharon’s imminent return. The rest of her room looked as it should, and I couldn’t think of anything else she needed at present.
As I headed back toward the window, a raven landed on a branch beside it. It wasn’t big enough or handsome enough to be Gabriel, who I thought I could recognize from a lineup now, but it was still definitely bigger than the average corvid. And it had a white spot on its breast, while Gabriel was pure blue-black from head to tail. I scowled down at the little spy and waved her off.
“If that’s you, Jada, you’re interfering with our work, so shove off.” And because I dared her to say something, I sent a little zip of static at the bird. For good measure, I pulled Sharon’s window shut behind me too. I didn’t need some snotty ex messing up my work.
The raven cawed inelegantly, ruffled its wings, and flew away.
When I returned, Gabriel was fast asleep in the driver’s seat, with it reclined and his head tilted back. He’d killed the engine and rolled the windows down, indicating I’d been gone too long.
Asleep, Gabriel looked like a different guy—more peaceful, almost boyish. A few dark strands of hair were in his eyes, so I leaned over and brushed them aside, torn between waking him or letting him snooze. If it weren’t for the damn stalker bird outside, I might have kissed him. Instead, I poked his ribs to see if he was faking.
“All done, sleepyhead. We better get out of here before our audience gets any ideas.”
“Huh? Wh—?” He shifted. Groaning, he rubbed his face and sat up, bleary-eyed. “Sorry. Guess I’m not the best sentinel today.”
“Don’t apologize. I woke you up. You may be a shifter, but you’re kinda burning the candle at both ends, Gabe. I mean… you’re studying for your own shit, working with me, and there’s the time we spend together.”
“Yeah, but I like spending time with you. Sure, it sucks needing to work away from campus so much this semester, but I’m not complaining. Anyway, what audience? Did Sharon catch on?” He leaned forward and looked through the windshield.
“A raven decided to peek in on me. Not sure who.” The bird skulked on the rain gutter and watched us with baleful eyes. “She’s right there.”
Gabriel leaned across me to peer out the window, his brows furrowed. “Naw, I’m fine, and uh, Sky, that’s not Jada. She has one blue feather on her left wing and this one doesn’t. It’s… actually, it’s a guy. Not sure who he is, but he looks familiar. Maybe I should go over and talk to him. See what the hell he wants with you.”
The moment Gabriel reached a hand for the car handle and opened it, the bird flew away.
I frowned. “Well, that was anticlimactic. Hope it wasn’t an instructor or a sentinel sent by Simon to keep tabs. I, uh, may have given him a little zap.”
He flashed me a weak smile. “I don’t think that was an instructor, babe. Anyway, he’s gone now.” He fired up the car again and pulled out into the street, cruising down the Chicago suburb until we merged into traffic on a main road.
“We can go back to the campus if you want,” I said. “I know tonight you only have Antonin’s lesson and no other classes until morning.”
“True, I don’t have classes, but I do have a girlfriend to babysit, because she doesn’t understand the concept of running from a fight and zaps strangely nosy shifters without knowing their identity.”
“It was a teensy bit of static. The last thing I needed was for him to decide to fly off with the shiny hair sticks I charmed for Sharon. By the way, I noticed a few of my barrettes missing.”
Gabriel grimaced at first, and then his expression turned sheepish. Almost boyish. “You left them in my car. Sorry, I’ll give them back with, uh, the rest of the stuff.” Raven shifters were the strange, eccentric ones who couldn’t help themselves. They picked up tiny, often useless baubles out of habit, but the honest ones always returned anything of value.
“I don’t mind, so no rush. It kind of tickles me that you’d hold on to stuff of mine like that.”
He cleared his throat. “So anyway, Navy Pier good for you?”
“Navy Pier is perfect. If it’s not crowded, we can grab some Bubba Gump’s or something.” Relaxing again, I stretched my legs and decided I liked his roomy, older Chrysler more than the truck he’d left behind in Texas.
“Bubba Gump is always crowded.” His belly rumbled. “But I’m totally willing to watch you try a Compulsion glamour to move us up in the queue.”
“I’m hungry enough to try it. Let’s see how starvation motivates me.”
Chuckling, Ga
briel tapped Navy Pier into his GPS. Minutes later, he was on the road again, but the strange shifter remained on my mind.
9
That Stuff Only Happens in the Movies
My Compulsion glamour worked, although it helped that the popular tourist spot received less traffic on a weeknight in its off-season. We were shown to a table outside and placed our orders without looking at a menu.
Gabriel ordered enough food for two men with an enormous cocktail—as tall as my arm was long from wrist to elbow. I stared at it.
“I get a sip, right?”
“A sip for the underage? That would be illegal.” He took a deliberate pull through the straw while I gawked.
“Don’t you have to be an assistant teacher tonight?”
“It’ll burn off by then.”
Right. He ordered two refills that definitely would not burn off by then.
A black bird of some kind landed beside us and watched my strips of calamari. “I still don’t know how you tell each other apart. I can only tell a real bird from a shifter raven, because you guys are huge.”
He laughed at me and sucked down his margarita. “We all have different faces, remember? Peter has the biggest beak of all of us, and Lacy has those huge claws. Sometimes when she shifts, the nail polish remains. We recognize each other by the features we carry over,” he explained in a quieter voice.
“Your feathers are the same color as your hair. Blue-black.”
Both brows jumped up beneath the shaggy hair flopping onto his forehead. “You noticed that?”
“I like the color. The other birds are kind of… almost purple sometimes. But your shine is definitely blue.” The wind carried the smell of Lake Michigan toward us, and the Ferris wheel’s lazy rotation drew his eye. I finished the last bite of calamari then inhaled my drink. “Wanna ride still?”
“I’d love a ride. Perfect evening for it.”
The Scary Godmother: The Paranormal University Files: Skylar, Year 2 Page 8