Chapter 18
After that eventful night, Zyacus walked me to the foyer at the bottom of the girls’ dorms. We stood hand in hand in a corner as other students quietly tiptoed to their rooms, all hoping not to get caught. At this point it didn’t matter if a professor caught me or Zyacus out past curfew, they couldn’t punish us, and Bindy, the only person I worried about, was gone. The others though, they cared. Dish duty, mucking stalls, milking cows, cleaning toilets, would be in store for them if a professor found them outside their rooms at this late hour.
“You still owe me a night under the stars,” Zyacus murmured in my ear.
“With a foot massage,” I added.
“Tomorrow?” He toyed with the phoenix ring on my finger. “I would say tonight but my eyes are heavy and I’m afraid I’d just fall asleep the moment we laid down. After Aric and then Jennika plus talking to everyone at the party, I’m beat.”
“Tomorrow will be perfect.”
After he kissed me goodbye for the night, I slowly meandered up the steps and into my room. I pulled my boots off but still wore my party clothes and curled up under my blanket. Looking up into the bewitched ceiling of stars and an ordinary silver moon, it didn’t take long before I fell into dreamland.
Cold wet drops pattering against my face startled me awake. As the sleepy haze wore off I realized I was standing. And not only standing but not in my room. What the… how did I get here? Irubbed my eyes, thinking surely I had to be dreaming. I even slapped my face; the sting told me this was real. A frosty dread knotted in my belly as I stood inches from the thorned cage and my crown.
I turned in a circle, searching for someone who may have brought me here, reaching for my boot dagger but I only grabbed bare legs. I found no one around. Did I sleepwalk out here? I’d never done it before but even as I stood with sprinkles of rain splattering on me, I felt the tug, the yearning from my crown. Had it truly drawn me out here unconsciously? With my palms facing each other I worked up an energy orb. It was time to destroy this thing. I knew it wasn’t my crown calling to me; it was the magic the Fae prince had cast over it.
I jogged several paces back and then sent the orb flying. It exploded with blue and white light upon impact. I shielded my eyes and when the bright spots faded from my vision and I could see clearly, the cage stood unscathed.
If that didn’t harm it, I didn’t know what would. I spelled to my room and dove under my blankets securing them around me tightly as if the softness were a shield against danger. I stared at the ceiling; it was now black rather than showing the night sky. Fitting. I wasn’t normally fearful of the dark but tonight I was afraid to go back to sleep.
If the rain hadn’t woken me would I have taken the crown from the cage and put it on? My gut told me placing that thing on my head would be a mistake. A treacherous one.
After hours, and when the sunlight began to shine in my window, the buzz of anxious energy faded, and I dozed off. When I woke, it was well into the afternoon. Three notes rested on my nightstand. One was from Taz, the other two from Zyacus. All three wondered where I was. Why I hadn’t been at breakfast, or lunch. I’d planned on going to worship with Papa this morning too. With the blood moon and Fae threatening us, we needed all the prayers we could get. I found another note stuck to the door, from Legacy.
When you finally wake up, I need to ask you something… about Taron.
I felt like if she knew I’d seen a vision of his death, she’d have stalked me at the party and made me tell her what happened. She’d have woken me up instead of leaving a note.
I tossed it onto my bed, grabbed a towel and headed to the bathing room. I needed a hot bath to relax. Now I knew for sure the Fae would come to do exactly as Nimblewatt had seen before. And my skin still crawled at the fact that I’d sleepwalked all the way to the orchards to get my cursed crown.
Passing by groups of girls gathered into the common area, I peeked into one of several tub rooms and sighed with relief to find it empty and cleaned. With my magic I summoned hot water from the faucet. After undressing, I stepped in and slid under, scrubbing at my scalp. I popped my head above the surface and stared at the wall, letting my eyes unfocus as my mind drifted to my crown. Something in the back of my mind pulled me there, willed me to go after it. My logical mind fought that ridiculous thought away.
After my skin pruned and the water went cold, I rose and dried off. I didn’t want to tell anyone about this strange urge for the crown. Especially not Zyacus, he’d worry too much or probably try to destroy it and hurt himself in the process.
For once, I wished for classes to distract me from my own worries. That wish would be granted in the morning but I had the rest of the evening free.
As I changed into a clean uniform, a pink pixie flew through the high window and dive-bombed me with what looked like something sharp in her tiny hands. I jumped to the side and caught her legs before she crashed into the door. The object she had in her hands was a paper folded to look like a dagger.
