Spells. Aprilynne Pike

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       Chapter Three

      Laurel sat cross-legged on her bed with a pair of scissors, cutting sheets of paper into makeshift note cards. It had taken her less than an hour of reading to realise that the situation demanded note cards. And highlighters. A year of studying biology with David had apparently turned her into a neurotic method-studier. But the next morning she was dismayed to discover that the “staff”, as everyone called the soft-spoken, plainly dressed servants who scurried around the Academy, had no idea what note cards were. They were, however, familiar with scissors, so Laurel was making her own note cards out of a fine card stock. The highlighters, unfortunately, were a lost cause.

      A soft rap sounded at the door. “Come in,” Laurel called, worried that she would scatter bits of paper everywhere if she tried to actually get up and open it.

      The door swung open and a small, blond head poked in. “Laurel?”

      Having given up trying to recognise people, Laurel simply nodded and waited for the stranger to introduce herself.

      The short, pixie-style haircut was followed by a bright smile that Laurel found herself automatically returning. It was a relief to see a smile directed at her. Dinner the evening before had been a complete disaster. Laurel had been summoned around seven to come down for the evening meal. She had hurried downstairs behind a faerie who had showed her the way to the dining hall – Laurel should have gotten a clue when she heard dining hall instead of cafeteria – in her sundress and bare feet, her hair still pulled back in a ponytail. The moment she entered the room Laurel realised she’d made a mistake. Everyone was dressed in button-down shirts and silk trousers, or floor-length skirts and dresses. It was practically a white-tie formal affair. Worse, she’d been pulled to the front of the room by Aurora to be welcomed back and presented to the Fall faeries. Hundreds of Fall faeries with no one better to look at than her.

       Note to self: Dress for dinner.

      But that was last night, and now here was a genuine smile, aimed at her.

      “Come on in,” Laurel said. She didn’t particularly care who this faerie was or why she was here, just that she looked friendly.

      And that she represented a reason for Laurel to take a break.

      “I’m Katya,” the faerie said.

      “Laurel,” she said automatically.

      “Well, of course I know that,” Katya said with a little laugh. “Everyone knows who you are.”

      Laurel looked self-consciously down at her lap.

      “I hope you’ve found the Academy to your liking,” Katya continued, sounding like the perfect hostess. “I know I am always a bit unsettled when I have to travel. I don’t sleep well,” Katya said, coming to sit beside her on the bed.

      Laurel avoided her eyes and made a noise of agreement without actually saying anything, wondering how far Katya could really have travelled within Avalon.

      In truth, Laurel hadn’t slept well. She hoped it was the new environment, as Katya had suggested. But she’d been ripped awake several times by nightmares, and not just the usual ones of trolls, guns pointed at Tamani, pointing a gun at Barnes, or icy waves closing in over her head. Last night it wasn’t her running from Barnes, her feet in slow motion; it was her parents, David, Chelsea, Shar, and Tamani.

      Laurel had risen from her bed and walked to the window, pressed her forehead against the cool glass, and looked down at the twinkling lights scattered throughout the darkness that spread below her. It seemed so contradictory, coming to Avalon to learn how to protect herself and her loved ones, and in so doing, leaving them vulnerable. Though if the trolls were hunting her, maybe her family was safer when she wasn’t around. The whole situation was out of her control, out of her very knowledge. She hated feeling helpless – useless.

      “What are you doing?” Katya asked, pulling Laurel from her dreary thoughts.

      “Making note cards.”

      “Note cards?”

      “Um, studying tools I use back at ho—in the human world,” СКАЧАТЬ