Chatoyant College Book 7: Upon What Soil

Chapter 36: Hair Brushing

"Okay, I need to brush my hair before we do anything else," Roe said as they left.

Edie nodded eagerly, shaking more glitter out of her hair. "That sounds like an excellent idea."

"I'll leave you girls to that," said Link with a laugh.

"You know you have glitter in your hair too, right?" Corrie asked with a grin.

Link rubbed a hand through his hair, sending glitter flying out of it but also making it stick up in messy spikes. "There. Problem solved. Come on, Troy. See you, girls." They headed off toward their own dorm, Troy trying (with less success than Link) to get the glitter out of his own hair. Corrie laughed at them as the girls walked back toward Gilkey.

"So I guess there's one thing we learned today," Annie said.

"What's that?" asked Dawn.

"Roe's visions," she explained. "That confirms that they're not set in stone, right? Whatever happens in them, it can be changed."

"Unfortunately, it's not that simple," Roe said ruefully. "I already knew that some of them could be changed. I've gotten some pretty useful warnings that way. But Professor Strega thinks that some of them are actually fixed. I just have to figure out the difference between the two kinds. That's the next step, once I can consistently tell the difference between nighttime visions and ordinary dreams. I'm definitely getting better at that."

"But how will you tell the difference?" Edie asked. She was trying to imagine a way to test it and failing.

"I'll try to do things that change the vision," said Roe.

Edie nodded. "I thought of that, but how do you know that what you do isn't what causes the vision to come about in the first place?"

"Well, in some cases, I can go to a different place or something, though of course I don't always know when the vision is going to occur. But if, say, a vision took place at night in the library, and I tried to avoid the library at night but ended up there due to circumstances beyond my control, I would be pretty sure the vision was one that was set in stone." Roe took on a patient, lecturing tone as she explained the visions, even as they walked through campus and started up the stairs, as she always did. Edie thought she would probably make a good teacher. "But if it's not that easy to avoid, I probably won't be able to tell which kind of vision it is. I keep a really detailed journal of my visions—which is kind of a pain in the ass, but useful—so if I do have fixed visions, I should be able to find some characteristic that's different about them. I hope."

"Sounds really complicated," said Annie.

"I know," said Roe. "And I thought coming to a magic college and learning how to understand my visions better would simplify things."

Dawn laughed. "I know what you mean. I didn't expect things to get this much more complicated when I went to college either."

They'd reached their floor by this time, so they all split up, heading into their respective rooms. Edie was eager to grab her brush and start attacking her curls, while Corrie sat down on her bed, discharging a small cloud of glitter onto her comforter. Edie rolled her eyes at her roommate. "You know that's going to be really itchy to sleep on."

Corrie shrugged. "I'll deal with that if I come to it." She pulled out her little Corrie doll and balanced it on her computer. It was a little precarious, with the narrowness of the doll's feet. "This is so cute. Did you notice the one Roe bought looks like Troy?"

"Really? I didn't notice at all."

Corrie grinned. "I think she likes him."

Edie hadn't noticed a thing, but she nodded agreeably. "That would be good. I mean, that is his whole goal being here, right?" She straightened up and looked in the mirror to see if there was any visible glitter left. "Do you think they'd make a good couple?"

"Oh, definitely. I'm good at figuring these things out. I mean, I'm sure about—uh, never mind."

"What?" Edie turned around and frowned at Corrie, who wasn't looking at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing. Let's go see if the others are ready." Corrie leapt up and ran to the door. Edie tried to chase her, but didn't catch up until they were already in Dawn's room. "So do you want to go talk to Tom?" Corrie asked Dawn, slightly breathless and grinning. Edie crossed her arms and mock-glared at Corrie.

"Um, yeah," Dawn said, looking back and forth between Edie and Corrie but evidently deciding not to ask. "Naomi, do you want to come? We're going to ask him about that antlered faerie. And, I guess, if he has any idea why I have no memory of last night."

"No, you go without me," Naomi said. "Unless you want me around to give a description."

"I think I've got that covered," said Corrie. "I hope we can find him. We couldn't last night."

"It's worth a try, at least," said Dawn. "Let's see if Annie or Roe wants to come. I'm in the mood for company today."