Chatoyant College Book 7: Upon What Soil

Chapter 58: Gone or Invisible

"So," Brandon said, "if you don't have any more questions, I think it's time for me to be on my way. It's late."

"Wait," said Corrie. "Do you know where Professor Lal goes when she's not on campus?"

Brandon guffawed, startling Edie and making her cringe back. He laughed for a while longer, then shook his head. "Oh, no way am I telling you that. Lal is a scary bitch and if she didn't tell you, she didn't want you to know. No, I like my skin in one piece, thanks."

"Fair enough," said Dawn. "Do you know Tom, just out of curiosity?"

"I know a guy who goes by that name, yeah," said Brandon. "How do you know him?"

"He was... he knew my aunt when she went here," said Dawn.

Brandon nodded. "I get it. Well, cool, he's a good guy to have on your side."

"What about... what did you say his name was?" Edie asked, looking over at Corrie. "The faerie with the antlers."

"Elrath? He's cool, too," said Brandon. "You guys know him?"

"Not exactly," said Dawn. "He spiked my candy at a party the other night."

Brandon smirked. "Yeah, he does that. I guess Tom is pissed. You humans really do make everything fun." He stood up and stretched, his arms reaching toward the ceiling. "Just a word of advice: next time you want to talk to a faerie, don't wave poison at him, okay?"

"Any suggestions for how we should say hey, we know you're a faerie, without letting everybody around us in on it?" Corrie asked, her lips pursed. "We're kind of trying to keep the rest of campus from getting on the faeries' radar."

"Sure. Well, you could try just getting some privacy. If you'd come alone, I would absolutely have let you into my room." He winked at Corrie, and Edie felt slightly nauseous. He thought nothing of spiking someone's food, but he was flirting with Corrie? Thankfully, she didn't look impressed. "Or, you know, one of the other things to help with the Sight. You know about that, don't you? A stone with a natural hole through it, or four-leaf clovers?"

"We do have four-leaf clovers," Dawn said. "If we need to, we can use those as a signal in the future."

"Good plan," agreed Brandon. "Now, I'm out of here. If you need any more help, email me. I probably won't write back." The words had barely left his lips when he vanished. Edie sat up straight, blinking, hardly able to believe her eyes. She'd seen a lot of strange things in the last couple of months—but this was one of the strangest, possibly because it was so ordinary. One moment Brandon was standing there in front of them, the next moment he was utterly gone. There had been no sound, no warning, not even a ripple of the air where he stood. He had just vanished.

"Wow," said Roe. She jumped up from where she was sitting and waved her hand around where Brandon had been. "I wish I could do that."

"Are we sure he's really gone, and not just invisible?" Dawn asked, sliding off of Rico's lap and joining Roe in testing the air.

"I think if he was invisible, he would have done something when we were looking through his room," said Corrie. She had leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. "I guess he teleports. That's how he got to the market ahead of us. Professor Lal said it's something he can do."

Edie crossed her arms. "He thought we were funny. I wouldn't put it past him to sit here watching us just because he can. Professor Lal didn't say what it is exactly he can do."

"We could try using flour or cornstarch or something to fill the room," said Dawn. "Then, if he's just invisible, we'd be able to see where he was."

"No, thank you," said Corrie, standing up. "Let's just all go somewhere else. He can't follow all of us."

"Yeah, that's true. It is pretty late. I'll see you guys tomorrow," said Annie, getting up and heading for the door. "Come knock on my door for breakfast."

The others trickled out as well. Finally only Edie and Corrie were left—it was their room, after all. Edie was still thinking about having a shower, since her damp hair was making her cold, but her skin still prickled with the thought that Brandon might be in the room looking at her. She glanced at Corrie. "Are you going anywhere?"

Corrie shook her head. "I think he's gone. It doesn't bother me."

Edie folded her arms and looked around the room. Of course, there was no sign of Brandon; if he was moving, he wasn't touching anything. But she still couldn't get comfortable. She went to the window, wondering if maybe the rain had stopped, though it was the middle of the night and she probably shouldn't go out.

Standing on the grass below her window, holding an umbrella, was Leila. Edie smiled, her heart swelling with happiness, and waved. Then she hastily grabbed her jacket and hurried toward the door. "See you later!"