Page 117 of The Cursed Fae

I glanced toward my desk, where I’d left it after returning from my weekend at her house.

“Of course.”

It was hard to say whether Nana bought it, but she didn’t harp on the issue. We talked for several more minutes, and then she brought the conversation back to my off-campus jaunt. Taking a page out of my family’s book, I lied about that too.

“Laz and I went for a drive. We stopped at the cove and had a picnic. It wasn’t a big deal,” I said.

“Please be careful, Winter. You have a lot of magic, which makes you a very enticing target.”

The paper airplane popped into my mind. All the stuff with Lena had pushed it down on the priority list of worries constantly churning inside my head.

Round, and round they go.

One by one they fall.

Will you be the next to hear my call?

Missy had received the same note. Ray was a question mark. What about Ewan? I could’ve asked Nana, but I had a better idea. I’d visit his roommate—Justin. Laz said they hadn’t been friends. Still, roommates talked. Most did, anyway. Tina and I weren’t exactly having meaningful conversations, but I knew things about her. Like she’d been at the underground fight where the immortal wolf showed up.

I hung up with Nana, then texted my mother to say I was fine and had spoken to my great-grandmother. Mom liked the message thirty minutes later. I pulled on jeans, a sweater, and sneakers and headed out to talk to Ewan’s roommate.

Justin was not excited to find me at his door. “What’s up?” he asked, glancing both ways into the hallway.

This was a conversation I should’ve rehearsed in my head. I had no clue how to ask about the letter in a way that wasn’t awkward.

“I’m sorry about Ewan,” I said, twisting my hands in front of me.

Justin ran a hand over his hair and gave another look, right and left. “It is what it is. I didn’t know him that well.”

“You mean you don’t know him well,” I corrected him. “Ewan’s going to be fine. He’s not dead.”

He sighed and clenched his teeth. “Not to be rude, but what do you want, Winter? I’m sort of in the middle of something.”

“Okay. This is weird, so I’ll just ask—did Ewan get a strange note before the attack?”

Justin looked at me like I’d spoken in Old Faerie. “How would I know?”

I forced a smile. “Guess you wouldn’t. Thanks anyway.”

Instead of returning to my room, I walked over to Astrid’s. She at least wanted me around. Morgan and Chance had stayed at their parents’ house to concentrate on their initiation spells. Fern’s parents had put her on the first plane to Colorado that morning, and Belle was enjoying one-on-one time with a guy she’d met a few weeks back.

I spent the rest of the night in Astrid’s room. We video-called Lena, so my two friends got to meet, which was nice. Mat was nowhere in sight. When I asked about him, Lena said he hadn’t reached out after their movie date.

So he knows I’m working on my portals.

“I don’t think it’s a love spell,” Astrid announced after we hung up. “She’s definitely obsessed with him. My guess is compulsion. Or,” she wrinkled her nose, “old-fashioned lust. He’s probably a dynamo in bed.”

I groaned. “Please do not put that image in my head.”

It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized Laz hadn’t called. He was in the cafeteria when I headed down to fill my backpack with sugar and carbs. He had two coffees and handed me one, leaning in for a quick kiss.

“Sorry about last night.” He gave me a lazy half smile. “I was beat. Fell asleep with my spell books. Are you ready for today? I hope you got a good night’s sleep.”

Mom called on the drive out to the cove. I only answered out of curiosity. Both Laz and I wanted to know if the Taurus would declare war on the Gemini Fae. That was about all my mother told us.

“The Taurus are fine,” she said, sounding even more tired than my nana the night before. “The matter is closed.”

Her phrasing seemed strange to me. Did that mean she gave them something, or that her explanation of events absolved the Geminis of blame? There was no point wasting breath asking my mother, so I waited until the call ended and asked Laz.

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