“Cheers to everyone who made it through the trials!”

“Cheers!” Everyone raises their cups before downing their drinks.

Trials were held for every house, and not everyone passed. Most people did, but there are a few empty chairs to recognize those who will be banished to the human realm and have their powers bound. I can’t imagine what it must be like for them to have to go back and live as humans after being here.

I turn to Dannika when a thought hits me. “What about the full Fae?” I ask. “They’ve always lived here, right? Are they banished to the human realm, too?”

Her eyes go wide, and she nods, her face blocked as she sips her drink.

“But they won’t know anyone there,” I argue, horrified at this news. “And their families, their lives, are here. This is the only world they’ve ever known.”

Dannika nods again, setting down her drink. “I know.”

I’m reeling at that. How could they do that to someone? If I’d failed, that would have been one thing. I’d have gone back to the place I’d always known. Mom probably would have been more than happy to welcome me back as a “normal” kid.

I can’t help but think it should have been me. The full Fae students shouldn’t have been banished. I mean, if the Fae had bound me, my mom wouldn’t have to run anymore because they wouldn’t want me. Well, I guess she doesn’t have to run anymore while I’m here, but still. Maybe I should have just failed the trial, gone back to the human realm, and lived a simple life. Mom and I could have settled down somewhere. I could have followed up on one of those acceptance letters, and then gone to a regular college.

But could I have? Could I really just go back, pretend this has all just been a strange, beautiful dream?

Of course not. This is my world now. My home. The only thing that’s missing is Mom, and I’ll still see her every summer.

As I look around at the empty seats again, I tell myself I belong here. I don’t think it’s right they would banish full Fae to the human realm, but that doesn’t mean I should be banished instead. It wasn’t them or me. If I hadn’t succeeded, it wouldn’t have meant they would.

But someone doesn’t want me here. Someone wanted me to fail. Or worse, wanted me dead. But who? I haven’t offended anyone that gravely, have I?

I look over at Ferria and her friends. They are drinking and laughing, not paying any attention to me. No. It’s not her. I made a big mistake, but she wouldn’t retaliate by trying to kill me in the trial. She did a pretty good job of getting back at me in class. We just had a misunderstanding. If I stay out of her way, I’m sure things between us will smooth over in time. We might not be friends, but I’m not her enemy, and she is not mine.

I have to stop thinking about her.

I need to be happy. I need to celebrate. I passed! I’m staying! Even Damon clapped when I succeeded. Maybe I could try talking to him again. Try to sort out whatever went wrong between us. I need to convince him to mentor me. It’s clear I still need help. I need to train. I can’t go to Erick, not with how things left off with us last time, but I need help from someone.

“Great job today, Imogen,” Caleb says, giving me a peck on the cheek. My face heats up instantly. He still makes me feel so weak in the knees.

“Please,” I say. “You smashed that course!” I’m not exaggerating. He finished the course with the record time, and sent all the ogres limping out.

He shrugs. “I was raised for this. You weren’t. Even if you had failed the course today, you’ve come farther than anyone. You should be proud.”

“Thanks,” I say. “That means a lot coming from you. I know we’re in the same year, but do you think you could help me train? I still need so much help.”

“I don’t know,” he says with a smirk. “Dating and working together? That could be a dangerous mix.”

“Not as dangerous as not helping me,” I say, pinching his arm. “Would be a tragedy if I blew you up again.”

“Ow!” He slaps my hand away. “That hurts! I have sensitive skin.”

“Ahh,” I say, running my fingers up and down his arm. “I have found your one weakness.”

“I think I have more than one,” he murmurs as he lightly touches my cheek. I close my eyes, drinking in his scent. He smells so good. Like a mesquite log on a campfire. He leans in to whisper in my ear. “Maybe tonight, you can—”

“Hey, Imogen,” Dannika cuts in, tugging on my arm. “Can you help me back to our room? I don’t feel well.”

Her skin has a sickly green appearance, and her eyes look half shut, as if she can barely keep them open.

“What happened?” I touch my wrist to her forehead. She feels cold. She was fine when we left the trial field to come to the party.

“I don’t know,” she says. “I was just eating, and then I suddenly felt really sick. I feel like I’m going to faint. Let’s go, now.”

“Okay, okay,” I say as I take her arm and let her lean on me. “Sorry, Caleb. Can you find Ella? I might need more help.”

“Sure,” he says, looking worried. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

We make our way out the door and down the hall, moving slowly. She seems stiff in her limbs, leaning so heavily on me I’m scared I might fall. Thankfully, Ella trots up to us.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, taking Dannika’s other arm.

“I don’t know. She was fine at the trials. She kicked ass, actually. But she said she just started feeling sick at the party.”

“It was probably just something I ate,” Dannika mumbles.

“Of course,” I say. I jump a little, startling Dannika, but I just figured it out. Figured out what’s making the students sick, I mean. “It’s poison,” I continue breathlessly. “The other sick students. It’s in the food!”

“What?” Dannika asks, a shudder in the question. “You think I have the same thing as the others?”

“Doesn’t that mean she’s going to—” Ella starts, eyes wide.

“No! Nothing is going to happen to her,” I say forcefully. “She is going to be fine. We are going to find the source of this illness and the cure.”

We arrive at our room, and it takes Ella and I both to get Dannika settled in her bed.

“Shouldn’t we take her to the infirmary?” Ella asks. “The quarantine…”

“No,” I say. “Nurse Oshae already knows it’s not contagious. There’s no quarantine anymore. Besides, Dannika will be more comfortable here.” I turn to my roommate as I tuck her into the bed. “Tell me, what did you eat?”

She rolls onto her back, rubbing her forehead with a shaky hand. It pains me to see her so sick and weak. Her dark skin already looks cracked like bark. It seems to be taking her over much faster than the others. Maybe the poisoner has stepped up his game.

“A cookie, some crackers, and almond cheese log,” she says.

I nod. “Ella, you stay here with her. I’ll go get the food, check to see if anyone else is sick. We need to make sure no one else gets poisoned.”

“Bring the food to me,” Ella says. “I might be able to reverse-engineer an antidote if I have the original poison.”

“Ella, you’re a genius! You can do that?” I say, fighting the urge to hug her.

“Most poisons are derived from plants,” she points out. “My knowledge of herbs can help me figure out the source.”

“I’ll go get it right now!”

I run back down to the party, heading straight for the food table. The cookies are all gone, but I do find the almond cheese log and crackers. I look around, but I don’t see anyone else acting sick. Hopefully the poisoned food wasn’t the cookies. The almond cheese looks barely touched. Maybe Dannika was the only person to try it. I take the whole plate, covering it with another plate to keep from spilling it, and turn to leave.

“Hey, Imogen,” Erick says when I almost run into him. He steadies me. “I just wanted to tell you how amazing you did today. Sorry if I didn’t make that clear earlier.”

“Oh, thanks,” I say, trying to move around him. “Can we talk about this later? I need to get back to Dannika.”

“What’s wrong with Dannika?” he asks.

I lower my voice. “I don’t want to cause a panic, but she’s sick. She has the illness. I think this cheese was poisoned.”

He rubs his hand over his chin. “Are you sure?”

“About her having the illness, yes. About it being the cheese? No,” I say hurriedly. “But it is the best lead I have right now.”

“What are you going to do?” he asks.

“Ella says if I can find the poison, she might be able to figure out a cure.”

He reaches for the plate. “Why don’t I take this to Ella? You need to talk to Nurse Oshae, Mr. Clawfire, or Headmistress Shadowburn. This is way above us.”

“That’s…actually a good idea,” I say. “Nurse Oshae has been working on this for months. If she and Ella work together, they might find the cure faster.”

I force my hands to let go of the plate. I hadn’t realized how hard I was gripping it.

Erick takes the plate from me, and then rubs my shoulder. “Dannika will be okay,” he says. “You were right about pursuing the illnesses. There definitely was something there.”

“Thanks,” I say. “That means a lot, coming from you.”

“Well, you still didn’t help me find who was behind the attacks,” he says with a wry smile as he walks away. “Maybe you can work on that next.”

“I’ll just put it on my to-do list,” I shout after him. For some reason, I feel better after talking to Erick. A little lighter, a little more hopeful. I don’t know why the same guy who can make me so angry can also give me such comfort. Maybe I could ask him to be my tutor again.

But I can’t think about that now. I need to get help from some of the professors around here. They are supposedly so much wiser and more experienced. Now that we know the source of the poison, surely they can do something.

I head down to the infirmary. When I arrive, several professors are there, all crowded in the back of the room. I make a beeline toward them, seeing they are hovering around a student, one of the first to fall ill. I peek through the crowd, and gasp at what I see. He has completely turned to wood. Flowers and ivy are growing from him. If it wasn’t a dead person, I would think it was an exquisite statue. I don’t see Nurse Oshae anywhere, but when Damon sees me, he grips my arm and leads me back to the hallway.

“What are you doing here?” He shakes me a little. “You shouldn’t have seen that.”

“He’s dead, isn’t he?” I ask, even though I know the answer.

Damon doesn’t reply.

“How many more have died?”

“He’s the second,” he says. “And two more students will follow them very soon.”

“The students who fell ill most recently, does it seem to be progressing faster in them?” I ask, a cold pit in my stomach.

“Why would you ask that?” he asks, scrunching his brow.

“Does it or not?” I press.

Damon nods. “But Nurse Oshae—”

“Hasn’t told anyone. I know. But Dannika has it,” I say. “She was fine at the trials, then fell ill at the party. She looks terrible, much farther along than the others at her stage.”

Damon exhales loudly. “Yes, whatever hex the person is using seems to be stronger now, working more quickly.”

“It’s not a hex,” I say. “It’s poison.”

“A poison? How do you know?”

“I think it was in the cheese Dannika ate at the party.”

“Poison? In the food? How…mundane,” he says. “We were so busy looking at a magical property to the illness we never considered it was something as simple as poison.”

“We need to tell Nurse Oshae,” I say. “Ella says if the poison is plant-based, it should be easy to find a cure.”

“She’s not here now,” Damon says. “But I’ll tell her as soon as I find her.”

“And?” I ask.

“And…what?”

“And what else are you going to do?” I ask. “We need to find the poisoner.”

“How?” he asks. “We’ve tried every spell to reveal them, and nothing’s working. Now we know why. Because they’re not using magic. There’s nothing else we can do.”

“Stop thinking in terms of magic. We need to find out who had motive and opportunity. Inspect the kitchens. Interview the cooks.” Finally, all those hours watching CSI will pay off!

“That’s quite enough,” Damon snaps. “We have our own ways of dealing with things here. Just go tend to Dannika for now…” He grips my elbow and turns me away, as if shushing a child.

“And wait for her to die?” I ask, spinning back toward him. “Your way has gotten us nowhere. These students have been getting sick and dying all year, and you and the other professors have done nothing!”

“Now, see here, missy,” Damon says, obviously growing hot.

“Don’t you dare talk down to me,” I growl. “Until thirty seconds ago, you still thought this was a curse. Dannika would be dead if I just left this up to you. Now are you going to help me stop this poisoner or what?”

“That’s enough!” Damon says, his eyes flaming. “You don’t know what you are talking about. Go back to your room. Now!”

“No!” I say. “I’m going to stop this killer and save Dannika with or without your help.”

Damon raises a finger to my face. “You—”

“That is enough,” a calm voice says.

When I look up, the headmistress is standing a few feet away. She continues over to us, then reaches up and places her hand on Damon’s arm before lowering it. “Let her go. She has earned the right to follow up however she sees fit.”

We both gulp. I’m not sure what exactly she means by that, but I don’t wait around and ask. I simply back up, then turn and run down the hall toward the kitchen. At least one of the administrators around here isn’t a bumbling buffoon. The headmistress sees my value, and I won’t let her down. I will find the killer.

I’m just not sure how.

The food was poisoned, so it makes sense to check the kitchen first and talk to the cook.

* * *

“You what?” the little kitchen brownie asks. She is short and stout with wild strawberry-blonde hair. She lifts her stained apron and uses it to wipe off her hands.

“I was wondering if you had any food here from the human realm,” I say. “I have such a craving. I can’t remember the last time I had a Twinkie.”

“A Twinkie?” she nearly spits. “That is just sugar and lard. How can you be craving that when I make the best quality food in both realms?”

“The heart wants what it wants,” I say with a shrug.

The cook scoffs, but then toddles off. “Twinkie my right arse…” she mumbles.

I don’t really want a Twinkie. Well, I didn’t, but now that I’ve thought about it, I wouldn’t mind if she did scrounge one up. But anyway. I’m hoping she will be gone long enough for me to find…something out of place. Some evidence of the poisoning.

I’m not alone, though. There are other brownies and wee folk running around. The stove and ovens seem to be alive as they turn on and off on their own to keep the food from burning. Thankfully, no one seems to pay me much mind.

I have no idea what I’m looking for as I rummage through the pantry. There are so many bottles and ingredients, and they all look like poison to me. Ornate glass jars hold powders, liquids, and plants I’ve never seen before. Some sparkle while other bubble. This is completely pointless.

I do find some more of the cheese that Dannika ate. I take it with me. If this cheese isn’t poisoned, we will know it wasn’t poisoned by someone in the kitchen, but by someone at the party. It might not help us narrow down who the poisoner is, but it will be more information than we have now.

Suddenly, I hear a crashing from across the room.

“You little sot! What are you doing?” I hear the brownie cook call out. “What’s that you got?”

I run over to see what the commotion is. The cook is going completely boggart on Myra Atticus, Nurse Oshae’s daughter, the girl who went missing at the faèdahunt.

“Myra? What are you doing here?” I ask.

“I caught her trying to meddle with my food,” the cook screeches.

“What?” I ask, startled. “Myra, is this true?”

“She’s crazy.” Myra holds her hands up. “I was just looking for a snack.”

“In the back pantry where I keep the disgusting human food samples? Not bloody likely,” the cook yells. “What were you doing there? Out with it! I’ll have you whipped for days for meddling in my kitchen.”

“Let’s just calm down,” I say.

“Calm down?” the brownie screams. “How dare you! I’m the queen down here. What I say goes, and I say both of you are going to go just as soon as I find out what she was up to.”

Oh gods, so this is what happens when a brownie goes boggart.

“I wasn’t doing anything,” Myra says. “I was just looking for a snack.”

“What a pack of lies!” The cook jumps up and grabs Myra’s arm, shaking her. Out of Myra’s sleeve, a small book falls out and hits the floor. I reach down and pick it up.

“Secretum alter ab terrae,” I read.

I realize I’m reading Roman letters, not Fae, but I still don’t understand the words. Terrae? Is that Italian? French? I’m not sure. Actually, it looks like the books I saw in Ferria’s room. A language I can’t read.

“Myra, what is this?” I ask.

“It’s nothing,” she says, grabbing for the book. “Just something for one of my classes.”

“We don’t use human books in our classes.” I hold it out of her reach. “What’s this all about?”

“It’s nothing. Certainly not any of your business.” She narrows her eyes.

“Well, if you’re hungry,” I say, casually pulling the cheese out of my pocket, “why don’t you eat some of this?”

“No thanks,” Myra says a little too quickly. She even backs up a bit, as if she is afraid of it.

“Why not?” I ask, thrusting it toward her. “It’s just a bit of cheese.”

“I…I just don’t like it,” she says, but she has gone pale.

“You dare insult my cooking, now?” the cook yells. “Just you wait! I’ll have you banished out of here so quickly…”

“Come on, Myra, just a bite,” I say.

Myra smacks the cheese from my hand, and snatches the book at the same time. I lunge to get it back, but she’s too quick. Before I can manage to get a good hold, she tears it away and tosses it into the fire.

“No,” I yell.

I dive in after it without thinking. The flames are hot, but they don’t burn me since they aren’t intentionally made to hurt me. Being a fire Fae has its perks.

I move my arms through the fire, both waving out the flames and absorbing the heat at the same time. I didn’t know this was even possible, but it just seems natural. But by the time I put the fire out, the book is destroyed.

When I turn around, Myra is gone.