"I'm aware of that," Ms. Rhodes assured me, "but the staff here - "
"Isn't as strong as them!" I interrupted. "Look, for my entire life, I tried so hard to play by the rules. I thought that if I could just get it right, then things would work out, but you know whathappened? I got bounced. Always. Every time. The rules didn't protect me. The teachers couldn't. The system is made to reward those willing to abuse it and punish those who follow it. So, maybe you need to sit back and let them figure it out, hm?"
"Figure what out?" she asked.
I turned my cup around again. "What they're ok with." And I finally looked up. "What we're supposed to be doing to fix the mess the Mad Queen made."
"Rain, you're a child. This isn't your mess to fix."
"But that's where you're wrong," I told her. "I'm the Morrigan. Aspen's the queen. Torian's the prince. Wilder and Hawke are dukes. Keir's a knight.Weare the ones in the positions that are supposed to make this work. I know you want to help, and we will ask for it when we need it, but that doesn't change anything."
"So what do you want me to do?" she asked. "I'm not saying I'll agree. I'm just curious what it is you're hoping for."
I bit my lips together, then looked back at Jack and Shadow. Both of them were still, merely watching me.
"Morrigan," Jack encouraged softly.
So I turned to face Ms. Rhodes again. "We tried the old way and it didn't work. Maybe it's time to let them try something new."
"Something new will cause havoc in this school," she countered.
"And bullies won't?" I asked.
"These aren't bullies, Rain!" she snapped. "They're so much worse than that."
"Says someone who's never been bullied. Trust me, it doesn't matter what you call it. When someone attacks you, it sucks. Call them bullies, terrorists, extremists, or whatever. That part doesn't matter. What does is that I'm not going to sit by quietly and let the people I care about suffer because of them."
"The court?" she asked.
"The fae," I corrected.
Chapter Three
TORIAN
All day, I'd been hearing the whispers. It had started in the elevator on the way down to the Never. There, I'd noticed far too many people watching me. Mostly college students at that hour, which made it even more unnerving.
When I headed to second period, an eleventh grader made a strange hand gesture at me. It looked almost like he was pointing a finger gun to the side as he made a rolling circle, then he pressed his almost-a-fist to his heart. It was quick - and weird - but impossible to miss.
In third period, a girl across the room dipped her head at me. She wasn't flirting. No, I was used to girls doing that. Most of these suck-ups thought my pure fae ancestry meant something. Well, power, but they had no idea what sort of power I had. All of them tried to put me into a box where I didn't fit. Little did they realize how much I hated being imprisoned, and that was what their goals for me felt like.
So I took a slightly different route to fourth period. Just as I rounded the corner, I saw Hawke and Wilder coming out of the class they shared with Rain. Immediately, Hawke's eyes found me. Wilder's followed his boyfriend's. When he saw me, the Duke of Avalon smiled gently.
"Torian," Wilder greeted me before clasping Hawke's arm. "I'll catch up at lunch, ok?"
"Sounds good," Hawke said before angling his feet toward me.
I moved out of the flow of bodies to lean against the wall. I'd just gotten comfortable when Hawke paused before me. While I checked one way, he looked the other. Sadly, too many eyes were watching us. Not the normal glances we'd gotten before. This? It felt wrong.
"So, is it just me?" I asked.
"Nope," Hawke said, shifting his pose a bit to block our faces as much as he could.
"What have you heard?"
He shrugged one shoulder. "Rain's the talk of the school." He canted his head, subtly making it clear he didn't like that. "You're no longer a monster."
"Oh, I think that secret's out," I agreed. "The rest?"
