"We will come together regardless of magic," Aspen called out, standing a little taller. "And the same is true for Winter as Summer. If you want revenge? You are not mine. If you desire death and carnage? You do not deserve our magic. Let Earth give you what power it has, because you are not recognized bythiscourt. By the only royalty we have here! Byus,the leadership you got because you were all too weak to fight for anyone but yourselves!"
And the people around us began to slowly regain their light. I was struggling not to whip my head from side to side in surprise, yet I still saw it happening. Poppy's glow was a swirl of all the colors of the rainbow. Bracken stayed both green and white. Pascal kept growing brighter until he looked like a spotlight, and over there was Rose, the administrative assistant, shining in a green so true it was nearly neon.
But some stayed dark. Many were muddy mixes of colors. I didn't know what it meant, but as my eyes jumped around, I saw Shadow again. Where it had been a dark silhouette, able to blend in with all the Wild magic in here a moment ago, now it was more, well, it.
The eyes were bright. One was white. The other was green. Its smile reflected all the colors I could imagine, but instead of a mere curved arc, I could now see what had to be teeth. Sharp, childish, crazy-looking teeth the color of Earth magic.
And that was when Rain stepped forward. "This is not Faerie!" she told the crowd. "This? It'sourworld now. That means you play byourrules. We are the ones with the powernow, and we're not going to do it your way! Those who have stood with us - either the court or just your fellow fae - will be rewarded. The rest of you?" She turned, lifting her arm as Jack shot out of the air.
"Shadow!" Jack cawed.
And Rain turned back to the crowd. "I am Rain le Fae, the Morrigan of the One True Court. The balance will be restored. Winter, Summer, and Wild all belong. I don't care which of those you pick, but know that until you learn how to be loyal to all,wewill offer you none. This is not Titania's world. This is not her fight." She paused to look back at both me and Aspen. "It's ours."
The lights around everyone continued to change. At first, I thought they were all growing brighter, but that was only because I was looking at the people I knew. To the side, those were becoming dim, barely even visible. Over there, the verdant green was blanching, allowing a swirl of other colors to mix with it. So many of those glows were changing to a myriad of colors. No, a rainbow of them. When I saw white begin to shine at the side, I turned my head, fighting a smile when I saw students shifting from green to white.
"You have all been judged!" I yelled.
But before I could finish my thought, the lights simply went out. Across the atrium, people whimpered as the Wild magic began to dissipate, but the atrium felt different. No, itsmelleddifferent. This wasn't the scent of sickly-sweet flowers. It was more like Earth after a storm. The petrichor was rich and pervasive, but beautiful in its own way. There were hints of crisp cold and singed heat among it, but they all combined to make a perfectly natural whole.
"I have no magic!" someone screamed.
"You have nothing," Rain said, "unless we give it to you."
I grabbed her shoulder, letting her know she'd done enough. Sometimes, making the point didn't require saying too much. Sometimes, the best points were made with short, simple words.
"You have all been judged," I called out. "Let us hope you've been found worthy. If not, fix that, because things are changing."
And I would make sure they continued to do so. For the first time in my life, I didn't feel like I was making this worse. No, with these women standing on either side of me, I finally realized exactly what it was I was supposed to do.
I would fix this.
Not just magic or hate. No, I was the one who knew how to lead. I had to teach the rest of my court. I was the one cruel enough to make the hard decisions so Rain and Aspen wouldn't need to. I was the one the Hunt listened to, the one whose name made people stop and listen, and the one who could change it all for the better.
And myfriendsneeded me.
Even in the midst of all the confusion and shock taking over the people around me, that one thing felt so good. I wasn't in the way anymore. I wasn't a danger to good people - only bad. I might be a monster, but some of the best people were.
Most importantly, I finally had a reason to not only keep fighting, but also tolive.
Epilogue
POPPY
Graduation didn't happen. Instead, I was allowed to bury my mother. Ms. Rhodes kindly allowed her and Ms. Valentina to be interred by the gate as victims of the Hunt. Their names were added to the list. There were only two mourners, Harper and me.
But the court stood witness.
I couldn't say anything at the moment, but that mattered more than they could know. And when it was over, Torian had given me a note. He didn't offer any condolences. He was too fae to be able to speak those words, because they would be lies. The sympathy in his eyes made it better, though.
My mother had been wrong. Worse than that, she'd been evil. The problem was, I didn't know what to do now! I should be packing to head home for the summer, but I didn't think I had a home to go to anymore.
Instead, I focused on cleaning my room. It was stupid, but it kept my hands busy. I'd found some boxes left by the students whose parents had hauled them out of the school. Into those, I was carefully packing the mementos I knew I'd want to keep. They weren't things I wanted to see now.
A picture of my mother at some graduation in the past, dressed in the formal cap, gown, and sash. A letter she'd sent to me between classes, scratched out in a hurry on the back of a school form. It was all little things, but each one gutted me as I put it away to deal with later.
The sound of a soft rap at my door made me flinch. "Come in!" I called, expecting the worst.
But the door cracked to reveal Nevaeh. She offered me a weak smile and came the rest of the way in, closing the door behind her.
