"Wilder, give her the chair," Hawke said as he clambered to his feet.
"I'm fine," Ms. Rhodes assured him.
"There's a chair in my room!" Aspen called at Hawke even as he headed that way.
"We need a few more," Keir pointed out. "It seems these group meetings are getting to be a regular thing."
"Which is part of what I wanted to talk to you about," Ms. Rhodes said, finally taking the chair, then smiling as she relaxed into it. "This is nice!"
"It's for the girls to study in," Wilder explained. "I wanted them to have a place where they could curl up and relax."
"Add a loveseat," Ms. Rhodes told him. "You can use the table by the window for materials to convert, because I have a feeling Rain doesn't use that one."
"No, but I do use the one by the door," I said.
She nodded. "Then arrange this to be useful. I have a feeling the same will be done to Torian's room. I also want you all to make sure your gates are secure and in working condition."
"Which gates?" Torian asked.
She blinked her eyes over to him. "All of them, Torian."
Which was when Hawke came back, carrying the wooden chair from Aspen's room that matched the one Torian was sitting on. He set it down by Jack's perch and gestured for Wilder to take it. When Wilder paused as if unsure, Hawke made his way over and sat on the edge of the bed beside Aspen, right by the foot.
Keir shifted closer to the pillows, making more room for us girls in the middle. "That makes it sound like something big is going down," he said.
Ms. Rhodes dipped her head in agreement. "I think so, but I have no proof. That's why I want our royalty to be careful. The student Rain and Pascal stopped today? Cedar Murphy. He's been known to spend time with the Children of the Exodus in the past. His first two years here, he was definitely a part of that group."
"But he's not anymore?" I asked.
Torian grunted as if I'd missed something.
But Ms. Rhodes confirmed it. "Rain, when I questioned that boy, he couldn't say anything. Silence was the only response I got to who had sent him, what his purpose was, why he attacked Nevaeh in particular or if it was just a random thing, and so on."
"And there's no way to make them talk?" I asked. "I mean, could I help with that? Because if you're catching people and just letting them go..."
"He's been expelled," she assured me. "Unfortunately, some of these students have nowhere to go."
"Then how are they mixed up with the Children of the Exodus?" Keir asked. "I'm pretty sure there's a direct lineage required to be a part of them."
"It's more about the ideology," Ms. Rhodes told him. "From what we know about their group - the parents, I mean, not thestudents - they aren't as worried about lineage as thinking the same thing."
"What thing?" Hawke demanded. "Ms. Rhodes, what exactly is their ideology?"
"They want to remake the fae system of power," she said. "We're not sure if that's a new court, no court, or something else. Sadly, they don't want to talk about it and the information we have is conflicting. They do, however, know how to blend in. The parents all seem a bit off, and they have concerns about the ideology their children will be exposed to, but they won't tell me what they want avoided."
"Sounds like weird religious freaks," I mumbled.
Ms. Rhodes murmured as if I wasn't necessarily wrong. "Similar, but their god is magic. That's true for most fae, though. I'm worried they might be recruiting right here at Silver Oaks."
"I thought you knew everything that happened here," Wilder taunted.
The look the dean gave him was icy. "I know enough. I also do not invade your privacy. Yes, we pay attention, and yes, we have both age and experience on our side. That doesn't mean we have magical listening devices spread around the school."
"But you tend to know when we do something," Torian pointed out.
"Becauseyoucan blow up the building," she reminded him. "I know that. You know that. Everyone in this school knows that, Torian. I can feel the use of power in my building, bouncing off my protections. So yes, I'm aware of much of what you kids do. We also ignore it when we can because learning isn't always about obeying the rules."
"So I can break more?" he asked.
