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I chuckled knowingly. “You like being the one who holds everything together. I came up with the idea, but it wouldn’t have been possible without you.”
“Look at you learning so fast.”
“Just so you know, Lorna, the fact that Valentine made you share your notes with me last year didn’t throw you into disgrace.”
“What do you know?”
“Just saying…”
I left her alone. Even if she’d made it her mission to stay away from the party and focus on the spell, I could tell she’d made an effort. She was wearing a long, white, flowy dress with red roses printed on the rims, and she’d let her long, black hair down. Classy, minimal makeup, and blood red lips. No wonder so many guys were checking her out. But while Pandora had moved on after Pazuzu and dated at least two or three guys I knew about, Lorna had never moved on after Sariel. Not that she and Sariel had ever been in a relationship. She still looked at him longingly when they ran into each other in the hallways.
“Where is Sariel, anyway?” I muttered under my breath. I spotted GC and Paz by the jello shot table, and was pleasantly surprised to see Francis and Klaus were with them. “It’s nice they choose to hang out together when I’m not around…” Joel, Klaus’s merman boyfriend had, obviously, gone for a swim. Patty was trying to convince Corri to take a bite of her jello shot, although that wasn’t how jello shots worked. The pixie didn’t seem too eager. For a second, I wanted to go to them. A fun evening with my lovers and my friends would do me good. Some dancing, some kissing, some gossiping… But there was this nagging feeling deep down, in my stomach, and I had to figure out what it was, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to enjoy myself.
All right. Where’s Sariel?
I went looking for him. I’d invited him to the party myself, since we’d started texting every couple of days, and he’d confirmed. I first checked the MDC groups scattered around the beach.
“Hey! Have you seen Sariel?”
“You’re looking in the wrong place,” a dark-haired guy said. “He doesn’t hang out with us.”
“Why? You’re his cabal now.”
A blond girl pulled me aside and pointed at some rocks some four hundred meters to the east, where the beach ended.
“I think I saw him heading there. Not sure, though.”
“Why would he…? Nevermind. Thanks.”
I started walking toward the rocks, pretty much convinced Sariel would never go hang around there by himself. I pulled out my phone and texted him.
“Where are you?”
No reply. With a sigh, I kept walking. It would only take me five minutes, and I could use the exercise. My bare feet sunk pleasantly in the cold sand. I was wearing a long cotton dress that kept me warm enough, and I’d left my sandals near the entrance of the cave, knowing full well no one would steal them from there. The students avoided the caves like the plague. There was something – a scent, an atmosphere, a feeling – that seeped out through the open mouth of the cave and kept them away. They weren’t even conscious of it, or that it even affected them. Their intuition had decided the caverns were off limits, and they were too busy with the real world to question it. Good. That kept them safe.
The wind picked up, blowing my long, blue hair in my eyes. I struggled to gather it in a messy ponytail and secured it with an old scrunchie I always kept around my wrist.
“Sariel?”
The rocks were just ahead. Their sharp, pointy edges didn’t look very inviting, especially since I was barefoot. The waves crashed against them, bathing them in foam. The tide wasn’t very high tonight, so sitting on the rocks wasn’t dangerous, for sure. It looked refreshing, actually, if one managed to find a smooth rock to park one’s butt on.
“Sariel, are you here?”
I heard laughter, and I strained my ears to identify the direction it was coming from. Someone yelled something, and I realized there were more voices, more people. Is this a private party, or something? Does Lorna’s cloaking spell even reach this far? If it didn’t, I guessed it wasn’t much of a danger. To find us, the Unseelie guards first had to figure out that we weren’t in our rooms. Then, they’d have a whole lot of land to cover, and I was sure they wouldn’t think about the beach first. It was hidden, anyway. If one looked from above, one couldn’t see it.
A cry of surprise or fear – I couldn’t be sure – rose toward the sky, making my heart jump and my senses switch to high alert. I pulled my long dress up to my knees, so I could climb more easily, and planted one foot firmly on the smoothest rock I could divine in the falling darkness. More laughter, another cry, then a yelp and a splash. My foot slipped, and I had to let go of the dress to grab the rocks with my hands and regain balance. A wave came crashing a few feet away from me, and the white foam it left behind enveloped my ankles. It felt cold and energizing. I finally pushed myself up on a higher rock and stood up straight. Now I could see where the noises were coming from.
Four VDC students stood around a fifth student they had presumably pushed to the ground. Merrit was among them. They laughed and made jokes, and when the blond-haired guy who was their victim tried to pull himself to his feet, they pushed him down again. He was doing his best to hold onto the rocks and not fall in the water. Judging from how wet he was from head to toe, he’d fallen a couple of times already.
“Hey! What’s going on here?”
The four VDC guys looked up at me, surprise painted on their faces. I recognized Raziel the angel, too.
Merrit shrugged. “None of your business.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. I was too far to see who their victim was, so I scrambled closer. The bully squad was at it again. The Mighty Jerk Cabal had found a new victim, and I wasn’t going to have it. At least, my guys weren’t part of it anymore.
“The party’s on the beach, you morons,” I yelled, as I did my best to get to them. “I don’t even know if Lorna’s spell covers this place. You better go before the Unseelie find you.”
