When I went to watch the joust at the main field, I had to find my own seat. Ashleigh had a place of honor to sit on the dais next to Count Duncan and his wife. I looked through the bleachers set up on either side and saw Kai, in human form, waving at me from the second row.
He patted the seat next to him. “I saved us a spot near the front so that we don’t have to try looking over all these tall Fae,” he said with a grin.
I sat down. “Thanks, that was nice of you. You’re human today?”
“For the afternoon,” he said. “I don’t need the fur when it’s this hot outside.”
We did have a good view of the field from where we sat. The front row was mostly taken up by people who were even shorter than us, like children and dwarfs. When I turned my head to the left, I could just glimpse one side of the dais and see a few of the nobles sitting there, but the sun blinded me. I blinked and turned away.
A trumpet fanfare announced the beginning of the display. The five new knights, three men and two women, rode their horses out onto the field. They circled around once, waving at the crowd who clapped and cheered for them, and then stopped to present themselves in front of the dais. They wore light armor that caught the sunlight and shone, and each knight and horse was decorated with colorful devices bearing their families’ crests. Glen, on Sweetie’s back, wore the gold-and-green of his grandfather, with the golden tree on his shield.
Kai leaned close to whisper in my ear. “Glen’s new armor turned out nice, don’t you think? I heard they had to adjust it at the last minute because he kept growing, but I can’t see any patches or seams.”
I turned and smirked at him. “Are you jealous that he’s getting to be so tall?”
“Of course!” Kai laughed. “I feel like I’ve barely grown at all since middle school. We were almost the same height back then, but now he towers over me.”
I nodded. “I know, I feel the same way. It’s like everyone else got taller, and the two of us were just left behind.”
Kai took my hand and drew it through his arm, pulling me closer to him. “Us shorties have to stick together.”
I smiled and looked down. My face was growing hot.
Count Duncan got to his feet. “Welcome, chivalrous youths. Each of you has petitioned me and been recognized by this Court for your accomplishments. But before we bestow upon you the order of knighthood, I would like to see a demonstration of your skills. Please, show us the outcome of your long years of training.”
The knights bowed their heads and rode off to the side while attendants prepared the field. Down the center of the field, there was a long wooden barrier hung with cloth, and along the fence on the outside, there were several tall, wooden poles. Attendants tied large rings onto the poles so that they dangled over the field.
At the trumpet’s next signal, the knights began to ride around the field, each one trying to catch the rings on the tips of their lances. Some rings swung out of reach, others slipped off the lances and fell to the ground, but each knight managed to get a few.
I cheered on Glen’s performance: he’d claimed five rings, more than any other rider. I was so caught up in the action that I didn’t notice who’d taken the seat behind me until I heard a familiar voice.
“I was looking for you, witchling,” he said in a pouting tone. “It seems that I do have a rival for your attention, after all.”
I twisted in my seat and saw Dandelion looking down on us with an expression of disappointment. I scooted away from Kai and shook my head. “This—this is just Kai,” I said, struggling to find a way to explain the situation.
“He looks as though he were courting you in earnest,” Dandelion said. He looked Kai up and down, frowning. “Isn’t he a little short for you?”
Kai looked up at Dandelion and snorted. “Who’s the giant?” he said. “Shouldn’t you be sitting in the back row where you won’t block everyone else?”
I elbowed Kai in the ribs. “Dandelion is an old friend of mine,” I told him. I craned my head back to Dandelion and added, “And so is Kai. He saved me a seat so I could watch the joust. We can all sit together, but only if you don’t argue. I’m here to watch Glen.”
Dandelion stood up and stepped over the bleacher easily with his long legs, then sat in the seat on my other side. “If I’m too tall to sit down in front, then I can change my appearance.”
I glanced behind us. “I don’t think anyone is complaining.” I looked at Kai, but he was scowling and turned away from me. I sighed and turned back to the field.
The knights had already begun riding tilts against each other. Now they wore helmets and held shields. They rode down the field two at a time, one on either side of the tilt barrier, and pointed their lances across the middle. When they met, their lances glanced off of their opponents’ shields. None of them were unhorsed, and no one counted points.
On either side of me, Kai and Dandelion were silent. I sat very still so that I wouldn’t touch either one of them. Although I tried to focus on the demonstration, I felt very uncomfortable.
As soon as each knight had two rides and Count Duncan congratulated the five on their skills, I sprang to my feet. “Excuse me, but I have to go,” I said. “I’m going to be late to pick up Heather.”
Kai still wouldn’t look at me.
Dandelion shook his head sadly. “I’m sad to see you leave so quickly, Rosa. You will be back?”
“Yeah, in about an hour,” I said. “I’ll see you guys then.” I turned and hurried off before they could say anything else.
After I picked up Heather at her house, I had to fly faster than the day before, but Heather was already getting the hang of balancing on the broom. As we approached, I could see the party guests were already starting to head up the hill.
To save time, I landed in one of the gardens off to the side where there weren’t a lot of people. “We’d better hurry.” I led her along the path to the summit where everyone else was heading.
The ceremony took place in the Grove at the center of Doe’s Rest Castle. The Grove was a carefully tended circle of cultivated rowan trees with grass in the middle. Faerie custom demanded that we remove our shoes before entering, so we had to watch our steps, particularly because of all the mushrooms that liked to grow there. It was early in the fall, so the leaves on the trees were just getting the first hint of red, and the berries were small and green—they wouldn’t be ripe for another month or so.
The Grove was large, nearly half the size of a football field, but it was filling up fast with guests. Heather and I found space to stand off to one side, but we couldn’t see the old stone altar in the center. Count Duncan was tall, so I could see his head over everyone else’s, and I could catch a glimpse of Glen and some of the other knights if I stood up on my tiptoes and craned my head around. Heather probably couldn’t see anything.
Then I saw Dandelion turn and grin at me near the front. He waved us forward. We pushed through the crowd to join him. “I thought you shorties would need a better view,” he said with a smile. “Who’s your friend?”
“She’s my classmate, Heather,” I said. “Heather, this is Dandelion, at least while he’s wearing yellow.”
Heather turned pale at the sight of the Fae, but she nodded politely. “Nice to meet you, Dandelion. That’s a good color on you.”
“How lovely of you to notice.” Dandelion took Heather’s hand and bent over it with a courtier’s kiss. “It’s wonderful to make your acquaintance. Any friend of Rosamunde’s is a friend of mine. I only regret that I had not seen you at this party sooner.”
“She had family obligations,” I said quickly before Heather could look any more embarrassed. “I’m not sure how long she can stay today, either.”
“Well, then, I will have to enjoy your company while it lasts,” Dandelion said. “By the way, I hear that you are the thirteenth student in your class. Do you think of this as lucky or unlucky?”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, come on, Dandelion, who thinks that a number’s going to make a difference with anything?”
He gave me a sly smile. “I don’t know, you’re the witch. I’ve heard that witches prefer to have thirteen members of their covens because there are thirteen moons in a year.”
I’d never been a member of a coven—in fact, I’d met very few witches besides Mom—but I just shook my head. “A coven is going to be whatever number is convenient. And besides, this is our class at school, not a group of witches.—Oh look, I think they’re about to start.”
The count’s honor guard announced the beginning of the ceremony by blowing on trumpets, and everyone got very quiet and attentive.
Count Duncan welcomed everyone and asked the knights to kneel, which they did. He then began a long, rambling speech about the code of chivalry and the duties of a knight to protect the kingdom, uphold the law, defend the helpless, etc. I felt sorry that they had to kneel for such a long time, but they all bore it with solemn faces as they listened to the count’s speech.
After he’d finished describing what would be expected of them as knights, Count Duncan began to ask each of them in turn for their oaths.
Glen went first. “I swear with my life and my sword to defend the County of the Golden Forest and the Duchy of the Pacific, to uphold the laws that govern them, to come to the aid of the weak and the helpless, and to see justice served. I vow to live my life governed by the virtues of mercy, courage, valor, fairness, justice, charity, resolve, truth, humility, and hope.”
Count Duncan nodded to accept the oath and drew his sword from the sheath at his hip. He touched the flat of the blade to Glen’s right shoulder, the left, and then the right again. “Arise, Sir Glen Byrnes, son of Samantha and Michael, of the House of the Golden Forest.”
Glen stood up and everyone cheered. Ashleigh stepped forward and put a wreath of rowan leaves on his head, and then gave him a formal kiss on the lips. We all cheered again.
The process was repeated for the other four knights, except without the wreath and kiss from Ashleigh.
Everyone started to head back down the hill to rejoin the party. Dandelion held out his left arm to me and his right to Heather. “If I may have the honor of escorting you two lovely girls?”
I grinned as I took his arm, and Heather took the other. Together the three of us walked back to the main castle building.
Inside the castle, servants circulated to hand out small flutes of champagne to everyone over the age of twelve, to toast the newly dubbed knights. Heather glanced at me when we got ours. “Is this okay?”
“Everyone over twelve has a glass, and we’ll be having dinner soon.” I pointed to another set of servants circulating with trays of finger food. “There’s appetizers already. I love the little pastries with the caramelized onions.”
Heather took a sip and grimaced. “I don’t think I have to worry about having too much of this.”
I laughed a little. “Not what you expected, right?”
Dandelion came over to us with a smile. “I think you made that same face the first time that you tried champagne.”
Heather glanced up at him. “It sounds like you’ve known Rosa for a long time.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, he’s always following me around.”
After the toasts, people were wandering around the room and chatting. Kai, dressed in a gray suit that showed off his white and red fur, found us and told us the latest gossip about our absent classmates. “Lindsey’s parents grounded her because of the fight.” He pointed out Peter across the room. “Peter actually came back today without her. No sign of Robert or Daniela, though.”
I shook my head. “What a mess this turned into.”
Dandelion looked between Kai and me. “It sounds like I missed some excitement?”
I sighed. “It was hardly exciting, just more typical Lindsey drama.”
Kai smirked at Dandelion. “Lindsey came to the party with Peter, and Robert had to one-up her, so he brought Daniela last night, and then Lindsey took it out on the other girl. The count’s guards threw her out. I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it already.” His eyes glittered with excitement at sharing a new story.
Dandelion sighed. “I’m not around often enough to keep up with the fast-paced social happenings of all you teens. There’s always something going on here, unlike the Otherworld where time stands still and nothing ever changes.” He patted Kai on the head. “I’m fortunate that I have such a good source of gossip.”
Kai put his ears back and his tail began to twitch back and forth. “Actually,” he said through clenched teeth, “I came over here to ask Rosa to dance.” He turned and offered his arm to me.
I hesitated and glanced at the others.
Dandelion looked down at him with narrowed eyes. “So, my rival is here to steal the young lady’s attentions from me again. What are your intentions with her?”
I blushed and stepped between the two of them quickly. “Kai is just a friend,” I said, taking his arm. “Why don’t you dance with Heather for now, and we can switch after a few songs?”
Dandelion bowed to me. “As you wish.” He turned and offered his arm to Heather. “Shall we?”
Heather went off in one direction with Dandelion, and Kai led me in another direction. In the ballroom next door, a big band of musicians had started playing, a fast-paced swing song.
I smiled when I recognized the music. “I love this song.”
Kai grinned as he turned to me, his features shifting and his fur disappearing as he transformed into a human for the dance. “I know, that’s why I came to find you.” He started to lead me, and I followed him easily. Kai had always been my favorite swing partner.
After a minute, Kai said, “That Fae seemed really protective of you. Is he actually offended that I wanted to dance with you?”
I shook my head. “I’ve known him for a long time, and he watches out for me. I think at least half of what he says is a joke, though.”
Kai watched my face closely. “Doesn’t it bother you when he flirts like that? I mean, he’s so much older than you.”
I laughed. “I tell him the same thing, but it doesn’t stop him. I promise that it’s a joke. His interest in me is mostly because—” I glanced around and lowered my voice, because talking about oaths wasn’t supposed to be done openly. “He’s my patron, the one who gave me my witch powers.”
“Oh.” The song came to an end and we turned to clap for the band. While we waited for the next set, Kai leaned closer to me. “What about the new girl? Is it true that her parents are both vampires?”
So that information was already out. “Yeah, they plan on turning Heather into one, too, when she turns eighteen. She’s actually a pretty sweet girl, though.”
“Wow.” Kai’s eyes glittered again. “So you’ve been trying to help her fit in? That’s nice of you.”
“It’s not just that—I think we’re friends now.”
Kai frowned. “How does Lindsey feel about that?”
“I’m allowed to have other friends besides Lindsey,” I said quickly. But I remembered that Lindsey had been avoiding me for most of the week. “Although she doesn’t seem to like Heather much.”
Kai nodded. “You two have been really close for a long time, and Lindsey is the jealous type. Be careful, or Heather may end up getting pushed into the mud, too.”
I sighed and shook my head. “I hope not.”
The band-leader stood up and began counting out the beat for the next song. Kai reached for my hand again. “Well, with how popular you are and all of your jealous friends, I hope that you’ll still have time for me.”
I smiled and followed him into position for the dance. “Of course.”
When I got home some time on Sunday morning after eating a second brunch and taking Heather back to her house, I went straight up to my room and collapsed in bed, where I slept for most of the day. Faeriekin parties were always fun, but I never got much sleep.
I woke up sore in almost every possible way: my feet hurt from dancing, not to mention my legs and back. There were scratches on my hands and arms from—what? Oh, yeah, I’d had a tree climbing race with Glen. I wasn’t exceptionally athletic, so of course he’d won that. I winced when I moved, which meant that my tail bone was still bruised from falling out of that tree. The night had been pretty crazy.
I took a long, hot shower to soak out the worst of the soreness and to help myself wake up.
I thought about everything that had happened, the highlights and the drama, and I felt pretty happy. There were some bad moments, but it was a good party. I should probably call up Lindsey, or go see her in person so that she could rant about what happened with Robert; that particular piece of drama was not going to get resolved any time soon.
Tomorrow at school was going to be interesting.
For now, I wanted to talk to my parents about Akasha’s school. Dandelion was right: she didn’t fit at Crowther. There had to be another option we could find for her.
When I left my room, I smelled something delicious: Mom was making her homemade pasta sauce for dinner. Some people think that pasta sauce only comes out of a jar. Mom spent most of a day simmering her special sauce with fresh vegetables from her garden, spices, and good red wine. The result was thick and rich and good enough to eat as a meal by itself, but it’s also good when she added sausage, poured it over fresh pasta, and served it with a nice crusty bread to soak it up.
Even after all of the great food that I had at the castle, there was nothing that made me happier or feel more at home than the smell of my mom’s cooking. I went downstairs with a big smile on my face.
Mom and Dad were sitting at the kitchen table when I came in, playing a game of cards. They both looked up and smiled when they saw me. “Did you manage to catch up on your sleep, sweetie?” Mom asked.
I stretched. “Yeah, I got some rest and a shower, but I’m still sore. It was a long weekend.”
Mom’s eyes widened when she saw the scratches and bruises. She stood up and came over to look closer. “Oh no, honey, what happened?”
I gave her a sheepish grin. “I, uh, fell out of a tree. Not flying—I was climbing it. Um, trying to, anyways.”
She turned to one of the cupboards and pulled out a jar. “I have an herbal ointment that will soothe your hurts. Here.”
The astringent smell stung my eyes when she opened it. I started to pull away. “No, Mom, I don’t need that.”
She ignored me and started slathering it on. The smell was even stronger up close, and the ointment made my cuts burn. “Hold still, dear. I know it’s unpleasant, but it’s good for you. It will help you heal faster.”
I winced. “Ouch! Isn’t there a spell you could put on it to make it hurt less, at least?”
“Pain is necessary in healing. It reminds you to take it easy, and it tells you that it’s working.” She finished rubbing the ointment on my arms and went around behind me. She pulled up the back of my shirt and found more scratches on my back, too.
I glanced at my dad with a pleading look, but he just shrugged and said, “Your mother knows what she’s doing.”
I gritted my teeth and waited while she continued to rub the foul-smelling goop on me. By the end, I was so sticky and stinky that I wanted to take another shower.
While Mom put away the jar of ointment, I sat down gingerly in the chair next to my dad’s. “I have something that I wanted to talk to you guys about.”
Dad sat up straighter. “Sure, what’s wrong?”
“Well, it’s about Akasha.” I glanced back at Mom. “Do you remember I told you that she doesn’t like school anymore?”
Mom sat down and looked at Dad. “Yes, I talked to her, but it sounded like she was just disappointed that that other girl switched schools. She’ll get over it when she starts to make other friends.”
I nodded. “Yeah, but it got me thinking: is it really the best school for her to be at?”
“Crowther is a great school. You love it there.”
“It’s a great school for me,” I said, pointing at myself. “But what does Akasha get out of it? She’s a normal human, she doesn’t need to learn about sorcery or magitek, they don’t teach witchcraft—”
Dad cleared his throat. “That’s not all that you have at your school. It has a great music program, and she’s on the school paper.”
I held up a finger. “She doesn’t get to do anything on the paper because the older kids take the good jobs. Other schools around here also have good music programs. And because this school is so small, it doesn’t have a lot of the extra stuff that she used to do at her old school. So why doesn’t she go somewhere else if she hates this one?”
Mom sighed and patted my hand. “It’s nice that you’re so concerned about your sister, dear,” she said. “But we went over all of her options last year, and this seemed like the best choice.”
I shook my head. “Well, it’s not the best choice anymore, so you need to look at them again. There’s got to be somewhere else that she’d be happier.”
She narrowed her eyes and frowned at me. “We can’t send her to that Catholic school with this other girl she’s friends with.”
“I know that.” I spread my hands. “She had friends in elementary school who went to other middle schools around here. What about them?”
Dad shook his head. “I always thought that private schools would give you girls a better education. The public school was convenient for the first few years, but now I want to give you girls the best opportunities to get into good colleges.”
“Public schools aren’t bad. She’s still a good student—”
There was a loud scratching at the back door.
Mom looked over at the door. “That must be the cat. Will you go let her in, dear?” She patted my hand again.
I got up from the table, noticing that as I did, my muscles weren’t aching quite so badly when I moved—maybe my mom’s ointment was starting to work. I opened the door.
Menolly walked halfway in the doorway, sniffed a spot on the floor, and looked up at me.
“Okay, whenever you’re ready,” I said with a sigh. I continued to stand there holding the door open.
Mom made kissing noises and patted her lap. “Come here, Menolly. Come to Mama.”
Menolly finally walked the rest of the way in and twined around my legs. I closed the door. “We should make her a cat door or something.”
“It’s such a nice door,” Dad said. “I’d hate to have to cut a hole in it.”
When I went back to my chair, Menolly followed. As soon as I sat down, she jumped up into my lap. I obliged her by scratching behind her ears.
Mom stood up and walked into the kitchen to stir the pot of simmering pasta sauce. “I think it’s almost finished. Would you two like a taste?”
“Mm, yes dear, it smells delicious,” Dad said.
I accepted a spoonful of sauce. It was just as good as she always made it, full of rich, complex flavors like roasted garlic and fresh herbs. “Wow, Mom, this is great.”
Mom went back to the stove and set a pot of water to boil for the pasta.
Dad picked up the cards and began to shuffle them together. “Would you like to play a round?” he asked me.
I frowned, scratching the cat. What had we just been talking about? It must not have been that important, because I couldn’t remember what it was. “Sure, deal me in.”
The next day, it rained. It didn’t rain a lot, but it was the first rain of the season after a long dry summer. It only lasted for a little while in the early morning when I was still getting ready for school and trying to get Akasha to hurry up, but I grabbed a coat anyways, and then yelled at Akasha again because I wanted to leave early. The first rain always made people drive like idiots. The last thing that I needed on a Monday was being late to school because of traffic.
When I came downstairs to wait for my sister, I saw that my dad was still at home, sitting on the couch in the living room and reading a medical journal. He glanced up at me. “It’s raining a little, so make sure you drive carefully,” he said. “There’s bound to be accidents. You should probably leave early.”
“Yeah, I know, that’s why I’m trying to get Akasha to move her butt.” I turned and yelled up the stairs again. “Akasha!”
“I’m right here,” Akasha muttered, stepping out of the hall bathroom. She glared at me as she passed me at the bottom of the stairs.
Dad closed his medical journal and let it rest on his lap. “Hi, pumpkin. Are you getting your pre-algebra test back today?”
She looked at the floor, but she nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Dad said, “Well, you’ll probably go over it in class, but if you have any other questions, you can show me when I get home tonight, okay?”
“Okay,” she said. She turned and went into the kitchen.
Dad looked at me. “She doesn’t sound very excited about it.”
“I think she’s just stressing out about being at a new school,” I said. “By the way, I’m getting back my social studies test today.”
“I’m sure you did fine.” He picked up his journal and started reading again.
I managed to get us to school safely and on time. The rain had stopped, but it was still cloudy outside, which made the temperature at least ten degrees cooler than it had been—last week had been a miniature heatwave, reaching up to nearly ninety. Everyone was wearing their jackets with their school uniforms.
I saw Daniela getting out of Robert’s car while he held the door open for her and sighed. Drama was starting early today.
Lindsey came up to me in the hall, and I knew by her face that she’d already seen Robert with Daniela, because she was scowling. “This is going to be a very long day,” she said.
“Yeah, I guessed. Speaking of which,” I added before I forgot. “During lunch today, I’m supposed to take Heather to the photo lab so I can help her develop her first rolls of film.”
Lindsey pouted at me. “You’ll make me eat lunch alone?”
“Where’s Peter?”
“He and I are ‘taking a break’,” she said, making air quotes with her fingers. “He doesn’t want our relationship to turn into something that I use to get back at Robert. And now you want to spend all of your time with the new girl instead of me. Why does everyone hate me all of a sudden?”
I sighed. I’d already tried to be nice to her when she was complaining to me over the phone the night before. “Linds, you kind of brought this on yourself. They weren’t going to put up with your games forever, and now it’s getting out of hand. You owe both of them an apology, and probably Daniela, too.”
Lindsey took a step back and stared at me. “Are you saying that this is my fault?”
I nodded. “You’ve been trying to make two boys chase after you, and now you could lose both of them.”
Lindsey opened her mouth, closed it again, and then her face began to scrunch up and turn red. “I can’t believe you’d say something like that,” she said, her voice and her lower lip quivering. “I thought you were my friend.”
“Sometimes friends have to tell each other the hard truth—”
“Friends are supposed to understand!”
I folded my arms and glared at her. “Friends also don’t abandon each other the minute a boy smiles at them. You accused me of spending all of my time with Heather, but that’s because all last week, you’d rather be with Peter than with me.”
“Well, now I guess you can be happy that my heart’s broken and you can have me all to yourself, but I’m not going to come crying back to you!” Lindsey stormed off down the hallway.
I was hurt and angry about her temper tantrum, but I also felt guilty. Had I taken it too far?
I turned and saw Kai watching me. He tried to look away and pretend to be interested in something else, but I marched up to him. “You’d better not put any of this online,” I said.
He looked at me and smirked a little. “I’m not sure I need to. I think the word has already gotten around.”
I leaned closer so that my face was right in his. “I don’t need you making it any worse by putting it up where she’ll read it again.”
“Okay,” Kai said, putting his hands up in surrender. “I try not to post anything that’s actually going to hurt anyone.”
“Thanks.”
I stalked off into the restroom by myself. I sat down in a stall and put my head between my hands. It wasn’t the first time that I’d thought about telling Lindsey off, but now that I’d gone and done it, all I felt was emptiness. I had no idea what I should do next. Should I apologize, or should I wait to see if she would admit she was wrong?