Chapter Eight: Declaration of Intent | Part 1
Much to Thirtyx’s delight, Seerla not only knew the best spot to sneak off the trail, but she also navigated the woods like an expert. He was already beyond relieved that he’d brought her. The pleasant company was an added bonus.
“Is it species stereotyping to ask if you’re so good at this because of your trollish ass?”
As he pushed a branch out of the way, another snapped back to hit him in the torso. Seerla cackled over his grunt of discomfort.
“Okay, so I’m taking that as a yes.”
“If anything was giving me an advantage, it wouldn’t be my trollish ass, it would be my draconic eyes,” Seerla clarified. “Trolls have awful night vision. My Dragonfolk pupils are the only reason I can see anything out here.”
It was a decent point. Thirtyx wondered if his similarly-designed eyes contributed to why Rhea and Benn had summoned him for this task.
“But no, I just have experience,” Seerla continued. “Seventh year, eighth year, ninth year… a group of us used to sneak out here for what we called ‘midnight picnics.’ The Selkies get to stay out all night by the lake, so we figured we should get to do the same.”
“Oh, yeah. I think Rhea was invited to one a few years ago.” Thirtyx stopped short of revealing how childish and boring she’d found the experience.
“Hmm, I never really loved them. They still organize them occasionally—y’know, for the nostalgia—but about half the time, I find an excuse not to go. They’re just so exhausting! But back then, I thought I’d lose my social standing if I stopped going, so I just… didn’t sleep. That’s healthy, right?”
“Given that I can’t lie, I don’t think I can give you the answer you’re looking for.”
Thirtyx’s foot caught on an exposed root, and he hurtled forward. Seerla managed to catch him under the arms and tilt him back onto his feet. “That one wasn’t even my fault,” she said in a singsong voice. “Use those Verith eyes of yours, will you?”
The tickle in his mind distracted him from an adequate comeback. Instead of communicating with words, Benn showed Thirtyx his line of sight—a closeup of the hedge wall around 40 paces from the front gates. Thirtyx reciprocated with his own vision.
He made sure to include Seerla so they wouldn’t be startled by her sudden appearance.
It didn’t necessarily help. It just made the startling happen earlier than expected. What in the Twins’ name is she doing here? Rhea snapped.
Helping. I figured she’d know how to dodge people if you didn’t want to be seen. Besides, she was with me when you reached out, so I couldn’t exactly hide what I was doing.
The tone of Rhea’s thoughts turned inquisitive. You were hanging out with Seerla on a random Dufspane night? What in the universe did we miss?
Besides the benefit auction for Terre Mackawn?
Thirtyx must have been fairly close to the twins, because he heard Rhea’s audible gasp. Oh no! I completely forgot!
You had a lot bigger things to worry about, Thirtyx answered with as much sympathy as he could channel into his mental voice. But Seerla and I rallied a lot of support and made it happen.
He felt both twins’ shock. Whatever they had expected of him in their absence, it clearly wasn’t this. He responded with a physical and audible sigh. I’ll fill you in later, okay. Let’s just get you back to the dorm.
In all the exhilaration of their mischief, however, he couldn’t stop himself from floating the snapshot of the circled fundraising total into their chat.
Another gasp. “Eighty seven hundred coin?!”
Seerla chuckled and looked toward the exclamation. “That’s one way to find her, I guess.”
“Don’t get too close to the hedges,” Benn called. “They’ll log that you were out here, and you’ll get in trouble. Rhea and I are figuring out how to work our way through it without being traced.”
Thirtyx winced. That probably would’ve been easier with Pfah magic, huh? Did I ruin your plan by bringing Seerla along?
No, Rhea mentally huffed. Grimm told us we had to do this with Lam magic on the off chance we were caught. He also thinks using Pfah magic to solve all of our problems isn’t going to help us pass our Comps, so…
Calley Jones 