Illusions

Chapter Twenty-Four

LAUREL SAT IN HER CAR, STALLING, FEAR BUILDING up in her stomach. It was almost worse than that first day of school, more than two years ago. Back then she had been paranoid about embarrassing herself in front of a bunch of complete strangers. Now she had to go in and face the fact that she had embarrassed herself in front of a bunch of people she knew.

Among them, David.

She didn’t think she’d ever been afraid to see David. Feelings warred within her — part of her missed him and didn’t want to admit it. Part of her was glad she’d broken up with him and shown him for once that she was serious. And yet another part of her wanted to run to him in tears and beg his forgiveness.

She locked her car, wondering if she could just linger in the parking lot and be late. But after ditching yesterday, she couldn’t risk it. Her parents had agreed that, under the circumstances, Laurel’s punishment belonged at home, not in the school system, so her mom had called in and excused her absences. But Laurel knew she would be expected to follow all the rules at school for a while.

With a sigh, Laurel forced herself to head for her locker.

As she approached the double doors at the front of the school, one swung open, revealing David. Laurel stopped in her tracks and stared. He looked so sad. It wasn’t that he was frowning — in fact he had mustered a reasonably convincing smile. But his eyes were deep-blue pools of sorrow so intense, it took her breath away.

“Hi, Laurel,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.

The part of her that wanted to run to him and throw herself into his arms got a boost from that.

And then Tamani was there, holding the other door open. “Hi, Laurel,” he said, his smile brash, cocky.

Laurel’s legs felt shaky. “Don’t do this.” A strangled plea.

David turned on his heel and strode away without another word. But Tamani looked confused.

“I just didn’t want him pestering—”

Laurel grabbed the front of Tamani’s shirt and dragged him around the side of the building.

“Hey, if you wanted to sneak off with me you only had to ask,” Tamani said with a laugh. But his smile melted away when he saw Laurel’s face. “What’s the matter?” he asked earnestly.

“I’m not your girlfriend, Tam.”

“Well, obviously I can’t kiss you in front of Yuki, but—”

“No. I care about you. And I don’t regret what happened yesterday, but I don’t know what it means. I’m still trying to figure things out. Breaking up with David doesn’t make you my boyfriend by default.”

Tamani hesitated, then asked, “So I’m back to waiting again?”

“Kind of. Maybe. I don’t know! But no matter what, I’m not a weapon. I will not let you use me to get back at him.”

“He did. All the time,” Tamani said hotly.

“Yes,” Laurel agreed, “and then he got dumped. Is that what you want?”

Tamani finally started to look cowed.

“I don’t want a boyfriend right now, and if you want me to ever reconsider that, I expect you to behave.” She gave him the sternest glare she could and he looked away.

“So are you and David really over?” Tamani finally asked.

“I don’t know,” Laurel said. It was the only answer she could give. “For now, yes. I need some time. Some time to just be myself. By myself. And it’s for your sake too,” Laurel continued before Tamani could respond. “You don’t just stop loving someone in one day. It’s not that simple.”

“The best things in life rarely are.” Tamani sighed shakily as the warning bell sounded, startling Laurel.

“We should get to class. I really can’t be late.”

Tamani nodded. His smile was tight, but he seemed to be okay. As okay as he was going to get, under the circumstances. Impulsively, Laurel threw her arms around him and pressed herself against his chest. He didn’t try to kiss her, and she didn’t offer, but it was enough just to feel his arms around her. To know that somehow, everything would work out.

With one last squeeze Laurel turned back toward the front entrance and nearly dropped her backpack when she saw Shar approaching them through the parking lot, dressed in jeans and a loose T-shirt, his hair pulled into a simple ponytail that hung at the nape of his neck.

“What’s he doing here?”

“Oh,” Tamani said, as if only just remembering, “the vice principal wants to talk to me and my ‘uncle.’ About, um, yesterday.” Tamani shrugged.

Laurel raised an eyebrow as Shar got closer, his steely eyes taking everything in. “Well, despite the fact that this is a sight I would love to see, I have to go.” And with that, she pivoted toward the front doors, breaking into a jog as she tried to beat the final bell.

“Mr. Collins,” Vice Principal Roster said, opening a file and placing it on his desk before sitting in his squeaking chair.

Hate him, thought Tamani.

“Thank you for coming,” the vice principal said, looking up at Shar.

As Tamani had expected, Shar refused to sit at all. He just stood with his arms folded across his chest, looking down at the human with an unmistakable air of superiority. Tamani rarely saw him look any other way and contemplated briefly how often Shar must have looked at his companion, Ariana, that way, and what she’d done to break him of the habit. He had to cough to cover the chuckle that escaped his throat.

Shar’s eyes darted between Tamani and the principal. “Of course,” he said smoothly. “What seems to be the problem?”

“Tam was in a fight yesterday,” the vice principal said, looking sternly at Tamani.

Shar didn’t even blink. “My understanding is that Tam was assaulted and defended himself.”

Mr. Roster stuttered. “Um, yes, well, but there was a great deal of pushing before that, provoking an outburst from—”

“So because this other boy lacked self-control, my”—he hesitated—“nephew is to be punished?”

“Both boys were fully involved in the exchange of blows, and both boys will be punished, per our policy,” Mr. Roster said, his voice firm now. “As this is Tam’s first offense, of course we hope this incident won’t be repeated—”

“It won’t,” Shar said, raising an eyebrow at Tam. And indeed, Tamani had been taken to task about letting his temper get the better of him, particularly when it came to David, who with his knowledge of Avalon could make a lot of trouble for them if ever he felt so inclined. The tongue-lashing Tamani had gotten from his superior was far worse than anything this human administrator could hope to dole out.

“I’m happy to hear that. Now, Mr. Collins, I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss something else. You may not realize that your nephew is failing almost every class he is currently enrolled in. His attendance is abysmal, and he is, in general, disruptive to the classroom environment.”

Tamani knew that last part was a blatant lie. He was never a disruption. He never raised his hand to answer a question, either, but for the most part, he simply sat in his classes and listened for any sign that something had entered the school intent on harming Laurel. If you didn’t take his grades and occasional disappearances into account, he was a model pupil.

“What does that mean?” Shar’s voice was flat and Vice Principal Roster was clearly unnerved.

“Er, well, we typically suspend students for fighting, but with three F’s, one D, and one B, we thought some alternative discipline might be in order. To encourage… improvement.”

Shar stared at Mr. Roster blankly for a moment and Tamani tried not to smirk. For all his training at the manor, Shar had never had reason to learn the intricacies of the human grading system. But he was unfazed.

“What can be done?” Tamani noticed for the first time just how anachronistic Shar sounded, especially compared to the teenagers Tamani conversed with every day. It really was a good thing their English was accented — a good accent seemed to cover all kinds of quirks in grammar.

“Well, if he wants to graduate with his classmates, he’s got to pull his grades up.” The vice principal folded his hands on top of the desk in front of him. “I thought perhaps some tutoring?”

“Of course. If that’s what it takes.” He clapped Tamani on the shoulder in a move that Tamani knew looked friendly to the untrained eye — but he’d have a bruise there later. “We want Tam to graduate, naturally.” The vice principal would hear earnestness in those words, but only because Shar had grown weary of this meeting; a light warmth in Tamani’s chest told him Enticement was at work. Shar and Tamani had agreed there were too many anonymous witnesses to effectively erase the fight, so in order to maintain perfect cover, no memory potions would be administered and Tamani would accept whatever punishment the school assigned him — assuming it didn’t compromise his mission. But Shar had also allowed that, as long as Yuki wasn’t close enough to potentially sense it, Enticement could be used to ease the process.

It would be Shar’s job rather than Tamani’s, though. Shar was extremely talented and could work his Enticement without physical contact — something Tamani had always been jealous of.

“Naturally,” Vice Principal Roster said, smiling now. “Now, David Lawson — that’s the boy Tam was fighting — is one of our finest students. We’re giving both David and Tam three days in-school suspension and we thought perhaps David could spend those days tutoring your nephew. I think you’ll agree this is very lenient, and will hopefully give the boys an opportunity to work through their differences.”

Tamani bit back a sigh. What a colossal waste of time.

“They will be supervised, of course,” the vice principal continued, as if Shar cared. “Now if I can have you sign some paperwork,” he said, sliding a piece of paper forward.

Tamani shot a look at Shar, but Shar either didn’t see or chose to ignore it. “That’s fine,” he said. He took the pen and managed an illegible scrawl across the signature line.

“Excellent,” Vice Principal Roster said, rising from his chair and shaking hands with Shar. “We want nothing more than for our students to succeed, and parents, or uncles in your case, are the biggest factor in that.”

“We will make sure things improve,” Shar said. “I’ll take Tam out to the parking lot and chat for a while before I send him back into class.”

“Good, good,” the vice principal said proudly, surely assuming Tamani was about to receive further discipline. He opened the door and gestured to the hallway.

Tamani felt the human’s eyes on them all the way down the hallway and out the front doors. They walked silently to Tamani’s convertible, where Shar stopped and leaned against it, turning to face Tamani.

“Well, young man,” he said, his face serious, “what do you have to say for yourself?”

They stared at each other for a moment longer. Tamani broke first, a quick chuckle escaping his lips, and then both faeries burst out laughing.