Chapter 22

  Memories of the Fairy Ring

  I put the last box down on my side of the dorm and looked over at Wyatt's side. He had already been here for a year and thankfully took me in when the dean said everywhere else was full. Thankfully because of his blue-haired boyfriend, Mum agreed to it. But for some strange reason, my father was still against the idea. No matter how much Wyatt and I proved to him that it was okay, he still didn't like the fact that I was sharing a dorm room with a boy.

  The pendant around my neck felt heavier than usual today. I absently touched it through my shirt, a habit I'd developed over the years. It had been nearly four years since that strange afternoon in the woods behind our Bluehaven home—the day I'd fallen asleep in a fairy circle and woken with gaps in my memory that still troubled me sometimes. The dreams had started shortly after: vivid flashes of violet eyes, whispered words in a language I didn't understand but somehow recognized, and a persistent feeling that I'd forgotten something crucial.

  I wanted to quickly unpack because Kira was taking me out for lunch. I had a feeling he was going to ask me to be his girlfriend today. We had been dropping hints to each other over the past couple of months. I had always thought Saxon had a big crush on me and I think somewhere deep inside, I wished he would ask me out or even confess that he liked me. He seemed distant now, with the more time I spent with Kira. But it would be our own fault in the end.

  I emptied the last box just as I heard a knock on the door. I opened it to see a grinning Kira. We hugged and I dragged him inside.

  "I'll just grab a jacket and we can go," I said, rummaging through my freshly unpacked clothes.

  "Yeah," he replied, leaning against my desk.

  Before I could grab my jacket, Kira grabbed my hand and pulled me back into him. Suddenly his lips were on mine, and I smiled into the kiss. I knew it. My gut was never wrong. I pulled away with a smile.

  "So does this mean you're my boyfriend now?"

  "Damn straight I am. Now grab your jacket, we need pizza."

  Laughing, I grabbed my jacket and we headed out for some pizza. As we walked across campus, I couldn't help but notice how the sunlight filtering through the trees reminded me of that day in the forest. For a moment, the world seemed to shift around me—colors deepening, sounds muffling—just like they had in the fairy circle. I blinked hard, and everything returned to normal.

  The university campus was nothing like the dense woods of Bluehaven, but sometimes, when the light hit just right or when the wind carried certain scents, I'd find myself transported back to that circle of mushrooms. My parents had been strangely overprotective after that day, watching me closely whenever I mentioned the woods or showed too much interest in the pendant.

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  They'd relaxed their grip when I chose a university three hours away from Bluehaven. Well, Mum had relaxed. Dad had fought it right up until move-in day, insisting that I attend the community college just twenty minutes from home. It wasn't like him to be so controlling, which only made me more determined to leave.

  "Earth to Lisa," Kira waved his hand in front of my face. "Where'd you go just now?"

  I shook my head, forcing a smile. "Sorry, just thinking about unpacking. So much stuff still to organize."

  The pizza place was crowded with returning students and freshmen trying to look like they belonged. We found a small table near the back, and I tried to focus on Kira's stories about his summer internship rather than the strange feeling that had been following me since that morning—a sensation of being watched by eyes I couldn't see.

  Kira had to leave a little after we finished lunch, promising we would have another date another day. He and Saxon had gotten into university on scholarships and had to maintain their studies and attend every study session. I was proud of Kira considering he did terribly in school. But even if he didn't get the scholarship, the money he got from his mother could pay for about three kids to go full course. I, however, had to pay my own way through university. I was a black belt in ninjutsu, but the championship money only went so far these days. I had earned it through blood, sweat, and tears.

  I headed back to my dorm, stopping at Saxon's on the way. He had been cryptic and creepy all morning. I guess he was getting into one of his moods. I knocked and entered. The room was dark, and I felt hands go around my shoulders. Squealing, I gripped my hands, pulling the lump of a body over my shoulder. I flicked on the lights when I heard the familiar groans coming from the ground.

  "Shit, Sax, are you alright? You know damn well to never sneak up on me."

  "Yeah, I guess I just never learn," he groaned from the floor.

  Laughing, I put my hand out to pull him off the floor, but instead, he pulled me down. I landed on top of him, immediately feeling awkward in the position. I struggled to get up only to have Sax steady me and push his lips against mine. Are you fucking kidding me? Why didn't my gut warn me about this? Shocked, I pushed myself away and headed for the door.

  "Wait, shit, Lisa. I'm sorry."

  "No, I'm sorry, Sax, but I'm with Kira now."

  I hurried from his room, my mind racing. As I walked back to my dorm in the fading light, the pendant against my chest suddenly grew warm. I stopped short, my hand flying to it through my shirt. This hadn't happened since... since that day in the forest.

  The campus around me seemed to blur, sounds becoming distant. For a moment—just a moment—I thought I saw a figure standing beneath a distant oak tree, tall and elegant with impossible violet eyes.

  "Thalia," the wind seemed to whisper.

  I blinked, and the figure was gone. The pendant cooled, and the world snapped back into focus. I stood frozen on the path, my heart hammering in my chest.

  Thalia. The name echoed in my mind, familiar in a way that terrified me. I'd heard it before, in my dreams, in whispers at the edge of consciousness.

  "Lisa? You okay?"

  I turned to find Wyatt approaching, his blue-haired boyfriend beside him. I forced a smile, pushing the strange moment away.

  "Yeah, just tired from moving. You know how it is."

  But as we walked back to our dorm together, I couldn't shake the feeling that something long dormant was awakening—that the life I'd carefully built at university, away from Bluehaven and its strange woods, was about to be upended by whatever had begun that day in the fairy circle.

  And somewhere, in a realm adjacent to our own, violet eyes watched and waited.