Glimmers of Glass (A Glimmers Novel #1: Cinderella)

Chapter 23

Reflection was a bad trait in a faerie godmother. Unfortunately for all of us, I had scored high on the Introversion and Neuroticism scales during our Career Preparation class last term and nothing in my life was suggesting the test had gotten it wrong. I'd spent most of the day alone or with Imogen, and all of it thinking.

It had been hard not to think after yesterday. I couldn't tell if it was Kyle being upset or Tyler acting like a drunk Neanderthal or just the awareness that I was completely manipulating these people's lives with no good reason except that Elle's dad had said so. Everything was a tangle in my head. I'd tossed and turned over it last night and then spread worry over my bagel along with the cream cheese this morning, giving it the slightly metallic taste of anxiety that I could only explain to another faerie who'd done the same thing even though we all knew better.

Does Kyle go to our school? I wrote to Imogen in the middle of study hall.

She frowned a little and wrote back, Nope. Elle said he's homeschooled.

Lots of Glimmers were. My parents had sent us to public school. My dad wasn't wild about Humdrums, but he knew as well as anyone that we had to learn to blend in. The more normal we seemed, the better we could keep our world hidden. He probably regretted that decision by now, though. It had definitely backfired, at least if the state college brochures hidden under my bed were any sign.

But a lot of Glimmers didn't bother with the "normal" world if they could help it. Glimmering homeschool co-ops stretched across Portland like a web, connecting Glim kids and making sure they carried on their cultural traditions without Humdrum interference. I would have gone crazy around that much magic all the time.

I brushed aside the cobwebby, half-formed idea of hosting an intervention with Elle and Kyle. It was a stupid thought, anyway. Elle wan't about to listen to me on anything, and even if she did come to her senses, Tyler was going to be drugged until the spell word off after prom.

My final decision before study hall ended wasn't a noble one, but it seemed like the most logical course of action: Lie low, stay out of everyone's way, and let this whole ridiculous charade run its course.

This would have been a lot easier if I hadn't run into Elle outside her locker.

I felt the tension radiating down the hallway before I saw them. She stood as part of a tight circle, with Kyle on one side and Tyler on the other. I could see Tyler's face clearly but only part of Kyle's profile. But I didn't need to see anything to know he was upset.

"Are you serious?" Kyle said. "We've been planning on working on this for two months."

"Oh, come on," Elle said. She felt annoyed, but her voice came out cheerful and flippant. The annoyed feeling was a low buzz coming off her, and it felt like the staticky feeling my brain always got after I stared at a computer or complicated textbook for too long. She was overstimulated to the max, but she hadn't even noticed anything was upsetting her.

I inched closer, pretending to look through the papers in my binder. Enough students passed us in the halls, shuffling to their next classes, that I was just another body in the crowd.

"I'm not going to come on," Kyle said. Tyler was sizing him up, but Kyle ignored him. "You made a commitment to me and now you're just dropping it because this guy—" he jerked his thumb at Tyler "—wants you to go to his house and watch a movie I happen to know you hate?"

"Hey," Tyler said. "Elle likes Star Wars."

"She likes the original trilogy, you idiot," Kyle said without bothering to look at Tyler, who he seemed to regard about as seriously as he might a bug on the carpet. "Elle, we have to get these costumes together. NebulaCon is the end of next month and we haven't even started."