“The veil, as in, the veil veil?”
She scoffed. “No. Well, yes and no. The veil is always the veil but usually All Hallows Eve is about the line between the living and dead. Sometimes it’s possible to communicate with those who’ve already gone on ahead.”
“Do fairies actually die?” I know it sounded dumb, but I knew little about my heritage so far. I was learning in class with those who already had all the basic information. For all I knew, fairies were immortal.
“Of course we do.” She bobbed her head, darting around a corner of the hallway and dragging me along. “Why wouldn’t we?”
“I don’t know. Do they, do we get the same diseases that humans do? Because I’ve never even had a cold.” And why hadn’t that seemed odd before?
“I’m not sure specifically, but there are definitely illnesses from time to time. That’s not usually what kills us though.”
“Really?” Maybe even without wings I had an advantage over who I thought I was. “What do they die of?”
“Violence, usually.”
Oh yay, advantage gone. Instead of dying of heart disease or something, I’d have an arrow stuck through it.
Alara paused. “Do humans celebrate the holiday? Don’t I know something about costumes and candy?”
“Yeah, I would have said humans invented it, but what do I know anymore?” We were traveling toward my favorite haunt, the library. Of course the meeting would be there. It wasn’t like anyone would be reading books or anything silly like that. “But I still didn’t sign up for anything because that I would remember.”
“I signed us up together. I thought it would be fun. Something you can participate in and be part of the crowd.”
An activity where my lack of wings and other shortcomings might not be so obvious. Fun.
She giggled. “Of course, I didn’t know you’d be having another kind of fun already. As soon as we get out of here, let’s grab some to-go dinner and go to the dorm, unless you have plans?”
“I do.” I was flushing again. “But I can eat with you first. Honestly, I need to talk to someone besides Bain or Zephyr about everything.”
She gave me a hug. “Let’s go in and have the meeting so we can sort this out. I thought the party planning would be the highlight of our day.
The group in the library was sitting on sofas and chairs in one of the alcoves off the main stacks, with a few on the floor as well. The low table in the middle was filled with samples of all kinds of decorations, none of which would have been typical of a party for Halloween back home.
“No vampires at all?” I hissed to Alara who elbowed me in the ribs. “How can it be Halloween?”
“I think we have a different idea of what this holiday means,” she murmured. “Let’s grab some floor and try to pretend we aren’t late.”
“Well look who the dragonfly dragged in.” Nissa. But where was her pet Adair? I hadn’t seen them without each other very often. Perhaps the rumor was true that they weren’t together anymore?
“Nice to see you, Nissa,” Alara said, smiling as if she’d been welcomed with open arms. “Sorry to be late, but you know, busy, busy.”
“Whatever.” She looked over the half dozen others, none of whom I had ever met before. “Would anyone like to catch these two up? I can’t be bothered.” Okay, she didn’t say that last part, but she was thinking it.
The meeting went on for about an hour, while Nissa, who indeed was self-appointed chair of this committee, made all the decisions and gave the evil eye to anyone who disagreed with her. In the end, we all got assignments—Alara and I were on cleanup, which I took to mean she didn’t like us, but I was fine with it.
And excited about what looked like it was going to be the party of the year.
We were able to get some sandwiches and chips from the cafeteria even though there was one of those big dinners going on in the “enchanted” hall. It was an amazing experience there with all the glass walls and trees that continually grew fruit and all that, but it was a little much for every day. Especially when I just needed to get my head on straight like I did now.
I would be going to see Bain later, probably. I hadn’t really committed, but since he’d expected to see me in Titania’s office, he might be worried about me. But he’d have to be patient because I was counting on my friend to help me think things through.
We sat on my bed, cross-legged, with our dinner spread out between us, but before I could take a bite, Alara arched one brow. “Well? You had your first time last night?” She lifted her soda in a toast.
“Why do you think it was the first…” Hell, I couldn’t even carry off a lie. “Yes. Was I so obviously virginal?”
To her credit, she did wait a bit before replying. “No, well, maybe a bit. But tell me what has you so worried. Surely he was considerate? Especially for your first time ever.”
I flushed, something I seemed to be doing a lot lately. “I don’t think he knew.”