“I heard she broke you guys up and said something about choosing.”

“Oh, wow,” he said, leaning forward conspiratorially. “That’s crazy. Laurel is cool; she helps me out in Government. Because I’m totally clueless, right? I think she and David both got the wrong idea. If you know what I mean,” he said in a callous, almost mocking tone.

“So, you’re not into Laurel?”

“Not like that,” he said, hating the words coming out of his mouth. It felt like blasphemy. “She’s really nice. But, I don’t know. Not my type. Too . . . blond.”

“What is your type?” Yuki asked, her eyes shy now.

Tamani shrugged and smiled a little. “I’ll know it when I see it,” he said, holding her gaze until she looked away, embarrassed but pleased.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“DAD’S HOUSE FOR THANKSGIVING THIS YEAR?” Laurel asked David. They were sitting at a lunch table with Chelsea; their usual spot was a mudhole, thanks to last night’s storm, and Chelsea complained that it was too cold. It was almost too cold even for Laurel, so today they were braving the noise and bustle of the cafeteria.

“I wish,” David replied. “If that were the case we would order a bunch of Chinese food and sit around and watch football for three days. Or, more accurately, he would watch football and I’d study for finals. No, my grand-parents called a family reunion in Eureka. They’re sure this is the year they’re going to die and they have to see everyone before they go.”

“Didn’t they pull that one at Christmas last year?” Laurel asked.

“And the year before. They’re not even that old. They’re, like, five years older than your parents.”

It was nice, talking to David again. Laurel tried to get both Tamani and David to tell her what happened during their suspension, but Tamani insisted it was guy stuff and wouldn’t discuss it and David was very adept at changing the subject. They seemed to have come to an understanding, a truce, something—Laurel couldn’t guess what—but they no longer glowered at each other in the hallway, and even exchanged friendly greetings on occasion. They’d also stopped pushing her to choose between them, but Laurel doubted that could last.

“Still, a break’s a break, right?” Laurel said.

“Psh. A zillion relatives in one house? I won’t get any studying done.”

“I think you’re missing the point of having a break,” Laurel insisted.

“Are you kidding? I’m way behind.”

“Oh, sure, Mr. Four-point-oh.”

“Four-point-four,” David and Chelsea corrected in unison before looking at each other and laughing. When Laurel raised an eyebrow at him, he said sheepishly, “Honors classes are worth five points, remember?”

Laurel rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You’re such a perfectionist.”

“Yeah, but you love me,” David said. He had the decency to blush and look mortified at having slipped into their old banter.

But Laurel only smiled and reached up to squeeze his shoulder. “Yeah,” she said genially. “I do.”

Everyone was silent for a few seconds before Chelsea snorted. “Awkward much?” she asked with a grin.

Luckily, Tamani chose that moment to plunk himself down across the table from Chelsea, eyeing Ryan, who was standing in line for tacos. “Hey,” he said softly.

“Where’s Yuki?” Laurel asked, looking around. “Didn’t I see her this morning?”

“Yeah, she said Klea was picking her up early. Taking a few extra days off around the break.”

“Still nothing at the cabin?” Laurel asked. David and Chelsea glanced around for eavesdroppers, then brought their heads in close so they could hear what Tamani had to say.

“Not a sound, not a movement, absolutely nothing. I’m starting to think those trolls just ran through the circle and past the cabin.”

“Your guys haven’t gone in yet?” Chelsea asked, disbelief shading her voice. “What are they waiting for?”

Leave it to Chelsea to ask the obvious question, thought Laurel with a smile.

“Shar thinks it’s more important to figure out what they’re doing. If we bust in, they’ll fight to the death, and we won’t know any more than we already do.”

“They’re inside a cabin,” David said. “Shouldn’t Laurel’s sleeping potions work?”

“They should,” Tamani agreed. “But that’s part of the problem. Nothing we’ve thrown at these guys the last few months has worked. Nothing. And that makes us more than a little nervous about storming the place. Who knows what else is lurking in there?”

“Hey, guys,” Ryan greeted them, sitting down next to Chelsea with his lunch.

Chelsea gave him a perfunctory smile and patted his shoulder.

“So, you guys must have been talking about me, huh?” he said with a grin when everyone was silent.

“Actually, we were talking about faeries,” Chelsea said with exaggerated excitement. When Tamani’s eyes grew wide and he glanced over at Ryan, Chelsea smirked. “I was just asking Tam about them. Since he’s from Ireland—”

“Scotland, actually—”

“—he probably knows a ton about faeries and magic and stuff. Way more than we do, anyway.”

Tamani’s expression was a war between shock and awe. Laurel put a hand to her mouth and did her best not to laugh Sprite right out her nose.