Spells by Aprilynne Pike Page A

responding, Laurel dug into a small pocket in her backpack and pulled out a small photo. It was a picture of her and David at a dance earlier that spring. David stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her. The photographer had caught Laurel just as she had turned to look at David, her profile a laughing silhouette, David looking down at her with longing in his eyes. It was one of her very favorite pictures. She handed it to Katya.
    A smile streaked across Katya’s face. “You’re entwined already?” she squealed. “You didn’t tell me,” she said, her eyes wide in rapt fascination. She glanced around the room and lowered her voice. “Is he Unseelie? I’ve heard of them. They live just outside the gates and—”
    “No,” Laurel asked, cutting her off. “That’s David. The human I told you about.”
    Katya’s face fell with disbelief. “A human?” she said, aghast. She looked back down at the photo, a wrinkle of distaste forming between her eyebrows. “But…he’s touching you.”
    “Yes, he is,” Laurel said hotly, snatching the picture back. “He’s my boyfriend. He touches me and kisses me and—” She forced herself to stop talking for a few seconds. “He loves me,” she said boldly but calmly.
    Katya stared at her for several seconds before her face softened. “I just worry for you out there,” she said, her eyes still flitting to the shocking picture. “Humans have never been kind to faeries.”
    “What do you mean?”
    The look on Katya’s face was one of genuine concern. She shrugged. “It’s been a long time since Avalon involved itself in human affairs. I know it’s necessary, sometimes. But it seems like relationships between humans and faeries always end badly.”
    Laurel’s head jerked back. “Really?”
    “Sure. Sanzang, Scheherazade, Guinevere. And then there was that disgraceful incident with Eve.”
    Katya didn’t notice the photo flutter, forgotten, out of Laurel’s frozen hands.
    “And there are others. Every time Avalon reaches into the human world, something goes wrong. That’s all I’m saying.”
    “My family loves me; David, too. They would never do anything to hurt me.”
    “Just be careful,” Katya said.
    Laurel packed silently for a few minutes, wrapping her hair jewels in one of her long skirts. After she scoured the room, looking for anything else she’d missed, she looked over at Katya, one eyebrow raised. “Eve? Seriously?”
    “Of course. Why? What do the humans say about her?”
     

    Laurel was waiting on a brocaded chaise when the doors of the Academy opened for Jamison and his ever-present guards. That was one reason not to wish to be a Winter faerie. Laurel certainly wouldn’t want to be followed around everywhere she went. Being followed around half the time was more than enough.
    “Laurel, my dear,” Jamison said, his hands outstretched. He clasped her hands in his and smiled at her like a doting grandfather before settling down beside her on the chaise. “Yeardley tells me you were an excellent student.”
    Laurel smiled at the praise from the stern professor.
    “He was pleased to inform me that you have great talent,” Jamison continued. “ Phenomenal was, I believe, the word he used. Though I wasn’t surprised in the least,” he said, turning a warm smile to her. “I sensed your incredible potential the first time we met.”
    “Oh, no,” Laurel said, surprised. “I’m not like that. I’m so far behind already, I’ll never—”
    “Oh, I think you will. You’ve even more potential than we suspected when you were just a seedling. With time and practice, I am sure your abilities will blossom spectacularly. You might even be as great as…well, never mind that. You just nurture your own considerable abilities. They are strong.” He patted her hand. “I happen to be an excellent judge of these things.”
    “Are you?” Laurel said quietly, a little surprised at her own boldness. But being so woefully far behind the other