Chatoyant College, Book 11: The Treaty

By Clare K. R. Miller

Dawn and Edie run into a surprise when Professor Strega, who helped them last semester, now asks for their help. They have special abilities, she says—but what could two human (all right, mostly human) students be able to do that Professor Strega’s faerie and magic professor peers can’t help her with?

But they know the other professors love to keep secrets. And when Professor Strega agrees to a trade, seeking information on Edie’s mysterious faerie great-grandmother, they decide to go ahead and try. If it’s true that they can help in ways that no one else can, then trying to help is only the right thing to do.

The secrets are hidden well, though, and doubts creep in when they turn to dark corners they never hoped to seek and go down paths they would rather avoid forever...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clare K. R. Miller
• Release date: Mar 10, 2021

Clare K. R. Miller

Clare K. R. Miller is a writer of urban and secondary-world fantasy and science fiction for teens and adults.

Book preview

Chatoyant College: Book 11

The Treaty

Clare K. R. Miller

Smaragdine Books

Dawn and Edie run into a surprise when Professor Strega, who helped them last semester, now asks for their help. They have special abilities, she says—but what could two human (all right, mostly human) students be able to do that Professor Strega’s faerie and magic professor peers can’t help her with?

But they know the other professors love to keep secrets. And when Professor Strega agrees to a trade, seeking information on Edie’s mysterious faerie great-grandmother, they decide to go ahead and try. If it’s true that they can help in ways that no one else can, then trying to help is only the right thing to do.

The secrets are hidden well, though, and doubts creep in when they turn to dark corners they never hoped to seek and go down paths they would rather avoid forever…

The Treaty (Chatoyant College, Book 11)

by Clare K. R. Miller

Smaragdine Books

Text Copyright © 2021 Clare K. R. Miller

Shareable under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Cover image by Clare K. R. Miller

Smashwords Edition

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events, and locations are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons or events, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.

This file is licensed for private individual entertainment only. The book contained herein constitutes a copyrighted work and may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into an information retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (electrical, mechanical, photographic, audio recording, or otherwise) for any reason (excepting the uses permitted to the licensee by copyright law under terms of fair use) without the specific written permission of the author.

Prologue: Questions

She spoke to him, before he was forced to leave. She asked him why.

All he had were excuses. He didn’t have any real reasons; he didn’t even know his reasons. But it was the excuses she was interested in. It was the excuses that told her his true feelings.

She found another to speak to; one who had left and then returned. She asked why she would have chosen such things. Her stories were interesting, but in a different way than she had originally anticipated.

She avoided the two who had first welcomed her there. She did not think that they would like the way her thoughts were trending. She did not think that they had meant what they said two years ago when she had first come.

She questioned another, one who had never been a student. She hoped that his answers would satisfy her, and she thought they did. But then, as she left the forest, she realized that none of his answers had been satisfactory after all. They had been tricks of the tongue, turnings of language—or perhaps she had simply not understood. It was not her language, after all. That was likely part of the problem.

There was another she would have asked, but that other had gone away, hidden herself where she could not be reached—at least not without great difficulty. Perhaps that was answer enough.

She spoke to another, one who was very old. His answers did not reassure her. He loved them, or he seemed to, but she could not understand why.

There were so many she could speak to. That should have been answer enough, how many there were. She wished it could be answer enough.

Had any of them ever tried to leave? Had any of them ever been dissatisfied? From the moment she had set foot in this place, she had felt the tug of the magic, the deep accumulation over the years. It held them here, the same way it blanketed the humans and prevented them from seeing what was truly there.

Most of them.

There was an idea.

Should she ask them, those few who knew the truth? But they would have no answers for her. They were so young, so new. They would not understand her.

She looked around, and she saw no one happy enough to give her the answers she could not find. Perhaps it was her own bias. But if she was so biased now, how could she ever overcome that bias to be convinced?

So she went to those who had first welcomed them, and she told them thank you, but it was time for her to go.

They told her that she could not go.

And so she walked away, but she looked ahead of her, to seek those who could help her find the truth. For she could not believe that she could not go.

If the queen in the forest could make her own rules, then so could she.

But first she must find out what the rules truly were.

Chapter 1: Grounding

Monday, February 28

Dawn walked into Trance class and automatically stowed her bag and coat under the bench. Most of the other students, including Corrie and Rico, had stopped carrying bags to class at all, but she came directly from her History of Psychology class, so she didn’t have time to drop off her things. Professor Strega always had them put their things where they wouldn’t get in their way, so she’d gotten used to it.

She sat down as the other students entered the class, wondering whether Professor Strega would move them on to the next step today. She’d given them hints earlier that they would be switching gears soon to focus on grounding, now that most of them had gotten the hang of centering. One student had complained that not everyone was comfortable with centering yet, and Professor Strega had replied that she could not hold back the entire class on account of only a few people.

Corrie and Roe had been irritated with Professor Strega for saying that, thinking that she was unnecessarily punishing those who simply weren’t as good at trance, but Dawn wondered if she’d really meant what she said. She had seemed unusually agitated in class lately—ever since the encounter with Mardalan, in fact. She’d told her friends about that, but none of them were sure as to why.

Rico sat down next to her, dropping his coat behind the bench, and she leaned on his shoulder. Having a bad day? he asked, squeezing her arm lightly.

She smiled. No, I just felt like leaning on you. I wonder if I could go into trance like this.

Probably, he said. You seem to be really getting the hang of it.

I’d actually most likely just go to sleep. It was very relaxing, leaning against his shoulder like this. His presence was always relaxing. She was so happy they’d found each other.

Professor Strega walked into the room, accompanied by the last two students, one of whom shut the door behind them. Dawn sat up. Good morning, class, said the professor. Most of you have mastered finding your center, so we will be moving on to the next step today. She held up a hand to forestall any protests. If you do not yet feel you have mastered finding your center, please come to me during my office hours. We may be able to set up extra practice sessions, one on one.

That’s new, whispered Corrie to Dawn. She’s never mentioned that before.

Dawn shook her head. Professor Strega had never even mentioned office hours before, though Dawn remembered seeing a sign with them listed on her office door. She wondered if this class was more difficult, making her feel the need to offer extra practice. Or maybe she always offered, but didn’t want too many people coming to her, so she didn’t mention it until a critical mass of class members had achieved centering.

You have all tried various seating arrangements in this classroom, said Professor Strega. Please recall which was the most comfortable for you and take it now, if you can.

Corrie hopped right off the bench and sat cross-legged on the floor. Dawn looked around the room, considering. She was tempted to just rest her head on Rico again, but she hadn’t been joking when she said she might fall asleep. She was pretty sure she couldn’t center properly with her spine curved to the side like that, anyway.

Finally she decided to just stay on the bench. If she couldn’t decide which seat was most comfortable, she should just stick with the one she already had. Rico had gotten up to take the big, comfortable armchair.

Good, said Professor Strega, looking around at the class as they settled. I see there are no arguments. Now, settle yourselves comfortably and evenly, but do not seek your centers. If you feel that you become centered, that is fine, but it is not necessary at this point.

Dawn settled herself, her hands loosely resting in her lap, her hips balanced on the bench and her feet balanced on the floor. Professor Strega gave them a few moments of quiet, then spoke again.

Now feel the parts of you that are in closest contact with the floor. For most of you that is feet, but for some it is more than that. Focus your attention on that part. Feel the connection between that part and the earth that is below the floor. It is there to find, though it may not be obvious at the first.

Dawn focused on the bottoms of her feet. They were a little tensed, and she relaxed them, then pressed them against the floor. Her sneakers felt like they were in the way, but so were the floor of the room and whatever else was between this room and the actual ground, so she figured it didn’t matter.

And she’d made this connection before. She should be good at it. She imagined the earth coming up to touch the bottoms of her feet, nothing between them. There was the connection. She could feel it.

Chapter 2: Earth Energy

Professor Strega didn’t speak for the rest of the class. Evidently, she didn’t see any need to give them further instructions. Dawn just sat there, feeling the connection between her and the earth. She could tell that she would be able to extend it if she wanted, make it go deeper, but she was a little nervous to try. She remembered when she’d tried using this kind of magic to create wind and it had gotten out of her control. She didn’t want that to happen again, even if she wasn’t actually doing anything with the magic.

That thought made her realize that she should practice drawing back into herself—that had been her problem before, the thing that the book by Miranda Swick hadn’t told them to do. So she did, carefully bringing her energy up through the soles of her feet and back into her body.

She was surprised at how revived she felt when she’d done that. Had she felt tired before she tried to ground herself? Yes, a little, she remembered. Not exhausted, but a little less energetic than she was now.

Had the transfer of energy given her more? Had it made her own energy stronger somehow? Or perhaps she had borrowed energy from the earth when she did it.

Dawn opened her eyes and looked around at the class, but Professor Strega didn’t seem to notice. She would have to ask about this the next time the professor asked for questions. It didn’t seem like a good idea to interrupt the people still trying to ground themselves. She wondered if anyone else was having, or would have, the same experience with the energy.

Suddenly Professor Strega caught her eye and gave her a tiny nod. Startled, Dawn nodded back. A moment later, when the professor looked away, she realized she should have raised her hand to see if she could ask her question. But the professor had acted as though she and Dawn were sharing some secret. If they were, Dawn didn’t know it, unless maybe she was being told that it was okay that she was taking a break from grounding.

Well, she wasn’t going to just sit here and do nothing. She closed her eyes and sent her energy down and into the earth again. This time she waited only a few minutes before drawing it back down into her body. It seemed a tiny bit more difficult than it had the first time, but she felt energized all over again. It might have been less energy than before, but it was still there.

For the rest of the class, she kept grounding herself and pulling the energy back, just to test. It seemed to get just a bit more difficult and give her just a bit less energy each time.

Finally, Professor Strega spoke again. Class, if you have succeeded in grounding—and I believe that you all have—please draw your energy back into yourselves. Do it carefully and slowly. You do not want to leave any of your own energy in the earth, and you must make certain that you break the connection completely.

Dawn drew her energy back into herself one last time. She did it carefully, but quickly. She felt that she’d practiced enough times that she didn’t have to worry, and again, she felt like she had more energy than before. She knew she hadn’t left any of herself behind this time.

Corrie stood up from her cross-legged position and sat next to Dawn on the bench, then leaned over to whisper into her ear. I guess that’s pretty easy for us, huh? It was easy for me.

Dawn nodded. Do you feel more energized than before?

No. I don’t think so.

Then it wasn’t something that happened to everyone. She wondered whether she was doing something wrong. Was she stealing energy from the earth?

The classroom was getting noisy as people regained their own energy. Your homework is to practice, said Professor Strega over the chatter. You may go.

Did you feel any more energized after grounding? Dawn asked Rico as they gathered up their things. I feel like I got more energy.

Huh. Not really. But I had a cup of coffee before class, so maybe I didn’t notice. He grinned and put his arm around her shoulder as they walked toward the door.

Dawn, called Professor Strega. A moment.

She winced, her shoulders tightening and her stomach churning. Maybe she had been doing something wrong and was about to get chewed out for it. I better stay.

Rico gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. See you later.

Corrie hung back, too. Dawn wasn’t going to complain about that. Professor Strega frowned and hesitated with her hand on the doorknob of the classroom, but closed the door without saying anything to Corrie. She turned to face the girls.

Dawn. I wish to ask for your assistance. You and your friend—the part-faerie.

Chapter 3: Help

Dawn had no response for a moment. That wasn’t at all what she had expected Professor Strega to say—that definitely wasn’t anything she would have expected any faerie, especially a professor, to say. Why would she want their help?

The answer came to her even as Corrie actually voiced it. Why them?

Because of our unusual abilities, right? Dawn answered before Professor Strega spoke. I have the Sight. Edie… well, I don’t know if she has any special abilities, but she said that Brandon found her easier to transport because of her faerie blood. She instinctively hugged her left arm close to her body. It was rare that the loss of ability in that arm actually affected her, but it still felt strange to her whenever she thought about her Sight.

Professor Strega nodded. You have the unusual abilities that may be helpful to me. I am not certain. But I also know that the three of you can keep secrets. She looked sharply at Corrie, her lizardlike tongue flicking out to run over her mouth. I include you in the secrets.

Corrie nodded nervously. I understand. Not telling anyone.

Especially the other professors, said Professor Strega.

Dawn’s eyes widened, but she nodded. She understood why the professor thought they were good at keeping secrets—they had been keeping secrets, especially about Edie breaking rules. And she suspected that the professor was also hinting that if they spilled her secret, she could spill their secret in return.

She also noticed that Professor Strega said she knew they could keep secrets; she hadn’t said anything about them being trustworthy.

What is it that you want help with? she asked. She was certainly going to find out everything she could before she started making promises—and she would not make any promises on Edie’s behalf, whether they were about secrets or actually helping.

I will discuss this with you and your half-faerie friend, said Professor Strega.

Her name is Edie, said Corrie, annoyance in her tone.

The professor nodded. Edie. Will you meet me somewhere?

Dawn realized that the professor might actually have not known Edie’s name. But she wanted her help anyway. This was a weird situation, and she didn’t think she liked it. She was curious, though, so she wanted to meet with the professor to find out what was going on. Besides, if it was something she wanted to keep from the other professors, it could be dangerous; Dawn thought it would be good to find out what it was and then evaluate whether it was really a secret she should keep.

I’ll meet with you, she said. And we’ll tell Edie about it, but I don’t know whether she’ll be willing to come or not until we talk to her.

This I understand, said Professor Strega. We should meet somewhere quiet. Not here—not this building.

Dawn nodded. The library?

No, said Professor Strega quickly. Too many people. And protections.

Dawn tried to think of a good location. Outdoors probably wouldn’t be good, considering the professor’s apparent dislike of the cold. She didn’t want to invite her into their dorm building, either.

What about the administration building? asked Corrie. There are rooms that don’t get used that often—like the one where the craft fair was.

That works for me, said Dawn.

Yes, we will go there, said the professor. Can you come tonight at eight o’clock?

Tonight is better for me than tomorrow, said Dawn.

Edie, too, said Corrie. She studies with Derwen on Tuesdays.

Right, said Dawn. Okay, tonight at eight in the administration building? I’ll see whether Edie wants to come.

Professor Strega agreed to that, and the three of them left the room. Dawn didn’t say anything until she and Corrie had left the building.

So that was weird, she said. What do you think she wants?

I don’t know, said Corrie, frowning. I want to say it can’t be good if she wants to keep it a secret from the other professors, but I’ve always gotten the feeling that Professor Lal doesn’t like her very much. So it might just be that she has something private that she doesn’t want to tell them.

I agree, said Dawn. That’s why I want to at least find out what it is.

Corrie sighed. I can understand why she doesn’t think I have any special abilities, but you’d think she could let me in on it with you guys. Do you think she’ll get mad if I come to the meeting?

Yes, said Dawn. But you should come to the building tonight anyway—just hang out somewhere else. I don’t think I’ll feel safe without you there, honestly.

Corrie grinned. That’s me, your big, bad, bodyguard.

Hey, you’re better at magic than me or Edie, said Dawn with a smile. And look at what keeps happening to us when we try to meet with people in private. I’m telling Rico we’re meeting with her, too. Maybe Annie and Roe. I don’t think they need to come with us, but the more people that know where we are, the better.

Chapter 4: Against the Rules

When it was their usual time for dinner, they gathered a group of their friends at a table together to tell them about what Professor Strega wanted—Roe, Annie, Rico, and Duncan. Derwen was nowhere to be seen, which Edie seemed to be disappointed by, but Dawn was oddly a little relieved. She thought that Derwen might have things to say that she wouldn’t like. She had always seemed fairly close to Professor Lal; she might share the professor’s apparent dislike for Professor Strega.

Dawn told the story of what Professor Strega had asked them to do, directing most of it to Edie, but it was Roe who spoke first when she was done. That doesn’t make sense, she said. Why would she ask you guys for help and not me?

Dawn shrugged, spreading her hands wide to show that she didn’t understand either. She hadn’t thought of it earlier, but of course Roe would be unhappy to not be asked—she was fairly close to Professor Strega after their weekly lessons. I don’t know. Maybe she doesn’t think your ability will be helpful to her. You can’t decide whether or not to have a vision, can you?

Not yet, said Roe. We’re working on that. I can direct them a little.

Maybe she wants different help from you than from Dawn and Edie, said Corrie. Does she know you’re friends? She might ask you for help when you have your lesson on Friday.

Roe opened her mouth, closed it again, and frowned thoughtfully. That could be. She did say that she was making some kind of plans last week.

Do you want to come with tonight? Dawn asked. She probably wouldn’t be upset to see you there.

Roe shook her head. Not if she didn’t invite me. I don’t want to butt in. Are you going to go, Edie?

Yes, said Edie, which surprised Dawn—she had thought Edie would at least want to think about it. But maybe she’d had enough time while they’d been talking to Roe.

Good, she said, smiling at Edie. I wouldn’t want to go alone.

I can go with you, said Rico.

She shook her head, taking his hand to squeeze it briefly. Not if she doesn’t want you there. I’m not sure that we’re going to help her because I’m not sure what she wants. We should at least follow her rules the first time to make sure she trusts us enough to talk to us.

Roe frowned, wrinkling her nose. Do you really think that she would be asking your help with something she shouldn’t be doing?

I don’t know, said Dawn. You know her better than I do.

I’m concerned because she is trying to keep it so secret, Corrie said. And by the way, she freaked me out a little with the way she was glaring at me when she said we were good at keeping secrets, so don’t go telling anyone.

Of course not, said Duncan, while the others nodded. Dawn was glad she had so many friends she could trust. Maybe that was why she was relieved to not have Derwen join their gathering—she didn’t trust the faerie girl not to at least tell Professor Lal.

Do you think she would do anything against the rules? Dawn asked Roe. I mean, I don’t even know what the rules are for faerie professors. I can’t see her wanting to harm any humans, but there might be something else.

Roe twirled her fork in her pasta. She seems like someone who follows the rules to me. You’re right, I don’t know what the rules are that she has to follow, but she puts a lot of stock in rules. She has rules for what I do while I practice with her and very specific homework for every night that I’m not with her. I don’t follow them as well as she would like. She smiled, lowering her head guiltily.

That just sounds like teaching, though, said Corrie. Has she ever said anything about herself, or any of her peers, breaking rules?

She never says anything about the other magic professors, except once in a while she’ll mention them as a group, Roe said. Oh, that’s right. She was upset about Mardalan not knowing the rules and her not having any way to find out. So maybe that’s what she wants help with—finding out what the rules actually are.

If she wants to know the rules, I’m sure Professor Lal would tell her, said Dawn.

She did seem really unhappy about Mardalan not actually being able to read the treaty, said Edie. Neither of them knew what the rules were. Remember?

Dawn nodded, putting her hand in her pocket. She still had the pieces of treaty that Mardalan had thrown at Professor Strega when they’d confronted her. She would bring them tonight—but she’d been carrying them around ever since, waiting for someone to ask her about them. But no one had.

Maybe the faded, hard-to-read scraps of paper held their answers.

Chapter 5: Private Meeting

After dinner, Dawn, Corrie, and Edie went back to Corrie and Edie’s dorm room to work on their homework. Dawn kept anxiously checking the time. She was having difficulty concentrating on her homework, but for once, that didn’t really bother her. She would have plenty of time to finish—none of it was due tomorrow, since she’d already done her Academic Writing homework and Professor Lal’s class didn’t have any real homework.

Finally, at fifteen minutes to eight, she closed her book and stood up. Are you guys ready to go?

We’ll be early, said Corrie, glancing at the clock in the corner of her computer screen.

Better that than late, said Edie, closing her own book. Besides, if she’s going to be on time, that will give you a few minutes to find a place to hide.

I’m not hiding, said Corrie. I’m just hanging out near you guys.

Without Professor Strega seeing you, said Dawn. Maybe you should wait outside, around the corner or something. She probably won’t want to stay out in the lobby. She checked her pocket, making sure that the scraps of paper were in there. She hadn’t told her friends about them yet.

But I won’t know which room you’ve gone into, said Corrie.

You could have your phone out, and one of us could call you from our pocket, suggested Edie. Then you could hear what we were saying and find out where we were going.

We’re not acting like spies, said Dawn. Corrie’s just going to be there close by in case we need help. We can tell her about everything that happens anyway.

Edie smiled. I guess I’m getting a little overexcited. Let’s go and see what she wants.

They all put their coats on and walked over to the academic building. Once they’d gotten there, Corrie decided to go sit in the auditorium with her book; no one was using it tonight, and it was unlocked. Dawn agreed that Professor Strega was unlikely to want to go in there to talk.

Then she and Edie waited nervously in the empty lobby of the building. This late at night, no one was here, not even someone to answer the phones; after dark at Chatoyant College, the only staff were security and, nowadays, at least one magic professor.

Do you think you’ll want to help her? Dawn asked Edie quietly.

I think so, said Edie. It depends on what it is, obviously. But I don’t think she would ask students—or humans—for help doing anything really dangerous. She would get into too much trouble.

But she wants us to keep it secret from Professor Lal.

The other professors would find out eventually, wouldn’t they? Edie shook her head. I guess we’ll see. I might…

She trailed off as the front doors opened. Professor Strega walked in and directly toward them. Dawn glanced at the clock on the wall; she was a few minutes early, too.

I am glad to see you both here, she said, speaking quietly in the empty building. Mostly empty. Let us go into this office where there is privacy.

She walked to the door of the front office, where Dawn remembered going to find out more about the school when she was still deciding what college to go to (not that there had ever been much doubt in her mind), took out a key, and unlocked the door. Dawn decided not to ask why she had a key.

There was a small waiting area there, and they each took one of the hard-backed chairs, Professor Strega sitting across a small table from Dawn and Edie. She looked back and forth between their faces. She took a deep breath, then nodded. "I will tell you what assistance I wish from you, and then you will tell