Rico's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. "Pretty easy, I guess. I mean, he's always available for questions about classwork. He says asking him questions counts as working hard, and working hard is the only way we're going to pass his class."

Corrie nodded. It sounded like the two magic teachers had very similar outlooks on the class itself. But that was no surprise; from what she understood, the upper-level magic classes were even harder, so it was important that only people who were willing to work hard for their knowledge should progress to those levels. "Do you think you could ask him tomorrow?"

"About Leila?" Annie asked.

"Yeah. He's a magic teacher, so maybe he'll know something we don't, but he won't want to keep the investigation to himself like Professor Lal does, since he's not a faerie..."

"Er, I could ask him, but there's a problem with that," Annie said.

"Why? What is it?"

"He is a faerie."

"What?" Corrie stopped for a moment, shocked, then stumbled a little and continued on. "How did you—I guess you used a clover in class." Annie nodded. "Why didn't you tell us?" Corrie continued.

"I thought I had," Annie said, her eyebrows drawing together. "I'm sure I told Dawn, at least. Unless I just dreamed I did, which I guess does happen from time to time..."

Rico was staring at Annie. "Professor Rook is a faerie?"

She nodded again. "Well, unless he's something else that uses an illusion... because he doesn't look like any weird creature, he just looks like a giant bird. A crow. I guess that's why his name is Rook."

"That's kind of creepy," said Rico. "I didn't know that. I guess I will have to find a clover at some point. Dawn told me I should, but it didn't really seem that important... I mean, I didn't expect to run into any faeries."

Dawn turned to join them, slipping her arm through Rico's. "Did I hear my name?"

"I was just saying that you're right," he said, smiling at her. "As usual. Apparently Professor Rook is a faerie."

Dawn nodded. "It probably doesn't affect your class much, but yeah, Annie told me that."

"I still think he could have a different perspective than Professor Lal does," said Corrie. "I mean, we know all faeries don't think the same way, or else we wouldn't have had the problems we've had."

"You want them to ask Professor Rook for help with the problem of Leila?" Dawn asked.

"That's right," said Corrie.

"Good idea. Professor Lal probably won't tell anyone else about our concerns, since she doesn't seem to take them seriously, so maybe one of the other on-campus faeries will do something." She shook her head. "I just wish I knew who the others were. Besides the magic professors, of course. I've seen a few who are presumably students around campus, but they've never stuck around where I can see them long enough for me to let any of you know or find out who their friends are."

"And it's probably even harder since Professor Lal told them all who you are," said Corrie.

"Right," said Dawn. "But since we do know who Professor Rook is, and he's also in a position of authority, maybe he'll be helpful."

"What about my history professor?" Corrie asked. "We think he's a faerie too, remember?"

Dawn was quiet for a moment. "See if you can ask him, but only if we don't get anything out of Professor Rook. I don't have your professor, and he doesn't seem to use a glamour, so it might be best to see if we can keep him from finding out we know for the time being."

"What do you mean, he doesn't use a glamour?" Annie asked.

"He just looks like an old man," said Corrie. "I found a picture of him in an old yearbook and he looked exactly the same. That's why we think he's a faerie."

Annie's eyes were wide. "Are there a lot of faeries who can hide in plain sight like that?"

"I sure hope not," said Dawn.

"I think more research is in order," said Corrie. "As always. I wonder how many books the library has that have any information on faeries and folklore."

"A lot," said Dawn. "That's no surprise. I can check out a few at a time for us to pass around."

"That would be great," said Corrie. "Though how we'll fit in even more reading between classwork and our pagan book club, I don't know."

"We'll manage," Annie said with a smile. "It's important, right?"

"Right," said Corrie, nodding. They'd reached their dorm. She took a deep breath, dug out her keys, and prepared to face another few hours of the silent treatment.