Page 40 of Mistaken Magic

"What?!Itwas aPixyStix."

"That'swhat the bitch lives on,"Charlottegrumbled. "Lookslike she was airbrushed and survives on sugar.It'snot fair."

Ok, soCharlottewas plump enoughIcould understand her frustration.Lynnwas pretty, but generic and boring.Amylooked a bit bookish, and the guys were all safely in the easy to forget category.Thesewere normal people, the kindIwas used to being around.Nota single one of them had the unnatural beauty that was so common atSilverOaks, and there was something a little comforting about their normalness.

"So, are they the center of the popular crowd atSilverOaks?"Iturned to scan the room for those four examples of perfection.

Lynnpointed in the other direction.Followingher finger,Ifound them.Thenotorious foursome had claimed a table near the wall.Torianleaned back as if he was surveying his realm, one arm draped across the chair beside him.Init wasAspen, her pixie-cut silver hair a stark contrast to his burnished beauty.WilderandHawkecompleted the half-circle, flanking the couple.Allof them looked highly amused, as if they knew something the rest of the world didn't.Oddly, they weren't smiling or laughing, just smug, exactly like nobility would be in the presence of those so far beneath them.

Thatwas exactly how they made me feel.Theywere perfect.Fromtheir mannerisms to their clothes to the way they'd been nice to me so far.Itwas almost painful to look at them, reminding me of every flawIwas showing the world.Therewas a zit on my jaw, andIwas hyper-aware of the clayI'dwiped on my skirt in my last class.Withthose four in the room, even the always-popular types looked like mangy children.

"Wecall them the king and his court,"Lynnsaid. "Purebreds, the lot of them.Rumorhas it they were smuggled out ofFaerieas kids, so they were even born there.Now, you should probably know that title?Well, theQueenof theFaewould kill someone for even joking about it.So, yeah.Iguess that should tell you something."

"You'reall basically saying they should die?"Iasked.

Amyleaned forward to see me. "Onlybecause we're all so jealous.Imean,lookat them.Fourblack ties.Allcan work in other areas of magic, too.They'reso perfect, it makes the rest of us look bad, even when we're doing our best!"

"Yeah,Ican kinda see that,"Iagreed.

"Thingis,"Lynnpointed at the other side of the room. "Thoseare the jesters."

Thistime she showed me a completely different crowd.Anywhereelse, they'd all be the standard popular types.Abroad-shouldered guy was grinning with some busty blonde on his lap.Besidehim, another was kissing on a redhead.Thatwas more whatIexpected for the reigning clique at most high schools.Thenagain, this wasn't exactly anormalschool.Itwas supposed to be college, where things like popularity shouldn't be as important.

Butclearly that wasn't quite how it worked here.Sure, there were older students - the normal college-age crowd - scattered through the room.Plentyof them, but most were studying whileshoving food in their faces, talking to friends, or generally not making a scene.

Nevermind how most people in the room fell somewhere in the middle.Granted, being eighteen kinda went either way.Somewould be seniors in high school while others would be college freshmen, but atSilverOaks, we all got smooshed together it seemed.Iwas also getting the impression that was because this place was more about "fae" than "college," but no one had confirmed it yet.

Oftheir own volition, my eyes drifted back to the court.Theydidn't act like typical kids, not like the rest of us.Oh, they were having fun, but the quiet conversation type, not the groping, embarrassing, handsy type that was so common for teenagers.Thosefour were simply talking, watching over the peons before them, more like the older students here.

"Sowhat amImissing?"IaskedLynn.

"Huh?"

Igestured between the two groups. "What'sthe social status between them, and where do the rest of us fit in?Howdo the people who aren't in thisAdvancedPlacementprogram fit in?Imean, if this was a normal school,Icould make a few guesses.Here?I'mcompletely and totally lost."

Charlotteleaned forward, catching my eye. "YouknowSilverOaksis really for training us to control magic, right?"

Ihad to fight my urge to smile, because that confirmed my suspicions. "No, but it makes sense."

"Yeah," she said. "So, because of that, the age range was made to make sure it caught all of us.See, some faelings - "

"What-lings?"Iasked.

"Faelings,"Charlottesaid. "Thoseof us who are part-fae.Well, the human side screws with our magical maturity.Wemight get nothing, hardly anything, or bust out with a surprising amount of power early on."

"Butearly,"Lynnbroke in, "is around sixteen.Thenormal age for a faeling to get magic is around eighteen to twenty - so college.Butsince it's notuncommonfor it to start around sixteen, they made theAdvancedPlacementprogram.Thisway, it sorta explains all of us being here."

"Gotcha,"Iagreed.

Becausethat actually did make sense.Itwas also pretty subtle, so no one outside this place would even bat an eye.Addcalling it a trade school on top of that?Yep, talk about blending in easily with the real world.Mundaneworld?Ididn't even know the right terms yet.

ButLynnkept going. "Also, atSilverOaks, there are two kinds of people.Thoseborn here, and those born there.That'salways been the dividing line.Mostof us are part fae.Justenough to get magic, you know?"

"Andthey're pure-bloods fromFaerie,"Irealized. "So, why'd they come here?"

"War,"Christold me. "TheFaeQueenwent mad.Along time ago, she used to be theQueenof theSummerCourt.Then, she got power-hungry and decided to take over theWinterCourttoo."

"Like, are we talkingSeelieandUnseeliehere?"Iasked.Iwas a fantasy reader, after all.

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