Finals season came and went like a storm--its dark cloud loomed over Helena’s head, it struck, and then it passed.

Truth be told, she had a feeling she’d failed at least one of her exams. Studying proved difficult when your humanity had been pulled out from underneath you. She’d spent most nights watching the light of her magic dance between her fingertips, trying to control even the finest movements, and biting back curses when she burned her hand.

Worse, though, Cami had gone quiet. Eerily quiet. It’d been over a week since they’d been together in person, in the bunker, talking about her fey vow with Trintio.

She hadn’t so much as answered a text since.

Maybe time passes differently in the fey realm, Helena thought. She’d done everything--reached out to Jane, reached out to Cami’s mom, reached out to Rainbow. No one had had any leads.

At least, none they were willing to share.

Almost automatically, she thumbed in Cami’s number. She hadn’t picked up yesterday, or any of the days before, but it’d become a ritual of sorts. Worst-case scenario, she got to hear the voicemail.

“This is Camilla Wilde,” it went, all high and lilting, “and I’m not at the phone right now. Um, leave me a message after the beep! Okay, that’s good. Yeah.” And then it’d cut off.

Helena called. The phone rang. Once, twice, three times…

A burst of static on the other line.

Helena jolted up in her bed. But when she went to say something, no words came out. Her jaw dropped and stayed there.

“Hello?” came a voice on the other end. Decidedly not Cami’s. No, it was…

“Trintio?” Helena blurted out. “Why do you have Cami’s phone?”

“Is that important?”

“Yes, it is,” Helena hissed. “You have my girlfriend’s phone, and she’s been MIA for over a week. The last time we spoke it was about how you were helping with her vow, and--”

“Oh, right!” Trintio exclaimed. He chuckled, a low and unsteady sound. “Right, yes, we did do that. And it went… well, nothing’s ever perfect.”

Helena sucked in a breath, trying to relax. “But she’s alright,?” She’d just about crushed her phone, with how tightly she held on. “Tell me she’s alright.”

“She’s alive,” Trintio confirmed. “Drop by the bunker in two days’ time, at dusk, and we’ll discuss everything. She’ll be there. Tell everyone. I, ah, have to go handle… things. Bye.”

The line went dead.

“Fucking fairies,” Helena grumbled.

~

They were expecting snowfall that night, she’d heard from Mars. Sure enough, frost littered the forest floor, giving its dead leaves an uncanny shimmer. Helena regretted her outfit choice--she’d told herself, since it’d been a while since she’d seen Cami, to dress up a bit. Unfortunately, the “sheer blouse and corset” combo was not meant for this weather, and her mom jeans weren’t doing her any favours, either. The sun had already dipped beneath the trees, and Helena had to light her hands up to find the bunker door.

When she finally did, she hesitated, the metal frigid on her fingers. What, exactly, was she going to walk into? What if Cami had changed, somehow?

Leaning in close, she heard familiar voices--Rachel and Olivia, in the heat of some petty debate. Jane, with her mediating tones.

But no Cami.

Nevertheless, she threw open the bunker door…

And was immediately greeted by Trintio’s face. He beamed at her from the bunker floor.

“About time,” he murmured. “It’s a full house now. Even Cassidy showed up!”

Helena waved awkwardly.

Trintio’s eyes narrowed, his easy grin melting into a puzzled frown. “Why is your hand glowing?”

Helena dropped her hand behind her back. “What?”

“Your hand,” Trintio said again. “What, exactly, did you do?”

After weighing her options, Helena went with, “I don’t owe you that answer, fairyboy,” and slid down the ladder past him.

Sure enough, the place was a full house. Jane, Rachel, and Olivia sat on a couch, bickering over, Helena realized, their assigned readings from English class.

“I’m not saying he was gay!” Rachel exclaimed, beaded bracelets clacking as she waved her hands about. “But he was questioning.”

Cassidy sat alone at the table, surrounded by a fortress of binders and notebooks, brows knit together. Even now, she was hard at work. She even looked the part, in one of her trademark blazers.

And, leaning against the back wall, there was Cami. Perfectly intact, perfectly alive, texting on her phone and looking, all things considered, rather nonchalant. She, too, was in her usual attire of a worn flannel and some jeans, with a deep green scarf around her neck. Her ears poked out from her hair, distinctly… pointier than before.

Right: the Vow. Cami was a fully-awakened fey, now.

Helena cleared her throat, and the murmur of conversation paused. She heard some murmured greetings from the couch, but they didn’t matter. Nothing mattered, until…

Cami looked up from her phone. Her eyes met Helena’s, and she smiled. It was a sheepish, weary, somewhat crooked smile. One that, Helena thought, suited her perfectly.

“You’re late,” she said. “Didn’t Trintio tell you--”

Helena was hugging her before she could finish. Cami let out a startled squeak, but soon enough melted into her arms with a laugh.

“Never go MIA like that again,” Helena whispered. “Please.”

Cami drew back, frowning. “I thought I was only gone, like, a couple of days.”

Helena could’ve sworn she felt the blood actually drain from her face. “Cami, it’s been a week. Does your mom--”

“We solved that.” She waved her free hand dismissively. “But I’m sorry for not… texting you back.” She studied her phone, like it was the first time she’d ever seen such a thing. “I just needed to be away from people for a while, so I curled up on Jane’s couch and watched alien abduction documentaries.”

Helena’s hand rested on Cami’s shoulder, like she’d disappear if she let go. “If you need to talk about it, you know I’m here, right?”

Cami nodded, her gaze stuck to the floor. “I know. I’m just bad at this kind of thing.”

Trintio cleared his throat, and Helena realized with a start that she and Cami were not, in fact, the only people in the room.

“So,” he said, “where do we begin?”

Cassidy raised a hand. “Does this meeting have an agenda of some kind? Or even a primary directive, for that matter?”

Trintio looked her up and down. “Oh, you’re going to be fun, aren’t you?”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Very well. Our agenda,” he said, dragging the word out, “is that I’m going to establish our plan from here. Specifically, I wanted to go over what’s been said, and then talk about the immediate future. Now that school’s out of the way, and most of you have taken the following semester off…” He paused, eyeing Jane and then Cassidy. Jane avoided his gaze. Cassidy met it with a fiery stare of her own. “We can really make some progress. We all know what the main goal is, right?”

Rachel’s hand shot up. “A takeover of Walder to make it a sanctuary for the supernatural!” she blurted out, grinning.

Helena stiffened at the word takeover. Sure, they’d been using words like that and assimilation since day one, but now, with the wheels in motion, they sent a chill up her spine.

“Bingo,” Trintio replied, shooting finger-guns her way. Helena wondered who, exactly, he’d picked that up from. “And of course, we’ve put all manner of protective measures in place to ensure safety. Such as the bunker, which would be able to hold us for a good month if anything went south.”

“But nothing’s going to go south, is it?” Helena asked.

“Probably not. Anyways, with that out of the way, let’s talk about tomorrow.” He clapped his hands together, grinning. "Tomorrow’s a treat, because we’re going to the Fernweh estate!”