All three chimelings continued to avoid Saint like the plague. It was a fact that seemed to make the tall, dark Drake sad, but not surprised.
“They fear me as they would a predator,” I heard him explaining to Avery one day, after the three candy-colored creatures had gone whizzing away from him at the speed of light, the minute he came into the room. “Smaller creatures always do. It is one reason I could never have a pet after my Drake was cursed. Even my own glan—a creature rather like your Earth dog—turned on me and tried to bite me when it sensed the darkness I carry within.”
Avery looked like he wanted to give Saint a hug—which is what he would have done if any one of us girls in the Coven had shared a sad childhood memory with him. But of course, he couldn’t do that. Instead, he clapped a hand on Saint’s broad shoulder in a brotherly kind of way.
“I’m sorry,” he said simply. “That must have been awful for you, Saint.”
“It was.” Saint nodded and I noticed he made no move to shrug off Avery’s comforting hand.
Aside from avoiding Saint, the chimelings continued to be happy and carefree. The three of them continued to prefer a diet of sugar to insects—though they did occasionally go hunting. Every evening after dinner, Jalli took them out into the common area in the center of the castle grounds or out through the girl’s locker room into the athletic field and let them toast and eat mosquitoes to their hearts’ content.
She called them in right before curfew and they all flew to perch on her—Sweet Tooth on her left shoulder, Jelly Belly on the right, and Spike right on top of her head. It was adorable to see her walking around the castle with the three candy-colored creatures riding on her and chiming in their tiny, musical voices. I saw more than one envious glance from some of the other students and some of them even stopped Jalli and asked how they could get a chimeling for a pet themselves.
Jalli would always explain that the only way to bond with a chimeling was for it to latch onto you, the way Mr. Seahorse had adopted Kaitlyn after she saved him from a monstrous spider, or else to catch them at the moment of their spawning.
“Mine are too young to spawn now,” she would tell her admirers. “But someday they will. If you’re near me when they do, just be sure you have a handful of something to feed them and they’ll be yours for life. Once it has bonded with you, a chimeling will never leave you.”
And her words seemed to be true…until one evening when Spike didn’t come back to her when she called.
6
“I’ve looked for him everywhere!” Jalli’s big dark eyes were filled with tears and red from crying. Jelly Belly and Sweet Tooth, her two remaining chimelings were sitting on her shoulders and chiming mournfully, sounding like a funeral dirge being played on doorbells.
“I’m sure he’s somewhere around here,” I tried to comfort her.
“Oh honey, please don’t give up hope!” Megan begged her and Kaitlyn patted her knee in silent support as Mr. Seahorse added his voice to the squeaky chorus of doom.
It was hard to see Jalli so upset—she was so sweet and delicate and innocent that watching her weep was like watching something precious break.
Seeing her cry and knowing he could do nothing about it bothered Saint so much that he had to leave the Norm Dorm. He had a stormy look on his face that made me wonder if he was going to change into his Drake and go flying—even though that was expressly forbidden in the human world.
Ari was also worried about his little sister. He was out searching the castle grounds for Spike even though it was past curfew and he knew if he was caught he might get suspended or expelled.
Avery had suspended his usual second supper preparations and was doing something else by the small fire that heated our chilly common room. He was using a long stick with a pointed end and poking into the ashes of the hearth while he muttered something I couldn’t understand under his breath.
“Don’t give up on Spike, Jalli,” Kaitlyn pleaded with her. “I’m sure he must be somewhere near.”
“He is!” There was a ring of triumph in Avery’s voice that made us all look up at once. “I’ve just done a location spell,” he explained. He frowned at the strange, sooty markings he had made on the flat grey stones of the hearth. “Spike is still here on the castle grounds,” he told us. “And he’s alive and well—see?”
He pointed to a small, glowing coal that was surrounded by piles of ash.
“Is that coal supposed to represent Spike?” Megan asked, fascinated. She was still struggling to learn what she called “little magic,” since the Blood Magic which came so naturally to her was only good for big things like breaking the Edict.