Free Glimmerglass by Jenna Black Page B

and has more experience.” She made a sour-lemon face—inferiority complex, anyone?—before she continued.
    “He’ll be a force to be reckoned with someday, and some people might prefer to reckon with him now while they still can. So he’s single-handedly made our Underground into a threat, and the rest of us are at risk by association. And that’s why we make a habit of always being armed.”
    “Aren’t there, like, gun laws or something?”
    She laughed. “We radicals like to think of laws as more of ‘guidelines.’ Besides, I’d rather risk someone going all technical on me about carrying a concealed weapon than be unarmed when attacked by Spriggans.”
    She was being real chatty this morning, despite her obviously edited answers. I figured as long as she kept answering my questions, I’d keep asking them. “So are there a lot of Spriggan attacks in Avalon?”
    I’d stopped eating my cereal, even though there were some milk-sodden O’s left in the bottom of the bowl. Kimber took the bowl from my hand and washed it while she talked.
    “Not usually. Only the humanoid Fae are allowed into Avalon, though it’s a lot harder to keep Fae creatures out than it is to keep humans out. The border on the Fae side doesn’t have the kind of immigration system that you humans do.” A frown furrowed her forehead. “But the Spriggans would only take orders from Unseelie Fae. I can’t imagine why any of the Unseelie power players would want to attack our Student Underground. We’re known to favor an Unseelie candidate.”
    “Maybe they were after me , ” I suggested. After all, everyone kept telling me I was in mortal danger. “Aunt Grace was attacked yesterday, and she said she thought her attackers were after me.”
    Kimber raised an eyebrow at me. “She was attacked, you say?” There was no missing the skepticism in her voice.
    “That’s what she said. And she had this big bruise on her face.”
    Kimber snorted. “I bet you she was faking it. Even I have enough magic to heal a bruise. My guess is she was trying to scare you into doing what she wanted.”
    “I wouldn’t put it past her,” I mumbled. “But even if that was all a big, fat lie, the Spriggans could have been after me, right?”
    Kimber shook her head. “They couldn’t have known where you were or that you were with us. No, they were after Ethan, and the rest of us were just in the way.”
    Does it make me a bad person that I was glad they were after Ethan instead of me?
    I could have easily kept asking her questions till the sun went down, but Kimber had apparently had enough.
    “I can lend you something to wear if you want to throw your clothes in the wash,” she said, striding out of the kitchen, which now looked as neat and pristine as if no one had eaten there for a week.
    “It would have been nice if you and Ethan had grabbed my bags when you kidnapped me,” I grumbled. At five foot six, I wasn’t exactly a midget, but Kimber was much taller. I didn’t think I’d fit into her clothes real well.
    She looked me up and down with an appraising eye. “I have some capris that should be just about right on you.”
    Kimber was wrong. The capris didn’t look right on me—they looked like capris that were too long. But at least they weren’t the same clothes I’d slept in. With the pants, Kimber lent me a long-sleeved T-shirt. Good thing it had elastic cuffs; otherwise the sleeves would have swallowed my hands whole.
    It was a gray and gloomy day when Kimber and I headed out to the courtyard to meet up with Ethan. Occasional splats of rain dripped from the clouds, but neither of the Fae seemed to think a raincoat or umbrella was necessary. I shivered in the damp chill and pulled the long sleeves over my hands after all.
    Ethan must have noticed me shivering, because he stepped up beside me and threw an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to his side.
    I froze. I know it’s not really a big deal to have a guy put his arm