The following morning was Saturday and my first day without classes so I enjoyed the lie-in that afforded me.

Nancy knocked at around ten to ask if I wanted to join her for brunch. There was no questioning where I had been or what happened. I suspected Enzo had updated her on the situation last night and I appreciated the lack of pressure to talk about it all whilst my head was still whirling myself.

I had sat up for hours combing through the textbooks from classes, trying to learn everything I could about the fae and understand who I was and what I might be able to do.

It was hard to imagine why my mum had kept it all secret from me. We had been near identical to look at so I had no doubt she was my biological mother. But if that was the case, she had to have known she was fae, so why did she hide it from me?

"I'll be five minutes." I called back to Nancy, "I'll meet you at your room."

"No worries, see you in a sec." Nancy replied, and I listened to her footsteps retreating down the hall.

Stifling a yawn I opened the wardrobe to look at what casual clothing options I had. My favourite comfy jeans were cleaned and folded and I wiggled my way into them before selecting a plain burgundy t-shirt from the stack in the drawer and tugging on my classic boots.

My hair was knotty from not brushing it before I fell asleep and I gave up attempting to tame it before throwing it into a lopsided bun on top of my head.

With a hard stare at my reflection, I decided this was as good as it was going to get and made my way to Nancy's room.

"Hey." I said as she opened the door. She was wearing boot cut jeans and a mustard yellow top that looked beautiful with her skin tone. Her hair was fixed into two cute space buns and orange graphic liner winged out from the corner of her eyes.

It shouldn't have worked, but on her it all flowed and made her look effortlessly put together.

Nancy smiled back at me, totally ignoring the fact I looked like I got in a fight with my bed and it won.

"Want to get food now, or did you want me to do your hair and make-up?"

"I need make-up to get food?" I asked, not quite following.

"Of course not, but you might want it to if we are going to go into town to get something." She laughed.

We were allowed to go into town for food? As quickly as the realisation hit, so did the acute awareness I didn't have the money to pay for anything the school didn't provide.

My cheeks went pink with embarrassment. "Oh, I'm not sure I want to."

Nancy frowned, "Why not? It will be nice to get out of the school and feel more normal."

I shrugged, "Are we even allowed to after what happened with Maeve?"

"That happened here. What are you on about? Wouldn't you rather a nice cafe for food and a break from this place?"

"Well, yes but I-"

"No need for buts, we should get ready and go!" She laughed.

"I don't have any money." The words tumbled out of me in a rush, but somehow she managed to decipher my meaning.

"Oh." Her face softened, "You don't need to worry about that, I can cover it. I have more than enough."

My head dropped and my eyes fixed on my boots, "I don't need your charity."

"It's not charity. You're my friend and friends help each other. Now are you coming with that bird's nest you call a hairstyle on your head or do you want me to work a little magic."

I paused for a moment and considered it. "Can you actually use magic on it? Because that would save me a lot of time in the morning."

Nancy giggled and pushed me towards the desk before setting to work brushed it all out and securing it into two French braids.

"I don't know how you have the patience for this. My arms ache just watching you." I joked, twisting my head to the side to examine her handiwork when she was finished.

"Lots of practise taming my own hair. And besides, if your arms ache doing your hair you're not going to like the more physical classes they have here." She laughed, packing things away.

"Define physical." I frowned, flexing my arm and poking the skin where my bicep should be,

"As in lifting a sword kind of physical."

My jaw dropped. "I really hope you're joking or we are talking about fake swords because there is absolutely no way these weedy things are capable of wielding Excalibur."

I waved my skinny arms at her, and she just laughed.

"I really hope we are in the same classes because that shit is going to be hilarious."

I let her push me towards the door and waited as she locked it behind us before making it down the hallway.

It seemed we weren't the only ones who had this idea and groups of students were hurrying down the path to the gate, chatting away. The mix of styles and colourful clothes were such a contrast to the neutral looks I was used to, but it was nice to see them all being a little more normal and a little less private school snob look.

"Hey, how are you guys?" Enzo and another guy who's name I couldn't remember fell into step alongside us.

"Good, good, Josh, you've met Erica before?" Nancy asked the newcomer.

He nodded and shot me an awkward smile before dropping his head so his long fringe covered his eyes and obscured him from view.

Nancy didn't look bothered and I gather this was typical for him so just smiled instead of trying to engage him in clearly unwanted conversation.

Enzo's hand touched the small of my back. "Are you feeling ok today?" He lowered his voice so it would be harder for those around us to hear.

"Yeah, just processing things a bit still."

"Understandable," he nodded, "I'm here if you need to talk."

I smiled, "I appreciate it."

"So where are we going to go? Are we thinking cute cafe and cakes or all you can eat feast?" Nancy asked, scrolling through her phone and recounting the options.

"Feast." Enzo and I said at the same time and both ended up laughing.

The walk down to the village was much nicer by daylight and allowed me to see more of the surrounding area. Rolling hills stretched as far as the eye could see and the scent of freshly cut grass hung in the air. Wildflowers grew up between the rocks lining our path until we reached stone steps that led down to a town square.

On our right was the outward facade of a pub, which I had fast learned was much more of a club that first night. The rest of the buildings looked like small shops and the streets were bustling with life.

Large navy plant pots lined the pavement and as we passed one, Nancy froze before letting out the most aggressive sneeze I had ever heard.

"Are you ok?" I ask, barely able to hide my alarm.

"Fine, fine, it's just hay fever." She reassured.

Enzo opened his mouth to say something, and she held up a finger. "I swear by the moon that if you're about to make another one of your jokes about being an earth witch with hay fever, I'm going to turn your hair green."

Suitably told off, he shut his mouth with a snap, but the smirk told me it would have been a good one.

"In in in." Nancy said, ushering us all into a quaint little building. Red chequered tablecloths adorned the tables of the surprisingly busy cafe and the smell of cooked breakfast had my mouth watering as we weaved around people, making a beeline for one of the last remaining booths.

The food at the school was good, but there was nothing quite like the home-cooking smell this place had. It reminded me of Angie. This was exactly the sort of place she had dreamed of opening. I followed the queue along the wall helping myself to sausages, bacon, eggs and more

"Oh, that is amazing." Josh said, speaking the longest sentence I had heard from him as we all dug in.

He was right, and we all wolfed it down in companionable silence.

"I don't know about you, but I needed that." Nancy said, leaning back in her chair, unable to finish.

I made a noise of agreement around my final mouthful of bacon. I excused myself to the toilets and looked at my reflection as I washed my hands.

Here I wasn't Erica the homeless girl, Erica the runaway, Erica the weirdo, Erica the friendless freak. I had people who cared about me and it almost felt like I mattered.

Whatever Albert had sensed in me didn't matter right now and I smiled at myself. Perhaps I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

By the time I had got back to the table the bill was already paid and I shot Nancy a grateful look. She shook her head, using my arm to pull herself up. "I don't know about all of you, but I need to head back to the school for a nap so I can fully embrace my new food coma state."

She patted her stomach and attempted to do the top button of her jeans back up, but they were have none of it. We stumbled our into the fresh air, still giggling about her expression and started heading back up to the school.

The hill, or rather small mountain it had been built on meant it loomed imposingly over the town. In the light of day it looked pretty, but I wondered if anyone in the town ever wondered about it. "Are there any humans in the town or is it-" I asked, trailing off.

"Supernatural only? Yeah, it's pretty much just our world here. I think humans visit by accident sometimes, usually lost tourists. But there's magic placed here that means they forget the details and aren't able to find their way back if they try." Enzo explained.

I frowned, so magic could mess with someone's memories. That was an interesting fact the books had failed to mention.

"Don't worry though," Nancy reassured, "As soon as you were accepted into the school it protected you and reversed any memory spells. As soon as we get up there it will do the same again so you won't forget it."

Was that why I was starting to remember what happened five years ago with Blake? It would explain a lot.

I lapsed into silence, allowing the others chatter to fill the walk instead. I caught their concerned looks occasionally, but it wasn't until we were almost back at the school I noticed how many other people who had chosen to return at the same time as other.

Despite the thoughts and confusion swirling through me, I forced my mind back into the present.

"It's awful." Tia shot me a glare as they moved round us

.

The right thing to do would have been to ignore it and not engage, but I'd never been particularly good at doing the right thing. "What is?" I called out.

We were at the top of the hill and almost at the school building now as they whirled on me. "That they'd let you continue to go here after you've thrown yourself at half the male students." Darcy's eyes raked up and down me, her lip curling with disgust.

"Not only that, but there's not been a student death until they let in a creepy little human who is apparently not so human according to what I overheard the teachers saying this morning." Ariana added.

My brows shot up in shock and I felt Enzo and Nancy's surprise. I should have mentioned it. Should have told them what I discovered. But I was so enjoying not being the weird one for once and just getting to behave like a normal nineteen-year-old who went to breakfast with friends.

"First, which guys do you think I've been throwing myself at because we already concluded I couldn't be less interested in Chase?" I said, cocking my head to one side as though I was really trying to work it out.

This girly drama was really getting to me because I wanted to yank their stupid blonde hair and call them names. That wasn't me. If anything, I was a scrappy fighter.

"We heard what you did with Chase last night." Tia spat.

My eyebrow shot up. "Well, I just have to hear this."

"I don't know what Chase said, but I was with her last night and nothing happened between them." Enzo said, jumping to my defence.

"What? All night?" Ariana asked sweetly.

I looked up in time to catch the blush that stained his cheeks.

"That's what I thought." Ariana said smugly. "Chase, Enzo and I've heard you're even begging Blake King for attention. Someone sounds desperate."

I barked a laugh, "You're right there. Someone does sound desperate if they think refusing one guy and being friends with a couple of others counts as me throwing myself at them."

"Don't have anything to say about the fact you're not human then?" Ariana asked, either ignoring the insult I threw back,k or too stupid to understand it.

I was leaning towards the latter option. "I don't know what you've heard, but I'm human in every way that matters and I've not done anything with this magical crap I apparently have."

"Magical crap." Ariana raised a brow, "It's no wonder the magic won't work with you when you talk about it like that. Look, let's be honest. You're the only unknown here and that makes you the biggest suspect in my book."

"Her book? I'm surprised she can read." Josh muttered, head still down and not engaging.

I snorted and Ariana looked enraged. "Of course you'd band together with other weirdos." She hissed before saying loudly, "I know they're investigating you. It's only a matter of time before they catch you out murderer. Stay away from other students, you freak."

A glance around confirmed a fair few other people had overheard her words and were now eyeing me with a wariness and suspicion that hadn't been there before.

My heart pounded at the attention and I shook my head, "The only freak around here is you. One day we will all be grown up and achieving things, and you? You'll probably be the same shallow bitch who has to bully people into being friends with her and relying on your looks to get by. Frankly, I'm embarrassed for you."

I didn't give her a chance to respond. "See you guys later." I muttered to an open-mouthed Enzo, Nancy and Josh, before hurrying towards the building and making my way back to my room.

"Erica!" I was almost outside my door when I heard Enzo's voice as he jogged to catch up to me.