"Do you have a minute to talk?" Enzo asked as I unlocked my dorm room door.

I groaned internally. As reluctant as I was to speak to anyone now that the cat was out of the metaphorical bag on my lack of humanity it was going to have to happen at some point.

Stepping back I gestured with an arm for him to go in first and he moved to sit on the edge of my bed.

With a groan I dropped onto the bed beside him and flopped back so I lay, looking up at the underside of my window sill. "Do you think they could start grading drama differently and base it on what happens outside of class?"

He chuckled, tilting his head to face me. "One, we don't take drama here. And two, I'm pretty sure that they'd do whatever you wanted trouble."

I pulled a face. "What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

Enzo chuckled, lying down next to me and turning to look at me. "I don't know if you've noticed but everyone in this school is either fascinated by you, terrified or both."

I thought about that for a moment and realised he wasn't far off. "Which camp do you fall into?"

My breath felt a little like it was getting caught in my chest, and I was suddenly acutely aware of how close he was to me.

"Me?" He whispered, "I mean, I'd like to kiss you, but I'm a little concerned you might punch me."

My pulse hiccupped and I willed my voice to stay steady. My emotions were all over the place right now and I wasn't completely sure whether this was the best idea. It felt like a good way to ruin a friendship when I wasn't even sure if I was fully attracted to him. Where had this come from? "Is there any particular reason why I shouldn't punch you?" I replied, leaning back slightly and stalling for time.

Enzo smiled slowly before he replied. "You could give kissing me a try first. I've gotten excellent reviews from multiple sources." His eyes darting to my lips as he spoke.

I made a face and gave him a shove to propel him backward, careful not to let my hand linger on his chest too long in case that gave him the wrong idea. "How romantic." I replied sarcastically, rolling to sit up and put some more distance between us. "Consider working on your sales pitch hun."

Enzo sat up too, and I caught the flash of hurt in his expression before he replied. "If you want romance, I can do romance." He shrugged, "I just didn't want to scare you off."

"Scare me off? Up until about three seconds ago I had no idea you thought of me like that!" I laughed awkwardly.

He scrubbed a hand through his hair. "I was trying to take it slow. Nancy said-"

"You've been talking to Nancy about me?"

There was panic in his eyes as he realised he was fucking this up and scrambled for the right thing to say.

"It doesn't matter," I waved my hand dismissively, "Look I've got a lot going on right now and this really isn't the best time for me to start anything with anyone. I really like you, but my head and this school and everything. It's just too much right now."

My voice rose in pitch as I tried to work out how I had gone from afraid to discuss my surprise heritage to this.

Enzo shook his head and looked guilty, "You're right. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have sprung this on you right now.

"You think?" I laughed weakly.

"I like you Erica, a lot and I hope you'll give me a chance whenever you're ready, but for now I'm here as a friend."

"Knock knock?" Nancy said from the doorway, shooting me an awkward smile.

How much of that had she seen an overheard? "Hey, come in." I said weakly.

She ducked her head and slipped through the still open door, making for the chair at my desk.

The already small room felt much more cramped with all of us in it and I stood, moving to shut the door before I spoke.

"So I guess you want to know what the witch bitch was talking about, no offence." I added, suddenly remembering they were witches.

"None taken. I'm nothing like them, but yeah, I think it would be handy if we knew what you were if you're not human." Nancy said with a wry smile.

"Well, they did that scan thing with the Inquisitor, did you get that?" they both nodded before I continued, "Well, according to that I'm fae but there was some type of block or something so they could read me properly."

"Well, shit." Enzo breathed. "I guess that explains why the school brought you in."

"Do you know what type of fae?" Nancy asked.

I shook my head, "They couldn't tell, but they want me to work with the fae guy they had doing the scanning, Albert, to find out more."

"Makes sense. Might be hard to tell if you're part human too." Nancy nodded, still lost in thought.

"They said I was full fae."

Nancy's eyes shot to mine, "But that means-"

"Yep, my mum lied to me. My whole life. Fuck knows why."

We sat in silence for a minute as they processed the news I was still struggling with.

"This doesn't change anything you know." Enzo said.

My eyes shot to his in confusion. How could he say that? It changes everything. All I thought I knew about myself, about my life, was a lie.

"It doesn't. You're still the same, clueless little troublemaker you were a few days ago and we are still the people who were asked to watch out for you and ended up being your friends. It's shit that you don't know exactly what you are but we are here until you get to the bottom of it." He explained.

I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat. How had he known the exact right thing to say to bring me back out of my head?

It was almost enough to help me forget the awkward near kiss of a few moments ago.

"He's right. We can help you research it all and see if we can't work out what you are a bit faster, but for today, I think you need to take your mind off it all and I've got just the idea how to make it happen." Nancy grinned.

Two hours later, clad in borrowed workout wear and exhausted from the hike further up the mountain. I looked over the fences at a herd of unicorns. Actual, real horned creatures, who pawed the ground and whinnied to one another.. In varying shades of white to dapple grey, they weren't quite the legends I had heard as a child.

"Doesn't that help you feel better about being a part of this world." Nancy whispered dreamily, her head resting on the fence post.

I surveyed them quietly, "Yeah, suppose it does. There's just a lot to take in, a lot I don't know."

"I know," she said quietly, "That's why I wanted you to see it's not all crazy and scary. Some of it's beautiful. This world is beautiful. I don't get to have much to do with creatures like unicorns or kelpies, but I do find them fascinating."

I nodded. I got it. The walk in the woodland had taken my mind off things, if only to remind me how horrifically unfit I apparently was.

"I didn't even know they had a herd here." Enzo confessed.

"Not many people do. They're a wild herd, both contained and protected by the magic of the school." Nancy explained.

One of the smaller unicorns caught my eye and I stopped breathing for a moment. It was as though he saw me. His front hoof stomped against the ground and the herd around him looked up. Then in unison, they lifted their heads and let out a call. A sound like nothing I had ever heard before.

"We should head back." Enzo said, and I looked at him in surprise, only to find him totally unaffected by the noise.

Nancy nodded in agreement and the pair moved to leave with an expectant look at me.

I looked back at the unicorns who fell silent. Their cry had rippled across my skin and through my mind. Something in me stirred, as if remembering the meaning of it before going still.

As I had mentioned to Nancy, there was a lot I didn't know about this world, but there was also something it didn't know about me. I was determined as fuck, and there was no way I'd rest until I got to the bottom of who, and what, I was.