While it was still considered summer, the night breeze was cooler than expected. Starla was glad she had worn the jacket, but was worried about her roommate since she was only wearing a thin, sleeveless dress. When she mentioned it to Jessica, her friend just giggled in response. Since the fairy wine was stronger than what most humans were used to consuming, she made a mental note to dilute it more before sharing it with her friends again.
The quarry was a large pit with a glassy lake at the bottom. It was surrounded by flat tiers of land that made a sort of inverted pyramid. A magical canopy of colorful lights hovered overhead, and the ground was a mixture of spongy grass, hard clay, and solid rock. Surveying the uneven terrain, she considered changing her footwear to something more comfortable but decided against it.
She didn’t want to disappoint Lana or make her think she didn’t appreciate her gift. Besides, the sparkly silver heels were far too pretty to take off. Instead, she opted to use magic to cushion the heels and make sure they didn’t sink into the soft ground.
The party turned out to be just as loud as she assumed it would be, but it was also a lot more fun. The area around the quarry had been safeguarded with magical wards to prevent outsiders from hearing the loud music and voices. Those wards also stopped the brilliant display of flashing lights from being seen by the rest of campus.
Over the next few hours, Starla lost count of the friendly people she met and the number of drinks that were shoved into her hand. She chatted, laughed, and danced more than she ever had before. She also enjoyed meeting supernaturals from every race and was delighted when a few of them had even displayed their abilities.
It was thrilling when a drunk tiger shifter transformed near the large bonfire that had been set up. She cheered when two fae performed a little show using fire and water magic, and gasped when two male shifters got into a brutal brawl that would have ended in bloodshed if a powerful demon hadn’t stepped in and separated them.
While there weren’t many full-blooded fairies at the school, there were quite a few hybrids. The ones she met were friendly and very supportive once they discovered she was newly transformed. She was relieved to discover a couple of them would be in some of the classes she was taking and made a mental note to seek them out for guidance later.
A few hours later, Starla realized she was drunk.
There was no denying that. She supposed getting inebriated at a college party was one of the quintessential rites of passage these days. After all, it seemed like every movie she’d ever watched about campus life included at least one wild night involving questionable drinks in red Solo cups or shots taken out of strangely formed contraptions. However, she hadn’t planned on drinking quite so much since it was her first official outing with her new friends.
But plans had a way of drastically changing when drinking was involved.
Once she realized she had lost track of her roommate and her new friends from the dorm, she tried to find them again, but it was impossible in the crowd. They had stressed the importance of sticking together and making sure they got home safely, but Starla fully admitted she had been distracted by all the new people she’d met to even recall when the others had wandered off.
Needing a break, she stepped through the magical wards to distance herself from the loud music. The sudden silence and darkness were a little jarring at first, and it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. She pulled her phone out of her pocket to contact Jessica, then muttered a low curse when it wouldn’t even turn on. Calling her roommate wouldn’t work. There was too much magic within the protected area, and she’d forgotten that technology and magic didn’t work well together.
Starla took a moment to debate whether she should brave the crowd and return to the party in hopes of finding her friends or simply make her way back home alone. As she lingered on the edge of the magical wards, a wave of dizziness swept through her, strong enough to make her sway on her feet.
She pressed a hand to her temple, trying to steady herself, and shook her head, hoping the cool night air would help clear the fog in her mind. She felt a tight pressure in her neck and chest, making it difficult to breathe.
All the drinks she’d consumed were finally taking their toll.
Her vision blurred slightly, and her thoughts felt sluggish, as if weighed down by more than just alcohol. Wanting to avoid stumbling through the streets alone, she tried to teleport directly back to her room.
Only, nothing happened.
The familiar spark of energy she usually felt when she was using magic wasn’t there, leaving her stranded in the shadows, feeling more anxious than before. She tried again, but the result was the same. She remained exactly where she was with a growing sense of unease. The magical wards protecting the campus were clearly interfering with her abilities, and she made a mental note to figure out a way around those safeguards for future use.
Stumbling away from the party, she started walking back toward campus. After a few minutes, she tried to teleport again to no avail. When she was finally able to turn on her phone, she let out a sigh of relief. She immediately called Jessica but was sent straight to voicemail. That wasn’t surprising since she was still at the party. She tried Lana and Claudia, but couldn’t reach them either. Sending a quick text to their group chat, she informed them that she wasn’t feeling well and was heading back to the dorm.
She was about to slip her phone back into her pocket when she thought she caught the faint sound of footsteps behind her. She tried to convince herself she was just being paranoid, but the knot of anxiety in her chest refused to dissipate. Her head still felt fuzzy, and she couldn’t tell if the unease churning in her stomach was nerves or simply the alcohol she’d consumed.
The quarry was close to campus, but it seemed farther away with each step she took. She forced herself to walk faster, hoping to outpace both her unease and the persistent echo of footsteps behind her. But when those footsteps seemed to quicken, matching her every move, she finally understood with chilling clarity why her new friends had stressed the importance of sticking together.
Walking alone in an unfamiliar area in the dark, she felt vulnerable in a way she had never truly considered before, and the realization sent a cold shiver down her spine. Logically, sherealized that most of the people at the party would be heading back to campus the same way she was going, but apparently, it was still too early for the rest of the students to leave yet.
If she were back in the Fairy Realm, she would have simply released her wings and flown away to avoid whoever was following her. However, in the Human Realm, she knew she couldn’t risk being seen, but she still had other magical means of escape that she could rely on.
Or so she thought.
When she tried to teleport, it failed again.
That made a shiver of apprehension race down her spine.
It wasn’t just the wards protecting the party or the surrounding buildings that were stopping her from teleporting back to her dorm room. Something else was preventing her from using her magic to teleport…anywhere. That scary thought made her try using a few more spells, with the same result.
Something was blocking her from using any magic.
When she made it to the relative safety of the edge of campus, the streetlights were brighter. Still, the area was pretty much deserted since the human students hadn’t arrived yet, and everyone else was at the party. Her intuition began screaming at her, telling her to run and flee, but she couldn’t make her body listen. It suddenly occurred to her that what she was feeling wasn’t natural.
Starla wasn’t just drunk.
