“Jump!” said Ana.
Ceri bounced her heels a little, hesitantly.
“You won’t hurt me. Take my hand and jump!”
Ceri did as she said. It felt odd at first, and it was hard for Ceri to fight that nagging feeling that someone was going to come in and yell at them at any moment.
But no one came, and after a few bounces, she forgot to worry about it.
“This is fun!” said Ceri through her giggles.
“No one can tell us what to do here,” said Ana. “We make the rules now. If we want to eat chocolate cake for breakfast, we can. If we want to jump on the bed three times a day, no one is stopping us. We’re free!”
“Free!” cried Ceri, and for the first time ever, she felt it.
Ceri and Ana spent the day unpacking Ana’s things and sharing stories of their upbringings. Ana had come to Winwold to connect with her father’s side of the family, who were from a nearby wood. She hadn’t thought much of what she’d study yet, which gave Ceri a lot of comfort: she wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what she wanted to do.
They had dinner together in the dining hall. Ana was pleasantly surprised by the food options, even if they didn’t quite live up to her father’s fairy cooking.
“I mean, fairy food is basically cheating,” said Ana. “There’s this kind of grey goop that tastes like whatever makes you happy, and they put a dab of it in everything. Not too much though. There’s nothing worse than having dinner and being literally unable to stop smiling long enough to eat anything. Ask me how I know.”
Just as they were clearing their trays, Ceri spotted Leo coming into the dining hall.
“Who’s that?” whispered Ana as Ceri waved shyly. “He’s cute. Did you already meet someone cute? I can’t believe they let you come a day early.”
“He’s an elf though,” said Ceri, not acknowledging the part where Ana had called him cute. “He’s probably a lot older than us.”
“Even better,” said Ana with awe. “I’ll leave you to it.” Ana darted off in the opposite direction.
“No, stay—” said Ceri, but she was already gone.
“Hi,” said Leo when he reached her. He was carrying a little box in his hands. Maybe he’d brought his dinner?
“Hi,” said Ceri.
“Your hair,” said Leo. “It looks amazing…ly good. It looks good. No, great. It’s good.” He grimaced. “Sorry. I didn’t get much sleep last night. Up late running the numbers.”
Ceri wasn’t sure how to feel about that. “Er, thanks,” she said. “Anything good in the numbers?”
“They’re very promising,” said Leo. “Though a bit surprising. Most of the items had no change, but the horn showed a large increase, and there was a small difference with you as well.” He cleared his throat. “Speaking of, I was hoping I’d see you. I wanted to thank you for your help last night—”
“It was nothing,” said Ceri. “Happy to be of service.”
“Still,” said Leo, holding out the box. “I appreciate it. This is for you.”
Ceri was taken aback. “For me?”
He’d gotten her something?
“It’s not much,” said Leo. “I—well—open it,” he said, looking down.
Ceri lifted the lid from the box. Inside were two brownish lumps with yellow centers.
“Are these egg tarts?”
Ceri just barely recognized them. They were crudely made, to say the least.
“I found the recipe—well, the library gave me a book of recipes from the Far East. It gave it to meeventually, after a number of unnecessary insults…anyway. I’m not much of a cook. The recipe made twelve, but these were the best two.”
