Wings and Shadowthief by May Sage

Fairy Godmother

Gwen didn’t leave the hill until dinnertime; she ate at the cafeteria and returned to the dorm. For lack of better things to do, she decided to catch up on the work she’d missed during the day, skillfully avoiding answering Chloe’s pointed questions. It was only natural that their friend had been suspicious, when she, Blair, Cat, and Bash had been missing all day.

Gwen hated lying in general, and to Chloe in particular. But she had to admit Seth had a point. The success of their plan depended on their ability to remain discreet, and if there was one thing Chloe Eirikrson wasn’t, it was that.

Velvet was a good excuse, though Chloe was put out that no one had deigned to inform her about the kitten’s existence earlier.

Back in her space, she worked on catching up with her daily classes. Some of the teachers uploaded videos or summaries of the lessons online.

A knock on her door pulled her out of the thermodynamic gibberish threatening to split her head open. She frowned, unused to being disrupted here.

She’d been ambivalent about being moved to the wing reserved for dangerous creatures at first, but after getting used to considering herself one of those, she had to admit she loved the perks. Not only was she spared the likes of Michelle as a roommate, but she was also blessed with quiet, space, and silence—a luxury few students could boast of.

Glancing at the time displayed on her computer, she wondered who would disrupt her at this time, in this place. There were fewer than two dozen students housed around her. “Come in.”

The door opened to reveal Tris. Only Tris didn’t quite look like herself. Or maybe she looked more like herself than she ever had? It was hard to decide.

She’d chopped off all her hair, leaving less than an inch on top. She wore huntsmen gear, as usual, except she’d changed the size or the shape of her uniform, opting for looser clothes. Only her signature boots remained the same.

Gwen jumped to her feet and rushed to her friend. “You didn’t tell me you were coming back, you moron!” They’d chatted just that morning.

She hugged her tight, surprised by just how much she’d missed her.

Tris was supposed to have been gone for just a few days, but it had stretched into weeks, then months. Gwen hadn’t pushed or asked why, knowing her friend would share if and when she felt like it. She knew that, not unlike herself, Tris had issues with her family. If she’d felt like she should spend some time with them to clear them up, good on her.

“I didn’t plan to yet, but my cousin said he wanted me in on a mission. I was about to pop in to see him when I remembered you moved here. We’re room neighbors!”

Gwen grinned; she’d had the choice of several vacant rooms and had purposely picked the one opposite Tris.

“You bet. It’ll be a lot easier to pop by and raid your wardrobe now.”

Gwen’s clothes ranged across a spectrum of boring. It wasn’t that she didn’t have a style; she just didn’t have enough money to buy the pretty clothes she liked, so she stuck to the basics—good jeans, sweaters and T-shirts in four basic colors to make her laundry simpler.

Tris, for her part, could have lived in gear. The huntsman light armor suited her to a tee—especially the new version she now wore. She looked comfortable and badass. That said, her family sent her suitcases filled with new clothes every season. Formal dresses, pretty skirts, tons of leather, silk, and lace. Gwen had to concede they attempted to respect Tris's style, picking dark colors and earth tones, but Tris just didn’t care to wear anything that wasn’t meant to kick rogue ass in.

Thankfully, they were the same size. Gwen had borrowed the occasional top. There was no discussion: silk was considerably superior to cotton and elastane.

“About that.” Tris smiled tightly. “You can have it.”

Gwen tilted her head.

“My wardrobe,” her friend clarified. “Most of it. Hell, all of it.”

Tris’s generosity was kind, but Gwen was already shaking her head. No way. She might not be the legacy of a line of wealthy hunters on one side and a royal vampire line on the other, but she was no charity case either.

“You’d be doing me a favor,” Tris insisted. “I have to get rid of it. My sister’s sending me more clothes soon.”

Gwen paused, shocked. “Your sister? As in, Evil Pamelia?”

That didn’t compute. From what Tris had told her, they were always at each other’s throats. Pam was the perfect daughter, the perfect fledgling, and enjoyed nothing more than pointing out Tris’s flaws.

Tris chuckled. “Yeah. We’re good now.”

“Did the Earth spin off its axis?” She was going to need a lot more than that. Gwen took Tris’s hand and guided her to her bed, sitting up on top of it. “Spill.”

Tris had never seemed this awkward to her. Her gaze was usually fixed forward, steady and sure. Now she looked out the window, avoiding Gwen’s stare. “You know I hated how she made me look bad, right? Well, she hated the freedom I had. Mom and Dad didn’t really know what to do with their first kid. They were controlling and severe. Second-best didn’t exist for Pam. Then I came along, and they figured out they could give me some room to make mistakes. I never thought about it from her point of view. I’d be pissed at me, too.”

The admission was surprisingly mature of Tris. Gwen didn’t think she could ever rationalize her relationship with her sibling the same way. Gwen’s brother, Gweltaz, was given everything he wanted and never obligated to do anything at all. His magic was just as it should be, just like their parents. He was the golden child to her ugly duckling. She didn’t even want to think about what things were like in his shoes.

“Okay…so you let her shop for you?”

Tris shook her head. “We went shopping together, actually. I’m not very good at picking out stuff—unless we’re talking about boots.”

Gwen sighed wistfully at the thought of replacing her wardrobe on a whim like that. “And you want to get rid of everything you have? That’s a bit—”

“They’re girl’s clothes,” Tris blurted out. “I’m not. A girl, that is.”

Gwen opened her mouth and closed it again. “So, you’re saying I get your dresses? Because I’m going to have to pick them up, like now.”

Tris let out a tight laugh. “Well, you’re my size. Knock yourself out. They probably all still have tags on.”

She hugged her friend, and together they went to her room to transfer all Tris’s clothes to Gwen’s closet, while chatting about Seth’s insane plan, Blair’s cat, and whether she realized yet that the feline was going to end up belonging to Seth, and of course, the fact that there was a chance they’d all die by the end of the weekend.

At least Gwen would go in style.