The University of Sassy and Wayward Fae:

Quig sprinted out of his lonely apartment, and his lanky legs outpaced the students. He hurried past other professors as they stood by pink vending machines and waited for containers of breakfast salads or cups of potato soup to fall through the slots.

He entered the main building and stood beside the mail locker outside his and Grew-Ella's classroom.

Students hurried around him as he gathered his mail and opened a small package from Avery, slipping his sparkling artisan nuptial bracelet and the brown paper into his pocket. "It's for Grew-Ella," he accidentally said out loud.

Two older students approached him with a handful of his short story collections, which he signed. He awkwardly waved goodbye to the women and entered the classroom.

Grew-Ella ran behind him. She rushed inside and hurried down the steps, meeting him at a massive joint desk in the auditorium-style room. Hundreds of velvet chairs were lined up behind long tables.

Students meandered to their assigned seats.

After a lecture on proper description, students critiqued each other's writing in silence, and they found three things they enjoyed and four issues that required improvement.

Quig wrote in neon chalk across a massive blackboard.

*

Students, complete your poem before the holiday weekend. Use your assigned critique partners for editing.

Professor Quig Curie-Lock

*

Frog's daily announcements crackled over the intercom. "Classes after 11:20 a.m. will be suspended or go online this Friday because of the holiday."

*

Grew-Ella turned on a bottle-shaped desk lamp. Mechanical Tiger-Ghost moths fluttered inside the glass. She pointed to the chalkboard. "When you hand in your assignments, use one exclamation point at the end of a sentence, not two or three. Short stories aren't a congratulatory message."

Another announcement blared, and Frog yelled over the crackles. "Note to all professors, you may date each other, but students and administrative staff assistants are not your private dating pool."

Students exited the classroom.

Quig and Grew-Ella sat at their joint desk, and they graded a few papers by the glow of the lamp.

Grew-Ella stretched. "After classes, I'm heading to bed early, or I'll sleep through your sister's breakfast."

Chase barged into the classroom and ran down the steps. Tiffany followed him.

"Grew-Ella. I recommend you don't go to your apartment tonight. Stay with your mother, Quig, or Avery, but don't go home."

"I got the message, but I am not safe here either," Grew-Ella said.

Tiffany glanced over her shoulder. "Zoreon is coming, and we need to hide."

Quig hid Chase and Tiffany under the shared desk and pressed the security button.

It wasn't Zoreon who appeared, but Workhouse Leader Voltaire. "Grew-Ella, I really want to know how the gossip that I sell children started. Workhouse children come from the foster system and are usually adopted in two years. The workhouses don't use child labor."

"Quig's brother-in-law started these rumors," Grew-Ella said.

"Lana fired him for using her ID and stealing from the till to buy urine mead, but Zoreon hired him." Voltaire rested his fingers on Grew-Ella's lamp. "The Workhouse earns more money by taking legal bribes from men and women to make them a broken elite. Forged bracelets destroy our business. When more people marry each other and share spaces, there is less homeless in the workhouse." He removed a bracelet that he hid under his hat.

Quig showed off his fancy bracelet. "I designed this from pure sea glass and crystals."

"That is so beautiful," Grew-Ella said. "I didn't realize you still had it."

Quig picked up the other bracelet. "Nothing that the designer did broke the law. Everything is within standards, but honestly, you earn more by taxing the rich citizen's luxury items than the poor."

Voltaire nodded. "I agree, but the prime minister is that dumb, and I will be running in the election."

Zoreon strutted down the steps.

"Would you leave?" Quig asked. "We're in a meeting."

Zoreon grasped Quig's broken wing. "It's so cute that you're not stuttering. I'm here to see my soon-to-be bride."

Squad members ran and grabbed Zoreon. University security came soon after.

"But I'm a large donor," Zoreon said. "Voltaire, back me up. We pay your salary."

"Avery made it public that you attacked her son because you violated your agreement not to come near her." Voltaire huffed to himself.

"I didn't make a contract with her!" Zoreon tried to swing, but two men held him back.

Voltaire punched him in the stomach. "You are an embarrassment. I'm not publicly endorsing this engagement after the stunt you pulled trying to kidnap Grew-Ella. Arranged marriages are only for government elites, and she's not the right status," Voltaire said. "Loser, if you even breathe on her, I'll force you on one of my beauty contest shows and allow contestants to earn points by beating you with ugly sticks."

"I didn't try to kidnap her." Zoreon swung at the man.

Voltaire tossed Grew-Ella's lamp at Zoreon. "Chase had his phone on him. We blurred Phyllis's face because she is too important," Voltaire said. "Do you know how that made the workhouse leaders look?"

Zoreon yelled. "I can't believe the other workhouse leaders sent you to talk to me, and I'm their leader!"

Voltaire sat on Grew-Ella's desk. "Who cares if Grew-Ella has become the face of the rebel cause? Each year there is a new face, and nothing happens. You and the Prime minister made her a big deal! Someone like you can't be attracted to anyone outside your class unless you are willing to be a broken elite. Everyone will think she's the queen."

"Looks like your bosses are furious." Quig grinned. "My mother working here brings in more than triple your donations. You and Phyllis have been banished off campus without a court-issued order, from Earth 23, and that includes Grew-Ella's apartment."

"That will take months. I'm going to bust your other wing!" Zoreon screamed.

Quig smirked and addressed the security officers. "You saw Zoreon threaten me, and he attacked my mother in the cafeteria for not handing over Grew-Ella."

Voltaire stood, stoned face. "The workhouse leaders would have let this slide if you didn't bother, Avery. She is still queen in most people's eyes. They aren't mad at Phyllis; they blame you because you're supposed to lead them, not humiliate them. She warned you to avoid Quig's mother, and you blew Silvan-Mack's plan to arrange a marriage between Quig and Phyllis once her divorce was finalized. The Prime Minister needed an alliance."

"That is a lie!" Zoreon slammed his hand onto the desk. "Grew-Ella told you. She violated the NDA! I'll have her arrested."

"NDAs aren't supposed to have arrest clauses, and I told them." Chase popped up behind the desk.

Zoreon smiled. "I was there to arrest Grew-Ella, and you can't prove otherwise, but for your interference, I will take Tiffany again, and this time she won't leave the workhouse unless she is dead or fixed with plastic surgery!"

"Please, don't hurt her," Chase begged.

"You shouldn't have lied about who she really is." Zoreon left with Workhouse Leader Voltaire.

Security and squad members followed.

"Can you trust a workhouse leader?" Quig asked Chase.

"Workhouse Leader Voltaire is just a young actor, and they replace them with their sons, so it appears he doesn't age. No one knows the workhouse leaders' full identities, except for Phyllis and Silvan-Mack. Now that their mascot has publicly decried Zoreon's behavior, hopefully they'll fall in line."

"So, why is he helping?" Grew-Ella asked.

Chase spoke. "He's Lana's youngest son, and she sent him to protect you."

Tiffany popped behind it. "I will go back to where I come from."

Chase blurted. "He'll look for you there if he can't find you in the tent village. It's not like you have any family left except your brother, and he's not heading back to a place worse than this one."

"I know, but I'll never be free from him." Tiffany trembled.

Chase held her close to him. "I can't think straight and don't know what to do."

"Marry her because that's why I designed the bracelet, and told you to have a contract ready," Quig said. "I'll call the university chapel, and you can borrow a dress from my mother. Mom Avery should be finished with her classes, and I'll pick up Betsy. She'd love to go to a wedding."

Grew-Ella smiled and hugged Quig. "It's so sweet that you're helping Tiffany and Chase like this. I can order dinner for the wedding. It might not be fancy, but we'll make it work." She grabbed Tiffany's arm. "You and I need to head to Avery's apartment."

The women left.

Chase spoke to Quig. "Do you want me and Dot to help you with Grew-Ella the same way you're helping me? It's not a threat."

"I'd love that; but it's up to her, though we're engaged on a technicality because she's helping me regain custody of my daughter."

*

Chase's Camper, Three Hours later: University Parking Lot:

Tiffany's fingers examined the gold and black silk dress as she walked out of the bathroom, and approached the passenger's side. Her engagement bracelet sparkled as she sat. "I shouldn't be wearing elite colors, but I like it." She walked past a row of velvet seats, the lemon-color kitchenette, and the small plastic dining table, and sat down on a long black bench that stretched back to the bathroom.

Chase followed her. "Darling, you deserve better than Avery's hand-me-down dress, and I'm not good enough for you. All I have is this camper, but I'll work on getting us an apartment." He pointed to the bench. "But it folds out, and we have the loft too."

"The former queen lent me her favorite dress, and I'm fine." Tiffany hugged him. "And your camper is better than the tent I sleep in." She sucked her breath in. "Quig only mentioned that you should marry me, so there is less competition for Grew-Ella. I thought he was a decent guy, but that is sleazy. I know he saved my brother, but you and Frog are the ones who rescued us in the first place from..."

Chase sat down and rested his hand on the table. "Yes, I realized why Quig suggested it, and why he gave me the best bracelet he designed, but lay off the poor man; it's not like he threatened us."

She stood up. "Why are you taking Quig's side when he is clearly manipulating you into marrying me?"

Chase folded his arms. "I'm happy to be manipulated because I'm in love with you, and you do love me, right?"

"Of course, and I want to marry you, but I don't want Quig to hurt Grew-Ella, or me." She looked down at her feet. "She was in the workhouse with me. Zoreon wanted to force a relationship with both of us, but he always made it known I was his second choice. I first thought Quig betrayed her and sent her the best care boxes out of guilt, and I know he's treated me with nothing but kindness, but what if we're wrong, and he is working for Zoreon?"

Chace's voice rose, but he did not sound intimidating. "Quig didn't know Grew-Ella was there, and he donates them to every workhouse within driving distance twice a month. Do you trust Dot to bring someone in your life who'd be a danger to you?"

"He's her brother, and I'm still sometimes terrified that he'll hurt us...."

"Dot has two or three other brothers she won't let near you for a reason." Chase kissed her forehead. "Darling, Grew-Ella has helped Quig raise Betsy since she was born, and the only reason he dated his ex was because Grew-Ella was dating Zoreon at the time. Silvan-Mack looked the other way because he suspected Grew-Ella was the rebel queen even before the prophecy."

"Zoreon won't be happy," Tiffany said. "He plans to give me plastic surgery to look like Grew-Ella, including leg shortening surgery."

"That creep doesn't know about this." Chase showed off his ID and the engagement contract. "It's not like you and I didn't date for a year before everything went to pot, but I chose you. Yoleta wants me to marry Grew-Ella, and I don't want to be forced into a marriage I don't want again, regardless of how sweet my friend is."

"So, you don't feel forced to marry me?" She transformed into a cat person and clutched a pillow with musical theater posters printed on every side.

"I love you more than anyone." Chace removed the pillow and tossed it. "And Dot and I are pushing Quig and Grew-Ella together. We have an elaborate plan so they can marry. Grew-Ella's life is in danger. We are even enlisting your boss, Junior."

"Why all the trouble to help Quig land Grew-Ella?"

Chase stared at his soon-to-be bride. "Zoreon and Silvan-Mack plan to arrest her. Quig is not being as manipulative as I am because I don't want him to be forced to marry you or Yoleta because Grew-Ella is dead."

Tiffany turned back into a human. "I thought Yoleta was still in love with her ex."

"No, she's just upset that Frog is dating. Yoleta is giving Quig the look after her divorce. She's lying to herself that she wants him for Phyllis, and she plans to give him Elite status again if he rejects her pick. She doesn't love him, it's an ego thing."

"Chase, why do you love me?" Tiffany asked. "I'm fishing for a compliment." She touched up her makeup.

"Besides being the world's best kisser and the only woman who encourages my musical theater obsession and all my geeky hobbies." He kissed her hand. "Tiffany, you never cheated on me, made me feel lesser, or dated me because I'm a celebrity. You didn't even know who I was when you met me, but you acted like I was a kind hero."

"But you're my champion." She kissed him.

"I wasn't until I saw you in that first workhouse, and when you treated me like a friend, I wanted to become amazing for you. Sadly, I failed us the first time."

"You didn't sell me to Zoreon."

"I traded my freedom for yours, and it didn't work. Zoreon removed the third badge in exchange for me marrying Phyllis, not that I had a choice, in the matter. She broke my heart again." Chase closed his eyes for a moment. "Before I met you, I played the dentist in Little Shop of Horrors, and I never understood how Seymour could do what he did until I saw Zoreon slap you across the face the first time."

"You don't have a man-eating plant lying around, do you?" Tiffany hugged him.

"No, and I won't kill him, but I will be helping Lana and her son take him down in the press." Chase opened the camper door. "I won't back out, but do you still want to marry me?"

"Yes, more than anything."

They walked to the university chapel, where Quig, Betsy, and Grew-Ella waited.