Faire Exchange: Chapter 26

Zoe gets her hands dirty.

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This was the moment Zoe had been waiting for all week. Finally, somebody had cut Rina down to size. Everyone could count on avoiding any spells, charms, or curses for the rest of the day. Zoe could go home happy.

On the way to second period—today it was music class—Zoe walked up to Nadia. "Hey, Nadia. Just wanted to say no hard feelings. I had you all wrong."

Nadia stared a little downwards. "I guess so."

"I'm just saying, it's about time somebody gave Rina a piece of their mind."

"Well, I guess it's Jeremy and Martin you should thank."

"Jeremy? Jeremy Vlachos? That turd?"

"One of them put the Bangle on. I don't know which."

"Huh. How about that." Maybe Zoe had Jeremy figured all wrong, too.

She spotted a quarter on the floor. "Ooh." She plucked it up. It was shiny and new, with white light glinting off Washington's face. Now she could afford some extra jalapeno chips from the vending machine later.

She kept it in her coin purse until lunchtime. Before dropping it in, she admired its shine once more. She turned it around, and it…

…bent?

With barely a touch, she managed to fold it neatly in half. The shining chrome split, revealing a thin layer of gooey brown stuff inside. She'd heard of chocolate coins before, but a quarter? Who'd make one that looked so much like real money that it might have worked in the vending machine? It could have gotten somebody in trouble!

Even the outer foil seemed to dissolve at her touch, until her fingers held nothing but chocolate.

Wait… What was that smell?

She sniffed the coin.

Oh no. This wasn't chocolate.

She ran straight for the nearest girls' room, tossed the quarter in the toilet, and washed her hands. She scrubbed and scrubbed and added another squirt of soap and scrubbed some more. She rinsed and soaped and scrubbed until her arms were tired, and then kept going just to make sure.

Finally she got to where she could no longer smell anything on her hands except the soap, yet she still couldn't be totally confident. Did she get it all? How could she know for sure?

Zoe ran out. Right away she spotted Jeremy Vlachos, carrying his lunch to his table. "Jeremy! Over here!"

Jeremy bent an eyebrow at her, then stepped over hesitantly. "W-What's up?"

"Smell my hands. Please."

"Um, why?"

"Just do it! Tell me what they smell like!"

Jeremy sniffed. His eyes jumped open, he raised his head, his eyes bugged into a trance, and he said breathily, "Strawberries."

"Oh thank goodness. I found a quarter earlier, and it just turned to poop, literally, right in my hand."

"Eugh!"

"It's Rina, it's gotta be."

"Aw, man, somebody in my class got one of those. I thought we found them all—I guess we missed one. I'm so sorry."

"Where is she?" Zoe scanned the cafeteria for Rina, found her alone, picking food off her tray. "I'll get her for this, I swear. Anyway, thanks a lot, Jeremy, I mean it. I heard you were the one who put the thing on her wrist."

He put on a cocky smirk. "Well, I just brought it. Martin's the one who put it on."

"And it really turns off all her magic?"

"Just like that." He snapped his finger.

"But what happens if she takes it off?"

"She can't. Only Martin can do that. It was supposed to go to Mrs. Horn."

"I see." So now some of Rina's ravings from this morning made more sense. "Thank you so much, Jeremy. I better get my lunch while I still can. Later!"

"Later," Jeremy said, waving, his face a little pinker than usual.

Zoe got a tray, and the lunch dude piled on more spaghetti and meatballs than she really wanted. Spaghetti day was normally her favorite. But right now, after dealing with that quarter, the thought of eating just made her sick.

She took a seat with her friends. As it turned out, Rina was directly behind her. Zoe had thought this morning was what she wanted, but the quarter was a horrible reminder of how horrible Rina could be. She may have lost her magic, but even that might not be enough to really teach her a lesson.

Zoe was going to make sure Rina learned.

She scooped up a big handful of spaghetti off her tray, and stood up.