Faire Exchange: Chapter 31

Nadia goes to the Roth House.

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Nadia closed the call and stuffed her iPhone back in her pocket. So far, all her mother knew was that Nadia and Gregg needed to go to the Roth House; that they needed to check on the exchange student, who'd left early after other kids ganged up on her; and Nadia would be home in time for dinner. She could wait until later to explain exactly why they needed to go.

"Okay, so I'll drop you off up front," Mrs. Herron said from the driver's seat. She did, in fact, know about the food fight. Nadia and Gregg had told her right away. "Then you apologize, then I circle back, then we head home."

"Yeah, that sounds perfect," Nadia said. She wasn't sure if Mrs. Herron believed that they never threw anything, but when Nadia and Gregg had explained what they wanted to do, she agreed to help them out.

Nadia would have liked to call ahead, but she didn't know the number for the Roth House in any event. She just had to hope that showing up uninvited didn't make things worse. She had no idea what any of the other Wyrdnin were like, except that Papu girl Gregg told her about. Anything could happen. What if the Wyrdnin turned them away? All that effort for nothing!

"So my advice didn't work, huh, Gregg?" Danny said from the front seat. "You never did give me an update on that."

"Uh, well…" Gregg wrung his hands.

"What advice?" Nadia said.

"Seriously? You didn't even try, did you?" Danny shook his head. "Come on, man, you gotta strike while the iron's hot!"

"What advice?" Mrs. Herron said.

"Don't worry about it," the boys said. Gregg began to sit with a stiff back and fix his gaze out the window. Nadia couldn't be sure, but if it made him this flustered, it must have had to do with Rina.

She gave directions to Mrs. Herron, who turned onto the highway and crossed the bridge over the river. On the other side was a subdivision with a school bus letting its passengers out. Maybe those kids out there had a Wyrdnin at their school, too. And if they did, maybe the elf was a lot nicer, like Papu. Nadia wondered if she should be jealous.

Nadia gave further directions as the road went inward from the river, and she soon had Mrs. Kramer take a left turn. The car headed up into Kramer Heights, through a street lined with artisinal shops and cafes, and took a final turn and stopped in front of a small mansion.

The Roth House stood behind a short hedge on the hill, and had a porch that wrapped around the side, and a tower peeking out of the roof. It took until Gregg mentioned it before Nadia realized what it looked like. "Wow," he said, "looks like an Addams Family house."

The gate in front of the Roth House was wide open. Mrs. Herron put the car into Park. "All right, we're here. I'll be back soon. Don't forget, Gregg—as soon as we get home, you are grounded."

Nadia opened her door and stepped out, with Gregg climbing out behind her. The house almost seemed to be staring down and judging them. Rina might possibly be doing the same thing from one of the windows right now.

She and Gregg trudged up the sidewalk. The two might as well have been on their way to the electric chair. Nadia's heart beat faster with each step. Her legs wanted nothing more than to turn and run. If Mrs. Herron hadn't already known it would mostly be children here, and hadn't heard about the nice Wyrdnin at other schools like Papu, she might not have allowed the two of them to go up by themselves, and might have gone up with them, and made sure it all went smoothly. Just Nadia's luck.

It wasn't even the other Wyrdnin she was worried about. Not even magic. Just Rina.

The doorbell was a small white dot on a dark blue frame. Nadia held out her finger, but the closer it got to the button, the slower it moved. She felt as if something might explode if she actually touched it.

"Oh for crying out loud." Gregg pushed the button. A gentle chime rang inside. "What? I want to get this over with."

A young man with white hair, even whiter than the whites of the eyes, opened the door. He wore a robe with many of the same patterns as Rina's dresses. His ears stuck out like horns. "May we help you?"

Nadia's fingers began to fidget, so she stuck them behind her back. "Um, hi. We're here to see Rina."

"Ah, I see," the young man said. "Right this way."

He stepped aside. Nadia hesitated, but Gregg nudged her forward. Gregg entered behind her. Once inside, the young man moved ahead of them toward the staircase in the hallway. "I'll see if Papu's made any… progress." He ran up.

"Thank you," Gregg said, then muttered to Nadia, "Progress?"

Nadia checked out the door to see Gregg's mom driving off.

Back in the hallway, two Wyrdnin children, a boy and a girl, were staring at her and Gregg.

"Uh… Hi," Nadia said. "We're classmates of Rina. Do you know her?"

"Rina?" The boy grimaced.

"Wow, we're sorry," the girl said.

Suddenly a tall man with black hair and a pointy chin appeared out of a doorway, seeming to hover over the floor in his robes. "Ah, so you're Rina's classmates? I apologize for my delay. I'm still preparing dinner. My name is Galen, and I'm the caretaker for the elves in this school district. It's my hope we can get this all resolved quickly." While he spoke, he kept furtively checking upstairs.

"Um, sure," Gregg said.

A voice called from upstairs: "Gregg!"

"Martin?"

Martin was leaning his head over the railing above them, next to a skinny girl with a leaf-patterned dress and unbelievably yellow hair.

"What're you doing here?" Gregg said.

Martin pointed at the blonde. "Papu brought me. We're trying to get Rina to come out."

The young Wyrdnin man who had answered the door now appeared at the top of the stairs. "No use. She still won't open the door."

"Argh!" Papu slapped the railing. "She can't keep it locked forever! It's my room, too!"

"I hope Rina stays there," the staring Wyrdnin girl told Nadia. "She's always making fun of my pigtails."

Nadia hollered up, "Can you tell her I'm here? I'm Nadia, and I'm her friend."

"Friend?" The young man laughed. "Sure, why not?" But he still went back down the upstairs hallway to try knocking again.

"How can you be friends with Rina?" the Wyrdnin girl said. "She's so mean! The only reason she's here is because of her dad."

"That's enough, Oone," Galen said. "Listen… Nadia, was it? We're all aware of the… behavioral… issues your school has had with Rina. We thought sending the Bangle would resolve it. But we never expected this kind of backlash. Now her father's preparing the curse, and the Duchess won't even come out to hear the apology. I'm sorry. If I had a way to prevent the curse, I would."

"Okay, except," Nadia said, "me and Gregg aren't being cursed."

Galen gave her a puzzled look. "The curse was put on the children who harassed Lady Rina today. Were neither of you notified?"

Nadia and Gregg shook their heads. "Are we supposed to be cursed?" Nadia said.

"I knew about Jeremy and Zoe, but…" Gregg looked up at Martin, who waved the letter he'd received. Gregg asked Galen, "What are you going to do to us?"

"We aren't doing anything," Galen said. "It's Duke Algruent that's casting it. I'm trying to make sure it isn't completed. You're saying neither of you received his letter?"

"Of course not," Nadia said.

"Then that means… neither of you were involved in the food fight?"

"No, we weren't."

"And you're not here to apologize for it?"

"No, we're here to apologize for something else." But Nadia wondered, why wasn't she being cursed? Everyone else had merely lashed out at Rina. Nadia was the one who betrayed her.

Galen rubbed his chin. "I understand." He looked up at the boy at the top of the stairs. "Bellagera, show them to Rina's room."

"All right." The boy named Bellagera beckoned them up the stairs. "This way."

Once they reached the next floor, Bellagera led them, along with Martin and Papu, down one of the branching hallways. Some of the doors were open, and Nadia could see into the bedrooms the Wyrdnin used. They each had two beds, and Nadia was surprised at how unremarkable they were, not too much unlike her own room. What was she expecting, portals to other worlds?

Bellagera knocked on one door, the only one that was still closed. "Rina, you're friend Nadia's here to see you, just like I said. She's come a long way, and would really like to talk to you. Open the door."

There was only silence. Bellagera knocked again.

After a moment, Nadia knocked.

"Rina?" she said. "It's me. I just wanted to say how sorry I am for what happened earlier. I know it meant a lot to you to be my friend. But I hurt you, and…" Tears filled her eyes. "Rina, please, I'm sorry. I never wanted any of this to happen. You never have to speak to me again. But Gregg and Martin are here, and Jeremy and Zoe are on their way. They're gonna apologize, too. We just need you to come out."

Silence.

Nadia wiped her face with her fingers.

"You sure she's in there?" Gregg said.

"She locked herself in there hours ago," Bellagera said. "Hmm." His finger began to glow. "I didn't want to have to do this…" He pointed at the doorknob. "We tried to respect her privacy." The latch clicked, and the door swung open.

Bellagera looked in. "She's not in there."

Everybody crowded around him. There were two beds and two desks, and a window shut and sealed, but no Rina.

"No way," Gregg said. "Where'd she go?"

"What'd she do, teleport out?" Martin said.

"She couldn't have," Bellagera said. "Galen has a spell that notifies him whenever anyone leaves. If she'd left, he'd never have sent us up here."

"Unless…" Papu said. "Unless she hasn't technically left this house. She could have gone to the basement."

"You're not suggesting… No, she wouldn't, not even her."

"What's in the basement?" Nadia said.

"Supplies," Bellagera said.

"The laundry room," Papu said.

"The portal to the realm of Faerie."

Nadia rubbed her eyes. Of course Rina would make even an apology difficult.