Faire Exchange: Chapter 35
Martin is officially uncursed.
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He held the letter in front of him and read it aloud again: "The curse has been lifted." He read it as he and the others walked on the winding trail through the Algruents' garden, with glowing flowers hanging from the trees overhead. "The curse has been lifted." It had appeared just as they were about to leave the terrace—one for Martin, one for Jeremy, and one for Zoe.
"The curse has been lifted. Tsarina has accepted your apology, and so have I. My family and I hope we can avoid any future hostilities. Duke Algruent."
Martin couldn't take his eyes off it, as if it might vanish if he did. Now he had something to show Granny that he could be proud of. She could scold him as much as she wanted; as far as he was concerned, his conscience was clear.
When she saw the letters, Rina said, "Of course. My father is a man of his word."
As for the others, Zoe had thrown her arms around Jeremy as soon as she read her letter, and he'd been walking like an ecstatic zombie ever since.
The kids left the garden through an archway of braided silver and met up with Bellagera at the front gate. "Good, you made it. I take it everything's settled down now?"
"Yup!" Zoe held up her letter. "No more curse!"
"Lady Rina, are you feeling better?"
Rina nodded. "I'm ready to give Earth another chance."
"And I see you still have the Bangle on," Bellagera said with marvel in his voice.
"Right." Rina held out her arm. "Papu suggested we ask you what to do with it." She spoke with a bit of a growl. She definitely would have preferred taking it off as soon as possible.
"Hm." Bellagera lifted her wrist for a closer look, then shot his eyes to Martin. "You put it on her?"
"Yeah, that's me." Martin raised his hand. "I'm the one who's gotta take it off, right?"
"Correct." Bellagera dropped Rina's arm. "But not today. You'll wait until tomorrow, Lady Rina. You'll go to school, and then Martin will remove the Bangle and turn it over to your teacher."
Rina grimaced and rubbed the Bangle. "You mean I have to keep this on all night?"
"You said back at the mansion you were gonna keep it on," Zoe said.
"At least until we got back to the Roth House. Bellagera, haven't I debased myself enough?"
"Milady, the truth is, every Wyrdnin has at some point in their lives been made to live without magic for a little while. These children have managed to do it their entire lives. You can manage for a night."
Rina whimpered.
Part of Martin felt sorry for her. It never felt good to be deprived of something you loved, or to be chewed out in front of other people. But if Mrs. Horn had gotten the Bangle in the first place, none of this would have ever been necessary. Maybe Martin wouldn't have had a flower grow on his nose. On the other hand, Martin might never have visited Faerie.
Frankly, Bellagera made it sound like Rina was lucky it was only one day.
"Job well done, children," Bellagera said. "Now, we'll be starting dinner shortly. I'll tell Galen you're all joining us."
Martin looked at Jeremy, who looked at Gregg, who looked at Nadia, who looked at Zoe.
"Um, I don't know…" Jeremy said.
"We have to get home," Nadia said.
"We're kind of in a lot of trouble because of this," Zoe said. "And my mom's waiting outside the Roth House."
"So's mine," Gregg said.
Martin said, "I don't think Granny even knows where I am right now."
Bellagera waved it off. "Let us worry about that," he said. "You're joining us."
#
Martin went straight to his desk as soon as he arrived at school.
Jeremy arrived shortly afterwards, still moving like a zombie. Though this time, it wasn't because Zoe had just hugged him.
"Still tired?" Martin said.
"I'm sore. I mean, I'm glad Mom let me stay, but did we really need the big song and dance number?"
Martin laughed. "You and Zoe had some serious moves."
"You should talk," Jeremy chuckled. "You were so light on your feet I thought you were floating."
"So did I. Man, my feet did things I didn't know feet could do."
"And who knew Nadia could sing like that? I'm never gonna watch a musical the same way again."
"Y'know, I always used to wonder how they came up with those songs on the fly like that. Now I guess I don't have to wonder." Martin laughed again. "All that just for telling Rina we were sorry."
Jeremy sighed and slumped forward on his desk. "You think Rina's really gonna straighten up? You think we can trust her?"
"You'd better," Rina said. "Don't make me regret coming back."
Both Jeremy and Martin gave a start.
Rina chuckled. "What? I said I was sorry. I didn't say I was going to stop having fun." She unpinned her cloak and rolled it up. "You and Zoe harmonize well together, Jeremy."
Jeremy started blushing.
Rina put her cloak in her locker and returned to her seat. She held her arm out toward Martin—the arm with the Bangle. "Look, I'm sorry about the flower. Do you mind?"
Martin stretched his hand toward the Bangle.
"I promise it'll be different this time," Rina said. "I'll even let you touch my ear."
Martin looked at Jeremy, and Jeremy nodded.
Martin touched his fingertips to the Bangle. He tugged on the hinge. It opened up, and he lifted it off of her wrist. Right away the color washed back into her face, the sparkle back into her hair, the glow into her hand.
Jeremy and Martin both leaned back.
The glow faded as Rina stretched and took her seat. "Ah, what a relief." She glanced at Martin and flicked her ear, giving her earring a little jingle. "Well?"
"N… No thanks," Martin said. "I better take it up."
He ran up to give it to Mrs. Horn.
The bell rang as he came back. Before Mrs. Horn started class, Rina raised her hand. "May I say something?"
"Of course, Lady Rina," Mrs. Horn said, holding the Bangle.
Rina stepped out of her desk. "I'm sorry, everyone. I originally didn't want to be part of the Exchange, and took my feelings out on all of you because I thought it would help me feel better. But it didn't. I hope from now on we can be friends. Or at least not enemies. Thank you."
Rina sat back down.
The rest of the class grumbled and chittered among each other. It sounded like several of them couldn't tell if she actually meant what she said. Martin knew she did—for once, she sounded like a kid, not a supervillain—but still, it might take more than that apology for everyone else to welcome her. Until then, Martin planned to at least put in an effort.
"All right, that's enough, class," Mrs. Horn said. "Rina, I accept your apology. I hope we can be friends, too." She raised the Bangle. "Just remember, if anything happens, I can always use this."
"Of course."
From then on, Rina sat quietly through class, if not always attentively. Occasionally Martin noticed her doodling in her notebook.
He had to admit, when they were her own drawings, she wasn't half bad.