Faire Exchange: Chapter 7

Jeremy finds a surprise in his closet.

New to the story?

---

---

"And then she blew the ashes right in his face! I swear, she's just awful!"

"Uh huh," Jeremy's mom said, slicing the pork while Jeremy chopped up the vegetables. "She definitely sounds like a piece of work."

"Everybody's afraid of her now, except for the third-graders." Jeremy cut the seed pod out of a green pepper. "And I have to sit in front of her. Can you believe that? It's so unfair. Why did it have to be my school and my class?"

"It sounds terrible, for sure," Mom said. "I'll bet tomorrow she's going to turn somebody into a tree, and make them leaf."

"I know! And the school can't do any—" Jeremy set the knife down. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"It's not that I don't believe you, Jeremy. I'm just… skeptical. An exchange student comes in, picks on some people, that's one thing. But these are some pretty remarkable stories. They sound like rumors that already got out of hand."

"But they're not! I saw them myself! I saw her hands light up like fire."

"Maybe she's good at sleight-of-hand. Look, I didn't raise you to be afraid of someone just because they're different. Don't forget your grandparents were immigrants. They came all the way from Greece with nothing but their own clothes."

"I know." It wasn't that Rina was different. It was that she was absolutely terrifying. How could he make Mom understand? "She only likes to be called Lady Rina."

"Okay, so she's spoiled. Well, one thing I know about bullies is that what they really want is attention. And making up all these outlandish stories about her is just giving her what she wants. Try ignoring her for a while, see what happens."

Jeremy took the knife and finished chopping the pepper. "Okay, fine, I'll try that."

"I hope it's not too hard," Mom said with a smirk. "You've been talking about this girl ever since you got home. If I didn't know any better, I'd think maybe you were a little sweet on her."

"What?" Jeremy pulled off the apron. "Ew, Mom, no! Anybody who likes her has gotta be out of his mind, or under some magic spell. I'm going to the bathroom."

Mom chuckled. "It's okay, you're done now. I'll have dinner ready in just a little bit."

"Fine. Sure. Can't wait."

Jeremy washed his hands in the sink and marched out of the kitchen. The entire apartment smelled like onions and peppers and whatever sauce Mom was using this time.

Of course it wasn't just because Rina was foreign, or different. He and Mom still had Yiayia's favorite handpainted icon of Jesus on the wall—a constant reminder that Jeremy's own roots weren't necessarily here. But Yiayia and Papou wouldn't have treated their classmates the way Rina did, if they'd been kids. And Dad, before he died, got along great with everybody, everywhere. How could it be so hard for Rina to do that?

On his way to the bathroom, he heard something go thwump in the hall closet. Maybe a box had fallen from the shelf? At any rate, he figured he should check on it.

Then he heard a small voice say "Hello?"

Jeremy froze. It was too high and too close to be Mom.

"Where am I? It's dark, and cramped, and I can't get up."

"Hang on, I got you." Jeremy grabbed the knob. It was usually heavy, so he had to give it a good twist before it could open.

When it did, he found a girl in the closet, sprawled on the floor. She had bright green eyes and even brighter yellow hair, like ink from a highlighter. The tips of her ears pointed through her hair the same as Rina's. "Oh, thank you! I was out to get some milk"—she held up a one-gallon jug—"and got lost on the way back." As Jeremy helped the girl back on her feet, her face got buried in the coats and jackets hanging around her, but only for a moment. "Thank you very much. I know this must be startling, but I'm grateful." She stepped out to the hall just as Mom's voice sounded out of the kitchen.

"Jeremy? What's going on?" Mom came out to the hall. "Why do I hear—oh."

"Hello," the girl said. "Is this your home? I apologize for coming in so unexpectedly. I was just telling…"

"Jeremy."

"Jeremy how I got here on the way back home. Oh, where are my manners? I am Papu Hargo. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Papou?" Jeremy said. She certainly didn't look like a grampa.

"Um, likewise," Mom said. "Well, I'm Catherine Vlachos, and that is of course my son Jeremy. I… am a little confused."

"Yeah," Jeremy said. "Like… how'd you get in the closet?"

"Oh, of course," Papu said. "You don't use meggle or pard in this world."

"I have no idea what those words just were."

"They're directions we use in Faerie to walk long distances in a short time. To you I suppose it looks like I just came out of nowhere."

"So… teleportation?"

"Anyway, I've come to like the bovine milk you have here, so I thought I'd shop for some. But you put a lot of buildings and junk in the way, so when I tried going meggle from the Kanku's, I wound up here. Everything's perfectly clear left or right or up or down, but not meggle. It'll take time to learn my way around."

"S… sure," Jeremy said. So he might get more elves in his closet?

Mom stepped a little closer. "So… I can't help but notice you're…"

"Oh, yes," Papu said. "I'm a Wyrdnin."

"That's what you call yourselves?" Jeremy said. "I've just been saying 'Elf.'"

"I don't mind 'Elf,' but yes, it's 'Wyrdnin.' And I'm going to school in your world as part of an exchange program, to reunite Earth with Faerie."

"Y-yes. Jeremy was just telling me about his new classmate, Rina."

Papu gasped at Jeremy. "You're at Rina's school? I'm so, so sorry."

"You know her?" Jeremy groaned.

"Ever since we were little. Our fathers are friends, and they used to make us play with each other, but she is just the most spoiled pooka I've ever met. She always picked on me—always! Stealing my dolls, lighting me on fire, all sorts of things!"

"That sounds like her, all right."

"I'm very sorry. Her father's a major sponsor of the exchange, so she had to come with us. I assure you, a new Bangle's on its way, and our caretakers are going to find out what happened to the original. My teacher at my school got one, and I don't want to give her a reason to use it. Please don't think we're all like Rina."

"All right," Jeremy said. "Where are you staying?"

"At a house in Kramer Heights. All of us have our own room."

"Wait, Kramer Heights?" Mom said. "All the way out there? And now you're here?"

"Well, she can teleport," Jeremy said. "You think you can make it home okay?"

"I think so," Papu said. "Sorry to bother you both. Maybe we'll meet again, Jeremy and Catherine."

She tapped her foot on the floor and disappeared.

Jeremy looked at his mother. "Now do you believe me?"

Mom nodded, then perked her ears at the sizzling in the kitchen. She swore. "I left the stove on!"

Jeremy followed her to the kitchen door and lingered there while she checked the stir-fry. He still wanted her to admit he told her so.

"Okay, it's not burned," she said. "I just can't believe it. There she was, and then, there she wasn't. But that exchange program… you'd think I'd have heard about it on the news."

"Mr. Newell said they kinda sprang this on everybody," Jeremy said. "Maybe it's on the news now."

"Go check, will you?"

Jeremy went to the living room and turned on the TV, which was set to the Roku. He put it on CNN.

The answer was: yes, it was now on the news. Something had finally made them shut up about that thing that comedian said on Twitter.

In the icon on the wall, Jesus Christ watched impassively.

Later on, after Jeremy started dinner, his mom remarked, "You know, that elf girl was pretty cute. And you seemed to hit it off pretty well."

Jeremy rolled his eyes and groaned. "She looked all right, I guess."

"Looked all right? Girls like her only drop around once in a blue moon."

"Mom, quit it," Jeremy said. "I'm not interested!" Was this the reason so many teenagers rebel? He would never be interested in any girl like Papu or Rina, not in a million years.

Not when the world already had Zoe Walters.