Faire Exchange: Chapter 8

Zoe does some research

Sorry for the delay in the new episode. I’ve started a new semester, and it’s a bit busier than the last one. I’ve also been addicted to watercolor, and you can see some of the results on my Instagram.

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Zoe's face still stung from where the volleyball had hit her.

Of course, if nobody did anything about Rina, then an aching face was the least Zoe had to worry about. Not that the rest of her family would listen.

No, right now everybody was gathered around the dinner table listening to Paul. He'd never met Rina, and only knew about her through a classmate, that brat Halley, the one who zapped Celeste during recess. "Halley said she's really nice, and knows tons of magic. I'm gonna see if I can meet her tomorrow."

It made bile rise in Zoe's stomach. Some brother he was, more starstruck by the elf than concerned for his own dear sister.

"That's interesting," Momma said. "And she's in your class, Zoe?"

Zoe picked at the chicken with her fork. "No, she's in Mrs. Horn's."

"But you've had a chance to meet her?" Daddy said.

"Yes."

"You must be great friends by now," Momma said.

Zoe lowered her fork. "What? No! After what she's done to everybody?"

Her mother seemed a little rattled. "Zoe, what are you talking about?"

And Zoe set off on a litany of Rina's crimes, especially what happened during Gym. "I tried to make friends with her, and that's what she did!"

Paul scoffed. "She probably just got bored with you talking about soccer."

"Paul, that's no way to talk to your sister," Daddy said. "Zoe, are you sure you've given this girl a fair shot?"

"She eats roaches."

"Still… she's… new to this country, and maybe she hasn't picked up all the ways we do things here."

Daddy didn't hear that rotten witch laughing as everyone hid from the ball in Gym. Zoe needed real answers. Nobody at school knew what to do. On the other hand… "You believe me about the magic, right?"

"Well, I wasn't going to say until we had a more… concrete start date."

"You knew about this?" Zoe said. Daddy worked at the Mayor's office, so no wonder.

"For how long?" Melanie said. Zoe's older sister had just sat and listened until now.

"About a week," Daddy said. "It kind of hit us out of nowhere. I'd assumed this wouldn't start at least until next semester. Actually, the fact that they started her today without notifying us first has me concerned. I'd have thought they'd make a few arrangements first."

"Well," Melanie said, "You did say they might not've picked up how we do things."

"I suppose so," Daddy said.

Zoe rolled the peas around on her plate. Her face still stung. Just how much was being kept from her and her classmates?

After dinner she blasted through her homework so she could get to the computer. Already she could hear rumblings on the news from the living room—all over the world, strange children with strange powers were appearing in schools. The President had interrupted a meeting with the premier of China to comment on it.

But when she got to her computer, Melanie was already there.

"Hey, I need to use the computer," Zoe said.

"Too bad, it's my turn. It's Monday, that means I go first."

"Okay, fine. When are you done?"

"In a minute, as soon as I'm done checking Facebook. And after I've taken a look at the schedule for that driving school. But Paul already called next."

"But he'll take forever! He always wants to play that stupid puzzle game."

"And I'm sure your stupid puzzle game is way more important. Or is it another Man United match?"

"Grr… Neither. I wanna look up stuff about Faerie."

"Oh, 'cause of your new classmate? Shoulda known. I'll look it up for you, just give me a minute."

Zoe leaned over on the desk, listening to every click, every last one, wishing desperately that the next one would be the last.

Paul stormed into the room. "Is it my turn yet?"

"Just a minute," Zoe said. "I need her to look something up for me."

"Melanie, you said it would be my turn."

Melanie rolled her eyes. "It will be. Now, Zoe, what is it you wanted to look up?"

"I just wanna know anything I can about the elves," Zoe said. "Where'd they come from? What do they want?"

"You know, I actually found a good article about it earlier. Lemme see if I can bring it back up… Here we go, Washington Post… Argh, I hate it when they embed video. Muting."

Zoe read it together with her sister. It had just about everything anyone knew about Faerie, with links and tweets all about it.

Problem was, it was all pretty dense, and Zoe read slowly. In English class, when it was her turn to read something out loud, she read like a depressed snail, and could just about feel her classmates judging her. Even her summer reading was a slog; it took her weeks to get through Harriet the Spy. "Can you give me the gist of it?"

"Okay." Melanie leaned back and rubbed her eyes. "So basically, until about five hundred years ago, the Fae, or the Wyrdnin, or whatever, they used to come from the realm of Faerie to play tricks on humans, stuff like that. Then all of a sudden they decided to cut off contact. It was about the same time Columbus landed in America, the Spanish Inquisition, stuff like that.

"And lately, there's been a wave of new social movements in Faerie. So they reconsidered things, and decided it was time to make contact with humans again. And they decided to start by sending their kids to our schools."

"That's kind of a weird way to start things off," Zoe said.

"It's what they wanted to do. Says here it was spearheaded by King Oberon, Princess Oneira, and sponsored by a whole bunch of aristocrats. Duke Graivent, Duke Aravon, Duke Algruent—"

"Algruent? Did you say Algruent?"

"Yeah, why?"

"That's Rina's last name!"

"Oho. So yeah, apparently this was so important to the Wyrdnin that they didn't even bother coordinating with our governments. Somebody literally appeared in the Oval Office two weeks ago and told the President they'd do this. Then they bought property and registered everybody last week.

"Just a week? It took Momma and Daddy months to sell the old house."

"I dunno, maybe the Elves used magic. Maybe they worked out it with real estate agents before any world leaders. I don't know. But yeah, it's five kids for every city. Ten for bigger ones. Twenty-five for places like New York and Tokyo."

"Geez… All of a sudden, there's magic everywhere." Zoe felt the awe in her own voice. If this were just a few years ago—if she were Paul's age—she might have said the same thing with even more delight. But tonight, after meeting Rina, she simply could not muster it. "This means… this means the whole world's gonna change, isn't it?"

Melanie leaned back in the chair. "I think you're right. What's gonna happen to us now that magic's been thrown into the mix?"

Zoe already had a good idea, and it felt like a volleyball to the face. "You said they used to play tricks on people. What happens if this whole exchange is one of them?"

"I guess we just have to hope it isn't."

"Are you done yet?" Paul whined. "I'm bored."

"In a minute!" Melanie said without turning around. "Anyway, Zoe, are you satisfied now?"

"Almost," Zoe said. "I don't suppose there's anything about how to protect yourself from magic, is there?"

"Aughhh…" Paul thudded his heel on the floor.

"Alright, Zoe," Melanie said, "that's enough. You can look the rest of it up later. It's time to let Paul take his turn."

"But—"

But Melanie was already out of the chair, and Paulie jumped into her place.

"Zoe, you're a big girl," Melanie said. "You can give it a rest for an hour."

Paul said, "Right Zoe, you can give it a rest."

Zoe said, "Oh shut up."

"Easy," Melanie said. "You've still got till tomorrow. It's not like that girl's gonna cast a spell on you here in the meantime."

Zoe's fists shook by her sides, and she marched out. Melanie didn't understand. Who knows what Rina's plotting, wherever she is? Zoe might not be safe from her anywhere.

If there was a way to stop Rina, Zoe had to find out.