Faire Exchange: Chapter 9

Gregg is bewildered and bothered.

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He'd been unable to stop thinking about Rina all day. After he got home, he spent so long googling anything he could about Faerie that he nearly forgot to do his homework. He dreamed about her, though after waking all he could remember was that she was there, and she was radiant. In the morning he wandered to the kitchen and forgot what he wanted for breakfast. Maybe Rina did cast a spell on him. How would he ever know?

As Mom drove him and his older brother Danny to school—half an hour early as always, so she could get to work—he suddenly realized he'd even forgotten to check YouTube to see if that Let's Play of Chrono Trigger had updated. If this wasn't a spell, what was?

Gregg hopped out of the backseat, and Danny called out, "Hey, you dork! You forgot your bag!"

So that's why he felt lighter! Gregg ran back and yanked his backpack from the floor of the car. "Thanks, dingus," he said affectionately.

He rushed inside keeping his head low. If Danny had the slightest inkling that Gregg was obsessing over an elf girl, he'd never let him live it down.

Maybe Nadia would understand.

Since she got here even earlier so her mom could get to work, Nadia would always be waiting in the cafeteria playing with her iPhone. Gregg found her there this morning… but where was the phone? She was doodling in her notebook instead.

Gregg laid his backpack on the table. "Morning, Nadia. What's up? You don't have your…"

"Yeah. I decided to leave it at home today. Just figured I should keep it safe."

"Safe from…" Gregg hesitated. The name was like fireworks in his mouth. "From Rina?"

Nadia sighed, and let her face drop. "Sort of. I ran into her after school, and she wanted to play with it. I'm lucky she didn't blow it up." Nadia hadn't looked up from her doodle. "Actually, she really liked it. She said she couldn't believe humans could make anything like it."

"No kidding. So wait, she didn't do anything bad?"

"No. She just kinda… well, seemed like a foreigner who's here for the first time. She reminded me of my uncle Shang. So scary a lot of the time… but that was the first time she seemed like an ordinary kid." Nadia thought about it for a moment, then said, "Don't tell anybody I said that."

"So…" Gregg needed to figure out how to say this without giving himself away. He'd gone to sleep the night before imagining Rina dropping her mask just for him and showing she really was a sweet girl underneath it all. "You think maybe there might be some good in her?"

Nadia checked over her shoulder before answering. "Maybe," she said. "The elf kids at the other schools don't seem so bad. When I saw her, she really seemed frustrated more than anything."

"Frustrated? Like…?" Gregg noticed more kids wandering in. "Like how?"

"Like she doesn't want to be here. Like she doesn't know what to do here. Like my mom when we wind up missing a flight."

"Geez," Gregg said. "You put it like that, I kinda feel sorry for her." Maybe if she could learn to feel better about living on Earth, she'd start treating people better.

"Right, but everybody hates her, and I don't think anybody else is gonna believe me. Do you believe me?"

"Of course I do." There just had to be more to Rina than her personality. There was something about her that made him feel this way, wasn't there?

"Really?" Nadia leaned closer to him. "Mind if I ask why?"

Gregg's insides turned to ice. As long as they'd known each other, he and Nadia had joked about being boyfriend and girlfriend, getting married, or just "sitting in a tree." He'd never taken it seriously, but what would she say if he admitted he'd actually fallen in love with somebody? And somebody like Rina?

"I just…" Gregg gulped. "I trust you. If you say there's something, it's probably true." He hoped she didn't notice his leg shaking.

"That's a relief," Nadia said. "Everybody's so mad and afraid—heck, we barely know her, Gregg. She's literally capable of anything."

Nadia was right. It might be a while before people began to see the real Rina, if she was in there.

Until then, Rina was incredibly dangerous.

But if Nadia was right, maybe someday Gregg could meet that real Rina. He could be hers, and she could be his.

They stopped talking about Rina as more kids came in to kill time or eat breakfast before class started. Gregg checked the clock on the wall, then stood up and lifted his backpack. "Jeremy and Martin oughta be here by now. I'm gonna go meet up with them."

"Sure, later," Nadia said, turning the page in her notebook for a new doodle. "Stay safe, my sweet."

Gregg chuckled and headed out to the hall.

Just as he did, he spotted Rina sweeping through in her cloak, wearing a long flowing skirt as bright as dawn. So bright, it might have been made of dawn itself.

She glanced, and her eyes crossed with his. Just for a moment he got a full glimpse of the prismatic violet in her eyes. The burst inside him was almost as powerful as it had been yesterday.

And in an instant, it was over, and she continued flowing through the halls to Mrs. Horn's crass. Gregg trailed a large distance behind her, toward the same room, where his friends were waiting.

It was just a look, but it was a look, not a glare or a scowl. Already it made Gregg's whole day. Maybe he and Rina had a shot after all.