Keeper of the Lost Cities: The Second Moonlark (a KOTLC/MLB crossover)

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Marinette

"Wasn't talking about you, son of a bad match," Stina sneered, her indigo gaze whirling to Marinette. "I was talking about the newest freak."

Marinette pursed her lips together.

"Face it, Forbidden Cities, but ever since you've arrived, I don't think I've seen any other elf so clumsy! You're a walking disaster!" Stina said, her voice getting more annoying–but still hurtful–by the second. "In fact, I heard that little story with Galvin and the welt. How could you do that? Lady Galvin adores me!"

Makes sense, Marinette thought.

"I'd just like to see you try not to go five steps without tripping," Stina said, faking a whole "trying to soften the previous blow" cover. "Your knees would thank you."

Marinette bit her lip to keep from crying. She wouldn't let this girl have the pleasure.

"Leave her alone," Dex hissed. "What did she ever do to you?"

"May I remind you, she nearly tackled me down with her yesterday," Stina pointed out, sounding more and more like Chloe with every word that came out of her mouth. "If she doesn't realize that tripping and falling isn't a sport, then we can expect a lot worse!"

Dex was steaming red for a second before he finally went back to normal.

"Let's go," he said, his voice hardening as he dragged Marinette into the study hall room. "We can always deal with her later. Hey, you wanna come over to my place? I can teach you how not to explode stuff."

Marinette swallowed down the lump in her throat and nodded.

Hopefully she would have a good cry tonight, when no one was watching her.

"I can't do this."

"You can," Dex said. "You just have to believe in yourself."

Marinette stared at the jars in front of her. Dex figured that the best way to get better was to keep trying at the serum. It turned out that she had been shaking so much earlier from trying to get everything right that she had accidentally added too little of one of the ingredients, causing it to explode a little. Not as bad as when Sophie said she whipped the serum when she wasn't supposed to, when she was really supposed to "WHAP"--wash hands and present. It made no sense to Marinette.

Then again, not much did.

"Here, let me help you," Dex said, staring at a small sheet of paper with the recipe written down. "It's just like baking."

Marinette knew that, but it was probably Lady Galvin's stare that had freaked her out.

"I'm probably better at designing," she said. "A lot easier for me."

"What do you design?" Dex asked.

"Here," Marinette pulled out her sketchbook and handed it to him as she began measuring out the strange liquids and powders.

"Wow, you're really good," Dex said. "The feather hat looks cool too."

Marinette turned to see Dex staring at the design of the derby hat she'd done the day Mr. Pigeon first attacked.

"Thanks," she said, turning back to the serum. "It was for some designing competition. The winner would have theirs modeled by Adrien himself. You wouldn't believe the shock I had when it was me."

"Cool," Dex said. "So I take it you and Adrien are good friends?"

"With or without the mask," Marinette replied. "But he was often more of a flirt when he was Cat Noir."