Chatoyant College Book 5: Parents' Weekend

Chapter 49: Troy's Advice

"...So that's why we wanted your advice," Corrie finished up. "Any thoughts you might have would probably be helpful."

Troy did not look like he felt helpful. In fact, he looked shocked and a little terrified. He'd been surprised to see the three girls show up at his door, but had invited them in and agreed to listen to their story. They didn't want to use Link's side of the room, so he was sitting on his desk chair and the three girls were all crowded together on the edge of his bed. He'd lifted a glass of water partway to his mouth before Corrie finished the story, and now he put it carefully back down on his desk.

"I guess you're asking me because I'm not human either?" he asked, his eyes flicking nervously from face to face.

Roe nodded encouragingly. "No one knows Edie better than Corrie and Dawn do, but we thought maybe you could help us understand Leila's perspective." They'd wanted to talk to Link, too, but Troy had said he was in class and might not be around today, so they'd settled for just him.

Troy shook his head. "I don't know. I mean, I guess I did the same thing as she did, trying to hide what I was even after you'd figured it out..."

"But we hadn't figured it out completely," said Dawn. "We know for sure that Leila is a faerie. And to be honest, it made us kind of nervous that you didn't want to tell us the truth, too."

"I can understand that," Troy said. "But I had no reason to think you knew what Djanaea were—and you didn't. Leila knows you know about faeries, and she must know that you're familiar with both malicious ones and helpful ones."

"It sounds like you agree that she's... well, acting suspiciously," Corrie said. She didn't quite want to say that Leila was evil. Hopefully, "evil" was not a term that described her at all, especially since there was nothing really they could do right now to convince Edie to stay away from her.

Troy nodded. "Unfortunately, I don't know what you can do about it, since you said Edie got mad at you."

"She hasn't talked to me at all today," Corrie said, trying not to sound too miserable about it. She was really miserable, of course, but whining wasn't going to help.

"Wow, that really sucks," Troy said sympathetically. "I'm sure she'll come around, though. Annie is on your side in this too?" When they nodded, he continued, "I don't know you very well, Dawn and Roe, but from working with Corrie, Edie, and Annie on the project and other stuff in class, I can tell she really cares about and trusts you two."

"That's another part of the problem," Dawn said. "I mean, Corrie and I are her best friends. If she's reacting to us like this, I don't think she's entirely rational."

"Well... hormones do weird things," said Troy, looking away for a moment. "That's what Link tells me, anyway."

"Ooh, Troy," Corrie teased, "have your hormones been playing tricks on you?"

His smile twitched a little. "Er, well, Link gives me a lot of advice on being human. Or pretending to be human. You know."

"I don't think hormones can fully explain it, though," Dawn said. "Or... you know, liking somebody. I mean, I like Rico a lot." Despite her worry, she got a little smile on her face. Corrie had seen her smile like that a lot when she mentioned Rico in conversation. It was a good smile. "But if Corrie and Edie had something bad to tell me about Rico, especially if it was something fairly objective like this, I think I would listen."

"But can you be sure?" Roe asked. "You might want to think about it logically, but when it came to the real situation, your emotions might take over."

Dawn nodded. "True, but I can't imagine reacting so strongly. I might be pissed if I thought you were being unfair, but I wouldn't run away or give you the silent treatment."

"So are you suggesting there's something other than emotions and hormones going on?" Troy asked. "I mean, what else could it be?"

Corrie glanced at Dawn before turning back to him. "Well, you know about the spell that prevents people from figuring out about the faeries?"

"Yeah. I think it doesn't work on Djanaea. Or maybe it's because we already know about them."

"Right," said Corrie. "It doesn't work on us, either—or at least not as well as on other people—because we know about them. But I think Leila might be using that spell on us, or one like it. I've known her for weeks and it didn't occur to me until this weekend that she might be a faerie. I mean, I have a policy of checking everyone! So she must be using that on Edie."