Chapter 49: Apologies

That was not a question Corrie had been expecting. Maybe he didn't really know about the faeries. He must have heard of them--maybe from Link--but maybe he thought they were faeries like in Victorian tales. "Well, we haven't had the best experiences," she began slowly. She looked at Annie and Edie, who both nodded encouragingly at her. She turned back to Troy. "A group of them kidnapped Annie, and one tried to kill Edie. Though I guess it's true that another faerie, Professor Lal, was the one who rescued Edie. But you can understand why it's hard for us to be trusting."

Troy's eyes had slowly widened as she spoke. "Why would they send me here?" he said softly, apparently to himself. Then he shook himself and looked back at Corrie. "But some of the faeries are all right, aren't they?"

Corrie nodded. "But we can't tell ahead of time which ones."

"Wow." Troy looked down at his hands, then up again. "Okay, I think I understand you better now. You weren't looking for me specifically."

"Not at all," Corrie assured him. "I think I could have been more subtle if I had."

He cracked a smile--tiny, barely a twitch of the lips, but at least he wasn't glaring anymore. "Naturally. Well, this is making more sense than it was. Um, I hadn't known about the clover thing, so after you told me, I went looking to see if I could find one. I thought four-leaf clovers were supposed to be rare."

"They are," said Edie. "Just not here, apparently. So what happened when you found the clover?"

"Well, I was just going to go take it and look in the mirror, but... well, you saw what happened to Link."

"He couldn't breathe," Annie said.

"Right. Uh, sorry for how mad he got, by the way."

"Why?" said Corrie. "I mean, he had every right to get mad."

Troy shook his head. "You didn't know what would happen. And he thought you were doing it on purpose."

Edie's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh, no. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay!" Troy said. "I realized what had happened as soon as he told me it was some green plant thing--those were his exact words, yes." His mouth twitched again. "You didn't know it would mess with our breathing, right?"

"Right," said Edie. She'd lowered her hand, but now it was in her lap, squeezing her other hand. "I just wanted to see what he really looked like. Like we told you, the clover wouldn't go all the way through your illusion when we held it, so I thought maybe if the person with the illusion held it, it would work better."

Troy nodded. "I guess I could tell you why it didn't go through, if you still want to know."

"Oh, we definitely do!" said Corrie eagerly. The other two nodded.

"Well, it's..." Suddenly he started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Corrie asked, confused.

"Sorry," Troy said, grinning. "It's just weird that now that Link has changed his mind about you and doesn't think I should have anything to do with you--even though I explained to him that you didn't mean to choke him--I'm taking his earlier advice and explaining myself."

"Why did he want you to explain yourself?" asked Annie. "You seemed pretty upset that we even knew there was an illusion..."

"Yeah, well, I guess that was kind of dumb of me. Link said it was, and now I see why he's right. I was just freaked out that anyone could tell I'm not, well, human."

"So what are you?" Corrie asked, unable to stop herself. "If you're not human, I mean."

"Right." Troy took a deep breath and glanced around, though there was no one in the common room but them. "My people call ourselves the Djanaea, but from the human literature I've studied, I guess you would have to call us mermaids."

"I knew it!" Corrie crowed.

"You did?" Troy asked.

Corrie nodded. "It was the choking that was the biggest clue. That, and the fact that you liked the rain. I mean, I didn't know if I was definitely right, but that was my--our--best guess."

"Well, I guess that makes this explanation a bit easier, then. We live in the lake you know as Lake Michigan."

"So how do you know so much about human culture?" Edie asked. "I really don't think we would have noticed anything strange about you if we hadn't been looking for the illusion."

"Thanks, I guess I was doing a good job!" Troy said with a laugh. "It's something I've had to study since I was a kid, because I was going to have to come here eventually. Link, too. He didn't start until I did, but I guess he was better at it."

"That brings me to my biggest question," said Corrie. "What are you doing here at all?"

As soon as she'd asked the question, the common room door opened and two girls walked in, talking and carrying cooking implements.