Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 129: Negotiations

Belinda was a little freaked out by Corrie's explanation, but she said she might be willing to teach them anyway. "Would I be paid?"

Corrie frowned. "I actually hadn't thought of that. I don't know if the faeries have any way of paying you—I mean, they could probably glamour up some money, but you wouldn't be able to use it for anything. I could ask Professor Lal if there's any budget for this sort of thing, but honestly, if you need to get paid, I should probably just keep looking."

Belinda nodded. "I guess it's okay if I don't. I could use the experience anyway. I'm thinking about becoming a music teacher when I'm older."

"You wouldn't be able to put this on your résumé," Corrie said.

Belinda grinned. "I know. But I'll be able to find out how much I like it. And I guess these will be really difficult students, so I'll be prepared for the worst. So they don't have any idea what instruments they want to play?"

"No," said Corrie. "They don't even want to do it, so I doubt it matters. But unless you have some kind of magic piano, I don't think you'll be able to teach them that."

"There are keyboards that run on batteries," said Belinda. "But maybe their magic will mess that up."

Corrie shook her head. "I have no idea. Might as well give it a try."

"So I'll bring a keyboard and a student violin, and try them on both of those and on singing," Belinda said. "I don't know how well they're going to be able to reach the instruments from inside a cage, though."

"I'm not sure how we're going to deal with that," Corrie admitted. "I didn't have much time to work out the specifics. But Mardalan might have some way to bind them while leaving their hands free. If nothing else, you can just teach them to sing."

"It'll be a challenge," said Belinda. She had a determined light in her eyes. Corrie thought she was more interested now than she was when they'd first started talking, just because it would be so interesting to teach the faeries.

"So when can you come by with all that stuff?" Corrie asked. "I'll be honest, I'm kind of impatient to get started so I don't have this hanging over my head anymore."

"I can try to come by tomorrow after school, once I have the supplies," Belinda said. "Do you have classes in the late afternoon or anything?"

"Not late," said Corrie. "We should exchange phone numbers."

They did, and then sat in silence for a moment while they listened to the faint sounds of shouting from the werewolf circle. "Okay," said Corrie, "since we have to keep sitting here while we wait, can you tell me what they're arguing about?"

Belinda shook her head quickly. "I really can't. Don't worry, it probably doesn't affect you."

"Probably?" Corrie raised her eyebrows.

"Well, it could, in the future," said Belinda. "But I'm not sure how."

"Are you in high school?" Corrie asked.

Belinda nodded. "I'm applying to get into Chatoyant College, but I won't know where I've gotten in until April. I'd like to go here, though. It's not too far from my family and I'll still be able to come to the moon meetings."

"Maybe by then you'll have a whole faerie orchestra to teach," said Corrie. "I'm sure you'll get in. It's not that exclusive since so few people know about it. And they took me, with my crappy grades."

"You don't even know what kind of grades I get!" said Belinda.

"But I bet they're better than what I got," said Corrie.

After a while, Corrie's father came through the woods towards them. "The hard part of the meeting is over," he said. "Belinda, you can go back to the group. Corrie, they've agreed to let me walk you back to campus."

"You don't have to do that," said Corrie, patting the rock she was sitting on. "This is comfortable enough, and I did bring some homework to do."

He shook his head. "You'll freeze if you're out here for much longer. Unless you've inherited all of my powers of body heat production, and I doubt it. Either way, you'll be much more comfortable doing your homework on campus."

Corrie sighed and stood up. "See you later," she said to Belinda, who responded with a wave as she headed back to the other werewolves.

"So you're running errands for faeries now?" her father asked as they began to walk back.

"Sort of," Corrie said. She thought about the whole complicated story and decided not to get into it. Besides, he would be mad that she hadn't told him about the trouble she was having, and she didn't want an argument. Things were still so awkward with him as it was. "I made a bargain," she said at last. "This way they won't just steal the human musicians, they'll make the music themselves."

"That sounds like a great plan," he said faintly. "They won't steal Belinda, will they?"

"I don't know how they feel about werewolf musicians," she said. "But I'll make them promise not to."