Chatoyant College Book 7: Upon What Soil

Chapter 35: Glitter

When Tricia brought out a version of the drawstring bag that was checked with green and black, Edie decided she had to buy it—she loved those colors. And when she pointed out a small purse she'd made with a blue wave-patterned fabric and told Troy she could make a large men's bag using that fabric, the girls had to hide their grins as she made another sale.

Then the room exploded.

Even though she'd been forewarned, it took Edie a moment to realize that the stuff floating in the air around her was not smoke and sparks, but multicolored glitter. There was a lot more of it than she'd been expecting. She waved her hands in front of her face, trying to get rid of some of it, and succeeded in opening up enough of a space that she felt like she could breathe.

Cautiously, she looked around at everyone else. Her friends, the crafters, and the few other people attending the fair were all doing the same thing, waving the glitter away and wiping it out of their eyes, hair, and clothes. She patted her hair and grimaced. The glitter was all stuck in her curls. As if they weren't bad enough to begin with.

Corrie, at least, was laughing. So was Roe. Tricia, on the other hand, was standing up and yelling at the boy whose creation had exploded. He was ignoring her, leaning back in his chair and cracking up. He was almost completely covered in glitter, as was his table and the people next to him. The glitter was starting to settle now, and it was layering over the carpet, nearly covering it completely.

"That was excessive," Edie finally managed to comment to Roe. She couldn't help laughing a little, even though the glitter in her hair—and stuck to her skin—was annoying. It was just so ridiculous. "You didn't warn us about that."

Roe shook her head, still grinning. "It wasn't this much in my vision. Either that, or I didn't see the whole explosion. Huh, I don't know. I think I better talk to him."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Edie lowered her voice, though it wasn't likely that anyone would overhear them, over the people yelling and laughing. "Dawn says he's a faerie."

"Really?" Roe frowned and stuck her hand in her pocket. Her eyes widened. "Wow. I guess so. I don't think I'm in danger, though. I mean, it is just glitter. He could have done much worse."

"I guess that's true. Be careful, though."

Roe patted Edie's shoulder. "Don't worry." She strode across the room.

Edie turned back to Tricia's table. She was grimacing and shaking her bags upside-down, getting the glitter out onto the floor. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Annie asked, gesturing at the glitter piling up.

Tricia shook her head. "I don't have a trash can. And Brandon is going to have to vacuum all this up. I'm not going to make it so there's less work for him."

"It's going to get ground into the carpet," said Edie. She shrugged. "Just as long as he does the work, I guess."

Dawn shook her head, letting glitter fall out of her hair. "Okay, I think I'm ready to get out of here. What about you guys?"

"There are a couple more tables to look at," said Corrie. She stuck her hands out and caught some of the glitter coming off Dawn, then dropped it on her own hair. "I don't want to go just yet."

Dawn sighed, but before she could say anything in response, Roe returned with several lint rollers in her hands. She handed one to Tricia and held the rest out to the others. "Brandon brought these. Apparently they're better for getting glitter off fabric than other stuff."

Edie wrinkled her nose even as she took one. "This isn't going to help with my hair."

"No, I guess not." Roe reached out and brushed at Edie's hair, sending a cascade of glitter down to her shoulders and the floor. "Wow, it's like sparkly dandruff. Anyway, he said that once Tricia told everyone about my vision, he decided to make it even bigger than his original plan, so people would still be surprised. That's why I didn't see this much glitter."

Tricia was attacking her bags with the lint roller, using force that was probably unnecessary. "He is not going to be allowed into the next craft fair."

"That sounds reasonable," said Roe, grinning. "You okay there, Troy?"

Troy nodded, grimacing as he rubbed the sticky roller over his arm. "This stuff is just weird."

"Come on, let's move on," said Dawn impatiently. The others followed her to look briefly at the next two tables. The first was a collection of clay bowls and dishes, which the owner was carrying across to Brandon's table, two at a time, to dump the glitter that had collected in them. The second was knitted scarves and hats, which, again, Edie couldn't get very enthusiastic about. She could knit more interesting things herself.

Before they left, they returned to the dollmaker (who was eagerly collecting the glitter from her table into a resealable bag), and Roe bought a doll with black fabric hair and a tuxedo. Edie tried not to look at the gleeful Brandon, but she felt strangely relieved to get out of there.