Fairy Bad Day(22)

“Please do, because my whole family is dying to see you again.” Olivia held up both hands to show her fingers were crossed before giving Emma and Curtis one final sunny smile and heading off. “And happy slaying.”

Emma rolled her eyes as Curtis turned and said, “Your stepmom seems pretty cool. It’s nice that she wants you to feel like you’re part of her family.”

“Yeah. It’s just great,” Emma mumbled as she dropped her kit onto the nearby bench and pulled out some cream. Then she nodded for Curtis to sit down.

“You don’t like her?” Curtis lifted an eyebrow in surprise as she reached out for his hand and inspected the wound while she tried to ignore how smooth the unburned part of his skin was. Did he moisturize?

“She’s okay, I guess,” Emma relented as she started to treat the burn just like she’d learned in all the first-aid courses she’d taken at Burtonwood. “Though she smiles way too much, and every time I go home for the weekend, she’s always trying to help me polish my sword or patch up my clothes.”

“I had no idea things were so tough for you,” Curtis said, with a hint of sarcasm. He winced as Emma put some cream on his hand and it sank into the wound.

“Look, it’s complicated,” Emma was stung into replying as she carefully put some light gauze around the burn and avoided looking at him, since there was something about his deep brown eyes that she found unnerving.

“Why, because she and your dad are having a baby together and you think he’s forgotten about your mom?” he said with more sarcasm.

“So what, now you’re a dragon slayer and Dr. Phil?” Emma growled, finally looking up at him. However, instead of seeing an arrogant expression on his tanned, perfect face, her words seemed to sting him more than the cream, and she watched in surprise as two bright red spots of color blazed on his cheeks.

Okay, so she hadn’t expected that.

“Hey, Jones. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. She just seemed nice, that’s all. But you’re right. It’s none of my business,” he said in an apologetic voice. “It’s easy to judge when you’re standing on the outside and can’t see what’s really going on. But the truth is that even the most regularlooking families can be screwed up.”

For a moment Emma blinked at him in surprise. She really hadn’t taken Curtis for the sensitive, considerate type. And since when did he know about complicated families? “Yeah, something like that,” she mumbled as she found herself returning his gaze, focusing on the smooth curve of his mouth as it swung up at the corners. It was a nice mouth. Why had she never noticed before? And suddenly Loni’s words came back to haunt her. Perhaps she had been too hard on Curtis? After all, she didn’t even know him, yet she had decided he was horrible, when really he was just as much a victim of this crappy situation as she was.

“Jones, are you okay?” Curtis suddenly asked as he studied her face, a bemused smile tugging at his mouth. “You’re pretty quiet. And you’re still holding my hand.”

“What?” Emma could feel the heat rise up in her cheeks as she looked down and realized that she still had his hand in hers. She immediately let it go and busied herself putting everything away while making a mental note to avoid touching Curtis—it seemed to do strange things to her. “Yes, I’m fine. Anyway, your hand should be okay.”

“Thanks.” He gave it a wave in the air as if to check that the gauze would hold before he awkwardly got to his feet while Emma once again tried to ignore the way his blond curls hung over his eyes.

“Don’t mention it.” She shrugged, then took a deep breath. “And look, sorry I was a little rude. I don’t really like talking about family stuff.”

“I understand.” For a moment the smile left his face and he gave a solemn nod, which caused his blond curls to scatter across his forehead in all directions. “So, do you want to look for the fairies one more time? We still have half an hour before we need to leave, and it might help us learn more about this darkhel of yours.”

For the second time in as many minutes, Emma looked at him in surprise. First he seemed to understand her, and now he seemed eager to help her. Unfortunately, it was too late and she reluctantly shook her head.

“They’ll be long gone, not to mention putting the call out to tell all the other fairies in the area to lie low. They make instant messaging look like ancient history.”

“Oh.” Curtis actually looked disappointed. “So we head back to Burtonwood, then?”

“I guess.” Emma nodded. “I’ll just give Kessler a call and let him know what’s happened.”

“You want to call Kessler?” Curtis’s mood instantly changed as a look of concern appeared on his brow. “Are you really sure you want to tell him about this? I mean, he seemed pretty pissed off when you called him last time.”

“That was before I knew what it was. Now I have proof it’s a fairy called a darkhel—”

“An invisible fairy that no one’s ever seen or heard of before,” Curtis reminded her in an enthusiasm-killing voice.

“That’s not the point.” Emma shook her head in frustration. And to think that a couple of minutes ago she thought they had reached some sort of understanding. Yet now he was acting like the arrogant dragon slayer that she had first thought he was. “You were there. You heard the fairies talk about it, and we already know it was hunting on campus. You do the math.”