Fairy Bad Day(3)

“But you have to be,” she finally said. “Maybe you got the name mixed up and you’re thinking of Erin Juniper. I mean, we have the same initials. Just check again and I think you’ll see it should say dragons. My designation is dragons,” she repeated in a firm voice.

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Emma. It’s no mistake. I’ve discussed this carefully with the other training academies, and shown them your results, and they all agree that it points to the same thing. Fairies.”

“Yes, but fairies are only ten inches tall and don’t kill things. There’s no need to slay them,” Emma pointed out as she tried to make sense of a situation that quite clearly made no sense whatsoever.

“They’re one of the elementals, and if they came through the Gate of Linaria, then they’re dangerous,” Principal Kessler said firmly. Then he softened his expression. “Look, Emma, no one knows more than I do how much you wanted to follow in your mom’s footsteps, but my decision is final. You can’t argue with results.”

“Of course I can, especially when the results make no sense. Please, you can’t do this to me. Aren’t you always telling us that Sir Francis created those designation tests over four hundred years ago? I mean, if we did everything he said, we’d still be slaying things using arrows wrapped in sage leaves. Not everything he wrote has to be right,” she pleaded, but she could tell by the stern expression that was morphing across the principal’s face that he wasn’t impressed with her argument.

Probably because Sir Francis was the man who had not only first seen the Gate of Linaria and then singlehandedly closed it to stop any more elemental creatures from slithering and sliming their way onto Earth, way back in the seventeenth century. But he had also traveled the world to bring together those who shared his gift of sight and power, and then he set up the first training academy to teach them how to slay the creatures that had already made their way through the gate before it had been closed. Oh, and according to the records, he had also been the most powerful slayer that had ever existed, and since then, no one had even come close to matching his skill or strength.

In other words, as far as elemental training academies went, Sir Francis was God, and dissing him wasn’t really such a smart move.

“Look, Emma”—Principal Kessler’s lips went thin, which was a sure sign that the interview was over—“I’ve known you a long time, but I’m still the principal here and you’re still the student, so I want you to accept your designation and get on with your training. Understood?”

No, not remotely, Emma wanted to yell. The ridiculous thing was that if someone had told her this morning that she would’ve guessed eighty out of eighty-one designations correctly, she would’ve been quite impressed. In fact, she probably would’ve even made a bet with Tyler, but now that she was the “one,” she realized that being wrong definitely didn’t feel so good.

“And can you please tell Curtis Green that I’m ready to see him,” Principal Kessler said, but she hardly heard as she continued to stare numbly at the photograph of her mom’s beaming smile. Then it clicked, and she quickly got up and left, realizing what she had to do.

Induction wasn’t for another six weeks. So she had six weeks to get Principal Kessler to change his mind. She owed it to herself. She owed it to her mom’s legacy. She didn’t care what anyone said. She was a dragon slayer, because there was no way in the world that she was going to become the world’s first fairy slayer. No way at all.





CHAPTER TWO





Five weeks later





Emma, really, it’s not that bad,” Loni said reassuringly. “Of course it’s that bad,” Emma responded to her friend from the other end of her cell phone. She took out a tiny crossbow, which looked more like something that belonged to Pocahontas Barbie than a slaying kit. “I’m stuck in the mall hunting down a pack of ten-inch fairies, one of whom is wearing an AC/DC T-shirt and leopard-skin leggings. It couldn’t possibly get any worse.”

“You’re joking.” Loni was instantly distracted.

“I wish.” Emma sighed as she glanced over at the fairy in question. When she’d first seen the tiny air elementals just after her sight had come through, she’d been taken with how human they looked (except for the large gossamer wings that protruded from their backs). But now all she noticed was that they were arrogant, vain, and ate far too much junk food.

“But where do they even get that stuff from?” Loni wondered out loud.

“Well, judging by the amount of time they spend in the toy department and the Pets-R-Us counter, I’m guessing it’s a combination of places,” she retorted as three fairies came to a halt by the Sunglass Hut and started to throw ice cubes at her from a Starbucks cup.

Okay, so now it was definitely worse.

She rubbed her arm as three small blocks of ice hit her simultaneously, and she only just managed to move out of the way before another one went crashing into her forehead. It went rolling and bouncing along the marble floor, and a fat woman who was trying on some Dior shades shot her an evil glare as if it was Emma’s fault.

The fairies howled with laughter as they high-fived each other before one of them flew down and hovered right in front of her face. And that was another thing about them; they had no sense of personal space.