Fairy Bad Day(32)

Before she could regain her composure, the darkhel casually lifted one taloned hand and swiped it across her face. Emma managed to duck out of the way just in time. Then she drove her sword straight into its heart. She felt like she had struck iron and her muscles screamed in protest. Ignoring the pain, she pressed forward with all her might. The darkhel staggered back, which gave her time to regain her stance.

“Okay, no more Mr. Nice Guy,” the darkhel droned as it ignored the blood that was now flowing freely down its torso. Instead it came toward her with lightning speed and sent her sword flying from her hand. The weapon landed on the manicured grass with a thud and Emma felt herself go crashing to the ground. The skin across her brow immediately split open, and the blood started to trickle into her eye. She quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand before realizing that the darkhel was leaning over her. She only just managed to roll out of the way to save herself from having her windpipe slashed by its long talons.

She groggily started to raise herself up, but before she could, the darkhel again loomed over her, this time pinning her down with a heavy leather boot. The boot pressed into her chest and she struggled to catch her breath. Emma glanced up and found herself staring into dark eyes that were full of rage. She shut her own eyes and tried to wriggle her hand onto the hilt of her sword, but it was no good.

“Well, my small brothers didn’t really do you justice when they told me about your skills,” the darkhel hissed, its stinking breath sending goose bumps racing up and down Emma’s skin. “But still, I guess they were right about one thing. You’re only human and humans just break so . . . argh.”

Argh?

For a moment Emma blinked before realizing the creature had stiffened and raised its giant, corded hands up to its ears. Then she caught sight of Loni standing directly behind it with the subsonic blaster she’d just spent the last six months building. Tyler was next to her, clutching the thin rapier that he preferred, ready for action. As the darkhel continued to clutch at its ears, obviously trying to cut out the low-frequency noise that Loni’s invention was emitting, Emma had all the time she needed to roll away and flip back up to her feet just as the creature turned and raised a giant arm at the unsuspecting Loni.

“Run!” Emma screamed as she realized her friends didn’t have a clue about where the darkhel was attacking from. At the same time she reached down and grabbed her sword before thrusting it deep into the creature’s hamstring. The impact almost sent her reeling again, but she balanced herself and pulled the sword out. The darkhel seemed to sag as it spun back around to face her, its eyes blazing.

“You know,” it said in a low, guttural voice, “you really are your mother’s daughter.”

Emma, who had just been about to plunge her sword into its arm, felt her weapon drop away as a sense of disbelief washed over her. “Wh-what did you just say?”

The beast needed only that one second of hesitation to get to its feet, and before Emma could even open her mouth, it had spread out its gigantic wings and lifted off the ground into the air.





CHAPTER TWELVE





Your mother?” Loni shot Emma a blank look half an hour later as she handed her another ice pack. “Are you definitely sure that’s what it said?” Loni asked as she stood up and started to pace the cramped space in her dorm room.

“Absolutely, one hundred percent positive. It said I am my mother’s daughter.” Emma put the pack on her aching arm and tried not to groan out loud from the pain. She and Loni and Tyler had decided to go back to Loni’s room in case anyone had seen Emma’s one-sided fight and told Kessler about it. Of course, if they had, it wouldn’t take long for him to find her. All he needed to do was follow the blood trail. At least they had managed to clean up the cut on her head, but it still throbbed in protest.

“Okay, so we’ve got a creature that no one has ever heard of and no one can see except you,” Tyler said from over by the window as he ticked off the words with his fingers.

“You forgot to add that it fights like a ninja. Honestly, you guys, I feel like my arm is going to fall off. The darkhel’s skin is thicker than a dragon’s. How is that even possible?” Emma asked.

“How is any of this possible?” Loni rubbed her forehead in bewilderment. “I mean, you have no idea how weird it was that I could see you fighting and talking to something but there was nothing there. I don’t know how sight-blind people deal with it.”

“They don’t have to deal with it, because for the most part they don’t even know it’s out there,” Tyler reminded her. “So don’t be feeling sorry for civilians, feel sorry for us. I mean, we know how dangerous elementals are, yet there was nothing we could do to help.”

“Trust me, you helped. And besides, you definitely don’t want to see the darkhel. I’ve fought brentton demons that are better-looking than this thing.” Emma put down the ice pack and rubbed her sore eye. “The problem is that I have no idea where to go from here.”

“I’ll tell you where we go, straight to Kessler.” Loni finally stopped her pacing and sat down on the bed. Emma instantly shook her head (remembering too late that head shaking, along with everything else, hurt).

“I hate to say it, Em, but Miss Zodiac’s right,” Tyler agreed.

“I can’t go to Kessler,” she told her two friends. “I’ve tried that already and managed to get myself stuck with detention. I think I’ve become the girl who cried wolf. Or in this case, the girl who cried invisible fairy. I can’t risk being expelled.”