Fairy Bad Day(37)

“Hey, are you okay?” he suddenly asked as he unzipped his slaying kit and pulled out the familiar yellow folder that they were using for the assignment. “You’ve hardly said a word, which—no offense—isn’t like you at all.”

“I’m fine,” she quickly assured him while taking great pains not to look at him, since no good ever seemed to come from doing that. “It’s just been a long day. That’s all.”

“And going out dragon hunting with me isn’t your ideal way to spend the night.” He finished off her sentence in a dry voice, his jaw clenched slightly.

“Something like that,” she mumbled, still managing to avoid his gaze. Then, as much to distract herself as anything else, she pulled out her cell phone and sent Loni a quick text, telling her about the change of plans and asking her to arrange for a taxi to meet her at the parking lot where the minibus would be dropping them off.

Loni replied immediately. Done. And don’t 4get 2 b nice 2 C.

Emma rolled her eyes, put her cell phone away, and turned her attention to the darkening skies outside the bus. She and Curtis made the rest of the trip in silence.

A while later, the minibus slowly pulled up to a small tree-lined parking lot at the edge of a large lake just off the highway. There was a tall streetlamp and an overflowing trash can next to some badly maintained public restrooms. There was also a taxi parked by a tree, its engine idling. Emma glanced out the window at it as she waited for the minibus to come to a stop. She was just congratulating herself on successfully ignoring Curtis for most of the trip when he suddenly made a clicking noise with his tongue, while behind them the seniors were busy discussing the best thermal imager to use when scouting selkies.

“Okay, Jones, so are you going to spill it?”

“Spill what?” She blinked in what she hoped was an innocent expression.

“What’s going on,” he suggested in a mild voice.

“Nothing,” she said. “Why would something be going on?”

“Because you’ve been acting weird the whole time in the minibus, and now you keep looking out the window over at that taxi, which I don’t think is sitting there by accident. Is there something you want to tell me?”

No, Emma longed to say since he already knew far too much about her life, thanks to their trip to the mall the other day. And it didn’t matter how kind he seemed to be; it didn’t alter the fact that he had the one thing she wanted.

She sighed.

“Okay, fine. I sort of have a favor to ask. I need to go and pick up some stuff at my dad’s house, but because I’m on detention this is the only chance I have to get it. I hate to ask.” Like really, really hate to ask. “But would you mind covering for me? I promise I’ll be back before twenty-two hundred hours.”

“What stuff?”

“Um, just stuff.”

“Hello, back there, anytime tonight would be nice.” The bus driver coughed, and they realized he was waiting for them to get off. Curtis retrieved his crutches and they made their way to the front while the driver studied his schedule. “Okay. It says here that you’re doing observation and reconnaissance only, so no slaying. I’ll be back for you at twenty-two hundred hours on the dot. Are we clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Curtis and Emma both said as the bus pulled back out onto the highway. Once it had gone, Emma turned back to Curtis and shot him a hopeful look.

“So? Will you cover for me?”

“You want me to cover for you, but you don’t want to tell me why?” he asked with a hint of annoyance.

“Curtis, please. It’s complicated.”

“I’m a smart guy, Jones. I’m sure I’ll keep up. What’s going on?”

Emma gritted her teeth and regretted that she had ever allowed Loni to talk her into this. Then, catching the way his jawline was as tight as a guitar string, she let out a sigh. He wasn’t going to give up. “Okay, fine. Remember the darkhel? Well, he sorta attacked me last night and—”

“What?” The words exploded out of his mouth like a bullet, and Emma almost expected to hear them echoing around the otherwise silent parking lot. She looked at him in surprise but the easy, lopsided smile that normally hovered close to his mouth had disappeared and was replaced by a tight slit of a line. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? When did it happen? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, and I didn’t tell you because there was nothing you could do about it,” she retorted, and instantly regretted her words when his whole face turned into a mask of stone. He tightened his jaw and turned away for a second. However, a moment later he turned back to her and the darkness had gone, though his knuckles were snow white and strained as they gripped his crutches.

“You still could’ve told me,” he finally said.

She softened her voice. “Look, I’m okay. It attacked me last night in the quad. Thankfully, almost everyone was at dinner and it was pretty foggy, so I don’t think anyone saw. Well, I don’t think anyone saw me,” she corrected as she explained that once again the darkhel had been invisible to all but her. “The thing is, it’s not like any other elemental I’ve ever fought. If Loni hadn’t come along with her subsonic blaster, I’m not sure what would’ve happened.”

Curtis paused for a moment and rubbed his hands through his blond curls, his face looking suddenly tired. “I guess it was lucky she was there to help. So what did Kessler say?” But when she didn’t answer, he let out a long groan. “You didn’t tell him, did you?”