Fairy Bad Day(42)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN





Thank God you’re back,” Loni announced fifteen minutes later as she walked into Emma’s room and collapsed on the chair by the window. “I swear I would rather listen to one of Professor Edwards’s boring lectures on why you will no doubt need to use pi every single day when you’re an adult than have to spend one more minute with Brenda. Especially since I just found out she’s a Scorpio.” She gave a dramatic shudder. “Anyway, now I completely understand why you were so upset about getting stuck with Curtis. There is nothing worse than working with someone who drives you insane.”

Emma looked up from the book she had been reading and smiled slightly. “Actually, turns out that Curtis isn’t so bad. Did you know that he’s from a sight-blind family and that his dad used to hit him just because he was different? Even worse, his mom left them and his brother died. It’s sort of hard to imagine, isn’t it? I mean, he seems so together, what with the hair and the attitude.”

For a moment Loni didn’t answer as she silently studied Emma’s face. Then she suddenly sat up bolt straight and widened her violet eyes. “Oh my God. You like him again. I knew it. I just knew you would change your mind. Man, I so should’ve taken that bet with Tyler.”

“What?” Emma demanded as she tried not to flinch under her friend’s piercing gaze. “Of course I don’t. Why do you think that?”

“Because I’m all-knowing and all-seeing,” Loni retorted. “Plus you’re doing that thing with your fingers which means you’re preoccupied. So what happened to the practice-range fiasco?”

“Don’t laugh, but he thought I was asking him to actually practice fighting demons and the only reason he said no was because he prefers to do his practice in the simulation labs,” Emma explained as she examined her fingers to see what thing she was supposedly doing.

“What?” Loni was momentarily distracted. “Who likes to fight pretend elementals when they can fight real ones?”

“I think you’re missing the point.” Emma coughed as she gave up studying her fingers. “The important thing is that he wasn’t blowing me off.”

“That’s true.” Loni clapped her hands in excitement. “And it also means I was right. There was a simple explanation for it. You know, I just never get sick of feeling right. Er, so why don’t you look happy?”

“I am happy,” Emma quickly assured her as she thought of Curtis’s gorgeous face. However, her mood dampened as she recalled the dark shadows that seemed to overtake it from time to time. “But—”

“There’s a ‘but’? Why’s there a ‘but’?”

“I’m not sure.” Emma wrinkled her nose. “When I hated him, I thought his attitude was merely because he didn’t want to hang out with a fairy slayer. Like it was beneath him. But since I’ve gotten to know him, I don’t think it’s that. But there is something. I just can’t put my finger on what.”

“Yes, it’s called a Y chromosome,” Loni retorted. “Guys aren’t supposed to be like girls because otherwise they would take up too much room at the mall and steal our makeup. I think you’re reading too much into this. He explained why he went all weird outside the simulation labs, so now you have nothing to worry about. You like him and I’m sure that he likes you. It’s perfect.”

“Well, except for the invisible fairy who knows my mom,” Emma corrected as she realized that she had let herself get sidetracked, and so she forced herself to push aside the conundrum that was Curtis Green. “How did you and Tyler make out with the wards?”

“Nothing.” Loni’s face instantly dropped and she shook her head in disappointment. “I checked every single one and the voltages were correct on all of them. I can’t believe it. I really thought our problems would be solved. But instead, we’re right back where we started.”

“Yes, but hopefully not for long.” Emma nodded to the heavy, leather-bound volumes that were stacked up on her desk.

“Wow, look at all of these,” Loni said, instantly reaching for a slim book called Elementals Through the Ages. “I just know we’re going to find something in one of them.”

“I hope so. And thanks for helping.” Emma shot her friend a grateful smile before turning her attention back to the book in her hands. It was so dumb, but even the sight of something that her mom had once touched made Emma catch her breath.

She’d had five years to get used to the idea that her mom was gone, but it still hadn’t happened, and secretly, in the back of her mind, Emma kept thinking she was just on a really long mission and one day she would walk back through the kitchen door. Of course if she did, the kitchen wouldn’t exactly be empty... it would be filled with Olivia and her giant bump, not to mention all the new furniture—

“Are you okay?” Loni asked, interrupting her thoughts. “Because you’re looking kind of weird.”

“No, I’m fine. I just want to find some answers.” Emma shook her head and forced herself to push her memories away and get back to work.

However, by the time she had gone through three incredibly boring textbooks that had far too much information about how riddick demons liked to relieve back itch in winter, she was starting to wonder if she’d made the whole thing up. After all, the school nurse had mentioned a possible concussion. Maybe the last few days had just been one big crazy dream?