Fairy Bad Day(53)

“Mrs. Barnes,” Emma said without preamble. “Is Principal Kessler here? We really need to speak with him. It’s sort of important.”

“Sorry.” Mrs. Barnes shook her head as she headed back the way Emma and the others had just come, so once again they had to battle the crowds. “He’s somewhere else. On business.”

“Okay, so when I say ‘sort of important,’ I mean it’s really, really important,” Emma pleaded as she trailed after the secretary and tried to ignore her aching muscles.

“And yet he’s still not here.”

“So, will he be back tonight?” Emma pressed.

“Emma, I really don’t know,” Mrs. Barnes said in a pleasant voice that was laced with steel and more effective than any sword. “But I’m sure that whatever it is can wait until tomorrow morning.” Then, without another word, she was gone. Emma turned to the others and groaned.

“Well, that was next to useless. Maybe I should try calling him?” she asked in a cautious voice since her last few phone calls to the principal hadn’t exactly worked out that well, but Curtis shook his head.

“Actually, I already did,” he confessed as he shot her a rueful look and waved his cell phone in the air. “I didn’t want you to get into any more trouble over this, so I thought it would be better if he didn’t see your name and number come up on the screen.”

“You did?” Emma paused for a moment, touched by his consideration, before realizing that everyone was looking at her. “Er, so what did he say?”

“He didn’t.” Curtis let out a reluctant sigh. “It went straight to his voice mail, so I just left him a message asking for him to call.”

“Which means until we can talk to him, we’re on our own,” Emma said in a tight voice. “We need to figure out who the Pure One is so that we can stop the darkhel from finding him. Not to mention finding a way to banish it back to the other side of the gate.”

“And what if it comes back before we figure all of that out?” Tyler looked concerned.

“Then I’ll fight it.” Emma shrugged. “I’ll keep patrolling, and if my eye hurts or I hear a static noise, I’ll know that it’s close by.”

“As far as plans go, that’s a pretty bad one,” Loni said in a stubborn voice. “You’ve just fought this thing and you look exhausted. You shouldn’t be out there alone.”

Emma knew her friend was right. Between the fight and her lack of sleep over the last couple of days she had a feeling she was starting to resemble one of the zombies that had caused so many problems earlier in the week. But she also knew that there was no way she could sleep while that thing was still out there.

“She won’t be alone,” Curtis cut in before turning to Loni. “Jones and I will patrol, and you and Tyler can start trying to figure out who the Pure One is and how we can stop the darkhel. Deal?”

“I guess.” Loni reluctantly nodded, and Emma shot them all a grateful look.

“Thanks,” she said, turning toward the exit. “But I think we’d better hurry because my gut feeling is that we don’t have much time.”





CHAPTER TWENTY





By eleven o’clock Emma and Curtis had been around the grounds three times and there had been no sign of the darkhel, which, Emma was forced to admit, was probably a good thing. She was still feeling pretty exhausted from her earlier fight. At least they’d slipped back to her room and changed, so she wasn’t forced to patrol in a dress and heels.

She came to a halt by the same bench where Loni, Tyler, and Curtis had waited when she had talked to her dad earlier that evening. It seemed like a lifetime ago now. She sat down and her throbbing muscles instantly let out a sigh of relief.

“So are you really okay?” Curtis sat down beside her and spoke in a low voice as if not wanting to disturb the night. Above them the moon was partly obscured by clouds.

“I’m fine.” She sighed. “Though I probably wouldn’t have been if you hadn’t come along when you did. Thanks for watching my back.”

“Sure.” He shrugged as he started to play with one of his crutches, which were leaning on the bench next to him, before he peered at her from underneath his blond curls. “It’s been a pretty crazy day.”

“Make that a crazy week,” Emma corrected as she paused to rub her eye. Ever since the fight it had been itching like a demon.

“Yeah, that too,” he agreed. Then he paused for a moment as if considering something before finally speaking. “So, with everything that happened, you never said how it went with your dad?”

“It was fine. I mean, Olivia insisted he bring me that book in case it was important,” Emma was forced to admit.

“Which it was,” he reminded her.

She folded her arms and leaned back on the bench so that she was looking up at the inky-black night sky. “I know what you’re trying to do, Curtis.”

“And what’s that?”

“You’re trying to make the point that my dad and Olivia aren’t as bad as I think they are.”

“And?” he prompted as he cocked an eyebrow and let a small smile hover around his mouth.

She took a deep breath. “Look, I never thought they were that bad. It’s just... well . . . ” She paused for a moment then turned to him. “It’s just that it’s not how I want things to be.”