Fairy Bad Day(6)
“You’ve found them again?” Loni squealed in excitement. “That’s great and most definitely a sign. So, are you going to go and try and kill them?”
Emma got to her feet and started to weave through the tables. “Absolutely. These three particular fairies and their stupid outfits have been taunting me ever since I first started patrolling here. And now they’re even starting to bring their girlfriends in on the mocking. Getting rid of them would make me very happy.”
“See.” Loni sounded like she was grinning. “It’s not going to be so bad after all. Oh, but Emma, don’t forget, you’re at the mall, so you can’t use any lethal weapons.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got a few other tricks up my sleeve. I’ll call you when I’m done,” Emma said as she put away her cell phone just as the fairy darted behind the counter and disappeared to the kitchen out the back. Okay, so that might dampen her plan a bit.
After all, it was all right for the fairies to come and go as they pleased at the mall since no one but the sight-gifted could see them. Unfortunately, it wasn’t exactly as easy for a regular-size human to do the same thing. Once again Emma longed to be out in the dark, cold forest hunting dragons instead.
Just before her mom had died five years ago, they had both staked out a troubadour dragon for three nights and hadn’t even been able to light a fire for fear of giving away their location (which, for the record, she bet Curtis wouldn’t have been able to handle). But on the fourth night the dragon had finally slunk out of its lair, and Emma’s mom had instantly shot it through the soft scales at the base of its neck. It was the dragon’s kill spot, and despite cold and tired limbs, her mom’s first shot had been true and the dragon had died instantly, covering them both in thick, stenchy ectoplasm as its body disintegrated.
Right now Emma would give her right hand to be covered in thick, stenchy dragon ectoplasm instead of trailing a pack of belligerent fairies through the food court.
The Hong Kong Wong counter ran from wall to wall, but underneath, part of it was cut away and the countertop lifted up to let the workers in and out. Emma paused for a moment and was just trying to figure out how to get past the slim girl working the register, when suddenly a red-faced man came up and started to complain about the comment on his fortune cookie.
Yes. Thank you, red-faced man with ridiculous over-the-top consumer expectations.
Emma waited long enough for the slim girl to be drawn into his tirade before she slipped under the counter and through to the kitchen. The place was empty, though from a screen door at the back she could hear the soft murmurs of voices and the faint stench of cigarettes, which suggested whoever worked there had gone for a break.
Then she caught sight of about ten fairies all congregating around a large white door that looked like it led to a cold room. They were so busy staring at it, their stupid wings buzzing with rapid movement, that none of them even seemed to notice she was there.
Perfect. She reloaded the tiny crossbow and took aim. Finally she would be able to get some credibility back. Then, without making a sound, she moved slowly toward them and pressed her finger down on the release trigger.
Good-bye, fairies, and hello—
But just as the tiny wooden skewer started to fly through the air, there was a large grating noise. And before she knew what was happening, the white door of the cold room blew open and the room was suddenly filled with smoke and flames and flying debris, which pounded against her face and arms.
Emma screamed and held up her hands to protect herself as the smoke continued to billow into the kitchen. She had no idea what had caused it or what had happened to the fairies, but she knew enough to know it wasn’t good news. Burtonwood had instilled in its students from an early age that it was a slayer’s job to be discreet and fly under the radar, and despite the pounding sensation in her head from where the debris had hit her, Emma was fairly sure that exploding cold rooms did not count as discreet.
Which was why she did the only thing any sane slayer would do. She pressed her hand to her aching face and ran.
CHAPTER THREE
Okay, so on a scale of one to ten, what are the chances no one’s heard?” Emma asked Loni on Monday morning as they hurried across the dew-laden quad that separated the dormitories from the rest of the school. As they went, Emma smoothed down her uniform of a mediumlength box-pleated skirt, a navy blazer with a white shirt, and a badly knotted dark green plaid tie. Funny that she could see and fight things that most people wouldn’t even dream existed, but ask her to knot a tie and she was all thumbs. Not that she really cared about her tie right now; she was more concerned about being publicly humiliated in front of the five hundred Burtonwood students who were currently sitting inside the cafeteria eating their breakfast.
“I’d say about negative six hundred and five.” Loni puffed as she readjusted the heavy bag that was slung over her shoulder. Her short black hair was gelled up so that her heart-shaped face looked even more heart-shaped than ever.
“You do realize that wasn’t the answer I was looking for,” Emma noted as Loni shot her an apologetic wince.
“Sorry. But what do you expect? This kind of news travels fast around here.”
“I know, but it’s so unfair. I mean, the explosion wasn’t my fault,” Emma protested as she touched the horrible eye patch the school nurse had insisted she wear after making her spend all of Sunday in the infirmary. Apparently, a small speck of debris from the explosion had flown in there and it had to be removed by a large magnetized needle and a lot of freaking out on her behalf. “All I did was follow those stupid fairies, and the next thing I know—boom! The whole place exploded, the kitchen was toast, and my eye wouldn’t stop aching. I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Besides, it’s not like anyone was hurt.”