Fairy Bad Day(60)

She gave him a faint smile. “Really . . . because I sort of thought that doing a good job might feel a little better.” As she spoke she lowered her chin onto the table. The wood veneer felt cool against her skin as despair washed over her like an old friend. “All I feel is sore and confused and completely unable to figure out what to do next. And I really am sorry about throwing the Death Curse in your face. You didn’t deserve that.”

“You’re frustrated. And trust me, that’s something I get all too well. So anyway, you never told me what you found in your mom’s book.” Curtis leaned his own head down on the table so their noses were only inches away from each other. Somewhere under the table she felt his outstretched broken leg touch hers. For a moment, Emma just stared at him, then realized he was waiting for an answer.

“Nothing of use.” She sighed as she told him what her mom had written. “I mean, we know she managed to banish it, so why didn’t she tell us how?”

“I don’t know.” He shook his head while his chin was still perched on the table, his dark eyes drilling into hers. “But we’ll figure it out. Think of how much more we found out yesterday compared to the day before.”

“Yes, and think of how much more we had our butts kicked yesterday than we did the day before,” Emma countered, but he didn’t seem to notice. Instead he reached out and lifted her hand off the table, entwining his fingers in hers, his gaze never leaving her face. A flutter of emotions went racing through her as the two of them sat there, chin to chin, eye to eye, hand to hand. For a second she longed to bottle the moment as she took in every inch of his face. His dark eyes, his strong jaw and jutting cheekbones, but then a guilty expression once again morphed across his face, which Emma felt like a slap on the cheek.

“Curtis,” she forced herself to say. “What’s going on?”

“Well, there’s this giant fairy that only you can see,” he said as he tightened his grip on her hand. “And right now we’re trying to—”

“No.” Emma gave a faint shake of her head, never taking her eyes off him. “I mean about this. About us? You can’t be like this and then act like . . . well . . . like you did last night.”

For a moment Curtis shut his eyes but his fingers tightened possessively around hers. Finally, he opened his eyes, which were now full of sincerity. “I’m sorry. I was a jerk last night. I shouldn’t have kissed you, but trust me, it wasn’t because I didn’t want to.” His beautiful mouth twitched before he leaned farther across the table so that his nose was almost touching hers. He was so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. “It’s just there’s something I really need to tell you. And the thing is that you’re probably not going to—”

“There you guys are.” Brenda Vance suddenly appeared at the door of the study room, and Emma felt Curtis’s hand quickly untangle from hers as he lifted his head from the table and the moment dissolved around them.

“Um, can we help you?” Emma blinked as she tried to readjust to the world outside the space between her and Curtis. But even when the normal world came into focus, it wasn’t one where Brenda belonged.

“You’d better be able to. I’m looking for Loni. We were supposed to meet half an hour ago to go over some more details on this assignment. I mean, I told her quite clearly that we should meet at eleven thirty. You know I have a good mind to go and speak to Principal Kessler about this. Why should my grades suffer just because Loni’s a total slacker?”

Emma narrowed her eyes and felt her back stiffen. “Loni’s not a slacker. And besides, Principal Kessler has better things to do than listen to you.”

“But it’s okay when you go and waste his time with invisible dragons?” Brenda retorted as she caught sight of the books stacked up on the table and wandered toward them, her curiosity obviously getting the better of her. “I didn’t know the library had a copy of Chelmer’s Alchemy of Demons. In fact, I distinctly remember Gretchen telling me that it’s completely impossible to get. I can’t believe she was holding out on me.”

Emma grabbed the book out of Brenda’s hand. “Yeah, well, it’s from my mom’s private collection, and before you ask, no, you can’t borrow it.” But Brenda didn’t seem to hear as she put her bag down and settled herself at the table.

“Oh my God, your mom also has this?” Brenda picked up a second book and looked impressed. “I mean, I knew she was a great dragon slayer but she must’ve been some kind of scholar too. This stuff is hard-core.”

“If you say so.” Emma shrugged while still never taking her gaze off Curtis’s haunted-looking face. He had been about to tell her something. Something important, and call her crazy, but she would much rather be talking to him than to Brenda right now. “But look, Brenda, this really isn’t a good time, so if you don’t mind, we really need to—”

“Wow, and a key to a soul box. I’ve never seen one of these in real life.” Brenda suddenly picked up the crystal pendant that was sitting on the table where Curtis had left it. She held it up to the light so she could inspect it. Emma felt her mouth drop open.

“What did you just say?” Curtis demanded in a low and compelling voice.

“That I’ve never seen one before?” Brenda dutifully repeated, but Curtis shook his head.