Fairy Bad Day(67)

He shook his head. “I’d never even heard of Burtonwood but the local newspaper ran a story about how I’d valiantly tried to save three kids from drowning and I guess it blipped on Kessler’s radar as a possible aquafile attack. Anyway, next thing I knew, he came to visit, and after testing me, he offered me a scholarship. I was ten, so at the time he was confident that my sight would come through, but of course I didn’t really care, I just wanted to get away from my old man.”

“But your sight never did come through.” All Emma could do was shake her head in disbelief as she realized just how different their childhoods had been.

“Nope, and with Induction looming, Kessler was in a bind. He said in every other respect I was the perfect slayer and he didn’t want to lose me. Which is where the glasses came in. We tested them on everything but they only seemed to work on dragons—”

“And fairies,” Emma pointed out.

“Yeah, though we didn’t know it at the time. Anyway, it was because of the glasses that Kessler gave me your dragon designation,” Curtis finished off in a soft voice as the truth started to really sink into Emma’s brain. “I should’ve just said no. I mean, everyone at Burtonwood knew what it meant to you, but I couldn’t bear the idea of going home. Of being helpless to fight elementals. I’m sorry, Jones. I should’ve told you sooner. I’ve been trying to; it’s just... well . . . not easy to admit that you’re a freak.”

She stared at Curtis as he looked down and kicked the ground in embarrassment. She had been right all along.

He did have a secret.

It just wasn’t exactly what she had envisioned.

She had been thinking it was because he was embarrassed to be seen with a fairy slayer or that he didn’t like her, but in fact it was about as far from what she had thought as possible.

“If you hate me, I understand. I mean, it’s my fault you lost your dragon spot. Not to mention the lying and the general ruining-your-life thing.” Curtis still didn’t look at her. For a moment Emma closed her eyes and thought of her mom and how she had longed to follow in her footsteps before finally she looked up at him and forced him to return her gaze.

“Okay, so we can just clear a few things up. The whole almost-kissing-me-and-then-fixing-my-tie thing?”

“Not one of my finest moments.” Curtis flushed. “Of course I wanted to kiss you but then it occurred to me that I would be doing so under false pretenses.”

“And that’s why you didn’t want to come down to the practice range with me?” She knew the answer but had to double-check.

“Actually, that was because I didn’t want you to find out that I couldn’t see elementals. It’s all been a lie.” He clenched his jaw and made a hissing noise under his breath. “I screwed everything up. I wish I could fix it but it’s probably too late. I’m sorry.”

Emma stared at him as she let the truth wash over her.

Curtis Green was sight-blind and the guilt had been eating away at him. Well, she had not seen this one coming. Finally, he coughed.

“Okay, so you’re not talking, which usually means bad things, so I’m just going to leave—”

“Wait.” She blinked as she stretched out her hand to him and he looked at it, as if not quite sure if she was going to touch him or hit him. “As much as it hurts to admit, you’re not the reason I lost my spot. I’ve seen you fight and you have everything it takes to make an amazing dragon slayer. Plus, as Loni has been trying to remind me for the last six weeks, I was the one who tested positive for fairies.”

For the first time since he had accidently almost walked through the Gate of Linaria, Curtis lost the haunted expression and was just looking confused. “Er, I’m not sure you understand what I’ve just told you.”

“I understand,” she assured him.

He continued to study her face before blinking. “The thing is I hadn’t really expected our conversation to go quite this way. I had pictured a lot more yelling and maybe a few I-wouldn’t-go-near-you-if-you-were-the-last-guy-on-earth kind of stuff.”

“You must be mistaking me with some other hotheaded Aries who wanted to be a dragon slayer and might’ve mentioned her eternal hatred for the guy who got her spot,” Emma mumbled as she thought of some of her previous behavior.

“Trust me, I could never mistake you for anyone else.” A small smile hovered on his lips. Then, before she could even begin to allow his words sink in, Curtis let his crutches fall with a clatter to the ground and closed the distance between them. “And now there’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while . . . Emma.”

“There is?” she croaked as she realized he had just called her by her first name. She watched in mute fascination as he tilted his head and his perfectly formed lips came crashing down on hers in a way that she had never dreamed possible. The sensation was instant as she felt herself being engulfed by his broad shoulders while her senses were filled with the smell of vanilla cookies.

His arms snaked around her back and his mouth explored hers. Emma pressed into him and felt her whole body start to tingle with the rightness of it all. It was perfect. Curtis was perfect. He was... wait, why was he pulling away . . . and why wasn’t he kissing her anymore?

“Is everything okay?” she asked in a cautious voice. “You’re not going to have another freak-out, are you?”