Fairy Bad Day(70)

“Er, what are they?” Tyler was the first to speak as he stared at the small round metal balls that were in the bag Loni was holding out. “Because they look like marbles.”

“Actually, they are. Well, they’re ball bearings rubbed in salt. They’re not as powerful as the wards, but I figured that if we could slip them into people’s bags and pockets, it might give them a bit of extra protection. It was actually after Emma suggested I use the cutlery for the wards that I realized that ball bearings might be good for personal protection.”

“Please, if you ever decide to become a world-famous inventor, don’t mention my contribution to anyone,” Emma begged.

“Okay, the weird thing is that after everything that’s been happening lately, that plan sort of makes sense,” Tyler admitted as he got to his feet. “So how about Curtis and I start trailing the Lewis twins and Emma and Loni can start putting up the wards and slipping these bad boys onto some unsuspecting potential Pure Ones.”

“Shouldn’t I go with Curtis to help check on the twins?” Emma asked, but Curtis and Tyler instantly shook their heads.

“Trust me.” Tyler spoke first. “You don’t want to witness some of the things that those guys say or do. Plus, if you’re both trailing them, then there are a lot of other potential Pure Ones who are vulnerable.”

“I know.” Emma frowned. “But I’m sure that it’s one of the twins, and if the darkhel is going to be stronger than ever, then isn’t it better for us to both be there?”

“Yes, but you’re forgetting that the chances of it turning up are slim to none,” Loni reminded her as she held up her wards. “And by this time tomorrow we won’t even need to worry about it. So really all we’re doing is taking precautions.”

Precautions with cutlery and ball bearings. Somehow Emma couldn’t imagine that her mom had gone through all of this. However, she reluctantly realized her friends were right. As much as she longed to stick close to the Lewis twins (now, there was a phrase she didn’t think she would ever be saying), she knew that it made more sense if she and Curtis split up. She shot him a final parting glance, and she and Loni got to work.

After they had set the wards around the Burtonwood perimeter, one by one they searched out everyone on the list. To distract them from her real purpose, Loni asked them if they’d had a safety check on their lasers lately. And while she bandied around a lot of technical terms, Emma managed to slip salt-covered ball bearings into bags, jackets—and, in Trevor Mitchell’s case, the side pockets of his cargo trousers (that was a little awkward). It was slightly harder to pull off the stunt with the adults who were on the list, but Emma came to the rescue by asking them what their thoughts were about the Department of Paranormal Containment’s new human resources policy, with particular reference to scheduled breaks while on a covert slaying mission—who knew that having a detention and having to write out the policy brochure five times would come in so handy?

By ten o’clock that night, it was all done and it proved easier to do than Emma had thought. Of course, they would probably have to do it all over again tomorrow morning when everyone changed their clothes and bags, which was a bit depressing, but Emma tried not to think about it as she and Loni hurried back to the sophomore lounge, where they had arranged to meet the guys. She shivered in the cool night air as they hurried to the meeting.

At the other end of the lounge Garry and Glen were having a noisy conversation about just how many demons they had killed on the code-blue mission the other day. Emma immediately shot Curtis a look of sympathy for being stuck with the job of keeping them in his sight until tomorrow afternoon.

“So?” Tyler immediately asked. “Did you get everyone?”

“Almost,” Loni said as she held up the neat list she had been using to keep track of it all. “There was no sign of Professor Yemin, though apparently even though he stays on campus, he has a house in town as well, so he might be there. And there are also two students, one other professor, and the support staff who aren’t here, but we’re hoping that means we can just cross them off the list. Even better, so far Emma hasn’t had any sightings of the darkhel. Unless she’s just not letting on.”

“Trust me, you’d know if I’d seen it,” Emma said in a dry voice as she dropped down into the chair farthest away and tried to ignore the bad feeling she had in the pit of her stomach.

“So maybe it means my wards have worked?” Loni said in a hopeful voice.

“Maybe, though the little fairies had said that the darkhel found it hard to maintain its strength while the gate was shut, so maybe’s just taking a breather.” As Emma spoke, she restlessly got to her feet. “Actually, I might go and do a patrol, just to make sure it’s not lurking anywhere.”

“Emma, relax. We were just out there two seconds ago,” Loni reminded her. “And there was no sign of it anywhere.”

“I know, but I don’t want to take any chances. Until three o’clock tomorrow no one on that list is safe.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Curtis started to get to his feet, but before Emma could say yes, Tyler started to cough.

“Actually, buddy, I think our guys are leaving, which means it’s probably our cue to go as well,” Tyler said, and for a moment Curtis paused as if racked by indecision, but Emma gave a slight nod.