Fairy Bad Day(71)

“I’ll be okay. You go, but make sure you call me if there is anything unusual.”

“Ditto.” Curtis caught her hand for a second and lowered his mouth to hers. It was just a fleeting kiss, which no one but Loni seemed to notice, but it was enough to help calm Emma’s rising anxiety. “And please, be careful.”

“I will,” she promised as she watched him make his way out of the lounge, his crutches swinging back and forth in a soft rhythm.

“Oh my God,” Loni squealed the minute the guys were out of earshot. “That was the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen in my life. And weird. I still can’t get over the fact that you two—”

“I know.” Emma allowed herself one short smile before a more somber mood overtook her. “But I really can’t think about it. Not yet. Not until this is over. And speaking of which, I’d better get back out there.”

“Well, I’m coming with you,” Loni said in a firm voice that Emma didn’t dare argue with.





By midnight there was still no sign of the darkhel and Emma felt exhausted, so when Loni finally insisted that she call it a night, she reluctantly agreed.

But it wasn’t until her friend left and she was in her room alone that she let out a sigh. She had a bad feeling that tomorrow was going to be even worse than today. And not just because of the induction ceremony (which had actually been pushed so far down on her “suck list” that it wasn’t funny) but because until they knew the darkhel had been banished, they were going to need to be on full alert.

As her mind continued to churn, she spread her slaying kit out on her bed and methodically started to clean and check everything, just like her mom had taught her. But just as she was putting away her sword there was a loud banging on her door and she jumped in surprise.

“Emma, are you there?”

“Curtis?” Emma put down her sword and hurried over to see Curtis cautiously peering up and down the hallway to check that no warden was around. “What are you doing here?”

“Hoping I don’t get caught. Can I come in?”

“Of course.” She quickly ushered him in and shut the door. Then she frowned as a surge of panic went racing through her. “Has something happened? Are Garry and Glen okay?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say they were okay, since I’m fairly sure they’re demented. Thankfully they’re currently snoring like fifty-year-old men—it’s the only thing they don’t seem to do in tandem. Anyway, Tyler’s camped outside their room and so far the wards all seem to have held. That or the darkhel has decided Earth sucks and has gone back to the other side of the gate of its own accord.”

“I wish,” Emma said quietly as he reached and wove his fingers through hers. “So what are you doing here?”

“I came to see how you were holding up,” he said as his grip tightened, and for a moment Emma felt the stress of the day fade away. Then he glanced over to the small leather book that was lying open on her bed. “Are you still freaked out about your mom being mixed up in all of this?”

“No,” Emma said before letting out a reluctant sigh. “Maybe. I just wish that it didn’t seem so much like a big secret part of her life that I didn’t know about. I want to find out how it all fits together and then I want it to all be over. Plus, I can’t help it, I feel so inadequate. I mean, it probably took my mom two seconds to figure out about the soul box, and if we’d been faster, it would all be over now and we wouldn’t be trying to protect people with cutlery and salt.”

“You can’t know that, so don’t beat yourself up over it. If anyone can figure this out, you can, Emma.”

“I wish I had your faith.” She gulped, but instead of answering, he leaned forward on his crutches and gently kissed her, his mouth soft against hers. Emma felt some of the tension that had been mounting ease as the kiss deepened and his crutches fell to the floor. Finally, he pulled away and blinked as if he’d forgotten where he was for a moment.

“Wow, okay. Well, I guess I’d better go, because if I don’t let you get some sleep soon, Loni will kill me.”

“You’re scared of Loni?” She arched her brow.

“Hell yeah.” He gave an emphatic nod of his head, causing his curls to splay out across his brow. Emma couldn’t help but reach up and push them out of his eyes. He let out a little moan and kissed her again. This time it was Emma who eventually pulled away.

“Actually,” she confessed, “I’m a little scared of her too. Sometimes I think she likes to channel her inner Mrs. Barnes. But, Curtis—” She suddenly felt shy as she wove her fingers through his and peered up into his eyes. “I’m glad you came around.”

“Me too.” He shot her a lopsided grin before he awkwardly bent down to retrieve his crutches and headed for the door. “Good night... Emma.”

Emma waited until she could no longer hear his crutches swinging back down the corridor to hop into bed and turn off the light.

She touched her lips, which were still tingling from where Curtis’s mouth had been. After everything that had happened in the last six weeks, she didn’t really think that too many things could surprise her anymore, but she had obviously been wro—

She sat up abruptly as she glanced around the room. A low, scraping noise was coming from over by the window and for one crazy minute the grin on her face increased as she wondered if it was Curtis climbing up to her window. Then she realized that he had a broken leg and she was on the third floor. Suddenly, as a familiar static sound hummed in her ear, all the happiness that she had been feeling disappeared in an instant.