Fairy Bad Day(73)

Unlike Emma, who was barely managing to hold it together.

No wonder Principal Kessler hadn’t assigned her dragons. Even though Curtis was sight-blind, he was still a thousand times better than she was. He could kill things that he couldn’t even see. Whereas Emma had seen the darkhel three times and hadn’t even come close to killing it. Hurting it maybe, but not killing it.

As she closed her eyes she willed herself to dream about her mom and then look for the hidden message or meaning that might be buried deep within the book.

But this time there were no dreams, and when Emma woke up two hours later to the sound of the alarm, she didn’t feel relieved at all. She just felt abandoned and not looking forward to what the new day was going to bring.





CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX





It did what?” Loni screeched in a high-pitched voice the next morning as she and Emma hurried across the quad to the cafeteria. “Why didn’t you come and get me?”

“Because then we both would be exhausted today,” Emma replied as she glanced around. The whole place was buzzing with the excitement that only an induction ceremony could bring. If only Emma could share the feeling. “And again, I’m really sorry about using one of your favorite earrings as a weapon.”

“I don’t care about the earring. I care about the fact that you stayed up all night and didn’t think to come and talk to me.” Loni was looking seriously annoyed now and Emma winced.

“Sorry, and if it’s any consolation I did get a couple hours of sleep and the good news is that it looks like your ward idea would’ve worked if the darkhel hadn’t destroyed them. Yay you,” she added, but Loni remained unimpressed.

“I still don’t like it and next time an invisible fairy comes and knocks on your window in the middle of the night— and tells you that it’s destroyed all the wards—I want you to promise to come and get me.”

“Except there won’t be a next time,” Emma reminded her, but since Loni still looked mutinous, she raised her hands in surrender. “Fine, next time an invisible fairy comes to visit me at night I will definitely tell you. Happy?”

“Hardly,” Loni assured her before taking a grudging gulp of her coffee. “Anyway, what did it want?”

“What do you mean?” Emma wrinkled her nose. “It’s evil. It wanted to freak me out in a devious and cunning way.”

“Yes, but why? Why would it tell you that it had broken the wards?”

“To show that I hadn’t beaten it? You know what alpha males are like. They can’t bear to lose.” Emma shrugged. “Actually, if you ask me, it was because it was pissed off. It didn’t like when I taunted it about not having the Pure One yet. Maybe it was trying to find out what I knew about it.”

Loni didn’t look convinced, but before she could press the matter further, Curtis appeared and Emma felt herself giving him a shy smile.

“Hey,” she said as he leaned his crutches against the table and lowered himself down onto the chair next to her. “So how did it go last night with the twins?”

“Okay. Tyler’s just waiting for them to come out of the bathroom. But there was no sign of trouble all night. What about you guys?”

“I think I’ll let Emma tell you about her night.” Loni glared.

Emma let out a reluctant sigh. “Fine. Okay, so the thing is that the darkhel turned up at my window last night at about one in the morning. I guess it likes making house calls.”

“What?” Curtis instantly lost his easy smile as his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed. “I can’t believe you didn’t come and get us.”

“Thank you.” Loni nodded in appreciation at his agreement.

“Look, guys, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but let’s not forget that I’m the one who can see it, plus I’ve already fought it twice. I’m not exactly helpless when it comes to this thing.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” Curtis’s face was pale. “That thing opened up your window and destroyed Loni’s wards. It could’ve come back at any time and—”

“I’m okay,” she said in a soft voice as she suddenly felt his fingers grip hers under the table and he shot her a look that was so intense she was pretty sure that the temperature in the cafeteria went up by about ten degrees. “Besides, even though Loni’s wards were destroyed, I still get a static buzz in my ear everytime it’s near. That’s how I knew it hadn’t returned.

“I still don’t like it. Until this thing is banished, we can’t take any chances,” Curtis said as he increased the pressure on her fingers. Emma returned it.

“Okay, so here’s the new plan,” Loni suddenly announced as she got to her feet. “There are still six hours until we know for sure that that giant fairy guy has been banished, so I figure that Tyler can keep following Garry and Glen. I’ll go and rebuild the wards, this time setting the subsonic blast so high that the freaking fairy won’t be able to get anywhere near them much less smash them. I should’ve done this in the first place, but I was worried that the pitch might set off some of the other wards. I’m such an idiot. Anyway, while I do that, Emma and Curtis can split up and hunt down everyone on the list and make sure that they’re all still in one piece. Does that work for everyone?”