Fairy Bad Day(74)

Emma felt Curtis squeeze her hand one more time as she got to her feet. She certainly hoped it was going to work.





“Okay. I’ve remade twenty-two wards complete with an ultrasonic and a subsonic pulse, not to mention double the salt, and set them to pump out three hundred volts of positive electrons. I don’t even think Superman could get through them now,” Loni announced from the other end of Emma’s cell phone, two hours later. “So how is it going?”

“Well, it’s been a little crazy trying to hunt everyone down on the list. It was a lot easier yesterday when campus wasn’t so crowded,” Emma said. “I’ve only found two so far, but hopefully Curtis is having better luck. The thing is that... I—” Before she could finish there was a familiar static noise that started to hum in her ears and she looked up to where Rupert, Gilbert, and Trevor were hovering just above her. “Lon, I’ve got to go. The little fairies are here.”

“What? They got through my wards?” Loni sounded dismayed.

“Hey, who are you calling little?” Trevor demanded. “I’ll have you know that I’m actually considered tall.”

“Ask them if they could even feel the effects of the wards,” Loni commanded. “I mean, I’ve just checked them and they’re working.”

Emma, who quite frankly had much better things to ask the fairies about than the wards, knew that Loni wouldn’t be satisfied until she got an answer.

“Okay, so did you guys notice any wards as you flew in here?”

“Oh, is that what that weird feeling was. I thought it was just my new shoes pinching. Why? Don’t tell me you thought those things would actually work?” Trevor wanted to know.

“That’s it?” Loni wailed. “Some foot tingling? I can’t believe they didn’t work.”

“But they did work,” Emma insisted. “The darkhel showed me his burned hand where he had crushed them. It was blistered and hideous.”

“Our dark brother is blistered and hideous. That’s probably just a paper cut or something because I can assure you those wards wouldn’t have even made him blink.”

Loni made a strangled groaning noise but Emma ignored it as she started to get an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach.

“Look, Lon, let me deal with this and I’ll call you back.”

“Sure,” Loni muttered before hanging up. Emma put her cell phone away. As she did, she noticed there was a text message from her dad, but since she didn’t want to miss any calls if Curtis or the others needed to reach her, she ignored it. Once this was all over she would call him.

She caught sight of Rupert hovering over by a group of sophomores who were eating donuts. He was just above their heads and was holding a small silver bag in his hand. Then he casually flew down and plucked a donut out of the nearby box, the oblivious sophomores not even blinking.

“Did you just use glamour powder on them?” Emma raised an eyebrow at him.

“What? They had jelly donuts and I’m hungry, what else was I supposed to do? Besides, we’re in enemy territory. Someone might want to kill us.” Rupert gave an unrepentant shrug as he took another bite of the donut.

“Can’t think why,” Emma muttered. “So, what are you doing here? I’m sure it’s not to see me get inducted.”

“As thrilling as the idea of seeing you officially turned into a fairy murderer is, we’re actually here about our dark brother.”

“So far he’s been a no-show, and if you were right about how long it would take before he’s banished, there’s only two hours left. I think we might be safe.”

“Well, that’s what happens when you think, slayer-girl, because it gets you into all kinds of trouble.” Rupert finished his donut and did three aerial somersaults before ending up hovering just inches from her nose, his tiny face a mosaic of sugar and jelly.

“What do you mean?” Emma suddenly felt a familiar nervousness bunch up in her stomach. “Is he here? Have you seen him?”

“We don’t need to see him to know he’s here.” Trevor looked like he was riding an invisible skateboard as he too suddenly flew down in front of her. “Every air elemental in a twenty-mile radius can feel his presence.”

“And we can also tell that he’s almost found the Pure One.” Gilbert joined the other two just as they all suddenly clutched at their stomachs.

“What? How? Are you sure?” Emma said in alarm as her stomach muscles tightened. She winced in pain.

“Oh, we’re sure all right. Though I don’t know why you’re asking us when it’s obvious that you can feel his presence too. And that you understand how close he is to succeeding.”

“What?” Emma stared at them all like they were certifiably crazy. “What are you talking about?”

“The sore stomach?” Gilbert hinted.

“The anxiety?” Rupert added.

“The unbearable pain and general feeling of unease that you can’t quite put your finger on?” Trevor finished off. “It’s been building for the last twenty-four hours. How could you not have noticed?”

“I—I’ve had a lot on my mind.” Emma frowned as she thought back to the growing anxiety she’d been feeling. And she did have an upset stomach as well; she just hadn’t paid enough attention to it. “So are you telling me that it’s all some sort of darkhel radar?”