Fairy Bad Day(75)

“Were you not just listening?” Trevor growled.

“But normally it’s just a static sound in my ear,” Emma protested as she rubbed her ears, as if to check they were working. “And it’s been static-free all night and this morning until you guys turned up.”

“Hello, static doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a little electric-charged buzz we put out into the air—you know, like a jazzy little theme song. It hardly means danger. Not like the danger that’s coming. You know you really are very ill-informed.”

“Enough,” Gilbert growled at them all. “Because while you might not be worried about what could happen if our dark brother finds the Pure One before he is banished, that’s okay because I’m worried enough for all us. Especially since it’s almost time.”

“How do you know?” Emma started to ask just as a violent spasm went shooting through her stomach and left her doubled over in pain. Okay, scrap that question. As she watched the three fairies also clutch their torsos, she reached into her pocket and fumbled for her cell phone. Then she took a deep breath and tried to compose herself as she called Curtis. There was no answer and so she quickly dialed Tyler. But before she could even hit send, Tyler came racing toward her, his face the color of snow.

“Em, it’s not good,” he panted, wringing his hands in an agitated manner. “It’s Garry and Glen. They’re gone.”

“Gone?” Emma felt the noise around her suddenly fade away as she stared at him. “But how?”

“I don’t know.” Tyler shook his head. “I mean one minute they were in the bathroom trying to make a baking-soda-and-white-vinegar bomb—please don’t ask—and the next thing they just weren’t there. And hey, are those fairies?”

“Yeah, and what about it, pal?” Trevor demanded as he started to open up the small bag that held his glamour powder.

“No.” Emma quickly shook her head. “Don’t do it. He’s with me.”

“Well, tell Mr. He’s-with-Me that right now we don’t have time for his petty worries because we’ve got bigger fish to fry. And by ‘fish,’ I mean our dark brother, and by ‘fry,’ I mean that you need to figure out a way to stop him,” Gilbert informed her as his wings fluttered in a blurry motion.

“Yes, well, the two guys that Tyler just said are missing are two of the potential Pure Ones. We’ve been following them since yesterday. It’s just that I thought... I hoped that between the lack of static in my ears and the fact that I stabbed it last night, they were—”

“Safe?” Rupert swooped down in front of her and raised a mocking eyebrow. “Well, slayer-girl, I think we can assume that you were wrong.”

Emma tried to regulate her breathing as she lifted a hand to her head and pushed back her bangs as if the gesture would somehow help everything make sense. It didn’t. She turned back to Tyler.

“We need to call Curtis and see how it went finding everyone on the list.”

“Speak and he will appear.” Tyler pointed to where Curtis was speeding toward them, faster than Emma would’ve thought possible on a pair of crutches.

“Okay, I can’t find anyone on the list,” he said as he came to a halt, his ugly white glasses perched on his nose. Then he looked up and frowned. “Why are the little fairies here?”

“If one more person calls me little, I’m out of here.” Trevor folded his arms and pushed out his bottom lip in a sullen pout.

“They’re here because the darkhel’s getting close to finding the Pure One,” Emma quickly explained.

“Yes, because apparently she couldn’t figure out the signs on her own,” Trevor muttered before Gilbert nudged him in the ribs. Emma ignored them both as she turned to Curtis and she felt his fingers weave into his. Immediately, her panic lessened.

“So how many on the list did you look for?”

“I looked for all of them, Emma. When I couldn’t find the first person, I went to the next, asking anyone I could think of, but the answer was all the same.”

“But”—Emma pointed to the list—“I saw Ian Wishart and Scott Atkinson.”

“You might’ve seen them this morning, but they’re not here now.”

“You think he’s taken all of the potential Pure Ones?” The words choked in her throat as she looked up to where the three fairies were all fluttering impatiently in the air. “So what’s he going to do to them? Has he . . . has he killed them?”

“Normally I would’ve said yes since our dark brother isn’t really one for houseguests, but since the blood he spills on the Gate of Linaria needs to be fresh, I would say that until he starts the ritual, they will still be alive.”

“But why take all of them? Why not just take the right one?”

“Because he’s probably too stupid to figure out which one is the right one,” Rupert informed her while pretending to do some air-surfing. “Well, stupid or lazy. Knowing him, he’ll just go through them one by one until the Gate of Linaria opens. Which, slayer-girl, is why we need to get moving.”

Emma hitched her slaying kit higher up her shoulder. “We need to get to the food court right now and pray that we’re not too late.”

“Okay, so this is not good,” Tyler suddenly announced in a hoarse voice. “I mean, I’m a betting guy but I really, really don’t like these odds. For a start we don’t even have pass-outs. And how are we going to get there?”