Fairy Bad Day(77)

“What’s it?” Loni looked at her in alarm.

“I think I’ve figured out a way for us to get out of Burtonwood.” She turned to Olivia. “Okay, this is going to sound very weird, but when you drive up to the barrier, we’re not going to be in the car. Well, we will be in the car but you—and more importantly the security guard—won’t be able to see us.”

“What?” Olivia puckered her normally sunny face into a contorted mask. “I don’t understand.”

“Okay, here’s a crash course in fairies. When they sprinkle that powder, it makes them invisible even to most of the sight-gifted. But it also makes anything that they touch invisible as well. That’s why they can eat so much food at the mall. I mean, they wouldn’t get very far if they were invisible but their Starbucks and their Skittle packets weren’t.”

“Trevor, Rupert. I don’t like where she’s going with this.” Gilbert looked like he was going to fly out the window as worry lines puckered up on his tiny face, but Curtis quickly hit the switch and the windows went up.

“Look,” Emma snapped in a curt voice. “If you really want to help, you’re going to need to touch all of us except Olivia so that the guards can’t see us when she goes out of the parking lot. Unless of course you’re looking forward to seeing your dark brothers coming through the Gate of Linaria and ruining all your fun.”

Gilbert swallowed hard. “Slayer-girl’s right. We need to touch the humans and put them under the glamour. And afterward we need to wash our hands. Really, really well.”





Half an hour later Olivia pulled the Volvo up to the entrance of the mall. The glamour had worked perfectly, and the moment the fairies touched Emma, Curtis, Tyler, and Loni as they sat in the car, they had become invisible to the outside world. However, despite Olivia’s assurance that she couldn’t see any of them, Emma still held her breath as they passed the guard station. Thankfully, the guard had taken one look at Olivia’s pregnant belly and waved her on.

As soon as they were clear, the fairies had insisted on being let out of the car, and the minute they were gone, Emma and her friends became visible again. Olivia didn’t say anything, but it was obvious by the way she gripped the steering wheel that the whole experience had unnerved her, and they had made the rest of the trip in silence.

As soon as the car stopped, Emma went to jump out before she suddenly turned back around and lightly touched Olivia on the arm.

“It’s going to be okay, you know,” she said in much the same way everyone had been saying to her all week, and as inane as she knew it was, she suddenly understood why they had been saying it. Not because it was true, but because it let people know that you wanted it to be true. Then she pushed her emotions down. If she thought too much about what the darkhel might do to her dad, there was a good chance she would collapse in a heap and never get up again. And at this particular moment that wasn’t something she could afford to do.

“How do you know it’ll be okay? I mean, if I was your mom, I could’ve stopped it, but I didn’t do anything. One minute he was there and then he was gone.” Olivia looked like she was going to cry again but instead took a deep breath and clamped down on her lower lip.

“Yeah, well, between you and me, my mom wouldn’t have had the patience to sweet-talk the guard while he checked the car. She totally would’ve floored it and taken down the boom gate. Anyway, we’re here now, but, Olivia, it would be better if you waited outside.”

Olivia nodded. “Emma, please get him back. You and the baby need your dad.”

“I know. I will.” Emma paused for a moment and hugged her stepmother before turning to the backseat, where Loni, Tyler, and Curtis were all crammed in. “Will you guys stay here with Olivia? Make sure she’s okay?”

“Sorry, but you’re not going in there alone,” Loni said in a firm voice as she got out of the car and Curtis followed. “We’re in this together.”

“Touching, really, but maybe we could lose the Three Musketeer stuff and get a move on?” Rupert suddenly dived toward them. After their release from the car, the fairies had chosen to fly on ahead, and judging by the amount of sugar around their mouths, they had been waiting for some time.

“Yes, where have you been?” Gilbert tapped at the tiny watch on his wrist as a worried expression morphed across his face. “Our dark brother has arrived, and if you were any later he would’ve had time to tap all the arteries and drain all the blood that he needs—”

“Okay, enough with the details.” It was actually Tyler who cut them off. “Go and do your thing and I’ll make sure that Olivia is okay.”

“Thanks.” Emma reached out and squeezed his hand.

“Yeah, it’s so touching that I might possibly throw up,” Trevor muttered. “Now come on already. Follow us; we know a shortcut.”

Without another word, the three fairies darted off to the main entrance and into the thick Sunday lunchtime crowd. Thankfully Emma had been chasing fairies through the mall for six weeks now and she had no problem following them as they swooped and swerved their way through like three tiny but very erratic bullets. They turned left into a fire exit, and after going down a flight of stairs, Emma suddenly found herself right outside the burned-out shell that was once Hong Kong Wong. A few seconds later Curtis and Loni joined her, panting as they tried to catch their breath.