Fairy Bad Day(9)

Emma hardly heard. Instead, she forced herself to count her breaths until the jerky rhythm of her pounding heart finally started to return to normal and a wave of Zen-like calm washed over her.

She shook her head. This was a mistake.

All of it. Her mom dying. Principal Kessler thinking that she should be a fairy slayer, and in the process turning her into the laughingstock of Burtonwood. And now being told she needed to pair up with the guy who’d ruined her life? No, this was definitely all a big mistake. And she was going to fix it. Without a word, Emma got to her feet and scooped up the yellow folder as Loni looked at her in alarm.

“Where are you going? Why aren’t you talking? It makes me nervous when you don’t talk. Emma, say something.”

“I’m going to see Principal Kessler,” Emma said in a remarkably calm voice.

“What?! No, that’s a very bad idea,” Loni yelped as she jumped up and tried to block Emma’s path. “And it’s exactly the reason I was trying to avoid telling you. Just because you’re a hotheaded Aries doesn’t mean you can just go charging in and tell him that he’s made a mistake with the assignments. What about the high road? Remember what a good idea you thought that was?”

“That was before I tried to kill a fairy and got caught in an explosion,” Emma said in a dry voice. “Now I’ve left the high road and moved onto Desperation Avenue. And for the record, I’m not going to tell Kessler that he’s made a mistake.”

“You’re not? Oh, thank goodness. Because for a moment there I thought you had gone completely crazy. Especially after all the trouble you’ve been in over the last five weeks, the last thing you want to do is annoy Kessler.” Loni looked relieved for about a second before she realized that Emma was still standing up looking serious. “You’re still going to see him, aren’t you?”

“I am,” Emma agreed in a tight voice. “But don’t worry. I’m merely going to explain to him that I would rather die a long, slow, and horrible death at the claws of a lathium dragon—having my skin ripped off strip by pain-soaked strip while I writhe in agony—than work with Curtis Green.”

Then without another word she turned and left.





CHAPTER FOUR





Emma ignored the snickers as she hurried out of the cafeteria. She reached Sir Francis, and after giving him another quick touch on the forehead, she went back along the cool terra-cotta tiles that paved the external corridor that flanked the quad. It was too much. First she had to suffer public humiliation, and now, now, she was supposed to be shown how to slay a dragon by Curtis Green?

Oh, she didn’t think so.

As for the idea of taking him out and attempting to show him how to kill a fairy? No, no, and no. Anger churned in her stomach as she hurried through the main entrance of Burtonwood and turned left. As she went, the eyes of the people in the numerous photographs that graced the walls seemed to watch her. They were of all the graduates who had gone on to do great things in the slaying world, her mom being one of them, and ever since Emma had been a small child, this corridor had been one of her favorite parts of the academy. It made her feel connected to her past and excited about her future, but right now as she raced toward Kessler’s office, all she felt was betrayed.

Well, it was going to stop here. Principal Kessler had been a friend of her mom’s, and she would just have to keep talking to him until he finally understood why the whole fairy thing wasn’t going to work. She was a dragon slayer. She was.

Once she reached his door, she paused for a moment to catch her breath. There was no answer when she knocked and so she knocked again, this time harder, but still there was no answer, and she was just wondering if she should poke her head in when the next door swung open and Mrs. Barnes appeared, her purple eye shadow making her look like she’d gone three rounds with a baritong demon.

“Emma, he’s not in there.”

“Oh.” Frustration started to sting at her lip, and she had to bite it to stop from betraying her feelings. “Will he back before first period?”

The secretary took off her green glasses and shook her head. “I don’t think so. Some people from the Department have been here since seven. He’s still holed up with them now.”

“Really?” For a moment Emma was distracted since the Department of Paranormal Containment was where most of the Burtonwood students would end up working once they graduated. It hadn’t always been the case, but about fifty years ago the Department had realized the Academy slayers, with their sight and power, could kill the elementals better than any of their own agents, and so they’d started recruiting them. This meant after years of slayers just doing their job because of duty, they suddenly found they were getting a paycheck as well. Not surprisingly, sight-gifted parents were suddenly a lot happier to send their children to Burtonwood and the various other academies across the world. Sir Francis would’ve been proud. “What are they doing here?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.” Mrs. Barnes shook her head. “By the way, I heard about what happened to your eye on Saturday. Are you feeling any better?”

“I’m fine.” Emma self-consciously touched the patch and wondered if there was anyone who didn’t know about the explosion.

“Good, and you’ll be pleased to know that you haven’t been penalized for forgetting to hand back your pass-out, but I will need to get it from you now.”