Fairy Bad Day

chapter EIGHT

I don’t believe it,” Emma said a few minutes later as they leaned over the railing of the top level of the mall and looked down. “We had them right there. All we needed was two more minutes and we could’ve found out exactly what this darkhel thing is.”

“I’m sorry, Jones. Are you okay?” Curtis asked in a surprisingly soft voice, and Emma found the tension that had been building up between her shoulder blades start to ease.

“Yeah.” She let out a sigh and turned to him. “Except for the fact that I can apparently see invisible fairies that are the size of dragons and that no one has ever heard of before. And here I was thinking my life couldn’t get any weirder.”

“Maybe you just haven’t heard of this one before?” Curtis said in a hopeful voice, but Emma shook her head.

“When Kessler stuck me with the fairies, I made sure I read every single book I could find on them—not that there were many—and trust me, there was nothing remotely like a darkhel. Or even a fairy that stands over a foot high, for that matter.” She rubbed her sore eye as her frustration started to mount again. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“I know,” Curtis agreed, before pushing his ugly glasses up onto his wild curls and frowning. “First they talked about darkhels, and then they said all that mumbo jumbo about the Pure One. I mean, what was that about?”

Emma was immediately diverted as she studied his face in surprise. “You’re kidding, right? You haven’t heard of the Pure One?”

“Um, no.” Curtis looked at her blankly. “What is it?”

“According to the legend, Sir Francis was so upset that a demon had killed his only brother that he decided to shut the Gate of Linaria once and for all to stop any more elementals from getting out. Because the gate disappears and reappears all the time, it took him ages to track it down, and then when he did he used some hocus-pocus spell to seal it. Apparently, part of the spell included five drops of blood from a nameless male child. The blood was meant to represent purity and innocence. Personally, I think it’s a little gross. But the point is that ever since he sealed the gate, the elementals have been looking for the descendant of the nameless child so they can use its blood to reverse the spell, reopen the Gate of Linaria, and let all of their buddies who got trapped on the other side come through.”

Curtis widened his eyes. “Okay, so I knew that the Gate of Linaria disappeared and reappeared all the time, but I had no idea the spell could be reversed by using someone’s blood. I thought it was sealed forever.”

“It is,” Emma assured him. “The Pure One is just a kid’s story. And I can’t believe you’ve never heard it before.”

Curtis put his glasses back on, and for a moment his jaw tightened again. Emma looked at him in surprise. Up until today she hadn’t taken him for being moody. Finally, he gave a nonchalant shrug as he studied his fingers. “My folks weren’t big storytellers. So let’s get back to the facts. How do you think the Pure One stuff ties in with this darkhel creature?”

“It doesn’t.” Emma shook her head. “The fairies were just trying to mess with us because they didn’t want us to ask them any more questions about the darkhel. I guess they succeeded.”

“I wouldn’t say that. Look. Over there.” As he spoke, he gave her a soft nudge and directed her gaze to the level below, where, sure enough, one of the fairies was hovering around a woman holding a Starbucks cup. Typical: fairies loved frappuccinos almost as much as they loved Skittles. The rest of them were just off to the side, and Emma felt a sense of relief go racing through her as she hurried toward the escalators, never taking her eyes off the tiny creatures. Despite his crutches, Curtis was right behind her as they made their way to the next level and discreetly squeezed through the crowd to where the fairy was still hovering.

“By the way, thanks for helping me find them again,” she grudgingly said in a low voice as they carefully drew closer. “I really appreciate it.”

“It’s no biggie.” Curtis gave a casual shrug before shooting her a lopsided smile that suddenly made Emma understand why so many of the sophomore girls talked about him. She shook her head as if to dislodge the thought from her mind as the fairies came to a halt and started to throw Skittles at them. However, Emma, who had been caught by this trick one too many times, let the raining candy fall harmlessly to the ground and watched as the fairies darted this way and that before they doubled back and made a beeline for the entrance of a Gap store.

“Gotcha.” She grinned as she reached for Curtis’s arm and nudged him to follow her toward the store. But just before they got there, Emma caught sight of a familiar-looking blonde-haired woman over by a perfume cart just outside the entrance.

What? No. Emma momentarily forgot about the fairies as her spine stiffened, and she only just resisted the urge to groan. Seriously, of all the perfume carts in the world, why did Olivia have to be at this one?

“Quick, turn around and run,” she said in a low voice as she tugged at Curtis’s sleeve and shot the entrance of the store one last look. Catching up to the fairies was her chance to prove to Principal Kessler that she hadn’t made the darkhel up, but she couldn’t let Olivia see them either. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a fairy bad place.

“Run?” He frowned as he glanced at his crutches.

“Okay, I’ll run and you hobble,” she suggested, but before she could go anywhere, Curtis caught her by the arm and narrowed his eyes as he pushed his glasses back into his mop of curls.

“Why are we running away from them? We’ve got them cornered. They’re in the store. Besides, you just told me that we couldn’t take our eyes off them or—”

“Emma?” Olivia’s voice rang out from across the marblefloored court, and Emma reluctantly looked over to where the blonde woman was now waving at her.

Great.

Emma groaned as she watched Olivia make her way toward them. At the same time the fairy they had just seen flew over to the elevator and shot her a smug wink before melting away into the crowd.

“Do you know her?” Curtis sounded surprised.

“She’s married to my dad, and I don’t want to talk about it.” Emma folded her arms and once again edged away from him. Why was it that everywhere she turned, she seemed to be touching his arm?

“She’s your stepmom?” Curtis sounded like he was about to choke. “It’s just, she looks so—”

If he said “young,” Emma was going to kill him. She might have only a nail file and hairspray in her immediate possession, but she was sure she could figure out a way to make it slow and painful. She hadn’t topped her class in Inventive Death for nothing.

“So pregnant,” he said instead, which didn’t remotely improve her mood. “I didn’t know you were going to be a big sister.”

“Still not wanting to talk about it,” Emma muttered as Olivia made her way toward them, her blonde hair bouncing in a shampoo-commercial sort of way. Emma wasn’t fond of having conversations with her stepmom at the best of times, but during the potentially worst week of her life, the possibility was even less welcome than normal. Especially since, despite Olivia’s bulging stomach, her dad had only told Emma about the pregnancy when he’d come to Burtonwood and given her her mother’s crystal necklace.

Now that Emma looked back on it, she shouldn’t really have been surprised to receive fairies as her designation the following day. It had obviously been a sign of the impending apocalypse, and she just hadn’t realized it at the time. Especially since her dad hardly ever visited Burtonwood anymore. Emma secretly wondered if it was because he was sight-blind and didn’t like to be reminded of his old life with his slayer wife, which was the exact same reason why Emma didn’t like going home much. And she doubted that would be changing anytime soon, especially if there was going to be a gross baby boy crawling all over the place.

“Emma, I thought that was you.” Olivia beamed as she got closer to them, her giant belly poking out underneath a pale pink linen shirt. “What a lovely surprise.”

“Hey, Olivia, nice to see you.”

“You too. How are you feeling? I know your dad’s been worried about you. He’ll be happy to hear you’ve got your eye patch off now.” Olivia continued to smile in an overly sunny way.

“Oh, yeah. I haven’t had a chance to call him back yet. School’s been pretty busy.” What with being humiliated and left behind for the most exciting mission of the year, not to mention being forced to spend time with a guy she hated more than life itself.

“Of course, I totally understand,” Olivia quickly agreed as she unconsciously rubbed her stomach before she turned to Curtis and gave him an open smile. “So do you go to Burtonwood as well?”

“Yes, I’m Curtis.”

“Nice to meet you, Curtis. I’m Olivia. So what do you specialize in?”

“What?” Curtis coughed.

“Oh, did I say the wrong word?” Olivia blushed as she shot Emma an embarrassed look. “I’ve always been hopeless with lingo. I just wondered if you’re a fairy slayer like Emma.”

“Oh, right. Sorry. I just didn’t realize you knew what we did.” Curtis pushed a blond curl out of his eyes and looked apologetic. Not that Emma could really blame him, since it wasn’t often that a slayer came across a sight-blind civilian who not only knew what an elemental was, but talked about them (especially in the middle of the mall while holding her pregnant stomach). “Anyway, I’m with dragons,” he said as he rubbed his hand.

“Oh, just like Emma’s mom was; that’s so nice. No wonder you two are friends. By the way, is your hand okay?” Olivia’s perpetual smile disappeared for a moment as she glanced at Curtis’s hand, which was looking red and swollen from where his laser had backfired on him.

“Oh, this?” Curtis gave it a dismissive wave. “It’s fine.”

“Well, you should really get it checked out. You don’t want it to get infected,” Olivia persisted, and Emma looked at Curtis in annoyance. Why hadn’t he said that his hand was injured? It wasn’t like she wouldn’t have bandaged it for him. She wasn’t a monster. “In fact, I used to be a nurse. If you like, I could look at it now—”

“Actually, Olivia, we’d better get going. I’ll make sure Curtis gets his hand checked,” Emma interrupted as she tried to keep the impatience out of her voice.

“Oh, right.” Olivia flushed as she glanced around. “Of course. I hope I didn’t blow your cover. Anyway, I’d better go pick up the dry cleaning. I need it for Serena’s wedding, and I meant to do it yesterday but forgot. I swear these baby hormones are turning me into a crazy person. Oh, but Emma, speaking of the wedding, I know Serena would love to have you there if you wanted to change your mind. I asked your dad to book you a ticket on our flight. Just in case.”

“Well, I sort of have a lot of stuff going on. But I’ll think about it.” Emma plastered a smile onto her face.

“Please do, because my whole family is dying to see you again.” Olivia held up both hands to show her fingers were crossed before giving Emma and Curtis one final sunny smile and heading off. “And happy slaying.”

Emma rolled her eyes as Curtis turned and said, “Your stepmom seems pretty cool. It’s nice that she wants you to feel like you’re part of her family.”

“Yeah. It’s just great,” Emma mumbled as she dropped her kit onto the nearby bench and pulled out some cream. Then she nodded for Curtis to sit down.

“You don’t like her?” Curtis lifted an eyebrow in surprise as she reached out for his hand and inspected the wound while she tried to ignore how smooth the unburned part of his skin was. Did he moisturize?

“She’s okay, I guess,” Emma relented as she started to treat the burn just like she’d learned in all the first-aid courses she’d taken at Burtonwood. “Though she smiles way too much, and every time I go home for the weekend, she’s always trying to help me polish my sword or patch up my clothes.”

“I had no idea things were so tough for you,” Curtis said, with a hint of sarcasm. He winced as Emma put some cream on his hand and it sank into the wound.

“Look, it’s complicated,” Emma was stung into replying as she carefully put some light gauze around the burn and avoided looking at him, since there was something about his deep brown eyes that she found unnerving.

“Why, because she and your dad are having a baby together and you think he’s forgotten about your mom?” he said with more sarcasm.

“So what, now you’re a dragon slayer and Dr. Phil?” Emma growled, finally looking up at him. However, instead of seeing an arrogant expression on his tanned, perfect face, her words seemed to sting him more than the cream, and she watched in surprise as two bright red spots of color blazed on his cheeks.

Okay, so she hadn’t expected that.

“Hey, Jones. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. She just seemed nice, that’s all. But you’re right. It’s none of my business,” he said in an apologetic voice. “It’s easy to judge when you’re standing on the outside and can’t see what’s really going on. But the truth is that even the most regularlooking families can be screwed up.”

For a moment Emma blinked at him in surprise. She really hadn’t taken Curtis for the sensitive, considerate type. And since when did he know about complicated families? “Yeah, something like that,” she mumbled as she found herself returning his gaze, focusing on the smooth curve of his mouth as it swung up at the corners. It was a nice mouth. Why had she never noticed before? And suddenly Loni’s words came back to haunt her. Perhaps she had been too hard on Curtis? After all, she didn’t even know him, yet she had decided he was horrible, when really he was just as much a victim of this crappy situation as she was.

“Jones, are you okay?” Curtis suddenly asked as he studied her face, a bemused smile tugging at his mouth. “You’re pretty quiet. And you’re still holding my hand.”

“What?” Emma could feel the heat rise up in her cheeks as she looked down and realized that she still had his hand in hers. She immediately let it go and busied herself putting everything away while making a mental note to avoid touching Curtis—it seemed to do strange things to her. “Yes, I’m fine. Anyway, your hand should be okay.”

“Thanks.” He gave it a wave in the air as if to check that the gauze would hold before he awkwardly got to his feet while Emma once again tried to ignore the way his blond curls hung over his eyes.

“Don’t mention it.” She shrugged, then took a deep breath. “And look, sorry I was a little rude. I don’t really like talking about family stuff.”

“I understand.” For a moment the smile left his face and he gave a solemn nod, which caused his blond curls to scatter across his forehead in all directions. “So, do you want to look for the fairies one more time? We still have half an hour before we need to leave, and it might help us learn more about this darkhel of yours.”

For the second time in as many minutes, Emma looked at him in surprise. First he seemed to understand her, and now he seemed eager to help her. Unfortunately, it was too late and she reluctantly shook her head.

“They’ll be long gone, not to mention putting the call out to tell all the other fairies in the area to lie low. They make instant messaging look like ancient history.”

“Oh.” Curtis actually looked disappointed. “So we head back to Burtonwood, then?”

“I guess.” Emma nodded. “I’ll just give Kessler a call and let him know what’s happened.”

“You want to call Kessler?” Curtis’s mood instantly changed as a look of concern appeared on his brow. “Are you really sure you want to tell him about this? I mean, he seemed pretty pissed off when you called him last time.”

“That was before I knew what it was. Now I have proof it’s a fairy called a darkhel—”

“An invisible fairy that no one’s ever seen or heard of before,” Curtis reminded her in an enthusiasm-killing voice.

“That’s not the point.” Emma shook her head in frustration. And to think that a couple of minutes ago she thought they had reached some sort of understanding. Yet now he was acting like the arrogant dragon slayer that she had first thought he was. “You were there. You heard the fairies talk about it, and we already know it was hunting on campus. You do the math.”

“I’m just saying it might be better to wait. Especially since Kessler’s out on a code blue.”

Emma folded her arms and glared at him. Why was he doing this? It was almost like he... oh! She widened her eyes. It was almost like he didn’t want her to let Kessler know that she hadn’t been making it all up, in case it meant Kessler changed his mind about the dragon designation. And to think that for one second she had thought Curtis was a nice guy. She narrowed her eyes.

“Really? Because it seems to me you’re worried that he might be impressed with what I’ve found out.”

“Jones, that’s not what I meant,” he said as a flash of annoyance went racing across his face. “Look, if there had been another way, don’t you think I—” He suddenly bit down on his lip.

“Another way?” Emma narrowed her eyes. “Another way for what? What are you talking about?”

“Nothing,” he quickly backtracked as he studied his freshly bandaged hand. “And look, if you want to call Kessler, it’s your decision.”

“Thank you,” Emma said as she moved a few paces away and made the call. She didn’t care what Curtis said, she was doing the right thing. Her mom would’ve done exactly the same. However, after several rings, the call went to voice mail. She hit redial but again there was no answer, so she left a detailed message explaining exactly what the fairies had told her, even going as far as to spell out the word “darkhel” in case the principal misheard. Then she slipped her cell phone back into her pocket.

She turned around to where Curtis was leaning forward on his crutches, his T-shirt and blue hoodie straining across his broad shoulders. Not that his obvious strength really gave him an edge over her as far as dragon slaying went, since that was as much about speed and stealth as anything else, but still—

Suddenly, he turned to her and she flushed.

She hoped he hadn’t caught her looking at him. Not that she was really looking, she was just observing, and there was a difference. A big, big, big difference.

“He’s not answering,” she said in a matter-of-fact voice as she headed for the taxi line and they made the trip back to Burtonwood the same way they had come. In silence.

“So did you have any luck with the fairies?” Mrs. Barnes asked half an hour later as they both handed back their passes and gave her the receipt for the taxi fare since the normal minibus hadn’t been able to drop them off. Emma went to open her mouth when Curtis suddenly lifted his bandaged hand up and cut her off.

“Not so much. I learned the hard way not to use lasers around them. Slaying fairies is harder than I thought,” he confessed.

“Yes, well, I did warn you, but would you listen?” Emma retorted, still annoyed that she had allowed herself to soften toward him, even for a moment.

“Trust me, I won’t make that mistake again,” Curtis assured her.

Emma turned back to Mrs. Barnes. “So what are we supposed to do now if everyone else is out on the code blue?”

“Professor Vanderbilt will supervise you both while you study. He’s in the library. And, Emma, Principal Kessler wants you to come and see him before class tomorrow. Apparently, there are some things he wants to discuss with you.”

“Oh.” Emma gulped as she took in the serious expression on Mrs. Barnes’s face. “W-what about Curtis? Does he need to see him too?” But Mrs. Barnes just shook her head and shot her an apologetic look that told Emma all she needed to know.

Too late she realized Curtis had been right.

She should never have left the message for Kessler.

Emma only just managed to stifle a groan as it sunk in how stupid she had been. And the worst thing was, she had no one to blame but herself.