Fairy Bad Day

chapter THIRTEEN

For the first time since the explosion in the food court, Emma realized that all eyes weren’t on her as she hurried across to the cafeteria to where her friends were both sitting. Which in turn meant that her fight last night must’ve gone by undetected. Thank goodness for Northern California’s early-evening fog and gloom.

Tyler shook his head so that his red hair scattered in all directions. “Well?” she demanded the minute she sat down. “Did you find anything out?”

“Sorry, Em. There was nothing. I even tried sweet-talking Gretchen, but unfortunately she appears to be completely unbribable.”

“You tried to bribe Gretchen the librarian?” Emma said.

“‘Tried’ being the operative word.” Tyler let out a disappointed sigh. “I figured since Brenda is always walking around with old-fashioned-looking leather books, there must be some secret stash that was reserved for really brainy people, or really sneaky ones. But apparently not.”

“But don’t worry,” Loni added, no doubt catching Emma’s look of frustration. “Because I have an idea. It’s been really bugging me all night about how the darkhel even got into Burtonwood. Twice. I mean, this place is warded up to the hilt, so technically it shouldn’t have been here.”

“Hence the conundrum.” Emma tapped the table in frustration. “Since that’s the reason why Kessler doesn’t believe me—well, that and the fact that this thing apparently doesn’t exist. But then again, the little fairies don’t seem to be affected by wards either, which is why they can come and go so freely at the mall.”

“Yes, but we have a lot more wards at Burtonwood than they have at the mall,” Loni pointed out. “The double Windsor alone pumps out so much voltage that it should fry any elemental within a three-mile radius, and we have twenty of them dotted around the boundaries, which is why I’m wondering if the darkhel has managed to interfere with one of them.”

“Is that even possible?” Emma frowned and tried to remember everything she had learned in her Ward Building class. I mean, aren’t the wards designed so that elementals can’t tamper with them?”

“Yes, as a rule,” Loni said, “but since we don’t know anything about the darkhel, we really don’t know what it’s capable of. You said it had talons, but it also sounded like it was pretty dexterous. I don’t suppose you noticed if it had opposable thumbs?”

Emma stared at her blankly.

“No, I didn’t think so,” Loni quickly added. “Anyway, I thought I should go and make sure that everything’s okay with all the wards.”

“You can do that?” Now it was Tyler’s turn to look surprised.

“I can.” Loni grinned as she pulled out a small map of what looked like the entire Burtonwood grounds. “Who knew it would be so handy that I spent all that time tagging after the tech guys watching them do their maintenance. Anyway, all I need to do is slip into the workroom at lunchtime and get my hands on an analyzer. It will tell me if the electromagnetic field is still working and at what voltage it is pumping out the positive electrons. As long as it’s over fifty volts, then the wards are working. Simple.”

“You know, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Loni’s just a bucket of plutonium away from being an evil genius.” Tyler grinned.

“Ignore him,” Loni advised as she gave Tyler a friendly shove. “Because the important thing is that we’re going to get to the bottom of this. I know we are. We’ve just got to stay positive.”





By the end of the day Emma realized that just because a person wanted to figure something out didn’t mean the person would figure something out. Not that she’d really had much of a chance, since between going to classes and her after-school detention, her time hadn’t exactly been her own. But if she didn’t get some answers soon, there was a strong chance that her head might explode.

Thankfully, after two long and laborious hours, a grimlooking Professor Vanderbilt finally got to her feet and said that everyone in the detention room could go. Emma didn’t need to be told twice, and she hurried over to the library, where Loni had been researching the darkhel. Her friend was waiting outside the entrance idly flipping a tiny ward up and down in the air.

“Tyler’s stuck with Glen Lewis talking about their assignment but he’s going to meet me at the cafeteria in half an hour so he can help me check the wards,” Loni told her as she pocketed the ward. “How are you dealing?”

“I’m fine, aside from the fact that I’m going completely and utterly insane—of course,” Emma added as the light started to fade and the temperature felt cool against her cheeks. “Still, at least I managed to get my homework done. Though why a slayer needs to learn accounting I’ll never know.”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen anyone kill a goblin by knowing how to depreciate an asset over a ten-year period,” Loni agreed as she reached out and gave Emma’s hand a comforting squeeze. “And hang in there. We’ll find something out. I know we will.”

“Will we?” Emma paused for a moment, her frustration descending like the surrounding fog. She thrust her hands into her blazer pockets to keep them warm. “It just makes no sense, Lon. This is my mom we’re talking about. So how does this . . . this . . . thing know anything about her? I can’t bear the thought of her having any sort of secret, separate life. I need to find out what went on.”

“And you will,” Loni insisted before she thoughtfully bit her lower lip. “But you know, there’s something we haven’t considered. I mean, if the darkhel knew your mom, maybe your mom knew the darkhel?”

“Except my mom’s dead, so we can’t exactly ask her,” Emma reminded her friend.

Loni shook her short, spiked hair. “No, that’s not what I meant. It’s just... remember when you first took me back to your house just after we both started at the Academy?”

Emma nodded. Loni had been homesick like crazy and her parents had both been off on a mission in Africa, trying to hunt down a rogue demon, and so Emma’s dad had invited her to come over on a Saturday. Something that had been repeated many times over the years until Emma’s mom died and Emma had stopped going home herself, preferring to spend most of her weekends and holidays at Burtonwood.

“Well,” Loni continued, “your mom took me into her study and she had a zillion ancient-looking books, and I clearly remember her telling me that some of them were the only copies available in the whole world.”

“You think that one of them might mention the darkhel?” Emma asked as a sense of hope started to swell up in her. Loni was right: her mom had a seriously big collection of books, and while she hadn’t been what Emma would call a meticulous note taker, there had been times when she had seen her mom scribbling in a small leather-bound book. However, another thought suddenly occurred to her, and Emma felt her hope slide away like a leaf down a stream. “But I can’t get them.” She groaned. “I’m on detention, remember? I can’t leave campus.”

Just then the alarm on her cell phone beeped and she absently stared at the screen. It was the reminder that she had put in yesterday. The one to tell her she was supposed to meet Curtis in fifteen minutes to work on their assignment.

Emma was just about to delete it, but before she could, Loni, who was leaning over her shoulder to read the message, let out a little squeak of excitement. “That’s it. You already have your pass-out. You just need to ask Curtis if he minds if you swing by your house on the way the back from doing your assignment.”

“What?” Emma yelped in surprise as her last encounter with Curtis suddenly flashed into her mind—with particular emphasis on the fact that she had mistakenly thought he was going to kiss her.

“It’s perfect,” Loni insisted in an excited voice. “You’re allowed off campus for your assignment. So, just make a pit stop afterward. Tell her it’s perfect, Tyler.”

“It’s perfect, Tyler,” Tyler dutifully repeated as he approached them with a bulging backpack slung over his shoulder. “I’m not sure what we’re talking about, but she’s got her Taurus-girl face on and you know what she’s like when she gets like that.”

Loni ignored him as she turned her attention back to Emma and softened her expression. “Look, I get that you probably don’t want to speak to him after what happened yesterday, but—”

“Yesterday? So what happened yesterday?” Tyler piped up. “Oh, I bet you told Curtis that you never wanted to speak to him again. Ten bucks says I’m right. Yes?”

However, the two girls just ignored him as Loni lowered her voice and squeezed Emma’s hand. “The thing is, despite how you feel, this is your best chance of finding out about the darkhel. Besides, it’s not like you can get out of doing the assignment. Not unless you want to make Kessler even more mad than he already is.”

“I know, you’re right,” Emma reluctantly agreed. Not because she thought it was a good idea to spend any more time than was necessary with Curtis—or because she really wanted to face going home—but because Tyler was right. Loni’s normally placid, heart-shaped face was pinched into a stubborn, bullish expression that Emma had long come to know, and she quickly realized that the chances of her friend dropping the subject were slim to none. And at least on the positive side, she wouldn’t be wearing a tie, so Curtis wouldn’t be tempted to straighten it again.

“Good.” Loni grinned.

“But,” Emma added, “if I’m going out with Curtis, then you guys need to promise that you’ll be careful when you’re checking those wards. The last thing I want is for either of you to get in any trouble. One dysfunctional, out-of-favor slayer is probably enough for now.”

“We’ll be careful,” Loni promised as she gave her a fierce hug. “And good luck with your mom’s books. I have a really good feeling about this.”

Emma nodded. But she wished she shared her friend’s confidence that it would all be okay.