Fairy Bad Day

chapter FOURTEEN

Jones, I’d almost given up on you,” Curtis said fifteen minutes later as they swiped their pass-outs and the security guard ushered them through the gate. Curtis looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. In fact, he was probably congratulating himself on managing to escape her tacky and humiliating invitation to join her at the practice range yesterday.

He was dressed in standard slaying clothes, and the black, well-fitted top seemed to mold to his chest. Emma found herself unconsciously smoothing down her own matching black top as she tried to remember if she’d brushed her hair this morning.

However, the sight of the Burtonwood minibus parked just in front of them caused her to forget about her appearance as she realized that this was a fatal flaw in her plan. For some stupid reason she was thinking they would be catching a taxi and it would be a simple matter of just paying the driver to make a detour. But now that was clearly impossible, since whatever she said to the driver would go from his mouth to Kessler’s ear. Which meant that she would have to text Loni and get her to arrange for a taxi to pick her up once the minibus dropped her off. Not to mention asking Curtis to cover for her.

It will be easy. Loni’s words came back to her just as Curtis pushed back the sliding door and ushered her in. There was a group of seniors already spread out across the backseat of the bus, on their way to a selkie scouting mission farther past the lakes at the river’s head. They shot Emma a curious glance as she made her way to a window seat as far away from them as possible. Curtis followed her in and awkwardly lowered himself down, propping up his crutches on the spare seat just as the bus drove off into the night.

“Hey, are you okay?” he suddenly asked as he unzipped his slaying kit and pulled out the familiar yellow folder that they were using for the assignment. “You’ve hardly said a word, which—no offense—isn’t like you at all.”

“I’m fine,” she quickly assured him while taking great pains not to look at him, since no good ever seemed to come from doing that. “It’s just been a long day. That’s all.”

“And going out dragon hunting with me isn’t your ideal way to spend the night.” He finished off her sentence in a dry voice, his jaw clenched slightly.

“Something like that,” she mumbled, still managing to avoid his gaze. Then, as much to distract herself as anything else, she pulled out her cell phone and sent Loni a quick text, telling her about the change of plans and asking her to arrange for a taxi to meet her at the parking lot where the minibus would be dropping them off.

Loni replied immediately. Done. And don’t 4get 2 b nice 2 C.

Emma rolled her eyes, put her cell phone away, and turned her attention to the darkening skies outside the bus. She and Curtis made the rest of the trip in silence.

A while later, the minibus slowly pulled up to a small tree-lined parking lot at the edge of a large lake just off the highway. There was a tall streetlamp and an overflowing trash can next to some badly maintained public restrooms. There was also a taxi parked by a tree, its engine idling. Emma glanced out the window at it as she waited for the minibus to come to a stop. She was just congratulating herself on successfully ignoring Curtis for most of the trip when he suddenly made a clicking noise with his tongue, while behind them the seniors were busy discussing the best thermal imager to use when scouting selkies.

“Okay, Jones, so are you going to spill it?”

“Spill what?” She blinked in what she hoped was an innocent expression.

“What’s going on,” he suggested in a mild voice.

“Nothing,” she said. “Why would something be going on?”

“Because you’ve been acting weird the whole time in the minibus, and now you keep looking out the window over at that taxi, which I don’t think is sitting there by accident. Is there something you want to tell me?”

No, Emma longed to say since he already knew far too much about her life, thanks to their trip to the mall the other day. And it didn’t matter how kind he seemed to be; it didn’t alter the fact that he had the one thing she wanted.

She sighed.

“Okay, fine. I sort of have a favor to ask. I need to go and pick up some stuff at my dad’s house, but because I’m on detention this is the only chance I have to get it. I hate to ask.” Like really, really hate to ask. “But would you mind covering for me? I promise I’ll be back before twenty-two hundred hours.”

“What stuff?”

“Um, just stuff.”

“Hello, back there, anytime tonight would be nice.” The bus driver coughed, and they realized he was waiting for them to get off. Curtis retrieved his crutches and they made their way to the front while the driver studied his schedule. “Okay. It says here that you’re doing observation and reconnaissance only, so no slaying. I’ll be back for you at twenty-two hundred hours on the dot. Are we clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Curtis and Emma both said as the bus pulled back out onto the highway. Once it had gone, Emma turned back to Curtis and shot him a hopeful look.

“So? Will you cover for me?”

“You want me to cover for you, but you don’t want to tell me why?” he asked with a hint of annoyance.

“Curtis, please. It’s complicated.”

“I’m a smart guy, Jones. I’m sure I’ll keep up. What’s going on?”

Emma gritted her teeth and regretted that she had ever allowed Loni to talk her into this. Then, catching the way his jawline was as tight as a guitar string, she let out a sigh. He wasn’t going to give up. “Okay, fine. Remember the darkhel? Well, he sorta attacked me last night and—”

“What?” The words exploded out of his mouth like a bullet, and Emma almost expected to hear them echoing around the otherwise silent parking lot. She looked at him in surprise but the easy, lopsided smile that normally hovered close to his mouth had disappeared and was replaced by a tight slit of a line. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? When did it happen? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, and I didn’t tell you because there was nothing you could do about it,” she retorted, and instantly regretted her words when his whole face turned into a mask of stone. He tightened his jaw and turned away for a second. However, a moment later he turned back to her and the darkness had gone, though his knuckles were snow white and strained as they gripped his crutches.

“You still could’ve told me,” he finally said.

She softened her voice. “Look, I’m okay. It attacked me last night in the quad. Thankfully, almost everyone was at dinner and it was pretty foggy, so I don’t think anyone saw. Well, I don’t think anyone saw me,” she corrected as she explained that once again the darkhel had been invisible to all but her. “The thing is, it’s not like any other elemental I’ve ever fought. If Loni hadn’t come along with her subsonic blaster, I’m not sure what would’ve happened.”

Curtis paused for a moment and rubbed his hands through his blond curls, his face looking suddenly tired. “I guess it was lucky she was there to help. So what did Kessler say?” But when she didn’t answer, he let out a long groan. “You didn’t tell him, did you?”

“You know why I couldn’t.” She looked at him before taking a deep breath. “The thing is, the darkhel spoke to me. It told me that I fought just like my mother.”

Curtis’s dark eyes widened, and for a moment as he looked like he was having some sort of internal battle with himself, but whatever he had been wanting to say seemed to be lost, and instead he straightened himself to his full height and said in a businesslike voice, “So what can I do to help?”

“Loni and Tyler spent all last night at the library but still couldn’t find a thing on the darkhel. That’s why I need to go back to my house. My mom had a really big collection of one-of-a-kind elemental books. I’m hoping there will be something there.” Her voice probably sounded a bit gruffer than she had intended, but it was only because his own change of tone had caused such an overwhelming sense of relief that she suddenly felt like crying. However, she quickly jabbed her nails into the fleshy part of her palm and managed to regain her composure. Slayers didn’t cry. She didn’t cry.

Curtis started to swing his way toward where the taxi was still waiting. “So you need to get the books and get back here before the minibus comes to pick us up.”

“That’s right . . . and Curtis, thanks,” she said as she swallowed hard. She seemed to be saying that a lot to him lately.

“It’s no big deal.” He gave a dismissive shrug as he came to a halt next to the taxi and held the back door open for her. She slid in and had just given the driver her dad’s address when she realized that Curtis had made his way around to the other side of the taxi and was trying to maneuver himself, his crutches, and his slaying kit into the cramped space next to her. Finally, he was settled and he reached to put on his seat belt.

“What are you doing? You don’t have to come with me. I’ll meet you back here,” Emma assured him as she rubbed her sore eye.

He shook his head. “Nope, I don’t think so.”

“But, Curtis—” she started to explain.

“Yes, Jones?” He cut her off with a serene smile, which reminded her why he was so annoying. She took a deep breath and tried again.

“Can’t you just go and look for the troubadour dragons and do the assignment?” she urged, but he merely shook his head.

“Strangely enough, I’m not really in the mood for doing my assignment. Probably because you got attacked by something that no one else can see, and part of me thinks it might not be the best thing to let you go there alone.” He turned to the driver. “Okay, we can go.”

“But I’m the only one who can see the darkhel, so even if it did attack me again, you couldn’t help,” she pointed out, and for a moment Curtis’s face froze again before he gave her a tight shrug.

“All the same, I’m coming,” he replied. Then he paused. “Actually, there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about. It’s about what happened yesterday outside the simulation labs.”

“Oh.” Her face started to heat up. “You mean with the tie?”

“I mean, how you asked if I wanted to go to the practice range,” he clarified.

“R-right.” Emma suddenly decided that it might be a good idea to study the handle of her slaying kit, since reliving humiliating experiences wasn’t exactly her number one hobby.

“The thing is—” He paused for a moment and cleared his throat. “It’s not that I didn’t want to go with you, it’s just the practice range isn’t really my thing. I find it easier to fight in the simulation labs.”

Emma looked at him and blinked in surprise, since of all the things she thought he might say, that wasn’t one of them. “So that’s why you said no?”

“Sure.” He nodded, then his expression turned confused. “Why else?”

“Er, no reason.” She blinked as she realized that Curtis must be the only student at Burtonwood who didn’t know what “going to the practice range” was code for, but before she could say anything else, the taxi suddenly turned onto a quiet suburban street and too late she realized that she had been so focused on her conversation with Curtis that she was now woefully unprepared for her visit.

The taxi slowed down and came to a halt. Emma felt something catch in her throat as she stared out at the pale wood veneer and teak trim of the house on Larnark Road. It was the place she had grown up, but it no longer felt like home.

“Are you okay?” Curtis asked from beside her.

“I’m fine,” Emma said, a little bit too quickly, as she busied herself getting out of the taxi, hoping he couldn’t see her reaction. Curtis followed. She didn’t even like telling Loni about her dad, so she was hardly going to talk to Curtis about him, even if they were friends now. Especially because to the outside world her dad was a pretty decent guy. Cheerful, happy, supportive. Capable of transferring his affections from her mom to Olivia less than a year after her mom had died.

Then without saying another word she hurried up the path and knocked on the door of the place she had once called home.