Fairy Bad Day

by Amanda Ashby

  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.

  CHAPTER NINE

  . . . And then Loni jumped out on this huge demon and the minute she pressed her stunner into its spiky back, the thing crumpled like a pack of cards. Unbelievable.” Tyler shook his head in wide-eyed excitement as they sat in the crowded, noisy cafeteria the following morning.

  Those who had gone on the mission had returned too late for Emma to catch up with what had happened, which was why she had been drilling them for details ever since they’d all met up half an hour earlier. Plus, it was definitely helping to take her mind off her upcoming meeting with Kessler. Even the thought of it made her stomach knot with worry.

  “Seriously, Em, Loni was incredible,” Tyler continued before winking. “Our little girl is growing up.”

  “Shut up, Tyler. Stop being such an idiot.” Loni blushed before relenting. “But it was totally insane. There must’ve been at least a hundred demons there and we took them all out. Oh, and you should’ve seen the Department guys. They were totally freaked because they couldn’t see the demons that we were fighting. Actually, they looked just like the civilians in that training DVD we had to watch last year. You know the one that was supposed to make us realize why it’s a bad idea to fight elementals in front of sight-blind people.”

  For a moment they all grinned, since the DVD in question was a bit of a joke. After all, the main reason slayers didn’t fight elementals in public places wasn’t that they wanted to avoid freaking out civilians (though that was true as well) but that thanks to the many wards that were in place, most fighting tended to occur in unpopulated (and more importantly, unwarded) areas.

  “And then when it was over,” Tyler interjected, “the Department guys were all like, ‘Whoa, dudes, you were awesome. That was the best.’”

  “Okay, so now he’s exaggerating.” Loni laughed as she gave Tyler a gentle punch in the arm. “Absolutely none of them said the words ‘whoa, dudes.’”

  “Fine,” Tyler conceded. “But all the same, not only did we save the Department guys from getting shredded, but the zombie virus got reversed, which meant no one got turned into bone-munching living dead. All with no injuries. Definitely a good day’s work.”

  “Wow.” Emma shook her long dark hair in awe as she soaked in every detail. Then she felt her mood start to plummet as she realized it might be the closest she ever got to some code-blue action. “You guys are so lucky.”

  “I know, right.” Tyler reached over and grabbed a piece of Emma’s uneaten bacon. “And did I tell you, three of the hot juniors were all over me in the bus on the way home? Apparently they liked the way I handled myself.”

  “You might’ve mentioned it once or twice,” Emma said diplomatically, since not only had he texted her about it, but on his way home in the bus last night, he had proceeded to draw diagrams and repeat the story every five minutes during breakfast.

  “Or a hundred million times,” Loni corrected, a lot less diplomatically.

  “Sorry.” Tyler shot them an unrepentant grin as he bit into the bacon. “But it was pretty cool. Anyway, now that we’ve told Emma all about the battle, I want to know what happened with this dragon yesterday? Did you seriously see one flying over—”

  “Hey.” Loni suddenly pointed over into the crowd. “Tyler, isn’t that one of the girls from the bus? I think she’s waving at you.”

  “Really?” Tyler was instantly distracted as he jumped to his feet and started to scan the room.

  “Really,” Loni agreed. “You know I bet that if you went over and asked her out, she would probably say yes. Especially since, according to your horoscope, love is in the air for Leo. You should strike while the iron is hot.”

  “Well, I was pretty awesome,” Tyler agreed as he smoothed down his blazer and tried to pat his unruly red hair into some sort of order. “Okay, I’m going to do it. Wish me luck.”

  “Luck,” Loni and Emma both chorused, but it wasn’t until he hurried away from them that Emma rubbed her sore eye and frowned.

  “I didn’t see anyone waving to him. Where is she?”

  “Oh.” Loni shrugged. “I sort of made it up. It’s just Tyler’s on such a high right now from yesterday that I was worried he might ask so many annoying questions and we’d be forced to cut him up into tiny pieces and bury the body parts.”

  Emma nodded. They both adored Tyler, but there was no doubt that sometimes his testosterone took over his brain.

  “Thanks,” she said as she proceeded to fill her friend in on everything that had happened yesterday, from discovering that the dragon was in fact a fairy right up to her upcoming visit to see Principal Kessler in—oh, about ten minutes.

  Once she had finished, Loni was looking more exasperated than ever, and her rosebud lips were scrunched together in two thin lines.

  “I can’t believe that Curtis just stood there and let you call Kessler and leave that message. And here I was thinking he was a nice guy. He’s a Sagittarius too. You know I did not see that one coming, but you were obviously right about him. He’s evil. One hundred percent, unadulterated evil.” Loni bristled, causing Emma to reluctantly shake her head.

  “Actually, Lon, Curtis tried to talk me out of it. In fact, short of tackling me to the ground, he did everything he could to convince me it was a bad idea. I should’ve listened to him.” She groaned before narrowing her eyes in confusion. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “Because,” Loni informed her in a stunned voice, “I’m trying to figure out if this is the first time you’ve talked about Curtis without scowling or making a face.”

  “Okay, fine. You’re right. He’s not that bad.” Emma held up her hands in defeat as she thought of the conversation they’d had while she’d treated his hand. It had been... unexpected.

  “Oh, really? Like how?” Loni demanded, raising her eyebrows.

  “I don’t know.” Emma flushed, suddenly not quite sure if she should mention that Curtis had dark velvety eyes and seemed to understand her. Instead she shrugged. “He just seems nice, that’s all.”

  “I knew it.” Loni clapped her hands in sheer happiness. “You like him. This is so exciting. I always secretly thought he liked you, but now that you like him too, it’s just so perfect. You’re an Aries and he’s a Sagittarius. And then there is the whole granola breakfast cereal thing.”

  “What?” Emma’s sore eye started to twitch. “Loni, no. I don’t like him. I mean I don’t hate him anymore. But it’s not like I’ve suddenly developed a crush on him. That’s crazy. And please stop clapping. Everyone’s looking.”

  “Yes, but—” Loni began, but Emma gave a firm shake of her head.

  “Seriously, there’s no crush.”

  “Oh.” Loni’s face fell. “So you’re not going to invite him down to the practice range? I heard there are some new demons there and I bet Kessler would let you count the practice on your Alternative Slaying assignment.”

  “What? No, of course I’m not.” Emma rolled her eyes. The practice range was down behind the second oval, and it was where the school kept a few captive elementals for training purposes. It was heavily warded and guarded except for three back stalls where students often went to make out. Not that Emma had ever been in them, and more to the point, she didn’t intend on going there anytime soon.

  “It was just a suggestion,” Loni protested, but Emma ignored her.

  “Well, it’s one I can do without. Besides, I have more to worry about right now than that. I still can’t believe I told Kessler that my dragon was an invisible fairy called a darkhel. What was I thinking? Especially since when Curtis and I went to the library yesterday we couldn’t find a single mention of it. It’s like it doesn’t even exist.”

  “So the fairies made it up.” Loni
shrugged. “I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time they’ve tricked you. Remember on your first patrol what they did with the melted ice cream?”

  “Thanks for reminding me.” Emma shuddered as she recalled just how long it had taken to get the ice cream out of her hair. “But I don’t think they were tricking me. They actually seemed pretty annoyed that we found out about it. Ask Curtis, he saw it all.”

  “What?” Loni wrinkled her nose in confusion. “Didn’t you tell me that Curtis got hit with some glamour powder? Because I know that when they got me with that stuff, it was like being a sight-blind civilian.”

  “Oh, right. I guess I forgot to tell you that he has glasses to fight Unseen dragons. Can you believe it?” For a moment Emma dwelled on the injustice of it all before realizing that Loni was still waiting for an answer. “Anyway, the glasses worked on the fairies as well.”

  “What did they look like?” Loni was instantly curious as her violet eyes widened in a geeky way that Emma would never understand.

  “They looked like some very ugly, white sunglasses that should’ve been destroyed along with leg warmers and Wham T-shirts back in the eighties. Why? What does it matter what they looked like?”

  “I guess it doesn’t.” Loni rubbed her chin. “It’s just I would be curious to see them. I’ve heard of Unseen glasses before, but I didn’t know that their refracting lenses would work on glamour powder as well. It’s intriguing.”

  “If you say so.” Emma shrugged as she looked at her watch and reluctantly got to her feet. “Anyway, I better go and face the music with Kessler. I’m already in enough trouble without being late too.”

  Loni’s violet eyes filled with worry. “Okay, well, good luck, and remember not to say anything to piss him off. Promise?”

  “Don’t piss off the principal. That’s definitely my new motto,” Emma assured her as she hurried toward the door while at the same time trying to smooth down her uniform. She’d had another bad night’s sleep and hadn’t really drifted off until just after her alarm clock started to buzz, which meant she’d been forced to get ready in a hurry, and now her hair was pulled up into a practical ponytail and her tie was more haphazardly knotted than ever.

  As she went, she caught sight of Curtis glancing up at her from across the cafeteria. He raised his hand and beckoned for her to wait for him. For a moment she paused and considered it, but as she watched him get to his feet she realized that unlike her own bedraggled appearance, Curtis looked as if he’d slept like a king. His blond curls were gleaming as they lay in a scatter across his forehead, perfectly framing his vivid brown eyes, while his navy blazer fell across his shoulders like it had been fitted by one of the designers from Loni’s fashion magazines.

  Suddenly Emma felt self-conscious and scruffy in her own hastily thrown-on uniform, and while half of her knew it was completely ridiculous to even worry about what she looked like, she did. So instead of waiting, she held up her arm and tapped her watch to let him know that she didn’t have time. Then she turned and hurried toward her fate.

  “Emma, I’m disappointed. For most of your time at Burtonwood, your behavior has been exemplary,” Principal Kessler said fifteen minutes later as he held up a slim file. Then he picked up a second (not so slim) file and shook his head. “Until five weeks ago when you suddenly started rivaling the Lewis twins as the student most likely to give me a coronary. Disobedience. Detentions. Your mother and I go back a long way, but trust me when I tell you that she would be the first to condemn your behavior.”

  Emma wished that she hadn’t been in such a hurry to get to the principal’s office as she clenched her jaw and leaned forward so that her bangs fell into her eyes. She knew this meeting was going to be bad, but it was worse than she ever could’ve imagined. She would not cry, she would not cry. Instead she concentrated on the bit of worn carpet near the corner of the desk. Anywhere was better than looking up at the wall behind Principal Kessler’s head, where her mom’s beaming face was still sitting in its frame, just like it always was.

  Would she still be smiling if she knew that instead of being a dragon slayer, Emma was a fairy slayer. A disgraced fairy slayer.

  “We all know how unhappy you are about your upcoming Induction,” the principal continued in a grim voice. “However, as a student of this Academy, I expect you to follow whatever orders you are given. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir,” she forced herself to answer.

  “There is a reason that we follow rules and regulations, and believe it or not, it has nothing to do with trying to ruin your life,” he continued, as if warming to his task. “For example, yesterday we had a code-blue situation—something that I expect all the Academy students to treat seriously. Instead, what do I get? Someone who first insists that she’s seen a dragon flying over campus, which I am compelled to take seriously, only to waste valuable time doing an EMR scan and double-checking all the wards. And then, she calls me again to say that the dragon wasn’t a dragon after all but an invisible fairy called a darkhel. Can you see what I’m getting at here?”

  Emma nodded as she tightened her grip on the arms of her chair, still refusing to look up in case she accidentally caught sight of just how annoyed Kessler really was. Besides, when he said it like that, it really did sound crazy. Ridiculous. Especially since, judging by his tone, he’d been doing some fruitless research on darkhels as well.

  “Even worse, then I get a visit from another one of my students to confirm that what you had told me was true.”

  What? Emma’s eyes widened. “Curtis came to see you?”

  Kessler gave a sharp nod to let her know he hadn’t appreciated the visit, and suddenly Emma felt a stab of guilt that Curtis had put himself in the line of fire on her behalf. She really had misjudged him.

  “So if you were me, what would you suggest I do with you?” Kessler finally spoke in a subarctic voice.

  Realize that I wasn’t meant to be a fairy slayer and give me dragons instead? Emma longed to say in a hopeful voice, though she wisely realized that it probably wouldn’t go over that well right about now.

  “Well?” he prompted, but before she was forced to answer (what was clearly the trick question to end all trick questions), Barney poked her head around the door and gave a polite cough and then pushed her bright green glasses up onto her head, in what was obviously some sort of code. Principal Kessler got to his feet and made his way over to her.

  “Excuse me for a moment, Emma.”

  “Of course,” she said as he and Barney had a fast and furious conversation. She leaned forward to try to listen, but unfortunately they excelled at talking at subhuman levels.

  “Right,” he said as Barney left, and he walked back to his desk and picked up his phone. “Something’s come up, so we’re going to have to cut this short. But Emma, you’re on detention for the next two weeks, and the only time you will be permitted to leave the grounds is when you’re doing your assignment. And if I’m not fully satisfied with your behavior, I will have no choice but to expel you from Burtonwood Academy. Are we clear?”

  Emma felt her throat tighten and her mouth go dry as she realized that Kessler had threatened her with the one thing worse than being a fairy slayer. Being a civilian who had to go and live at home. Surrounded by people who seemed to have forgotten that her mom had ever existed. Suddenly she felt sick as it sank in that this invisible fairy could’ve cost her everything that she held dear. What had she done?

  CHAPTER TEN

  Twenty minutes later Emma finished changing into her navy sweats and paused outside the simulation labs to press a hand to her burning cheeks. She’d known Kessler would be mad, but she had no idea he would be that mad. She couldn’t even think of anyone who had ever been expelled from Burtonwood. Sight-gifted people were too few and far between to be treated like that. And yet he had said it. If she didn’t get her act together, he would expel her.

  It was unthinkable.

  Unbearable.

  And so not going to happen.


  From now on she was going to do everything by the book. Not that there was a book for being a fairy slayer, but that was beside the point. She wasn’t going to be expelled. Then she took a deep breath and pushed open the lab door.

  The room itself looked more like a large warehouse than a classroom, with a giant projection screen at one end and a bank of computers at the other so that the teachers could control the virtual fights that students were put through to help train their mental and physical reactions. There were also a variety of fake elemental carcasses, tree stumps, and a clutter of other props that were sometimes used to help create the different battle environments.

  However, today the students weren’t going into a fully simulated combat, just a simple, virtual hand-to-hand battle. They would see their virtual opponent through their goggles, and during the fight, their endurance, agility, and stamina could be monitored by the specially designed equipment that they would be wearing. Personally, Emma would rather be fighting real elementals in real conditions, but at least it was better than doing math.

  She scanned the room until she finally caught sight of Loni and Tyler over on a low bench against the wall. They both already had their gear on and were gesturing for Emma to join them. She hurried over.

  “So?” Loni instantly demanded as she tossed Emma a large equipment bag. “Tell me everything now because I can’t stand the suspense. Especially since your star sign said that today wasn’t a good day for conflict.”

  “Well, I guess it was lucky that I didn’t talk back to Kessler when he gave me a two-week detention,” Emma said as she quickly slipped a vest over her head. Loni immediately leaned over and made sure that the wireless connection was switched on so that everything from Emma’s heartbeat to her cholesterol level would be relayed back to the central computer. Once she was satisfied it was working properly, she handed Emma her goggles.

  “Two weeks? That means you’ll miss the induction party on Sunday afternoon.” Tyler pushed his own goggles high onto his wild red hair so that it poked out in all directions. The induction party wasn’t part of the official Burtonwood annual schedule, but for most students it was considered one of the highlights. It was the last chance to really let their hair down before the next stage of their training began. It was also the least of her worries right now.