by Amanda Ashby
“You get us in and I can do the rest,” Loni assured him as she leaned over his shoulder. “And Tyler, I’m going to be wanting these codes. I still can’t believe you held out on me like this.”
“Most girls want flowers and chocolate, but you want a security code,” Tyler quipped as he continued to tap away at the keyboard, pausing only to wince as Loni hit him on the arm. “Ouch. Anyway, Miss Zodiac, here’s your EMR. Make of it what you will.”
“So what does it say, Lon?” Emma watched as her friend intently studied the computer screen.
“It says . . . oh.” Loni frowned as she nudged Tyler out of the way so she could sit down and start tapping something on the keyboard. Then she softly swore under her breath. “According to this, there was no elemental activity at all.” She scrolled down the page. “And this is going back until ten yesterday morning when you first saw it. Okay, that idea is officially a bust. So how did it get through the wards and through an EMR scan undetected?”
“And more to the point, why can Emma see it?” Tyler added as the frown lines continued to gather on his face like a storm. “You know, this is one bet that I wouldn’t back.”
“I know. It makes no sense.” Loni continued to stare at the screen.
“Preaching to the choir,” Emma assured them as she gingerly got to her feet and walked over to the window. “Problem is, that thing is out there. Somewhere. And we don’t know anything about it. What if it’s hunting right now?”
“All the more reason to tell Kessler,” Loni persisted.
“Can’t. Expelled, remember?”
“I don’t like it.” Loni shook her head so hard that her silver hoops started to jangle. “In fact, sometimes I think you’re the Taurus and not me because you have one hell of a stubborn streak.”
“Not stubborn, I just don’t want to get kicked out of Burtonwood. Especially since right now all I want to do is find out how this thing knew my mom. I think we should go to the library and see if we can . . . what?” Emma paused as she realized her friend was looking at her like she had just suggested they both fly to Paris and jump off the Eiffel Tower together. “Just because I’m not a fan of studying doesn’t mean I can’t do it when I need to.”
“It’s not that.” Loni reached over and picked up a hand mirror that had been sitting on a pile of astrology books. “But you might want to have a look at yourself before you think of going out.”
Emma held up the small mirror and flinched as she realized what her friend meant. Her bottom lip was puffed up like Angelina Jolie’s, while the rest of her face was a picture of cuts and bruises. Not that it was uncommon for Burtonwood students to walk around sporting worse injuries, but right now, after everything that had happened, she didn’t really want to draw too much attention to herself.
“Look,” Loni said in a diplomatic voice. “How about Tyler and I head over to the library and see what we can find on darkhels while you have an early night and try and stop looking like you’ve just gone ten rounds with some unknown elemental. Deal?”
Emma wanted to say no, but she recognized the determined gleam in Loni’s eyes. Besides, normally after a fight, she either felt exhilarated or despondent, depending on the outcome, but right now all she felt was numb. So maybe, she decided, having some time to herself would help her process what had just happened.
An hour later she was back in her own room and she had extracted a promise from Loni and Tyler that they would call if they found anything. “And I mean anything,” she had repeated to ensure that her friends understood how important it was. After they left, Emma sat down and started to methodically clean her sword. It wasn’t her favorite part of being a slayer, but there was something strangely soothing about falling into a routine that her mom had first taught her almost seven years ago.
She carefully put some oil on a soft cloth and ran it along the smooth surface, determined to remove all of the dark black blood that was smeared along on it. As she cleaned she tried to figure out what was going on.
What was the darkhel?
How did it know who she was?
How did it know who her mom was?
And finally, what did it want?
However, the more she thought about it, the more it felt like she was doing one of Professor Edwards’s pop quizzes, where the questions all swirled into one and there was more chance of her growing horns and a tail than there was of figuring out the answers.
She finished with her sword and carefully slipped it back into its sheath; then she went through and checked that all her other weapons were in order. Finally, after sending both Loni and Tyler yet another text to see if they’d found anything (no and no were the synchronized replies), Emma reluctantly got ready for bed and turned off the light.
She half expected to have problems keeping her eyes shut, after everything that had happened, but instead, the minute her head touched the pillow, she fell asleep.
Unfortunately, with sleep did not come peace, and her dreams were dotted with visions of her mom. Her long brown hair, so like Emma’s own, was dragged away from her forehead, while her lips were pursed in concentration as she showed Emma the best way to hamstring a dragon. Emma’s own attempts were clumsy and ineffective, and she was just about to ask her mom to show her again, but before she could, the injured dragon suddenly morphed into a darkhel.
In her sleep Emma jumped at the sight of the dark, vile creature, and she turned to her mom for help. But instead of fighting it, her mom just shrugged her shoulders and put down her sword so she could walk over to where the creature was standing.
What are you doing? Emma screamed. Get away from it!
It’s fine, darling. I just need to talk to it for a moment. If it hurts me, then you can just kill it.
What? But I don’t know how to kill it. Where’s the kill spot? Why do you need to talk to it? Mom, what’s going on?
But her mom didn’t answer. Instead she stretched out her hand toward the darkhel, and Emma watched in horror as the creature opened its hideous misshapen mouth to reveal its sharp white teeth. Emma tried to race toward them, but she suddenly felt like the weight of a hundred bricks was pressing down on her limbs and her chest, pushing her deep into the bed and—
But whatever was about to happen next suddenly dissolved in her mind like the tide washing away a sandcastle as the sound of the alarm rang in her ear. For a moment she just lay there in a tangle of sheets and sweat. The alarm rang again and this time she jumped out of bed, eager to push away any remnants of the dream. The dream where her mom seemed to be hiding something from her. She quickly got dressed so that she could join Loni and Tyler and see if they’d had success in finding answers to the question that had been going around in her mind like a carousel. What exactly was a darkhel?
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.
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.