Zoey walked alongside Tristan and Simon. “Have you guys done this before? Spray and bag fairies?” She noticed that Tristan had two more cans in his front jean pockets.
“This is our third time,” answered Simon. “I bagged three, but Tristan’s the real champ—holds the academy’s record for Most Bagged Fairies ever on one assignment. Stuart wasn’t happy at all. You should have seen how his ugly face went all twisted. I thought he was going to cry. I bet he cries like a girl.”
“Hey!” said Zoey, with mock anger.
“Sorry,” laughed Simon. “But I bet he does. Today it’s going to be me, you’ll see. I’ll get them all! Whoa!”
He waved his spray can like a weapon. He used awkward martial arts moves, like someone with no real experience who’d watched too many Kung Foo movies.
Zoey caught Tristan staring at her. She smiled at him, but he looked away. Perhaps he was still embarrassed because she had asked if he had a girlfriend. He didn’t look offended or put off. In fact, he had a tiny grin on his face that hadn’t been there before, like he was pleased about something. And she thought she knew what that was…
Zoey focused on the task before her. Tristan was obviously very good at spraying and bagging fairies—whatever that was—and she wanted to be just as good as him. So, even though she was a little self-conscious, she tried to stay close so she could learn from him. She’d always been very good at standing back and observing.
They reached the base of power lines and the operatives spread out. Blue electricity winked at Zoey from one of the power lines. She looked up. Even in the night’s black sky she could see fairies. There were hundreds of them. At first they looked like birds sitting on the power lines, but the closer she got and inspected them, it was clear that these were not birds.
They were the ugliest creatures she’d ever seen. These were not the beautiful fairies she’d imagined. They were size of house sparrows and were covered in filthy brown fur. They had veiny bat-like wings, pointy ears, and large, wet yellow eyes. They glared at her from above with hairless gray-colored faces that were twisted and wrinkled like dried up raisins. Some had tails, while others did not. Some clung upside down like bats with sharp talons, while others sat cross-legged. They were all biting and tearing apart the electric wires. They ripped at the lines with sharp pointy teeth, and chewed and swallowed the electricity like it was a spaghetti feast.
Transfixed, she watched as a little fairy the size of a humming bird ate away at a large wire. It swallowed the wire like slurping a noodle, burped loudly, and then it grew, doubling in size. It was now as big as a crow.
“Hey, did you see that?” said Zoey as she pointed to the fat fairy. “That one just grew! I saw it, it like got twice as big!”
Tristan stood at her side. “Quick, use the spray before they get too big for us to manage them.”
“Huh?”
Tristan covered the fairy that had just grown with a blast of semitransparent mist. It froze instantly, as though it had been squirted with liquid nitrogen. It fell to the ground like a rock. Immediately, Tristan picked it up and was about to put it in the bag when Zoey grabbed his hand.
“Is it dead? Are we killing them?”
Zoey felt sorry for the little furry creature, even if it was unbelievably ugly. “It feels wrong to kill them. I mean—they are just eating.”
Tristan held up the frozen fairy for Zoey to see. “We’re not killing them—just temporarily immobilizing them. They don’t feel any pain. Trust me. It’s the only way to remove them without hurting them.”
The fairy’s horrid little face was frozen in a grimace, but its eyes moved from Tristan to Zoey. If it could move, she was certain it would spit in their faces.
“Wait till they bite you—you won’t be feeling any love for them after that.”
Simon sprayed an unsuspecting fairy and threw it in his bag happily. “Fairy that, you sucker.”
“They’re really stupid, too. So they’re fairly easy to catch. Usually. But there’s always one with a bit more fairy brain cells than the rest of them, and those ones can be a real pain to catch.”
The night air was filled with sounds of sprays, like a large sprinkler system had been turned on. The operatives held their cans high above their heads and sprayed the fairies like they were giant mosquitoes. Some were smarter and flew off just before a shot of spray would get them. But then they stupidly fluttered back to the same exact spot. The fairies fell off the wires in a shower of brown clumps.
A girl screamed.
Zoey turned to see a dozen fairies retaliating against one of the operatives. They attacked the girl savagely, biting and tearing at her face and neck. Her anti-fairy spray can lay uselessly at her feet. Blood spattered her face as they scratched and pulled her hair out in tufts. She flailed her arms in a panic, trying desperately to get them off her. But they clung to her like Velcro, piercing their teeth and talons deeper into her skin and making her cry out in more excruciating pain.
Without thinking, Zoey ran to the girl. She sprayed a cloud of anti-fairy in front of her as she ran. She held her breath and circled the girl, spraying furiously in a zigzag motion. The fairies’ faces froze in stunned expressions, and they dropped like flies around the crying girl. Blood oozed from the many deep cuts around the girl’s face, and her bottom lip quivered as she tried to smile at Zoey.
“Are you okay?” Zoey coughed the spray from her lungs. She had a horrible taste in her mouth like she had just chewed on some soap.
“You’re bleeding. You should put something on those scratches before they get infected.”
The horrified girl stared at Zoey then covered her face with her hands and ran to Agent Vargas. He attended to her wounds with a first aid kit.
The ground in front of Zoey was littered with frozen fairies. Technically, these were hers—she had sprayed them off the girl—but before she had picked any up, something hit her in the small of her back. She went sprawling to the ground. She felt a searing ache in her ribs. Slowly, she turned and looked up.
With a grin on his face, Stuart was happily bagging all the fairies. He gave her a wide self-satisfied smile.
As much as she hurt, she felt a tide of anger welling up from deep inside. She wanted to hurt him.
“Hey!” said Zoey angrily. “Those were mine! I sprayed them off the girl! You can’t do this! That’s stealing!”
Stuart looked down at Zoey and sneered. “Really? I didn’t see your name on them, Drifter. Finders keepers, isn’t it what they say? Besides, you’re not even a real operative—you shouldn’t even be here. Nothing you do makes a real difference. You’ll never be one of us.”
Blood gushed to Zoey’s face. She pushed herself up and raised her fists at him. “You’re going to get what’s coming to you, King. I don’t mind hitting girls like you, either.”
Stuart’s face darkened. “Why you little—”
“Is there a problem? What’s going on here?” Agent Vargas stormed up to them looking livid.
“Stop this at once! We’re here on a very serious assignment. We don’t have time for your foolish adolescent scuffles. The fairies are getting stronger, and if they do our cans won’t be of use anymore. We don’t want that to happen! Am I understood? Do you understand?”
“But Agent Vargas, he bagged the fairies I sprayed—”
Agent Vargas raised his hand to silence her. “It doesn’t matter who sprayed them, what matters is that we get them all before they feed too much. I don’t want any unfortunate incidents.”
He lowered his eyes. “This is not a rivalry, you’re supposed to work as a team.”
He turned to Zoey. “Remember—you’re being evaluated. This isn’t the time to pick a fight.”
Zoey opened her mouth to protest, but she closed it when she saw the look on the agent’s face.
“If I have to separate you again, there’s going to be trouble. Everyone, back to work!” Agent Vargas walked away, but Zoey felt worse—now he thought that she had st
arted it.
“Later, Drifter.” With a smile, Stuart swung his bag of fairies over his shoulder and sauntered towards his gang at the next power pole. Zoey stared angrily after him.
Tristan glared at Stuart as he and Simon passed him on their way towards Zoey. With his jaw clenched tightly, Tristan looked like he was about to give Stuart a beating. He kept walking instead, his hands curled into fists.
“Hey, King!” yelled Simon suddenly, “you dropped your crown.” Simon threw the spray can at the back of Stuart’s head. It hit with a satisfying smack. Simon smiled at Zoey, clearly impressed by his own aim.
Stuart turned with a murderous look. Simon stared up at the sky, whistling innocently with his hands in his pockets and looking a little too smug.
“You’re dead!” hissed Stuart as he stormed towards Simon, but one of his minions grabbed him and pointed to Agent Vargas who was eyeing them carefully.
Stuart glowered at Simon. “You’re dead, Brown. I’ll get you for this. You’re dead!” He turned and walked away.
It wasn’t much of a victory, but seeing the red mark on the back of Stuart’s neck made Zoey smile.
“You’re crazy, you know that,” said Zoey to Simon as he strode towards her with an equally large smile.
“Crazy’s my middle name,” said Simon proudly. “And it’s not Esther, no matter what anyone says.”
Zoey watched as Stuart opened his bag and showed his friends his stolen fairies. They all laughed overdramatically, and then turned and looked at Zoey with triumphant expressions.
Her eyes stung, and she felt a pain in her chest. This wasn’t fair.
“Forget him, he’s not worth it.” Tristan took Zoey’s hand, and for a second she forgot all about Stuart and his minions.
“Come on. I bet we can still bag more fairies than Stuart and his gang.”
Tristan’s hand was warm and comforting, and she let herself be dragged away to a neighboring power line.
Simon followed behind them.
“Hey, look over there,” he pointed to a large gathering of fairies munching on a low power pole a few yards away. “We can easily break the record with these. Hurry, before his highness and his court inflict their plague of stupid upon us!”
The three of them ran together.
Tristan held two cans in his hands like guns.
“Get ready—a group this size can do some serious damage. The trick is, when they come at you, you want to spray in an arc like this.” He waved his arms around in a semicircle. “Protect yourself and especially your eyes, they always go for your eyes first. You saw what happened to Anne. If you get hit in the eyes, panic sets in, and you forget all about your training. Then it’s all over.”
Zoey held her can in front of her.
“I’m ready. Let’s do this.” She felt surprisingly strong and capable, having forgotten her sore back in the rush of excitement.
With a grin, Tristan kicked the pole. The fairies stopped eating and bared their pointy teeth. They were not happy about having their lunch interrupted.
“Get ready!” Tristan jumped back.
The fairies soared in the air with a loud screeching noise like a high pitched siren and came at them like a bomb raid. At least fifty angry fairies shot towards them like a swarm of angry wasps. The fairies split into three groups and launched their attack.
The closest and largest group of fairies hit Tristan first. He spun around in a circle, spraying as he went. He spun himself into a protective layer of mist like in a cocoon. The fairies charged the walls of mist but were immobilized immediately and fell to the ground. Piles of immobilized fairies lay at Tristan’s feet.
In the corner of her eye Zoey saw Simon dive under a fallen tree trunk. He screamed like a girl, but in between screams she heard him shout, “Take that! And that! And then some! And then some more! You nasty little critters—ouch!”
The third swarm came at Zoey.
She planted herself firmly, with her feet apart. They came at her in a straight line. Just as Tristan had showed her, she threw her arm out and sprayed in an arc. The first ten fairies dropped like rocks.
But then they split apart. Before she knew what was happening, they had attacked her back. She screamed as their sharp claws ripped into her skin. She reached back with her left arm and tried to pull them off. But it was no use. They were glued to her. Pain and then panic started to overwhelm her. She felt their teeth puncture the back of her neck, and then warm liquid ran down her back. They bit into her arms and her legs, until she was completely covered. They weighed her down until she couldn’t move. They were going to tear her apart.
And then something clicked inside her. As the adrenaline raced through her body, her instincts kicked in. She closed her eyes and began to spin around and around like a top. Slowly at first, and then faster, she sprayed all around herself. She didn’t stop spraying for at least twenty seconds. Immobilized fairies started to fall to the ground at her feet and her pain stopped.
When she stopped spinning and opened her eyes, fairies littered the ground at her feet like a furry carpet.
“That was awesome!” said Tristan as he came up beside her. “I thought you were in trouble for a second, but you totally nailed them. You’re a real natural. I knew it.”
Zoey reached to the back of her neck. Her fingers were stained with red. “Not that much of a natural—they got me pretty good.”
“No pain, no gain,” Tristan smiled.
“That was so cool.” Simon dragged his bag behind him. He looked around at Zoey’s feet. “Holy guacamole! How many do you think you got there? Looks like twenty. Man, I only got six! I totally suck at this, don’t I? Thank God I’m heavenly handsome.”
Zoey couldn’t hide her satisfaction as she bagged her fairies. When she was finished, she had twenty-one of them in her bag. Maybe she’d break Tristan’s record tonight.
“Think that no one can top that?”
Stuart strolled towards them with a beautiful girl with long flowing brown hair. She looked like a model. Zoey felt instantly self-conscious, and she was glad the gloom around them hid her burning face. The model was accompanied by another boy who looked like a gorilla in jeans and a t-shirt. They all wore the same ruby rings on their fingers.
“I’ve got thirty already, and the night’s only just beginning,” said Stuart. “I’m getting the record this time.”
“Go away, Stewie,” said Simon lazily. “We don’t care how many your friends bagged for you. Don’t you have an appointment for a pedicure or something? Your cuticles are like way too big.”
“Shut up, frog—no one’s talking to you,” snapped Stuart.
Simon laughed softly. “I’ve been called many things, but never a frog. Is that supposed to be insulting?”
Stuart gave Simon a dirty look and turned to Zoey. “You want to prove that you’re one of us?” he dared
Zoey looked into his face. There was an unsettling coldness in his faded blue eyes.
“What’s on your mind?” She knew he was up to something.
Stuart smiled and pointed down the field. “See that big rock down there? Well, there are at least forty fairies behind it, waiting to be sprayed. Think you can handle that? Or are you scared?”
Zoey followed his gaze. She could see the rock, but it was too far and dark to see any fairies.
“I don’t get it—why don’t you go?” she said. “You want the record? Why are you telling me this?”
“See? I told you she wouldn’t do it,” said the girl, batting her long eyelashes at Tristan. “She’s not one of us. She’s scared. Why don’t you go back home and cry to your mama, oh wait—I forgot—you don’t have a mother.” She and the boy gorilla laughed.
“Shut up, Claudia,” said Tristan. “You don’t even know her. She’s the bravest person I know. She’s not scared of anything.”
Zoey felt the blood rush to her face.
Claudia’s cheeks blushed. “So why does she need you to defend her?” teased the gi
rl. “Are you her boyfriend or something? I would have thought you’d have better taste than that, Tristan. She’s not even pretty.”
Zoey glared at the girl with what she hoped was her best crazy impersonation.
“Beauty isn’t everything, stick. At least I like to eat.”
Before Claudia could counter, Zoey turned to Stuart. “I’m not scared. I just figured everyone wanted the prize, including you.”
Stuart smiled. “Since you’re not scared, let’s see how well you do against forty,” he taunted.
“If you’re truly one of us, then it shouldn’t be a problem. Fighting mystics should be in your blood.”
His face was stone cold. “You say you’re one of us. Then prove it.”
Zoey didn’t know what to say. He made her blood boil and her skin crawl all at the same time. She hated how he made her feel so useless and unworthy. Would he and his friends accept her if she bagged all those fairies? She doubted it.
She charged down towards the big rock without saying a word. She knew Stuart couldn’t be trusted. She hated him more than anyone she’d ever known, but he wasn’t going to ruin everything for her.
“Zoey!” Tristan ran up beside her. “Wait! Something’s off—it must be a trap. You can’t trust Stuart! Everything out of his mouth’s a lie.”
“He’s right,” said Simon as he jogged alongside them. “Never trust a King. I’d rather dig my own kidneys out with a spoon than trust a King.”
“He dared me, so I’m going.”
Zoey wanted nothing more than to prove to everyone that she belonged. She’d get all those fairies, if it were the last thing she did. She could do this.
Zoey turned around and raised her hands. “You guys have to stay here, I have to do this alone.” She wouldn’t give Stuart a chance to say that they had helped her in some way.
“Something’s off, I can feel it,” said Tristan, “Stuart’s bad, Zoey. You don’t know him like we do. He wouldn’t just give you an opportunity likes this. He’s planning something.”
“I think he was born evil,” agreed Simon.
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