ripped both packets open and handed one to Curtis. “Now, the trick is to try and lure them over to the nonfiction section.”
“Nonfiction? Skittles?” Curtis ran a hand through his blond curls and frowned. “Did I mention that none of this makes sense?”
Emma sighed. “They’re all crazy about Skittles for some reason. I want them in the nonfiction because it’s not as busy there, and as for why they come here? It’s to read OK! Magazine as people flip through it. I guess they like their celebrity gossip. Now, if you’re finished with the twenty questions, maybe we can continue?”
It looked like Curtis was about to say something, but at that moment one of the fairies spotted the Skittles, and after it let out a piercing whistle, six of them swooped toward Emma and Curtis like a swarm of bees at a honey convention.
“This way,” she commanded as she quickly weaved her way through the tables toward the far end of the store. Behind her she could hear the sound of miniature angry voices.
“It’s not going to work, you know,” her “friend” from Saturday, Rupert, called out. “We’re going to get those Skittles and then we’re going to kick your sorry butts so bad that you’ll be screaming for mercy.”
“Yeah, and don’t try any explosions this time. You know, we really should report you to the Commission of Ethical Treatment of Mortal Enemies,” Trevor added, still wearing the green hoodie that was now charred around the hems from the explosion on Saturday.
“Do they always talk this much?” Curtis demanded as he swung his crutches in a two/two rhythm just behind her.
“More. In fact, they normally never shut up,” Emma replied over her shoulder as she swatted one of the girl fairies out of her hair and turned into the art and biography aisle. “Okay, so when I say ‘now,’ I want you to throw a few Skittles on the ground—though not the red ones—you so don’t want to see fairies after they’ve eaten red ones.”
“That’s right, buddy,” Rupert called out as another fairy, dressed in tiny overalls, lunged at Curtis’s arm and used its small (but very sharp) teeth to bite into his biceps. “Listen to what the useless slayer has to say, and no one will get hurt—too badly.”
“Hey,” Curtis protested as he shook his arm to get rid of the small fairy. It didn’t work, and the thing remained clamped onto his flesh. “Emma, this is ridiculous. I need to get it off me now.” As he spoke he thrust the candy deep into his pocket and instead pulled a slim-line laser gun from his slaying kit.
“No. Put that away and give them the Skittles,” she hissed. However, Curtis—who up until this point had been showing signs of sanity—didn’t seem to hear her as he pointed the laser in the direction of the small creature on his arm.
Emma groaned as she watched the red tip pierce the flesh and the fairy finally stopped biting Curtis’s arm. It grinned in glee as its pale skin turned a glowing orange color and a bright beam raced out from along its fingers straight back toward Curtis’s hand.
“Ouch,” he yelped in pain as the laser fell away and one of his crutches toppled from under him. “What the—”
“You couldn’t just give them the Skittles so that I could show you how to kill them, could you?” Emma demanded as she quickly emptied her packet onto the ground and jumped out of the way as six sugar-starved fairies sped toward them. “You had to do it your way. Make sure you put that in your assignment.”
“Well, if you’d told me that my way would hurt so much, then maybe I would’ve thought twice,” Curtis retorted as he cradled his singed hand. “So what happens now?”
“Now we kick your pathetic body into Timbuktu,” Rupert said as he flew down and grabbed an orange Skittle straight out of Curtis’s hand. “I mean, hello, you’re even more useless than slayer-girl here, and that’s really—”
“Gotcha,” Emma yelled as she plunged her nail file deep into the fairy’s wing and watched it wriggle on the ground in annoyance. She glanced back up at Curtis. “Lasers make them go all Incredible Hulk, but nail files render them pretty much useless. It’s the steel. Apparently, they hate silver as well, but unfortunately my budget doesn’t really stretch that far.”
“Ha! That’s a good one, calling us useless,” the fairy yelled out as it continued struggling to break free of the file.