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.
“He also said that unless he was happy with my progress he would expel me,” Emma said in what she hoped was an even voice. “There probably would’ve been more, but Barney came in and they had some top-secret talk and the next thing I knew Kessler put the whole I’m-disappointed speech on hold and couldn’t wait to get rid of me.”
“What?” Loni yelped. “I can’t believe he threatened to expel you.”
“Only if he’s not happy with my progress in the next two weeks. Which he will be.”
“What else did he say?” Tyler leaned forward. “With particular reference to this invisible fairy of yours.”
Sorry, Loni mouthed to her, and Emma guessed that Tyler had used what Loni liked to call his Leo persistence (and what Tyler called his Leo charm) to find out what had happened yesterday. Emma sighed.
“He hadn’t heard of it, which I’m pretty sure is what led him to decide to give me a detention in