hates steel and salt, and remember I used my subsonic blaster on it the first time you fought it. Well, that got me thinking—why not include a subsonic pulse as well, then we can hit it three ways.”
“You can do that?” Emma shot her a blank look.
“In theory.” Loni nodded, then made a face. “Of course there’s the slight problem that no one has ever added a subsonic pulse to wards before but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Besides, the ward I made for ogres had some choppedup seagull feathers, which I just slipped it into the small space below the circuit boards, and it ended up working. Now I just need to go and hunt down some steel. Preferably as high grade as possible. I’ve been doing some research and silver would be better.”
“Definitely.” Emma nodded in agreement. “Because if the little fairies are anything to go by, they hate silver even more than they hate my nail files. That bracelet you gave me for my birthday touched one of them and it dropped to the ground like a dead fly.”
“Unfortunately, time and money aren’t exactly on our side, so I guess steel will have to do,” Loni said.
“It’s a shame you couldn’t just use last night’s fancy cutlery,” Emma said idly while she glanced over to the cutlery tray that some of the kitchen workers had carried out to a large trestle table. For a moment Loni just stared, her mouth hanging open like in the shape of a Life Saver.
“Emma Jones, you’re a genius,” she finally said in astonishment.
“I am?” Emma blinked.
“She is?” Tyler seconded as he wrinkled his nose. “Because I know I zoned out of a few ward-making classes, but I don’t remember cutlery ever being able to fit into something that only has a one-inch diameter.”
“Most wards are small so that people don’t notice them and so they can be easily placed. While normally I would prefer to melt the steel or silver down and fit it into a smaller casing, there is no reason why a ward can’t be made out of cutlery.” Loni picked up a knife and inspected it. “I mean the two circuit boards could clip onto the blade and I could just glue some salt on. Of course I’m not saying it will win a beauty contest or anything, but as long as it does the job, that’s all that matters. So now I just need to go and pocket some knives and then I can get started.”
“Do you want some help?” Emma asked. “Not that I’m an expert thief or anything but I have been taking extra napkins from this place for years to help clean my sword and I’ve never been caught once.”
“Well, that certainly is a stellar track record,” Loni agreed in a diplomatic voice. “But it’s probably better to try to figure out the best way to banish the darkhel. We managed to get a whole bunch of books together. In addition to your mom’s books, Tyler hit up everyone on his dorm floor. We now have the definitive elemental banishing collection.”
“Thank you,” Emma said before glancing around. “So where are they?”
“Curtis has them. He was going to look at them last night after he left us.” At the mention of his name Emma felt her stomach drop. However, Tyler seemed oblivious as he glanced around the crowded cafeteria. “Actually, he should be here by now. Do you know where he is?”
“Of course not. I mean, it’s not like we’re joined at the hip or anything,” Emma said a bit too quickly as last night’s humiliating experience came flooding back to her. Unfortunately, the memory was accompanied by a vision of the kiss that had happened right before the humiliating experience, and as she felt her cheeks start to burn, she scolded her mutinous mind for even thinking about it.
“Interesting.” Tyler shot her a grin. Emma sighed and Tyler turned to Loni. “You know, me thinketh the lady doth protest too much. Especially since I’ve seen the way her eyes seem to widen when he does that lopsided grin thing. I wonder if he’ll teach me that trick.”
“Hello, sitting right here,” Emma reminded them while resisting the urge to touch her lips and re-create the feel of Curtis’s mouth on hers. “And I do not widen my eyes when he does the lopsided grin thing.” Then she caught sight of Curtis swinging his way toward them on his crutches and lowered her voice.