other two just as they all suddenly clutched at their stomachs.
“What? How? Are you sure?” Emma said in alarm as her stomach muscles tightened. She winced in pain.
“Oh, we’re sure all right. Though I don’t know why you’re asking us when it’s obvious that you can feel his presence too. And that you understand how close he is to succeeding.”
“What?” Emma stared at them all like they were certifiably crazy. “What are you talking about?”
“The sore stomach?” Gilbert hinted.
“The anxiety?” Rupert added.
“The unbearable pain and general feeling of unease that you can’t quite put your finger on?” Trevor finished off. “It’s been building for the last twenty-four hours. How could you not have noticed?”
“I—I’ve had a lot on my mind.” Emma frowned as she thought back to the growing anxiety she’d been feeling. And she did have an upset stomach as well; she just hadn’t paid enough attention to it. “So are you telling me that it’s all some sort of darkhel radar?”
“Were you not just listening?” Trevor growled.
“But normally it’s just a static sound in my ear,” Emma protested as she rubbed her ears, as if to check they were working. “And it’s been static-free all night and this morning until you guys turned up.”
“Hello, static doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a little electric-charged buzz we put out into the air—you know, like a jazzy little theme song. It hardly means danger. Not like the danger that’s coming. You know you really are very ill-informed.”
“Enough,” Gilbert growled at them all. “Because while you might not be worried about what could happen if our dark brother finds the Pure One before he is banished, that’s okay because I’m worried enough for all us. Especially since it’s almost time.”
“How do you know?” Emma started to ask just as a violent spasm went shooting through her stomach and left her doubled over in pain. Okay, scrap that question. As she watched the three fairies also clutch their torsos, she reached into her pocket and fumbled for her cell phone. Then she took a deep breath and tried to compose herself as she called Curtis. There was no answer and so she quickly dialed Tyler. But before she could even hit send, Tyler came racing toward her, his face the color of snow.
“Em, it’s not good,” he panted, wringing his hands in an agitated manner. “It’s Garry and Glen. They’re gone.”
“Gone?” Emma felt the noise around her suddenly fade away as she stared at him. “But how?”
“I don’t know.” Tyler shook his head. “I mean one minute they were in the bathroom trying to make a baking-soda-and-white-vinegar bomb—please don’t ask—and the next thing they just weren’t there. And hey, are those fairies?”
“Yeah, and what about it, pal?” Trevor demanded as he started to open up the small bag that held his glamour powder.
“No.” Emma quickly shook her head. “Don’t do it. He’s with me.”
“Well, tell Mr. He’s-with-Me that right now we don’t have time for his petty worries because we’ve got bigger fish to fry. And by ‘fish,’ I mean our dark brother, and by ‘fry,’ I mean that you need to figure out a way to stop him,” Gilbert informed her as his wings fluttered in a blurry motion.
“Yes, well, the two guys that Tyler just said are missing are two of the potential Pure Ones. We’ve been following them since yesterday. It’s just that I thought... I hoped that between the lack of static in my ears and the fact that I stabbed it last night, they were—”
“Safe?” Rupert swooped down in front of her and raised a mocking eyebrow. “Well, slayer-girl, I think we can assume that you were wrong.”
Emma tried to regulate her breathing as she lifted a hand to her head and pushed back her bangs as if the gesture would somehow help everything make sense. It didn’t. She turned back to Tyler.
“We need to call Curtis and see how it went finding everyone on the list.”
“Speak and he will appear.” Tyler pointed to where Curtis was speeding toward them, faster than Emma would’ve thought possible on a pair of crutches.
“Okay, I can’t find anyone on the list,” he said as he came to a halt, his ugly white glasses perched on his nose. Then he looked up and frowned. “Why are the little fairies here?”
“If one more person calls me little, I’m out of here.” Trevor folded his arms and pushed out his bottom lip in a sullen pout.
“They’re here because the darkhel’s getting close to finding