“What? What is it?” I looked wildly around and saw that a wasp was hovering near my ear. I ducked away but nearly ran into two more of them. A fourth dive-bombed me, making me duck for cover under the table.
“Get them boys!” I heard Jalli shouting. “Go Spike! Go Sweet Tooth and Jelly Belly!”
“Yes, go, Mr. Seahorse!” Kaitlyn added.
Peeking out from under the table, I saw the four chimelings whizzing around after the wasps. They shot out tiny spouts of fire that fried the stinging insects in midair and then gobbled them up, chiming like a group of excited doorbells as they did.
“Are they all gone?” I asked Bran and Lachlan, who were standing guard on either side of me.
“I think so.” Lachlan frowned. “I think there were only four of them and all of the chimelings got one.”
“Hey, are you okay, Emma?” Jalli leaned down to look at me with wide, anxious eyes. Her three little pets had all resumed their places—Sweet Tooth and Jelly Belly on either one of her shoulders and Spike on top of her head.
“I’m fine,” I said, scrambling out from under the table. “Tell your little guys I said thanks!”
“Oh, it was a treat for them—they love wasps,” she said. “I just wonder how they got in here? I thought the Dining Hall was spelled against insects. But then, I don’t know much about magic.” She shrugged. “Guess I’ll see you at lunch!” And she hobbled off to her first class.
“Do you think it was some kind of magical attack?” I asked Bran and Lachlan.
“I don’t know.” Lachlan frowned, looking thoughtful. “I suppose we’ll have to wait and see if anything else happens.”
“I certainly hope not!” I exclaimed. “Especially if it has anything to do with insects.”
I didn’t see any more creepy-crawlies for the rest of the day, however, and by evening, I had mostly forgotten about the insect-related weirdness of the morning.
I was yawning as I took a shower in one of the stalls in the Norm Dorm when I saw a dark shape crawling on the pink shower curtain.
Now, as a native Floridian, I knew by the size and shape of that shadow exactly what it had to be. Down here we have these huge, flying roaches called Palmetto Bugs. They’re bigger than your thumb and let me emphasize again that they can fly.
Which means if you don’t kill them quick, they could end up chasing you around and possibly getting stuck in your hair—ugh!
Grabbing the mostly full shampoo bottle, I got ready to swing.
That was when I noticed another shadow on the pink shower curtain.
And another. And another. And another, and another, and another.
In the end I counted eight Palmetto bugs crawling towards me, which is really unusual. For the most part, the lumbering bugs are solo artists. You have to get pretty unlucky to see more than one or two of them at a time—eight was unheard of.
It was also disgusting. Especially if you hate bugs the way I do.
I looked down at my shampoo bottle. I might be able to kill one or two before the rest got to me, but there was no way I was fast enough to get all eight.
My first impulse was to shriek and try to run. But again, the huge roaches were on the shower curtain, pretty much blocking my exit. I had to do something fast, though—like the wasps earlier that day, they seemed intent on getting to me.
Luckily, I hadn’t taken off my necklace to take a shower—I wanted to wear it always and Lachlan had assured me that water wouldn’t hurt it. I gripped it and closed my eyes, reaching for the golden thread of power, even as the first of the enormous roaches started crawling over the top of the shower curtain. If it launched itself at me—
But no, I couldn’t think like that. Couldn’t lose my focus.
I didn’t want to touch the Palmetto Bugs—not even magically. I envisioned the shower curtain wrapping itself up in a package, trapping the roaches inside. Then I pushed power at it, taking the pricking sensation of pain as I made the magic work.
Well, it worked all right. The shower curtain ripped itself neatly off its rings with a musical jangling sound and began wrapping itself up into a neat little present. By the time the other girls rushed in to see what was going on—they had heard the shower curtain coming down—it was nothing but a neatly folded pink plastic square on the floor at my feet.
“What’s going on?” Megan demanded, staring first at my magically improvised roach motel and then at me—I was still naked and shivering in the shower. “What happened to the shower curtain?”
“Could you hand me my towel, please?” I asked, shutting off the water. “And I’ll tell you.”
Kaitlyn and Jalli were right behind her, so I had to explain what had happened as I wrapped up and toweled off my hair.
“Ugh—eight of them?” Kaitlyn stared in horrified fascination down at the neatly wrapped, pink plastic shower curtain. There were dark shapes squirming inside it and faint scratching sounds could be heard.
“Eight,” I said firmly, taking a step away from the thing. “And they were all heading right for me—I swear it!” I looked down at the shower curtain and shivered. “We have to get rid of that before they get out!”
“Don’t look at me!” Megan shuddered. “I hate bugs.”
“They’re not my favorite either,” Kaitlyn admitted.
“I’ll take it,” Jalli piped up. She grinned at our surprised expressions. “I’ll open it outside and my boys can have a midnight snack.” She nodded at her three chimelings which were staring at the shower curtain with hungry interest.
“Well in that case, you can bring Mr. Seahorse along too,” Kaitlyn said.
“Perfect!” Jalli exclaimed. “That way they each get two and my boys won’t fight.”
She picked up the shower curtain cube with perfect unconcern and left the bathroom with her own three chimelings riding on her head and shoulders and Mr. Seahorse whizzing along after them.
“Whew…” Megan shook her head. “Never a dull moment around here.”
“Do you think someone sent those roaches after you on purpose?” Kaitlyn asked, frowning.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I know Morganna has it out for me, but I don’t know what kind of Fae magic would make insects come after you. Then again, I don’t really know much about Fae magic at all,” I added. “Since I’m still a beginner.”
“I’d say you did great for a beginner,” Megan said approvingly. “I mean, you used your magic to fold up that shower curtain, right? I felt it from the other room.”
I nodded. “It was all I could think to do.”
“Well, I would have been screaming,” Kaitlyn said. “So I agree with Megan—you did great.”
“Thanks guys.” I smiled shakily at them. “I just hope this is the end of it.”
“Do you think you ought to ask Lachlan or Bran about it?” Megan said, frowning.
I shook my head.
“They’re asleep. And they were already up late because Bran was tutoring Lachlan in Trigonometry. He’s really smart but he didn’t exactly have a formal education, coming from the Winter Court—which is kind of like the wrong side of the tracks in the Fae Realm, as far as I can understand,” I added. “So I hate to wake them up.”