The Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz

Author:Melissa de la Cruz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

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At least Filomena survived the school day without having to remove her beanie. Her teachers didn’t seem to mind, except for one who eyed her accusingly but didn’t say anything. Mr. Hernandez, her math teacher, probably assumed she had lice. She saw him scratching his head during the remainder of the class, like he was paranoid he’d somehow caught the critters. But she’d rather have her teachers think she has something wildly contagious than have the entire school and world know about her fairy mark, or curse, or whatever it is.

After taking Maggie away, the Linguine Losers left her alone for the rest of the day. They kept a close eye on her, though. At first Filomena briefly wondered if she was just being paranoid. No, she wasn’t. Every time she looked up from her work or her book, there they were, staring at her. She glared back. They didn’t stop staring.

To make matters more uncomfortable, she spent the whole day looking over her shoulder, half expecting Jack or Alistair to pop out and force her to go back to Never After. But they never appeared.

At long last the bell rings and school is done for the day. Dad picks her up as usual, and the minute they pull into the driveway, she races out of the car and to the front door before he even shuts the engine off. “What’s the big hurry?” he calls out.

“Oh, nothing!” she yells back. “I just have a lot of homework to do!”

Before he can respond, she’s already inside, closing the front door swiftly behind her so that the puppy can’t escape.

Dad looks baffled for a moment. He’s probably wondering why Filomena is acting this way, whether something happened at school or with her friends—make that friend, singular. She only ever had Maggie, and now she has nobody. Filomena knows she’s been unlike herself the last couple of days, and Dad will probably ask her about her behavior later, as he’s really into being a good parent.

Filomena quickly says hello to her mother on the way in, then takes the steps two at a time until she’s upstairs and in her bedroom. She slams her door behind her and locks it. She can’t wait to get this beanie off her head! It’s been itching her almost all day, and she wants to see if, by some miracle, the fairy mark is gone.

She tears off the hat and throws it on the floor, where it lands on Adelina, who is trailing behind her, tail wagging. The pup lets out a small and surprised whimper as the item softly lands on her little body, and then she runs in a circle and barks at it like it’s a threat.

Filomena stands in front of the mirror, tracing her fingertips along the mark that is very much still there, and very much still real.

There has to be a way to get rid of it! She can’t wear a beanie for the rest of her life, like some emo dude! Then she has an idea.

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