Operation Tenley

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The author makes no claims to, but instead acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the word marks mentioned in this work of fiction.

Copyright © 2016 by Jennifer Gooch Hummer

THE FAIR CITY FILES: OPERATION TENLEY by Jennifer Gooch Hummer All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America by Month9Books, LLC.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

EPub ISBN: 978-1-945107-15-3 Mobi ISBN: 978-1-945107-16-0

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-942664-99-4

Published by Month9Books, Raleigh, NC 27609

Cover design by Ampersand Book Covers at www.ampersandbookcovers.com

“If Holly Short from Artemis Fowl was trying to rehabilitate Veruca Salt from Willie Wonka while battling Mother Nature and her Heat/Snow Miser sons, you’d have the Fair City Files. Quirky characters and rollicking fun.”—Dianne K. Salerni, author of
The Eighth Day
Series

“If you like stories with fairies, you’ll love
Operation Tenley
where futuristic fairies are tasked with guarding earth’s teens who have gained elemental powers, risking the ire and wrath of Mother Nature. With a fun, high-stakes battle for control over the planets elements, it’s sure to please middle-grade readers.”—Alane Adams, award-winning author of
The Red Sun
and
Kalifus Rising

“A fun, fresh mash-up of magic and technology. This is one modern twist on fairies you won’t want to miss!”—Tobie Easton author of
Emerge

Madison, Daisy, Tatum, and, Craig

Dragons are real.

Hadley Beach, California

Tenley Tylwyth needed votes.

Which is why today she stood outside in the busy quad wearing a sash draped over her left shoulder that read
Vote For Me, Tenley T!

Behind her, a group of boys played Frisbee, while in front of her, students hurried by, ignoring the flyers she held out.

Please
totally
Nominate Tenley Tylwyth to

represent Hadley Middle School on

America’s Next Most Inspirational Teen

this Friday Night

When the Frisbee flew straight toward Tenley’s head, none of the students noticed.

Except one.

Holden Wonderbolt was a size or two skinnier than the other boys his age, with milk chocolate skin and impressive skateboard skills. He was on the way to the skate ramp when he spotted the Frisbee.

“Watch out!” he yelled.

Tenley turned around just as Holden leaped off his board and launched himself forward. Instead of intercepting the Frisbee, though, Holden sailed toward Tenley while above them, the Frisbee spun off in the opposite direction.

Had others seen it, they would have wondered:
Did that Frisbee just stop in midair, flip itself sideways, and zoom off in a completely different direction?
But no one had seen it. Not even Holden, who was busy preparing to land on Tenley.

This is what Tenley did: step back.

This is what Holden did: (crash) land.

This is what the rest of the students did: stare.

Oh, and a few photos were
taken and posted on the Internet within seconds.

North West Observation Spot, Fair City

Standard Fair One 3
^rd
i’s were sufficient enough to see everything happening on Earth, even from the far edge of Fair City. But Laraby must have missed something. Why would his client ditch his skateboard and dive toward another student like that?

He tapped at his 3
^rd
i and groaned, then flung it back over his head into its holder. “Piece of junk. A 3
^rd
i-All
wouldn’t have missed anything,” he mumbled. Laraby coveted 3
^rd
i-Alls
,
which were infinitely better, but were only issued to Lieutenant Fair Ones.

Frustrated, he rubbed his bald head and stepped back over jagged rocks and dust, the latter of which was always the archenemy of his pristine white robes. He pulled a controller out of his tool belt and entered some information. A small hologram screen appeared. A few more clicks and the scene he had just watched on Earth projected in front of him.

There was Holden, skateboarding through the quad, when suddenly and without reason, he flung himself off and dived straight into an unsuspecting girl. Nothing in Holden’s immediate surroundings gave any indication of potential danger. Wind, humidity, barometric pressure, fire, temperature, tectonic plates—all normal.

Laraby pulled his eyes off the screen and sighed. Today he was not in the mood. He’d been hoping to grab a small bite, and now his client’s potential injury would eat into his lunch hour. He’d have to fill out an accident report, for one thing, and Holden Wonderbolt was getting dangerously close to his limit. Another injury could very well result in a red flag for Laraby, which might then lead to a review. And although Laraby did quite enjoy Holden Wonderbolt, he had to admit the boy was a bit of a klutz.

Laraby prepared for departure. The sooner he submitted the report, the better. City Hall was becoming ever more crowded and less efficient.

Just as his propellers started to activate, a loud whirring sound made him take pause. There was nothing wrong with his equipment, as far as he could tell. No damage that he could recall, and he was always on top of the updates. But the whirring noise increased. Perhaps it was another Fair One coming to share his ob-spot. This seemed to be happening more frequently, even though he always picked the farthest, most remote sites to observe his client.

Or perhaps it was asteroid winds picking up. He’d heard talk the last time he was in City Hall that Mother Nature and her Weathers were on the brink of infiltrating the Fair Force’s protective layer again. A stronger system had been implemented since her first infiltration, but no one knew if this was enough. Mother Nature and her Weathers were becoming increasingly hostile, which meant the clients on Earth were in even more danger. Time spent filling out injury reports was precious time away from monitoring them.

Dust picked up around him. He’d washed his robes only yesterday. Annoyed, Laraby stepped out of the swirling debris but stopped when an enormous wind tunnel appeared overhead, close enough to be dangerous. With no time to protect his gear, Laraby took cover under his arms, abruptly knocking the 3
^rd
i sideways. He yelped. A Fair One’s tools were powerful but not indestructible and once damaged, were never quite the same.

He waited for impact, but nothing happened. He peeked up at Fair Force, three of them, hovering a few meters above. Their badges were visible, and red sirens flashed over their propellers.

“Fair One
lara b3
. You are under arrest. Anything you think can and will be used against you. You are hereby ordered to City Hall in three minutes. Failure to do so will result in further penalty.”

“Officers,” Laraby shouted above the noise. “I think you must be mistaken.”

The Fair Force typed into a small tablet. A pocket in Laraby’s tool belt buzzed. The arrest warrant was delivered.

City Hall in
three minutes
? He’d never been arrested before.

“Good day,” the Fair Force nodded, before propelling upward and zooming away as fast as they had come.

“It’s
lunch
time,” Laraby grumbled, activating his propellers again. As soon as he felt his feet lift, he tipped his head left and started for City Hall.

South West Observation Spot, Fair City

Pennie pushed back her 3
^rd
i to focus on that sound. Just as she thought, it was getting closer: a deep humming that vibrated enough to make the inside of her ears itch.

She felt around her white robes for her tool belt. Her inquiry about smaller-sized robes had gone unanswered. And so today, as she did every other day, she looked like a basket of laundry with red hair.

She found her location device and clicked on it
.
She was right where she thought she was, on one of the more remote ob-spots where few Fair Ones ever went. In fact, most believed this particular ob-spot was still shut down, the aftermath of a small turf warfare between Administratives and Fair Force. Why the Administratives ever thought they could win was anyone’s guess.

Pennie slipped the location device back into her tool belt. When she looked up again, a wind tunnel was getting closer. Heading straight toward her, in fact.

She started to activate her propellers, but the wind tunnel slammed to a halt above her. Three figures with badges and red lights flashing above them unraveled.