Elemental Air (Paranormal Public Series) (19 page)

“This class will be characterized
by as much reading and studying as possible,” said Korba. “We will look at as
many different types of defenses as we possibly can. Not only that, but I want
the defenses to be as natural as possible. What I mean by that is that I want
them to come from the earth, I want them to be rock and fire. You need to
protect yourselves even if you lose your wands, your rings break, and your
fangs are useless against your opponents. If you cannot fly away and are out of
dust, you still must fight.”

“He’s really getting into this,”
I whispered to Lisabelle.

“I had no idea there was a pixie
so concerned with our well-being,” she muttered.

We spent the rest of class
practicing calling tiny pebbles from Korba’s desk and placing them on our own.
He had mentioned that we used blasts of magic to defend ourselves, and I was
certainly guilty of doing that myself. Using only a tiny bit of magic, like the
amount it took to move a pebble, was almost as hard. It required concentration,
something you didn’t have much of when a hellhound was bearing down on you.

“This is stupid,” said Daisy as
her pebble shook a bit and then fell off Professor Korba’s desk onto the floor.
“How are we supposed to use this in a real situation? If we’re in a fight, what
is a pebble going to do to help us?”

“You never know,” said Korba, not
the least bit ruffled by the hybrid’s outburst. “You might be up against a
dragon or a Great Blue Viper. You might have to battle sea creatures whose only
weakness is their nostril. Tell me, young lady, do you have your life so well
mapped out that you have a clear idea of all the adversity you will face in
your lifetime?”

Daisy looked bored. “I have a
pretty good idea where I’ll end up,” she said airily. “If there are sea
creatures to fight I am sure I’ll have someone else to do it for me.”

Dobrov looked at the ground while
his sister spoke. Lisabelle was right, he did look better. He was bigger than
he had been last spring, as if he had actually put on weight and was not just
the little skeleton man he had been. His coloring had also slightly changed. He
no longer looked like a bright red tomato. Noticing me looking, he briefly met
my eyes, shrugged, and looked away.

It was more than I had gotten out
of him all of last semester.

“Ms. Validification,” said Korba.
“You must control your power. You must be able to use just a tiny amount and
get the job done. Wildly throwing magic around will do you no good service.”

“Fine,” said Daisy. She called to
the rock again, but she was so agitated that she sent it flying into Vanni, who
cried out in dismay as it struck her cheek. The fallen angel was only bleeding
for a second, because she could heal herself, but her hurt eyes looked at Daisy
for longer. Korba sighed tiredly.

“Alright,” he said, “I think
that’s enough for today. We will resume next class. I want everyone to come in
able to move their respective pebble wherever I should tell you to put it. In
the meantime, read the chapter on defending against demons. It is harder than
it looks. Also, read the chapter on defending against sneak attacks, for those
enemies who do not have enough sense of honor to attack out in the open.”

We trailed out of the classroom.
I knew where I had to go next, and I was dreading it.

“You headed back to Astra?” Lough
asked me as we left.

I nodded glumly. “The woman’s
crazy, and I’ve only known her for two days.”

“Didn’t you go back last night?”
Sip said.

I shook my head. “No, and she’s
probably going to be mad about it, because I have a curfew.”

“Must always be in for curfew,”
said Lisabelle, in a mock stern voice as she waggled her finger at me.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m afraid
that’s what she thinks.”

Sighing, I left my friends and
headed back to Astra. Sip was dashing off to another meeting and Lisabelle was
going to tutor students.

“I have to see you tutor
sometime,” said Lough. “I just can’t believe it.”

“You don’t think I’m good at
explaining concepts?” Lisabelle said.

“I don’t think you’re good at
being nice,” said Sip.

“I can’t be good at everything.
Something had to slide. Have a great time managing nonsense. Can’t imagine what
that’s like.”

Astra looked dark and cloudy,
despite the nice day. I took a deep breath, wondering how Sigil was faring
alone all day in the dorm with Martha. Sighing, I pushed the front door open.
Usually when I reached Astra, I felt the old elemental magic that permeated
every window, door, wall, and rock reach out to greet me, but now that spark
didn’t come.

I was just about to walk in when
I heard a massive boom. I tried to turn around and look, but the earth
underneath my feet heaved and bucked like a living beast. I stumbled, my powers
reaching out to steady the uneven ground around me. From every direction I
heard yelling and the noise of running footsteps.

When I turned around to look, I
saw what had caused the noise. The top windows of the library had blown out.
Gray smoke hung in the air like clouds of birds.

Like everyone else on campus, I
raced to the library. On the way, I met Sip and Lisabelle.

“Lisabelle,” I panted, as we
continued to run. “What happened?”

“I just love how you assume I
know,” said Lisabelle dryly.

“Well,” said Sip, running
alongside us, “was massive destruction caused? Buildings obviously decimated?
Fire and smoke and lives in danger? Silly Charlotte. Doesn’t have the markings
of Lisabelle at all.”

“You know there was just an
attack,” I tried to interject.

Lisabelle ignored me and
responded to Sip’s comment. “Exactly,” she said. “I’m like an innocent
butterfly.”

By the time we got near the
library a huge crowd had already gathered, and heads turned to stare at
Lisabelle.

“They’re checking to make sure
she’s coming from somewhere else,” Sip muttered to me. “If damage is does on
campus, she’s the most obvious suspect.”

“Paranormals might be dead,” I
tried again.

“And why is that again?”
Lisabelle demanded, ignoring me. “What do I ever do?”

“It’s your flouting of authority
and what you CAN do that gets us in these messes,” said Sip angrily. “Why don’t
you care?”

“Because I’ve never had a good
reputation and it hasn’t gotten in my way yet, has it?” Lisabelle replied
testily.

“Never mind,” I said, throwing up
my hands.

“Did you say something?” Sip
asked, frowning at me.

I stared up at the smoldering
library. What good was being an elemental with fire power if I couldn’t keep
anything from burning? Anger coursed through me. I hated feeling useless.

To my horror, Lisabelle started
walking toward the library. The student body parted to make a path for her.

“Lisabelle, stop,” I called after
her.

“Hey Verlans, go deal with that
fire up there,” one student called.

“Yeah, Verlans,” joined others in
the cries.

I tried to look around, but the
wind swept fistfuls of hair into my eyes. I pushed it back behind my ears and
tried again. Still no professors in sight. Where were they?

“You know what amazes me,” said
Lisabelle when we caught up to her right before she reached the library doors,
“that paranormals still tell me to do things and actually think I will listen.”

“Yeah,” said Sip. “Imagine.”

Lisabelle didn’t stop.

“Can’t we be mature about this?”
Sip moaned.

“I’m not that desperate,” said
Lisabelle.

“Going in there is a bad idea,” I
told my darkness friend. “Seriously. Let’s wait for help to get here.”

“Calling that a bad idea is insulting
to bad ideas everywhere,” said Sip, throwing up her hands. It was only a matter
of time before she resorted to her favorite gesture of frustration. “Going in
there is a terrible idea.”

“Explosions,” said Sip.
“Notoriously hard to defend against. If the demons have figured out how to
explode buildings so easily, we’re in a lot of trouble.”

“Ms. Verlans, Ms. Quest, and Ms.
Rollins, stop right there,” came the grainy voice of Dove from behind us.

“Never thought I’d see the day
when I’d be happy to hear that voice,” Sip muttered, glaring at Lisabelle’s
back.

Dove told all the students to go
back to their dorms. Lisabelle was dismayed, because she wanted to find out
what had happened and exactly which demon had attacked. I was dismayed because
I knew I was in big trouble with Martha. We weren’t a happy crew at that point.

But none of us argued with Dove.
He was looking at Lisabelle as if he wanted to accuse her of something, so Sip
wasted no time before dragging the darkness mage away.

“Go face the music,” said Sip,
making a shooing motion. “Lisabelle and I have research to do.”

“We do?” said Lisabelle, raising
her black eyebrows.

“Yes,” said Sip. “We have to find
out what kind of demon can blow out reinforced glass like that. It shouldn’t be
possible.” She chewed on her lower lip, thinking. “It was demons, wasn’t it?”

“Of course,” I scoffed. “What
else would it be?”

“I’ll help,” Lough offered. “I
need something to do that isn’t dream giver related. Pity we can’t use the
library.”

“Yes, I’m sure it’ll be closed
until further notice,” said Sip. “That’s okay. I have a lot of the books we
need in my room already.”

“Her bed doesn’t need a frame,”
said Lisabelle. “It could just rest entirely on the books she’s put under it.”

“That would be the coolest bed
ever,” said Sip.

“What’s that?” Lough pointed to
the top of the library, where what was left of one of the windows stood
shattered and smoldering.

There was a weird marking on it
in black.

But before any of us could get a
closer look, Dove ordered us further back.

Keller appeared just in time to
walk me home. He slid his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close.

“Sorry,” he said. “I was in a
meeting with the visiting students.”

“Like that guy from NYC?” Sip
breathed. “All those tattoos? Wow. My mother would have fits.”

Keller chuckled. “Yeah, they want
to do exchange programs, so in the coming semesters students from Public would
go to their schools.”

“That would be fascinating,” said
Lisabelle. “There are other darkness mages who are still in school in Europe. I
might learn something if I went to one of those places.”

Sip stared at Lisabelle. “Wh-?
How DARE you!” she cried, and without another word she raced ahead to Airlee.
Keller, Lisabelle, and I stared after her in wonder.

“What was that about?” I asked. Lisabelle
and Sip had a contentious relationship, but the only time I had ever seen Sip
truly upset with Lisabelle before was when the darkness mage had given herself
the wand tattoo, and even that hadn’t been entirely serious.

“I have no idea,” said Lisabelle,
frowning. “I’m sure she’ll be fine once I get back to the room.” Shrugging, she
waved goodnight and trudged after her roommate.

“Are you okay?” Keller murmured
in my ear.

I nodded. “It’s just that it’s
already been a long week,” I sighed, wrapping my arm around his waist.

“And we still have painting on
Saturday,” he said. “I’ve missed you getting in trouble. I’m glad Oliva has
brought back manual labor as punishment.”

I gave him a playful shove. “I’m
not.”

He laughed. “I know. Sip has been
working so hard planning his gala. It’s going to be a spectacle.”

“I just hope he lasts more than a
semester,” I said. “Having all these different presidents isn’t good for
Public.”

Keller nodded. “Oliva plans to
remain president for a long time.”

“Will Dove and Professor Erikson
stay around?”

“My aunt is just going to teach,”
said Keller. “She likes it here. I’m not as sure about Dove. He didn’t want to
come here in the first place, and with Zervos and Dacer on the faculty there
aren’t as many openings for professors.”

“I won’t miss him if he goes,” I
muttered. Dove wasn’t as bad as Zervos, but he clearly had no use for students
either, as today had proved.

To my surprise, Astra was dark
when we walked up.

“Should I go?” Keller asked.

“Probably,” I said reluctantly.
“I’ll try and talk to her. Hopefully she’ll understand. I’m a junior in
college, after all.”

Sometimes it didn’t feel like it,
though. Sometimes college felt a lot like high school. Of course, we still
lived in a place where our food was cooked for us and our dishes were done. We
were provided with furniture and all we had were four classes a week. It wasn’t
exactly like we were adults.

But I still hated that I had
Martha in my life. If it wasn’t Mrs. Swan, I didn’t want a dorm mother at all.

“Love you,” said Keller, and he
kissed me soundly. Before he could pull away I laced my fingers behind his neck
and pulled his face down to mine one last time.

By the time he walked away I was
much happier, until I turned around and saw that there was now a light on in
one of the living rooms of Astra. I wouldn’t be sneaking past Martha after all.

I opened the door, expecting an
yelling, fireworks, fury, but the house was silent. I looked toward where I had
seen the burning light, and knowing that it was better to face the music now
rather than later, I inched my way toward where I thought my dorm “mother”
would be. Creeping into the sitting room, I found her sitting next to the empty
fireplace. Her eyes looked out the window into the now late evening. It felt
weird that she had seen Keller and me kiss.

“Evening,” I said carefully,
standing in the doorway.

She didn’t meet my eyes.

“How are you?” I asked, totally
flummoxed. I had no idea how to deal with quiet Martha.

“What are you doing here?” she
asked, her voice sounding odd. “Demons attacked Public and you were in danger,
so why are you here?”

“Demons ruined the library,” I
said. “Dove sent us all back to the dorms.”

“The dorms are safe,” she said. I
asked myself: of all the possible dorm mothers I could have been given, how did
I end up with her?

“Yes,” I said. “Astra is safe.
Were you scared?”

Martha stirred, meeting my eyes.
She shook her head once, barely, like an afterthought.

“No,” she said. “It’s my job to
protect the dorms.”

“Well, Astra anyway,” I said. But
before I could tell her how tired I was, she continued.

“I switched your room,” she said.
“Your old room wasn’t as safe as your new room.”

“You WHAT?” I cried. “Are you
crazy?”

“No, dear,” she said. “You were
in danger and now I’ve fixed it.”

“Do you even know how to be a
proper dorm mother?” I asked bitterly.

Martha gave me a steely look. “A
dorm mother is whatever I say it is.”

“Is there such a thing as a
paranormal robot?” I stormed, throwing my hands up in the air. “Because I don’t
think you feel at all.”

If my goal was to get a rise out
of her, I succeeded. She shoved herself out of the chair, her eyes burning and
turning wild.

“My only concern is the safety of
my Public,” she spat out. “YOUR safety. You ungrateful elemental. How DARE you
put yourself at risk?”

“I’m NOT at risk,” I yelled. “I’m
fine. I’ve been taking care of myself since I got here. Before. I’ve been
taking care of myself since Mom died three years ago.”

Wow, had it really been just a
few years ago? She had died when I was sixteen, but it felt like a lot longer,
maybe because the elementals had been extinct for years before that, and I
thought of myself as an elemental. I feared the day it became hard to remember
Mom’s smile.

“You haven’t been taking care of
yourself,” she fumed. “Just today you nearly died. What is the MATTER with you?
If you weren’t at Public the whole school would be a lot safer.”

It was something I had thought
myself from time to time: that my presence was what brought the demons to
Public, and maybe Lisabelle’s too, and that if we were to leave everyone else
would be a lot better off. But I had always pushed the concern out of my mind.
Dacer and the other professors had always steered carefully away from that
implication, but now that I heard it from my dorm mother I felt like I’d been
punched in the stomach.

I turned on my heel and raced
away. Forgetting in my fury what Martha had said about moving me to a different
room, I took the stairs two at a time, desperate to get to the privacy of my
own space. When I threw open the door, all I saw was emptiness. Even my sheets
were gone. My shoulders slumped and I wanted to cry, but instead I turned
around and walked slowly down the stairs, heading for the front door. Martha
was standing in the entryway.

I walked right past her.

She didn’t look at me.

Furious, I grabbed the handle and
pulled. The door didn’t budge. I raised my eyebrows and pulled harder. I was
tired and I thought maybe it was just stuck, but in my heart I knew that wasn’t
what was happening.