Elemental Havoc (Paranormal Public Book 11) (2 page)

Right behind him was Zellie, looking like she’d rolled out of bed, thrown on a black robe, and grabbed an axe. She floated toward us almost faster than we were running. As we emerged into the open grounds at the back of the castle, I could sense from the gathering winds and the lack of stars in the sky that a storm was brewing.

“What?” the professor demanded when he reached us. When he saw that neither of us could speak he said, “Breathe, just breathe.” I nodded once, choking.

After a moment Dacer tried again. “What’s all this then?” he asked, taking in Keegan’s mud-covered clothing with raised eyebrows.

Keegan looked down at himself as if he’d forgotten what he was wearing and how we must look.

“Alright, spit it out,” said Zellie when we still didn’t speak. She was circling us now, her black eyes scanning the trees in the spot where we had emerged from the forest.

“We were attacked,” I said. I took one last great gulp of air as Dacer’s eyes snapped toward the trees.

“By what?” he demanded. It looked like he was biting the inside of his lip to keep from yelling.

“By a werewolf,” said Keegan. “It came out of the trees. I think it was going for Ricky, but then he tripped, the klutz.”

Zellie’s movements had started to zip faster, and I could tell she didn’t want to be caged here on the open ground waiting for us to finish our story. She wanted to act, to attack.

Her cousin was calmer, but only by the smallest margin. One of his eyes started to twitch uncontrollably and his fist kept clenching, but he let Keegan finish.

“Describe it to me,” he said. “In detail. How are you so sure it wasn’t a hellhound?”

“One of Lisabelle’s?” I said, shocked. The idea that we had been attacked by one of Lisabelle’s hellhounds (they were all hers now that she was the all-commanding boss of darkness; those were her words, not mine) was preposterous.

“You realize that the alternative is that they’re Sip’s?” Dacer asked, quirking one of his perfectly manicured eyebrows. If the situation hadn’t been so serious I would have had the sneaking suspicion that he was amused.

“Sip’s the paranormal president. She doesn’t . . . oh,” I said. Truth be told, I had no idea how the werewolf hierarchy worked, or if it had changed after the Nocturn War. However things had worked before, it certainly sounded like Sip ran things now. Or maybe she didn’t, if a werewolf, “her” werewolf, had just tried to kill me.

“I don’t know,” I stammered. “It looked like a werewolf.” I described what I had seen as best I could, with Keegan throwing in some utterly useless clarifying statements like, “The fur felt like Brillo pads, not pointy grass.” Zellie looked like she was about to murder one of us herself.

“There isn’t much to the story after that,” said Keegan. “The thing landed on me and I fought it off until Ricky could kill it.”

“Are you sure it’s dead?” Dacer asked, springing forward and digging his fingers into my shoulders like claws.

“I, um,” I stammered, “no.”

I heard the swoosh and felt the air of Zellie leaving and Dacer springing after her, two black movements against the darkness. The Duke was in such a hurry to reach the werewolf that he didn’t even order us to stay where we were. So naturally, we followed. When we reached the forest, Zellie swung around in the air to glare.

“You two should not go any further,” she warned, her eyes filled with annoyance. “You’ll only be a distraction and a risk.”

“We have to show you were it is!” Keegan insisted. For once I agreed with the errant tree sprite. He could be annoying, but I didn’t want to be left behind either.

“Dacer,” Zellie called out in an appeal to the higher power.

Dacer merely shrugged. “We do need to know where we’re going,” he admitted. “Yes, of course we can sense an intruder to some degree, but I’m sure we’d get there faster if they led us there.”

“And if they get killed?” Zellie demanded, not mincing her words. “Are you going to be the one to tell Charlotte?”

“Come now,” said Dacer calmly. “You know they couldn’t possibly be killed on your watch.”

Zellie looked torn between wanting to argue and wanting to get on with finding the werewolf.

All the while my mind raced. If it wasn’t a hellhound or a werewolf, what was it? If it was one of those two things . . . would I rather see Sip furious or Lisabelle? Each was about as appealing as jumping off a cliff, and the cliff was definitely safer.

Keegan tore out in front and I let him. I didn’t even really want to be in the woods, not that I was afraid, but I knew that seeing the dead carcass would make me have to fight off being sick. I wasn’t brave, like Charlotte; Charlotte always seemed brave. Once she had tried to tell me that she really wasn’t, that put in the situations she’d been in I’d do the same thing, and like any good little brother, I had laughed in her face. But now, racing through the woods with two irate vampires and Keegan, I had to wonder if she wasn’t right. In what other situation and in whose right mind would I do this?

“Here,” Keegan yelled. He couldn’t outrun Zellie, and she had just raced past the silver tree and now had to turn back. I was so intent on not falling that I nearly fell.

The winds were keeping a steady pace, forcing us to yell and encouraging us to hurry. The day was getting darker.

“Here it is,” Keegan cried again. But then, suddenly, he stopped. The two vampires pulled up on either side of him, leaving me to peer over their shoulders.

“Here’s more ground,” Zellie acknowledged. “Fascinating.”

Dacer coughed. “There isn’t anything here.”

I looked around the whole area and I couldn’t argue with him; there was no animal in sight. It was the same tree, but whatever creature had attacked us was gone.

“It was right here,” Keegan yelled, looking at me to confirm.

At first I just nodded, because I didn’t know what else to do. “Right here,” I said, finally.

“You two stay here,” Dacer ordered, pointing to the spots we already stood in. “Zellie?”

But his cousin was already moving, and with one last glance at us, Dacer joined her. They moved together, sweeping outward in what was clearly a practiced formation, looking for clues.

“Is that the branch you used?” Keegan asked, taking a step toward what looked like my makeshift club.

But Dacer, whose back was turned to us, nevertheless yelled, “Stop right there! I said not to move!”

Keegan froze and glanced at me over his shoulder. “Is that the branch?” he whispered.

“You don’t have to whisper,” I said. “He didn’t tell us we couldn’t talk. And I think so, but I’m not sure.”

We both waited. It didn’t take long for the vampires to return.

“Nothing,” said Zellie, shaking her head. “Absolutely nothing.”

“I think that’s the branch I used to hit the thing,” I told Dacer, pointing. “Can I move now?”

“You can move,” he confirmed. “I’ll take it back and test it for foreign matter.” He hefted the branch as if it weighed nothing, whereas I had needed both hands to lift and swing it. Keegan was so furious that the body was gone that he didn’t say a single word as we walked back toward the castle.

“We shouldn’t have left Duckleworth unguarded,” Zellie said.

“Aren’t there guards?” I asked. It was out before I could stop myself. I really meant the witch beneath the foundation, but I wasn’t supposed to know about her.

Professor Dacer gave me a strange look and said, “There are guards, but there is nothing like the love of a place that gives you the will to defend it.”

“That makes so much sense,” said Keegan sarcastically. “I need a shower.”

We walked quietly the rest of the way, with Dacer carrying the branch.

Three attacks, eighteen injured. Artifact count: one hundred eight missing. Important paranormals count: Same.

That night I waited up as long as I could for Dacer to reappear, but in the end it was painfully clear that he wasn’t going to. Finally, when my eyes started to droop, I climbed the stairs slowly and headed for bed. Crumple was in my room, where I had left him when Keegan and I went for our walk. He wasn’t pleased with me when I opened the door; by that time he was nearly frantic to be by my side. He calmed down when I made it clear that I wasn’t going to leave him again any time soon. With a sigh, I got ready as quickly as I could and climbed into bed.

I slept badly that night, because over and over again I kept seeing dream images of the witch below the castle. Again and again it would start: the witch would call to me, and I would swim through the water toward her, emerging on her strange and lonely beach and slowly making my way through the darkness to the pedestal that was her prison. Once I was there I would put my hand in the finger holes and wait, but she didn’t come. I tried again, and then I tried one more time. As soon as I gave up and started to walk away I would hear a screaming noise, like fire exploding through a tunnel. Then I would turn around and discover that my feet were in the water, and there would be a small splash and suddenly the witch would appear. She would be coming to me while I stood there, uncertain, not knowing what to do.

At least I wasn’t dreaming of death.

At the moment in the dream, every time, I woke up in a cold sweat. My breath came in shallow gasps and I’d turn on one of the lights as my ring burned, upset that I was upset. My ring, of rose gold metal with a multi-colored stone, had been a gift from Charlotte. Or rather, she had searched through all the elemental rings we had until she found the right one, because we both knew I wasn’t going to do it.

Each time it took me a long time to fall asleep again, because every time I closed my eyes I would see the witch’s burning eyes and hear the screaming.

Finally, I quit trying to sleep and started making myself think about something other than the dream. But no sooner had I started to calm down and doze off than I heard a strange noise from outside the bedroom. Crumple heard it too, and started up with a tiny, whining, warning noise.

I pulled myself out of bed, went over to the bedroom door, and opened it a crack. In the dim nighttime light of the hallway I couldn’t see anything right away. Soon, though, I realized that the noise was coming from below, so I walked out of the room and looked down over the railing. At the bottom of the stairs I saw a strange sight. Zellie was there, swaying back and forth, and as I gazed at her, trying to figure out what was going on, a low growl drew my attention to my feet. Crumple was there, his hackles standing straight up.

“Hi,” I called out softly to Zellie. “Did you hear that noise?”

Zellie turned toward me, and at the look on her face I choked and staggered backward. Something was terribly wrong. Zellie’s eyes were entirely black, as if they were reflecting the night outside. Her mouth was slightly open, as if she was sleeping. Her left hand hung at her side, but her right hand was raised and holding a large black club. I remembered the club; it lived in the library, a room Dacer didn’t really like and rarely spent time in, where the club hung on the wall between two bookshelves. At the moment I couldn’t remember its history, and I didn’t really care. What mattered was that the club was now in the hand of Zellie, and she clearly intended to use it for something at a moment when she was also clearly not in her right mind.

“Zellie?” I stammered. “Are you alright?” Crumple’s growling was getting worse, and I didn’t bother to stop him. He was scared too.

Zellie’s lips curved into a small smile, but not a natural one. It was more as if something was tugging the sides of her lips upward without her even being involved. I smiled hard, trying to hide my sense that this was bad, really very bad. She had already proven earlier that day that she was much faster than I was, and now she was obviously possessed, and wielding a dangerous weapon.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I said, “but I will if you threaten me.” I sprang forward from where my initial reaction to Zellie’s appearance had taken me and readied myself for trouble. My magic had already sensed danger, and it needed me to act. A burst of pure power streamed out of me and slammed into Zellie’s body just as she, in her turn, steamed full force forward. If she hadn’t been possessed, she would have dodged instead of hitting my power, but apparently whatever had taken over her body also offered it protection from attack, so my magic was only able to slow her down. It couldn’t stop her.

Going for the unexpected, I raced toward her as she fumbled in the air. When I got near, I darted around her, jumped over the railing, and used my ring to call wind, letting myself sail downward to the first floor. When I found my footing I looked up. Zellie was already spinning, turning crazily in my direction. I sent another burst of power her way and felt sweat break out on my brow, then ran for the kitchen. The large room was dark, with no company but the shadows cast through the windows from the moon beyond. I skidded around the center island and fell to my knees to hide, but just as I heard the door shut behind me, it slammed open again. When I heard nothing after that, I knew it was Zellie.

Taking some deep breaths, I carefully tried to peer around the wooden cabinet that my back was leaning against. I peered a little further, now not daring to breathe at all. I could see the door, which was swinging closed for a second time, but there was no sign of Zellie. I gasped and looked from my right to my left, but she wasn’t anywhere within my line of sight. Slowly I stood up, thinking that she might have swung the door open, peered inside, and decided I wasn’t there after all.

Immediately I felt a slight breeze rustling the air above me. I froze and carefully looked up, but I didn’t even have time to scream before Zellie was on me. She had watched me look for her and drifted closer; I had gotten careless, forgetting how high the kitchen ceiling was.

Her cold fingers curled around my neck and squeezed. I gasped and struggled, grabbing her wrists with my hands and trying to yank free. It was useless. Whether the strength was because she was an adult vampire or because she was crazed, she was much more powerful than I was, and I was quickly losing consciousness. My eyes fluttered, examining her face. Her expression hadn’t changed. There was still that slight smile, still those vacant eyes.

“Zellie,” I managed to get out, begging. My efforts were useless, and now I’d lost track of Crumple on top of everything else. Dacer’s cousin or no, if she had hurt the dog I was afraid I might kill her.

I could think of only one thing to do. I made sure the diamond on my ring was facing forward, and I punched her in the forehead. My jab was weak, since not only could I barely see her at this point, I was at an awkward angle for hitting her. Luckily, my magic knew what to do. With the last dregs of my strength and all the elemental magic I could muster, I slammed Zellie right in the center of her head.

The burst of power I sent into her was so pathetic that all she did was sort of jerk backward. Unfortunately, her hands were still in a steel grip around my throat, so the movement also jerked my head and shoulders weirdly upward. Pain lanced through me, and my eyes closed involuntarily.

Then, with no warning, Zellie’s fingers released their clamp-like grip. I heard a ripping sound and looked down just in time to see Crumple with his jaws clamped around her leg. I tried to order the dog away, but I couldn’t make any sounds come out of my mouth.

Zellie swayed briefly above me, then I sensed that she had gone flying sideways as if she’d been shoved. I kept my eyes closed for a few more seconds, taking stock of the pain pulsing through my body. My neck hurt and I breathed carefully so as not to make it worse. As I assessed the damage, I heard Keegan’s voice.

“Ricky?” He sounded uncertain, but I had never been so happy to hear him.

“Yes?” I said.

“You okay?”

“Super,” I said. “You know, ‘super.’”

I opened my eyes. Keegan was standing over me and Dacer was gazing at Zellie, his face a mask of concern.

“What happened?” Keegan asked. He reached down to help me up, but I waved him away. I wasn’t ready for crazy things like movement just yet. I blinked several times, trying to settle my spinning head. I wanted to look and see what Dacer was doing, but there was no way that was going to happen unless I wanted to throw up.

“I don’t know,” I said carefully. “I heard a strange noise and I hadn’t been able to sleep anyway, so I thought I’d look into it. I figured it was just one of the weird things Charlotte said happen at Duckleworth.”

“So nice of your sister to prepare you,” said Dacer dryly. I was relieved at the sound of bemusement in his voice, because somewhere below the surface of my mind I had worried that he’d be angry at me when he found his cousin with her hands around my throat, as if it was somehow my fault.

“Is she going to be alright?” I whispered. Crumple was nudging my elbow and whimpering a little, so I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on as tightly as I could.

Dacer grimaced. “I think so, but I won’t be sure until she wakes up. I need to take her to the lab and maybe the lake.” I started a little. Was he talking about the underground lake that I had found, or a different one? But this wasn’t the time to ask that question, so I didn’t.

“And then what happened?” Keegan asked impatiently.

Using as few words as possible, I told them what Zellie and I had just done.

“She was working with the branch earlier this evening,” Dacer mused, but before he could continue, the door banged open. I started, afraid that it was another crazy zombie.

“What is the meaning of all this racket?” said a stern woman’s voice. Dacer yelped, the ties of his bonnet flapping slightly.

“Mother!” He sounded scandalized.

Without meaning to, I sat up. Duchess Leonie was worth any amount of dizziness, and I hadn’t seen her since the end of the Nocturn War. When I had arrived at Duckleworth after my self-imposed exile, I had been told that she was bedridden and too ill to see anyone. Now, bursting into the kitchen in the middle of the night, she was moving slowly, but her voice was strong.

“Mother!” Dacer tried again. “You should be in bed.”

“And you should learn to respect your elders. You may go first,” she said, stumping into the room. Keegan hurried over to help her, but she shoved him away. She wasn’t rude about it, but she would not be helped.

“Sorry,” Dacer mumbled, returning his gaze to Zellie.

When Duchess Leonie saw her niece, she grimaced. “I was afraid of something like this, what with everything going on and all the news reports. Is it what happened at Golden Falls all over again?”

I had heard of that university. Specifically, in my own family history, it was where everything had changed for Charlotte. After she and her classmates went there for a semester away, ostensibly to learn new things and try to be normal, their lives had been ripped apart. Golden Falls had been working with darkness, and that was before darkness was ruled by Lisabelle. Sip had been taken prisoner by the darkness premier of that era, who had turned out to be Keller’s aunt, and she had forced Lisabelle to convert to the side of darkness in order to secure her dear friend’s release. Lisabelle had never returned to Public as a student after that, and the whole affair had been the beginning of a long road to war. Sip had been devastated when she found out what Lisabelle had done. She also hated Golden Falls with a passion I hadn’t seen her direct toward anything else.

Duchess Leonie had been on the scene during those events, but that was all I knew. Charlotte typically refused to tell me the details of certain stories from that period, and sometimes I was pretty sure the stories she did tell me were watered down. The only trouble was that I didn’t know how to ask what I didn’t know to ask.

Professor Dacer’s mother glanced at me. “Are you alright?” she asked. “My son will get you something for your neck just as soon as he brings Zelliarie upstairs so that I may examine her.”

“Mother!” Dacer drew himself up, cloaking himself in all kinds of childish petulance. “Under no circumstances am I going to leave you alone with Zellie while she’s in this state.”

The Duchess fixed her child with a cold stare. “I am still your mother, with all that implies,” she said, waggling a finger at him. “Do not question me.”

Grumbling, Dacer dropped his head. Duchess Leonie pulled her shawl more tightly around her shoulders and said, with a sigh, “Even in the late summer I am cold. It will be good to get you to Public, Ricky. I cannot lie; to see you here gives me great concern.”

“I’m fine,” I said. “I’ve made it this far.”

She nodded. “Yes, well, you’re young and a teenage boy. There’s a lot naturally stacked against you.”

Keegan made a face. Obviously he didn’t like being told that he was inexperienced or reckless, which is what it sounded like the Duchess was saying.

“Why is Zellie still here and why are you?” she demanded, looking at Dacer as if she had just remembered to notice him again. Still grumbling, her son waved his hand and Zellie’s prone body rose into the air and started to drift, floating feet first through the kitchen door.

As the Duchess stumped back out, she grabbed a cookie off the island.