Elemental Havoc (Paranormal Public Book 11) (5 page)

“Oh, like I said, it’s no big deal,” Ms. Cernal said, still smiling.

Keegan nodded back, and now it was my turn. I didn’t like this at all.

“I thought I was just going to be holding a piece of paper,” I said to Bertrum. “I don’t want this to mess with my magic.”

“You can’t mess with your power,” said Bertrum. “Besides, this is government-sanctioned. Sip’s government.”

“Yeah, she wouldn’t have sanctioned it if she’d had to do it herself,” I said with assurance. Ms. Cernal waited expectantly through this exchange, which surprised me a bit. Normally when Sip’s name was thrown around on a casual basis, other paranormals had a reaction, but Ms. Cernal didn’t look impressed.

“I’m sure the paranormal president thinks this is wonderful technology,” she said.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” I said. Then I took a deep breath and rolled up my sleeve, revealing one pale arm. Keegan was right, the application didn’t hurt. Breathing a sigh of relief that it was over, I rolled my sleeve back down.

“It was very nice to meet both of you,” she smiled. “Best of luck at Paranormal Public University this fall.”

Bertrum hurried off after the TP office visit, saying he had urgent business to attend to. Rake was so happy to be rid of him, he didn’t even make a sarcastic comment. The big vampire then took us in hand and headed straight to Public.

We had no trouble using our TPs to get into the grounds. One of the new features of the reopened university was a fence that ran all the way around the campus, reinforced by the Power of Five. There was one gate, at which two large guards checked our TPs and let us through without incident. But as Keegan and I stepped ahead to enter the campus, Rake stopped.

“You aren’t going to come in?” I asked. I had expected him to visit with Charlotte, and I was surprised that he was saying good-bye at the gate instead, as if he had never intended to come any further.

“I’d love to, but work calls and there are artifacts to find,” he said. With a smile and a nod he was gone, and Keegan and I were left to enter on our own.

There were several other students passing through the gate right then, but they pointedly ignored us. “What makes fallen angels so cool, anyway?” Keegan asked.

“I think it’s me,” I said wearily. “Ever since it became public that Keller married Charlotte in a secret ceremony, they’ve been angrier than ever with him. They think he chose her over the fallen angel way.”

“That’s ridiculous,” said Keegan. “Love is love.”

The trip and the TP office had taken so long that we barely had time to put our stuff in our rooms before the opening ceremony and dinner. I didn’t want to miss any of it, not least because I was famished; we hadn’t eaten at all on the journey. But also, President Valedication would be making his opening remarks, and I wanted to hear Dobrov speak.

“See you soon,” said Keegan with excitement. I agreed and hurried off to drop my bags in Astra.

The dorm looked familiar with its five stone towers: blue, green, red, and brown, plus the black one in the middle. It looked an awful lot like home. I had pelted Charlotte with questions about what my living situation would be like, but she had sidestepped them all, merely saying that as soon as I got to campus I should take my stuff to the dorm I knew so well. Now I did as the last elemental suggested and returned to Astra.

I was aware of being blazingly hungry, but what I hadn’t noticed in the excitement of arrival was that I was also extremely tired. I found my room in Astra with no trouble, dropped my bags, and told myself I’d just sit down for a few minutes before changing out of my travel-worn clothes for dinner. That was my plan, anyhow; what actually happened was that I nodded off to sleep. It wasn’t a deep sleep; I tossed and turned as though I was still on the road. But it was deep enough for a dream.

My dreams lately were getting stranger, going from death to witches to something else entirely. This time I saw a man, thin and with a well-trimmed beard. Everything about him spoke to exactitude and a desire for order. In short, from his pressed collar to his perfectly shined buttons he was a neat freak. His eyes were clear, with surrounding pools of black. It didn’t surprise me that there were no laugh lines in his face; I would have been shocked if this paranormal knew what a joke was.

On his breast was a nameplate. William Fallgrabber came from a long line of protocol officers. He worked for the government as a poetic accompaniment to the government’s important rules and regulations. He cared deeply for the law and for making sure it was followed to the letter. He had learned these habits of mind and action from his father, who had learned them from his father before him. The family tradition was to help and serve. As a legacy, he was better equipped than most for the post at Paranormal Public University. When he received it, he thought his life’s joy had been realized. Never had he experienced such an honor as he did on that day.

Of course, he had known that the post was coming open. He knew they couldn’t just restart Public, the most revered and respected of paranormal universities, without a protocols officer, especially with the divisive character of the hybrid Dobrov Valedication at the helm. No matter what else was happening in the world, protocols must be followed.

For years Fallgrabber had labored on obscure projects, always hoping for the recognition he knew he deserved. Now he had finally received his due. His head held high, his shoulders straight, his eyes forward, he reviewed The Manual, the book of protocols that had been added to and updated throughout the years. He had the same copy his grandfather had carried, with annotated updates, of course. His prized possession, his copy of The Manual was one of only a handful left in the world; the others had been lost long ago. His was the first Manual of Protocols for paranormals and he carried it as he would have carried fragile glass.

In my dream he was reading out loud from the book:
Deep breaths for calm. You are the code. You are vitally important. Without you, the paranormal world would crumble. You hold the fate of any and all paranormal in your hands, in these words, in these pages. This is all and everything. Good luck good sir, and may the paranormal gods always look upon you with an eye to the straightness of your tie.

Somehow, in dream fashion, I knew that the last bit had been added by his grandfather. He read it whenever he felt as if he was losing his way and moving too far from the Protocols in the Manual.

I woke with a start and glared around my room. I knew who to blame for that dream, but not what the point was. Martha, the embodiment of Public’s power, must have wanted me to know something about this William Fallgrabber, but why she wanted that I had no idea. I threw off the covers. It was time to go to dinner.

President Valedication did not particularly want to address large crowds of students. He wasn’t much for speaking in public – he preferred writing – but it had been perfectly clear when he accepted the post at Paranormal Public that speaking to large numbers of paranormals was part of the deal. He had to speak with students, professors, staff, donors, alums, and many other paranormals, not to mention the government officials who were helping to get the school restarted.

According to Charlotte, he had decided that if he was going to do it he should do it right, so he had signed up for an elaborate training for public speakers where among other exercises he had practiced putting on his imaginary bravery cloak and standing up in front of an auditorium full of students.

On our first evening at Public, when he stood up in front of all of us, he looked like a seasoned professional. I would never have guessed that he needed bravery and a vision of himself as some other paranormal in order to stand straight in front of us, his hands resting calmly at his sides and his eyes drifting placidly around the room.

Finally, he took a breath. He was ready.

“Good evening, and welcome to the inaugural class at the rebirth of Paranormal Public University. It is a new era, and I am proud that we are gathered here together.” He paused for a moment to allow the polite applause to die down.

“You will notice that you were all assigned seats. That was intentional. Get comfortable at the tables where you’re currently sitting, because you will be at them all semester, maybe for all your years here.”

I saw grumblings go up around the hall and couldn’t blame some of the paranormals; many of them had come in with lifelong friends with whom they were not sitting. I felt lucky to be sitting next to Keegan, all the more since I knew virtually no paranormals my own age. Taking note of the discontent among the students, I also took the chance to glance at some of the professors. Many wore robes, but a few didn’t. One stood out to me, a thin man with clear eyes. With some surprise, I realized who he must be, but Dobrov was still talking and I couldn’t keep my attention on the thin man for long. I quickly forced my eyes back to Public’s president.

“I guess this means we’re in the same group,” Keegan said quietly. I nodded. Small blessings. I crossed my arms over my chest and waited.

“You will have classes with your group,” continued Dobrov, “and you will eat with your group. You will also have classes with other members of your dorm, since obviously there are skills that vampires, for instance, can learn, that others never can.” Slight murmurs went up again and some of the paranormals looked relieved. Most of the groups and pairs of friends who’d come in together were obviously from the same dorms.

President Valedication went on. “Your group will be your everything. If you have a problem, you will go to your group, who will all be from your own year. In rebuilding the university, we did make the choice to have sophomores, juniors, and seniors here as well as first year students, but they will be on an accelerated program and very busy. Many have been keeping up with their education to some extent and will have tests to take. Only those of you Starting will not have to go through the rigors of these tests. Be relieved. They will not be easy, because we do not allow you to say you’ve gotten a degree from Paranormal Public without doing the work. Trust me, you
will
do the work.”

I saw several paranormals whom I knew to be upper class students exchange worried looks. Many of them, I was sure, were attending Public only at the demand of their parents, and they weren’t looking forward to working especially hard.

“These are exciting times,” Dobrov continued. “I know it may not seem like it, but the fact of the matter is, born out of the destruction and hardship you all have experienced, there is opportunity. There is the chance to create the world however you want it to be. The old establishments were burned to the ground. In their place the opportunities are endless.

“I realize that returning to a school with barebones resources and unknown threats – yes, there are threats – might not feel like an opportunity, especially considering what some of you have gone through. But I hope that in time you can come to see it as such. I hope that in time we can all work together to see it as such.”

He cleared his throat and looked around the room. “One last thing. There are fewer of you here tonight than there should be, by a wide number. It is more important than ever that we respect one another, that we respect where we each have come from, that we work together for something better. Enjoy your first semester here at Paranormal Public and congratulations again on being members of the inaugural class.” With a tight smile and a small nod, he turned around and sat down. Scattered applause filled the hall.

I saw Fallgrabber twitch and wondered if it was because Dobrov hadn’t said anything about behaving. I smiled a little at the thought.

Looking around at the other tables, I noticed that most of the students in the hall were eyeing their tablemates with more attention than before. Since Dobrov had said we’d be stuck with each other, I decided I’d better do the same.

Our table was wide and square, seating pretty much an even number of guys and girls, though overall Public seemed to have a few more guys than girls.

“I feel outnumbered,” Keegan muttered.

“Why?” I asked.

“You didn’t notice?”

“Notice what?”

“There’s a pretty high concentration of vampires in our group,” he said. I looked around and saw that he was right. One whole side of the table was vampires.

“Think they’re Rapiers? Did they let other sects in?” Keegan asked.

“Truth be told, I’m not sure,” I said.

At that point there was a long pause while we all got up from our tables and went to the food stations to fill our plates. The food was plentiful and varied, and since I had been starving for hours, I was more than ready to devour the meal.

Only after we sat down again did I realize how many questions there were that I should have asked Charlotte. A sort of depression hit me at all the unknowns, but I reminded myself that I’d surely feel better if I got some dinner into my stomach. With a sigh I picked up my fork, stabbed a piece of broccoli, raised it to my lips, then put it back down again. Despite how I’d been feeling just a few minutes ago, all of a sudden I wasn’t hungry, at least not for anything healthy. So I went back to the dinner bar and got a serving of macaroni and cheese: much easier to eat when worried.

I was halfway through my meal when an earsplitting noise and a crash put a sudden stop to the low hum of conversation in the hall. Keegan and I looked around in alarm and saw that one of the tables had been overturned and everyone sitting at it had scattered.

Well, not everyone. Two small groups were facing off in the debris of dinner.

“Looks like the pixies and the vampires aren’t getting along already, surprise, surprise,” said Keegan grimly.

Everyone in the hall was looking at the groups around the overturned table. I glanced at President Valedication, but he was just sitting quietly. Other professors were clearly looking to him to intervene, but he was just as clearly going to let this play out, no matter the consequences.

Three big vampires had faced off against the Volans. Six pixies, not one of whom was taller than the smallest vampire’s elbow, stared them down. The fact that pixies were small didn’t mean they weren’t deadly; everyone knew that. They used pixie dust and cunning to their advantage, and they were famous, or infamous, for being ruthless and mean.

Historically, the resident vampire prince or princess or a fallen angel might have intervened in a fight, as Keller surely would have if he had still been a student. But there were only a few fallen angels at Public at the moment, because an entire group was holding out due to negotiations with Sip about something or other. Keller had been called away to deal with the emergency, and Charlotte had said that she hoped the angels would arrive tomorrow. There were several empty seats at my table, and I could only assume that was why.

Finally, just when it seemed like the tension was ready to explode into a violent fight, a girl from our table with lots of hair, dark blue eyes, and a determined expression stood up. She didn’t move very fast; it was as if she was studying the situation as she went toward it – alone.

“Is she crazy?” Keegan asked. “She shouldn’t step in the middle of that mess!”

I nodded, but my eyes stayed on the girl as she pushed and shoved her way through the crowd of students who had gotten up from their seats, seemingly caught between the desire to get out of harm’s way and the desire to see what would happen next.

A big vampire with an over-sized ring in one nostril saw the girl and started making his way toward her. She didn’t seem to see the danger; she kept right on shoving her way toward the snarling vampires and the cold-eyed pixies.

“He’s going to kill her,” I muttered, and without thinking I started moving toward the brewing battle. I was so intent on the girl and the vampire that I didn’t notice how much easier a time I had getting to the front of the room than the girl had, or how a few of the vampires and pixies watching the battle turned to look at me but made no move to stop me.

A memory flashed through my mind as I pushed my way toward the fight, a vision of a girl’s dead eyes. Not all that long ago, when I was on the run from my life, I’d had a friend named Gretchen, and now she was dead. In that instantaneous flash, I remembered her smile and her mischief and how much she cared about her family. A pixie had killed her. It wasn’t that I hated all pixies, but I wouldn’t have minded watching a group of badass vampires beat some up. Still, a big brawl on the first night wouldn’t do anything for Dobrov’s popularity as president, so I also wasn’t going to mind seeing the fight defused. Somehow.

The girl reached the edge of the ring. She still hadn’t seen the strapping vampire with the nose ring, but just as she moved to take one more step, he reached out a large hand, moving faster than I could follow with my eyes, and grabbed her by the back of the neck. With a cry, he sent her flying backward in one fluid motion. A scream ripped from her throat and she soared like a doll as everyone else in the room watched, helpless.