Elemental Shining (Paranormal Public Series) (2 page)

He had been working on some sort of high tech pixie research. In off hours we had started to hang out again, and without the threat of Camilla’s insanity looming over us it had actually been fun. I had a feeling she had no idea we spent time together, and I hoped that Lisabelle wouldn’t be bored one night and want to set off fireworks, because she would easily be able to manage it, if she wanted to, by telling Camilla that little tidbit.

Walking across campus alone at the end of the summer, I glanced around at the quiet grounds. Despite the fact that it was lonely sometimes, I liked the school when it was empty. It was a little easier to appreciate the beauty of the place that way.

Cale and I had made a plan to meet Lisabelle as she made the trek through the woods to get back to school for the first semester of our second year at Public. When I had first started thinking about college a couple of years ago, my biggest worry had been making friends and choosing a major. Now it was staying alive. No big deal.

I was so excited for my friend to arrive that I was ready hours early, and when I met Cale at the top of the hill to walk down he just laughed at me. I was basically vibrating with happiness.

Cale looked good. He had a slight tan, which warmed up his pale skin just enough. Tousled dark red hair fell into warm blue eyes. He was tall for a pixie, with a square jaw. He looked a bit like a football player, which made sense given that he had played the sport at our high school.

The weather, almost but not quite fall, made for a perfect evening stroll. Gale force winds couldn’t have kept me from seeing one of my best friends after three months, but the beautiful evening was a nice bonus. It was warm without being hot, and a slight breeze brought a reminder of colder weather to come. The sky was a brilliant shade of purples and pinks, with hot streaks of orange.

“This is wonderful,” I said to Cale.

His full head of red hair bobbed up and down in agreement. “No one has ever said that about seeing Lisabelle before,” he replied with a grin.

I grinned back. “She isn’t as bad as you think.”

“I’m sure of that. I’m actually sure she’s much worse. You and Sip keep her in check. How you do it is a mystery to me, but I can’t imagine what would happen if she wasn’t with you two.”

I laughed out loud at that. “Nothing keeps Lisabelle in check. And we will always be with her.”

Cale raised an eyebrow at me, a quizzical expression on his face. “Whatever you say.”

“I think Lough is coming back with her,” I said. “I got an email from him saying that if he spent another day with his family he would blow his top. Apparently his sister has a new, secret boyfriend, and every time she visits her parents she won’t stop talking about him.”

“So, he chose Lisabelle over family torture. He must be in love with her,” said Cale, rolling his eyes. When I was quiet he looked at me sharply. “Wait, he really is in love with her? Brave guy. Crazy, but brave.”

I shrugged. “The heart wants what the heart wants, as they say.” An imagine of Keller flashed through my mind, but I shoved it away.

“Good evening,” said the steely voice of Vampire Princess Lanca as she wafted up to us. The sun was far enough below the horizon that she could be out without the protection known as vampire sunscreen. Her skin was so pale she was practically see-through, but her eyes glittered like hard diamonds.

“How are you feeling about being a sophomore?” she asked me as she fell into step between Cale and me.

I shrugged. “I’m positive this year will be better than last, but it’s not like that’s hard. Are you coming to greet Lisabelle and Lough?”

Lanca smiled demurely. “My sister is arriving, and since I have one more semester here after all I thought I would show her in. Seeing Lisabelle will just be a bonus.”

“You have siblings?” Cale gulped. I glanced at Cale sidelong, knowing the fear in his voice. Lanca was scary. Not scary like Lisabelle, but no one messed with the Vampire Princess.

Lanca nodded. “I have a younger sister. She is a Starter this year and is very nervous. I told her I would bring her back to Cruor and help her feel at home.”

“That’s nice of you,” I murmured. “Cruor is so homey.” I nudged Cale, who appeared lost in thought.

“Yeah, that’s nice,” he said. “I mean, it could be worse.”

“Excuse me?” Lanca demanded.

“I mean, Lisabelle could have siblings. Can you imagine what her brother would be like?”

“All you have to do is look at Risper,” said Lanca, waving her delicate hand dismissively. She wasn’t afraid of the darkness mages, given how much darkness she herself possessed.

“How much longer do we have the Committee?” Cale asked. “I was sort of looking forward to a new president.”

“I guess we have them indefinitely,” said Lanca. “Lealand, or should I say Oliva, really likes it here, even if all the students are now wary of him.”

“He shouldn’t have tricked us,” I muttered. “He was messing with our heads to get what he wanted.”

“He had good reason,” Lanca argued. “He needed information. The vampires were almost eliminated. It would have been disastrous.”

“I know,” I said, “but still. So, we’re stuck with all the Committee members for another semester?”

“Yes,” said Lanca, amused. “I think so.”

“I like Lealand,” said Cale sweetly. “He tries to help.” We were walking so close to each other that periodically our arms would bump.

“He’s just so young,” I argued. “I’m not sure he can be trusted.”

“You can trust him,” Lanca told us. “All the Committee members are trustworthy. Considering what happened with the President, they have to be.”

We had reached the tree line and were now making our way into the woods.

“It’s a beautiful night,” said the Vampire Princess, glancing up at the deep blue sky.

“Yes, it is,” said Cale.

Without warning he reached down and brushed his hand against mine. Shock waves crashed through my body at his touch. He never touched me; it was an unspoken agreement between us. If he touched me, Camilla would probably be able to smell me on him, and she would probably come to kill me, which I was sure she could do without much trouble. She was a powerful pixie, and the fact that I was the only elemental did not mean I was especially strong. I hated myself for reacting the way I did, but Cale was an old crush. Looking into his eyes, which were shining brightly in the fading light, I quickly gulped and looked away.

“It’s nice that there are no demons out and about,” said Lanca. “For once we have peace and quiet. I just wonder how long it will last.”

“They never came back,” said Cale thoughtfully. His voice was wonderfully calm for what had just happened, whereas I was finding it hard to breathe.

“You okay?” Cale murmured to me.

I hated hearing talk of the demons. Ever since I had vanquished them last semester I’d had a hard time with the whole demons trying to kill me thing, even if the summer had been quiet. I had learned that quiet was fleeting and danger was not. I just wished it was the other way around.

“Charlotte,” Lanca’s voice cut into my thoughts.

It was harder to be in the woods as the shadows lengthened and got darker and more enveloping. We had come to that point where the evening was more dark than light, and it was getting creepier by the step.

“Yeah?” I said, forcing myself to sound normal. I don’t know if I succeeded.

“You’re going to be fine,” she said kindly. Kindness from Lanca was so rare. Vampires didn’t understand kindness, or love. Luckily, they understood loyalty.

“Thanks,” I murmured. “And I know I am.”

“How do you know?” Cale asked. He didn’t say it in a threatening way, more just curious at the confidence in my voice.

“Because,” I said slowly, stepping around some branches. “I have to be. And I have the best friends in the world.”

I looked between them. I knew my friendship with Cale had an expiration date, the date being: When Camilla Got Back. But I was going to keep on enjoying it while I could. I brushed my brown hair away from my face, but that turned out to be a mistake. It gave me a better view of the woods, and I wished I could block it out again. The darkness was circling and embracing us.

“We should be getting close,” said Lanca thoughtfully. “It’s so much better being in the woods when there’s nothing dangerous out there.”

“There’s still stuff like bears,” Cale argued. “It’s not only demons.”

“We can handle bears,” said Lanca, bemused. “And by we I mean I can handle bears. I don’t think any bear in the woods would stand a chance against us, or even all of them together. But even if bears are better than demons, there might be things that are worse.”

“We have almost everyone we need for the Power of Five,” I said.

Lanca looked at me sharply. “We don’t need anything like that for bears. Besides, we’re missing the cute little fallen angels and someone from Airlee.”

“Lisabelle’s in Airlee,” said Cale. “She would help us, and maybe there will be a fallen angel in the group she’s coming in with.”

“Good,” said Lanca dryly. “That means that if demons do attack us we can enact the oldest form of protection known to paranormals just to deal with them.”

“Hey, we don’t mess around,” said Cale, laughing. “We go right for the kill.”

Lanca grinned at him. “Now you’re thinking like a vampire.”

“Are you guys sure we’re in the right place?” I asked, looking around nervously. I hadn’t been in the woods for a long time. I hadn’t even walked my friends out at the end of last semester, I had said goodbye to them up on the hill. Over the past couple of months I had forced myself to forget that for all of last semester the woods had been teeming with demons, and the only thing that had kept them out was a weakening force field. Now that I was there, the memories were flooding back.

“It’s alright,” said Lanca, glancing around. “I don’t see demons anywhere.”

I tried to smile at her joke, because obviously there were no demons; I had destroyed them en masse. But I couldn’t help worrying.

Again I felt Cale’s hand brush against my arm, sending shivers up my spine. I ignored them. Old crushes die hard.

But we were obviously alone in the woods, outside the protections of Public, waiting for friends who were not there.

“Well, look who it is,” said a familiar, sarcastic voice. Startled, I spun toward Lisabelle. Relief flooded me and I threw myself into her arms. Laughing, she wrapped her arms around me in return. My darkness friend was at the head of a small group of students. With my head pressed into her black coat, I vaguely caught a glimpse of Lough behind her. Well, of course he would come with her. He always wanted to be where she was. She was just too dense to notice, which was funny because she wasn’t dense about much else.

I wrapped my arms more tightly around Lisabelle, ignoring that she felt a little cold.

“How are you?” I asked her, pulling away just enough to search those black eyes. She wore her customary black dress, with her long black hair falling over her shoulders and brushing against the crook in her arms.

She nodded. “I’m good. We had a long walk, but it’s nice to be home.”

The word lodged in my mind. Lisabelle thought of Public as home. She wasn’t the only one.

“Hey, Lough,” I said, stepping forward to greet my other friend. I didn’t recognize anyone else. There were just three other students, but the girl greeting Lanca had to be her sister. They looked identical, but if possible this girl was even more delicate and more beautiful.