Elemental Shining (Paranormal Public Series) (22 page)

“This will stop,” he said, his voice suddenly low and threatening. “And it will stop now. This is a matter of Tactical. It is not a game of ‘Let’s put all our attention on the elemental in the room.’ I will not have it. This will end and it will end tonight.”

I vaguely wondered if Risper had been right to leave. For the first time since I had met Lisabelle’s uncle, he struck me as the only sane one in the place.

Now Dove pointed at each of us in turn. My heart was beating wildly, and a movement I saw in the corner of my eye made me start. Lisabelle was moving her hand toward her sleeve, where she kept her wand. If she drew that wand there was no telling what Dove would do, but it would be a great betrayal and he would surely react with force. I was about to start forward and risk having Dove’s wrath directed squarely at me when Lisabelle’s hand was seized by a chunky pale one.

Lough was grabbing her firmly, his eyes wide. Lisabelle didn’t move, she barely reacted, but I saw her fingers clasp around Lough’s. It was only then that it looked like he could breathe again.

“This ends now,” Dove cried out, raising his arms wide. “I will not have another disruption. You are students, we are the teachers, you will do as I say or,” he paused and looked again at me, his eyes two black holes boring a hole in my chest, “you will cease to exist.”

With that he swept away up the hill, back toward the center of campus and away from the dumbstruck student body watching him go.

Zervos took a deep breath. His hands, which he had clenched at his sides, uncurled as he walked back to stand in front of the still roaring bonfire.

“The next group is Sipythia Quest, Camilla Van Rothson, Michael Gold, Princess Dirr.” he cried out. I stopped listening after that. I had a bad feeling I would be in the last group. If it had been up to me I would simply have left, because at this point I didn’t even want to see who I was with. I had the terrible feeling that everyone was watching me; eyes flicked in my direction, then away, as name after name was read out that was not mine.

“At least you aren’t stuck with Camilla,” said Lough.

“No,” said Sip bitterly. “I am, but that’s okay. She is going to regret what she just did.”

“Sip, no,” I groaned. “Just leave her alone. She’s insane.”

“Uh huh,” said Sip.

“The last group of the night,” said Zervos. It had taken a long time to get there, even though Zervos had gone through the list quickly. None of the students had gone in search of their teams yet. By then I was pretty sure that every other paranormal wanted to leave, not chase after each other.

“The last team will consist of Vanni Day, Lough Loughphton, Ulrik Ullor, Dobrov Valedication, and Charlotte Rollins.”

I stared at Zervos in numb shock. All around me were cries of surprise. Some, from pixies, were of glee. Sweat had broken out on my forehead, and my stomach felt like it was tossing and rolling, as if I was standing on the bow of a ship instead of firmly on the hard earth.

I should have realized that none of those names had been called. If you had asked me that morning how I would feel to be on a Tactical team without a pixie I would have said that I was overjoyed. Not in a million years would I have imagined a group this . . . bad.

Keller started forward, but my hand on his arm stopped him. I don’t know what he saw in my eyes—defeat maybe—but it stopped him cold.

“And so it begins,” said Sip.

“What begins?” Lough asked.

“The systematic tearing apart of the paranormals,” said Sip. “Isolating Charlotte with a bunch of Starters and Lough? I don’t know why it’s being done, but that is nothing but good for the demons. We’re playing right into their hands.”

Dobrov and Ulrik found me. I was about to tell my friends that I was going to go in search of my new teammates when they materialized on either side of me instead, like walls I couldn’t move past.

“Vanni?” Ulrik asked.

“No, that’s Charlotte,” said Lisabelle.

“You have a case of sarcasm,” said Dobrov, still staring at the ground. It was the first time I had heard him speak. His voice was shaky, like he didn’t use it much.

“It’s a chronic illness,” said Lisabelle, before she turned and stalked away. Anger was evident in every line of her body, but I knew it wasn’t directed at the Valedication. It was directed at whoever put me with this team.

My friends thought I was in danger.

I
knew
I was in dangers.

“Hi there,” said Vanni, coming up like a ray of sunshine beaming into a black hole.

“My own personal definition of hell,” said Ulrik, looking Vanni up and down critically. Vanni was dressed in a white shirt and a skirt and she looked chilly. When we had come out for dinner the weather hadn’t been that cold, but now it felt like every minute that passed got colder and colder.

“I’m Vanni,” continued the fallen angel without so much as blinking. “We’re all in History of Death, right? Awesome class, don’t you think?”

“All kinds of awesome,” said Ulrik.

“You hate that class,” Lough said.

“Can we make a plan?” asked Vanni, her smile still firmly in place.

“Sure,” said Ulrik, turning to me. “Where do you want to hide?”

“Why does that have to be the plan?” I demanded. “There are other high value targets here, like Dobrov and Lough.”

I wasn’t sure of that, but I felt like Dobrov surely must be, since he was a hybrid and his dad was powerful enough to get them into Public when no paranormal wanted them there. Then there was Lough, one of only two dream givers on campus.

There were only a few places for us to hide. I knew that a lot of the other students would be heading to them as well, and there was only one that would be empty, because of the shadow cast by the former President.

An icy blast hit me in the face as I turned to follow Lough. My sneakered feet made no sound on the wet earth as we made our way to the lake. It was the place I always wanted to go, and I had been relieved when Lough suggested it. I didn’t know if the deans or professors knew that a dead elemental appeared there from time to time, but if they didn’t I wasn’t going to be the one to tip them off.

“Are you sure the lake is the best idea?” Vanni asked. “It’s wet and cold. How are we going to know what’s going on?”

“We’ll know,” said Lough. “And if we don’t, it’ll be because they can’t find us. When that happens, just come get us. It means we’ve won.”

“Thanks for that. I had no idea,” said Ulrik. “Anyhow,” he continued, “we’ll lead them off and defend you, while trying not to get caught ourselves.” Sweat had broken out on his brow. “You two stay put. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Ditto,” said Lough. “Don’t go after a bunch of seniors. Or Keller. Or Lisabelle.”

“We can’t win that way,” Dobrov pointed out. “We have to do something impressive to win.”

“I’m not sure we can handle impressive,” said Lough. “I’m just looking not to get destroyed.”

“I am looking to win,” said Dobrov.

Once we split up, Lough and I made our way to the reediest part of the grass around the lake. I tried not to think about my mom while I was there, but it was hard, because missing her was a stabbing ache in my chest that refused to go away. I so clearly saw her face in my mind, smiling at me as if I had just left her instead of having lost her to death years ago. I had come to accept that for the rest of my life, whenever I thought of her, it would hurt to breathe.

“This is gross,” said Lough, as we sloshed through muck.

“Yup,” I said. “Get used to it. No matter what you say, you and I are the highest value targets. We are going to be spending a lot of time cowering like fraidy cats.”

“You are anyway,” said Lough. “Me, they don’t hate with a passion like they hate you. I figure I’ll be okay.”

“Geez, thanks,” I said dryly. Lough grinned apologetically at me. I knew he was trying to cheer me up.

“Why don’t we do something like you did last semester and create a distraction?” he asked.

“I can’t do that again,” I said. “Not without Keller. They’re expecting something like that, just waiting for me to mess up.”

“I could try something,” he said. “We dream givers are crafty.”

“I know you are,” I said, grinning despite my worry.

“Do you think Keller is going to look for you here?” he asked. “He must know this is where you’ll be.”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “I think just the opposite.”

“Yeah,” said Lough. “We talked about it and we would rather see you safe than catch you. The demons are trying hard enough at that as it is, and with that Map gone it’s probably just going to get easier for them.”

Once we were settled low in the reeds, where it would be nearly impossible for us to be seen, Lough leaned over and whispered, “I’m sorry about what Camilla said.”

I nodded. “Me too.”

I drew myself together and tried not to look at the lake or the empty house. The house was the same brown color it had been when President Malle had her office there. Now it went unused, as if it was cursed. The dark windows weren’t covered with curtains, and I felt like the house was staring out at me in a noiseless howl. Of course, that was probably just the remnant of Malle and her hellhound, but it still gave me the creeps. There was no sign of my mother’s ghost, or whatever had visited me that time at the lake, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to see her again anyhow. I knew she wasn’t my mother, but I also knew that she was the closest thing to her that I had left. I still had so many questions about what had happened, and I didn’t have time to try to find the answers to them, even if I could. What. Had. Happened. To. My. Family?

I just didn’t know.

Maybe I never would.

The cloud of questions and doubt hung over me until a bright light burst at the corner of my vision. My head snapped up to see the night sky painted red, orange, and yellow. I gasped, while next to me Lough swore.

It wasn’t long before we heard the explosions. I looked up from where I was huddled, seeing orange and yellow lights bursting into the night sky. Something was on fire. Accompanying the blast was a strange sort of ringing sound.

Time passed, the stillness near us made me fidget.

Next to me, Lough cocked his head in the inky night. “What is that?” he asked, his voice hoarse.

“Screaming,” I said grimly. “That’s screaming.”

I didn’t know what to do. The only reason I hadn’t been caught yet was because I was so well hidden, and leaving to see what was going on meant not hiding anymore. I grabbed the grass, wet from the rain, wishing the green blades were knives that I could wield to defend myself. The air had chilled considerably.

“Should we go check it out?” he asked quietly.

“Yes,” I said. “We’re no good just sitting here.”

Lough clambered awkwardly to his feet. He was not the most graceful person. As I watched him rise I said, “You don’t have to come. This might be just a diversion.”

Lough looked aghast. “I am coming,” he said. “I never thought I’d be the kind of person who runs at danger and not away from it, but since I met you girls—” he shrugged. “I had no idea girls were so cool. My sister’s pretty cool, but she’s also totally insane.”

I grinned. “Brothers always say that about their sisters.”