Elemental Shining (Paranormal Public Series) (33 page)

My eyes searched feverishly around the gate. Next to me, I knew Lough was doing the same.

“What if they aren’t okay?” Lough asked, worriedly. “What if something happened to her?”

“Of all the paranormals who will come out of this fine,” said Trafton, appearing next to me, “Lisabelle is at the top of the list.”

“Shut up, Trafton,” Lough said before he realized what Trafton was saying.

“I was saying something nice,” said Trafton defensively.

“The problem was that you were saying something at all,” Lough huffed.

“Don’t fight,” said Vanni, twirling a piece of her gold hair between her fingers. “Not until we know they’re okay.”

I tried to keep my annoyance in check. What was she doing here, anyway?

Lough folded his arms over his chest and glared out at the expanse of campus. His face was flushed was anger, but he kept quiet.

“It looks so peaceful,” I said.

“It’s deceiving, isn’t it?” Trafton asked. Despite the early hour he still looked gorgeous. “How can something so safe-looking hold such evil?”

“There’s no sign of demons,” Vanni insisted, twirling faster.

Trafton and Lough both snorted, then glanced at each other. “That doesn’t mean anything,” said Trafton. “There are demons out there, but they aren’t waiting for Keller. Or Lisabelle.” He looked at me sideways and I felt my heart start to slam in my chest. We all knew what they were waiting for.

Vanni sighed. “I really got shafted when I was put on your Tactical Team,” she commented to me. Before I could respond she said, “But I never shy away from a good fight.”

Lough shot her a warning look. “We did not get shafted. We will be fine. If the demons come they won’t know what hit them.”

“They will come,” said Trafton. “You can be sure of that.”

I knew he was right. Those nights when I tossed and turned and couldn’t sleep because I was worrying about Tactical, and to try to calm down I told myself that the demons might not attack—that was ridiculous. Of course they would attack. In two days I would fight the same hoard of demons that I had tried to burn to a crisp last semester when I had strengthened the very force field that I was now going to pass beyond the protections of.

“I wish we knew how they were doing,” Vanni murmured.

“We’ll find out soon enough,” said Lough tightly.

But we had no idea how they had fared through the night.

The night before, as the students were waiting to head out into the forest, Professor Lambros had gone to check how many demons were around and hadn’t found any. Dove had said that if there was a large demon presence he might change the rules so that the students were safer, but since no demons were visible they had been sent out beyond the force field as planned. We really had no reason to worry, but I still did.

As we waited, more students came to wait with us. Lots were friends, others were merely curious to see how the teams had fared.

Eventually, all the professors were waiting in a line off to the side. In front of them stood Oliva, Erikson, and Dove. I wished Risper were there; until he was gone I had never realized that I found his presence almost comforting. Despite his gruff exterior, which was almost as bad as Lisabelle’s, I knew he would do the right thing. I wasn’t so sure about Dove. The vampire dean stood erect, his hair not daring to move in the wind, his black robes flapping around him. Dean Erikson didn’t look at all nervous, even though it was her sister’s son who had spent his night in the woods. Oliva simply looked flushed and expectant.

All night I had had dark visions of terrible wounds and hoards of demons attacking my friends, just like in the vision I had seen in the mirror my first semester, where the demons swarmed the lone elemental.

Swallowing my fear, I forced myself to wait quietly at the gate. I didn’t care if I was tired for class, and the Museum be damned.

“If you clutch that cup of tea any tighter it will shatter,” Lough observed, not unkindly.

I glanced down at the mug. It was for Sip, and I was keeping it warm with my newfound handle on elemental fire magic.

I chewed my lower lip, unable to keep still. Next to me, Lough shifted nervously.

“What if they’re maimed?” I asked softly. “What if they were attacked and Keller couldn’t heal them all?”

“Keller can’t heal them all. He’s only paranormal, even if a really impressive paranormal,” said Lough with more assurance than I felt. “They’re fine. Lisabelle would never let anything happen to them.”

“It’s not just up to Lisabelle,” I said. “She isn’t all-powerful.”

“Sure I am,” said a dry voice from the mist in front of us. “Where have you been?”

“Lisabelle!” I gasped in relief as the forms of my friends emerged through the mist. They were safe.

Trafton came forward with a blanket and Lisabelle let him drape it around her thin shoulders as he murmured, “Black, just the color you like.” His hands lingered long enough on her that Lough growled, but Lisabelle was too busy talking to Sip about what had happened during the night to notice.

“What was it like?” I asked Lisabelle as Sip walked up to us. At the same moment, I saw Keller coming through toward the end of a line of returning students. He was supporting one of the Starters, an Airlee I didn’t know who looked white and shaky, but was walking out of the woods under his own power. He handed the Starter off to another student and headed in our direction. Our eyes locked and I gave him a small smile. He smiled in return, but before he could get to me Professor Erikson intercepted him. I clenched my teeth in frustration.

He gave me an apologetic look and followed his aunt. I turned back to my friends.

“Sip, are you okay?” I asked. My small friend had obviously spent the night as a werewolf. She looked like her hackles were still raised.

“I like her in werewolf form,” Lisabelle commented. “Quieter.”

“You’re lucky I didn’t bite you,” Sip retorted.

“I’d like to see you try,” said Lisabelle.

Sip turned to me. “I’m fine. It wasn’t that bad. We didn’t even see the demons, so it was mostly just that we were cold and animals were curious. They weren’t used to seeing paranormals in the woods.”

“So, your biggest challenge was a fox?” Trafton asked. “Sounds scary.”

“It wasn’t,” said Lisabelle. “We had plenty of fallen angels and they barely had any work to do.”

“Hopefully we will be so lucky,” said Vanni.

“Since when do you hang out with us?” Lisabelle asked the fallen angel waspishly.

Vanni looked taken aback, but she recovered quickly. “Two of my teammates are here. I’m here in case we need to talk strategy, but I can go. I can see where I’m not welcome.”

“You don’t have to see anything when I tell you flat out that you aren’t welcome,” said Lisabelle. “Shoo.” She made the motion with her hands for emphasis.

Vanni stalked away, but not before giving Lisabelle a venomous look. Ignoring the drama around me I watched Kia hurry up to Cale and Camilla. He had a scrape across his cheek, apparently from running through the woods playing tag football, but Kia acted like they were both near death, clutching at them and cooing.

“Kia goes in tonight,” said Lisabelle. “If we get lucky, maybe the demons will come out for her.”

“Not likely,” said Sip. “They aren’t fans of dealing with pixies.”

“No one is,” said Lisabelle. “Little monsters.”

“Do we have any practice to do for Thursday?” asked Ulrik, strolling up out of the mist.

“We’re going to practice tonight and tomorrow,” Lough confirmed. “In the library. Just because other teams haven’t had problems doesn’t mean we won’t.”

Ulrik’s eyes were serious. He was smart and for all he hated me he worked hard. He had more raw talent than skill at this point, but it was already obvious that he would make a great fighter when he was older. It just stung that he wasn’t a great fighter now, when we needed him to be.

“Come on,” Lisabelle said, slinging her arm around Sip. “Let’s go back to Airlee. I’m exhausted and I smell terrible.”

I trailed after my friends, deep in thought. After all that worrying they had come out of the forest completely unscathed. I just hoped that when my group came out Friday morning we could say the same. However, all signs pointed to the likelihood that we weren’t going to be that lucky.

“We need to practice,” Dobrov said to me while I was busy eating my dinner that night.

“Practice what?” Sip asked. I hadn’t told my friend what we were planning to do to stay safe the night of the Tactical Trial, mostly because I felt sure she would try to talk me out of it.

“Okay,” I said. “Meet upstairs in half an hour.” Dobrov gave a curt nod and hurried back to where he sat with his sister. They had a table to themselves. None of the other students at Public had gotten used to their burned skin look.

“Practice what?” Sip asked again.

“We’ll tell you after we pull it off,” said Lough through a mouth full of broccoli. Sip always made him eat his vegetables. He had threatened numerous times not to sit with us anymore, but hadn’t acted on it yet.

“Leave them alone,” said Lisabelle. “Let them plot something.”

“I just can’t believe you had it so easy in the forest,” said Lough. “And if it was that easy, why has Professor Erikson not let Keller out of her sight since?”

It was true. I still hadn’t had a chance to talk to Keller, because he had spent the whole day with his aunt. I was growing more angry by the minute. At least I knew he would come to Astra tonight and we could talk then. But I felt impatient and irritable just the same.

“Are you going to want to visit the Long Building before Thursday?” Sip asked. I was still going to the Long Building whenever I could. Even though it terrified me, I refused to be scared away, either by the Shadow or by whatever inhabited the catacombs.

“Yeah,” I said. “After we meet for Tactical practice.”

“Charlotte and Lisabelle, may I have a word?” Jenkins asked, walking up to our table.

I looked up into the professor’s eyes. He had spent the entire semester teaching A History of Death in place of Risper, and now I exchanged looks with my darkness friend, knowing she’d be wondering, as I was, what he wanted with the two of us in particular. His voice was a little strained, but he had his usual smile firmly in place.

“Sure,” said Lisabelle. “Is my uncle alright?”

“As far as I know,” said Jenkins, nodding.

When Lisabelle, Sip, and I stood up, Professor Jenkins gave us a questioning look. “I do not believe I invited you, Ms. Quest.”

“She thinks her name is Charlotte-Lisabelle,” said Lough. “I’d get used to the three of them running in a pack if I were you.”

Jenkins glanced down at the dream giver but said to me, “I see you have many friends who do not know their place. That might serve you well in the long run—or not,” he mused as the three of us followed him out of the dining hall.

“It’s a pretty nice setup for a place to eat,” Jenkins commented as he led us upstairs. “I hope they keep it.”

I had to agree with him. The library basement was supposed to be a temporary place for our dining hall, but I had grown to like it.

“Just where do you think you’re going?” Zervos sneered, blocking our path toward the second floor of the library, which seemed to be where we were heading. Jenkins pulled up short; his eyes were suddenly wary.