Elemental Shining (Paranormal Public Series) (7 page)

“It will be weird to see Lealand, I mean Oliva,” I said, looking up at the twinkling lights of the house. They were clearly waiting for me inside, and I had to stop stalling.

“Traitor that he is,” said Lisabelle. “Seriously, I hate liars.”

“You’re just mad that he’s better at it than you,” said Sip. “Just be nice,” she said to me. “I’m sure he wanted to tell you.”

“He’s been working with my aunt all summer,” said Keller. “Spending the summer with them was something I won’t forget for a long time.”

“Are you going to come in with me?” I asked my friends, already knowing the answer.

“They said we couldn’t come with you.”

“How did they know you’d be with me?”

“Because we always are.”

“I was so mad. Like, there were a solid seven minutes where I couldn't get over it," said Sip, crossing her arms over her chest. “We’ll wait here for you. Don’t let them bully you.”

“Yeah, you should have had plenty of practice dealing with bullies,” said Keller, his bright eyes trained on Lisabelle. She grinned wolfishly at him.

“Will you be here when I get done?” I asked. I didn’t want to walk to our new dining hall by myself.

“Of course,” said Sip.

“Just don’t take too long,” said Lisabelle. “I’m hungry. And you know how I get when no one has fed me.”

“Much like you are the rest of the time, I expect,” said Sip.

Walking into a house that I hadn’t walked into before felt like starting over. I was greeted by a hallway with a floor of old, creaking wood. Right inside the door was a mat, and to my left was a crackling fire.

“Come on up, Charlotte,” called Oliva’s voice from the stairs in front of me. Carefully I placed my hand on the banister. The upstairs landing was only dimly illuminated, creating dark shadows that covered the corners around the door. I crept up the stairs, for some reason trying to be quiet, even though they knew I was coming and it wasn’t as if I was sneaking up on anything evil.

I tapped on the closed door and waited for an answer. My knuckles had barely separated from the wood when Professor Erikson’s impatient voice rang out, “Yes, yes. Hurry up.”

I sighed. Somehow that broke me out of my trance of fear and put me right into irritation. I guess we were going to start where we had left off last semester, with Professor Erikson not liking me one bit. She would probably like me a lot more if it hadn’t been for Keller. Too bad.

I opened the door into a large room. It wasn’t cozy-looking like the downstairs, it reminded me more of massive conference rooms I had seen in offices on TV. There was no fire, no carpet, no comfortable place to sit. There was simply a black folding desk with five black chairs. Four of the chairs were placed on one side, while the fifth stood alone on the other. The deans sat at the desk, each looking serious. Risper wore his customary black, just like his niece, while Professor Erikson wore all white. She was small in stature, but she knew how to make her presence felt. Just in case anyone wasn’t clear on whether she was a fallen angel, her all-white clothing didn’t leave it open to discussion. Dove wore dark clothing, though his button shirt was a deep gray that matched the gray patches in his hair. Oliva was the odd paranormal out. He was very young and not very big; most pixies weren’t. He had brown hair and pale, slightly green skin. He smiled when he saw me, his eyes filled with warmth. I didn’t smile back, but even in the face of my hostile attitude he didn’t falter.

“Have a seat,” he said, indicating the lone chair in front of them.

I pulled the chair out and sat down, trying to keep my movements slow and measured. It wasn’t every day that you were called before the deans of the school, and I was sure that I hadn’t been called here to be praised.

“How was your summer?” Oliva asked, cutting off Dove before the vampire could say anything. I imagined that Dove had been about to start in on whatever he wanted to talk to me about, and Oliva was trying to make me comfortable first. Dove’s face soured. I offered a smile.

“I’m fine,” I said. “Summer was good. Professor Dacer was very instructive in the use of masks, and we’re very pleased that the Museum is up and running again in its temporary home.

Dacer had actually been beside himself with rage when he found out that the Museum was being relegated to the Long Building, a massive structure that stretched the length of one side of campus, only one story tall but with a basement. It housed all manner of weird and wonderful things. I had never been inside it before that summer, mostly because classes weren’t held there and I had spent my freshman year in the library, the Tower, or the dorms, with a couple of special exceptions for the infirmary.

“Ah, yes,” said Risper. “He is a particular fan of the Long Building, is he not?”

Risper’s mouth quirked a little. He had been the one to convince Dacer not to throw a public fit about the Museum’s relegation. There was really nowhere else for it to go. The masks were still intact, but the building that the Museum had always been housed in had burned to the ground last spring. Dacer had had a choice of the Long Building or former President Malle’s offices, and he had chosen the Long Building.

“He finds it suitable enough,” I tried to say diplomatically.

Risper’s smile only deepened. Like his niece, he had a malicious and sarcastic sense of humor. It made me like him more.

“And you will be continuing to work with him this semester?” Professor Erikson asked, her stony expression still firmly in place.

“Yes,” I said. I wasn’t going to be nice if she wasn’t.

“Excellent,” said Oliva, rubbing his hands together with pleasure. “I shall have to come visit.”

“That would be great,” I managed. “Forgive me, but my friends are waiting outside. What is it you want to see me about?”

“Of course they are,” said Professor Erikson, her eyes instantly flaming.

Risper sat back in his chair. “So, Lisabelle arrived all right?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “Of course she did. Whatever lies in her path is always at greater risk than she is.”

Risper’s black eyes twinkled out at me. “True, true.”

“We wanted you here to discuss your activities this semester,” said Dove, ignoring the other deans.

“My activities?” I repeated, confused.

“Yes,” said Dove. “You seem to have a lot of free time.”

“I do?”

“Yes,” Dove gritted out.

“Between Tactical, classes, and being the only elemental on campus, not to mention just learning about all this paranormal stuff a year ago, you think I have a lot of free time?” I asked, shocked.

“Last semester you managed to get yourself, your friends, and half of campus nearly killed,” Dove spat out, his eyes bulging out of his pale face. “How dare you imply that we are wrong!”

“I don’t have free time,” I said. Maybe it was facing demons, or maybe it was something else, but I wasn’t afraid of this man.

“The events of last semester, with your blatant disregard for rules and directions, prove otherwise,” said Dove. Before I could argue he held up a hand for silence. I just stared at him.

“Therefore, we have devised a way to keep you occupied this semester so that you do not put yourself or anyone else at risk. Believe me, Ms. Rollins, I wouldn’t give the remotest shred of a care about you or whether you died or not if you weren’t elemental. I cannot tell you how much it pains me that the last elemental had to be found in such a weak and pathetic individual. If it had only been someone like Professor Erikson’s nephew, I feel certain that we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

My mouth hung open. I was speechless. None of the other deans said anything either. They were just as surprised as I was at Dove’s outburst.

“If you think so poorly of me,” I eventually managed to stammer out, so filled with rage that I was barely coherent, “why not just kick me out?”

“Believe me,” said Dove, “if it were entirely up to me we would be handling this very differently. If it weren’t for the Power of Five you never would have been allowed inside these hallowed walls.”

I met his black eyes with my gray ones and held them. There was a fury there and a hatred that I had never seen before, not even from Camilla. He wanted me gone, and if he could have had his way and still kept the Power of Five he would have succeeded. Apparently, not even the paranormals who were supposed to protect me were happy about that duty. The demons might be my most obvious enemies, but they were not my only ones.

“What do you want me to do?” I finally managed to ask.

“It’s not what we want you to do,” said Oliva kindly. “It’s what we want you not to do. Under no circumstances do we want you to perform elemental magic. Basic spells for class, whatever is required of you, is fine, but nothing more.”

Stunned, I sat there in silence, sure that I must look shocked. The four deans stared back at me. Had I seriously just heard them right? I had spent the entire last year discovering who I was and what I was capable of. Besides my mom’s death it had been the single hardest experience of my life and it wasn’t even over. As the only elemental, I would be hunted for the rest of my days, and here these four deans were, casually telling me to throw it all away without so much as a second thought.

“Sorry,” I said. “I thought this was a paranormal college and I was supposed to perform magic here.” I tried to keep my voice steady, but it shook a little.

I felt like the bottom had just fallen out of my stomach. I desperately needed a better grip on my powers if I was going to stay alive while the demons tried to kill me, but here were the deans, telling me to do the exact opposite. Did they not understand what was at stake? This had to be Dove’s fault. Professor Erikson might not like me, but she cared about Keller, and she would never have done this on her own. But Dove, it appeared, would have no problem setting me up to die.

“You can’t be serious,” I murmured, looking back and forth from Risper to Oliva. Risper might have a gruff exterior, but he had always been on my side and I had once called Lealand a friend.

“I’m afraid we are,” said Dean Erikson, her mouth set in a thin line. “And as it happens, we have several other matters to discuss before we can go to dinner, so if you don’t mind. . . .”

I had been dismissed. As if the start of this semester couldn’t get any worse. I walked back to my friends in a daze.

Outside, Sip, Lisabelle, and Keller were sitting on the porch chatting about their summers. I was instantly jealous. But they stopped as soon as they saw me; all three of them knew me well enough to know when something was wrong.

“You look furious,” said Lisabelle. “Who do I need to punch?”

“Your uncle,” I growled.

Lisabelle raised her black eyebrows. “Explain.”

“Can we head to the dining hall? I don’t think I can stay near this house for another second,” I seethed.

I felt my fingernails digging into the palms of my hands and tried to calm down. Keller, his bright blue eyes shadowed by darkness, looked worried. Gently, he ran his hand down my wrist, lacing his fingers with mine as we walked. I knew he was trying to give me comfort, but I wasn’t having it. The situation was devastating.

At first, when I tried to explain, I could barely get the words out. I was just that angry. After several false starts I was able to spit out the deans’ orders as the cool night air flowed into my hot face. My friends listened silently. They knew that if they stopped me I might be unable to continue until I had calmed down again.

“That,” Sip declared when she heard what the deans wanted from me, “is called sending a mixed message. Guys are very good at it.” She glanced apologetically at Keller, who only shrugged and smiled ruefully.

“What are you going to do?” Lisabelle asked.