Paranormal Public (Paranormal Public Series) (35 page)

Now the look on Keller’s face actually scared me. “Charlotte,” he said quietly, “all the professors are gone. Don’t you think that’s too convenient? That they all race off to find the elemental? And the elemental is here? And if you are right and it’s not Lisabelle who let in the hellhound, then whoever it was is still...here.”

I worked to get air into my lungs. Was he saying what I thought he was saying?

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that this is a setup and they are coming for you. It’s the most logical explanation under the circumstances.” He was scary calm about it, but Keller was always calm.

“You’re wrong,” I whispered, even though I was no longer sure that he was. “You have to be wrong.” I tried to believe that, but Keller had spent the past few weeks telling me to be careful. He had known the demons were attacking and he had suspected it had something to do with me.

“There are still protections here,” I told him. “Ancient protections. And if the professors don’t know that I’m an elemental, then how could the demons?”

Keller shrugged. “They’ve known since summer,” he said. “It’s not like every student that comes here is first chased by a hellhound. Once you got here they couldn’t get past the protections, but they’ve been trying. Your putting on that ring clouded everything, but it’s only a matter of time.”

“I need to know for sure,” I told him, “before I do anything.”

“Fine,” said Keller, striding forward. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” I asked.

“To Astra,” he said. “And take that thing off.” He pointed to my ring.

I looked down at my ring. I’d been wearing it all semester hoping that it would start to shine, just like Sip’s and everyone else’s in Airlee. I rubbed the dull stone.

“Charlotte,” said Keller, “it’s your best way to find out where Lisabelle is.”

“How?” I demanded.

“Well,” said Keller, “if she’s innocent, it will make you powerful enough to find her, and if she’s not, she will come find you.”

“That’s a really cheerful thought, Keller,” I said. “Thank you. I’m so lucky you’re my tutor.”

It was almost afternoon now and the air around campus felt dead. We didn’t see anyone as we walked. With the campus on lockdown, students weren’t supposed to be out anyway.

“What if Zervos catches us?” I asked.

“I’ll tell him it’s my fault,” said Keller absently. We were close to Astra. Keller was flexing his hands, absently twirling his own bright silver ring.

Before we reached the path leading to Astra, Keller halted and reached out a hand to stop me. “We can’t go in there.”

Astra looked like it always did. Silent and colorful. A ripple moved across my vision. I squinted, trying to get a clearer look. It wasn’t easy to see, but if I looked right at Astra I could see that there was something surrounding the building.

“What is that?” I asked.

“It’s a protective spell,” said Keller grimly. “We aren’t going near that dorm.”

“But what about my ring?”

“You admit that it’s yours?” Keller asked. He sounded a little amused.

“Maybe,” I murmured. Keller laughed softly.

“I don’t want to be an elemental, just so that I have the satisfaction of you being wrong,” I grumbled.

“Yeah, I know. But you’ll have to wait for that.”

“Keller,” I asked, “not that I think so, but well....”

“What?”

“What if you are the one letting the demon in? Maybe I shouldn’t be going off alone with you.”

Keller threw back his head and laughed. “Whoever is letting the demon in has to have darkness magic. Fallen angels don’t. We are pure and good.”

I almost laughed. “But that leaves Lisabelle and the vampires. There are no other darkness mages on campus.” I waited for Keller to say something. When he didn’t, I glanced at him.

Keller’s face had paled. He looked at Astra, then at me.

“Charlotte,” he said, “go back to Airlee. Now. We’ll figure out what to do tomorrow after Dash,” he said. He was breathing hard. “Until then I don’t want you alone. Stay with Sip and Lough at all times. I don’t know what’s going on here, but it could get bad.”

“Keller,” I said, “what did you just figure out?”

Keller shook his head. “Maybe nothing. I have to see. I’ll tell you tomorrow. Charlotte?” he reached out a hand and cupped my face. His skin felt soft against my hot cheek. “If you have a problem, get Lanca. The demons might not even come, but you need to be prepared.”

I nodded. “They are coming. They are definitely coming. For me.”

I wanted to run back to Airlee, but I didn’t; I had too much to think about. I had come up with lots of wild explanations for why I had done magic in Astra that Saturday morning, but none of them were because I was an elemental.

Now, because of Keller, I was sure. I didn’t know how, and I didn’t know why, but I was. While I walked, I stuck my hands in my pockets. My fingertips brushed a piece of paper, which seemed odd, because I never put paper in my pockets. Frowning, I pulled it out. It was a bit of napkin from the dining hall. Written on it was a single sentence, scrawled in black: The demons are coming. – Lanca.

My stomach turned. She must have left it for me to find when she bumped into me, knowing that it was information I’d need. I didn’t have time to wonder at the vampire princess’ methods, I had to talk to my friends. I would have to find out later how Lanca knew I was an elemental and why she hadn’t bothered to tell me.

I started to run.

Sip would be in Airlee; I had to talk to her.

Breathless, I dashed into our dorm. I rushed past Nancy, who was competing in Dash the next day. She was surrounded by a small group of students, including Katie and Lauren Bells. Now I wasn’t sure I would make it to Dash, since I had other things to do that were more important than games. I hurtled up the steps and flung open the door to my room.

Sip sprang to her feet. “Are you okay? Where were you?”

I explained everything. It took a while, and at first, like me with Keller, she couldn’t believe it was true.

“Can you do any magic,” she asked, “without the Airlee ring on?”

I grinned. I had wondered that. There was only one way to find out.

Without a ring, I didn’t have as much focus for my power. I hadn’t performed magic during my Demonstration, true, but that was before I had spent a semester being trained. Now, I was confident and ready.

I took a deep breath and disappeared inside myself, searching for my magic. There it was, a blinking white light flaring inside of me. I had never seen it so strong before. I pulled at it, trying to tease just the littlest bit out. It sprang from my fingertips to dance around my arm, expanding to include my chest, legs, and head. Sip was laughing and clapping.

I was an elemental.

I never wanted to stop. I loved the lights flickering around me, loved that I had control of them, but with a palpable sadness, I forced the magic back inside. There was work to do

I tried to keep my lips from tugging into a grin, but I failed. I had never felt so good.

“Amazing,” Sip breathed. “
You’re
the elemental. There
is
an elemental.” She jumped up and wrapped her arms around me.

I nodded. “If I’m an elemental, my father must have been one too” I said. All my life I had thought I was one thing, then I had come to Public, because I had found out I was another. Now, after all the struggling through starting a mage college, I had found out something else again.

“This is bad,” said Sip. “You think the demons are coming here for you? Why?”

I showed her Lanca’s note. I hadn’t mentioned Lanca yet. I wasn’t sure how Sip would take the involvement of the vampire princess.

“And they got the professors away from campus intentionally?” asked Sip eventually.

I shrugged. “I don’t think anyone knows it’s me.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a pounding on the door and Lough burst in.

“What’s going on? Why did you come in here like a demon was chasing you?” He looked over his shoulder. “There isn’t one, right?”

Sip was rocking back and forth, she was so excited. She ended up telling him most of what had happened while I just sat and listened. When she got to the part about my being an elemental he just snorted, until I performed magic that no Airlee mage had ever done. I wanted to enjoy the new sensation of magic flowing freely inside me.

When Sip finished telling the story, Lough grabbed me up in a bear hug. He was laughing. “Awesome,” he whooped. “Awesome.”

“Lough, it means Charlotte is the target of demons. ‘Awesome’ is not really the right word,” said Sip.

“What about Lisabelle?” he asked, ignoring her. “If you’re an elemental, maybe you could use that as leverage to find her.”

“Lough,” Sip started. “She ran away.”

Lough shook his head. “Do you really think she’d run and not tell us?”

“What else would have happened?” I asked. I remembered him at breakfast. He had looked like he had realized something, but I hadn’t had the chance to find out what.

He rubbed his cheeks with both hands. “Zervos was the one who told us she had disappeared, right?” he asked.

Cold trickled through me like pellets of rain in my bloodstream. Zervos had been the last one to see Lisabelle. He was the one who had come to say she was gone. It was so obvious it made me cringe.

“You don’t think Lisabelle got away?” I asked. I was kicking myself. I had just assumed that what Zervos had said was true. But Lough hadn’t. Lough was in love with Lisabelle and would do anything to find her. I knew what he was going to say before he said it. And I was sure he was right.

“Zervos still has Lisabelle. She never got away,” he said. “He must be keeping her somewhere.”

Sip gasped. “You think he would kidnap a student?”

“He murdered one, didn’t he?” I demanded.

“We have to find her,” he said. “We have to find her while everyone is gone.” He got up and started to leave, but I grabbed his arm.

“Tomorrow,” I said. “We go find her while everyone is at the game.”

“I’m going too,” said Sip.

“No,” I said. “You have to be at the game to watch Zervos. He’s still on campus. We have to know where he is.”

“So, you two are going to go into the professors’ building and just say ‘Hey Lisabelle, come on out now?’ Do you know what he probably has guarding her? The hellhound. Why do you want to have all the fun without me?” she asked.

“Maybe she’s in his private rooms?” I suggested.

Lough didn’t think so. His private room was in Cruor, and it wasn’t very big. “I think our best bet is the offices. There are all sorts of rooms there that aren’t used.”

“No, wait,” I said. “She isn’t at the offices.” I chewed my lower lip, thinking. “She’s in Astra.” With my ring. It made sense. I hadn’t been in Astra in weeks. Keller had said he hadn’t either. Once my punishment ended, I stopped going there on Saturday mornings. I missed it, but I hadn’t wanted anyone to think I was going for fun; it would have been too suspicious.