Elemental Air (Paranormal Public Series) (27 page)

“Don’t worry,” Keller whispered.
“Soon enough this semester will be over.” The heat of his breath made me shiver
happily and I snuggled closer, my worries receding just a bit.

But I still didn’t have anything
to smile about, including what Keller had just said, and I told him so. “But
then we’ll only have one more semester together,” I whispered back. “What
happens then?”

Because of the aforementioned
clinging, I could feel him shrug even in the dark. “We’ll figure it out,” he
said. “We always do.”

I wished I had his confidence; he
was always so sure! He thought we’d be together forever, he was SURE we would
be, but I always felt as if I was being pulled in a million directions, with no
certainty about where I’d end up in the long run, when really I just wanted to
go in one: whichever one kept me near Keller. Always. I took some reassurance
from the fact that he was sure that would happen.

“You’ll just have to trust me,”
he murmured.

“I do,” I murmured back. “Always
have.”

When the morning of the gala
dawned I woke up in Keller’s arms. We had already finished our studies for the
semester, and I was relieved to have the classes behind me. I was tired, but
excited. President Caid had agreed to come and introduce Oliva as the new
president of Public, every student was staying on campus for the event, and
even the professors seemed excited and distracted. My dress had come, but
Keller had been with me when I picked up the package, and since I didn’t want
him to see it before the gala, I hadn’t had a chance to look at it yet myself.

We woke up in Aurum, but I
quickly struggled out of his arms and the tangle of blankets because I had to
get back to Astra in time to meet Sip and Lisabelle, who were coming over so we
could spend the day together getting ready. Sip had even said that she intended
to spend most of the previous night getting everything ready for the public
celebration, so she could enjoy our time together on the day itself. Lisabelle
and I were both relieved. We missed our friend.

Laughing at my urgency, Keller
followed me out of bed. He put on jeans and a black sweater, which only served
to highlight his beautiful blue eyes.

“I have to go,” I said. “Sip and
Lisabelle will get there any second and I don’t want to leave them alone with
Martha.”

“You don’t think Lisabelle can
handle Martha?” Keller teased.

I groaned. “No, she might be able
to, which is exactly what I’m worried about.”

“Fair enough,” said Keller. Then,
trying to keep his voice steady, he wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

“I’ll see you tonight, K? Don’t
let the Sign of Six get you before we can have a slow dance,” he said with a
wink.

I touched his arm gently before I
left, and he wiggled his eyebrows at me. He had been pestering me about my
dress for weeks, but I refused to tell him anything. He was delighted that
today was the day when he would finally get to see me in it, while I was a
nervous wreck. You know that feeling of a million butterflies dashing around in
your stomach and colliding into each other? That’s how I normally felt with
Keller. But this gala was making those warm and tingly sensations ten times worse.

I dashed to Astra. Normally I’d
want to stop at the dining hall, but Martha had made so many baked goods I
could have eaten for a week. Sip had suggested that Martha poisoned all the
food she made, or at least equipped it with a tracking beacon, and that it was
only a matter of time before she took over the school. Lisabelle and I had
thought it was pretty funny.

It was a gray day, with clouds
overhead that held the promise of snow. I glanced once at the sky, wondering
what the dragons would make of this weather, but then I forgot about the sky as
I caught sight of my two friends waiting for me outside Astra. Lisabelle stood
with her back razor straight, while Sip lounged on the stone wall.

At the sound of my footsteps,
both of then turned.

I waved. “Why didn’t you go in?”

“Because Martha is probably
inside and it’s too early in the day to ruin gala,” said Lisabelle.

“Martha’s okay,” Sip argued.

“She’s okay like serpents are
okay,” said Lisabelle.

“Sarcasm again?” Sip said
tiredly.

Lisabelle glanced sharply at her.
“It’s my legal form of violence.”

“I would have thought violence
would do,” said Sip dryly.

“I take the term ‘tongue lashing’
seriously.”

We set off at a brisk walk up the
path. Both my friends had brought their dresses over already, just in case it
was raining on the actual day. They didn’t want me to have to use my water
magic.

“Is Bartholem coming too?” I
asked as the white cat trotted up to us and gently butted his head against my
leg.

“Bartholem does what he wants,”
said Lisabelle. “If he wants to come, he will.”

Bartholem looked up at me, and I
had the uncomfortable feeling that the purple-eyed animal was reading my
thoughts. I hoped not, because they were something along the lines of, “Why is
this animal always around? We need a dog to take care of it.” Appearing
satisfied that regardless of what I was thinking I would still let him in, the
cat trotted up to the door ahead of us.

“Fine,” I muttered. “Let’s just
try and keep him away from Martha.”

“Easier said than done,” said
Sip, as the front door swung open on its own accord.

Seeing Martha standing in the
doorway, I sighed inwardly. Her brown lace-up shoes clicked together and her
pink stockings looked like they were about to fall down. Before she realized
what was happening, Bartholem had weaved his way between her legs and entered
Astra.

“Oh, my paranormal heavens, what
is that thing?” she cried.

“That,” said Sip, “is a monster
from some horrible place . . . Lisabelle’s hometown, probably.”

Martha stared with wide eyes at
the little werewolf as Lisabelle glared at her.

“It’s a cat,” I said. “His name
is Bartholem and he’s just going to visit for the day.”

Martha held up a shaking finger,
her eyes blazing. “If he so much as sneezes on my clean floors. . . .”

“I’m sure he’ll behave,” I said.

Behind Martha, Lisabelle smirked.
Sip gave her a sharp elbow to the ribs.

I got us past Martha as quickly
as possible. To my surprise, she didn’t follow us. We hurried into the kitchen,
where we got held up again. There were so many goodies I didn’t even know where
to look.

Lisabelle glared around at all
the food. “Who bakes this much? Has she nothing else to do with her life? This
woman should have had children of her own.”

“How can you be so judgmental?”
Sip gasped. “She takes care of Charlotte.”

“I can really take care of
myself,” I said.

“Of course you can, dear,” said
Sip. “I’ll just take one or two, six or seven of these cookies and we can start
getting ready.”

When we got to my room, Bartholem
had already jumped on my bed and proceeded to start washing himself.

“Wasn’t my door closed?” I asked,
then had to remind myself that the cat wouldn’t talk back. He just sat there
and blinked his giant eyes at me.

“Don’t worry,” said Sip, patting
me comfortingly. “I just wouldn’t think too hard about it if I were you.”

I gave another look at Bartholem,
then nodded. “Um, you’re right.”

It was a nice day, and I never
wanted it to end, even though Lough showed up late in the morning looking
positively miserable.

My back happened to be to my
bedroom door, with Lisabelle sitting to one side as I faced Sip, who sat on my
bed petting Bartholem. So they saw him before I did.

I saw Lisabelle clap her hand
over her mouth and her eyes spark with amusement. Sip was less contained.

“Oh, wow,” she said, before
collapsing in giggles. I heard a moan from behind me and turned around. When I
caught sight of Lough I nearly fell over, but I managed to catch my balance and
sit down. Barely.

Lough stood in the doorway. As I
had learned for Lanca’s coronation, dream givers wore grays, light blues, and
silvers for special occasions. At least that much tradition Dacer had followed.
The rest. . . .

Lisabelle was gasping in my desk
chair, the tears streaming down her cheeks. “You, he, you, is that a dress?”

Sip laughed harder as Lough’s
face went a deeper shade of scarlet.

He was wearing a long silver
overrobe that covered light blue silk sleeves. The robe was held together by a
light gray sash that swayed gently whenever he moved. He glared around at us as
I caught sight of his shoes. They were gray, with silver buckles and pointed
toes.

“This is not what I had in mind,”
he gritted out, glaring at me.

I couldn’t help it, I fell over
laughing.

Sip, who was the most in control
at that point, managed to say, “I think it looks good.”

“I look like a girl,” Lough
nearly yelled, throwing his hands in the air.

“Shouldn’t you have a hat?”
Lisabelle asked between gasps.

From the look Lough gave her she
had hit closer to home than she’d meant to.

“I won’t wear it,” he muttered.
“I just won’t do it. Dacer has ruined me.”

“I mean, you look really good,” I
said, adding my encouragement to Sip’s. Then I glanced at Lisabelle, knowing
that her compliment was the one Lough would really want to hear. As usual,
though, she was oblivious, and just kept petting Bartholem.

“I can’t go to the gala like
this,” he said. “My parents are expecting pictures. President Caid is going to
be there, for paranormal’s sake.”

“Caid will probably be wearing
something like that,” I said. “He’s a fallen angel, and he’ll wear either white
or silver.”

“Yeah, but when a fallen angel
like Caid or Keller wears white or silver they look dashing. I look like I
robbed a store filled with prom dresses.”

“But they’re such pretty prom
dresses,” said Sip, beaming. Lough gave her a dark look.

“And WHY does that cat have to be
here?” He pointed ominously at Bartholem, then, looking like he just had to
move, he stomped back out of my room. I heard trays scraping in the kitchen and
hoped he was taking lots of cookies and sweets with him.

Once we were sure he had left
Astra, the three of us burst out laughing again. Bartholem sat there, blinking
solemnly. Obviously our silliness was beneath his dignity.

“Sip, you look amazing,” said
Lisabelle as Sip emerged from the bathroom.

Sip beamed. “Thanks,” she said,
twirling happily. “My mom spent months on it. I wasn’t sure I should ask her to
do it, because I knew it would be a lot of work, but she was so happy when I
told her about the gala that I knew she wanted to be part of it somehow.”

Sip wore a white spaghetti strap
dress that kissed the floor. It was covered in bright white gems and silver
sparkles, and when she twirled I could hear the soft twinkling of glass. Around
her neck hung a purple gemstone on a white-gold chain. The gemstone was in the
shape of a werewolf rearing backwards.

In honor of Dacer, who always had
painted nails, Sip had painted hers purple to match her necklace, her shoes,
and of course her eyes.

“You both clean up pretty nicely
as well,” she said approvingly, looking us up and down. Lisabelle had surprised
us by choosing a charcoal gray dress. For most paranormals it wouldn’t have
been unusual, but Sip knew how big a change it was for Lisabelle. The dress was
long-sleeved, because the darkness mage still insisted on covering up her wand.
Hanging from the bottom was a beaded fringe, the same color as the dress. She
didn’t wear a jewel at her neck, but Sip had spent over an hour curling
Lisabelle’s long black hair and piling it perfectly on the taller girl’s head,
allowing Lisabelle to show off her earrings. They looked old, as if they had
been in the Verlans family for generations.

Unlike Sip, Lisabelle wore flat
shoes. “I don’t need help with my height, and I’ll be damned if I’ll wear
something I can’t run in.”

Sip, of course, had groaned, and
added that she wanted the night of the gala to be free of fights and battles.
Lisabelle had refused to make any promises. Personally, I was with the darkness
mage; I was worried about what would happen at this gathering. Despite the
occasional incursions of the demons, the semester had been too quiet, and I
felt that the relative peace was going to come to an end before the night was
over.

“Charlotte, you look gorgeous as
well,” said Sip, smiling at me. It was the second time she had said it in the
space of five minutes, and I couldn’t help blushing a little from pleasure. I
had worked hard to design a dress I loved, one that honored the elemental that
I was, and Dacer had helped make it a reality.