Elemental Darkness (Paranormal Public Series) (15 page)

Sip ignored me.

We went down to the galley, which was one massive room that looked the way the floor of Astra had when I arrived back after Golden Falls: covered in sleeping bags. Sip sighed, led us to an empty corner, and stared around darkly.

Trafton and Rake were already there, and they waved when they saw us.

“I’m going to go say hi,” said Lough. “I’ll be right back.”

“We’ll get stuff set up,” said Sip, sighing.

As I watched my friend, I could see the struggle clearly reflected on her face. The lines were etched in sadness.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She didn’t answer, she just unpacked some objects that looked like miniature sleeping bags from a small sack and tossed a bit of dust on them. I had no idea what she was doing, but as I watched, the bags grew to normal size.

“Increase powder,” she said, seeing me looking. “It’s a pixie thing, usually used for tricks, but they figured out it was useful for packing too, so they make a mint selling it.”

“Cool, I’ll remember that.” Then I repeated my question: “Are you okay?”

Sip set down the bag she had been resizing. “I don’t know,” she said. “No, I guess I’m not.”

She sighed and took a deep breath before continuing. “I hate hearing all the bad things paranormals are saying about Lisabelle, and I hate that it’s my fault.” Her lower lip trembled and she busied herself again with the bags.

“Sip,” I whispered. “She made a choice. I was there when they took you. There was nothing you could do.”

Sip glared at me, but I knew she wasn’t angry with me. “I should have fought harder. Lisabelle shouldn’t have had to resort to . . . to . . . to that. To giving up her life. For me.”

“She prizes loyalty above everything,” I said. “She carried out her beliefs for her best friend. I’m sure there was nothing more she wanted.”

Sip just continued to shake her head.

“I miss her.” She hung her head.

I stepped forward and gave the little werewolf a hug. “I miss her too,” I whispered. “But we can’t fall apart. We’ll never get her back that way.”

“How are we going to get her back?” Sip said into my shoulder.

“We’re going to destroy them all,” I said. “Every last Nocturn.”

Dinner that night was not what I expected. I thought there would be a feast, and there was certainly more food than I had ever seen in one place before, but it was set up on the deck of the ship, on long picnic tables, sort of like a pot luck supper. There were so many paranormals in the room that it took me until halfway through the meal to find Dacer. It should have been easy, since he was sitting with President Caid, but maybe I just didn’t want to face that fact.

The president looked relaxed and happy, which only made me angry. I wanted him to look tired and drawn, and I wondered how Dacer could continue to support a man who had let so many paranormals die.

“This food is amazing,” said Lough with his mouth full. He had stuffed half a chicken leg into his mouth and was now reaching for cornbread.

Sip had spent the afternoon with her parents before joining us for dinner. Now, despite the excess of food, she didn’t have much on her plate, just some slices of apple and cheese. But she hadn’t even touched those; it was as if she didn’t even realize we were having a meal.

Her eyes were locked on President Caid.

“The sky is gorgeous,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. Someone had performed magic to lock the warmth in, so even though we were outside in the wind, we were still perfectly warm as the ship chugged along. The sea looked calm and dark in the sunset, with just a few whitecaps forming in the wake of the ship.

Sip finally roused herself and looked at Lough and me as if she had just realized we were there. “We’re out here so that the water spirits can greet us,” she said, explanatory as ever. “They should start any minute.”

Lough and I both brightened. I found the Strange paranormals fascinating, and I had been looking forward to seeing more of them ever since I had heard we’d be on the water so that the mermaids and water spirits could join the Conclave.

Suddenly there was a burst of noise and we all jumped. As if a cannon had gone off, the noise ricocheted off the water.

“What was that?” I demanded, wide-eyed.

“The start of the show,” said Lough, pointing away from the ship.

He was right. A little way out over the sea there were bursts of fireworks shooting skyward just as the last of the daylight was disappearing from the sky. The paranormals were celebrating with a show like nothing I had ever seen before.

The fireworks were every color and shape imaginable. The first looked like a living tree, green on top with plentiful leaves and a brown trunk. The next was a silver star, quickly followed by a massive red dragon.

“Wow,” I breathed. “What sort of magic is this?”

“Decorative,” said Sip, sounding unimpressed. “What Vale tried to teach us while she wasted our time.”

I nodded. I thought it was beautiful, and I suddenly had a new appreciation for decorative magic, which had seemed merely trivial before.

Just as I thought the fireworks couldn’t get any more impressive, there was another large burst. At first I couldn’t tell what it was, then I realized with a gasp that it was a mask.

“Dacer,” I cried gleefully. The mask was dripping in gold and diamonds of red and blue, strung on a strand of firework pearls.

“Yay!” Lough cried. I looked around at the faces of the other paranormals and saw that we three weren’t the only ones getting into the amazing display. Most of the other people at the long table were just as spellbound as we were.

Only Sip sat passively, her mind obviously still elsewhere. But after a while, even she started to smile.

This was something worth protecting.

At the end of dinner, a number of senior paranormals stood up to make speeches, among them a white-haired fallen angel with whom I had first come into contact when we were all at Vampire Locke for Lanca’s coronation. Saferous was dignified and high-ranking and he knew Keller well. I had tried not to think about the noticeable absence of Keller and his parents from this gathering, but I had every intention of asking Dacer about it later.

“They probably offered to guard one of the locations we still control,” said Lough comfortingly.

“Just to avoid coming here?” I asked skeptically.

“Yes,” said Sip. “Charlotte, you still don’t seem to want to realize this, but you’re a formidable presence in the paranormal world. As the only elemental you have a very special standing. The Eriksons probably don’t mind trampling on you in private, but doing it in public would be a different matter entirely.”

I shook my head. I knew my friends meant well, but that just couldn’t be true.

Instead of arguing, though, I turned my attention back to the speeches. But even then I was only half listening, because now Mound had caught my eye. He was talking quietly to Professor Zervos, who sat near the head of the most important table, his back razor straight and his black eyes snapping. I had no idea those two knew each other, but it figured. In fact, now that I thought about it, Zervos was probably the one slipping Mound all sorts of information about Public.

Caid was just about to get up and speak when a few paranormals started to point and cry and we all turned our attention back to the water.

“They’re here,” Sip breathed.

And indeed, the water spirits were now floating alongside the ship. They weren’t very close, and they were small creatures, so all I could make out were hundreds of dots of wispy light as they surrounded the ship. It was a breathtaking display.

“I honestly didn’t think they’d come,” said Lough, with a touch of wonder in his voice. “I guess defeating the demons is important to them, too.”

“It’s like hundreds of stars floating in the water,” I whispered. “How could the demons want to destroy something so beautiful?”

But Sip wasn’t looking at them; her eyes were on Caid. “They don’t appreciate beautiful, just like Caid doesn’t appreciate loyalty,” she said.

Lough and I exchanged glances. As we did, I suddenly realized that we had to talk to Lisabelle. We just
had
to hear from her. No doubt it was incredibly dangerous for her to contact us, which was why she hadn’t, but it was becoming all too clear that if Sip didn’t deal with her anger soon, it was going to bury her.

“Friends,” said Caid, standing up and gazing around the huge room, “welcome.” He extended his arms wide, and it was only now, with my eyes following his gesture, that I saw who had come to stand on his right. Sip and I saw him at the exact moment, and we both let out surprised gasps. Sip’s face lit up as if she’d just been given a new teakettle.

“Risper,” she breathed. “I knew he’d come back.”

Lisabelle’s Uncle Risper, dressed all in black, stood with his hands clasped in front of him. He was not a large man, but his body spoke of power and agility. He had originally become well-known as a bounty hunter and tracker, but that was before he had disappeared at the end of our first year at Public. Although Lisabelle had seen him since, none of the rest of us had. He’d been busy chasing the objects on the Wheel and hadn’t taken time out for anything else.

None of us could contain our joy at seeing Lisabelle’s uncle. “Maybe Risper’s presence here is a good sign,” I whispered. I knew it must have something to do with Lisabelle, but it also might mean he finally knew where the Globe White was.

It was all I could to do keep my attention on Caid’s speech, but since there was no way to talk with Risper right away, I forced myself to pay attention to the president.

“Now is a dark time,” he began. His voice was crisp and clear; he had a way of setting those around him at ease. I could only imagine that that skill had played a large role in his election to the presidency, but I wondered if it would work tonight. I knew we were not the only worried paranormals; we couldn’t be. Sip might have started the Sign of Six, but with each article in the Tabble her membership grew. She held power of her own now, which was why Golden Falls had given her over to the Nocturns and Lisabelle had been forced to make a deadly choice.

Even as Caid spoke, I kept my eyes mostly on Risper. He had more gray hair than when I had last seen him, but of course that had been several years ago, and who knew what he had been through since then. I wondered if he still had the Map Silver.

“We will need all of you,” Caid continued, “to beat the darkness that is upon us. We tried negotiation, we tried resistance, but the time has come to understand that we are past those forms of problem-solving. We must now go to war.”

Murmurs went up among the paranormals in attendance. As I looked around and listened to the murmurs, I saw the woman who had screamed at Sip earlier. Her eyes were bright and she looked eager, almost joyous.

How could anyone be joyful at the prospect of war?

Continuing to observe the crowd as Caid stood quietly and people whispered among themselves, I saw several paranormals I didn’t recognize sitting near him, and noticed that Dacer had moved to stand next to Risper. Professor Erikson was seated with Saferous, nodding her head at Caid’s words. Erikson had never liked me, or the fact that I was so tied to the Power of Five; she probably thought that going to war was a good way to end this once and for all. But what about Keller? If he was with Malle, whom we were about to fight, then what would become of her favorite nephew? She must have felt me looking at her, because she tilted her head slightly and her eyes flicked to mine.

She gave me a small smile before looking back toward Caid. In my confusion, I too turned my focus back to the president. Professor Erikson had never liked my relationship with Keller, but maybe now that we’d finally been separated she’d be nice to me. It would certainly mark a change as I started senior year at Paranormal Public.

Finally Caid raised his hands, calling for silence and clearing his throat before continuing. “I’m afraid I must ask each and every one of you to participate in this battle,” he said. “War hits close to home. As many of you know, we now have graduates of the Paranormal Police Academy, who have been trained to take a major role in this battle.”

“They’re barely trained,” someone in the crowd called out. “How can we place our lives in the hands of children who have never been tried in battle?”

Caid held up his hands for calm as other voices clamored, many echoing what the first one had said.

“They have been taught well,” he insisted. “There is only one way to gain experience in battle, and that is through fighting.”

I saw several heads shake, but others, like Mound, were nodding in approval. Risper and Dacer remained impassive.

Suddenly a body dressed in green robes rushed past me, and I saw Oliva hurry up to the head of the long table and take the empty chair next to Professor Erikson. He looked a little flustered, and I wondered where he’d been and why he was so late. It was the first time I noticed that the wind had picked up. I became even more curious when Caid looked at him questioningly. Oliva nodded.