Elemental Darkness (Paranormal Public Series) (6 page)

“Sip,” said Trafton, “you do sarcasm very well.”

Lough tried not to look disgruntled at the sight of his fellow dream giver. He almost managed it, but they had two rivalries, and it was hard for Lough to set them aside. Their magical ability was very uncommon and they were the only two paranormals on campus who had it. There had been several at Golden Falls, which explains why we had heard that one had died. A dream giver had indeed died, just not one of the ones from Public. The other rivalry was that they were both in love with Lisabelle. She didn’t know, or didn’t care in the slightest, about that. But instead of finding camaraderie in rejection, Lough and Trafton just bickered.

“Do we have any idea what’s going on in the rest of the paranormal world?” Sip asked, straightening her shoulders and grabbing a tissue. “I’ve been in contact with my parents, and as far as they know the situation is dire. They’re in a better position than some paranormals because they’re in the middle of nowhere, but paranormals in the cities are being attacked and slaughtered. What happened to the Paranormal Police Academy? What about the Paranormal Police Division? Are we paying taxes for paranormals to be trained to battle or what?”

“We’ve had some training here,” said Trafton. “We’ve held our own when we’ve had to.”

“We have to do better than that,” said Sip fiercely. “We can’t lose anyone else.”

“What else did your parents say?” I asked, perching on the edge of Sip’s desk. It somehow felt wrong to be on Lisabelle’s side of the room, with all of her stuff untouched as if she was expecting to come back. But none of us said anything more about it. Once Sip had stopped tossing papers, none of us looked over at Lisabelle’s stuff again. It hurt too much.

“My parents are refusing all suggestions to hide and run,” said Sip. “We live with a large group of other werewolves around us, so we should be able to fight off anything but a massive attack.”

“They overran Vampire Locke,” Lough said, and we gave her the headlines of what happened.

“Yes,” said Sip, “that happened because they made a massive effort. They wanted Vampire Locke. The dark power that’s there can only help them destroy paranormals.”

After that the four of us sat in Airlee for a long time. Trafton and Lough both disappeared and came back with something to read. Sometimes we talked and sometimes we all just worked quietly. There was an unspoken understanding that it was better to be there together than not. Soon enough we’d have to leave for the summer, and we had no idea whether we’d be able to communicate at all.

Eventually Sip stood up from her desk and stretched. “We’re going to the library,” she said. Her voice was distant and cold.

“You know the semester is over, right? We passed, because, I mean, we’re not dead,” said Lough.

Sip blinked at him in surprise. “Where else do people go?”

“Right,” said Lough, shaking his head. “What do you expect to do there?”

“Figure out how to get Lisabelle back,” said Sip grimly. “I heard stuff while they had me. They really didn’t have any idea how good a werewolf’s hearing is.”

“What’s their plan?”

“I guess the demons and the hellhounds are going off by themselves,” said Sip quietly, giving a furtive look at her closed door, as if she was afraid a Nocturn was listening.

“Which is why Doblan was making hybrids,” I said, understanding suddenly what had puzzled me before. “They want their own army, because they don’t have one.”

“Exactly,” said Sip, “but what they’re really trying to do is to leash the darkness. That’s their best bet. And the more we know about the power they could possess, the better. Therefore, library.”

“I’m pretty sure we already know a lot,” Lough pointed out. “You’re the best student in the class.”

“Library,” Sip repeated stubbornly.

“Dacer could probably tell us some, so could Oliva. If we were feeling brave we could even ask Zervos.”

“Library!”

Lough sighed. “Fine,” he said, getting to his feet.

Trafton excused himself to go call his parents, but Sip, Lough, and I headed to the library. It was a very quick trip.

“I can’t believe it’s closed,” said Sip as we trudged back to Airlee.

Lough put a comforting arm around her shoulders, but she just glared at him. “The semester’s over,” he said gently. “No one wants to study.”

“I do,” said Sip, raising her hand. “This is throwing off my entire worldview.”

Lough and I made eye contact over Sip’s head.

“Yeah, I know you two want to laugh at me,” she said, still not giving up. “Go right ahead. I know I’m right.”

After we got back to Airlee we talked again for a long time about what had happened, but none of us mentioned Lisabelle. We all knew she wasn’t there when by rights she should have been, and for all we knew unspeakable things were happening to her (although it was unlikely . . . I mean, come on). But it was as if speaking about it out loud would somehow make her absence more real.

Sip also hadn’t talked about what had happened to her. I figured she’d tell us when she was ready. When Trafton came back and he and Lough started to argue about some arcane magical dream giver spell, Sip stepped closer to me.

“I also have to write a missive for the Sign of Six,” she said thoughtfully. “Now I have a lot to say.”

Then she pulled me aside, into Lisabelle’s half of the room. “I want to put a message in the missive,” said Sip conspiratorially. “For Lisabelle.”

“How are you going to do that?” I demanded. “How’s she even going to read it?”

“Code,” said Sip excitedly. “I’ve been reading up on them. Brilliant things. I’m very excited about it. All I have to do is put a basic word cypher in the text.”

“She’ll notice?” I asked. “Without you two having talked about it?”

Sip grimaced a little. “That I’m not so sure about, but I’m hoping she will. I’ll have to make the first one obvious.”

“Okay,” I said, thinking fast. “You need something that only she would know is you.”

“Yeah,” said Sip, “so tea is out. Everyone knows I love tea.”

I grinned. “Right, everyone does, because you offer it to everyone all the time.”

Sip shrugged. “I like to be friendly.” She paused and thought for a minute, then her face lit up and she said, “Oh, I have the perfect thing.”

“What?” I asked. We didn’t have personal codes or anything, and if she used something obvious, like her name, it would be spotted in no time. “What is it going to be?” I asked, impatient to know what had gotten her so excited.

“Neon,” said Sip, beaming happily. “I’m going to put the code neon in there. Next time she’ll know to look for it. Who would be crazy enough to put something like that in there if not me?”

“Good point,” I said dryly. “I’m sure Lisabelle would agree.”

We were still in the middle of our conversation when there was a knock at the door.

“I told Rake to come over at some point,” Sip explained. “Probably him.” She hopped up to answer the door, and indeed, there stood the big vampire, his large frame blocking out most of the light from the quiet hallway.

“Come in,” said Sip, nodding a greeting. “What took you so long?”

The burly vampire smiled and ducked his head under the doorway. He waved a greeting to Lough and me, then sat in Sip’s desk chair.

“What’d I miss?” he asked, looking around.

“I’m worried that Mound will have a field day once he finds out where Lisabelle is
and why she’s there. Because he
will
find out,” I explained, not wasting any time.

“Do you think he’ll know?” Rake asked curiously.

“I think the story is getting around campus,” I said. “It’s only a matter of time before he hears about it and starts putting it into print.”

“I’m surprised the Tabble is still active,” said Rake, frowning. “I’m surprised the Nocturns haven’t taken it down yet. I’m sure they’d love to.”

Sip nodded. “That’s another thing we can’t let happen. We have to communicate with each other.”

“I’m not sure they want to take it down,” said Lough. “I’m not just arguing with you for the sake of it. I’m arguing with you because you’re wrong.”

“The demons might be just as interested in keeping the Tabble operating properly,” said Sip thoughtfully. “The Tabble at this point has devolved into nothing much but fearfulness, and with Mound spouting off all kinds of stuff about supporting Malle and giving her a job, they probably want it to go out to paranormals every day.”

“That’s a scary thought,” said Lough. “It almost means we should close the Tabble just to stop the spread of propaganda.”

“We can’t give in,” said Sip vehemently, hitting her fist against her hand for emphasis. “Other paranormals need to know what’s happening, and they need to stay strong. They have to support President Caid and the Sign of Six.”

The conversation started to die down, but there was one more thing I was fretting about.

“I’m afraid Lisabelle’s sacrifice is my fault,” I said quietly. “I worry that if I don’t push my other friends away I won’t have any friends left.”

“You can’t think like that,” Sip cautioned. “It hurts too much. Lisabelle is the most independent of all of us. If she wanted to go, she’d go.”

“She’d never have had the idea of going if it hadn’t been for me,” I said bleakly. “You know it’s true.”

“I know no such thing,” said Sip hotly. “Stop being foolish. She’s said it herself. Without us she would have gone over to darkness a long time ago.”

“Maybe,” I said. It was true. I couldn’t see Lisabelle as a housewife.

“Alright,” said Sip, squaring her shoulders and straightening her spine. She suddenly looked more confident and powerful, older. “We’re all going to get some sleep - in our own dorms. We aren’t all going to sleep in the same place because we’ve been cowed into fear by the demons. Charlotte can take care of herself. She controls lightning, for paranormal’s sake. Tomorrow, when we’ve all had a little rest, I’m going to try again to get into the library. I’m sure President Oliva will want to speak with us, and hopefully Professor Dacer will have some time as well. It’s going to be a busy day.

“Charlotte,” said Sip, turning to me, “I know it’ll be hard, but we should also try to discuss Malle with Professor Erikson. She might have an idea who the darkness premier really is.”

“Alright,” I said, “anything is worth a shot at this point.”

It was still mid-afternoon, but we all looked desperately tired. Sip disappeared for a short time and came back with snacks: apples, grapes, crackers, cheese, and assorted cookies.

“Wonderful,” said Lough with delight.

We all dug into the food. After what we’d been through, we should have taken the time to sleep for days. But with everything we had to do, an evening and a night would have to suffice.

“One last thing,” said Sip, looking around the room at each of us, her eyes dimming. “Has anyone seen Bartholem?”

My stomach clenched. I hadn’t even thought of Bartholem. How awful was I? How could we have left Lisabelle’s cat behind?

Sip must have seen how stricken I looked because she said, “Don’t worry. I’m sure he’s fine. He got himself in there. I bet he got himself out just fine and is on his way back to Public even as we speak.”

“But who will take care of him?” I asked, my lower lip trembling. “You can’t have a cat with you over the summer, not with all those werewolves around.”

Sip pursed her lips. “I’d like to see the paranormal who tries to make me go home this summer. I don’t know. We can figure it out.”

“If they make us go home,” said Lough, stepping forward, “and that’s a really big if, I can take him. Dream givers usually get along famously with pets.”

“What happened with you two, then?” Rake asked dryly.

Lough glared at Rake as if he was a bug he’d like to stamp under his foot.

“I don’t know,” he said. Then he grinned at Sip. “Maybe I just can’t get along with any paranormal that has purple eyes, or with cats.”

Sip grinned, then said primly, “I’m sure that’s not it. Fine, Lough can take him if it comes to that. I’m sure Bartholem will be thrilled to have a good home.”

We filed out. Rake offered to walk me to Astra and I took him up on it. I had no idea what Dobrov was playing at, but I didn’t want to see him again. Ever.

I had never been so grateful for sleep, or so fearful. Whenever I thought of Lisabelle I thought of that horrible saying: darkness calls to darkness. Lisabelle had been called home, which was exactly what we had fought against so desperately. Now it had happened, and I’d been powerless to stop it.

I wanted to dream of Lisabelle, as strange as that seemed; the waking dreams were now my last connection to my friend. But this time I didn’t. I rested, if fitfully.

When I woke up in the morning I got dressed in a hurry, because I wanted to talk to Dacer before anything else. I wanted to know when we were going after Lisabelle. If there was a force heading to Vampire Locke to win it back and take away the power center the Nocturns were trying to create, I wanted to be with that, too. There were difficult times and difficult decisions ahead.