Elemental Fate (Paranormal Public Book 12) (7 page)

“Look, Ricky, I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to say to you, or to Dacer, much less to Charlotte. I can’t believe my family behaved that way, especially after what my aunt did.”

“Are they angry at you about what happened to Professor Erikson?” I said. The thought shocked me. It wasn’t as if Keller had had any control over her; he was just trying not to die, and not to let those he loved die.

“I’m not sure they have any idea what they’re angry about anymore. Except, they’re definitely angry at Lisabelle.”

“As usual, there’s a pretty long line for that one,” I said.

When the darkness mage had become the new premier, she had imprisoned Professor Erikson. Charlotte hadn’t wanted to talk about it, but I felt sure Lisabelle had imprisoned her predecessor instead of killing her at least in part because of Keller. He had wanted his aunt’s life spared, so Lisabelle had spared it without worrying about the cost to herself. That was always the kind of friend she was, if you could get her there. I rather thought she was full up on best friends, though.

A fleeting memory of a certain dream giver passed through my mind again, then it was gone. Lough was missing. Wherever he was, it would put him or us in danger to discuss it, but even without any discussion it was obvious that not all of my sister’s friends agreed on what he was doing.

“Lisabelle wasn’t coming to this event, though,” I said. “They really only hurt you and Dacer. I wouldn't think they really wanted to do that.” If Lisabelle had been planning to attend, which she hadn’t, because then she’d have to actually talk to us – oh, the horror – I could have seen the fallen angels getting up in arms, but this was Keller. This was Charlotte.

Keller nodded, his eyes spilling fury, “Yeah, I know. If Charlotte . . . well, if I felt free to do it, I’d go and have a talk with them.” He cleared his throat. His tone was threatening, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that wasn’t exactly what the fallen angels wanted, whatever else they might be up to.

Dacer had tried hard not to let his anger show after it became clear that the party had been a failure. We all knew that Charlotte felt terrible, and having Dacer visibly upset could only make it worse. Still, the next morning there appeared a set of massive tracks through the snow. It looked strange enough so that I went to look out another window to get a better view of the ground.

An enormous cannon had appeared in the courtyard.

“In case any of them decide to show up late,” said Dacer through gritted teeth. The cannon was covered in brown glitter, befitting an angry glitter fiend.

No one else made any comment on the cannon, but it was still there when we departed for Public a few days later.

The trip back to campus for second semester was a lot more fun than our autumn trip had been. For one thing, Bertrum wasn’t along. He hadn’t come to Charlotte and Keller’s party, probably because he wasn’t up for socializing. Keller, who checked in on him regularly, said he was still in pretty bad shape. With Sip missing and not actively serving as president, Bertrum had even more worries than usual. The interim president had asked him for all of Sip’s classified files on the excuse that he needed them to run the paranormal world “properly.” Bertrum, in response, kept accidentally losing them. I wondered how long that game could go on.

With Bertrum gone and Rake working around the clock to find and defend special artifacts, it was just Keegan and Eighellie traveling with me to Paranormal Public this time.

Charlotte and Keller planned to stay at Duckleworth an extra day, partly so that Keller could calm down. If he had seen a fallen angel in those first days after the party, I felt confident that he would have put that fallen angel through a wall without a second thought. They were also delaying, I thought, because Charlotte was having a hard time with the idea of going back to where Sip had been attacked, in Charlotte and Keller’s own cottage.

“Thank you for having me,” said Eighellie to Dacer as we were leaving. The vampire smiled and nodded. Although he famously didn’t like students, he had taken a liking to Eighellie. Maybe it was the darkness in each of them reaching out to make a connection.

“I’m very impressed with your work at Paranormal Public,” he said. “Keep it up. You know, and if you should find yourself in the Long Building, always remember that the masks are not far away.” He winked at her, and Eighellie turned to us in amazement.

“He doesn’t know I’ve borrowed a room in there, does he?” she whispered to us.

“Um, I’m pretty sure he knows,” said Keegan.

Then, as the three of us stood outside waiting for our coach, I saw a dark figure striding across the snow.

Risper looked up. He was headed for the woods and carrying what I thought looked suspiciously like the stick I had hit the werewolf with last summer. He looked up and met our eyes, giving one curt nod.

“He’s so dreamy,” sighed Eighellie happily.

Keegan and I both rolled our eyes. “He’s a little old for you, isn’t he?” said Keegan.

“I don’t want to DATE him,” said Eighellie, appalled. “I can appreciate him from a distance.”

“I don’t understand women,” said Keegan as he turned away.

“I know,” said Eighellie loudly.

Far away near the trees, it looked like Risper gave a chuckle.

As we neared Paranormal Public, flying over snowy trees and deep forests, I started looking for the school on the horizon. I hadn’t realize how much I missed it or how much I was looking forward to returning until this moment.

What were my fellow students up to? What did Professor Penny do over the holidays? Did the Burble siblings get coal for Christmas? What about Hannah?

Hopefully our classes would be more interesting this semester and Averett would be around. Maybe paranormal relations would even improve.

“I really hate to say this, but you look excited,” said Eighellie. “I know it can’t be because you’re so excited to get back to studying, so what’s it for?”

I glanced at my two friends. Over the past month or so an idea had been forming in my mind, but I hadn’t wanted to say anything because I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. I didn’t want to say something so important without following through.

I had just decided to tell them what I had planned when suddenly there came a jostling in the air around us. We grabbed the sides of the coach and I felt my arm muscles bunch as they fought to keep me in place. Through the window, clouds flashed past us at a dizzying speed. We were out of control high up in the sky.

“What’s happening?” Keegan yelled. One second we’d been flying along uneventfully, and the next we had pitched so far forward that I thought we were about to flip over and tumble out. My stomach rolled, and it took all my concentration not to throw up.

Another second went by and we were pitched backwards, then we fell sideways. Keegan was on the floor, his hands braced between the seats, while Eighellie was holding on tight with her eyes focused as if she was using raw power to keep herself upright. The coach windows were covered, but in a moment of calm I ripped the curtains off.

“What on earth?” I couldn’t see anything at first, then I saw a ball of fire speed past us. I heard the swoosh and imagined I felt the heat. The coach steadied and didn’t throw us wildly around again, but who knew where the next fire ball would be directed.

“Someone’s throwing fire balls at us,” I yelled.

“From the ground?” Eighellie cried, her voice filled with shock.

“Did they get ahold of Dacer’s cannon?” Keegan asked.

Then the coach started to climb, rising higher and higher until my ears popped and all I could see out the windows was a bank of clouds.

“Does anyone have a broom?” Eighellie yelled.

“Yeah, I keep it in my other purse,” Keegan roared from the floor. “No, I don’t have a broom. You can’t go out there!”

Eighellie searched around frantically, then threw all her weight at the window I had uncovered. She stuck her head out and thrust her ring hand out after her.

Keegan and I exchanged looks.

“She’s crazy,” he mouthed to me. I nodded. I couldn’t feel the fire coming, a fact that concerned me. Fire was one of my elements, and I was even stronger now that I connected to essence, yet I couldn’t feel a thing. We had been attacked, and I hadn’t even felt it coming.

Eighellie stuck her head back in, her blond hair fanning around her shoulders and puffing up on top. “Hold my feet,” she commanded.

“What?” Keegan gasped.

“You heard what I said!” she cried. “I need a better angle. Hold my feet.”

I came forward and grabbed her ankles as she eased back out the window. Keegan’s arms wrapped around me to complete the human chain.

Eighellie didn’t weigh anything, and I called to the wind to help a little, but it was still nerve-wracking being responsible for Eighellie’s life.

Holding tight to my friend, I peered out the window. A small orange dot raced toward us from the ground, but I was much more concerned about the one that was so close it was about to hit us.

Eighellie shot raw black power downward, creating a trail. She wasn’t attacking the fireball directly. She wasn’t even trying to move our coach out of the way. “She’s using magic as a decoy,” I told Keegan, who couldn’t see what was going on.

“That’s a great idea!” Keegan’s eyes lit up, and I wondered if he was aware of how often Eighellie impressed him. I decided not to tell him, just in case he
didn’t
realize it.

The coach continued to race forward so fast that I had to use the muscles in my legs to keep from flying backward. The fireball was growing, but now it didn’t look like it was aiming for us after all. My arms were starting to shake, and I wanted Eighellie to come back inside the damned coach, but she had other plans. When the fireball slammed into the power trail she had left, I felt the coach shake. A small explosion blew soot everywhere. Then there was nothing.

I tugged on Eighellie’s ankles and she had no choice but to start shifting her weight back into the coach. Once she was back inside she knelt on the floor, breathing hard, hair standing on end. She patted it a couple of times, trying to calm it down, then gave up. Her eyes were bright and wild.

“That was amazing!” she squealed. “I’ve never done anything like that before!”

“We need a different plan,” said Keegan.

“What do you suggest?” I asked.

“Are we almost to Public?” he yelled.

“There’s something in front of us,” said Eighellie.

I leaned my head out the window again and my breath caught. The air was bright with lights and whips and sparkles. We were heading straight toward a canopy of dreams.

Keegan pushed past me to look out the window, and I moved to give him room. There were no fireballs below us now, and the coach had stopped pitching so wildly, but who knew how long that would last.

“What the blast is that?” Keegan yelled, bringing his head back in. “Is it friend or foe? I don’t want to fly into that thing. It will just as likely toss us out of the sky as help us!”

“It’s a dream giver,” I said. “I think he’s helping.”

“He better be,” said Eighellie, closing her eyes.

I knew the moment we ran into the dream net. We were no longer flying, we were drifting toward the ground, safe in a clear sky. The day was not as cold and the air was not as filled with smoke as it had been. We were landing at the outskirts of Surround.

Both my friends had closed their eyes. They suddenly looked very calm, but that was the magic of the dream, and I was used to it. As part dream giver myself, though, I kept my eyes open. I liked to watch the dream unfurl.

We landed outside Surround with a gentle bump. Eighellie’s eyes flew open and Keegan looked around in wonder.

“We’re there?” Keegan sounded surprised.

“Yes,” I said. None of us wasted any time shoving open the door of the coach and stumbling out.

“Where are we?” Eighellie asked, looking up in confusion at Surround. The village did look different. The wooden stakes that had made up the wall had been replaced by massive slabs of stone. The gate into the town was closed.

“Who was that dream giver?” Keegan demanded. “I want to thank him.”

“Or her,” said Eighellie. “It could be a her.”

“Yeah, sure it could,” said Keegan. “I’ve never met a dream giver before.”

“I think it was that man,” I said, pointing.

The gates were opening and an incredibly good-looking man was coming through them. I could see a handful of villagers behind him, all looking disgruntled.

Trafton Rooks smiled at me. “Ricky, so good to see you.”

Keegan grabbed my arm, eyeing Trafton with distaste.

“Who is this clown?” he asked. “He looks shifty.”

“Trafton Rooks,” said the powerful dream giver, extending his hand.

Keegan softened slightly when he realized that Trafton was the dream giver who had helped us land safely. “Sorry to be rude,” he said clearing his throat. “Good to meet you.”

Trafton had gone to school with my sister and her friends, and by all accounts he had delighted in annoying Lough and pursuing Lisabelle. He had only been successful at one of those endeavors.

“How do you two know each other?” Eighellie asked. “Also, thanks for helping us out back there.” She pointed up to the sky.

Trafton smiled, the epitome of a hot surfer dude with his wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes. “You are more than welcome,” he said. “It was just a simple misunderstanding on the ground, and I thought I’d help resolve the issue. But you didn’t really need much help, did you?”

Half a statement, half a question, and totally a compliment, it made Eighellie drop her head, her face flushing. She usually didn’t react to praise, but I guess it was different when it came from a surfer dude dream giver.

“Professor Rooks, if we could come inside the walls . . .” One of the villagers who’d been lurking nearby came out and begged the dream giver to stop dallying. They wanted to close the gates.

“Of course,” said Trafton amicably. “Three Paranormal Public students reach land surprised and afraid after you try to murder them . . . why would I possibly want to give them a minute?” He gave the twitching villager a dazzling smile. “Lead the way,” he continued. “I’m sure Fallgrabber is looking forward to seeing us.”

“You’re a professor now?” I asked Trafton. He hadn’t been at Public last semester, and I was excited to hear that he was back. One thing about Trafton, he wasn’t likely to be boring.

“The town is really different from last semester,” said Keegan with wonder. Last semester Surround had looked like it had just been thrown up any old way, now it had the feel of a real, solid town that was here to stay. We saw only a few villagers as we walked along a tidy street, and we ran across no sign of the flamboyant militia that had greeted us in the fall.

Trafton walked along confidently. He was wearing gray flowing robes over his broad shoulders, but he was also subtly different from the Trafton I remembered. I didn’t know what he had been up to since the Nocturn War, but there was a sadness in the set of his shoulders that I didn’t remember seeing before.

“This place looks more official,” said Eighellie. “It looks like they’re going to stick around.”

“Yeah,” I said. “That sure is what it looks like.” I wanted someone to explain what Trafton had said. The villagers were the ones throwing the fireballs? How did that make sense? They were attacking students? Trafton hadn’t killed any of them, but I didn’t think having Surround residents attacking students was a good way to start the semester.

The villager who had asked us to get inside was now leading us up to an official-looking brick building. Meanwhile, Keegan was still regarding Trafton with a healthy dose of suspicion. Reminding myself that my friend had spent years on the run and had lost his home and his history because of the need to hide, I tried to have patience. But Trafton was a Hunter like I was a redhead.

“Here we are,” said Trafton, pulling open the door to the brick building. “Welcome.”

“It doesn’t seem like it, does it?” Eighellie sniffed in the direction of the villager. Trafton chuckled.

The Surround Town Office had a glass window with a couple of tellers behind it. Down the hall I could hear typing and clicking. Everything was white, and the place smelled like freshly turned dirt. I had a feeling that this office was very new.

Trafton led us to one of the back rooms. The overhead light was so bright it made me blink. This office certainly wasn’t the kind of place where I would ever want to work.

To my surprise, we found Averett standing in a corner wearing a sleeveless black dress and a sour expression. Her black hair was pulled up in a messy bun and her muscled arms were crossed over her chest.

“Hey,” I said, surprised.

“Hey yourself,” she said. Then she flashed me a bright smile, one I’d never seen on her face before. The happy look was gone just as quickly as it had appeared, and in my surprise I looked away quickly. Keegan was the only other one who noticed. He scowled slightly, then turned his attention to the others in the room.

“What are you doing here?” Eighellie demanded. Unlike Keegan, Eighellie didn’t have a collection of excuses for mistrust. Well, she did in relation to darkness mages, but not other paranormal types. She just didn’t like Averett.

“Dropping by for a visit,” said Averett. “I thought it would be fun.”

“You don’t look like you’re having fun,” Keegan said.

“Ah, well, I was wrong,” said Averett.

Trafton introduced himself, extending a hand.

“So you’re the one who plucked me out of the sky,” Averett asked. “Many thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” said Trafton.

“Yeah, don’t mention it,” said Eighellie.

I shook my head. I couldn’t really understand the hostility.

“Good morning,” said a paranormal behind me. I closed my eyes. I should have known Fallgrabber was close by.

The protocols officer wore a redbreast coat and was followed by two other, much younger paranormals, both dressed exactly as he was. His back was razor straight and his eyes snapped in every direction. Maybe he thought that if he could look everywhere at once, he’d catch more wrongdoing. In that he was probably correct.

Trafton turned around, his bright smile firmly in place again.

“Good morning,” he said, nodding to the protocols enforcement officer.

“What do we have here?” Fallgrabber asked.

“You know as well as anyone what’s been happening between students and the town over the past couple of days,” said Trafton. “Surround is up in arms about Public attendees. Unsurprisingly, students annoy them. Something about the vampires having a fire bird,” Trafton said, quirking an eyebrow at me. His eyes then flicked to Averett, but she wasn’t going to fall for such a cheap trick. Her expression remained impassive as Fallgrabber appeared to think over what Trafton had said.

“I heard there had been some attacks,” said Fallgrabber, “so I came to make sure the Codes were being followed. Then I found out that a new professor was already on the scene. I must say, that’s not terribly helpful, showing up like that. You can only be in the way.”

Fallgrabber’s tone was admonishing, but the dream giver didn’t really look like he cared; polite bemusement was the furthest he would go.

“I don’t suppose any of you know anything about a fire bird?” Trafton asked. His white teeth flashed in a grin and I found myself grinning back. All four of us shook our heads. Surround residents were attacking arriving students because they were angry about some bird, and that in itself was relatively trivial. But I hadn’t been able to sense the attack coming, and that was far more worrisome. I told myself that the fire might have originated from too far away; after all, I could create fire, but maybe I couldn’t sense fire created by someone else.

Maybe. Or worse, maybe the Surround residents had something that blocked my powers.

Fallgrabber didn’t seem to think the encounter was at an end, so it didn’t look like I was going to get a chance to talk to Trafton alone any time soon.

Averett, for her part, was still sulking in the corner. “I came alone and they tried to shoot me down,” she said. “Some school you’re running.”

“I have no jurisdiction over the town, and I’ll thank you not to question me, since I’m an adult,” Fallgrabber snapped, jotting something down on his clipboard.

“The villagers have agreed to stop attacking students,” said Trafton.

Fallgrabber looked slightly disappointed. “How did you get them to agree to that?” the protocols officer asked.

“I asked really nicely,” said Trafton. “And now, given that all of these students have had a shock, I’m just going to walk them to Public myself, since I assume there’s nothing more we need to do here.” His voice lowered as he finished speaking, and I thought he was giving Fallgrabber a hint. The protocols officer was so busy jotting in his notebook that he only hummed a response.

“Very well then,” said Trafton. “This way, you four.”

Averett pushed herself off the wall with her shoulder blades and strolled out ahead of the rest of us. Eighellie looked annoyed, while Keegan, for once, didn’t seem to have anything to say.

Out in the January day, Trafton walked quickly. We still had to get out of the village, and I had the impression that he wanted to make that happen as quickly as possible.

I fell into step next to Averett, or maybe she into step next to me. Either way, her head was bent a little as if she were deep in thought. “They attacked you on your way back?” I said.

“Yeah, I was coming as mist, but they were ready for that, they started spraying hot rain, which is my least favorite thing ever. They went to a lot of trouble so they could attack us as we arrived.”

“Was the fire bird really attacking villagers?” I asked. I could see how townspeople would resent that, but I couldn’t really see why they would think attacking Averett or me and my friends would solve that problem.

“No, so far as I know the fire bird has only attacked one set of paranormals,” she smirked at me. “She picked the right one.”

Eighellie, who was walking with Trafton and pelting him with questions about who only knew what, gave us one furtive glance over her shoulder before snapping back around to face forward. Keegan was walking behind us, and from what I could hear he was kicking rocks as he went.

I had recognized the fire bird for what it was during our adventure in the dungeons below Cruor. For a moment, it seemed to speak to me as if it really did have a voice. But no one else heard it, and over time I had convinced myself that I had simply imagined what it said. At least, I hoped I had. A world without Lisabelle Verlans would be a sad world indeed.

Averett tipped her head toward me and lowered her voice, interrupting my reverie.

“Have you heard anything about Sip Quest?” she asked. For a second I was taken aback by her question.

“Why do you want to know?” I said, just a quietly.

She gave me an oh please sort of look. “Because the paranormals are going to tear themselves apart if she dies . . . or even if she doesn’t come back soon.”

Averett had me there. Even at Dacer’s over Christmas things had felt different. There had been something strange in the air, something I didn’t like, so Averett was just putting words to a bad feeling I had. The paranormals were restless, and it was as clear as the pond at Paranormal Public that none of the types trusted each other.

That mistrust could quickly lead to war.

“My sister won’t tell me anything,” I said. “I can’t tell if it’s because she doesn’t know anything or the news is too awful to say out loud.”

“Your sister does have this strange and inexplicable desire to protect you,” said Averett, her voice very dry.

“Um, yeah,” I said. I knew she was making fun of me, but I just didn’t know what to make of this badass vampire or why she was suddenly bothering to talk to me at all. I wondered if maybe Vital was paying her to keep an eye on me, and the thought made me grin. Averett saw the smile and gave me a questioning look, but I pretended not to see it and just kept walking.

The TP checkpoint into Public was closed. Bertrum might have been able to keep it open if he hadn’t gone off the deep end, but his depression over what had happened to Sip meant that he just didn’t have the energy to fight the other paranormal types, the factions, and everyone else who thought the TPs were a terrible idea and wanted the office closed. After Ms. Cernal’s death, it had become even more of a certainty that the TP system was done for. Speaking of which, “Did you hear about the murder at Surround?” I asked Averett.

She pursed her lips and nodded, looking around at the long road we were walking to Public. Even though I had only caught a few glimpses of the school so far, I felt better just being on the grounds. I would be glad to return to Astra and the essence that waited for me there.

“Everyone’s heard about it,” she said. “It’s terrible, especially that she’s dead and yet there was no sign of foul play. It’s odd, okay, but not really all that surprising. One of the villagers probably did it. They didn’t like the TPs and she went there alone at night. Maybe she didn’t realize how hostile the villagers were.”

“You think one of the Surround residents did it?” I was shocked. Then I remembered the creepy militia man.

“Sure,” said Averett. “Why do you think the militia didn’t see anything and no one saved her? Sure, she shouldn’t have been out there alone, but it’s awfully convenient that none of the residents have died, only Ms. Cernal, the TP office person.”

Averett, as usual, was opening my eyes to a whole new perspective, and it was one I didn’t really like. Having just walked through the town, though, I knew she had a point. A palpable hostility that I hadn’t felt last semester pervaded the town, and it couldn’t all be because of that stupid fire bird.