Elemental Shining (Paranormal Public Series) (30 page)

The creature was on me before I could roll over. Slime splatted onto my face and arms as I tried to shield myself.

Gasping, I clawed desperately at its scaly skin. Already the Dweller had its slick hands around my throat and was choking me. The light from my ring had gone out, so I couldn’t see its face, but I could smell its breath like sewage on my face as I fought to breathe.

“GET OFF HER,” a male voice yelled. I didn’t recognize it, and the sound of footsteps running hard was my only warning before something slammed into the creature on top of me. The weak but angry voice had to be the voice of Public’s Shadow. But I didn’t have much time to think that over right now.

Choking, I rolled until my shoulder crashed into the stone wall. My heart leaped into my throat as the sound of battle raged in front of me. Desperate to see what was going on so that I could try to protect myself, I slammed my magic back into my ring and the hallway was again thrown into light.

Public’s Shadow was grappling with the Dweller, but they were moving in such a blur that I couldn’t see anything besides tangled limbs or hear anything but grunting. The Slime Dweller was smaller and more agile, too thin to ever have been human, more like a reptile on four legs. Its skin was scaly and blue/black—just what I felt with all my bruises—while Public’s Shadow was dressed entirely in a black cloak. I wanted to run, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the fight.

The Slime Dweller darted forward, going down to one leg and then springing up. The Shadow hadn’t been expecting the attack and staggered backward. He would have been fine except that his head crashed into a piece of rock that jutted out from the wall. With a sickening cry he crumbled. The Slime Dweller had its opening, locking its vicelike hands around the Shadow’s throat.

I had to act. Mustering my powers, I called to the air.

“Oh, no you don’t,” I muttered to the slimy creature. I pulled air around me and it rushed throughout the hall, creating a wind tunnel that I pushed toward the head of the Slime Dweller. I wasn’t even sure if creatures like that breathed; all I could do was hope.

My hope wasn’t unfounded. The air locked in around the thing’s head, closing off its access to air. Now, instead of choking the Shadow that had saved me, it had to put all its energy into an effort simply to draw breath.

I fisted my hand, demanding that the wind cut off all circulation as the Slime Dweller struggled wildly against my attack. But just as I was about to finish the job, a strong hand wrapped itself around my arm, yanking me to the side. I found myself being propelled through an open doorway and up a flight of wooden stairs. I had no choice but to follow my captor.

“Are you INSANE?”

It was Lisabelle’s voice, and at first all I could do was smile wearily, relieved beyond measure that my friends had found me and it wasn’t a fresh attack.

“Is that a trick question?” I asked.

I felt Lisabelle throw up her hands in the dark stairwell. “I’ve been telling you for three semesters now: do not go anywhere without me. It’s always more trouble than it’s worth, and for some reason you just keep needing to prove me right.”

“How did you find me?” I panted.

“We went to Astra, because we wanted to talk before Tactical. When you weren’t there we came looking. Keller said you had told him you were going over by yourself, and knowing you as we do, we instantly realized you’d done something foolish.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, then demanded: “Why did you pull me out of there?”

But it was a stupid question. I felt like I had been pummeled all over with hammers. My legs were wobbling and aching and my head throbbed. I was pretty sure that if Lisabelle’s strong arm hadn’t been around my waist, holding me up, I would have fallen down.

“Because more were coming, or hadn’t you noticed?” she asked icily. “That’s what that noise was. Someone had opened an underground aqueduct, much like the one that runs through Astra, and more Slime Dwellers were on their way to pay you a visit. You didn’t have a chance. We had to pull you out of there. You’re welcome.”

“Despite Lisabelle taking up all the air space, I’m here too,” said Sip.

“Oh, I knew you were,” I said. “No way Lisabelle could have pulled this off on her own.”

Sip snickered.

As my eyes adjusted to the dim light I could see that we were moving up a narrow set of stairs. The ceiling was so low that our heads almost touched it. Sip was in front of Lisabelle and me, using light to show us the way. Lisabelle was on my right side, her sleeve rolled up to reveal her new tattoo. It sparkled black. I used my left hand to brace myself against the wall as we moved slowly upwards.

“Are we late for Tactical?” I asked a little breathlessly. Even climbing stairs was too much for me at the moment.

“That’s what you’re concerned about?” Lisabelle demanded, rolling her eyes. She gripped me tighter and we picked up our pace a little.

“We can’t miss it,” I said. “We get expelled if we miss one Tactical.”

“They’re forcing us to go outside the force field,” said Lisabelle. “Getting expelled might not be so bad at this point.”

Carefully the three of us made our way outside, but ground level wasn’t much of an improvement on the basement. The rain was still driving down and it was cold. The only change was that the air no longer felt so suffocating. I desperately sucked fresh air into my lungs.

The night was just beginning.

Tactical. Dark and close weather. Wet. Rain pouring down. The weather had turned even uglier while I was in the Long Building and there was no sign of it letting up any time soon.

“This is going to suck,” said Sip, staring around us. We were now standing at the Tactical starting point, but it was too wet for a bonfire.

“At least it isn’t snow,” Lough said, pulling his black rain jacket closer around himself.

“Yet,” said Lisabelle, folding her arms across her chest. Her face was barely visible under a large rain hat. On anyone else it would have been comical, but no one laughed at Lisabelle. “Snow’s coming, and once it does it will be even harder for us to keep Charlotte safe.”

Lisabelle was referring to the sneak tactics we had started to employ to avoid all the other students on campus who hated me, because of Mound. “Of course, Charlotte is making it pretty hard all by herself at this point,” Lisabelle added grimly.

Tactical that night was torture. Tactical was always held, rain or shine, in part because it was supposed to simulate real world fighting and you don’t get a chose your weather in war. But I always hated to leave my cosy fire in Astra for the sloppy, muddy hills and valleys in which we performed Tactical. I tried to tell myself that this was all for the sake of staying safe when we went outside the force field. It didn’t help much, but there was another incentive now, since the deans had told us over breakfast one morning that at the end of November we would have our Tactical Challenge. That meant that I had exactly one month to become competent enough to save myself.

That night, even more than usual, I just wanted to be in Astra. My whole body ached and my eyes were drooping from exhaustion. I had never been so afraid and I didn’t even know what had happened or what to be afraid of.

“Seriously, you shouldn’t have bothered reinforcing the force field last semester,” said Lisabelle, “if this is how they’re going to thank you.”

I hated to say it, but I was starting to feel like she was right.

“I thought the weather looked bad, but this is ridiculous,” said Sip. We were standing an inch deep in muck as the rain slammed down. It wasn’t just falling. Instead, it was like someone was pouring buckets onto everyone.

“This will be good practice for when we fight the demons,” Trafton said. He was covered in a black poncho, so that the only things visible were his beautiful blue eyes and a slick of damp blond hair.

“Like you’re going to fight,” said Lough.

Something hard hit me from behind and I tumbled forward. “’Scuse me,” said Camilla as she swished past us dressed in head to toe rain gear in an eye-smarting shade of pink, which complemented her green skin, sort of. I pushed myself to my feet as my friends held my arms on either side.

“Oh, look,” said Lisabelle. “She stole your wall hangings, Sip, and is now wearing them.”

“Listen up,” cried Zervos, looking at each of us in turn as he marched back and forth. “This has been entirely too easy for you up to this point, so we’re changing the goal of the practice. Now, instead of going after high value targets, we are playing sudden death. The first time one of your teammates is captured, your team is done.”

This was an entirely new rule for Tactical. Zervos was just changing the rules at his convenience. Anger boiled within me, but I was too cold and too tired to do anything about it. My fellow students must have felt the same way, because except for a bit of angry muttering, no one made any sound. I could see Zervos’s head turning from side to side, looking for opposition. When he didn’t find it he said, “Alright, find your team. Let the games begin!”

I felt tired from the start. Every movement in the night made me jump, and I was constantly worrying about Public’s Shadow and the Slime Dweller I had left battling in the caverns of the Long Building. One of them had tried to save me, I was sure of it, and it had probably lost its life in the bargain.

I didn’t have time now to wonder why he had done it.

“Come on,” said Lough quietly, tugging on my sleeve. “We have to go.” The sad truth was that our Public team hadn’t won once. We had played seven times and each time we had been eliminated first.

It was a far cry from last semester, when my team had won easily.

Dobrov was in his own little spacey world. Wherever it was, it didn’t involve protecting his teammates, even though it did sometimes involve capturing targets from other teams. Ulrik ran after any paranormal he saw, spraying pixie dust. All the dust missed. He had potential, but he hadn’t harnessed it yet. More experienced paranormals avoided him easily.

Lough tried to get me away, but we didn’t make it very far. As we started to move, we saw Camilla standing in front of us just outside the clearing. Her team was good this year. They had won three of the Tacticals, mostly because she targeted my team every time.

Camilla was dressed all in blinding pink. Her jacket, hat, and even her rain boots basically shone in the rain. From under the brim of her hat I could still see her perfect makeup. Sip had accused her of spelling it on and I hadn’t believed her, but I kind of did now.

“Hi there,” she simpered.

“Not you again,” Lough groaned. “How do you do it every time?”

“I’m very good at everything,” said Camilla, batting her eyelashes.

“Perfect the art of silence and then get back to me,” Lough said.

Camilla made a face, squared her shoulders, and pointed her ring at us. I tried to move, but after my ordeal in the catacombs I didn’t make it very far.

As I turned to run I almost slammed into Ulla, a senior vampire who liked to sharpen his teeth on rocks.

“Ouch,” I muttered, stumbling backwards. My nose smarted from where it had crashed into his shoulder.

Ulla didn’t give me time to bring my hand up before he knocked me down. I fell hard onto my back, a splat of mud washing up around me. Pain radiated from the point where I had landed all the way to the ends of my limbs. The rain fell heavily on my face, making it hard for me to breathe through my nose. I started to panic; I am not brave. The darkness was closing in as Ulla sloshed over to me and grabbed me roughly on the upper arm. I tried to fight him, but his grip was like a vice.

My struggles were in vain as he hauled me up, so in the end I just walked miserably next to him. We hadn’t even made it out of the clearing, and behind me Camilla was cooing smuggly.