Elemental Shining (Paranormal Public Series) (32 page)

“Lough takes forever with his laundry,” Sip commented. “It’s hard for him.”

“He’s used to his mom doing it,” said Keller with a chuckle.

“I don’t think the Shadow and Elam are the same person,” said Sip. “Risper would be here.”

“Risper hasn’t been able to catch Elam, though,” I said. “I’m not sure we can count on that.”

“Even if the Shadow is Elam,” said Lisabelle, cutting in, “we don’t know who either of those paranormals are. It’s just as likely that the Shadow is Jenkins, or Dobrov, or even Dacer.”

I had to laugh at that. The idea that Dacer was somehow Public’s Shadow was too much.

I was sitting at Lisabelle’s desk and Keller came to perch next to me, automatically taking my hand in his. I smiled. “All your homework done?” I asked, not wanting to go in circles about who Public’s Shadow was until we had more proof.

He ran his free hand through his thick, dark hair. “Yeah, wasn’t much. At this point I’m mostly concentrating on healing, and when we aren’t at war . . . fixing little cuts on pixies gets old.”

“If you’re bored, entertain Charlotte,” said Lisabelle, nodding in my direction. She had finished with Sip’s tea and handed the werewolf her steaming cup. “Keep her out of trouble.”

“Thanks,” said Sip. “My brothers make fun of me now that I drink tea, but I just love the stuff.”

“Your brothers are not stupid,” said Lisabelle dryly.

“I should probably get back to Astra and finish my homework,” I said, sighing. “Unlike Keller, I have a lot of it.”

Having said goodbye to my friends, I walked out of Airlee hand in hand with Keller. I tried not to think about Elam or the Shadow or all the bad stuff that was going on, but it was hard. The semester was slipping by and the Tactical Final was fast approaching.

As we got further from Airlee, Keller turned to me and said. “Do you need to be entertained? Because I could think of one or two things we could do.” With a big grin he kissed me.

I put my hand firmly on his chest. “We have work to do,” I said.

He shook his head. “So serious. Can’t we have fun too?”

I smiled at him. “Being with you is fun.”

“May I have a word?”

A lilting voice made me turn around, and there, just behind us, stood Daisy. Her face was pale and her eyes were feverish, but she held herself straight. She had been thin when she started at Public in the fall, but now she was downright gaunt-looking, like if you held a light up to her chest it would shine right through her.

“With me or him?” I asked, pointing a thumb in Keller’s direction.

“You,” she said, nodding at me. “It’s about Tactical.”

“It’s a little late for strategies, don’t you think?” I asked. We had lost every time, and Dobrov had always left without saying a word. He obviously didn’t care.

“I’ll see you at dinner,” said Keller, giving my hand one final squeeze. “Maybe we can ‘entertain’ ourselves more later.”

Grinning, he walked away with his hands in his pockets, whistling a tune. I felt a little lost, as I did every time he went away, but there was Daisy, so I turned to her expectantly, waiting for her to say what she had on her mind.

But Daisy was watching Keller walk away too. “I’ve never seen anyone look at someone the way he looks at you,” she commented almost wistfully.

I glanced at her sharply, but all I saw was sadness in her eyes. It was the first real emotion besides anger that I had seen her display, and I wasn’t sure how to react to it.

“What did you want to say about Tactical?” I asked.

“Your team sucks,” said Daisy, crossing her arms over her chest and squinting away into the distance.

“I don’t think Keller had to go away for you to say that,” I said dryly.

She gave me a hooked smile. She was in a strange mood today.

“No, but I had an idea about how you could win,” she said. “Well, at least, I had an idea about how you could not die when you go outside the force field.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

We
were
terrible, and we could neither catch other paranormals nor save ourselves. It didn’t bode well for spending a winter’s night outside the protection of Public’s walls with demons waiting.

“I just don’t see what we can do,” I continued. “We have no advantages.”

Daisy rolled her eyes and grinned. “Don’t be silly,” she said. “You have the best advantage there is.”

“Look, Daisy, I appreciate you trying to help, but I just don’t think there’s anything we can do. We’ve been trying. Everything. It’s hopeless. My teammates need someone powerful and brave and I’m just not.”

“Yes, there
is
something,” she said again, eyes bright.

“Oh yeah, what’s that?” I asked skeptically.

“What you did first semester.”

“Huh? I didn’t do anything first semester,” I argued, getting annoyed. “I had no idea what I was, President Malle was trying to kill me, and I was wearing a ring that was blocking my powers. When all of that changed, my best friend was arrested for murder, when in reality she had been kidnapped and I had to go with Lough to rescue her. The only magic I performed was. . . .”

I stared at Daisy as her eyes lit with pleasure. She could see in my face that I had figured it out.

“We can use the Power of Five,” I breathed, shocked that we hadn’t realized it sooner. “Of course we can! We’re the only team that has it.” I was grinning now. “Daisy, why didn’t we think of that before?”

“I did think of it before,” said Daisy, “but I’ve had other things on my mind and I had no idea if you’d be receptive to the notion from a hybrid like me.”

“I mean, it won’t be easy. We’re almost all freshmen,” I mused, “so most of us are untried. But the basics are still there. When each wheel of the paranormals is represented, the possibility is
always
there. Daisy, you’re brilliant.”

Daisy nodded. “Can you say that sometime when my brother is around?”

I laughed. “Sure.”

I went back to Astra happier than I had been in weeks. Maybe we wouldn’t die after all during the night we spent outside the force field. Maybe it would be alright. I held on to that notion until I got back to my dorm, when my little glimmer of optimism was snuffed out by the note I found on the small side table inside the main entrance of Astra.

 It read simply, “I am coming. You will give it to me, sooner or later.—Shadow.”

My heart started to slam inside my chest.

Monday night before finals week, the first wave of Tactical teams headed into the woods. Keller, Lisabelle, and Sip were among the groups going in. Several teams were going at one time until the last night, when only one group would be sent in. My friends had been furious to discover that it was my group. Not only did we have the most Starters, but we wouldn’t have any other teams in the woods to help us if something went wrong. Dacer had offered to confront Dove about such insanity, but I had talked him out of it, knowing it would just enrage the dean further. But the fear of the Tactical Trial had gnawed at me all semester, and it was almost a relief to know it would soon be over, one way or another.

My goodbyes to my friends were brief. Lisabelle just rolled her eyes when I tried to give her a hug.

“Stop acting like this is a big deal,” she ordered me. “We will be fine. It’s the demons who should be worried.”

“I guess I really shouldn’t try to hug her,” Lough murmured to me, looking a little forlorn. He had managed to hide his crush on Lisabelle for most of the semester, even keeping his temper when Trafton flirted outrageously with her, but he hated it when she was in danger.

“Probably not,” I murmured back.

“Can I talk to you?” I asked Keller. We were standing in the entrance to the library, where the teams were gathering to head out. Over the door hung a massive gold banner that read, “Tactical Trial meet-up.” Most of the other students had come to see them off. After all, this test was something new at Public; no students had ever been sent outside the force field while demons were around. I noticed that the strongest teams were sent first. Keller and Lisabelle’s team had won most frequently, surprise surprise. After that there was the team that Camilla and Sip were on.

“Of course,” said Keller. We turned to find a quiet place to say our goodbyes, but Professor Erikson appeared to block our path.

Her white robes hung around her, hiding everything, even her hands, up to her neck. She smiled. “I just came to see my favorite nephew off,” she said, smiling warmly.

I narrowed my eyes. Professor Erikson had been kind to me ever since our little chat in Aurum, but I wanted to say goodbye to Keller privately.

“Thanks,” said Keller, stepping forward and politely kissing his aunt’s cheek, as was customary.

“I talked to your mother,” said Professor Erikson. “She sends her best and is looking forward to your visit over the holidays.”

Keller nodded. “I’m looking forward to going home. The practice of Public having the Parents and Family Weekend in the spring is nice, but I miss everyone.”

Professor Erikson nodded. “She has a lot to discuss with you.”

Standing next to me, Keller’s shoulders stiffened.

“Charlotte, are you excited for your own Tactical Trial?” Professor Erikson asked. “I’m looking forward to having all our students achieve some real battle experience.”

Because I don’t have any,
I thought sarcastically
.
“It will be educational,” I said out loud. I wasn’t going to tell Dean Erikson I was petrified, or complain that Lough and I were the only sophomores on a team full of Starters. Daisy’s idea of enacting the Power of Five was intriguing, but the likelihood that we would pull it off was slim or none.

We all walked the Tactical groups to the woods, trailing out of the library under the gold banner. Students who weren’t going in yet stayed behind. I had lost my chance to say goodbye to Keller.

I tried not to roll my eyes as Vanni went up to him and gave him a big hug. Trafton tried to do the same with Lisabelle, but she just acted bored. My hackles still rose every time Vanni went near Keller—which was often—but I tried hard not to let it show.

Lough put a comforting arm around my shoulders.

“Don’t worry,” he said, his hands shaky. “If something bad happens I’ll dream us to another world.”

I glanced at him. His face was pale and there was a fine sheen of sweat on his brow. “No point,” I said. “No matter what’s happening, without Keller and Lisabelle it couldn’t be better than this one.” We stood in silence, side by side, and waited.

Lough and I hurried to the gates of Public before dawn the next day. The gates were at the back of campus and rarely used, really just a simple wooden barrier that marked the entrance into the woods. It was where we had seen the groups off the night before and where they were supposed to return in the morning.

My sneakers were wet from running through the grass, and plumes of gray breath curled in front of my face as I waited. The morning was crisp and very cold. Most of the forest was shielded in mist, for which I was glad. The demons weren’t the smartest bunch, and mist acted as a natural shield, albeit not a very strong one. My Tactical team had to hope for mist when we went outside the shield.