Elemental Dawn (Paranormal Public) (18 page)

“Look,” I said, tired of adults
doubting me, or maybe just wanting to prove that I didn’t doubt myself. “I am
pretty used to demons trying to kill me at this point. Not to mention
hellhounds, the random darkness mage, and more than one pixie, and let me tell
you, it’s all for one reason: Because I am elemental. I am the power that
unifies and closes the circle of powers. Without me Lanca is vulnerable, with
me she is not.”

“What happened?” Lisabelle’s
voice rang down the dark hallway. There, waiting outside our room, were an
angry darkness mage, a werewolf girl with flashing purple eyes, and a very
confused dream giver.

My friends were all dressed
beautifully. Lanca had apparently intervened to make sure that the loss of our
luggage didn’t leave us unprepared for what was coming. Lisabelle wore layers
upon layers of black silk cascading down to the floor, while her shoulders were
covered in a fine black lace overlay. Her dark eyes were filled with worry.

Sip wore a coat and dress pants
of brown with purple trim, while Lough wore a gray suit and blue tie; no one
but the vampires was allowed to wear red. Sip stood, twisting her hands in
front of her.

“Ah, Ms. Verlans, paranormal
grace forbid we have half an hour’s respite from your withering tongue,” said
Oliva.

“I’ll give you a respite from my
tongue,” Lisabelle warned, stepping forward and brandishing her fist.

“Oh, please,” Sip scoffed. “Stop
it. Look at them. Obviously something is very wrong.” She looked at Keller and
me in turn, her eyes filling with worry.

“I should go back to my own room
and shower,” said Keller. “There’s not much time. Besides, my aunt has probably
already informed my parents about what happened. I should face the music sooner
rather than later.”

I felt sad but didn’t want to
show it. Instead I squared my shoulders and turned to my friends. A light touch
on my shoulder brought me back to Keller.

“Hey,” he murmured. “Nice work.
We make a good team.” He gave me a small smile and I nodded, instantly feeling
better.

“See you soon,” I murmured.

“See you soon.”

Now I had to explain what had
happened all over again. Lisabelle barely gave me the chance to shower and slip
into the blue long-sleeved sweater dress that Lanca had found for me. The dress
fit perfectly. I had a suspicion Lanca had insisted that her own tailor make
sure of that. Once I was ready I joined everyone else. They had spent the five
minutes Lisabelle had allowed me to shower talking.

“We have to get to Lanca,” said
Lisabelle, rising from the couch. “Is that where Oliva went?”   

“Yes,” I said, smoothing a hand
down my dress. “He went to warn her that she should cancel the opening
ceremonies.”

“Fat chance that happens,” said
Sip wryly.

“What do you mean?” Lough asked.
“Her life is in danger.”

Dacer was about to say something
when there was a tap at the door.

I opened it to reveal Vital. His
black hair was pulled back and his face was pale, even for a vampire. He was
dressed soberly, in black pants, a black jacket, and a white shirt.

“We don’t want to see you, we
want to see Lanca,” Lisabelle called over my shoulder. “Be gone.”

Vital stepped out of the way.

Lanca stood behind him. Her eyes
met mine and I knew there was no talking her out of participating in the
opening ceremonies.

“Wow,” Sip breathed. “I’ve never
seen clothes so fine.”

She was not wearing black.
Instead, it was the first time I had ever seen a vampire wear white. I had the
uneasy feeling that she was dressed as a lamb to be sacrificed; I put the
thought aside ruthlessly. Her long black hair fell in ringlets around her
shoulders, framing her pale face.

“Are you okay?” I murmured to her
as I stepped aside to let her pass. She gave me a haunted look, but nodded. She
looked nauseated.

“We need to talk,” said Vital,
his jaw tight.

“You think?” Lisabelle asked.
Vital was a little surprised to see Dacer there, but he didn’t protest. It
looked like the two had already met; they merely nodded to each other.

“Professor Dacer,” said Lanca
warmly, extending her hands to the man whose job was to run the Museum of
Masks. “It’s a pleasure.”

Dacer inclined his head, a
gesture of the utmost respect among vampires. “The pleasure is mine.”

“We just spoke with Oliva,” said
Vital. His eyes were on fire and he couldn’t stop moving. His nervous energy
was making me nervous and Lanca must have felt the same, because on Vital’s
next move past the princess she reached out a hand and gently placed it on his
arm.

He came to a dead stop, but his eyes
continued to rove.

“I have to participate,” she said
quietly. “This is about me, after all.”

“It isn’t JUST about you,” Dacer
pointed out. “This is about all paranormals and the hierarchy of vampires. You
are at the center of a growing storm.”

“All of the darkness mages are
here. Every single one. The only one missing is Uncle Risper, and that’s
because he’s away on urgent business.” Lisabelle gave a crooked smile. His
business probably related to his double life as the thief, Elam.

“Even your parents?” I asked. I
had yet to meet Lisabelle’s parents. Her mother was reportedly very colorful
and flamboyant, maybe something like Dacer, while her father was much more
quiet and controlled.

“No,” said Lisabelle. “My parents
were supposed to come, but they thought better of it when they realized they
would be murdered. I thought it was a solid decision.”

“Lisabelle is only here because I
made it clear that she was not to be harmed,” Lanca explained, her voice soft.
“My reach only extends so far, however. As Faci’s behavior proves.”

“What does it mean that all the
other darkness mages are here?” I asked.

“It has never happened before,”
said Sip. “They never all congregate in one place, because they don’t trust
each other not to attack. So if all they’re all together now . . .” Sip
prompted. “That means what?”

“It means they’re unified,” said
Lisabelle grimly. “And they aren’t unified on the side of the paranormals.”

“They’re unified on the side of
darkness,” said Lanca. “Yes, that was clear from the beginning. President
Malle’s letter hinted at as much.”

“Malle?”

Lanca nodded. “Oh, did I not
mention? She’s here. She’ll be at opening ceremonies.”

It was like a bomb had gone off
in our living room.

Sip had a fit as only Sip could.
Lisabelle finally calmed her down.

“She’s a darkness mage,” said
Lisabelle, trying to calm her roommate down. “She was invited along with the
others.”

“Shouldn’t someone have kicked
her out?” Sip snapped. “What sort of an operation are they running?”

“Believe me, if I were running it
I’d be doing things very differently,” said Lisabelle. “As it is, she has come
for the coronation.”

“Insanity,” Sip sputtered. “If
only werewolves were running things.”

“We’d all be doing laps,” Lough
joked, referring to the werewolves’ love of all things running.

“Do all the paranormals know
she’s here?” I asked, thinking that, by the look on Dacer’s face, it might be
better if they didn’t.

“No,” said Lanca, brushing a
black strand of hair out of her face. “The agreement was that her presence
would be allowed if she made sure not to reveal herself.”

“Remind me why you allowed it,” I
said, shaking my head. This woman wanted me dead. Of course that was old hat
these days, but still.

“She allowed it because she’s
trying to stay alive,” Vital growled. “She can’t isolate herself from the power
players, and Malle controls the darkness. She’s a power player if ever there
was one.”

“We’re not getting anywhere,”
said Lanca with frustration. “I am going to the opening ceremony. That is the
end of the discussion.”

“I’ve had discussions,” Sip said.
“This was not that.”

“Does Lanca sound irritated to
you?” I asked Lough.

He shrugged. “She’s like
Lisabelle. Who can tell?”

It was the beginning of a long
evening.

The worst part of the ceremonies
turned out to be that Keller did not come. He had said he was going to shower
and meet us at the ceremonies, but then he hadn’t showed up. I had waited and
waited, searched for any feeling of him, but had only drawn a blank. Without
him there my shoulders had sunk lower and lower with each passing minute.

My friends had noticed my growing
agitation. I couldn’t hide it when it came to Keller, it was what made our
relationship so dangerous and what told me it was real. But by the end of the
night I couldn’t contain my fear that he wasn’t there.

Other than Keller never arriving,
nothing whatsoever out of the ordinary had happened. At least, nothing
dangerous to Lanca or any of the other paranormals who were there. The
ceremonies had gone off without a hitch. The visiting paranormals had been
welcomed to Locke and introduced, or re-introduced, to Princess Lanca, and that
was about it.

The hall at the top of Locke was
massive and circular. Stadium seating lined the walls as the roof was somehow
retracted (or made to disappear) to reveal an overcast night sky. Everything
was gray stone. The seats felt hard and cold, and my back rested against rock.

The ceremonies were the one time
in the vampire world that everything was about color. Sapphire, jade, mango,
blood, tangerine, gold, silver, maroon, crystal, everything was bathed in light
and color. All the shades bled and pooled, forming a rainbow of power, all of
which flowed in, around, and through Princess Lanca.

All around me I heard gasps of
appreciation. Even the pixies, who were famously unpleasant about everything,
cheered when Princess Lanca stepped out. She had many friends among the pixies.
She had been well liked at Public, and at least among the younger students she
was definitely respected.

As I watched Princess Lanca stand
to receive her greeting, I felt a pressure building in the room. My ears popped
and my head felt as if it were being pressed between two metal plates. As the
magic increased I wondered where President Malle was. I had looked and looked,
and from the turning of Sip’s and Lisabelle’s heads the whole evening I knew
they were doing the same.

The floor felt like it was
vibrating as the magic flowed over it, and I constantly pressed my feet down
harder.

The room was remarkably
segregated. Pixies sat with pixies, vampires with vampires. It was much like
our dining hall, except that the Public professors and committee members sat
together. I could see Keller’s aunt, Professor Erikson, as plain as day,
sitting in the very front. Her face was stony and her eyes were hard. She never
looked at me. I wondered where Keller’s parents were, but I didn’t could never
have picked them out in the sea of fallen angels even if I had known them well.

In the darkness there’s always a
spot of light, a crystal blazing in shadows, a sunbeam through sunset, but
there was no Keller. As we watched the vampire demonstration that was the
climax of the ceremony, we talked quietly among ourselves.

“He’s probably just tired,” said
Sip reassuringly, patting my arm. I sat between Lisabelle and Sip, while Lough
sat on Sip’s left. “You had to basically break out of a bank vault today.
That’s hard stuff.”

“Did you see Malle?” Lough asked
out of the side of his mouth.

“Nope,” said Lisabelle. “But I
saw Mound.”

“The one who writes in the Tabble
and hates me?” I asked, surprised. Of course he was there; all the paranormals
were there. But I had expected Mound to attack me for being a horrible
paranormal if we ended up in the same place. Instead, we had spent all evening
together and I hadn’t even known it.

“Yes, he’s sitting with the other
pixies, but he hasn’t looked this way. He keeps staring at Lanca.”

“He probably thinks she’s an
abomination too,” I said bitterly. “He’ll be writing about it in no time.”

As we walked back to our rooms
after the ceremony was over, I was tempted to go in search of Keller. But I
thought better of it. I had done that this morning and we had been kidnapped,
and whoever had captured us was still out there. I felt sure he would seek me
out before bedtime.

“Had to get away from Daisy,”
said Dobrov, who had joined us as we walked. “She’s making friends with
Camilla. Two crazies do not make a sensible paranormal.”

“Daisy might be crazy, but she’s
not stupid,” said Sip. “She’ll know you’re avoiding her.”

“I don’t care,” said Dobrov,
giving a curt nod. “She knows who would win in a fight.”

I looked at Dobrov in surprise.
Underneath his shy and beaten down exterior there was a steel backbone. He fell
into step next to me, while Lough walked behind with Lisabelle and Sip led the
way.