Elemental Fate (Paranormal Public Book 12) (20 page)

Hannah didn’t appear to hear me, but she had an advantage over the slow-moving Burble twin: she had dust. Her ring was up the hill, but she was throwing dust everywhere. Clouds of it were puffing up in the air, somehow drawing the ring upward and then back down, and she was moving much faster than the Burble twin. He too appeared to be trying some sort of string magic, but he was failing miserably.

In short order, Hannah’s ring came flying back to her. She had destroyed the Burble twin. Greek was next, then Averett, then me. Greek was going against the icy blond on the Razorhawks. She too was a fallen angel, so they would be on a more equal footing. Neither should be able to surprise the other, or so I thought.

I watched the light play over the hill as the two fallen angels moved into place. The magic swirling around us was beautiful. I didn’t spend as much time appreciating it as I would have liked to, but in the heat of the moment, faced with the power of the fight, how could I?

Greek was already in motion. I had rarely seen him so clearly in a fighting situation. I was struck by the power in his legs and shoulders, and I knew I could never look like that. The Razorhawk fallen angel was trying, but she wasn’t coming close. Greek was helping the Lightmares catch the Razorhawks.

All of a sudden he was back with us, diving in the air with his arm outstretched. It took me a moment to realize that he was catching his ring in midair. He landed in a heap, almost in slow motion, a dark shadow circling around him and the grass bending away from him. Then, just as suddenly, Averett was going and there was no one standing in front of me.

Averett was matchless. I wasn’t sure if it was her relationship to Vital or some power all her own, but she destroyed the competition. As a vampire, she used her own mist to get the ring back faster than the competition. Other vampires were trying to keep up, but she was too good.

There were no Lightmares in front of me now, and I was finding it hard to breathe. As I watched Averett, I could barely see the scoreboard in the dim background. When my teammate got back first, we’d be tied with the Razorhawks for first place, which meant that winning this Cornerstone was, in the end, all on me.

As with most stressful experiences in my life, I felt sick and I was tempted to run. The fact that my teammates were counting on me, as evidenced by the screams and encouragement that filled the air, only made the pressure worse.

Averett slammed past me, a blur of darkness and sheer power. I saw her wild breathing and her calm eyes.

My turn.

I had planned for this moment. When my ring was sent up the hill, gently rolling through the grass, I was going to use the wind to return it to me just as I fell backwards over the finish line. The sick feeling that had come over me when I realized my turn was near was still growing, and taking my ring off had intensified it. I forced my mind back to my plan and concentrated on the wind and the black mass I had removed from my hand.

Then the realization overtook me: I was winning. As an elemental, I didn’t have any direct competition, and given that the idea for this race had come from my own team, this event was made for me like it was made for no one else. As my ring started to roll back toward me, I saw strange shapes moving. Then I saw them solidify. They were crawling through the center of the hill, and as it happened, mine was the only ring that had gone past the spot where they walked.

Three hellhounds had joined the final Cornerstone. Suddenly the air was filled with screaming for a very different reason from before.

The Lightmares won. Hellhounds had appeared in the middle of the field and terrified all the competitors but me, so we had waltzed to victory. In the confusion, Averett had to scream at me to step back over the line. She couldn’t touch me, and I wasn’t moving, so taken by surprise was I by the appearance of hellhounds.

I wasn’t sure whether hellhounds coming to help was a way to get the attention of the Hunters, but I had tried.

Afterwards, during the celebration, the Lightmares all congratulated each other, even Hannah and crew. But it wasn’t long before I found out just how angry the other students were.

Huky Burble stormed up to me, her eyes flaming.

“How dare you cheat!” she cried. “I’m going to take this to the president.”

“He saw it and declared us the winners,” Greek replied calmly. “I don’t think you have a leg to stand on.”

She stamped her foot and screamed in frustration.

“I didn’t call hellhounds,” I said. I hadn’t.

“Then why’d they help you! They were outside Astra last semester! We all saw them,” she said, still screaming.

Before I could say any more, Keegan poked me in the ribs. Keeping an eye on the angry Burble, I turned around to look at him just as he whispered in my ear, “Lisabelle.”

Realization hit me full force, like all the winds of my magic. She had ordered the hellhounds to help. I gave Huky a bright smile.

“Sorry,” I said. “Fair’s fair. We win.”

The next night we met again in Keegan’s tree house. He’d spent every spare moment working on it, hoping that if he worked hard enough he could foolproof it against any invaders, whether Hunters or Darkness or something in between. Eighellie and I, tired of not having him around, had gone to join him for the evening, with promises that we would do a better job of watching out for Professor Heather than we had the last time we were out at night.

We hung out there for most of the evening, discussing classes, fellow students, and sometimes even stories from our past. Later, when we climbed down the ladder, we found Torace standing still and looking like he’d seen a ghost, except that in the context of Public that should have been neither scary nor surprising.

“What are you doing?” Keegan hissed at him. “How did you know I was here?”

“I followed you,” said Torace. “I wander around at night sometimes when the vampires won’t see, and I followed you.”

Keegan looked flummoxed.

“Why?” he demanded.

Torace kicked the ground. “You guys seem cool.”

“We aren’t,” said Eighellie.

“Speak for yourself,” said Keegan.

“I wanted to make friends,” said Torace.

“Stalking people isn’t a good way to start,” Eighellie pointed out.

“I know,” said Torace. “That’s why I didn’t say anything.”

Eighellie pulled back a bit and rolled her eyes.

“What did you want?” I asked.

“I wanted you to know that the pond is glowing,” said Torace. “Like I said, I wander around at night, so I see lots of stuff that other students don’t. They think sleeping is more interesting, but it isn’t.”

“I never thought sleeping was interesting, more like necessary and wonderful,” Keegan muttered.

I decided to go with Torace to the pond, while Eighellie went back to Airlee. Keegan turned around at the last minute and went back up the ladder, deciding to stay in the treehouse for the night. He wasn’t a very big fan of Torace in the first place, and I was pretty sure he was angry that Torace knew where the treehouse was. I also suspected that once he had seen how nice Lisabelle’s message looked on the wall, he was excited to add other “art” to the decorations. Staying alone on into the night was a perfect chance to do that.

Torace talked all the way to the pond. He told me about his family and how proud they were that he was attending Public. They all loved elementals, he wanted me to know, and they thought that all darkness contained some light. They wanted him to do some good in the world, and he really hoped he wasn’t annoying me. Through gritted teeth I told him he wasn’t, and gave him a pat on the back.

“Just over here,” he said as we neared the pond, as if I didn’t know where it was. His pale skin reflected the moon and made him look almost ghostlike on the quiet grounds, and when we rounded the last house and the pond was in view he let out a strange noise. It was a little eerie, and anyhow I wasn’t thrilled to be out there in case Fallgrabber or Professor Heather was patrolling. I saw neither of them, but I was so busy looking for other paranormals that I at first I missed the fact that Torace had stopped walking for a split second. When I looked at him, and then at the pond, I realized what was wrong immediately.

“Oh, sorry,” he said. “I guess . . . I don’t know.” The pond wasn’t lit up after all, it was dark like the rest of the landscape. I wasn’t too disappointed; I hadn’t been sure I believed Torace’s story in the first place.

“It’s okay,” I said. “Let’s both go home, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” he said, hanging his head. “Sorry about that. I was trying to help.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said. There was no way the pond had been lit up. It had sounded silly from the beginning. “No harm done.”

The semester was basically over. The last Cornerstone had been a resounding success, and despite lots of accusations of cheating, our team had won. The Razorhawks had challenged us to a runoff, but President Valedication had declared that time had run out. It was on one of our last mornings at Public before the summer break that everything changed.

Ever since that night at the treehouse, Torace had taken to waving at me, Eighellie, or Keegan whenever he saw us.

“Honestly, why do these students keep thinking we’re friends?” said Keegan.

“I certainly can’t think of a reason,” said Eighellie.

I had gotten accustomed to the fact that the Tabble sometimes printed ridiculous information, but by the end of the semester I thought it could no longer blindside me.

I was wrong.

One day at the end of the semester I came in to breakfast early after not being able to sleep. An unease had settled in my stomach and shoulders, and I was hoping to get rid of it. But when I sat down to read, I was totally unprepared for what I was about to learn.

Death Notice:

It is with profound sadness that we bring you the latest news.

President Sipythia Quest has died. President Quest took over in a tumultuous time for the paranormals. After the Nocturn War was her official start date as president, but long before that she had worked with the Sign of Six to right the wrongs of darkness.

Therefore, it is with deep misgivings that we question her choices in maintaining her closest friendships.

Still, today is not for that. Today is to mourn the loss of a leader, one who sometimes erred, but always believed she was right.

President Quest is survived by five brothers and her parents, as well as various aunts, uncles, and cousins. A state service will be held for her at Paranormal Public in conjunction with the swearing-in ceremony for new professors.

President Quest left no will. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Paranormal Public Emergency Relief Fund.

My jaw worked, but nothing came out. I couldn’t breathe. I was reading the announcement even while I was convinced that it couldn’t possibly be true. It had to be some kind of nasty joke. Maybe a decoy or a prank.

It hadn’t been written by the Tabble staff, merely reprinted by them. It had been written by the government to announce the death of my sister’s best friend. I felt the world tilting, and I wondered how any other paranormal remained upright.

My thoughts ran the gamut, but kept coming back to Lisabelle. What would she do now?

“I’m sorry,” Keegan said, resting a warm hand on my shoulder. I could feel murmurs throughout the dining hall, and some students were even crying. Others sat quietly, and many faces were closed off. I imagined that those were supporters of Judge Yeast. My eyes flicked to Dobrov, who sat unmoving. Trafton was much the same, except that when my eyes met his he didn’t look away. Instead he slowly stood up and walked over to Dobrov, bending down to say something to the hybrid. Dobrov’s expression didn’t change, but I could tell that what Trafton was saying was important.

“I can’t believe they found out she died and aren’t giving us any information,” said Keegan. “The least they could do is say when.”

I stood up and slowly gathered my tray. I was aware that many of the students in the hall were turning to look at me, but I wasn’t paying them any heed. Charlotte was at home, and I hoped that’s where she had found out about this. I hoped that Lisabelle had told her first. I just wished I had been there.

“Want us to come with you?” Eighellie asked, but I shook my head. This was something I needed to do alone.

“We’ll see you at Astra,” said Keegan.

I knocked on the door to the cottage, but there was no answer. I knocked again, and then I knocked one more time. When there was still no answer, I went around to look in one of the windows, but the curtains were drawn and it didn’t look like there were any lights on.

“She’s not here,” said a voice behind me.

I turned around to find Trafton. He must have finished his conversation with Dobrov and followed right behind me.

“I can see that,” I said. “Where is she?”

Trafton shrugged. “She left. Dobrov said he was taking over her class for the rest of the semester. This was something that was planned, so I would have thought that she had told you.” He was looking at me hard, like I should realize something that I was too dense to know.

“She wouldn’t leave without telling me,” I said.

“Sure she would,” said Trafton. When I started to argue, the dream giver cut me off. “You seem to have forgotten how important you and she are to the paranormals as a whole. Just because you enacted the Power of Five and the Nocturns are defeated doesn’t mean that elementals are in great supply.”

“What does that have to do with this?” I demanded.

“Look, Ricky,” said Trafton, “the fact that the general paranormal population may be confused about how important elementals are does not mean that all paranormals are confused. The Hunters certainly aren’t.”

“Sip was important too,” I said quietly. “Charlotte knows, right?” I had the horrible thought that she didn’t. When Trafton had first appeared, what went through my mind was that Charlotte had known that Sip was dead and there’d be a big processional here and she’d left anyway. But now I wasn’t so sure.

“She knows,” said Trafton. “And she had her reasons. That, at least, I would think you can appreciate.”

“Wait,” I gasped. “It’s time . . . that’s why she left?” Vaguely, I now remembered Charlotte saying something to me about not finishing out the semester because of timing, but in my selfishness I had brushed it off. Trafton nodded. Oh, boy. Or girl.