Elemental Omen (Paranormal Public Book 10) Read online

  I stared at his back as he walked away swinging a black cane with a gold crown. I had no idea what he meant, and he obviously had no intention of explaining. With a frustrated shake of my head I fell into step next to Bertrum, who was not the last paranormal I wanted to speak with, but close.

  We walked in silence. The theater looked like a big, sort of fancy Victorian house, painted blue and white. People were milling around in front, many of the women in summer dresses or just jeans, most carrying bags and cardigans. This was clearly a casual affair.

  Dacer waved our tickets in the air and we entered the theater to find our seats. A nice girl named Beth showed us to the right row, but as we sat down I couldn’t quite contain a yawn. This was not my idea of a fun way to spend an evening, except that I was with Charlotte.

  We had arrived just before the play was set to start, and all I had time for was a quick glance around the balcony and the seats behind us. The place looked full, with the soft glow of the lights from the stage shining dully onto everyone’s faces. I sighed and settled in. This was going to be a very long and boring evening. It was nice of Lisabelle not to be seen with Sip, but seriously, the idea that she could sit through half this performance, let alone the whole thing, without burning the place down was hilarious.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  We left the theater in silence at the end of the play, filing out slowly as the mass of people made their way out of the hot building and into the cool night air. The sky was crisp and clear black. Charlotte kept yawning, and I liked to think that everyone else was quiet because they were just as bored and appalled as I was. By rights I should also have been tired, but I was alert and wide awake.

  I had told myself that they had no good reason to bring me to an event like this, but it became clear once we were out of the building exactly what the point was. Waiting outside for us just past the entrance was a massive figure. At first I didn’t recognize him, but then I realized who he was.

  “Rake!” I cried with joy, hurrying forward. The burly vampire’s face broke into a smile. He was wearing a cloak and the insignia of the government, which was new since I had seen him.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, shaking his hand. He was cold to the touch, but that was normal for a vampire.

  “I came to see you, actually,” he said.

  “Oh, you’re trying to convince me too,” I muttered, feeling let down that my friend had come with an ulterior motive. I told myself that at least he was being up front about it. They all wanted me to stay, but I knew in my heart of hearts that I had to go. I just hadn’t imagined how hard it was going to be to resist all of them together. It was getting harder by the hour. “Great,” I thought. “Just great.”

  “Want to take a walk?” Rake asked, ignoring my question and my disgruntled expression.

  “I’ve been walking a lot lately,” I muttered. “What’s a little more?”

  “That’s the spirit!” Rake laughed as the rest of them caught up to us.

  “Rake, how are things?” Sip asked. As usual when Sip spoke, I felt like she was talking about more than she was really saying. Despite her light tone, she wasn’t asking about something like the weather, she was asking about the weight of the paranormal world that she kept trying to carry on her slender shoulders.

  “They’re good, considering,” said Rake. “The men needed the night off. This was perfect timing.”

  “Rake, good to see you,” said Dacer, striding up. “I hear nothing but good things.”

  Rake smiled. “Thanks. Okay if Ricky and I go hang for a bit?” he asked, turning to my sister.

  “Sure,” said Charlotte. When she saw my shoulders start to rise she added, “It’s not as if he needs my permission.”

  “No, of course he doesn’t,” said Rake quickly. “I’ll have him back in plenty of time to get his beauty rest before the trial.”

  “Yeah, we wouldn’t want him to be any less pretty. He might have to rely on hard work and brains, and wouldn’t that be awful?” Sip drawled.

  “You get more and more sarcastic every time you see Lisabelle,” Dacer lamented.

  Sip grinned. “I try to practice, but I can’t ever keep up with her.”

  “That’s terrible,” said Dacer with a slight smile. He waved goodbye and headed for the chariot that had brought us.

  Charlotte gave me a hug and then turned to Rake. “I know, I know,” he held up his hands. “We’re just going to observe.”

  “Very well,” she said, nodding once before smiling at me. “See you in the morning.”

  “Don’t wait up,” I told her.

  “Of course not,” she said. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  “Where are we going?” I asked, turning to Rake with an excited step. Rake wasn’t as familiar to me as the other powerful paranormals who had gone to school with my sister, and the advantage of that was that I had less of the “Oh, it’s my friends’ baby brother” vibe to put up with.

  “Keegan, or Keegie, Webber’s house,” said Rake. “It’s going to be an adventure.”

  I nodded. “Are we taking brooms?”

  “Um, no,” said Rake. “I’d rather name my first born after Lisabelle.”

  “That would be mean,” I said.

  “Yeah, well, so is me on a broom. I hate the things,” he said. I was glad he was saying so, because I wasn’t a fan of them either. Relief washed over me when he led me to a car. Sure, flying through the night sky was pretty and all, but so not worth the pain and suffering.

  “Perfect,” I grinned.

  The car was really a big black truck, and no one challenged Rake when he peeled out of the parking lot, because you’d have to be really stupid to challenge a guy who looked that big.

  “Who is Keegan Webber?” I asked.

  Rake sighed. “His family is on the fringe of paranormal power. By rights he’s part of the sixth dorm, and since Sip has declared that starting this year they’ll be part of Public, she wants me to look in on him and his family to make sure he’s going to enroll this year. He and his family have been harassed at times, and Sip is worried that they’ll just want to lie low.”

  “And she sends you? I thought you were an artifact hunter,” I said.

  “I do this on the side,” said Rake.

  I nodded to indicate I understood that Rake would do anything Sip needed doing, even if Sip didn’t realize that.

  “So, he’s what?” I asked. I didn’t know much about the sixth dorm of the paranormals, other than that they were the Paranormal Strange.

  “He’s half faery,” said Rake.

  “Who’s harassing him?” I asked.

  Rake sighed. “Bounty Hunters, townsfolk like pixies, and snotty fallen angels who think they’re better than he is.”

  “And why am I going along?” I asked.

  “I thought you might help me convince him,” said Rake. “He doesn’t think he’ll be very well protected at Public.”

  “What powers does he have?” I asked. “Public is probably the only place where he would be protected effectively.”

  “Well, that’s the rub,” said Rake. “Somewhere in his ancestry there must have been a very unique skill set. His abilities are rare and his family has many secrets.”

  “He sounds complicated,” I said.

  Rake nodded. “He thinks so too, which is why he doesn’t trust Public.”

  “I don’t see how I can help,” I said.

  “Just be yourself,” said Rake. “That isn’t too hard, is it?”

  We drove in silence for almost an hour. The night was thick around us, but I kind of enjoyed driving in the dark. The truck felt comfortable, and I watched the occasional light from scattered houses stretch past us in a blur. I didn’t really think I could be much help with this Keegan Webber, but I was willing to give it a shot. I liked Rake and I appreciated that he thought well enough of me to ask for my help. It was more than Charlotte and her friends had done. Besides, I was still going to leave once Camilla’s tr
ial was over.

  I rolled down the window and let the air hit my face, but that wasn’t my primary reason for doing it. The roadside had gradually gotten more forested, and I was trying to figure out exactly what it was I was seeing outside the window. “Are those bats?” I whispered. Hanging in the trees were hundreds if not thousands of small black creatures. They looked creepy.

  “Yup,” said Rake, who sounded more proud than concerned. “Lisabelle’s doing.”

  “She told bats to hang out in the trees?” I muttered, bringing my head back in the window.

  “Yeah,” said Rake. “Sip really wants there to be a Paranormal Strange dorm, but she knows she won’t be able to swing it without at least half a dozen students to live in it, and we can barely find half a dozen that are the right age. So Lisabelle’s having a watch kept over them.”

  “Because Bounty Hunters want them?” I asked, confused.

  “Right,” said Rake. “Anything Sip wants, Bounty Hunters also want. The Paranormal Strange support Sip, including Keegan Webber’s mom, who’s a big supporter of hers. If something happens to the Strange, Sip’s power base becomes even more precarious than it already is.”

  “Great,” I said. “That doesn’t sound bad at all.”

  “It isn’t good,” said Rake. “We’re stretched really thin. If Keegan goes to Public his parents will go somewhere safe, but he needs to decide on his own.”

  “And tonight is the decision night?” I asked. Public started in a week. I would have thought that he had already missed his chance to join.

  “Exactly,” said Rake. “The Strange have been given more time to decide. For fallen angels and the rest, it’s assumed that they’ll attend. Their parents wouldn’t tolerate anything else, because they’ve been raised to it. But that’s not true for the Strange.”

  Rake slowed down as the road narrowed. The trees were now hanging so close to the truck that branches had started to brush against the windows, giving me an even bigger impression of creepiness.

  Suddenly, a tall, willowy woman appeared in the road in front of us. She wore gold robes, which suggested a desire to be as visible as possible. With her white hair and yellow eyes I would have thought she was part cat, except that the paranormal cats I had met usually had purple eyes. Okay, there was just the one, but he was enough.

  She held up her hand and Rake came to a stop and rolled down his window. When she saw who was driving, she said with a smile, “Oh, it’s you. I was wondering why you were coming so late. Are you heading for the Webbers’?”

  Rake nodded. “I am. How are they doing?”

  She shrugged. “They’d be doing better if Bounty Hunters weren’t trying to kidnap their son. But since he can talk to dragons, I doubt his life will be easy regardless, so they might as well get used to it now.” Her words were harsher than her tone, but when her eyes flitted to me I found myself sinking back into the seat.

  “Who’s that?” She nodded to me, her sharp eyes taking me in.

  “He’s a friend,” said Rake. “I thought I’d bring him along.”

  The woman nodded but looked skeptical. “Keegan doesn’t take kindly to strangers.”

  “Or friends,” Rake smiled, and the woman smiled in return. “I figure when it’s a lose-lose I’ll do what I want.”

  “Fair point,” she said. “Go along then. But before you do . . .” And she leaned over and whispered something in Rake’s ear that I couldn’t hear.

  His face instantly clouded. “Did they say anything about Bright Eagle?” I had never heard of Bright Eagle, so I didn’t know what they were talking about, but when the woman shook her head, Rake relaxed a fraction and said, “Alright, keep your ears open. And thanks.”

  She gave him a mock salute and stepped aside to let us keep driving. The paved road was had given way to a dirt track filled with huge potholes, which Rake navigated as if he’d driven over that stretch of road many times.

  “Bright Eagle is Sip’s code name,” Rake explained before I could bring myself to ask. “One of them, anyway.”

  “There was a threat against her?” I asked.

  Rake shook his head. “No, those we take more seriously, and by that I mean anyone who threatens Sip gets a personal visit from me.” His jaw was clenched as he stared hard out the window.

  “I’m sure no one enjoys that,” I said.

  Rake shook his head. “That’s my goal. I have yet to fail to get my point across.” I had never heard the hard edge in Rake’s voice before, but there was no way I’d want to be on the receiving end of his wrath, as everyone who insulted or hurt Sip seemed to be.

  “How many threats against the government are there a week?” I asked.

  Rake sighed. “Hundreds, there are hundreds.”

  I sat back. I hadn’t realized it was that bad.

  We had driven in silence for only a couple of minutes before a series of ramshackle buildings appeared. They were all painted a sort of dark brown and green that blended so well into the surrounding countryside that at first I didn’t even see them. Only one type of paranormal lived in trees and used tree houses as camouflage.

  “These are tree sprites!” I gasped. “You didn’t say that! You said he was part faery!”

  “He’s also tree,” said Rake. “Half tree, actually.”

  “So, wait, are those their houses?” I asked. They weren’t on the ground, but they were lower than I would have expected.

  “They’re decoys,” said Rake. “The Bounty Hunters have been going after them pretty hard ever since they found out that Keegan could talk to dragons. We think it has something to do with his faery ancestry, but no one knows for sure. Even if they find this clearing, it’s likely the hunters will attack the houses first, giving the sprites a little notice and time to fight back.”

  “Lisabelle can also talk to dragons,” I said.

  Rake nodded sagely. “Which is why the Bounty Hunters go after Keegan.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  He parked the truck, and I stepped out and looked around. Now that we were up close, I could see the level of fine detail the Strange had put into camouflaging their whereabouts. A light burned in one of the houses and a curtain blew from an open window. Footprints pocked the dirt around each of the shacks. If Rake hadn’t prepared me, I would have had no idea that no one lived here.

  “They’ve really gone all out on this,” I whispered.

  Before Rake could answer, something hurtled down at us from above. Rake slammed me sideways, his giant body squeezing my ribs as we fell hard to the ground.

  “Ooof,” I muttered, feeling the crush of the massive vampire on top of me. “Ouch.”

  Rake was on his feet in a moment. “It’s me!” he bellowed. “Stop that!”

  “I’M NOT GOING TO NO STUPID PARANORMAL PUBLIC UNIVERSITY,” yelled a voice. “YOU AND MOM CAN’T MAKE ME! I WON’T DO IT!”

  Another fireball came hurtling down, like a massive flaming orange flying through the black sky. This time, safely out of Keegan’s range, I could see that it was a bottle filled with red liquid with a cloth sticking out of it. The entire thing exploded on the muddy ground.

  “KEEGAN WEBBER YOU STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!” came a woman’s shrill voice, but Keegan didn’t stop. Instead, two more lighted bottles came flying down.

  The next threat was more serious. “IF YOU DON’T STOP, RAKE WILL TELL THE DARKNESS PREMIER ON YOU, AND THEN YOU’LL HAVE TO ANSWER TO HER.”

  I imagined this Keegan character pausing to weigh how serious his mother was. I also wondered how often Lisabelle’s name was used as a threat against children.

  After a short pause, a pale face appeared high up in the trees. It wasn’t even one of the trees I’d been looking at.

  “Do you know Lisabelle?” asked a slightly breathless voice.

  “Ricky just came from spending a couple of days with her,” said Rake.

  The boy gave me a look of mistrust. “I don’t know no Ricky.”

  I dusted myself off. This w
ould probably have been a good time to introduce myself, but I wasn’t sure about the etiquette for paranormals who try to burn me alive before they’ve met me.

  Rake gave me a hard elbow to the ribs and I saw Keegan’s eyes turned to slits. Whether he was growing impatient or laughing I wasn’t sure.

  “Ricky Rollins,” I said through gritted teeth.

  Keegan’s jaw dropped and his face disappeared.

  “MOM! THERE’S AN ELEMENTAL HERE! MOM! THIS NIGHT JUST KEEPS GETTING WORSE AND WORSE.”

  “STOP LYING,” came the woman’s voice, but then, very close to where Keegan’s face had been, a woman’s face appeared. She had a tint of silver or gold to her skin and her eyes were brown, but she had the same jutting chin and long forehead as her son. Her eyes skidded over Rake and landed on me while I stood there awkwardly.

  “Who’s that?” she pointed her chin at me. The tree sprites’ mistrust of outsiders was palpable.

  “Ricky,” said Rake. “He’s Charlotte’s brother.”

  “The one who ran away?” her nose wrinkled. “Interesting. You’d better come up, then.” With that, she disappeared too.

  Rake started walking toward the tree where the faces had appeared, but before he got there a very odd-looking paranormal appeared and walked toward us. It took me a minute to realize that it was Keegan. He was wide and block-like, with silver flecks in the skin around the eyes, probably part of his faery heritage. His black hair grew in tufts, but there were patches missing. His hands were green.

  “We already had that elemental visiting,” he said, his voice gruff. “We don’t need another one. I don’t like outsiders.” He gave me a mulish look.

  “I can help reinforce your protections,” I said. “Top them up. Keep your mom safe.” I had no idea why I was offering such a thing, but the words were already out of my mouth so I resigned myself to having to back them up.

  Keegan instantly softened. “I heard about you,” he said. “You were this great big hope that only led to disappointment.”

  “Maybe you don’t know what you’re talking about,” I shot back.

  Keegan shrugged. “I know what I know.”