Elemental Shining (Paranormal Public Series) Page 23

  “Aurum,” I said. I had already said goodbye to Mrs. Swan. She had given me a sad look and told me she wished it had been different, but she knew I would be fine. I almost told her where I had hidden the mirror, in case something happened to me, but I would save it and tell Lisabelle when she met us in the library, just as Lough and I had done for her only a couple of nights before. Now the rest of my day would be spent with Keller—in his room.

  Once we got there, I relaxed onto his bed.

  “Are you really going to try Power of Five?” he asked, leaning against his desk.

  “Yes,” I nodded, looking up at the ceiling. “We have to.”

  “Maybe the demons won’t come.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Of course they will come. No one has seen them all week, but we all know it’s not because they aren’t there, it’s because they’re waiting for me. Dove has given me a death sentence.”

  “It’s not just Dove,” said Keller quietly.

  I met his blue eyes with my gray ones and tried to smile. “You’re right. It’s all of them. I know it’s your aunt too. I’m sorry.”

  He shook his head. “I tried to ask her about it once. How they could possibly send you outside the protections with no senior paranormals protecting you like they do when you go visit Ricky. She just ignored me.”

  “Ricky!” I sat up with a start. “I meant to email him before I left! Can I use your computer?” Keller was already handing it to me.

  For a few minutes I stared at a blank screen while Keller started reading one of his textbooks, wondering what on earth to say to a brother I might never see again, and more to the point, who might never see me again. I had already asked Sip, if anything happened to me now or later, to go to Ricky and tell him everything, especially that I loved him, and to make sure he was safe. She had told me it would never come to that, but I wasn’t so sure.

  “Dear Ricky,” I wrote,

  “How are you? It’s cold here, not surprising since it’s almost December and finals are starting. I can’t wait for the semester to end, so I can come visit you. I miss you so, so much. Thanks for sending me the information about those video games. Very subtle. You almost pulled off making me not notice that that’s what you want for Christmas. But not quite.

  “I was going to tell you this over Christmas, but I can’t wait that long. I will just tell you now. Don’t be mad that I didn’t tell you before. I was just waiting for the right moment. You know how you told me I wasn’t allowed to have a boyfriend or anything? Well, I kind of have one. His name is Keller and he’s amazing. He makes me happy and I know you will like him. I’m not sure when you two will be able to meet, but hopefully it will be soon. He’s a year older than me and has dark hair and blue eyes. Very cute. Yes, I know, mushy, but some day you are going to risk cooties from a girl, because you like her that much. Well, that’s how I feel about Keller.

  “Anyway, I have to get back to studying. Big test tomorrow. I miss you and I love you and I can’t wait to see you soon. I hope you have something fun planned for us over Christmas break. Hot chocolate better be involved.

  “Love, Charlotte”

  Without realizing it, I swiped at a tear trickling down my cheek. This might be the last time Ricky ever heard from me and I was leaving it talking about hot chocolate? I sighed and carefully put my pen down. I was a terrible big sister, but there was nothing I could do about it now. In just a few hours I would walk into the woods and face the demons.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Finally, the night of our Tactical arrived. Every other team had come out of the woods with barely a scratch, and the scratches hadn’t been from encounters with demons but just from hanging around in the forest all night. Not one paranormal had seen a demon. I hoped my team would be so lucky, but I knew we wouldn’t. We were assigned a week night, and we would be alone. Dobrov, Ulrik, Lough, Vanni, and I were going outside the force field.

  “This still makes me furious,” said Lisabelle, pacing back and forth. My friends had gathered in the library to see me off. They were the only ones. There was not another student in sight.

  “She’s going to be fine,” said Sip in a voice that said she didn’t really believe it.

  “I’ll protect her,” said Lough, his cheeks rosy.

  “Now I know she’s doomed,” said Trafton.

  “Watch it, blondie,” said Lisabelle.

  Lough beamed at her.

  “I’m surprised there aren’t at least pixies here to jeer you off,” said Sip thoughtfully, glancing around at the silent room, which was filled with nothing but stacks of books.

  “They can’t even be bothered to watch me die,” I said.

  “Students turned out every other night,” said Vanni. “I can’t believe there’s no one here.”

  She had packed a suitcase of stuff that Professor Erikson had instantly ordered her to leave behind. Now her eyes were watery as she waited alone to walk into the woods.

  Our small group, my friends, teammates, and the deans, headed out of the library. The shiny gold banner was in contrast to our dark hearts.

  We walked silently over the path toward the gate and the woods. I was in back, Sip and Lisabelle flanked me, and Keller walked in front. Not even our footsteps made noise. There was no wind and I heard no birds calling. As we walked I didn’t look to my left or right. I knew the campus by heart: the library, with its rainbow windows, and the buildings of stone and houses painted every color. Now the whole campus was draped in shadow and cold. It was still the most beautiful place in the world.

  When we were almost there I heard gasps from Vanni and Ulrik, who were walking ahead of us.

  “What is it?” Sip asked, getting up on her tiptoes. But she didn’t have to ask. We could see. There, on the lawn in front of the woods, was the entire student body of Public minus most of the pixies, not making a sound. All eyes turned to us. Some bowed their heads, saying goodbye.

  The professors stood by the gate as usual, hands clasped in front of themselves. Professor Korba had to float in the air to be as tall as Zervos. The vampire’s eyes were unreadable.

  “Maybe not so alone,” Lough murmured. I gave a trembling smile and kept walking. No one said anything. No one had to. I guess Mound hadn’t gotten to as many paranormals as I had thought.

  I hugged each of my friends in turn. Keller and I had already said our private goodbyes. Then, taking a deep breath, I went with Lough to join my teammates as we walked to the very edge of the woods.

  I gave one last look back at the waves of my fellow paranormals, before they disappeared out of view.

  Now I was truly alone.

  The woods were dark and thick. The shadows made the trees look like giants stretching until their limbs were all entangled. Gnarled branches completed the haunted house effect, even blotting out the bright white light the moon would normally cast. We walked in darkness.

  Months had passed since I had ventured into the woods. I hadn’t come through that way when I returned to Public from my summer visit home, and I was surprised at how much dense brush covered the earth floor, softening our footsteps. The pine needles and dead leaves were a small blessing, since anything we could do to disguise our presence was good.

  We made slow progress, moving in a single file line. Lough went first, pushing branches out of our path. Ulrik followed close behind, chopping at anything that snapped back in our faces. After that was Vanni, still muttering about losing her large suitcase. Professor Erikson had informed her that she didn’t need to pack for the overnight stay; it wasn’t a social visit and under no circumstances did she need to take a curling iron with her. Vanni was so embarrassed she had cried, but I was the only one who had noticed. I almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

  I followed Vanni, while behind us was Dobrov. He had showed up to the library with nothing at all. His sister was with him, staring daggers at all of us. I hadn’t realized how much she cared about her brother, but now I knew that her anger was simply because she was wo
rried about him. Every paranormal, not excluding Daisy, thought that the students who were stuck with me were incredibly unlucky. I was inclined to agree with them.

  “Why is it so dark?” Vanni moaned, once we had been walking for a while. There was no set place for us to stop, we were just looking for somewhere that that seemed safe to wait until the light of day led us home.

  “Because, you see, the earth spins and the sun goes down,” Ulrik said nastily over his shoulder. Vanni bit her lip.

  “The trees are extra thick tonight.” Dobrov’s ghostly voice, so seldom heard, floated behind us. “Either that or it’s the demons.”

  I glanced up sharply. He was right. Overhead the branches were so thick we couldn’t see the stars or moon. Maybe it was because we were looking at a blanket of demons, just waiting for their chance.

  “It’s only a matter of time,” said Ulrik. “They want the elemental dead.”

  “We won’t let that happen,” said Lough stoutly, still leading the way. Ulrik gave a snort. I hoped it was in agreement, but I didn’t think it was. Ulrik would have no problem giving me over to the demons if it meant sparing his own life, of that I was sure. But I was equally sure that the demons wouldn’t hesitate to kill him.

  “We have to find cover,” said Lough, looking from left to right and back again. “We can’t be wasting time like this.”

  “What does cover look like?” Vanni asked, craning her neck around just as Lough was.

  “We want a wall at our back if at all possible,” said Lough. “A rockface would be ideal. When the demons attack we want to have to defend from as few sides as possible.”

  “Oh, good thinking,” said Vanni in a small voice. She appeared to shrink in on herself, her eyes wide and staring. “This is worse than I thought it would be.”

  “Not yet it isn’t,” said Dobrov grimly.

  “Since when do you talk?” Ulrik demanded. Dobrov didn’t say anything.

  “Shut up,” said Lough. “This isn’t helping.”

  We walked on for a little while longer, until I saw the outline of rock ahead and on our right. Sip and Lisabelle had said there was a rock formation somewhere in the woods, which they thought was probably the safest place for us to wait out the night. But I hadn’t thought we would find it.

  “Over there,” I said, pointing to the right.

  “I see it,” said Lough, changing course. He made a beeline for the rocks.

  “Oh good, now our chances of dying have sunk to eighty percent,” said Ulrik dryly.

  “We’re going to get out of this,” said Dobrov. “We will.”

  “You think because we should be able to enact the Power of Five that we will enact it?” Ulrik asked harshly. “You’re dreaming. Adult paranormals couldn’t just up and enact it in their day. We’re a bunch of Starters and those two.”

  He jerked his thumb at Lough and me. Most paranormals looked down on dream givers; they always had. It sounded like such a dreamy power to have, and I, as an elemental, was an unknown quantity. Ulrik had no faith in our abilities.

  “You weren’t here last semester when Charlotte reinforced the force field,” said Lough proudly. “Or when she put out the fire in The Tower. I had the best view of all the students. You should have seen her.”

  Lough chuckled and I grinned, glad that my friend could laugh about it now, when not too long ago he had almost died in that fire I put out.

  “Lisabelle helped,” I said, not wanting to take all the credit.

  “Oh, and that’s another thing. You’re friends with that crazy darkness mage. I mean, can you get any weirder than she is?”

  Lough stopped and turned around so fast I barely registered what he was doing before he had slammed Ulrik up against a tree, his elbow pressing the pixie’s throat.

  “Take it back,” said Lough quietly. His eyes were black pools of fury in the darkness. All around me I suddenly felt the woods waken, like this sudden show of strength had called to something deep, powerful, and dark lurking amid the trees.

  “Stop it!” I cried, pushing up next to Lough and grabbing his arm. Under his shirt and jacket his muscle bulged and I wondered when Lough had found the time to start working out and how I hadn’t noticed.

  He saw the surprise in my eyes and snorted. “My parents have a farm. I’ve been hauling stuff for years. Don’t let these red cheeks fool you.” The joke lightened the mood a little and he let the struggling Ulrik breath again.

  Ulrik fell to his knees and started coughing, clutching at his throat as Lough stood over him.

  “And don’t think that’s all I can do,” Lough told him grimly. “Everyone might think that dream giving is a joke, but I can make you dread sleeping like it’s a high school math exam.”

  “You never got Lisabelle to help you work on insults and comebacks, huh?” I asked him, grinning.

  He shook his head. “Why waste my good stuff on filth like him? And no, she’s always with you.”

  I felt a little bad. When I was with Keller my friends were usually studying or sleeping, and Sip was always there, so Lough didn’t have many opportunities to be alone with Lisabelle. I was a little surprised that he wanted to be, given how his face blimped out like a balloon and he got all nervous whenever he was near her.

  “Can we PLEASE get to the formation now?” Vanni wailed. She had started to tug on her long strands of blond hair, pulling out the curls I was sure she had so meticulously added before we headed into the woods.

  “Sure,” said Lough. “If Ulrik is up to it.” The pixie gave Lough a venomous glare and staggered to his feet. He lurched ahead of us, not pausing to look over his shoulder.

  Lough led the way again. “Should we have light?” he asked me.

  I shook my head. “That will only bring them faster. As of now they probably don’t know we’re here. Yet.”

  “Are you dampening your trace?” Dobrov asked. “So that they take longer to figure out that the elemental is in the woods?”

  “I’m trying,” I said. “But it’s not easy.”

  “Nothing important usually is,” said Dobrov philosophically.

  “Hey, save the life lessons for when we get out of here alive,” said Ulrik.

  “For once we agree,” said Vanni, sighing as we reached the rock. She wrapped her arms around it like it was an old friend. “Now what?”

  “Now,” said Lough, “we try to mask Charlotte as much as possible. After that we set up camp and wait.”

  “The demons will come to us,” said Dobrov. “They search the woods. They have been all semester. Once we’ve camp set up we should try to enact the Power.”

  Vanni was shaking so badly she had to sit down. Ulrik, still angry from Lough’s stranglehold, stalked to his pack, pulled out a blanket, and with surprising tenderness wrapped it around Vanni’s shoulders. She gave him a haunted smile and continued to rock back and forth.

  “Alright, Charlotte,” said Lough. “Let’s get to work.”

  Without another word, he and I sat down facing each other. For a long time we had talked about this and about what we would have to do to keep safe. We had even practiced it in the Long Building. Now we had to do it for real.

  Lough took my hands and closed his eyes. Instantly I felt his power flow around him. He was going to create a dream state, in an effort to confuse the demons. If we thought we were somewhere else, say a beach somewhere warm, the demons might get mixed signals and think we were somewhere else as well.

  For my part I had to try and dampen my magic. The only way to shield myself—without help—was by stopping my magic altogether. I now saw why the deans had ordered me not to use my magic this semester. They had tried to prepare me for this moment.

  They had tried to prepare me for the moment my life would depend on how well I could hide in plain sight.

  When I visited my brother I had senior mages with charms and powers cast around me, but here I had only what Lough and I could devise.

  I sank deep into my power, channeling
my energies through my ring. I could feel it blazing, but I didn’t care; I knew Dobrov would do what he could to shield the light. There was no reason to worry about what Lough was doing. My friend was a very competent dream giver.

  Joining my magic always felt like coming home. My mother had told me it would be like that, and she had smiled when she said it. I was smiling now.

  Inside me there was a bright pool of light. Unlike when I had first called to my magic, the lights now had different colored streaks in them, as all parts of my power as an elemental—earth, air, fire, and water—came together. At first I had just seen blue, but that was changing. Carefully, I dampened the brightness that was my power, using my ring to order it to retreat. My magic fought me. The last thing it wanted to do was lie dormant while I was in danger, but I knew that masking my power was the only way to handle this situation. I could still call it if necessary, but in the meantime a strong blaze of elemental power was sure to attract the demons. After a short time of adjustment, I felt sure that my powers had subsided and were no longer right on the surface. But they were near at hand, waiting for my ring to call.

  It was as if I was looking down into the bottom of a volcano and I had ordered the lava back to its fiery pit. I knew it was still there, bubbling and bursting, and at some point it would rise up and overflow its container, but at the moment it was so deep down that all there was, was a dark and cavernous emptiness where my essence had been.

  This better be worth it.

  I opened my eyes.

  I had a pounding headache and I felt cold. The fire inside me acted as an internal heater, but I had had to turn it off, leaving nothing but skin, bones, and fear.

  “Are you okay?” Lough rasped. He looked how I felt: terrible. Behind him I saw a spiral of lights as the air moved in dark patterns. Fear shot through me. Gasping, I tried to stand, but my legs were useless.

  “It’s okay,” said Dobrov, his hands resting on my shoulders and holding me down. Through the corners of my eyes I could see his abused skin. Worse, I could smell rotting. I fought the urge to gag.