“What do you mean?” I said.
To be honest, I hadn’t really noticed. I had been too focused on cleaning up Featherton and trying not to throttle Palmer. So far I’d succeeded, but I wasn’t sure for how much longer that would be true. Hannah and the Burble siblings were also around and causing problems. Certainly it felt like a riled up campus to me.
Keegan shrugged. “I just thought it was unnaturally quiet. The Tabble didn’t have much to say either. Just a lot of boring drivel. When was the last time it was just a lot of boring drivel? I can tell you for certain that I don’t remember. I always check to see what’s going on in the world. Today, all the Tabble said was going on was a flower show in Boston.”
“It’s still winter. How can you have a flower show?” I asked.
He sat up straighter. “You think it was code for something actually interesting?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I suppose it could be, but I doubt it. There are normal people in the world doing normal things. Like having flower shows, I suppose. It’s just that those people are not us,” I said.
“And thank goodness for that. All that happiness in one place would be awful,” he said.
“Was there anything in the paper about Sip?” I said.
His face darkened. “You haven’t asked in a while.”
“I had kind of given up on there being any more news. Now I’ve decided I shouldn’t,” I explained.
“There was nothing in the paper about that. To be honest, I think a certain darkness mage scared them away from writing on that topic. They’re pretty certain that if they say the wrong thing they might get killed. Or worse. I would like to tell them they’re wrong, but I don’t actually think they are,” Keegan said.
“I guess you have that right,” I said.
“Do you think she knows something about Sip that we don’t?” he asked.
I went back to thinking about the dream giver for a moment. Then I nodded. “Yes.”
“Maybe if she told us, we could help her more easily,” he suggested.
“Maybe if I gouged your eyes out, then I would have gouged your eyes out,” said Lisabelle pleasantly, strolling into the study.
Chapter Twenty-One
She had made no sound entering the dorm. I wondered if my defenses even reacted to her at this point. I had tried to give her permission to enter at any time, but then again, she probably didn’t need it. If she wanted to enter Astra, she would enter Astra.
Tattoos crawled like snakes around her neck. I wondered if she cared about how they looked. Knowing her, she probably liked it. It probably worked in her favor in terms of intimidating anything and everyone.
Keegan, meanwhile, had thrown his game down and sat up as if he were sitting on a bed of nails. At one point he had found the darkness premier fascinating. He still did, but he had more respect for her now than he’d had before. When he hadn’t yet met her, he simply thought she was an impressive and evil being. Now he knew that she was both of those things and something else, something far more complicated.
But no less deadly.
“I like being able to see,” he told her matter-of-factly.
“Good for you. Tell me another thing I don’t care about at all,” she suggested.
“The trees . . .” He was breathing hard and he suddenly came to a halt. Lisabelle cocked her head to the side and a grin slithered over her face. It was then and there that I knew she was in a mood. We would have to tread carefully, or she would ensure that we stop treading at all.
Without Sip at hand to act as a loving and calming influence on Lisabelle, it felt like her worst instincts came to the fore. She was more volatile, more dangerous, more likely to kill you and then explain it away later. Had she ever felt regret?
Maybe I was being unfair to her.
Maybe I should treat her as more than a container of darkness.
“If you keep being difficult, we’re going to have problems. I started collecting knives, you know,” she said.
Maybe not.
“She really means that,” said Keegan indignantly.
“I have seen her knife collection,” I affirmed.
Lisabelle grinned and took one of the empty seats. Two large hellhounds had followed her inside. They took up stations at her feet.
“Why did you send for me? I appreciate that you tried to tell me your life wasn’t in danger in case I was busy. I was busy. I did manage to wash my hands of the blood before I came, though,” she said.
She glanced up, noticed the looks on our faces, and rolled her eyes. “I’m only kidding. Why are you two so sensitive?”
“We can ask a lot of questions about why the three of us are the way we are. It’s just a waste of time,” I told her dryly.
“There’s my dear little brother Ricky. I knew I missed you,” she said.
I knew she was lying. She didn’t miss anyone except Sip. And maybe Charlotte.
“We wanted to let you in on what’s been going on,” I said. “We’ve discovered some important information. I thought you should know as soon as possible. Also, this place is crawling with Hunters.”
“Of course it is. It was more a question of when they would infiltrate, not if,” she said, stretching out her long legs. “Hunters are going to stay here until they find the objects on the Counter Wheel. To be perfectly honest, they have no other option. I would feel better killing them all, but that’s against the rules,” she explained.
“Who needs rules when you don’t mind committing murder?” Keegan asked.
Lisabelle gave him a dark look. “Who said I didn’t mind?”
We were taken aback by that. “I guess I was wondering what you thought I should do?” I asked her.
“I think you should keep looking. I think you should be more careful than ever. I do not think that you should be alone. Ever. To be perfectly clear, I don’t even like you sleeping in a room by yourself. The Hunters are after the Counter Wheel, but they know perfectly well that they can wreak almost as much havoc and cause almost as much damage by getting to you and Charlotte. Maybe me as well. But that’s about it. Look, they already got to Sip.”
I swallowed hard as I remembered Sip’s bright purple eyes and spiked blond hair. I figured that Lisabelle was remembering them as well.
“I’ll be fine,” I told her.
“Is that why you’ve been sneaking around campus at night? Is that why you broke into another type’s dorm?”
“I wasn’t alone. I also got the information we were looking for. That was information that we couldn’t have gotten anywhere else. You know that and I know that. Deep down you’re glad I did it,” I said.
Lisabelle gave me a look that I couldn’t read. “Let me be very clear about one thing, Ricky. I am never glad about anything that could upset Charlotte. She doesn’t like that you put your life at risk. She knows that you’re an adult now, but that only goes so far. Young as you may be, you’re still old enough that she doesn’t have a choice. We understand that. I understand that. It may surprise you to realize that I know what I’m asking of you. I’m only asking because I think you can handle it,” she said.
I had saved the best of my information for last, the part where Keegan and I had gone into the woods and been attacked, and I’d been saved by a certain dream giver. I had kept Lough’s appearance to myself in case it put him in danger, so that even Keegan didn’t know about him. I couldn’t very well tell him now, either, so Lisabelle would have to remain in the dark about that part of it as well.
“Is there anything else?” Two dark eyes bore into me.
“I think there are Hunters living in the woods. Keegan and I were attacked when we followed them,” I said.
Keegan glared at me. “You didn’t tell me you thought those were Hunters.”
“Of course I didn’t tell you. I wasn’t certain. I’m still not. It’s just the most likely explanation,” I said.
“I suppose,” he muttered, and lapsed back into his chair. The hellhounds turned t
o stare at him and he glared back at them. “What do you to think you’re looking at?”
They settled down again and closed their eyes.
I glanced at the darkness premier, the most powerful paranormal in the world. Her magic was legendary, her strength unmatchable, her dangerousness breathtaking. And at this very moment, when I looked at her all I thought she wanted was some ice cream and a friend.
“I have some stuff I have to deal with. I’m going to be busy. But if you find any more objects on the Wheel, I want you to tell me immediately,” she said.
Just then there was a knock on the front door. I went to open it, thinking that Eighellie might have returned.
But the person standing at the door was not Eighellie, or anyone else I might have expected.
Standing in front of me was Bertrum, President Quest’s former assistant. A long-suffering noodge, he had been devoted to Sip and devastated when he found her dead.
He looked a little better than he had right after Sip died, but he still didn’t look good.
“Hey,” I said.
“Ricky. I have news. I also thought you might be able to get in touch with that horrible Lisabelle,” he said.
He shivered and pushed past me. Normally I would have been annoyed, but he had been so frail since Sip died that I didn’t hold it against him.
“I can in fact get in touch with her,” I said, my brow puckering in a frown. Bertrum was agitated and clearly wanted to speak, so I just waited to see what he had to say.
“Good. That’s good. How long will it take you?” he asked.
“I suppose it’s your lucky night. Just head up into the fire lounge,” I told him.
He paled considerably. “Oh, good. Wonderful. Just what I needed tonight. She probably hangs out around Astra all the time, talking to fire like they’re friends.” He stormed past me and went into the lounge.
When I entered behind him, Keegan looked almost as petrified at having been left alone with Lisabelle as Bertrum did at encountering her unexpectedly. She hadn’t moved, but it didn’t matter. Dominance radiated from all parts of her. Every pore of her body was prepared to win a fight, probably because she had never done anything else.
“Bertrum, evening. I’m surprised to see you. And yet maybe I’m not,” said Lisabelle.
“Evening. I would like to say good to see you again, but in fact I think it’s terrible. If I had known you’d be here tonight I wouldn’t have come,” he said gruffly. He glared at the hellhounds instead of being afraid of them.
“I heard from the hallway that you wanted to speak with me,” she said.
“Yes, I wanted to show you this news release. I thought you should hear it from me. I also thought you should hear it as quickly as possible. I didn’t know anyone who could get in touch with you faster than Ricky. You certainly didn’t leave your contact details with the likes of me,” he said.
“And if I had, would you have appreciated it?” she asked. Her eyes had melted into fire. She might tolerate this man, but she did not like him.
Without a word he walked up to her and held something out.
Lisabelle read the piece of paper Bertrum handed her and crumpled it into a ball. The fire she had gone to stand near grew and changed, became something almost feral, licking from the grate, sparking swirls of embers.
I watched her face.
“It almost feels quaint,” Keegan whispered to me.
I glanced at the half tree sprite. “What does?”
“That we thought it couldn’t get worse,” he murmured.
Watching Lisabelle’s face right now, I knew that Keegan was right. Lisabelle might project one neutrally angry facial expression most of the time, but even we could tell that rage from the darkness premier was making the ancient dorm tremble.
Greedily the fire grew higher.
“An arrest warrant has been issued for Charlotte Rollins Erikson. It would seem that there was an elemental attack at Public. Genius investigators that the High Council and President Yeast employed determined that a student could not possibly have committed such an atrocity. Ricky Rollins is off the hook, but since the evidence clearly points to an elemental, that leaves just one.”
Lisabelle squared her shoulders as her eyes dulled to a terrifying point.
Then she turned those dull eyes my way.
“Tell me,” she said.
She was quiet as Keegan and I told Lisabelle the story of the Skeleton Tower attack from last semester. She knew the headlines, but this was the first time she’d heard the details. Maybe that event was what the note was referring to and maybe not, although it was hard for me to believe any other attacks could have taken place on campus that I wouldn’t have heard of. All the while Bertrum said nothing.
“Stupid,” she muttered to me. “I should have seen this coming. Sip being gone . . . all the distractions. I missed what was right in front of me.”
Keegan and exchanged looks. Neither of us knew what she was talking about. Knowing Lisabelle, we probably weren’t going to find out anytime soon, either.
Lisabelle’s eyes burned into me.
“You have to fight, Ricky. Every day. There’s no one else to fall back on. Sip tried to hold the line and look what happened.”
“Sip should still be here,” said Bertrum through gritted teeth.
Lisabelle ignored him, but if possible her expression went harder. “Charlotte isn’t going to be arrested. President Yeast decided to stop playing with fire and jump right in,” she said.
Some tension in Bertrum’s shoulders relaxed slightly.
“That isn’t all,” he said.
“Why not!” Keegan wailed. “Isn’t that enough?”
We all watched Lisabelle carefully.
“The High Council is coming to Public. They want to speak with you, Ricky, about your sister. Tomorrow.”
A stinging shock rocketed through me. Keegan paled considerably, and Bertrum appeared to be shaking with rage as he said it.
Lisabelle, as usual, did not react within the normal range of paranormal emotion.
She started to laugh.
Bertrum shook his head and said, “We’re doomed.”
“That is a mistake. Ricky, it’s time you stopped being . . . so very nice,” she said.
“What does that mean?” I asked, but I had a feeling I already knew.
“You’re one of the most powerful paranormals in the world. You have a better chance of commanding the Power of Five than any of them. They’ve decided to do something they never should have done in alienating Charlotte, which just leaves you. You have everything you need. Now you just need to embrace it.”
She smiled the coldest smile I had ever seen.
The cool anger that had been flowing through my veins since I’d heard about the arrest warrant solidified into ice.
“What else?” Lisabelle turned to Bertrum. He was still standing there, and he clearly had something more to say.
“Charlotte is safe, but maybe Ricky should be taken to safety as well,” he said.
“No,” I said almost at the same time as Lisabelle.
Bertrum bristled. “I had expected as much.”
“Ricky is safest at Public or at my castle, and I don’t think Zena would appreciate his presence,” she said.
I coughed. I had nearly managed to forget about Zena. No, he wouldn’t.
“Whoever that is,” said Bertrum coldly.
Lisabelle checked the timepiece on the wall. “I have to go.”
“Why? It’s not that late!” said Keegan.
“You want me to stick around?” she asked.
Keegan realized his mistake and said, “We’ll be getting to sleep soon. Ricky has a lot to do tomorrow. Busy with important meetings and all that.”
“I’ll come and help you prepare,” said Bertrum.
“What does he need help for?” Lisabelle demanded.
“He needs to know the players. The members of the High Council. He knows Her Majesty, Queen Lanca,
but surely he knows very few of the others. The more he knows about the members, the more easily he’ll be able to squeeze.”
Lisabelle appeared to like the sound of that.
“Don’t come and help. He needs to walk in without preconceived notions,” said Lisabelle.
“I wonder if I could be a fly on the wall for this one,” said Keegan.
Bertrum didn’t argue, but he was staring hard at Lisabelle. “Did it ever occur to you that you might get further with a soft touch? Some kindness? Sometimes that inspires more fear. If people know they have to work to make you angry.”
“People have to work so I don’t kill them,” said Lisabelle. “Is that the same thing?”
Bertrum glared. “No. It most certainly is not the same thing. I’m simply saying that there’s a benefit to being mysterious sometimes. You catch more flies with honey. Also, don’t taunt Lanca, whatever you do. She’s furious enough as it is.”
“What about President Yeast?” I asked him.
Bertrum’s eyes hardened to points. “Taunt her all you want.”
Lisabelle opened her mouth to say something else and he held up his hand. “I get it. You don’t want to catch flies. You want to kill them. Still. Main point stands. If you’re angry all the time, paranormals will stop being afraid of you.”
“Not if there are consequences,” she whispered, her eyes blazing fire. “Not if there are consequences.”
“And what’s really funny about this is that I don’t think Lisabelle would ever hurt a bee,” said Keegan.
All of us looked at her.
“No one thinks this is funny. I see.” Keegan swallowed.
Chapter Twenty-Two
As usual, my time with Lisabelle concluded with few answers.
Having what was due to land on me tomorrow rolling through my mind, I fell into an uneasy sleep that night. Fitfully I wandered into a dream, my first real one of the semester. Embers, burned and scattered everywhere over a rolling black landscape, provided a certain light and fire in the dark.
In fits and starts I fell into oblivion. Reluctantly at first, once I gave in I let the dream consume me within moments.
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