Chapter Thirty-Five
Part of me felt guilty for leaving my friends. The other part of me knew it was necessary. I was making for the cemetery once again. All day I had had only one thought, that maybe there was something else there of value that Averett and I had missed. Maybe the Hunters were lying about all the artifacts they had so we’d stop searching.
I had to be sure, and the only way to be sure was to look. Even without Averett to tell me which graves had bodies in them, I could easily shift dirt. The Digger had been clever. He’d buried a smaller box underneath a larger box in an empty grave, so who knew what other tricks he’d been up to.
Behind me the sounds of battle faded. The Hunters had been one step ahead of us every time. If the battle stayed where it was, we would again not know where their hideout was on Public grounds, the place where they were surely keeping the artifacts on the Wheel.
What I saw as I emerged into the clearing was very different from what Averett and I had come upon before. The cemetery was now nearly wiped out, gravestones tipped over and the overgrowth trampled.
The first thing I did was to shift some of the earth under the gravestones so they’d stand upright, even the ones that had collapsed before we’d arrived. I put them back. It felt like the least I could do.
The forest had gone silent. Whatever creatures remained, they had hunkered down out of sight. After the fight last night, I was sure the forest would remain quiet for a long while to come.
I began searching, shifting dirt but trying not to disturb any headstones while I read what was on each stone and looked for clues.
Night lengthened.
Then a step I’d been half expecting to hear sounded behind me. I was kneeling down, examining the earth. I froze.
“Ricky Rollins,” said the deep male voice behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder to see Horveth coming through the woods.
“I do believe you ran away from the fighting,” he said. His voice had the familiar lilt.
“I had something to do,” I informed him.
He nodded slowly. “Of course. Have you found anything of use?”
The silence stretched between us.
“I thought not.”
“It’s over, Ricky. We have already won,” he explained.
“If you’ve already won, why don’t you leave me alone?” I asked. “Just tell me where you’re hiding the artifacts first.”
Horveth’s mouth bit into the thinnest smile. “I’m afraid I misspoke. We won and it’s over for you. Just as soon as I finish it.”
“Even if something happens to me, there’s Charlotte.” I pointed out. And Vera, not that she was old enough to do anything but eat and sleep and look cute.
“Charlotte is well hidden, I grant you, but you must understand that with all the artifacts at our disposal we can deal with Charlotte Rollins. We will find her.”
“You won’t,” I slowly stood up.
“Why is that?”
Raw and sparkling magic had been gathering at my feet for the entire conversation, an ancient power I wielded but didn’t entirely understand.
Enough talk. I decided I’d simply show him.
Essence exploded around Horveth.
The two of us skirted around trees in the dark, ducking and twisting. Now and again I momentarily lost track of my enemy as essence clashed with darkness and exploded. Fires erupted all around us. Horveth was vicious and strong, using darkness against me so powerfully that in the end I had to give way.
Fallen to the earth, I tried to push myself onto my elbows. The old, overgrown cemetery seemed to envelop me, the place where I had found an artifact and lost one. At this point I still had nothing but the cup in the freezer at Astra, and Horveth was beating me.
I was good, but he was better, an old vampire with vast reserves of evil magic. Horveth was smart. He wasn’t attacking me, but rather my essence. Lances of black magic slammed again and again into my power reserves. My ring was burning off my finger.
Cracks slammed through my magic and my arms started to seize.
Horveth did not appear to tire. A glint flashed from his eyes as he twisted his hand once more. I screamed in pain. My knees slammed into the ground as my essence retreated into me. I felt more than saw the shadow of the vampire come on.
I took a deep, ragged breath and called into deeper reserves of essence, further than I had ever called before. I saw Horveth’s eyes widen and I smiled. He had not expected me to be so powerful.
Then a snarl ripped through the woods, a fury so swirling, bitter, and strong that even Horveth on his rampage of murder and destruction had to pause.
It was a beast’s snarl, a consuming endless night reverberating off the trees.
Horveth started forward again, but something shot out of the darkness.
A black werewolf slammed into the oncoming vampire.
Both strong bodies dropped to the ground as the sound of snapping jaws filled my ears.
I struggled to get up and felt blood trickling down my temple.
My left hand hung uselessly by my side.
Another flash in the darkness and I saw teeth, heard a ripping sound and a scream and grunt from Horveth.
Horveth launched a vicious kick, but instead of a whimper I heard another snarl.
The werewolf was still coming.
Then the whole forest floor was moving.
The shifting blackness made me feel ill, my whole body throbbing with the pain.
At first I didn’t know what it was.
Then I realized that it was countless bodies.
Furry bodies.
Werewolves were everywhere.
For a breathless moment I thought they might be more creatures of the Hunters.
But no, they were on my side.
Then something struck me.
The lack of light had made the first werewolf, the one that had saved me, look black, but she wasn’t.
Smaller than I had thought when rage had made her appear huge, the werewolf’s fur was actually brown.
She spun on her paws to look at me, a practiced and efficient movement.
No wasted energy.
Her eyes were purple.
For a moment the world tilted. Before I saw that it was Sip, returned as if from the dead, nothing could have gotten me to smile. Now my lips stretched into a tired grin.
Suddenly, other familiar faces arrived. Keegan, Eighellie, and Rake came careening through the trees.
Rake stumbled to a halt. The burly vampire rarely looked awkward, but tonight he did. He just kept staring at the small brown werewolf.
If she noticed she gave no sign. There was a softness to Rake’s eyes that I had definitely never seen when he was fighting Nocturns, a happiness that ran as deep as my essence. A limitless reservoir of hope.
Chapter Thirty-Six
For most of the next two days I slept, while the remains of the attacks smoldered. Fallen angels were put to work tending the wounded.
Astra at least was quiet. I got up a handful of times to use the bathroom and chat with my friends, but otherwise I didn’t move around much.
Keegan had been looking for more to do, and he had found it. The trees were in desperate need of assistance after the destruction caused by the battle. Keegan could grow trees if he felt like it, but he could also heal them. Over the next forty-eight hours he did a lot of both.
After two days I was no longer tired, even if my body was still grievously injured. Dacer had come to say that finals would take place a week later than usual this year and that after finals he was taking me to see Charlotte. Wearing a green patterned suit with purple lupines on it, he was a walking, talking summertime meadow. His shoes were brown and his cane matched his suit.
No, I was not to protest about the visit to Charlotte. She had insisted. It was safest that way. I had been through too much and I needed my big sister. At least, that’s what my big sister had decided.
I was too tired to argue and there
was no point anyhow. My big sister was right.
“You have company. May I escort you to the ballroom?” Dacer offered.
After painfully getting dressed, I followed him down the Astra steps. I had a small tug of feeling as if I should put on more of the fine clothes Eighellie had pulled out for my meeting with the High Council, but I resisted. When we were halfway down, Sigil appeared.
“Oh, my, how are you doing? Finally awake I see. I had chosen several books for your reading pleasure, but I suppose you won’t be needing them,” Sigil murmured as he spun around me.
“Thanks, Sigil. Maybe later,” I told him.
“Very well,” the ghost bowed.
“I nearly forgot! There was something strange that happened here a couple of days ago!”
“You mean other than Public coming under attack?” I asked.
The ghost shrugged and murmured that he might have been mistaken. As we kept walking, eventually he just floated away.
We had reached the Astra ballroom, and the sight that met me distracted me from everything else on earth.
Lisabelle Verlans and Sip Quest were talking quietly in the corner. Lisabelle was coming as close to a smile as I had ever seen her. That is to say, she wasn’t frowning.
Sip was beaming up at her friend. She had a scar on her cheek and was paler than I remembered, but otherwise she looked just like herself.
I hadn’t yet gotten the explanation of Sip’s reappearance, but I hoped I would soon. Lisabelle had never believed her to be dead in any event, and it turned out Lisabelle had been right.
Now she’d be insufferable.
Rake and Trafton were also there, speaking with Dobrov. Rake kept glancing in Sip’s direction as they talked. Trafton, who noted all things where men and women were concerned, was polite and pretended not to notice that the big vampire’s attention was divided.
I saw Eighellie and Ostelle, with Keegan and Averett standing between them. They were all speaking quietly amongst themselves.
“He’s here,” said Dacer, floating in in front of me.
I raised my hand in a lazy wave.
Eighellie let out a squeal and darted forward. She threw her arms around my neck and squeezed, knocking the breath out of me. I started to laugh but just ended up coughing.
Averett smiled at me when the darkness mage finally let me go. “Glad you’re all right.”
Keegan was watching her closely, but she appeared not to notice or care. There was a cut down her arm, and Keegan had a bruise on his neck from where a branch had fallen on it. He’d probably go back and give the tree a talking to. We were all wounded from the battle.
Ostelle came toward us but kept glancing over to where Lisabelle was turning one corner of the ballroom into darkness. It was as if night had descended on one little part of Astra.
“Your ring,” she pointed down by way of greeting. My eyes skated to where she looked.
Sure enough, my ring had turned back to rainbow.
But different.
“Wow,” Keegan breathed. “Wasn’t expecting that.”
“What have you been expecting?” Eighellie asked.
He shrugged. “Good point. I like to take things as they come.”
My ring had gone back to the colors of the rainbow, but my friends were right. The colors were darkness, as if infused with essence. I wondered what that would do to my magic.
“I’m sure I’ll find out what it means sooner rather than later,” I told them with a smile.
“Most likely,” Eighellie agreed.
“It would be best if we could get this little gathering started. Flowers need watering and all that,” Dacer called out.
“Is he talking about his suit?” Ostelle whispered to me.
“I’m not certain,” I murmured back. She smiled.
He led the way to a small door on the far side of the ballroom. I racked my brain to remember what was beyond that door. Then I remembered: it was a small storage room.
Dacer had turned it into a meeting space with a large table set in the center of it.
We all made for the door. Rake and Trafton joined Sip and Lisabelle and the old friends chatted contentedly.
Dacer hurried through the door with Dobrov. Averett, Eighellie, and Keegan followed behind.
I was just about to go after them when I realized that Ostelle wasn’t there. She was still standing in the middle of the cavernous space, looking uncertain.
“What is it?” I asked her, going back.
She frowned at me. “I don’t belong at this meeting. All of you are the luminaries of the paranormal world. I know that being a darkness mage is considered cool, but Lisabelle Verlans is here. Nothing is cool compared to her.”
“You belong here if Dacer says you do. This is your fight too,” I told her.
She sighed. “I want to fight. I want to be one of those darkness mages who fights, but even Eighellie knows more about what’s going on than I do.”
“You came running when you found out about the attack, didn’t you?” I asked, coming to stop a few feet away from her.
All I wanted was to reach out and take her in my arms, but I resisted. The strange pull I’d felt toward her since the moment I met her had been worse since I walked into the ballroom. Nearly dying had heightened my senses. The red-headed darkness mage was staring at me with her dark blue eyes as if she could see every thought going on in my head.
I seriously hoped she couldn’t.
Her own expression gave nothing away.
“Just come and see what they have to say. We’re all in this fight whether we like it or not,” I told her gently.
She cocked her head to one side. “You don’t like it?”
“What makes you think I do?”
For once she appeared uncertain. “I don’t know. I guess I just assumed . . . well that’s silly. You don’t have any more choice than the rest of us. Less, I suppose with your sister gone.”
“My sister has earned her rest,” I said.
“I know that,” Ostelle said quickly.
“Are you two coming?” Dacer banged against the wall as he peered at us from inside the meeting room.
The meeting lasted a long time. We discussed what to do and what not to do. It wasn’t until the end that I realized that a certain dream giver was never mentioned. Trafton mentioned himself a lot, but there was another paranormal about whom we all remained silent. Lough wasn’t mentioned once in any context. I supposed there was no point. Lisabelle knew what she knew and she told the others what she felt like telling them.
There was still an arrest warrant for my sister and several others. Sip was appalled at what was being done with “her” government.
Sip certainly wasn’t going to push Lisabelle on the subject of Lough, but she did mention her brothers several times. A couple of them were coming to Public next semester to help with defenses; the Cup must be defended at all costs. Dacer didn’t think the Golden Rod would be found over the summer. With few students on campus, there was no one for the Hunters to blend into. Next fall, all bets were off.
After a long time we agreed that food was necessary.
I returned to the Astra kitchen. My muscles ached and I felt as if my bones were clanging together. My chest hurt with every in-drawn breath. I hobbled over to the freezer and pulled the door open. At least the cool air would help this bruised and torn body.
When I peered inside, a hollowness I had never felt before started to consume me.
The Curl Cup was gone.
I stared at the spot where I had stored it, the icy air wafting over my legs. In the distance I could still hear the sound of my friends talking. There was even laughter.
The Hunters had all the objects on the Counter Wheel except the first and most powerful of them all. The only thing that stood between the paranormals and certain destruction was the Golden Rod.
The End
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By Maddy Edwards
Paranormal Public Series
Paranormal Public
Elemental Rising
Elemental Shining
Elemental Dawn
Elemental Fire
Elemental Air
Elemental Earth
Elemental Darkness
Elemental Light
Elemental Omen
Elemental Havoc
Elemental Fate
Elemental Rivalry
Elemental Unity
Paranormal Public Omnibus: Books 1-3
Paranormal Public Omnibus: Books 4-6
Paranormal Public Omnibus: Books 7-9
Paranormal Public Omnibus: Books 10-12
Darkness Rules
(Elemental Darkness from Lisabelle’s point of view)
Spiral Series
Spiral
Spiral of Silver
One Black Rose Series
One Black Rose
August
Autumn
Susan’s Summer
Solstice Sea
Rose Sea
Sun Sea
Island Sea
One Black Rose Omnibus (Books 1-3)
One Black Rose Omnibus (Books 4-6)
Gauntlet Series
Gauntlet Fall
Elemental Unity Page 23