It had all started one night in late September, when we got stuck in the Long Building during a hailstorm. We could have made a run for it, but neither of us was in any rush to get back to campus, so we waited out the storm where we were.
I blamed the demons for the storm. The weather had become unpredictable since they had returned, even if we couldn’t see them anymore. After that first night when Daisy fought them off, which is what she claimed she was trying to do, there had been no visible sign of them, but I no longer believed that they weren’t there. I was sure they were, lurking right outside our view, just waiting for their chance to attack.
When we finally got back to Astra in the middle of the night Keller was just going to see me to the door, as usual. But on an impulse, I invited him up to my room. Once he was there the kissing started and I asked him to stay. He was reluctant at first, since we had a lot on our plates, and escalating the relationship quickly was not something that either of us wanted. But eventually we agreed that sleeping together would be comforting, so sleep we did.
Keller liked going to the Long Building with me, because he had a lot of healing to practice. He would shut himself in the room next to Artle’s study and work on magic far advanced from what he was supposed to be working on as a junior, while I worked on my elemental magic. I was taking Dacer’s advice to heart and practicing suffocation. It was a strange sensation every time I did it, like nothing I had experienced before.
It sort of felt like I was squeezing my hand around a plastic bag filled with air until it burst. In fact, until I did it for real (if I ever did; could I really kill—even a demon?) that was basically what it was.
One night, after we had been working separately as usual for a long time, Keller joined me in Artle’s workshop. It had been a particularly bad day. Not only were the paranormals angry at me because of Mound’s words, but they were angry with Keller for dating me. He was standing by me, but with his aunt so unsupportive of us as well that I wondered how long he could hold out. I tried not to let myself think about that, because it hurt too much, but sometimes the fear seeped out into the forefront of my mind.
“How’s it going?” he asked, laughing as he watched me shriek when a cobweb from one of the corners fell on my head.
“It was super until about two seconds ago,” I said mulishly.
My irritation only made him laugh harder. Carefully, he got up and made sure that the cobweb was totally gone from my hair. Then, while I continued to drag furniture around so I could keep practicing, he started to dust.
“Does this remind you of first semester in Astra?” he asked. “We had no idea we were cleaning it up for you, but I’m glad we did.”
I laughed. “Yeah, that day in the attic.”
“Right,” he mused. “You were going to tell me exactly what you thought of me. Care to do it now instead?” He was grinning at me, a broom propped in the crook of his arm. I blushed.
“Um, no. I think you know perfectly well what I think of you. You’re amazing. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Is that right?” he asked softly, his eyes intent on mine. I stopped moving furniture. The only sound in the room was our breathing. Then there was a slight pitter pattering overhead, and I looked up to see what was causing it. When I looked down again, I saw that that Keller’s eyes had never strayed from me.
“What?” I asked.
He smiled. “Nothing. It’s raining.”
“Actually, I think it’s hailing,” I sighed. “It’s going to make getting back to Astra fun.”
“Then let’s not go back,” he said. His hands gripped the broom handle more tightly.
“What?”
“No one will miss us,” he said. “Mrs. Swan won’t notice. She’s too busy doing whatever secretive things she does. I still say she reports on you to Dove.”
“She does not,” I scoffed. Even when I argued with him about this, though, I wondered if he was right. Mrs. Swan was secretive, but she was also reliable and my lifeline. As Sip always said: tradeoffs.
“What would we do instead?” I asked, feeling a little breathless.
“Make ourselves comfortable,” he said. “There were some cots in one of the other rooms. We could drag one in here. I’ll clean it up, and then we just stay.”
I looked outside. As we had talked the hail had started to come down harder. Since the demons had showed up the weather had brought nothing but bleak cold.
The choice between walking back outside in that muck and staying here with Keller was easy.
“Okay,” I said. “We stay.”
He reached his hand out to me. “We stay.”
By the end of October Mound’s letters in the Tabble, and whatever other means he was using to manipulate the paranormals, had done their damage. No other students besides my friends would speak to me. Even Cale had given up, because when other pixies saw him talking to me they had fits. He was yelled at, spit on, and hit. Dirr was the only vampire who would talk to me, but at least the vampires respected me because of her.
By the end of October I would have given anything to graduate two and a half years early. I didn’t even go to the homecoming dance, because I was likely to be attacked. I never went anywhere without at least two of my friends, and I tried my best to go to places only when no one else was there. I had taken to sneaking around, a prisoner in my own home.
On the Saturday morning when I woke up to Sip’s frantic note, I had had every intention of staying in Astra all day, but she sounded so upset that I just had to risk going over to Airlee alone.
I pushed Keller’s shoulder, but his arms only tightened reflexively around me.
“Keller,” I hissed. “I have to go.”
He opened his eyes blearily. “Where?” he mumbled.
“Airlee,” I said. “Sip needs me.”
He glanced at the clock. It was only nine a.m., which was very early for a Saturday morning.
“I’ll go with you,” he said, pushing the covers off both of us.
“You don’t have to,” I protested. “I wanted you to sleep.”
He shook his head. “You aren’t walking over there alone. You never know who might be waiting for you. It’s dangerous.”
“This is ridiculous,” I said, throwing up my hands. “We should be concentrating on fighting the demons, not each other.”
Keller gave me a sympathetic look as he pulled his black hoodie on over the t-shirt that he slept in. “I know,” he said. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Maybe,” I said. “I’m not so sure. If pixies likes Camilla stay in charge and good pixies like Oliva do nothing, then nothing is ever going to change.”
The walk across campus was quiet. We saw only a couple of other students, and they weren’t pixies. Keller was still well respected, so even if we had seen pixies they would have left us alone. The fallen angels weren’t going to let rumors started by the pixies take down their golden boy, and everyone else liked Keller.
Over the last month and a half we had spent a lot of time in the Long Building. There had been no sign of whoever had attacked Sip, and I was starting to wonder if it had just been an isolated incident—maybe some Starter snooping around after getting to campus. In the current climate, it was easy to imagine that whoever it had been no longer dared to go searching for something in the dark. Another part of me, the skeptical part that had grown steadily since I found out I was a paranormal, felt sure that something else entirely was going on. The intrusion into Astra a while back only strengthened that hunch.
The front hall of Airlee was deserted, so we headed to Sip and Lisabelle’s room by ourselves.
“Did she say what was wrong?” Keller asked.
I shook my head. “She just said that Lisabelle was doing something terrible and I had to come.”
“That doesn’t really narrow it down,” said Keller dryly.
As we got closer to my friends’ room I could hear yelling. The door was open and the lights were on. Lough st
ood in the doorway, looking concerned. All along the hall, other doors were opening and Airlees were peering out. When they saw me, most ducked back into their rooms. Then they reappeared to watch what was going on, curiosity having gotten the better of fear.
“LISABALLE, STOP THAT THIS INSTANT,” Sip was screeching. She was hopping around madly, like a tiny person buoyed by massive springs.
“GO AWAY! YOU’RE LIKE A FAIRY ON A POGO STICK AND IT’S MAKING ME DIZZY!” came the equally furious reply.
“TOO BAD. YOU’VE TOTALLY LOST IT! I WANT A NEW ROOMMATE!! I WANT A DO-OVER YOU MAD DUCK.”
“DUCK? THAT’S SO PATHETIC AN INSULT I ALMOST THOUGHT YOU WERE LOUGH!! GOOD LUCK FINDING SOMEONE ELSE TO PUT UP WITH YOU! YOU’RE DECORATING ‘STYLE’ IS MODELED AFTER COLORFUL NONSENSE FROM OUTER SPACE FLUNG AROUND BY A BLIND DUNG BAT. GAH! WHO COULD LIVE WITH THAT? IT’S A MIRACLE!”
At that, Sip hurled her teacup at Lisabelle. It hung in the air for a second, then shattered into a million tiny pieces, never getting anywhere near the dark-haired girl.
“THE MIRACLE IS THAT I HAVEN’T THROWN ALL OF YOUR BLACK STUFF OUT ON THE STREET BY NOW, MS. ‘DOOM AND GLOOM!! I’M A DARKNESS MAGE AND SOOO COOL.’ PAHHLEASE! THE ONLY WAY YOU WILL EVER BE COOL IS IF YOUR ROOM IS IN A FREEZER!”
Lough saw me and stepped aside. My friends continued to yell, not even noticing that I was there. Sip stood in front of Lisabelle, her hands glued to her hips. She was hopping mad. Literally.
“Hey,” I said. “Glad I came before you two killed each other.”
“The morning is young,” Sip hissed, glancing first at me, then back to Lisabelle. Sip’s face was bright red, while Lisabelle’s was still pale and calm. “PSYCHO!”
“Lisabelle,” I asked. “What did you do? Sip is acting like you’ve been kicking kittens.”
“I like kittens,” said Lisabelle. “They mind. Their. OWN. Business, which is more than I can say for werewolves!”
“You are my ROOMMATE! You are my business!” Sip shot back.
If I hadn’t been so worried about my friends I would have laughed. At some point over the last year I had realized that they were the perfect example of two paranormals who could put aside their differences, of which there were many, and be the dearest of friends.
“And this is how they talk to their friends,” Lough murmured to me, only making me smile more.
Sip pointed an imperious finger at me. “Smile again and die.”
“Bossy little thing, isn’t she?” Lisabelle asked, much more calmly.
Now that Sip had moved and I could see Lisabelle clearly, I kind of wished I couldn’t. At first I didn’t understand what I was looking at, but when I did figure it out I decided that it wasn’t any wonder Sip was so upset. The room was brightly lit, both by lamps and by sunlight, so there was plenty of illumination of Lisabelle sitting cross-legged on her bed, the long black dress she wore covering her knees.
“Lisabelle,” I breathed. She was holding a metal instrument with a needle on the end, pointing at her exposed forearm. At first I thought she was doing some sort of drug, but I quickly realized that drugs weren’t what Sip was having a fit about.
“I’m giving myself a tattoo,” said Lisabelle, as if digging a needle into your own arm was the most normal thing in the world.
“Did you hear her?” Sip cried in my general direction, wringing her hands. “Tell her of what,” she shouted, now looking at Lisabelle.
I looked at Lisabelle expectantly. Behind me, Keller and Lough watched.
“Glad you’re here, man,” Lough muttered to Keller. “Girls are nuts.”
Keller merely grinned.
“What are you doing?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if Lisabelle had finally gone off the deep end or if this was some strange ritual that darkness mages engaged in. Either way, I could see why Sip was so upset.
“I’m tattooing my wand onto my arm,” said Lisabelle casually. She still held the needle, and I could see now that the tattoo wasn’t complete. She must have been about halfway done when Sip had discovered what she was doing.
On Lisabelle’s arm was half of a very intricate design. It was entirely black and looked just like the wooden wand that Lisabelle had carried for the past year.
“It takes too long to call my wand, and there’s always the chance that I will forget it or it will be broken. If I tattoo it to my arm it will always be with me.
Sip rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t make sense and it’s GROSS.”
“It does make sense,” Lisabelle argued. “The power of the wand comes from the intricate design. Well, I’m good with design, and I can just as easily transfer this one to my arm. Other darkness mages have done it. I’ve been reading up on it. I didn’t mention it because I had the funny notion that you’d be upset. Glad to see I was wrong. Oh—not.”
“You can’t just write stuff onto your skin, Lisabelle!”
“Why not?” Lisabelle said. “I just did. When I finish you’ll see. This will work.”
“I don’t want it to work! There’s nothing wrong with using your wand!”
Lisabelle put down the needle, giving Sip her full attention. Sip calmed down a little bit under Lisabelle’s steady gaze. “This is necessary. The demons have come back. There’s someone loose on Public grounds, and you got hurt. Not to mention that the Map is missing and I think it’s pretty clear that things are going to get worse before they get better. If they ever do get better. I have to do this. It’s safer for everyone. Don’t you want to have tea whenever you want?”
Sip’s lip trembled. “You aren’t digging designs into your flesh so that I can have tea.”
“No,” said Lisabelle. “I’m doing it so that we can all live as long as possible. I rather like that idea.”
Sip didn’t seem to know what to say. Neither did I. Luckily, Keller did.
“Let me help you with that,” he said. “We need to make sure it doesn’t get infected.”
He moved past me to sit on the bed in front of Lisabelle. “We should probably give them some space,” said Sip.
“I want you here,” said Lisabelle.
For a second I thought Sip would refuse; some people are cut out for watching tattoos being inked, and some are not. Sip was not, but she stayed anyhow. Moving around the bed, she went to sit on Lisabelle’s other side, while Lough and I sat in the desk chairs.
We spent the rest of the morning there, the five of us enjoying some quiet time, or as quiet as we would ever get.
“Will this make you more powerful?” I asked, watching Lisabelle and Keller’s heads bent over her arm. The design was coming along nicely. Now it stretched along most of the inside of her forearm in one thin, continuous black line.
Lisabelle nodded. “It will. Over time. Some powers get lost in the transfer from mage to wand. Now that transfer no longer exists. More of my power will stay with me, and that will definitely make me stronger. Since my wand is now IN my arm, my magic will recognize it more easily.”
“So, this is a good thing,” I mused. “Do you think Malle has done it?”
“Probably,” said Lisabelle. “She of all paranormals wouldn’t want to lose her wand.”
“Too bad,” said Sip. “If she hadn’t done it we might have an advantage.”
“We already have an advantage,” I said.
When my four friends looked at me questioningly I said, “Each other,” and settled back in my chair.
Chapter Twenty-Three
As the semester wore on, my only break from studying was Tactical, and I didn’t think of it as a break because I was in a constant state of anxiety about it.
If you had asked me who the best Tactical player was before the semester started I would have said Keller, and everyone else would have said the same thing. The second best player would have been chosen from a list that included Dirr, Lisabelle, Cale, and maybe a couple of others. Trafton was very good at misdirection.
As it turned out, the second best player was someone else entirely.
/> We were still in Lisabelle and Sip’s room, getting ready for that evening’s Tactical, when Lough said, “I can’t believe Dobrov is catching so many students each time we play Tactical and we’re still losing.”
“He’s unbelievable,” I said. “I think he’s caught Trafton every time.”
As the other dream giver, Trafton was a very high value target. Right up there with royalty and being an elemental. “He changes into that big guy and that’s that.”
“And it’s in a different way every time,” Sip mused. “Has he talked to you much yet?”
“Hardly,” Lough scoffed. “The kid finds the ground fascinating. He acts like he’s reading the best book in the world when really he’s staring at dead grass. Someone should tell him.”
“I wouldn’t talk much either if I had a sister like that,” said Sip. “She’s mean.”
Before Tactical that evening I got a note from Dacer, who was working like a madman trying to get the Museum ready for visitors. We were opening in the Long Building until a more permanent location could be found, and he wanted me to come by and help him identify some of the oldest masks. Since Zervos disqualified any team that didn’t arrive on time and I had only enough time to stop in and help Dacer before Tactical started, I rushed out of Astra without seeing Mrs. Swan.
Over the past month, as Mound’s letters had gotten more vitriolic and paranormals kept dying at the hands of the Knights of Darkness, there was a growing contingent of students who thought paranormals would be better off without the Power of Five and were willing to make that happen. My friends were still making sure I never went anywhere alone.
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