Elemental Air (Paranormal Public Series)

by Edwards, Maddy

  I smiled a little. “No, I just mean that the protections in place that allow me to travel haven’t failed. You can tell, because I haven’t been attacked by demons.”

  “Yeah,” said Lough, “but that’s Public. Risper would never let anything happen to you, even from far away.”

  “Neither would my aunt,” said Keller. He knew his aunt and I didn’t get along, but he loved her and defended her at every turn. What he meant was that the fact that we weren’t the best of friends didn’t mean she would sell me to the Nocturns.

  “I know,” I murmured.

  He was right. His aunt would never sell me to the Nocturns, at least not at any time when she might get caught (I wasn’t as sanguine about it as Keller, but I wasn’t going to argue with him about it), but she wanted me out of her nephew’s life. Even as the only elemental I was not a suitable match for her nephew. As an elemental in general I was not a suitable match, and my uniqueness didn’t change that in the slightest. But Keller and I had not talked much about our future anyhow; the present took up too much energy for me to have time to think about what might happen after college.

  “Let’s just go to sleep,” said Lisabelle. “I’m beat, and in the morning we have to get ourselves back to Public.”

  “That’s a good thing,” Sip argued. “I can’t wait to get back to our room. I have some color swatches. . . .”

  “Of course you do, dear,” said Lisabelle, picking up Bartholem and walking quickly toward the stairs.

  “I have yellow, and orange and green. . . .”

  Sip, still talking, followed her roommate, and the rest of us said our goodnights.

  Lanca still hadn’t come back from the meeting, and although I desperately wanted to know what the powers that be were saying, my eyes had started to close on their own. Keller had also been given a room in our cabin, a small one in the back part of the first floor, right off the kitchen. It didn’t have room for much more than a bed, but that was about all we needed anyhow. The bed had a light gray coverlet with lots of swirls of every color embroidered into it. It was comforting, and I was glad to get under it.

  Even after all the excitement I fell asleep immediately, and in my favorite way: with Keller’s arms wrapped comfortingly around me as I dreamed of solving all our problems.

  As I fell asleep I wondered if, now that the Nocturns had warned President Caid, maybe there would be less pressure on Public and its students to fight them alone. The demons had challenged Caid in front of all of his supporters, so he couldn’t very well slink around and do nothing, at least he couldn’t appear to. He was a fool if he was a Nocturn and had told the demons to attack, only to sit back and relax once they did. It was confusing, but that’s what adults were for. Sometimes I forgot that I was still just a student, and I kept telling myself I shouldn’t do that. I had a lot to learn, and I was returning to Public for junior year to learn it.

  Sighing into my pillow, I slept.

  Chapter Eleven

  We woke up the next morning to a ghost town. Keller and I got up and made oatmeal for everyone in our cabin. I sprinkled honey into the bowls and added a little blueberry jelly that Caid claimed he had made himself. I put hot water on in case Sip felt like forcing tea on us, then curled up in the living room with a book and waited for everyone else to wake up.

  All summer, during our futile research into the Globe White, which had basically come to nothing, I hadn’t had a chance to read any more about Astra and Queen Ashray. She had been the founding elemental member of Public, and from what I knew so far she sounded simply wonderful. At first the elementals had been skeptical of a female queen who could rule, but over time she had proved her mettle time and again. She had even paved the way for queens of other paranormal types, like Lanca, because she was so respected. And she had married for love, which was simply unheard of for a girl, let alone a female ruler in those days.

  “Ashray again?” Keller asked, grinning at me. He knew about my obsession. I felt heat rise in my cheeks as he walked over to me, put his hands gently on either side of my head, and kissed me.

  When he pulled away I closed the book, because I could hear steps upstairs, and it wouldn’t be long before my friends came down for breakfast.

  “She’s just so wonderful,” I sighed. “Did you know she protected the court once when demons attacked it? It was right when the demons were starting to come out of the darkness more often, and no one was prepared. She stood between the rest of the court and sure death. She fought! Girls never did that.”

  To my curiosity’s delight, Lanca was the first one down the stairs, followed closely by Vital. Lanca looked tired and she yawned as she appeared, covering her blood red mouth with one delicate hand. There were dark circles under her eyes and she just looked worn. Vital, on the other hand, looked completely rested.

  I frowned. “Vital, why don’t you ever look tired?”

  Lanca snorted, looking amused. “That’s what I asked him.”

  Lanca’s personal bodyguard smiled. “I spent years in the field,” he explained. “I spent years tracking criminals. You don’t have the luxury of choosing when you sleep. You just stock up and make do.”

  “I wish I could do that,” sighed Lanca, covering another yawn. “Where’s Sip? I want some of her fabulous tea.”

  “Next time, say that when Lisabelle can hear you,” Sip suggested, coming downstairs. “She just doesn’t understand.”

  “What happened at the meeting last night?” I burst out, unable to contain my curiosity any longer.

  Lanca gave me a long look and sighed. “I’ll tell you when Lough and Lisabelle get here. I want everyone to hear.”

  Sip handed Lanca her tea and sped back upstairs. Lanca laughed when she figured out where she was going.

  “Of course she did,” Lanca murmured, taking a sip.

  Lisabelle came down looking like Vital, completely rested and ready to go. Lough was yawning and still in his pajamas, Sip’s hand firmly around his arm. He went straight to the couch and curled up on one end, resting his head on his arm.

  “Don’t worry,” he said with his eyes closed. “I’m listening. I have every confidence that that wretched cat will make sure I stay awake.”

  Bartholem had trailed Lisabelle down the stairs and was now sitting by the empty fire pit. He blinked his purple eyes but didn’t acknowledge Lough in any way.

  “So, what happened?” Lisabelle asked, folding her arms over her chest.

  “Caid’s advisors want him to declare war on the Nocturns. That would allow him to have exceptional powers as president and to make decisions unilaterally that usually require a vote.”

  My breath caught. Maybe that was why Caid had wanted the Nocturns to pretend to attack him, so that he could seize power.

  “But?” Lisabelle asked.

  Lanca shook her head. “He deferred the decision. He said he didn’t want to declare war just yet; he thinks negotiation is still possible.”

  Lisabelle snorted. “Yeah, right. You can’t negotiate with demons.”

  “Or darkness mages. I mean, Nocturns,” Sip said with a smile.

  “Lisabelle’s right,” said Vital. In public he was Lanca’s silent guardian, but in private he spoke as an equal. I thought it was a good decision on Lanca’s part to allow him to do so. If she trusted him with her life, she might as well trust his words as well.

  I frowned. “So, we still aren’t at war against the Nocturns and Caid still can’t help us? Won’t he be seen as weak?”

  “He says he was voted in with confidence and his judgment should be trusted,” said Lanca, taking another long sip of tea.

  “Trusted,” said Lisabelle. “Sure thing.”

  We hadn’t told Lanca what we had seen the day before. I wasn’t sure what her obligations were to report to her advisors, and although I knew she was willing to go her own way on many matters, it just seemed like we should avoid burdening her unnecessarily. Everyone else must have agreed with me, because no one spoke up to
tell her about what we had seen the day before.

  Soon, Lanca and Vital had to return to Vampire Locke. Vital explained that although no attempts had yet been made to take the Blood Throne from Lanca, he was worried that it was only a matter of time. With that in mind, they had to get back.

  “I’ll see you again soon,” she murmured. “You have no idea how nice it is to be among friends again. I always valued loyalty, but now I think it might be the most important thing in the world.”

  Once we said our goodbyes, we ourselves had to pack. There wasn’t much time before the caravan traveling back to Public was set to depart.

  “I wish Lanca was still at Public,” said Keller. “She always sees difficulties so clearly.”

  “She has enough going on at Locke,” said Lisabelle. “We probably won’t be seeing her again for a while.”

  Soon we all set out to walk together from our cabin to the president’s main house. The place was deserted, but I was impressed with how clean it was. Caid’s employees must have spent all night clearing away the mess. I didn’t envy them. After the demon display, I had desperately wanted to just get inside and stay there.

  In front of the house, where Dacer and I had driven up not so very long ago, there was a skeleton group of paranormals ready to depart. Dacer’s black car was still there, and I wondered if he was going back with us or staying for a while longer with Caid.

  Lough was the first to spot the trouble and let out a groan. “Oh no,” he said.

  Standing there waiting for us was Camilla Van Rothson. She was a pixie who was a year ahead of us at Public, but there were whispers that she was about to have her progress toward graduation slowed down because of her persistent bad behavior. I hadn’t seen her at the party the night before, and I had been glad of it. But now, there she stood, waiting next to the black bus parked in front of the house, looking for all the world as though she was going to travel with us. Trafton was standing nearby, but they weren’t speaking. He and Rake were talking quietly to each other, and Camilla was talking, softly and fast, to her best friend and fellow pixie, Kia.

  Camilla was gorgeous, I would give her that. She had long blond hair, large brown eyes, and only a slight tint of green skin. If she had been a decent paranormal it wouldn’t have surprised me at all that Cale had dated her for so long.

  When Camilla spotted us she looked furious. Her hands gripped her bag for dear life and her eyes grew huge, but she didn’t say a word.

  Also waiting for us were Dove, Oliva, and to my great horror Zervos, who was standing there talking to the other professors.

  “Maybe he isn’t going,” said Lough hopefully. “Maybe he’s just giving them directions.”

  “Maybe the demons came by last night to wish Caid a happy birthday,” said Lisabelle. “Sure.”

  “We ready to go?” Oliva asked jovially, striding over to us. “We’re driving. It shouldn’t take very long, maybe three hours by bus. We don’t want to attract suspicion by traveling in too large a group anyhow. We were going to take cars, but now I think just one bus would be best. Then we can all be together.”

  Oliva had been on the committee that had run Public for a while after President Malle had been revealed as a leader of darkness. He was much younger than the rest of the committee, and he had spent a semester pretending to be a student. At that time, when he called himself Lealand, he had befriended me and my group. Although we were still on friendly terms, none of us had ever entirely forgiven him for the deception.

  “Can I say something sarcastic about togetherness?” Lisabelle asked Sip.

  “I thought you didn’t like things to be too easy,” Sip said. “What’s the fun if it’s not a challenge?”

  Lisabelle sighed. “Good point. It would have been funny, though.”

  Sip patted her friend’s arm comfortingly. “Of course it would.”

  Just as we were ready to get on the bus, the door to President Caid’s house swung open. Dacer came out first, followed by Saferous and Caid himself. All three men looked tired, but Dacer was still his usual self. There was a spring in his step and he gave us a smile, clasping his hands together.

  “I must say,” he said, coming up to us, “there was a blip last night, but all in all a lovely visit. I got a lot of ideas for how to finish designing the new Museum.”

  Dacer had flat out refused to let the Museum stay in the Long Building, “Where it was unused and unloved,” he had insisted. A structure to replace the ruined Tower was being built in the center of campus, and if the schedule was followed, the building would be completed by the end of my junior year.

  I had hoped that Dacer would be going back with us, but he obviously wasn’t. He wore only three colors and minimal make-up; clearly he wasn’t in a traveling outfit yet.

  Keller slid his hand through mine and squeezed, and I smiled at him. He always could tell when I was feeling a little down, and he always knew how to cheer me up.

  “Thank you for visiting,” said President Caid, beaming at us. “I’m sorry last evening was interrupted in that way.”

  “Thank you for having us,” I said quickly. “The food was amazing and this place is beautiful.”

  Caid’s smile grew. “You will have to come again soon.”

  Dacer fidgeted a little but said nothing.

  Saferous stood there, tall and statuesque, then looked at Keller and said, “Mr. Erikson, I expect great things in your coming senior year.” He reached out to touch his hand to Keller. As with vampires kneeling to their royalty, it was a sign of respect, and Keller returned the gesture.

  “Oliva, thank you for visiting,” Caid said. Stretching out his hand to the young pixie, he shook it warmly.

  “Thank you, sir,” Olive said, nodding. “I hope to do everyone proud. I am honored for the opportunity.”

  Dove and Zervos both exchanged angry glances. I raised my eyebrows at Lisabelle, but she just shrugged. Apparently she didn’t know what was going on either.

  It didn’t take long to finish the goodbyes and get on the bus. Camilla and Kia sat up front, as far away as possible from my little group of friends, who gathered in the back. Sip instantly opened a book and Keller did the same, while Lisabelle started doing little black magic tricks with her hands, which were behind the seats where the senior paranormals up front couldn’t see them.

  With Dove driving, the bus slowly made its way out of the woods. It was a rainy day and I was glad to be under cover, especially since the forecasts were for worse and worse weather as the day wore on. Hopefully we would be at Public and not still driving when thunderstorms started.

  The quiet rocking of the bus and the rain pattering on the windows were oddly comforting as I pulled out my own book, the one about Queen Ashray, and started to read. Junior year at Public was famously difficult, and after today I probably wouldn’t have a chance to read about Queen Ashray for a long time, so I had to take advantage of the chance while I could. I was in the middle of a chapter about how she had helped reform the marriage laws so that different types of paranormals were allowed to wed each other when Camilla’s voice interrupted the quiet ride.

  “Darkness calls to darkness, doesn’t it?” Camilla asked nastily. She was standing in the aisle, having just made her way back from the bathroom. Kia had come to join her. “Maybe Lisabelle summoned them,” she finished, with a hateful twist of satisfaction.

  The pixie was obviously looking for a fight. Her hands were clenched at her sides and she was glaring at us malevolently.

  Lisabelle lunged so fast that there was no way I could stop her. But Sip seemed to be expecting something dramatic and managed to grab Lisabelle’s arm - her wand arm - to slow her down. I knew as well as Sip that a fight would do no one any good, so I nearly tumbled out of my seat to get between Camilla and Lisabelle.

  “You brought those demons there last night, didn’t you?” she rasped. “You put all our lives at risk.”

  “I seem to remember you having no problem with Malle challenging th
e paranormals,” Lisabelle spat. “You brought them there more surely than I did.”

  “Malle is a visionary,” said Camilla, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “Uncontrolled demons are different. They are dangerous to the point of killing us.”

  “You want her dead,” said Lisabelle, pointing her chin at me.

  “Doesn’t everyone?” Camilla asked.

  “Not your boyfriend,” said Lisabelle smugly. She covered her mouth in mock surprise. “Oh wait, didn’t he dump you? Make that ex-boyfriend, then.”

  It was too much for Camilla. With a high-pitched screech and hands outstretched, she lunged for Lisabelle. Kia tried desperately to stop her, but the little pixie was no match for her friend’s frenzy.

  I hunched my shoulder just as Camilla was about to slam into me. Instead of attacking me, she froze. A sprinkling of dust floated around her and made her stand rigid. Her eyes glazed over and she looked straight ahead, as if she was under a spell. Kia gave a huge sigh of relief and we all looked toward the front of the bus.

  “Geez,” said Lisabelle. “I really wanted to get in the one about Cale hanging out with Charlotte, too.”

  Oliva was coming down the isle, looking more furious than I had ever seen him.

  “What is this?” he demanded. “Fighting on the bus to Public? Are you all children? Can’t you even get through a three-hour bus ride without a battle? No one here is the enemy.”

  Lough looked like he was about to say something, but Oliva held up his hand. “There’s going to be a new president of Public,” he said, his eyes sparking. “I’ll let him deal with this. If anyone else so much as whispers an insult before we get to campus, I’ll see you expelled.” With that he turned on his heel and walked away.

  The moment he walked away, the spell was broken and Camilla could move again. Apparently even while she was standing there immobile she could hear, because she let Kia lead her away. She spared Lisabelle one spiteful glance, but the darkness mage ignored her.

  My friends and I exchanged looks. I was a little surprised by how furious Oliva was. Then, from somewhere near where Lisabelle was sitting, I heard a low, angry, hissing and spitting noise.