The black darkness came toward us, lit up with fire, and President Caid simply stood by and watched it. At no point in time did he move to engage. He asked the demons to leave. This, my friends, is not the behavior of a true president. It is the behavior of a weak paranormal masquerading as powerful.
I call on all of you to disregard this facade.
I call on all of you to stand up for your fellow paranormals. If those in power will not defend you, will just sit idly by while we are murdered in droves, then it is up to the regular paranormal, our average citizen, to take a stand and say enough is enough.
I know for a fact there are powers at work, gathering to fight the Nocturns. I call on you to support that fight.
We failed to do this with the elementals. We could have saved our most delicate type, and instead we let them die. Now we are left with only one, a wisp of a girl who is afraid of her own shadow. I have met her, and I can tell you that we cannot rely on her for the Power of Five or indeed for anything. I demand action. I demand we fight. And I demand we do it now!
I sighed. Mound was at it again. At least this time his vitriol, or most of it, was directed at Caid, and I couldn’t necessarily say he was wrong about the paranormal president. I had also wanted Caid to act, and he had not.
A rushing sound filled my ears and I glanced around. There was till no sign of Dacer, and it was almost dinner time, so I left the Tabble where I had found it and headed for the exit. In the musty hallway, lit only by the fading light of the sun, I again thought I heard a noise deep down the corridor.
I had spent a lot of time in the Long Building since the Tower fell. Last semester Sip, Lisabelle, and I had even snuck in through the catacombs. We had nearly died doing it, with Public’s defenses trying to keep us out. Now I wondered if the passages we had used to come through had ever been closed.
Frowning, I carefully made my way into one of the storage rooms. They all looked the same, and in the action of the moment last semester I hadn’t tried to make sure I’d remember which one we used.
Trembling, I put my hand on the doorknob. There was a scratching noise on the other side of the door.
I turned the handle and opened the door just a crack.
Beyond, there was no light, only a black room. I had barely gotten the door open when it crashed backward on top of me. I stumbled and fell, with the door pinning me to the floor.
A hellhound stood over me, its red eyes inches from mine. It gazed at me malevolently for a moment, then let out an earsplitting growl.
Chapter Seventeen
The hellhound’s breath was rancid and dank. The stench was so bad it took all I had not to gag. Desperately I tried not to move, but it didn’t matter; the hellhound knew its prey was underneath it. The door had my arms pinned at my sides, and I was face to snout with the great black creature.
The hellhound crouched down, looking ready to spring. It bared its great jaws, and the stench become overwhelming. I started to heave just as the hellhound snapped its head forward, intent on taking a bite out of my face.
When it shifted its weight, though, I moved, trying to get it off balance. It was far bigger than I was, so I had to put some of my magic behind my effort. Luckily the door was made of wood, so the earth part of my elemental powers flowed into it, making it slippery and lifting it sideways.
The hellhound clawed desperately, raking the door as it tried to keep its balance and keep me pinned at the same time, but it was no use. I had enough room, and I scooted away.
The hellhound recovered more quickly than I could have dreamed, and sprang at me again. This time I didn’t have time to dodge, and the ruined door was now on the other side of the hellhound.
Desperately I called wind. One of the powers I had cultivated was choking, but it was no use against a hellhound. The beast was too fast and didn’t really care if it could breathe anyway as long as its jaws were around my neck.
The hound’s black fur was wet and matted, but its eyes still glowed red. It crouched low again, a gesture I recognized as preparation to spring.
It sprang forward again and again. Each time I would roll and dodge, but that couldn’t last. The hellhound was getting closer, its great jaws nearly snapping off first my hand, then my ankle. I was breathing heavily as I staggered to my feet one more time.
This couldn’t go on much longer.
Running out of options, I threw raw power at the hellhound. We were now in almost total darkness, with just its glowing eyes providing a little of what light there was. When it blinked, it disappeared almost entirely from view.
The many battles I had already been in during my years at Public had not been spent fighting one on one. Tacticals were important, but in those I usually expected to have Sip and Lisabelle at hand, fighting with me. The spells I knew were obviously insufficient to defend myself in solitary battle against a hellhound.
With a cry, I called to the water that lay in the catacombs. Hellhounds hate water. When confronted with only a little bit of it, they vaporize it. I called enough to nearly drown the creature.
The hellhound must have heard the water rushing up to me, because it paused before it sprang again. Just before the flood burst through the muddy floor, it darted away.
For a long time I stared, afraid to move in the near total darkness, at the last spot where I had seen the hellhound. Finally, I forced myself to put one foot in front of the other. My knee throbbed and I felt a bit of liquid, probably blood, trickle down my arm.
Slowly I made my way out of the Long Building.
So, the hellhounds were still getting onto the grounds of Public. Or, I supposed what was more likely, they had never left. The catacombs underneath the Long Building stretched for miles. There was no telling how many hellhounds Malle had let down there who had simply lived in the darkness for years, waiting for their moment.
I sighed. I needed more of Sip’s balm, and I needed a shower.
It was a difficult choice between going to the dining hall for food and going to Astra first, to change and get cleaned up.
I glanced down at my ruined clothes. I was covered in mud and dirt and I smelled like hellhound. I had to go to Astra.
The second my dorm came into view I felt better, but to my great dismay the door opened just as I was walking up the path. What, I wondered: did Martha sit at the window and wait for me to come home?
She was dressed in the same outfit she had worn yesterday, complete with the same stern expression.
“There’s a shower out back,” she said, not even bothering to ask if I was alright. “I will lay out some clothes for you there.”
“Why can’t I use my shower?” I demanded. It felt strange to talk, and I tasted mud on my lips.
Martha’s eyes sparked. “Astra is clean. You are dirty. There’s a shower out back. You are not fit for a real shower at the moment. Once you learn to behave like a proper paranormal it will be a different story. When you return from dinner we will discuss your punishment.”
“Punishment?” I asked incredulously. I had just nearly died at the hands of a rabid hellhound, and this woman wanted to punish me for being muddy.
Martha nodded seriously. “You snuck out this morning. You have now returned looking like you thought it would be a good idea to jump in mud, and you have missed every opportunity today to return to Astra to discuss the rules I have laid out for you. All of this means you must be punished.”
Biting my lip to keep from saying something I would regret, I headed around back. I knew there was an outdoor shower, but I had never used it. It was in a small shed in a protected glade at the corner of the building. It wasn’t like I was worried that anyone could see me, I just felt like the woman had no right to keep me out of my own dorm.
The pipes creaked when I turned them on, but once hot water was flowing over my bruised body I didn’t care. I took a long time in the shower. True to her word, Martha had left me a pile of clothing to wear to dinner. Unfortunately, she had left me dress pants and
a white, frilly blouse that I kept around for special occasions, but that really just lived in the back of my closet. She had also left me a note from Dacer, apologizing for not being at the Long Building. He said he’d gotten caught up in work. It wasn’t like Dacer to miss appointments and I wondered what it had been that was so important.
By the time I had finished showering I had long since missed dinner anyhow. Furious and unable to walk into Astra, I headed for Airlee. Sip and Lisabelle would be worried about why I hadn’t shown up in the dining hall, and I wanted to tell them of the latest developments.
I glanced back at Astra once. High above, in the third floor, I saw a curtain swoosh shut just as I looked. Martha must have been watching me leave.
I hurried to Airlee as it grew dark. I didn’t have much time if I didn’t want to be out past curfew.
Sip opened the door just as I knocked.
“Good,” she said. “Where WERE you?” She was already in her pajamas, which just so happened to be an eye-watering shade of purple neon.
Lisabelle was sitting cross-legged at her desk, poring over some black scroll, but she looked up when I came into the room. “Are you alright?” she asked. “You look pale.”
I sat on Sip’s bed and relayed to them what had happened. I told them about the Tabble almost as an afterthought.
“That’s not like Dacer,” said Sip, frowning.
I nodded grimly. “I know.”
“And there are hellhounds in the Long Building?”
“They must live in the catacombs,” I said as confirmation. “This was one big and smelled really bad. Or something. I have no idea.”
“Do you think there are a lot of them?” said Lisabelle. “I’m sure the professors performed spells to get rid of the darkness, but they might not have reached as far as the catacombs.” She glanced at the scroll on her desk.
“What are you working on?” I asked, pointing at the scroll.
“It’s something Risper sent me,” she said. “It discusses unusual paranormal powers, where they come from, how uncommon they are, and most importantly how to respond if I should run into any. It’s fun.”
Sip scowled at Lisabelle. “You should be doing homework.”
“I know everything I need to know about that stupid pillow,” said Lisabelle. “Why Zervos wanted us to find artifacts in campus buildings is beyond me.”
There was a knock on the door and Lough came in.
“Evening,” he said, smiling. “Wow, Charlotte, you look terrible.”
“Thanks,” I said sarcastically.
He shrugged. “At least I’m honest.”
“You look angry,” I said, seeing that his cheeks were redder than usual and his eyes were snapping.
His shoulders slumped. “I was hoping to hide it. I know you like your boyfriend and all,” he said, “but his aunt is awful.”
“Tell me about it,” I said dryly. His aunt was a staunch paranormal supporter, but she also thought that her nephew was too good for anyone who wasn’t from a high ranking fallen angel family, like Vanni.
“She has Trafton and me in advanced flying, which is already a joke, because I can’t fly, but I don’t think she’s ever had dream givers before. She ordered both of us not to use our powers in the class.”
“I thought you were taking it so that you could learn to fly in dreams,” Sip wondered.
“Yeah, I am,” Lough growled. “It’s ridiculous.”
Lough reached his arm back as if to punch the wall, but instead of his fist impacting the plaster, an invisible force sent him flying backward before he could so any damage. He crashed into a chair, tipped it over, and tumbled to the floor, landing in a heap.
“Oh, Lough are you okay?” Sip cried.
“I like that chair,” Lisabelle protested from her desk.
“Public is acting strangely,” Sip commented. “It’s not like these weird things are being caused by magical spells put in place to attack supposed intruders, it the actual fabric of Public itself. The buildings. Believe me, I’m used to strange stuff, and I still never expected to say that a building itself was acting like anything.”
I knew what she was thinking of. Last semester when we had tried to sneak onto the grounds, the force field had attacked us with white knives. We had made it in alive, but barely.
I shrugged. “I’m not as worried about that as I am about the hellhounds in the Long Building.”
Sip gave me her evil eye, basically a very stern glare.
“You will not go in there by yourself again,” she admonished me. “If you’re going to die, at least take Lisabelle with you.”
The darkness mage grinned.
“Yes, I do expect an invite to all battles,” she murmured, rolling up the parchment. “Did you look at the messages on your Contact Stone?”
I frowned. “No, I haven’t had time.”
“Oliva is having a night of festivities to celebrate his elevation to the Presidency,” said Lisabelle. “With ‘surprise’ guests.”
“No way,” said Lough in wonder. “I bet it’s really famous people.”
He no sooner sat down on Lisabelle’s bed than something furry and white slinked out from underneath it. With a dismayed cry Lough sprang to his feet.
“WHY does that thing have to live in here?” he demanded. “I can’t be here right now. I’m too angry to deal with Bartholem too.” And with one last glare at the cat he disappeared.
There was silence for a moment, but no one followed Lough.
“Sip is in charge of helping to set it up,” said Lisabelle, nodding at her roommate, who was now sitting at her own desk scribbling furiously away on a piece of paper. When Lisabelle said her name she looked around furtively, as if she was about to be under attack and had to protect secrets.
“You won’t tell us who he’s inviting?” I teased. “Pretty please?”
Sip vehemently shook her head.
“She won’t even respond with words,” said Lisabelle, laughing.
After a little more time spent teasing our friend, I stood up. “I should go too,” I said. “It’s almost curfew.”
I had just left Airlee when I heard the beat of wings overhead. I looked up and grinned as Keller landed gracefully next to me.
“There’s my heart-sweet,” he said, smiling and instantly pulling me close. Once we had finished greeting each other he asked if I wanted to come back to Aurum for the night. The prospect of returning to Astra wasn’t appealing, so I nodded. Instead of flying, we walked, my arm around his waist and his around my shoulder.
I told him all that happened that day, because I always told him everything.
“My aunt did say something about scouring the grounds for darkness,” he said thoughtfully. “I’m surprised they missed some.”
I didn’t want to defend Professor Erikson, but I said, “The catacombs are large. They probably couldn’t search all the passages.”
Keller nodded. “I meant to ask you about Ricky earlier. Did you have a chance to tell him about his mother?”
I sighed. “I just don’t know what to say,” I said sadly. “I don’t feel like I really know what happened myself, so how can I tell him?”
“Do you think Sigil knows anything else?” Keller said.
I shrugged halfheartedly. “Probably, but who can tell? He heard she was murdered by elementals, but where are they? They weren’t in Astra. If there are rogue elementals running around, don’t you think we’d know about it? Surely the demons would be after them.”
“Maybe he’s making it up, then,” said Keller. “Maybe it’s a dream. Either way, you need to find out more. If no one can tell you, then you need to dream it. Or maybe the masks can help,” he ended thoughtfully.
“I just think Sigil is a crazy old ghost who doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Why would the elementals murder their own? Why would they stay in hiding? None of it makes sense. If there were other elementals out there and they just sat back and watched paranormals die because the Po
wer of Five couldn’t be invoked, that’s unforgivable. It’s a lot more likely that Sigil is confused and that the demons got my mom.”
Chapter Eighteen
At breakfast the next morning, Lisabelle was sitting alone when I arrived. Keller had gone to train with his friends and I was avoiding Astra, so I had gone straight to the dining hall.
“Where’s Sip?” I said, sitting down.
Lisabelle was buttering toast. “In some big, important meeting about Oliva’s gala,” she said. “She wouldn’t tell me anything about it. I had to harass her for ten minutes just to find out where she was going.”
“Did you hear there’s going to be a gala?” Vanni said, nearly stumbling up to us in her excitement.
“Uh huh,” said Lisabelle, not even looking at the younger fallen angel. “Sweet.”
“And I heard both of you were invited to President Caid’s summer bash,” she gushed. “Super cool. Sorry I didn’t have a chance to talk to you there. I was just so busy!”
Sure she is and sure she was, I thought.
Vanni had surely hoped that when she saw me at breakfast Keller would be with me, but he liked to practice flying tricks before he ate. He had said something vague about spinning around and around in the air not being good for the digestion.
“He’s good,” I said, trying to smile. My teeth hurt.
After a pause where no further conversation seemed to happen, Vanni went off to get some food and didn’t come back to our table. Once she had left, Lisabelle said, “That looked painful for you.”
“Why were we invited to Caid’s?” I asked thoughtfully, ignoring her comment. “We aren’t important.”
Lisabelle snorted. “Speak for yourself.”
“Okay, you’re important. You’re the most powerful darkness mage in generations, including Malle, and your uncle is a committee member.” I paused, and Lisabelle knew that I was pausing because I didn’t know what I could say about my own importance in Caid’s hierarchy.
Elemental Air (Paranormal Public Series) Page 13