Luckily, the three of us were sitting together at one of the side tables, the main table having been reserved for the real grownups. Dacer had asked if I wanted to sit with Charlotte, since being the brother of the bride was kind of a big deal, but I had told him I’d be just fine out of the way. He seemed to agree. “As a matter of fact, I think you’d thrive there,” he muttered.
We found our places and took our seats. Waiters bustled in and out constantly as the three of us talked quietly and other guests filtered in. General Goffer arrived, along with a second general and Cather. Several other paranormals entered, eyeing us curiously. Duchess Leonie had even threatened to make an appearance, a prospect that truly terrified her son.
“Is Queen Lanca coming?” Keegan asked. He knew that Charlotte was friends with the vampire queen, and after Averett had left campus to let her family know what had happened to Sip, Keegan had a new appreciation for the powerful circles Charlotte moved in.
“Dacer said that she and Vital are coming, but they like to arrive last. It’s fitting for their station, and safer, because then she isn’t just sitting around letting herself be a potential target,” I explained.
“Duckleworth is safe, though,” said Eighellie. “Maybe not for you two when you walk in the woods, but otherwise, surely it’s well protected.” Her voice trailed off into a half question.
Keegan and I exchanged glances. Last semester we had been walking in the forest, with Keegan talking on and on and telling me all sorts of facts about trees that I didn’t care about, when we had suddenly been attacked. The werewolf who had jumped Keegan had gotten away, but not before it had knocked him down and come close to savaging him. Dacer had examined the branch I’d used to hit it, but he had never told me what he discovered, if anything. Later that same night Zellie had attacked me, and I found it curious that I had never heard any explanation of the events of that day from either of them.
“Something’s wrong,” said Keegan, examining the room.
“What?” I asked, looking around to try and figure out what my friend was seeing. There was no sign yet of Charlotte or Keller, who I knew wanted to make an entrance once most of the guests were in their places. Bertrum also had yet to arrive, although I wasn’t convinced he was really coming anyhow.
“There aren’t any fallen angels,” said Eighellie instantly.
“Cather’s here,” I said, pointing out Keller’s old friend.
“Yeah, that’s one, but this is Keller Erikson we’re talking about,” she said. “He knows every fallen angel alive. His family is powerful, he has siblings, so where are they all? Shouldn’t his parents at least be here by now?”
I shifted uncomfortably. Now that Eighellie had pointed it out, I knew she was right. I looked around and tried to figure out what was going on, but I couldn’t see any more guests arriving, even through the door into the entrance, through which Dacer had disappeared some time ago.
As I peered out of the ballroom, though, none other than Dobrov Valedication arrived in company with a solidly built paranormal with salt and pepper hair. The companion was dressed all in black, more appropriately for cat burgling than for a party. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite place him at first.
“Wow,” said Keegan.
“Is that the only word you know how to use?” Eighellie demanded, following Keegan’s gaze.
“Wow,” she breathed.
“Told you,” said Keegan. “Opportunity for smugness number two and we’re only in minute five!”
“What are we wowing?” I asked. “Risper?”
“Um, yeah,” said Eighellie, turning to me with excitement. “You know him?”
“I’ve met him,” I said. After the Nocturn War I had met Lisabelle’s uncle briefly before he disappeared again. Charlotte refused to tell me much about what was happening with him, but the basic idea was that he was another badass darkness mage. I mean, he was related to Lisabelle, so obviously.
“He’s famous,” said Eighellie.
“Don’t you mean infamous?” asked Keegan.
“That too,” she said.
Dobrov nodded his head in our direction, while Risper ignored us. Eighellie sighed. “He’s wonderful. He’s the most famous bounty hunter in the world. I bet the Hunters would have loved to have him on their side.”
“What makes you think he isn’t?” Keegan said.
“Well, he’s not going to go against his niece like that, is he?” said Eighellie. “You don’t go against family.”
I thought Eighellie’s view might be a little rose-colored, though I didn’t say so out loud. All you had to do was look at Dobrov. He and his sister had gone against each other, and his sister had died. Dobrov would never be the same, for all that she had been super evil.
“At least two more paranormals have shown up,” sighed Keegan.
We looked around the ballroom. Until Keegan and Eighellie had said something, I hadn’t felt like there was anything wrong. This was my sister’s wedding celebration, after all, and she had a right to be happy. But now that my friends had pointed it out, I could see that the hall was awfully empty, especially of Eriksons.
The fact of the matter was that Keller’s family, which was now Charlotte’s, wasn’t coming. That knowledge now colored every aspect of this day.
At the end of the evening I gave Charlotte a hug and she smiled sadly at me. “I’m just sad for Keller,” she said. “Of course I wanted them all to be here, especially for the baby. They’re family, and it’s not as if there are a lot of Rollinses to make a big extended clan for the baby to grow up in. Keller was really hoping, and then they go and do this. And poor Dacer . . .”
“Where’d Keller go?” I asked.
“I think he went out back,” she said. “He might be flying around. You might want to take a broom.” I was a terrible flyer, but it wasn’t a big deal to fly around a back yard. I nodded, and after explaining to Keegan and Eighellie where I was going, I headed out. They didn’t care that I was leaving, they were too busy arguing about something or other, as per usual.
Most of the guests had left. Duchess Leonie had appeared at one point to, as she claimed, cheer everyone up. Later she had leaned over to me and said that Luc would have to think she was crazy to miss such a feast. She came down on the side of cheerfulness, but she really didn’t care as long as there was food. I thought she sounded a lot like a certain teenage tree sprite of my acquaintance.
The house still smelled wonderful, and all the party lights were still on. Star patterns were everywhere, but I had to wonder at the sort of paranormals who would do what the Eriksons had done, both to Keller and to Dacer. Maybe the fallen angels were not as kind as I had always been told, and had thought.
As I walked out of the ballroom I heard someone say, “Crying shame, but at least we get to eat!” A lot of the servants that Dacer had employed for the event were from the surrounding towns, and when we had ended up several hundred guests short, Dacer had given them permission to eat whatever they wanted.
The night was windless, dark, and cold, and the ground still had a snow cover despite the fact that it hadn’t snowed since I’d left Public. As I went outside I saw Dacer in the yard throwing balls for Crumple, Useless, and some of the other dogs, looking like he didn’t want to be disturbed. Crumple stopped for a moment to look at me, but then another ball took his attention and the moment was broken.
I wondered if the dog could smell the sadness on me. Basically I was fine, but I felt awful for Charlotte and Keller. My sister in particular had been looking forward to this night and to Keller’s happiness at having his family celebrate with him. The evening had not gone as planned.
I inhaled deeply and watched my breath come out in a thick, white fog. Scanning the sky, I decided that Keller must be flying high over the clouds. I had thought he’d be visible, soaring in front of the stars, but half of the sky was overcast, and at first there was no sign of him. I walked further and further away from the house, closer to the forest and
away from the lights of Duckleworth, trying to catch sight of him.
At first I wondered if he had actually left the castle and gone to see his parents, to ask them why they had done what they did. But I doubted he would have left Charlotte at such a time, and she wouldn’t have approved of such foolery anyhow, of that I was sure.
Suddenly I saw a dark shape looming. At first I thought it might be a fire bird, but on closer inspection I saw that the wings were the wrong shape. I had taken Charlotte’s suggestion and brought a broom, though with no particular relish, and now I forced myself to mount it. I was bad on a broom, and I wished I could just use the air, since I was an elemental, but I knew I didn’t have that kind of control. Anyhow, Keller might not appreciate being buffeted out of the air by massive gusts of wind. So broom-riding it was.
I took to the night and soared upwards, trying to catch the exceptional fallen angel flyer who was my brother-in-law. At first it was impossible. He hadn’t seen me, so he just kept wheeling around at a frantic pace, circling over and over, not pausing or changing course. I was hoping for his sake that the speed was alleviating some of his frustration, but it didn’t seem likely that anything could on such short notice.
After what was starting to feel like a fruitless chase, I finally caught him, only because he saw me and stopped what he was doing. For a second I had the feeling that he wanted to race in the opposite direction, but then he glided toward me.
He came slowly, as if he needed the time to compose himself.
“Hey,” he said. His skin was very pale, but his cheeks were flushed in a way that reminded me of Lough, and I had a sharp pang of missing our dream giver friend.
“Hey,” I said.
“Not a fan of brooms, huh?” he asked with a little smile.
“How can you tell?” I said.
“The white knuckles were a tipoff,” he said.
I tried to loosen my grip, but then I felt like I was falling off. “Yeah, sorry,” I said. “I didn’t want to wave you down.”
“Thanks,” said Keller. “I’m not ready to come down yet.”
“Yeah,” I said. I sucked at this this cheering up stuff.
“Look, Ricky, I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to say to you, or to Dacer, much less to Charlotte. I can’t believe my family behaved that way, especially after what my aunt did.”
“Are they angry at you about what happened to Professor Erikson?” I said. The thought shocked me. It wasn’t as if Keller had had any control over her; he was just trying not to die, and not to let those he loved die.
“I’m not sure they have any idea what they’re angry about anymore. Except, they’re definitely angry at Lisabelle.”
“As usual, there’s a pretty long line for that one,” I said.
When the darkness mage had become the new premier, she had imprisoned Professor Erikson. Charlotte hadn’t wanted to talk about it, but I felt sure Lisabelle had imprisoned her predecessor instead of killing her at least in part because of Keller. He had wanted his aunt’s life spared, so Lisabelle had spared it without worrying about the cost to herself. That was always the kind of friend she was, if you could get her there. I rather thought she was full up on best friends, though.
A fleeting memory of a certain dream giver passed through my mind again, then it was gone. Lough was missing. Wherever he was, it would put him or us in danger to discuss it, but even without any discussion it was obvious that not all of my sister’s friends agreed on what he was doing.
“Lisabelle wasn’t coming to this event, though,” I said. “They really only hurt you and Dacer. I wouldn't think they really wanted to do that.” If Lisabelle had been planning to attend, which she hadn’t, because then she’d have to actually talk to us – oh, the horror – I could have seen the fallen angels getting up in arms, but this was Keller. This was Charlotte.
Keller nodded, his eyes spilling fury, “Yeah, I know. If Charlotte . . . well, if I felt free to do it, I’d go and have a talk with them.” He cleared his throat. His tone was threatening, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that wasn’t exactly what the fallen angels wanted, whatever else they might be up to.
Chapter Eight
Dacer had tried hard not to let his anger show after it became clear that the party had been a failure. We all knew that Charlotte felt terrible, and having Dacer visibly upset could only make it worse. Still, the next morning there appeared a set of massive tracks through the snow. It looked strange enough so that I went to look out another window to get a better view of the ground.
An enormous cannon had appeared in the courtyard.
“In case any of them decide to show up late,” said Dacer through gritted teeth. The cannon was covered in brown glitter, befitting an angry glitter fiend.
No one else made any comment on the cannon, but it was still there when we departed for Public a few days later.
The trip back to campus for second semester was a lot more fun than our autumn trip had been. For one thing, Bertrum wasn’t along. He hadn’t come to Charlotte and Keller’s party, probably because he wasn’t up for socializing. Keller, who checked in on him regularly, said he was still in pretty bad shape. With Sip missing and not actively serving as president, Bertrum had even more worries than usual. The interim president had asked him for all of Sip’s classified files on the excuse that he needed them to run the paranormal world “properly.” Bertrum, in response, kept accidentally losing them. I wondered how long that game could go on.
With Bertrum gone and Rake working around the clock to find and defend special artifacts, it was just Keegan and Eighellie traveling with me to Paranormal Public this time.
Charlotte and Keller planned to stay at Duckleworth an extra day, partly so that Keller could calm down. If he had seen a fallen angel in those first days after the party, I felt confident that he would have put that fallen angel through a wall without a second thought. They were also delaying, I thought, because Charlotte was having a hard time with the idea of going back to where Sip had been attacked, in Charlotte and Keller’s own cottage.
“Thank you for having me,” said Eighellie to Dacer as we were leaving. The vampire smiled and nodded. Although he famously didn’t like students, he had taken a liking to Eighellie. Maybe it was the darkness in each of them reaching out to make a connection.
“I’m very impressed with your work at Paranormal Public,” he said. “Keep it up. You know, and if you should find yourself in the Long Building, always remember that the masks are not far away.” He winked at her, and Eighellie turned to us in amazement.
“He doesn’t know I’ve borrowed a room in there, does he?” she whispered to us.
“Um, I’m pretty sure he knows,” said Keegan.
Then, as the three of us stood outside waiting for our coach, I saw a dark figure striding across the snow.
Risper looked up. He was headed for the woods and carrying what I thought looked suspiciously like the stick I had hit the werewolf with last summer. He looked up and met our eyes, giving one curt nod.
“He’s so dreamy,” sighed Eighellie happily.
Keegan and I both rolled our eyes. “He’s a little old for you, isn’t he?” said Keegan.
“I don’t want to DATE him,” said Eighellie, appalled. “I can appreciate him from a distance.”
“I don’t understand women,” said Keegan as he turned away.
“I know,” said Eighellie loudly.
Far away near the trees, it looked like Risper gave a chuckle.
As we neared Paranormal Public, flying over snowy trees and deep forests, I started looking for the school on the horizon. I hadn’t realize how much I missed it or how much I was looking forward to returning until this moment.
What were my fellow students up to? What did Professor Penny do over the holidays? Did the Burble siblings get coal for Christmas? What about Hannah?
Hopefully our classes would be more interesting this semester and Averett would be around. Maybe paranormal relat
ions would even improve.
“I really hate to say this, but you look excited,” said Eighellie. “I know it can’t be because you’re so excited to get back to studying, so what’s it for?”
I glanced at my two friends. Over the past month or so an idea had been forming in my mind, but I hadn’t wanted to say anything because I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. I didn’t want to say something so important without following through.
I had just decided to tell them what I had planned when suddenly there came a jostling in the air around us. We grabbed the sides of the coach and I felt my arm muscles bunch as they fought to keep me in place. Through the window, clouds flashed past us at a dizzying speed. We were out of control high up in the sky.
“What’s happening?” Keegan yelled. One second we’d been flying along uneventfully, and the next we had pitched so far forward that I thought we were about to flip over and tumble out. My stomach rolled, and it took all my concentration not to throw up.
Another second went by and we were pitched backwards, then we fell sideways. Keegan was on the floor, his hands braced between the seats, while Eighellie was holding on tight with her eyes focused as if she was using raw power to keep herself upright. The coach windows were covered, but in a moment of calm I ripped the curtains off.
“What on earth?” I couldn’t see anything at first, then I saw a ball of fire speed past us. I heard the swoosh and imagined I felt the heat. The coach steadied and didn’t throw us wildly around again, but who knew where the next fire ball would be directed.
“Someone’s throwing fire balls at us,” I yelled.
“From the ground?” Eighellie cried, her voice filled with shock.
“Did they get ahold of Dacer’s cannon?” Keegan asked.
Then the coach started to climb, rising higher and higher until my ears popped and all I could see out the windows was a bank of clouds.
“Does anyone have a broom?” Eighellie yelled.
“Yeah, I keep it in my other purse,” Keegan roared from the floor. “No, I don’t have a broom. You can’t go out there!”
Elemental Fate (Paranormal Public Book 12) Page 6