I looked around. The driveway was surrounded by trees that overhung the road, ensuring a lot of privacy for Dacer’s estate.
“Yeah, something like that. Okay, you’re right,” I said.
“Your friend Peter moved away,” she said.
That was true. My best friend was Peter, and he didn’t live there anymore. “Peter’s family didn’t want us to know where they went,” I said quietly. “They seemed to think I would follow them, and that whatever madness my life was about would get Peter hurt.” My jaw tightened. I remembered the look in Peter’s eyes as he’d come over to tell me. He hadn’t wanted to come near me, and then he had literally run back home, as if I was going to curse him if I kept looking at him.
Peter’s hatred had pierced me; the very look in his eyes had hurt.
My sister could see from my face that I was working something out, and she just kept walking quietly alongside me. Although I didn’t want to upset her, I felt like the news about the house being up for sale was just one more thing that would sever my ties to my old life and allow me to travel wherever I wanted, without the pressure of the paranormal world weighing down my shoulders.
“I’m sorry about Peter,” she whispered.
“Me too,” I said. More than ready to change the subject, I cast around for another topic. “How’s teaching? Are you a full-fledged professor now?”
Charlotte beamed. “My final examinations are at the end of this year. If I pass those, I’ll be a full professor at Paranormal Public, and nothing would make me happier. Dacer’s really proud, so is Keller. It feels great to be doing what I’m doing.” She sighed and I watched with pleasure as some of the tiredness in her face seeped away.
“There’s a ceremony,” she said, then she stopped.
I rolled my eyes. “You can invite me to the ceremony,” I said. “I might even come.”
“I just don’t . . .” she bit her lip. “You were so angry when you left.”
Her eyes swam with tears and guilt threatened to engulf me.
“Charlotte, stop,” I muttered. Then I grabbed my sister around the shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. I was taller than she was now, and her head fit comfortably on my shoulder. Her fuzzy brown hair tickled the sensitive spot under my chin and I almost smiled.
She snuffled a little and said, “I just want you to be happy. I was so upset when you left. I just want you to know that your happiness is the MOST important thing to me.” I appreciated her words, but I knew the situation just wasn’t that simple. Time for another subject change.
“So, Keller’s off at the clinic. Is there other news?”
“I miss Lough,” said Charlotte. “I know I’ll see him again, but it’s hard not having him around. Rake is a artifact hunter working for the government. His conversation with Sip when he started was pretty funny, since obviously everyone but Sip knows he’d do anything for her. She called him into her office, the office of the president, all official. He came thinking he was in trouble and that some of her advisors must be angry with him. He was working security at the time, but I guess Sip had been getting all these reports of how awesome and helpful he always was. Besides, he was determined and smart and he’s massive, all good characteristics for artifact hunters. He’ll get the job done and not be messed with while he’s doing it. Anyway, He came and Sip offered him a promotion. She put him in charge of all the governmental artifact hunters, of which there are many at this point.
“He was shocked. He had thought he was in trouble and that if Sip had something to tell him she wouldn’t do it in an official capacity, because they’ve known each other since college. I also don't think he even knew that was a job he could have. He was so mad at her. She was all timid and if you want this you can have it and he was all, if you want me to have it I’ll have it, which is not a concept she understands at all.” Charlotte giggled again, thinking of her two friends’ attempts at communication.
“So, now he’s an artifact hunter?”
Charlotte sighed. “Yeah, he’s amazing. Before he started leading this task force, they had found eight of the 142 artifacts on the missing list, and now, in just six months, they’ve found 34 more. It’s unbelievable. He sees Keller a lot, because while they’re searching for artifacts they come across a lot of paranormals who need Keller’s help. Rake has Oggles take the paranormals to Keller. It’s a pretty impressive and effective system.”
“It certainly wasn’t in place when I left,” I said, thinking back to the disarray that had permeated the paranormal government when I left. “Anyhow, Sip must be really proud of him.”
“She is,” said Charlotte. “Rake has turned a floundering organization into something that Sip can point to and be proud of on behalf of the government, which was her thought all along.”
“Rake thinks it’s funny that she doesn't get it?” I asked.
Charlotte smiled. “Rake is a little frustrated with Sip at times, but yeah, overall I think he’s bemused.”
We had walked far away from the house, and now Charlotte asked if I wanted to turn back. I agreed.
“I didn’t think you’d be able to come to Dacer’s,” I said. “I thought you’d be busy with teaching stuff.”
“I’ll always come when you’re here,” said Charlotte. “Besides, there are lots of things at a standstill due to the trials, especially Camilla’s. I’ve never seen such interest in a trial before, and I’m kind of worried that it’s not all entirely for the right reasons.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Some paranormals want to see Camilla brought to justice, but lots of them think that Cale should have killed her when he had the chance. That’s all they want for anyone who supported the Nocturns.”
“Of course, they haven’t found everyone who supported the Nocturns,” I said.
“No,” said Charlotte, “many of them melted away at the end of the war as if there had never even been a battle.” Charlotte’s face looked angry, and she squeezed my arm a little tighter.
For a long time after that we walked in silence.
Chapter Seventeen
Later I decided to try my solitary walk again. When I had set out before I’d been serious about needing to think, and I still was. I was just getting ready to leave when I heard a strange mewing sort of noise. Trying to figure out what it was, I scanned the long veranda that wrapped around the castle. The view from where I was standing was incredible, and as the sun set a burst of gold to broke up the blue and green. Somewhere nearby I heard a sort of scuffling noise.
Looking down, I saw that there was also a tiny puppy.
I stared at the thing, wondering what on earth a dog was doing there! I had never had my own pet, because my father had never wanted to pay for one. I desperately wanted a dog, but Carl didn’t even like me to mention it. So now I didn’t have a clue what to do with one other than to pet it with an awkward flat hand.
“Puppies don’t mew,” I muttered to myself. The dog was all black, and his tail beat the ground as he stared up at me looking like he might shake himself in circles from excitement. I started toward him with a little frown, but right before I reached him he turned around and raced away. He was barely bigger than a soccer ball and nearly as round. He didn’t look like he’d be very fast, but I wasn’t able to catch him when I followed. He quickly got a little further ahead of me, and I wasn’t paying any attention to where I was going, so when I suddenly found myself in the thickly overgrown grounds behind Castle Duckleworth, staring at a trapdoor that I knew could only lead into the dungeons, I didn’t hesitate. The black puppy had burrowed his way beneath the house, and I had a feeling it must be living in the basement.
“Fine,” I muttered. “If this is how you want to play it, fine.” It struck me as a little funny that I was losing to a pint-sized puppy.
The trapdoor didn’t look like it had been opened in years. It was covered in moss and vines, which I tried carefully to pick away; I didn’t want to disturb any of the growth. When I fin
ally managed to pry the door loose, it came open with a wrenching shriek. I paused before going any further, looking around in the dusk to see if I had disturbed anything. I half expected Dacer, or more likely Zellie, to come running, but I saw no one. I could also no longer hear the puppy scuffling around. There was no way I was going to go away and leave him sitting down there in the dark by himself. He could be in danger!
The wide, crumbling stone steps were made of heavy, single slabs of rock, not carved or constructed out of bricks or blocks. Carefully, I took one step and than another. There was no light, so I used my ring.
The elemental ring I now wore was a multicolored stone set in rose gold. I had balked at the rose gold at first, thinking that it was more for girls, but Keller had told me that he had a rose gold necklace (that Charlotte wouldn’t let him wear), and Lough had approved of the ring too. After that I had been willing to wear it. Besides, it was one of the best elemental rings left, and the only one that started singing when I put it on.
The dungeon I found myself in was cold, in stark contrast to the warmth of the last rays of the sun aboveground. I moved gingerly, trying to keep an eye on my feet. For all I knew the puppy was hiding on the stairs, and stepping on it would not only break its back but send me sprawling as well.
But the puppy was nowhere to be seen. I had no sooner pulled the trap door partly closed behind me than I heard the whining again. I tried to move faster, but I realized that that was a mistake as soon as my foot slipped on an uneven step. My ring flared with light, and the hand I caught myself with landed on a wall made of dirt. The ceiling was so close I nearly had to bend over to keep going forward.
“Here, puppy,” I called out, trying to whistle. I’d never been able to do it, despite being made fun of by just about everyone I had ever met. A sort of hollow airy sound came out of my mouth and that was the end of it.
“Puppy,” I tried again. No answer.
My ring was sparkling and twinkling, so I paused to take a look around; at least I knew better than to go forward blindly.
Basically, I was in a dirt hallway. The floor was earthen, and some of it looked damp. Rocks poked up here and there, as if a message had been cut out of the ground and they’d just gone around the boulders.
There was still no sign of the puppy. I tried calling a couple more times, but still got no answer. Moving further into the passage, I figured I must be entirely under Duckleworth now.
Suddenly I heard a scuffle and sensed some movement in the dark. I raced forward around a turn in the hallway and nearly fell over on the uneven surface. Grabbing at the wall to save myself, I felt the dirt give easily under my fingernails. Cursing, I started to topple forward into the only thing in front of me: utter blackness.
My feet scrambled to stay on solid ground and I reached my left hand across my body to fasten it into the wall next to my right. After a few steadying breaths, my body relaxed a bit and I could take the time to look forward and down. I gasped when I saw, in the soft light of my ring, a long, steep drop just ahead. It must have been at least a hundred feet down, but in fact I couldn’t even see the bottom, I could just hear a sort of slushing sound in keeping with the dampness of the whole place. My shoes were now covered in mud, but I managed to step away from the edge just in time. I watched particles of sand cascade over the rim of the drop, but they were too small to make any noise when they hit bottom. Casting about back the way I had come, I found a rock and threw it forward into the darkness. After what felt like a very long time, I heard a plop that told me there was, in fact, water below.
Frustrated, I kept looking down, but I couldn’t see anything clearly. I wanted a better view of what was down there and I needed to figure out a way to get it.
Then it hit me like a thunderclap. I - this is shocking, right? - was an elemental, and down below me was water. Not only that, but like my sister, I had command of all four elements, although I had done very little with any of them so far. I had been so busy hiding my powers I had nearly forgotten I had them.
Carefully, I sat close enough to the edge that I could still feel the cool air billowing up, but far enough back that I wasn’t at risk of slipping over. Gently, I touched the air and closed my eyes.
My power wrapped around me, tentative at first, then with more force.
To my surprise, the water didn’t feel muddy or stagnant. It felt clear and cool and . . . something else. Suddenly I felt like I was hurtling through blue crystals, so I opened my eyes to see what was going on and was instantly forced to blink several times. All around me the space was sparkling. Shining up from the depths of the fall I had nearly taken was pure blue and white light. I crawled forward, ignoring the fact that my hands were instantly covered in dirt.
“Wow,” I breathed.
Below me was a beautiful, clear pool, encased in what looked like stone and clear glass. The glass was bluish, and the white rocks were so smooth I was sure I could sit on them in the places where they stuck out of the water.
I scrambled away from the edge and cast around for a way to get down to the water. Seeing none, I didn’t even stop to think. I looked over the rim one more time, took a deep breath and then another, and launched myself over the edge.
I hated heights, but with that water below me I wasn’t afraid. I felt the dirt beneath my feet give, and then I was soaring and falling, down, down, down, as the wind of my motion whistled around me and caught me up in greeting. As I hurtled toward the earth I felt like I was flying.
The next instant I slammed into the perfect, clear water. My magic had told me that the pool was deep enough for me to jump into, and to my great relief, it was. I didn’t hit bottom, and I was thankful for that, because if I had I probably would have broken my legs.
Settling into the cool water, I opened my eyes and saw an amazing world.
The pool went down and down, like a fresh spring that came from the middle of the earth. When I looked around instead of down, I saw vines and colorful rocks sticking out of the side walls of the pool. Looking up, I saw a long stretch of black and smiled. I couldn’t even see where I had jumped from, it was that high up.
I swam to the surface, in no hurry to get there. Once I broke through, I took in a great gulp of air. I was grinning like an idiot even though no one was there to see me.
Something nagged at me, though, and with a glance through the water I knew I wanted to follow the pool to its source. It stretched into the distance in the opposite direction from where I had jumped, then disappeared under a ceiling of rock. If I had known where it was headed before, I could have used the momentum of the fall to carry me further under the rock.
Taking another great gulp of air, I dove under the overhanging rock, hoping that the pool didn’t stretch so far away that I wouldn’t be able to get back.
I swam and swam. The water got a little warmer, and the light didn’t fade. It seemed like the water itself was glowing, and I couldn’t stop smiling. When I ran out of air I surfaced carefully and found that my face was mere inches from the rock ceiling that covered the water.
This went on for several more minutes, or so it seemed, but time seemed to stretch and stop in odd ways in this place, and the cool water that flowed around me was making me forget everything else. When I couldn’t stand holding my breath anymore I surfaced for air with a great gasp, and each time it felt like the rock above me was just a little closer and the overhanging surface was a little more silver, as if metal was replacing the rock above me. I was starting to give up on the idea of going any further when I felt a break in the ceiling that made me push quickly to the surface and gasp for air.
It took me several seconds to get my bearings, but once I did I couldn’t stop looking around. The pool ended in a gently sloping, arching chamber. The sand around its edges seemed to be made of a million tiny, multi-colored crystals that shone as brightly as diamonds. The walls and the rock looked like they had been painted silver. I wasn’t sure where all the light was coming from - certainly not my r
ing - but there was plenty to see by.
Emerging from the water onto the sparkling sand, I felt like a different paranormal. This place felt far removed from the world I had come from, like a place pain couldn’t touch, not even the pain I had buried deep within my chest.
I moved slowly. I didn’t even want to splash as the water poured off my body.
In the center of the beach was a large circular stone, the only stone in the cavern that was black instead of gold. As I got closer to it I saw marks etched into it, as if someone had taken their four fingers, minus the thumb, held them tightly together, and pressed them into the stone when it was molten, so that when it hardened, the fingerprints would be there forever. I put my own fingers into the first set of imprints, and the stone felt so smooth that my skin slid across the dark surface. There was no reflection in the stone, just an absorbing darkness. My fingers were far too small for the first marks I tried, so I tried the second set, and now my fingers were too large. I tried the third and it was so close it was scary, but still just a little off. Next time, instead of using my left hand I tried my right.
As my hand - my right hand, my ring hand - slipped into place, I felt heat rush to the skin that was touching the rock. I cried out as pain shot up my arm, making it feel like my skin was melting off.
The stone had come alive. It was now burning with an inner light, as if a large white flame was trying to rage out of control. The whole scene was in stark contrast to the peace that had surrounded me a moment ago, as shadows sprang to life and bent and crawling creatures started to move across the surface of the pool. My ring felt like dead weight on my hand, so much so that I was afraid the heat pouring off the rock would melt it, and it would drip down my fingers to pool for all eternity on the stone.
Holding myself together with an effort, I kept my eyes trained on the flame inside the stone. The black rock was now transparent, and the flame inside it reminded me of a flame burning in a woodstove.
But what was the kindling?
Elemental Omen (Paranormal Public Book 10) Page 13