Elemental Fire (Paranormal Public Series)

by Edwards, Maddy

  “So, we’re getting our stuff in here?” Sip said.

  “At least essentials,” said Lisabelle. “But given how hard it was to get here I don’t think we should weigh ourselves down with anything unnecessary.”

  Sip and I agreed and followed along behind.

  Lisabelle put her hand on the metal door and pushed, and unlike the last door we had tried to go through, it opened noiselessly.

  “Now, before you get all on your high horse,” said Lisabelle over her shoulder, “just remember that you’re used to seeing me break rules.”

  Sip let out a puff of air next to me. Obviously she had been about to tell Lisabelle off.

  “How’d you know the password?” she breathed.

  Lisabelle grinned over her shoulder. “Uncle Risper told me that there might be times when I had to sneak out to help him or Charlotte. Well, there was no use sneaking out if I was just going to get in trouble for it, so he gave me the password for sneaking back in as well.”

  “How good of him,” said Sip dryly. “The committee member promoting delinquency not only in his own students, but in his own blood relations.”

  “Hey, it could be worse,” said Lisabelle. “They could have locked us out of college during finals week.”

  Sip gasped in horror. “So that we couldn’t finish the semester?”

  Lisabelle snickered when Sip realized that she was being made fun of.

  “Let’s get to your room,” I said. “Did Lough need anything?”

  “Not that he said,” said Lisabelle. “He’s a guy. His room probably barely has anything in it anyway.”

  Airlee was in complete darkness. The only light was from the moon, streaming in through the windows.

  “Aren’t the curtains usually pulled at night?” Sip asked.

  “Yes,” said Lisabelle and I in unison.

  “So, maybe the students aren’t here after all,” Sip mused.

  We walked single file through the building. I could feel the carpet under my feet, but in the dim light it was an eerie, unsettling gray. There were no noises as we padded up the stairs, and when the wood under my feet creaked I flinched at the loud noise it made.

  “Charlotte, how are your powers?” Sip whispered. She was still bringing up the rear, while Lisabelle, the most clearly formidable of us, was in front.

  “Low,” I murmured back. I didn’t want to admit it, but getting us here had exhausted my magic. “I’ll need a little time to recover.”

  “Hopefully we have that,” said Lisabelle. “We haven’t been caught yet.”

  “As I keep telling you,” said Sip irritably, “my plans are foolproof.”

  In front of me Lisabelle paused, appearing to consider what to say, then shook her head. “Nope, too easy. Not even going to touch that one.”

  “Here we go,” said Sip.

  We were outside the door of my friends’ room now, but I felt only marginally better. I had kept an eye on the space between the bottom of the doors and the floor, hoping for any sign of light, but there was none.

  Gently, Lisabelle eased us into their room. It was pitch black, because Lisabelle had put black curtains over Sip’s neon ones. Not even the sun could visit their room. Unsurprisingly, my friends knew where everything was, basically without light. I was sure that Sip’s werewolf eyes helped her get around, while I couldn’t explain Lisabelle’s easy movements. It was Lisabelle, though, so I just didn’t think too hard about it.

  “What all are you bringing?” Sip asked Lisabelle.

  “My wand, for starters,” Lisabelle said. “I kept it just in case. It hasn’t fully disappeared into my arm, and I don’t want to think about what happens if it falls into the wrong hands. Other than that, just a change of clothing and a couple of curses. Plus one or two things Uncle Risper gave me for safe keeping. You?”

  Before Sip could answer there was a thump against the door and a rasping noise, as if someone was fighting to breathe.

  We had been found.

  Chapter Six

  Lisabelle motioned us back just as there was another knock on the door. She frowned, and I knew why; there was clearly something wrong. Dove would not have knocked, he would have just barged in. It was likely that Professor Erikson would have done even worse than that.

  Sip got in front of me, but when I made a noise of protest she just glared. She had a point. My magical reserves were so low that I probably wouldn’t be able to protect myself from whatever came through that door. Lisabelle positioned herself on the side of the door jamb and carefully reached for the knob. Another, sharper knock made me jump.

  “What sort of demon knocks?” Sip mouthed to me. I shrugged.

  Lisabelle was using the arm that had her wand to open the door. She hadn’t pushed up her sleeve, but even without that I could see black fire burning through the thin fabric that covered her power. Whatever came through that door was in a world of trouble.

  She popped the door open and jumped in front of it, throwing a wall of black fire between herself and the opening.

  “Lisabelle, stop it right now,” came a familiar, if terrified, voice. The black fire instantly disappeared, and Sip, Lisabelle, and I stared in open-mouthed shock at the young man standing in front of us. He had sandy blond hair, gorgeous blue eyes, the body of a surfer, and a bloody lip.

  “Trafton!” exclaimed Sip, in obvious relief. Making her way around Lisabelle, who was standing in front of the door glaring, she darted forward and wrapped her arms around the Airlee dream giver.

  “So, there are students here?” I said thoughtfully. Then, looking at his amused face, I added, “I mean, nice to see you, Trafton.”

  He gave me a crooked grin as he wrapped his arms around Sip’s shoulders. She barely came up to his elbow.

  “I’m here,” he said. “But I wish I weren’t. I was one of the first to get back, because I wanted to get comfortable before the start of the semester and I had heard that Locke was in chaos. That plan didn’t work out so well.”

  “What’s going on here?” I said, still keeping my voice low.

  “It’s bad,” he said grimly. “Imagine the worst possible scenario, and I can assure you that it’s worse than that. But I’ll just have to show you.”

  Lisabelle crossed her arms over her chest. “You are not taking my friends into danger.”

  Trafton looked at Lisabelle sympathetically. “This whole place is crawling with danger. If you didn’t want danger you should have taken them home.”

  The pit of my stomach fell. Trafton looked upset, and something else. I swallowed hard. Trafton looked afraid.

  “What are you talking about?” Lisabelle said, raising her eyebrows as Trafton rubbed his temples.

  “The attack at Locke was a distraction, or at least it was part of a two-pronged plan. There was another point to it, which you folks at Locke apparently didn’t get wind of. The Nocturns wanted the paranormals to think that the threat had been neutralized, that because Faci was caught and Queen Lanca was fine, the demons had lost. But while you all were busy cleaning up Locke and the other students were returning to Public - for safety - the demons were waiting. Public was taken over.”

  The three of us looked at him in horror.

  “Come in,” said Lisabelle, moving out of the way to make room. “You shouldn’t be standing in the hallway when you explain this.”

  “We aren’t supposed to have guys in our room, technically,” said Sip.

  “Technically it’s unlikely that we make it out of Public alive, so we might as well live it up,” said Lisabelle frostily.

  “I knew you’d come around,” said Trafton, grinning despite the dire situation we were in. He snaked his arm around Lisabelle’s waist before she could stop him and quickly planted a kiss on her cheek.

  “If you do not unhand me this instant I will blast you into the next dimension,” she threatened, but I heard an undercurrent of amusement in her voice.

  “Are there multiple dimensions?” Trafton murmured, his eye
s sparkling, his arm still around her waist.

  “There are several,” Sip piped up. “There’s the -”

  “Not now, Sip,” said Lisabelle, disentangling herself from the ever-flirtatious Trafton. “Sit and tell us what’s happening.”

  “What are they doing here?” I asked, but really, I already knew, and it was a terrible feeling. Public had been the one reliably safe haven, but if not even Public was safe now, the paranormals were like a besieged people, fighting on the run.

  “They think the Map Silver is here,” said Trafton grimly. “And maybe other artifacts. I don’t know if it’s true, but I sure hope it isn’t. And you know, a good way of controlling paranormals, or anyone, is holding hostage what they hold most dear, specifically their children.”

  Trafton’s words made me cold. I didn’t have parents to worry about me, and though ordinarily I would have given anything to have my mom and dad around, for this I was almost glad they were gone. If need be, I could risk myself to save my friends without having to imagine my mom’s face when she found out I was surrounded by demons.

  “So, are there just demons here, or Nocturns too?” Sip asked.

  “What’s the difference?” I wanted to know.

  Lisabelle snorted. “There’s a big difference. Demons are stupid. They are pawns, doing what they are told. Blunt instruments to be used with force. Nocturns are the brains behind the operation.”

  “And they are darkness mages?”

  “Obviously. Not stupid,” said Lisabelle, tapping her own skull.

  “Is Malle here?” Sip said. It made sense to assume she was behind this.

  “No,” said Trafton, looking relieved. “But Ms. Vale, Daisy and Dobrov’s mother, is.”

  Sip whistled as Lisabelle and I exchanged glances. “I thought she was a slave or dead or something.”

  “Personally,” said Lisabelle dryly, “I thought she was one and then the other.”

  Sip glared at Lisabelle, who ignored her.

  “Apparently Ms. Vale was friends with Malle before Malle became the all-powerful crazy paranormal that she is now. She’s here running the attack while Malle is off looking for other parts of the Wheel.”

  “But Malle is failing to get the parts she needs. She didn’t get the Fang First,” I said reasonably. “Why is she still trying?”

  “First, when they started the attack on Public, and definitely when they planned it, they didn’t know that they weren’t going to get the Fang First,” Sip pointed out. “And second, crazy paranormals are entirely unreasonable.”

  “There are some sane paranormals I won’t mention who are also entirely unreasonable,” murmured Lisabelle, pointing at Sip while pretending to look away.

  “Don’t call me unreasonable,” said Sip indignantly.

  “I didn’t. I just pointed in your direction.”

  Breaking into the incessant sparring of my two friends, I started to fill Trafton in on how we had managed to get to their room.

  His first response was a whistle. “That’s impressive,” he said. “I don’t suppose you stopped at the Museum of Masks and got anything helpful?”

  “We meant to,” said Sip sadly. “But, uh, there were issues.”

  When Trafton heard that we had already been attacked twice, his face became even grimmer. “You think it was the barrier set up by the Power of Five? It doesn’t sound like demon work.”

  “Yeah, it was the barrier,” said Lisabelle. “The demons are not nearly that subtle.”

  “How can they possibly think they’re going to get away with it?” Sip asked, her voice filled with a mixture of wonder and fear.

  “I have no idea,” said Trafton. “But maybe it’s because they are getting away with it?”

  “So, how are you free?” Sip pushed. “Hiding out in Airlee?”

  Trafton explained that since he had gotten there early he had been in his room when most of the students had arrived, fresh from the Battle of Locke. The darkness mages who were helping Ms. Vale had nabbed them as they entered, including the committee members traveling with them. Trafton had realized something was wrong when he heard screams.

  “That was only yesterday,” he murmured. “I didn’t have a long-term plan. I couldn’t expect the siege to last.”

  “Take us to them,” said Lisabelle suddenly, standing up like a caged tiger and starting to pace. “We have to confront Vale head-on. I’m not running away.”

  “Oh no,” said Sip grimly. “Oh, no, no, no.”

  Chapter Seven

  “What?” Trafton and I chorused.

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” said Sip, then she caught a glimpse of Lisabelle’s face. “Of course you’re not kidding. You’re you.”

  “We have to see what’s going on,” Lisabelle explained. “If for no other reason than to report back.”

  “It’s dangerous. We could be killed, or worse, kidnapped,” Trafton sputtered. “I’m not going.”

  “You are too,” Lisabelle insisted. “We can’t leave you here alone and you need to show us exactly where to go so that they don’t catch us. Are you sure there are no demons?”

  “I didn’t see any,” said Trafton quickly. “But I was never anywhere near the woods or the gate. I saw a couple of hellhounds, but that was a while ago. They seem to be using Malle’s old office as a headquarters, just in case any of the students forget why they’re there.”

  “So, they’re by my mother’s lake?” I murmured. My mother was Airlee, but that was all I knew about her. I had met her in the lake during my first semester, the most solid interaction I had had with her since she was murdered while I was still in high school. I now knew that she’d been murdered because she was trying to hide me - the only elemental. That is, it was my fault that my mother was dead. I swallowed hard, trying not to think about it, because every time I thought of her I was overwhelmed by guilt and pain. The only saving grace was that I intended to get revenge on the people who had killed her.

  “Charlotte? Earth to Charlotte?” Lisabelle’s voice sounded a distant call and I snapped back to the present.

  My eyes wide, I looked at my friends. “Where’d you go?” Sip enquired. They were all looking curiously at me.

  “Nowhere,” I said, shaking my head and trying to forget. My breakup with Keller had brought on panic attacks that centered around the image of my mom’s dead body. Keller had been a stabilizing force for me in the paranormal world, and with him gone I felt adrift. When I felt bad I thought of my mother, which only made me feel worse.

  “We go,” I said. “Trafton comes with us. We have to see what they’re doing. Then, when we get out, we can tell Dacer or Saferous.” I had decided to trust the fallen angel who was a member of the paranormal government, or maybe I just wanted to feel closer to Keller. At least he wasn’t there, and in danger.

  Trafton sighed and slowly rose to his feet, groaning. “Fine, but you’re going to regret it,” he insisted.

  “That’s what makes it fun,” said Lisabelle as the three of us left the room.

  I felt shattered, hot and cold at once, as if each piece of my now-destroyed body was a different temperature. Public was sacred, at least in my mind, but the Nocturns knew no limit to their evil. My mother’s death should have taught me as much, but I kept being surprised at just how bad they were. The only thing that kept me from turning around and running back to Lough was the thought that my classmates were in danger.

  We made short work of our walk to the center of campus. I was lost in dark thoughts and barely heard the discussion going on around me. Trafton explained that the students hadn’t been allowed to stay in their dorms the night before, but instead had been penned in like cattle until . . . whatever was going to happen did.

  “So, this Ms. Vale?” Sip said. “Do we know anything about her?”

  “Just that she was a slave who had twins with a vampire, and the evil nasty twin, by the name of Daisy, takes after her dear old mom,” said Lisabelle. She walked in back, her wand arm blazin
g so strongly that it was like a flashlight beam every time she raised her arm.

  “Why is your wand like that?” Trafton asked. “Did you perform a spell? It shouldn’t be that bright until you have a ton of magic.”

  When he got no answer from any of us, he whistled softly. “I knew you were powerful, but I didn’t realize you were that powerful.”

  “Learn something new every day,” said Lisabelle. “Will it mean you stop hugging me?”

  “Ha, not a chance,” said Trafton. He was leading the way, his broad shoulders and well-muscled arms tense. I felt bad putting him at risk, but his very presence meant that his life was in danger.

  “Girl can dream,” Lisabelle muttered.

  We walked in silence after that. I was in no hurry to reach Vale, but we got there soon enough.

  Trafton was right, it was worse than we had thought. The center of Public, still being re-built after the fall of the Tower, looked like a battlefield. The earth was charred and stamped, as if the fire had just taken place yesterday. Everywhere I looked there were black pens, the kind of cage in which you might find hardened criminals or animals. But here, in the heart of campus, the pens were filled with students. Some I recognized, like Vanni, a freshman fallen angel from my Tactical Team last semester. She had simpered over Keller every time she had seen him, and I had been forced to suppress the urge to throttle her. With a lump in my throat I realized that since he was now free, he might actually date her.

  But I couldn’t afford to be distracted by that right now. Shaking my head to clear the ugly thoughts away, I continued to look around. All around the pens were bonfires, lighting the night sky, and now I saw other faces I knew. Nate, a fallen angel friend of Keller’s, was huddled near Vanni. Marcus, another friend of my ex-boyfriend, was on his other side. In another pen was a group of Airlees I had lived next to when I was a Starter. They looked dirty, but otherwise unharmed.

  “There’s something wrong here,” I murmured to my friends. They looked at me like I was crazy.