Elemental Fire (Paranormal Public Series)

by Edwards, Maddy

  I shook my head. I wasn’t convinced. “So, what now?” I felt like I was the only one who understood how serious this was.

  “Now,” said Lisabelle, “you introduce us to Sigil. Then Lough should get here, and by that time we will probably have to return to Airlee and our humble abode together.”

  Sip glanced at Lisabelle. “She actually tells paranormals she’s my roommate now. Progress, right?”

  “If I didn’t, I’m pretty sure Sip would wear a sign saying, ‘I’m with the darkness mage.’”

  “Oh no. Don’t be silly, that’s not what the sign would say.” She grinned.

  “What would it say?” Lisabelle asked as I led them out of the study. Sip had no problem walking with her teacup, but Lisabelle and I were slower. I had been looking forward to having them meet Sigil ever since I decided he was up for visitors, and now was the time. He might be a little nervous at first, but then he’d come around.

  “I have the sign under my bed,” said Sip evilly. “I’ll show you when we get home.”

  “Please tell me you’re kidding,” said Lisabelle, staring hard at the werewolf. “Please?”

  Sip merely laughed.

  When she got herself under control she said, “Here’s my issue.”

  “This needs more sugar,” said Lisabelle, puckering her face.

  “And so do you,” said Sip, as we climbed the stairs. “But that’s not my issue.”

  Lisabelle made a face, but continued to drink her tea.

  I had to pause and take a sip of tea while Sip said, “My issue is who would dare to steal from Astra? From Charlotte? We have a reputation that other paranormals should start respecting.”

  “What reputation is that?” Lisabelle asked, amused.

  Sip didn’t think it was funny. “You laugh, but it’s true. It’s not just students who are afraid of you and think you’re crazy. Everyone is and everyone does.”

  “I love how she’s turned that around to a compliment,” said Lisabelle, taking another gulp of tea. “More. Sugar.”

  Sip waved her ring over the teacup and tiny bits of what looked like white dust spilled into Lisabelle’s cup.

  “Wow,” I breathed. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

  “It’s really hard to do,” said Sip proudly. “I’ve been practicing for just this occasion.”

  Lisabelle took another Sip. “Thanks,” she said.

  “You’re welcome,” said Sip. “It’s really poison.”

  “I’ve spent the past few years building up immunities to the common poisons,” Lisabelle said. “Besides, I like poisons that taste like sugar.”

  “Why would you spend the past few years building up immunities to poisons?” Sip demanded, horrified. Lisabelle just raised her eyebrows. “Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to.”

  “In case my roommate ever tried to kill me. I love it when my behavior is validated.”

  “Here we are,” I said, pushing open the door to the library. It gave its usual welcoming creak as Sip commented on how much she loved the rough wood.

  “Sigil?” I called out, not wanting to startle the jumpy ghost. “I’ve brought my friends with me this time.”

  I never saw where Sigil came from when I entered the library, and I often wondered which corner he liked to haunt when I wasn’t there. This time it took him longer than usual to show himself, but finally he came zipping around one of the far stacks, waving his arms.

  “I’m here, I’m here,” he yelled, his voice echoing off the walls. He pushed his hat up and looked Sip and Lisabelle up and down.

  “Ah, I’m Sigil,” he said, bowing with a warm flourish and a charming smile. “If you three had been students here back when I was a professor, I would’ve counted myself lucky.” He beamed around at the three of us.

  Sip almost reached out to shake his hand, but then thought better of it. “It’s wonderful to meet you as well, Professor,” she said.

  Sigil waved his hands. “Oh no. I’m not a professor anymore. I would I were, of course. It would be most pleasant, but they do not approve of such things.” I wasn’t sure who he meant by “they,” but Sigil was already off to the next topic.

  “Where’s your wand?” he asked Lisabelle, frowning. “A mage should always carry her wand. Dark times.”

  Lisabelle was rarely startled, but I could see that Sigil’s question surprised her, not least because he didn’t look afraid of her answer. She paused for a heartbeat, then pulled the sleeve of her dress back, showing the intricate tattoo that had caused such a massive fight between her and her roommate.

  “Fascinating!” Sigil cried. “Might be better than the latest news in the Pyrotechnics Review!”

  “Sigil was a professor of fire,” I said. “He knows a lot about it.”

  “A knowledge you would do well to learn from,” said Sigil, and seizing Lisabelle’s hand he held her arm almost to his nose. His glasses slipped down until they had almost fallen off.

  Lisabelle gave me a bemused look.

  “Have you found out anything new about my mother?” I asked. Careful not to look at me as he answered, Sigil said, “Well, she wasn’t part of Astra, which means her name was not in the books. I looked to see if a Grace Lancing married into Astra, but I saw no evidence of that either.”

  My heart sank. I felt further and further away from finding out what had happened to my mother.

  “You might, though,” he said, “ask those who went to school with her.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “I’ve never met any of them.”

  “No? Well, President Caid was her year mate,” he said.

  I gulped as my pulse quickened, and both my friends were staring at me in shock. It had dimly occurred to me that I should ask around to find out who knew her, and therefore who she might have spent time with. Maybe if I found anyone like that, they would know who my father had been. But thus far none of the paranormals I had talked to (granted, it was a limited number) had met her. They either had not attended Public at all - for example, Dacer had been educated in the finest French schools - or were too young or too old. There was one, Professor Erikson, whom I wouldn’t have wanted to ask regardless, but I assumed she’d be too old to have known my mother anyhow.

  “President Caid was my mother’s year mate?” I gasped, incredulous. “Remind me what dorm he was in?”

  “Aurum,” said Sigil, as if it should be obvious. “Most of the presidents of the paranormals come from Aurum. It is a very trusted type.”

  “Unlike vampires,” said Lisabelle crookedly.

  “Is he a Mark?” I remembered that Marks were the most powerful house of fallen angels, followed closely by the Eriksons, of course.

  “Obviously,” said Sigil. “I’d love to meet him. He’s apparently young and impressive.”

  “He went to school with my mom?” I asked skeptically. Not that my mom was old, but maybe not so young either.

  “Hum,” said Sigil, thinking about it a little more carefully. “Maybe it was his older brother. One cannot be sure. Either way, he’s famous and you should talk to him.”

  “Not sure that was useful,” Lisabelle muttered to me. “I think his logic is faulty.”

  “I think his brain might be faulty,” Sip whispered. “He’s a ghost, after all.”

  From somewhere far below us I heard yelling.

  “That’s probably Lough,” I said. “He’s wondering what’s happened to us. We should go.”

  Sigil nodded and waved goodbye. Our arrival had sent him into a dither, but he was very relaxed as we left. “Will you be needing me again for guard duty?” he asked before I shut the door.

  “Um, yeah, hopefully,” I muttered before I hurried after my friends. I didn’t know how to tell him that right after he’d spent all that time protecting the Mirror, it had been stolen.

  Lough was waiting for us in the lobby, but he wasn’t alone. In the middle of the Astra entryway stood Dacer. I gave a delighted cry of joy and flung myself at my
mentor.

  He laughed and wrapped his arms around me. I stuffed my face into his shirt and held on tight while he patted me on the back.

  “That’s embarrassing,” said Lough, beaming. “Acting like a silly schoolgirl.”

  “I AM a silly schoolgirl,” I said to him, laughing. I pulled away a little and frowned. Dacer looked different.

  “What’s happened to you?” I demanded, eyeing him suspiciously. I couldn’t spot what was the matter, but there was definitely a change.

  “He’s wearing black,” said a dry male voice. I hadn’t even looked at the other man they had brought with them, except to notice that he was young and not Keller. Now I gave him more of my attention. He was right. Dacer was dressed in black.

  “I had to give it up for the sake of stealth,” he said sadly, plucking at the hem of his sweater. “Embarrassing, really.”

  The other man was short, with close-cropped black hair and black eyes that twinkled. He wore heavy silver cuffs on his wrists, but otherwise he was dressed as Lough and Dacer were, all in black.

  He wasn’t wispy like Dacer, but thick in the arms and legs. I realized with a start that it was probably all muscle. The guy could have pushed down the wall of a building if he had wanted to.

  “Charlotte Rollins, please meet President Caid,” said Dacer politely.

  I was so surprised I didn’t say anything at first. Lisabelle seemed to know him already, while Sip looked about as much in awe as I felt.

  “Nice to meet you,” I murmured. President Caid was not what I would have expected. Even though I’d been told that he was young, I had imagined an old man, not one with so much youth and presence. I couldn’t deny that he filled the room. There was definitely something about him, a cloak of power.

  The president of the paranormals had come to Astra.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “You as well,” President Caid said, smiling and taking my hand warmly. “I heard Tactical yesterday did not go so well.”

  “Um, no,” I said, feeling awkward. He was the President of Paranormals, for Astra’s sake! I should offer him something to eat!

  “Tea?” Sip asked, coming to my rescue. I gave her a grateful smile.

  “Don’t mind if we do,” said Caid. “We can block the windows so that prying eyes don’t see that you’ve snuck paranormals onto their own college campus.” He gave me a wink and I instantly liked him.

  Everyone followed me into the kitchen, where Caid and Sip broke into a spirited discussion of the benefits of crumpets.

  Lisabelle and I exchanged looks, wondering how we had gone off course before we even sat down. We thought President Caid was there to discuss Public.

  “Isn’t that an English thing?” Lough asked. “I’ve never been,” he said by way of explanation.

  “One of these breaks, when we aren’t being held hostage any more, we can totally go,” said Sip over her shoulder as she got the teakettle ready. “It will be wonderful.”

  “Yes, about that,” said Caid. “I’m sorry for what’s happening. The Congress does seem to think it’s better to appease Vale than to challenge her at this point.”

  “At our expense, not theirs,” said Lisabelle coldly. She helped Sip get the tea things together and, as usual, remained standing.

  “Now, that’s just not true,” Caid protested as he sat around the large island in the center of the kitchen. “Many of the members of the paranormal Congress have children here.”

  “Probably all pixies,” I said darkly.

  Caid chuckled. He had a great belly laugh, where he threw his head back and everything shook. “Back in my day it was more the vampires who were on the outs with the rest of campus, right, Dacer?”

  The curator of the Museum of Masks chuckled. He seemed younger and his eyes were bright. He was happy in a way I’d never seen. I’ve never seen him around his friends before, I thought. He was at ease in a way I had never seen when he was working at Public.

  “Exactly,” he said. “There were certain paranormals who had given us a bad reputation before graduating.”

  “Any we’d know?” I asked.

  Dacer turned to me and grinned. “I believe you’re familiar with Professor Zervos?”

  I groaned along with my three friends. “Of course he’d be causing trouble,” said Lough. “Horrible professor,” he explained when Caid raised his eyebrows. The President of the Paranormals glanced quickly at Dacer, but didn’t say anything.

  I found Caid jolly but inscrutable. I guess as a president he had to be.

  “Did you all go to school together?” Sip said.

  “Oh no, but a lot of us overlapped somewhat,” said Dacer comfortably, waving his hand.

  “Did any of you overlap with my mother?” I asked. It was like a silent explosion had been set off in the room. Lough coughed, Sip looked uncomfortable, and Caid looked anywhere but at me.

  “I don’t think any of us did, do you?” Dacer asked Caid.

  The president puckered his brow. “No,” he said, meeting my eyes. “But my brother did. He was much older. I’ll ask him whether he remembers her.” The way he said it made me think that he had already discussed my mother with his brother. She had been the caretaker of the last elemental, after all. At least until she had been murdered.

  “Now, we’re doing our best to make sure you have a comfortable and happy semester,” Caid continued. “There is no immediate threat to your lives.”

  Tell that to the ring of fire we just had to row through, I thought.

  “Other than that there’s not much we can do. The best thing would be to keep your head down.”

  That’s all adults ever tell us to do. Just take orders and like it. Never question. Never think for yourself. Always just stay with the herd.

  Caid could tell I was skeptical; his eyes didn’t appear to miss much. But all he said was, “It’s really easier this way.”

  “By all means let’s do what’s easy,” said Lisabelle, scowling. “Why try hard at something great when something terrible can be handed to us for free?”

  “Lisabelle,” said Dacer warningly, but Caid didn’t seem to take offense. “You must understand,” he said, spreading his hands out wide, “my hands are tied.”

  “Yes,” said Lisabelle, arching one brow. “You look very uncomfortable.”

  “Lisabelle,” Dacer barked, but Lisabelle wasn’t done. She walked up to the island and braced her hands on the countertop, glaring.

  “Look,” she said. We’ve known each other for a long time. You’ve known Dacer for even longer. We don’t joke. I mean, Dacer does, but they’re like Sip’s jokes. Only funny until you’ve heard them.”

  Sip and Dacer exchanged head shakes.

  “The point is,” said Lisabelle, “this is serious. We expect you to take it seriously or get out of our way. Think about it.”

  Without another word she pushed off from the counter and stormed out of the kitchen. An awkward silence followed her departure.

  “She’s probably going to the study,” said Sip, taking another gulp of tea. “I’ll go after her in a minute.”

  Caid looked relieved that someone had spoken. “I heard she liked to speak her mind. Nice to see it in action,” he murmured. He took another sip of tea. He didn’t look the least bit ruffled, instead he looked quite relaxed, sitting there with his forearms crossed in front of him. But I had a feeling that behind that placid exterior his mind was racing.

  “She’s just a sweetheart,” said Lough dryly. “Now, what about the artifacts on the Wheel?”

  Caid’s eyes widened in surprise. “What about them? Officially they don’t exist. I only deal in the realm of the official.”

  I was so shocked I couldn’t move. He had just discredited everything I was fighting to protect.

  “Of course they exist,” I argued. “The Mirror Arcane, The Map Silver. They are real.”

  The president pursed his lips. “Maybe they are and maybe they aren’t,” said Caid, getting testy. “The poi
nt is that I have never seen them. No government has ever seen them. If they really were created, they were created without sanctions, which means they are dangerous.” His eyes flashed. “There are all sorts of rumors about the Mirror Arcane being in Astra. Can you tell me that it is, at this moment, in Astra?”

  I stared at Caid. He was not as nice as I had hoped he’d be, and as my first impression of him had implied. But I had to be honest. “No,” I croaked out. “It’s not, to my knowledge in Astra at this moment.”

  Both Dacer and Lough looked at me in shock, but neither of them said anything. They were going to let me handle this, for better or worse.

  “You need to believe us,” I said. “The artifacts are real. Malle is going after them, and once they are destroyed, the last way of uniting the Powers will be destroyed.”

  “No,” Caid interrupted. His hand tightened around his teacup. “You are the last way to unite the powers. She has to destroy you. The artifacts are secondary.”

  “She’d have a lot harder time destroying Charlotte if Charlotte was better protected,” said Lough angrily. He had refused tea, instead going for hot chocolate. Now he had a little brown milk mustache on his upper lip.

  “She has plenty of protection,” said Caid, eyes flashing. “Even her brother has protection, even when there’s no proof that he’s a paranormal.”

  “For which she is grateful,” said Dacer in a clipped voice.

  I was about to keep arguing, but Dacer motioned for me to stop. That made me remember that Caid was right; strong protections had been placed on me and Ricky because I was elemental. Ricky was still too young for anyone to be able to tell, and since he was only eleven, he had several more years before any powers he might posses would manifest themselves, especially if his dad wasn’t paranormal. There was a good chance he wouldn’t have any powers at all. Caid was watching me closely as I thought all this through, and I shifted uncomfortably.

  “Fine,” I said. “What do you need for proof that the artifacts exist?”

  “All six artifacts,” said Caid. “Even the ones Elam supposedly has.”