I landed hard on my back, with the wind knocked right out of me.
Before I could move or breathe, I heard the thud of the Chimera’s footsteps as it spun around for another go.
I rolled over, pointing my ring. Well, fine, if I wasn’t going to have any luck standing I would just fight from my tummy. Fine.
Calling urgently to my ring, I didn’t bother with water or air or fire. I didn’t think fire would have much effect on something that was snorting smoke. Instead, I called all the dirt I could find and sent it in a steady stream right at the thing’s horn.
Not for the first time, I wished I had paid more attention in my classes. I knew nothing about Chimeras’ weaknesses except that they were very proud of their horns. Of course, I’d had other reading to do that semester thanks to Sigil, but learning about elementals wasn’t helping in any direct way out on that platform with a monster charging at me.
The dirt momentarily distracted the Chimera, clogging the beast’s eyes and nose so that for a few moments of bliss the thing couldn’t see or smell me. A thud drew its attention, and mine. The Chimera turned its massive, scaly head, but it still had no hope of seeing, so instead it emitted an earsplitting scream.
I could see, however, and what I saw was that Faci had landed. In my head I went through every swear I’d ever heard from Lisabelle.
If Faci beat the Chimera before I did his team would win.
“I’m shocked you got here first,” he sneered. “I must be slipping.”
“News flash,” I said. “You were already so low you couldn’t slip lower.”
Faci’s face turned ugly - more ugly - as his sunken eyes bulged out of his strangely shaped head. “How dare you! My father is counsel to the Nocturns and he sits on the darkness council. You dare insult me?”
“You mean the evil outlaws who are trying to kill all of us?” I said, taking a step toward him, then another. “Yeah, I’d say I dare.”
I looked up into the sky. Another body was plummeting toward us. Momentarily distracted, I watched the figure hurtle downward and remembered to look back at my opponent just in time to see Faci sneer at me, then turn and try to jump off the platform.
“Hey!” I screamed, darting forward. “That’s cheating.”
I slammed my shoulder into his side, knocking the wind out of him. “No way,” I grunted. There was no chance I’d be able to fight off most paranormal men, but Faci was puny. He was dangerous, but it was because of the tricks he tried to pull, not because of his bulk. When Rake walked into a room everyone took notice, when Faci walked into a room no one saw him.
“So?” Faci yelled back, bending his legs. He collapsed with me on top of him. The unexpected change in positions threw me off balance.
“I will not lose this competition,” Faci gritted out. “You might as well give up.”
“No,” I said. “You cannot win this, especially by cheating. I won’t let it happen.”
We broke apart and Faci rolled away. Since I didn’t have the energy to make a killing blow, I was forced to back off. Quickly we both got to our feet. Faci’s eyes were manic. They never stopped moving, constantly looking for the mistake he was sure I’d make.
We started to circle. Frustrated, I sent bursts of power at him, not really caring how accurate they were. We didn’t have a lot of time before other teammates started to show up, and I wanted to end this now, just between the two of us.
“That’s always been your problem, you know,” he taunted me. “You are under the mistaken impression that you can control what happens. But you cannot. The forces at work are far more powerful than you can imagine.”
Without warning he made a beeline for me, which I wasn’t expecting. He moved faster than I would have thought he could, and as he moved, a blunt-tipped black staff appeared in his hands. I barely got my hands in front of my stomach before he slammed into me. I stumbled backward, but it was too late. I fell.
“Get up,” Faci barked. He stood over me, holding the blunt edge of the staff like a spear, aimed right at my head.
“Oh, shut up,” I said. The winds were whipping around us, carrying the noise of the crowd. The students of Paranormal Public were cheering wildly.
We both heard our classmates at the same time. It made Faci pause, which was all the opening I needed. I lunged to my feet, not bothering to hit him with my shoulder again. Instead, I called to the winds, glad that I had spent some time last semester perfecting my choking ability. It was perfect for Faci.
But while Faci and I had been doing battle, we’d both forgotten about the Chimera. I had stunned it, but not for long. It came to life again when another of the students parachuted down. I was concerned to see that it was Vanni. How she’d managed to get out before Sip or Lisabelle was anyone’s guess, but there she was.
Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to have good aim with her wings, or maybe she didn’t see the danger, but she landed right in front of the Chimera. With a triumphant bellow it charged her, gold horn down. If it had been any of the rest of us, the horn that rammed through Vanni’s shoulder would have been a fatal blow. But she was a fallen angel, and as she had told us before the competition started, she had put protective spells in place that she could invoke at need.
The spells kept her from dying, but they didn’t stop her from screaming as the horn penetrated her shoulder and came out the other side. The crowd around us fell silent, watching in horror.
I flinched, but I kept watching. Somehow I couldn’t stop. Luckily, Faci was just as focused. When I realized that he was more enamored of the sight of blood than I was, I started to inch toward the end of the platform.
But before I could jump, a booming voice that sounded an awful lot like Vale came from the clouds.
“She’s getting away! Stop her!” Faci came to attention as if he’d been in a coma and looked wildly around for me. I knew I could never jump now.
For good measure Vale added, “To win, you must defeat the Chimera and then jump.”
Neither Faci nor I hesitated, but I was faster. He had his staff and his vampire powers, but as an elemental I had the wind, and I shoved a fistful of air into the Chimera’s gaping jaws. Vanni was still impaled on the horn, so my attack had the added bonus of making the monster buck and paw, shaking Vanni off. She was clearly in horrible pain as she fell to the ground in a heap of tears, but I couldn’t focus on that yet. Instead I sprang forward, sending another burst of air to block Faci’s charge. The first one missed; he was fast and could float. But I was ready for him the second time. The air knocked him clear out of the way, and I pulled in closer and directed it to choke the Chimera.
The monster fought wildly as I held my breath, my eyes riveted on its struggle and my powers at the ready in case I needed to send another choking blast. I saw another speck falling from the sky and sent one last burst of air down the Chimera’s throat for good measure. Finally it collapsed, stunned, and I took my opening to jump over the side.
I landed on the ground and instantly fell to my knees. I didn’t have the energy for triumph. I wasn’t really thinking that way, despite the roar of the crowd that was filling my ears. It took me a minute to realize what they were chanting: Elemental. Elemental. Elemental.
I grinned and collapsed.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Vale was beyond furious. She did everything she could to discredit our win. As I stood in the center of the field she walked toward me menacingly, and for one horrible moment I was afraid she was going to kill me on the spot. She might have, except that Professor Erikson interceded, stepping forward to make sure I was alright. She reached out and healed me herself, an act that surprised and impressed me given how furious she was that I was dating her nephew. Correction, that I had dated her nephew. But I pushed that thought from my mind for the time being. There was nothing I could do about it here and now.
Professor Erikson, all in white, made a sharp contrast as she confronted Vale and her deep purple velvet robes. As usual, Vale was flanked by the Baxter bro
thers.
“How DARE you?” she was screaming at me as she came forward. Her eyes bulged, and spit flew out of her mouth as she yelled.
“How DARE I what?” I yelled back. “Win? Foil your stupid, cheating plans? They weren’t very good plans. How does a sophomore paranormal beat all you darkness mages?” Under my breath I muttered, just for my own satisfaction, “I’m so sorry for not dying.”
Vale came to a dead halt in front of me.
I was looking down, but I knew she was close when I could see the tips of her shoes in my field of vision. The roar of the crowd made it hard for me to hear her voice, even though she was right next to me.
“What did you just say?” she asked dangerously. I knew I had to be careful. We had been supposed to lose the second Tactical. She probably didn’t even have a third one planned.
“I said I just tried really hard,” I explained, raising my chin and meeting her eyes. I literally thought Vale’s head would explode. She was staring at me so hard I was surprised I was still standing. The sheer force of her hatred should have knocked me unconscious.
But I was saved from any more of her immediate wrath by a series thuds coming from all around me. It seemed that many of the other students - Lisabelle, Daisy, Sip, Rake, Dobrov, Adver, and Trafton - were finished with their second Tactical too.
When my teammates saw that I had landed on the ground first, they raised their hands in triumph and ran over to me. Rake grinned and clapped me on the shoulder, while Trafton shouted something congratulatory in my ear. The Glories gathered and shook their heads together. Dobrov was the only one who didn’t look upset. When Evan arrived he stayed off to the side, giving me a small smile when no one else was looking. I was glad he had survived the second Tactical.
Vale continued to stare at me.
“I’ll deal with you later,” she hissed. “I expect you in my office after dinner.”
I nodded to her, not meeting her eyes. I couldn’t stand the look I saw in them.
It was full dark by the time I headed for the small brown house that Vale used as her office. It was the same building Malle had used, and it was right next to a pond where, one night during my first semester, I had seen my mother. Or my mother’s ghost. Actually, to this day I still wasn’t sure what I had seen, and that event was a big part of the reason why I wanted to spend the summer getting answers. If my mother had been killed by darkness, then she had been killed by a paranormal. I really didn’t want to add to the list of paranormals I didn’t trust, or pretty soon I wouldn’t have anyone left. But my need to know what had happened to my mother was stronger than my fear of what I’d find out.
Even though it was spring, the nights were still cold and wet. I shivered further into my coat as I pondered the tasks I had set myself. What I should have been doing was paying more attention to my surroundings that night. Maybe then I would have sensed the hellhound’s footsteps behind me, though since hellhounds move almost silently, more attention might not have made any difference.
Either way, I had a lot to think about, and after the adrenalin-pumping effort of the Tactical my mind seemed to want to go quiet and assess everything that was going on.
First of all, there was all the reading that Sigil had given me. I had asked him for more information on Ashray, the queen who had helped found Public, and he had lit up, as much as a ghost was capable of lighting up. He wanted to talk on and on about her, and when I asked again about Grace Lancing, he said there was nothing to be found about her and quickly changed the subject back to Queen Ashray.
I had been worried all along that Sigil was hiding something about my mother, and his behavior on that occasion had only reinforced that suspicion. I wasn’t sure what I expected to find, but I had to know. Mom had been married once before and I was Astra, which meant she must have married an Astra, right? But Sigil was so nervous every time I mentioned her that I decided to leave him alone about it and try to find out for myself. As I walked toward Vale’s office that night I decided that after the last Tactical I’d sneak back into Astra without telling Sigil, and search the library while he was still downstairs. Even though the Mirror Arcane had disappeared, I had asked him to continue guarding the ballroom while the whole school was gathered at the Tacticals, just in case there was something else of value that the thieves might come back for.
I also wanted to find all the other artifacts. At this point, the only one I thought was truly safe was the one with Lanca. She hadn’t been able to defend Dirr, but she would defend the Fang forever. Here at Public we were having no luck finding the Mirror. I had searched the whole Long Building and Sip had searched the library. Lisabelle refused to spend that much time in a library for any reason whatsoever, so she had searched the outlying campus buildings. We hadn’t found a shred of a clue.
Sip and I had an argument about my obsession one night when I snuck into Airlee.
“I need to find the other artifacts,” I said. “And I need to find out what happened to my mother.”
“You can’t go off by yourself,” said Sip reasonably. “It’s too dangerous.”
“No,” I said. “It’s the only way I can go off. If we go as a group we’ll be easier to track. By myself I have a chance. Caid said I needed all of them. Well, I can get at least half. The Globe White will be the hard one, since no one knows where it is.”
All great battles have quests, don’t they? I mean, my friend’s last name is Quest, for goodness’ sake. She didn’t appreciate my reminding her of that.
My mind came back to the present when I passed a Fire Whip guarding the way to Vale’s office. The man behind the whip was invisible; all I could see was the fire, burning and crackling in the dark. The heat of the fire drew me forward, the fear of the Whip kept me away. The Whip didn’t move or seem to threaten me, so I went back to the last topic that was weighing on my mind: Keller.
I smiled at the thought of him, even if I hadn’t seen him in dreams recently. My friends mostly avoided mentioning him because they knew it upset me, but it had happened a couple of times.
“Did you ever meet Keller’s sister over winter break?” Lisabelle had asked me out of the blue one morning at breakfast. “Wasn’t that supposed to happen?”
I nodded. “At one point it was, but then King Daemon died and she wasn’t at the coronation. Her parents wanted to keep her away, which, given what happened at Locke, isn’t surprising. Last I heard she was somewhere in Europe. Keller thinks she’s going to stay there for a long time. At least that’s what he said last time we talked about it.”
I had sighed sadly and pushed a few stray strands of hair out of my eyes, and Lisabelle hadn’t pushed any further. I just did my best to keep busy so that I didn’t think about Keller. But it was hard.
I could see the pond and the brown house now. There was a light burning in the window that was Vale’s office, and a sign over the door read, “President of Paranormal Public.” I didn’t think Vale had a receptionist at such a late hour, but at least she had a massive, obnoxious sign in case any of us wondered where to go. I hoped this would be over quickly. I planned to spend the rest of the evening searching for the Mirror.
Suddenly, though, as I contemplated how to get through this encounter as painlessly as possible, I heard a thud behind me. It was all the warning I had before two heavy footsteps reached me. I tried to turn, but something like iron slammed into my back. As my vision blurred, the light from the house turned into a hazy beacon at the center of darkness.
Then the light went out.
“Don’t let her move,” came a voice from somewhere in the black clouds. My mouth felt hot and sticky and my face itched. I raised my hands to rub my eyes and felt a stinging sensation shoot through my wrists and arms. I was bound and blindfolded. I wasn’t moving anywhere or seeing anything. Bile and fear shot up into my throat, but I pressed them down and told myself I had to keep my wits about me.
I knew instantly that I was on a dirt, slightly damp floor. The Baxter brothers were st
anding over me. I recognized their cold, calculating voices.
“Where’s Vale?” I asked, since my mouth wasn’t stuffed with cotton.
“Vale? She does what she’s told if she wants her children to live.” The voice I recognized as Perspi’s was nasty and confident. I hadn’t heard him speak so many words in the entire semester he’d been on campus.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked. My voice felt scratchy, like I hadn’t used it in a long time.
“You’re getting in the way of our search. We can’t search for them if you hire ghosts to protect the Mirror Arcane.”
I was slammed with the notion that they’d been in Astra, met Sigil, and not been able to take the Mirror. If they hadn’t taken it, who had? As an echo of my reluctant idea that maybe my mother had been murdered by paranormals, for a split second I wondered if President Caid or one of the others in the camp had snuck into Public and taken the Mirror. But I quickly discarded that idea. Why would they?
“So, the starving, the Tactical, was all, what? A diversion? Why make Vale President?” It all felt like an elaborate scheme, and yet it appeared that they had nothing to show for it.
“It wasn’t supposed to be this complicated,” Perspi growled. “We were supposed to be in and out and none the wiser.”
“And when you say boss, you mean Malle?” I asked.
“Well - ”
Perspi didn’t get to finish. I heard a grunt, a swoosh, and a smack.
“Shut up,” said another male voice, very similar to Perspi’s. That must be Purhogan. He was the surlier of the two.
I heard a scuffle, and then a door slamming. If it were possible, I would have said that the place I was in got even darker than it had been a minute before. They must have extinguished the light, I thought, and inwardly kicked myself for being so stupid. They had lured me into a trap and they hadn’t even had to try hard.
Now I was alone. I wasn’t sure where, but by the damp earth under me I guessed it must be a basement of some kind. Hopefully it wasn’t the catacombs. There was no way meeting a Slime Dweller right now would help my situation. Taking comfort in the knowledge that my friends would be worried about me, I strained against my bonds. But as quickly as I tried to think positively about help arriving, I realized that it wouldn’t. Yes, my friends knew where I had gone, but I lived alone in Astra. They wouldn’t be waiting for my return.
Elemental Fire (Paranormal Public Series) Page 23