“If only it counted for my Starter test,” I said sadly.
“When the time comes you’ll pass it,” said Tabby.
“How do you know?”
“Because you do what you have to,” was all she said. I started to ask another question, but she shushed me. “You may not pass in the way you think, but you’ll pass.”
I didn’t need to be told twice to go to sleep. My body was already insisting on it. With my last thought I wondered if Keller had really been there after all, and if he was one of the ones cheering.
Note to self, walking home alone at night is not a good idea. I knew this before I did it, but I really knew it by the end of that night. The problem was that I had no choice. I knew my friends would have come to get me from the Infirmary, but we were still on lockdown from the hellhound sighting.
As I stepped outside I released my hair from its ponytail and let it fall around my shoulders. It was the best chance I had of keeping my ears warm. I remembered when Keller had walked me back to my dorm a few weeks before and we’d run into a demon. I hadn’t been able to fight it on my own.
I walked faster. Airlee wasn’t far away.
I was a little tired, but whatever nurse Tabby had done to me, my limbs were feeling better. My legs felt stronger and less like Jell-O.
Soon I was almost running. Unfortunately, it wasn’t fast enough. Instead of demons or pixies materializing out of the darkness to attack me, it was a more menacing sight: vampires.
And I was alone, too far away from Airlee or any other help. I thought about turning and running back to the Infirmary, but I would never make it. Instead, I planted my feet and waited.
Strictly speaking, they were the only ones who were supposed to be walking the paths this late at night; this was their time. None of the other students dared to wonder what the vampires did when they had the campus to themselves. At one point I had wanted to ask Professor Lambros, but Sip had turned pale and insisted I promise not to. I had, because Sip had looked so scared.
Floating toward me was Lanca, the senior vampire princess. Her hair was so dark it blended with the night around her, in stark contrast to her pale arms. She wasn’t wearing a coat. She wasn’t shivering. I had thought she looked menacing at the best of times, but now she looked downright dangerous. I tried to take a breath, but the cold hurt my throat. Her glittering black eyes caught mine and held. I stopped trying to breathe. A smile spread slowly across her thin lips.
“Good evening, Charlotte,” she said, stepping toward me. “I was wondering when we would catch you alone.”
We?
Out of the shadows stepped Tale, Lanca’s constant larger shadow, and several other vampires I recognized for the simple fact that none of them were Starters – meaning they were all already trained in magic and brutality, just in case they had come to Public without those charming qualities.
I tried to take a step back, but I should have known better. Of course the vampires were behind me as well. They swirled around me, their black clothing contrasting with their pale features. I wasn’t sure where the vampires landed on hating other paranormals. They were unfriendly at the best of times.
“Evening Lanca,” I said. “Nice night for a stroll.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “You are too forward, Charlotte. Until now it may have served you well, but until now it wasn’t so critical that you be careful,” she informed me. I had no idea what she was talking about.
I felt like I was getting a lecture from a professor, not talking to a fellow student.
“How did you know I would be out here alone?” I asked. “Why are you all out here?” Whenever I am scared out of my wits – like right then – I tend to do the worst thing possible: I go on the offensive. This was one of those times.
“We’re here to look after you,” she said. I couldn’t look away from those glittering eyes. “Don’t you know?” she asked softly. “Don’t you even suspect?”
“Lanca,” I started, but changed my tone when one of the male vampires surrounding me growled. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“We realize that,” she said. “Look, Charlotte, you are new to the paranormal social scene, but it’s clear you aren’t stupid. So, let me be clear. You’ve seen that the paranormals don’t get along,” she said, and smiled. It only made her look more threatening, and more beautiful. “We,” she inclined her head to include the other vampires, “understand this. The demons destroyed any trust we could have in each other.” She paused. With every sentence she seemed to be considering each word more carefully.
“But the vampires aren’t as hostile to the other paranormals as you might think.” She was looking at me like she wanted me to understand, but I still didn’t.
She sighed. “We are better with subtlety. We are out here to protect you. When the time comes we will stand with you. All the vampires will. You should know.”
At first I wanted to laugh. I didn’t realize that vampires had a sense of humor, but judging from Lanca’s face, she wasn’t kidding. “What do I need protection from, and why are you the one doing it? And, stand to do what?” The only thing I could think of was protecting Lisabelle, but I couldn’t believe that the vampires would care about a wronged darkness mage.
Lanca nodded, as if I was finally getting it. “It is not a what it’s a who, and we are doing it because the vampires care about the Power of Five.”
Maybe she does mean Lisabelle.
“Professor Zervos doesn’t care about it,” I shot back. I knew I shouldn’t have said it, since Professor Zervos was a vampire, but to give Lanca credit, she remained calm.
“Professor Zervos is a vampire, and yes he does care about it,” she told me. “That is not who I mean.”
Worry shot through me like a million little bullets. “You think it’s Lisabelle too?” I demanded. “Really, I would have expected better of you. It’s NOT Lisabelle. And if you think it is, why would you help me protect her? Both darkness mages and vampires have darkness magic. They could just as easily be accusing the vampires of letting in the hellhound as Lisabelle.”
Lanca nodded. “Now we’re getting somewhere,” she told me.
“It’s not Lisabelle,” I said again.
Lanca nodded. “I know that and you know that, but you have to think about why no one else knows that. Why aren’t the vampires the ones being accused?” she asked quietly.
“Because Professor Zervos wouldn’t cast suspicion on his own kind?” I asked. “Because somehow they think it has to be a darkness mage and there’s only one on campus?”
Lanca almost smiled at me. “Stubbornness is not always a virtue,” she told me. “It is not Professor Zervos.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “I have to go. You shouldn’t walk around alone.”
She started to drift away, the other vampires following her.
“Lanca?” I called.
She turned.
“Do you really think that the hellhound is after me?” I asked.
She didn’t answer, just kept floating away. I wanted her to reassure me that she didn’t think the traitor was Lisabelle, but that could only leave Zervos, and she didn’t agree with that either. If it was neither of them, then who could it be? For the briefest flash I hoped it was Camilla. That would give me a good excuse to fight her.
I watched Lanca fade into the darkness. She disappeared seamlessly like she was more dark than light. I guessed maybe she was.
After I passed my mid-terms, life improved. I still couldn’t do real magic, but I felt less worried that I was going to get kicked out of school. Pixies still harassed me, but not as much. There were no demon sightings and the professors removed the school from lockdown. Keller and I continued to study together. He was polite but distant. I always wanted to draw more out of him than I got and would leave our meetings feeling frustrated. I was surprised when November turned into December and the last weeks of the semester approached. I was working hard.
I just hoped it would be hard enough. After Lanca’s warning, she went back to pretending I wasn’t there most of the time. I started to wonder if I had dreamed it all.
The quiet time of comfort would not last.
It was late one night a week before finals when Sip came to get me from the library.
“How’s it going?” she asked when she found me. I was bent over a book, trying to decipher a pixie code Korba had given us.
I pushed the book away from me. “If I’d passed my Starter test I would say that I couldn’t wait for this semester to be over.”
Sip patted my forearm. She knew how conflicted I was. I had run out of time.
“Lisabelle’s waiting for us at Airlee,” she said. “She wants to play games or something. Lough’s in.”
“Alright,” I said. I was too tired to finish the cipher anyway. I gave Sip a hard look. She was paler than normal.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“There was another attack,” said Sip, running a hand through her spiky blond hair. “Someone else saw the hellhound.”
“What happened? Where’s Lisabelle?” I demanded. I’d been holed up in the library all night, but now that I looked around I saw how quiet it was. There were no other students in sight.
“I think Lisabelle just wanted to stay in the dorm after we heard about the attack. She doesn’t want to get in trouble again.”
“That makes sense,” I said, “since the professors treat her like she’s already guilty.”
We were outside now, walking through the freezing night air. It hadn’t snowed it, but it was only a matter of time.
“Who saw the hound?” I asked.
“Some Starter walking alone. I guess a lot of pixies and vampires saw it and didn’t do anything. They hate Airlees that much, I guess, so it’s bad. I think they’re going to put us on lockdown again. The girl was too distraught to talk, but once she does I feel like the professors are going to freak out.”
“Did they call Lisabelle into the office again?” I asked. The professors had decided that it would be easier to blame Lisabelle for everything instead of finding who was behind letting the hellhound onto campus, and I couldn’t think of any reason why this time might be different.
We could see Airlee now, twinkling away in the night. Everything looked peaceful. Not just like a hellhound was running loose on campus and someone had betrayed the paranormals. We rounded a corner and were about to walk inside when I saw something moving on the lawn. My gut twisted.
Sip let out a scream.
Lisabelle was on the lawn, kneeling next to a motionless form. Sip and I ran closer and Lisabelle looked up at us. I couldn’t read her eyes, but I saw what was on her hands. Her hands, all the way up her arms, were covered in blood. With a sickening feeling I looked down.
The form she was knelling next to was a human being. A crumpled human being, with blood seeping out from under him. Lisabelle had killed a student.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“What did you do?” Sip cried. “Lisabelle, are you alright?”
Lisabelle looked up, her eyes glassy, her lips trembling. Finally, she stuttered, “I didn’t. I didn’t do anything!”
While Sip stood there dumbfounded, I knelt next to the motionless form. “Who is it?” I asked. “Should I get help?”
“He’s dead,” Lisabelle wailed. “Are you an idiot? HE’S DEAD.” I leaned over the body, trying to see his face. Though he was covered in dark blood, I could see who it was: Bailey, the other dream giver. Lough was now a Dream Giver Association of one.
“What happened to him?” Sip breathed, kneeling down beside me. There were tears in her eyes and her hands trembled. “Poor Bailey. His poor family. How will we ever tell Lough?”
“What happened to him?” I asked, echoing Sip and glancing at Lisabelle. But she was in no condition to answer me. Her breath was coming fast and shallow, and she looked ready to collapse. She was distraught, but something told me we didn’t have much time, so I pushed.
“Lisabelle?” I said, trying to get her attention. At first she just continued to stare down at our dead friend. I said her name again, louder, and finally she looked at me.
“You have to tell me what happened,” I insisted. “Now, before anyone else gets here.” Sip’s attention was focused on Bailey, but at my words she looked up in alarm.
Lisabelle coughed. She looked away as she remembered something that wasn’t right in front of her. “I was in my room, reading. Just relaxing. Waiting for you and Sip to get back. I heard someone calling my name, so I looked out the window. I thought I saw something….” she paused and grimaced. “I thought it was you two playing a joke on me. So, I came outside….”
Guilt tore through me. “You came outside because of us?”
There wasn’t anything else to say. All three of us knew what was coming. Lisabelle was covered in his blood.
“Then what happened?” I asked. My voice trembled, but I was trying to keep my emotions under control. I had to stay in calm until I finished talking to Lisabelle, because I had a feeling we weren’t going to have another chance to talk for a long time.
“I came outside and he staggered past me,” said Lisabelle. Tears started rolling down her cheeks. She swiped one away, leaving a bloody smear.
“He was already hurt?” I asked. I couldn’t see what wound had killed Bailey. Just the blood.
“Of course he was already hurt!” she cried. “Then he just staggered and fell. Into my arms. I held him while he died. He let out an awful sort of gurgle, then stopped moving.” Lisabelle was no longer trying to keep the tears from coming.
“Did you see anything else?” I asked.
“No,” said Lisabelle, “NO.”
She screamed. Not because of the story she was trying to tell us, but because just at that moment a green magical fire slammed into her.
The professors had arrived. Lisabelle was pinned to the ground with fire that burned into her skin. She struggled, but she couldn’t move. I turned and looked over my shoulder. My gut felt like someone was stabbing a knife into it.
“Sip, Charlotte, get away from him,” said the President. Her eyes were black pinpoints as she marched toward us. Professor Zervos and two other professors flanked her.
Slowly, hands raised, Sip and I backed away. My heart was pounding. I couldn’t take my eyes off Lisabelle struggling against the fire holding her down. Suddenly, she sprang upright, screaming as the bonds cut deeper.
“I didn’t do it,” she yelled to me. “You listen. I didn’t do it.”
“Sorry,” said the President. Her eyes pitiless. “But the evidence is overwhelming.”
“She told you she didn’t do it,” I said, pushing forward. “Leave her alone. There’s no proof. There never has been.”
The President turned icy eyes on me. “There is blood on her hands. Literally. We have a student dead. This school has operated for hundreds of years, and this is the first time that a student has been murdered on our grounds.”
“All you’re worried about is finding someone to blame,” I yelled. “You aren’t worried about the truth.” Before I was done speaking Professor Zervos came toward me and yanked me away from the President. I looked frantically at Sip. She agreed with me, but there was nothing she could say. Lisabelle couldn’t speak. The green fire was choking her.
“You have to believe me,” I told the President, pleading. “You have to!”
Professor Zervos tightened his grip. I whimpered. I was as trapped as Lisabelle.
“Where is nurse Tabby?” asked the President. She was no longer looking at me, or indeed at Sip or Lisabelle. It was like we weren’t really there. Not worth her attention.
“She’s coming,” said one of the other professors. “Is he dead?” The adults ignored everything that Sip and I tried to say after that.
“Charlotte and Sip must both be tired from preparing for finals,” said the President. “They don’t know what they are saying and they need rest. Get
them out of here,” she ordered Zervos. “Before they make a scene.”
“I won’t leave Lisabelle,” I cried, struggling out of the chokehold Professor Zervos had me in. “You can’t make me.”
“I won’t either,” said Sip, pushing forward to stand next to me.
But of course we were forced to leave. Professor Zervos was a professor, and a full-grown man, and he was stronger than either of us. We had no chance against him and we both knew it. With one last desperate look back at the immovably bound Lisabelle, we were herded away. My last glimpse of my friend was of her being led off by the President, still in green chains of fire.
“Go to your room,” ordered Professor Zervos once he had shoved us inside.
I spun around to argue, but Zervos was already gone. The door slammed behind him. Then silence.
Sip was shaking. She raced to the window, but we both knew that the windows didn’t overlook that part of the front yard. Besides, the professors were cleaning everything up. We continued to stand in the hall anyway, staring at nothing. I was too shocked to move, and Sip was no better off.
Bailey was dead. The hellhound had murdered one of our own students, and it was still on the loose. The knife in my stomach twisted.
“Charlotte, you’re here, wonderful,” Lough cried. He came bounding into the room. I turned to him, numb.
He saw our pale faces and halted. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “I’m really looking forward to playing games tonight. You okay?”
Tears started streaming down Sip’s face. “Oh, Lough. It’s so awful,” she said, collapsing into his arms. He caught her, but his face showed his bewilderment.
“What is it?” he begged. “Tell me what happened!”
Once I said it I couldn’t take it back. I did not want to watch his face crumple. “Lisabelle’s been arrested.”
Lough made a move as if to run. Sip was still in his arms. He paused and looked down at her blond head. Pain etched in amongst the laugh lines of his face.
I took a steadying breath. I had only told him half of it. The first half hadn’t killed him, but the second half might. “Because she was found near Bailey’s body. He was murdered.”
Paranormal Public (Paranormal Public Series) Page 20
