Elemental Darkness (Paranormal Public Series)

by Edwards, Maddy

  I quirked an eyebrow at him, surprised by the anger in his voice. We’d been dealing with dumb Tabble stories all semester.

  “Okay, she’s hurt Faci, but who hasn’t wanted to do that?” Lough said.

  “I see your notorious friend is at it again,” said Faci, stopping at our table.

  “Oh, Faci,” I said. “Speak of the devil.”

  “Faci, you eat?” Lough said. “Shocking. I thought you scared food away.”

  “It’s not alive,” said the vampire coldly. He tried to shift away, but not before we saw that he wasn’t even holding a tray.

  “Right,” said Lough, shaking his head. “What do you want?”

  “Since you are my teammate in Tactical, it is my duty to inform you that we have practice tonight,” said Faci, his dead eyes looking anywhere but at the dream giver.

  Lough stared at him. “What are we practicing? How to walk around campus with our eyes open?”

  Faci’s face darkened. “You’ll be there if you know what’s good for you. I won’t lose Tactical because of a stupid dream giver.” And with that he stomped off and left us alone for the moment.

  “Practice,” Lough muttered furiously. “Ridiculous.”

  Sip joined us not long afterwards, looking harassed.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  Sip shrugged. “I’ve been summoned to Oliva’s tonight. He wants to discuss my thesis. He thinks he might know a werewolf or two who can help me.”

  “That’s good, isn’t it?” I asked.

  Paranormal Public did not have many werewolf professors. Sip’s parents, Hyder and Helen, thought it was because Public didn’t allow the freedom that most werewolves required. Regardless of the reason for the scarcity, though, it had left Sip with some gaps in her thesis for which she was having trouble finding resources.

  “If you’re both busy tonight,” I said, “what will I do?”

  Sip rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you behind on Professor Erikson’s assignments?”

  It was true. After every class Professor Erikson buried us under an avalanche of homework, almost as if she was trying to keep us from having any free time at all.

  “I guess,” I said dully.

  “You could always go out with Darrow,” Lough suggested. “He might see your true colors and stop giving you puppy dog looks from across the room.”

  I choked on my bite of eggs. Lough was right. Darrow often watched me, but I just couldn’t go out with him. I wasn’t anywhere near over Keller, even if we hadn’t talked in months now.

  “Sorry,” said Lough, seeing my distress. “I was only kidding.”

  I gave him a half-hearted smile. “I know,” I said. “It’s not you.”

  “Anyhow, come on,” said Sip. “We have to get to class.”

  As we walked, I told Sip and Lough about my dream.

  “I don’t think anything is blocking you, Charlotte,” said Lough, “but you should have told me about this earlier.”

  “What do you mean you don’t think anything’s blocking me?” I asked, unable to keep the edge out of my voice.

  “Sometimes you don’t dream for a while,” said Lough, shrugging. “Trafton and I are mainly dream givers because of what we can do with waking dreams and others’ dreams, not because of the ordinary dreams we have while we’re sleeping.”

  “Fine,” I said, “but I used to dream of Keller all the time and now I don’t at all. And what about Lisabelle? I saw her that first night and now I haven’t seen her since!”

  “I don’t know,” said Lough slowly. “But I don’t know how a paranormal could block your dreams, and besides,” he continued, eyeing me is if I was about to hit him, “you dreamed of Keller when you were together. You aren’t anymore.”

  It was like he’d punched me in the stomach. Sip gave me a sympathetic look, but she didn’t say a word. I could tell she agreed with Lough.

  I fell into a subdued silence, frustrated that I thought I finally had the answer and my friends didn’t believe me.

  I spent the evening doing homework while Lough was at practice and Sip met with Oliva about her thesis.

  Sip got back to Astra first.

  “I can’t believe Caid’s still here,” said Sip as she settled in on her couch, getting comfortable in the living room that the three of us had been using as a headquarters. Before she joined me she had made herself tea, and she now cradled the steaming mug in both her small hands.

  “It sends the wrong message,” I agreed. “It makes him look scared. Like he needs Public’s protections to keep him safe.”

  “As the leader of the Sign of Six,” said Sip grimly, “I refuse to be scared.”

  She took a deep breath and held it for so long that I glanced at her. In her hands was a white piece of paper that she kept turning over and over.

  “Can you read this?” Sip asked finally. She handed me the sheet. I took it with a raised eyebrow, seeing that it had beautiful ornate writing on it.

  “Sure, and what is it?” I asked. I had a feeling I knew, but Sip looked so happy when I agreed to read it that I wanted to give her a chance to tell me about it.

  “It’s the Sign of Six’s new constitution,” she said, beaming. “Nolan said that since I was the better writer, I should be the one to do it.”

  “Very cool,” I said. It was pages and pages long.

  “I’ll leave you to it,” said Sip, glancing at me nervously.

  I nodded and curled up on the couch and started reading.

  The Sign of Six is an organization of paranormals. All paranormals who wish to work toward the good of the whole are welcome. Our title comes from the Artifacts on the Wheel, from which our power as paranormals was first derived and where it is still held most safely. The Articles on the Wheel are of paramount importance to our defenses against any and all forces that would wish to do us ill.

  The Sign of Six is growing in number by the day, and there must be rules in place to accommodate the growth.

  1. Every three months we will hold new elections until our membership has stabilized.

  2. For every one hundred new paranormals who join, a new seat in the Sign of Six Congress will be created, so that representation may be adequate.

  3. Representation is not initially dependent on paranormal type. Should there be types that are not adequately represented, steps will be taken to rectify the matter. The underlying point is that in the abstract, paranormal type should not matter, but in practice we know that it does, and under no circumstances should a paranormal type be made to feel uncomfortable by any of the others. That even goes for pixies.

  4. The point of governing as the Sign of Six is to find reasonable and if possible peaceable solutions to the problems of the paranormals, even if that means working with darkness. As some of our members, notably the vampires, possess darkness of their own, it is not for us to judge. We must, however, be prepared to act if necessary.

  5. As important members of the paranormal community have signed this missive, I would like for you all to understand that the signatures are not binding. If at any point they feel like the Sign of Six does not protect them, then they are free to look elsewhere for protection. The second we are forced to follow a paranormal government that does not protect us adequately is the second we put our lives at risk. There is strength in numbers, and I wish for us to be very strong.

  “I want you to sign it,” said Sip. She was standing at my elbow, twisting her hands in front of her and watching my face closely. I was so wrapped up in reading that I hadn’t noticed her come back.

  I glanced at her in surprise. “Me?” I gasped. “You said important members of the paranormal community.”

  “Charlotte,” said Sip dryly. “You’re the only elemental. You actively refuse to realize this, but you’re important.”

  “I think I’m more notorious at this point,” I said quietly. “For what, I have no idea.”

  “It’s not your fault that paranormals fear what they cannot understand,�
� said Sip sagely. “It’s actually pretty normal. They’re also getting a lot of misinformation, and unfortunately they’re believing it. It’s hard to see the truth if the truth is scarier than fiction, if you’re even told it. Besides, you’re a known associate of the famous traitor Lisabelle Verlans.”

  I knew Sip was trying to make me feel better, but I still didn’t think I should sign her document. Sip, however, had no intention of taking no for an answer.

  “You’re the last elemental,” she said, insistently. “Of course you have to sign it.”

  “If I’m the last elemental,” I said, “why does Ricky send me letters saying he keeps seeing a big black dog around?” The first time I had gotten such a letter from my little brother I’d been terrified for him. I could only hope that his protections stayed strong.

  “Because your neighbors are hunters?” Sip offered. “No, I don’t know. Ricky might be one as well, but at the very least the demons know you care about Ricky more than anyone else in the world. If they ever need to find you, they will go through him.”

  “If they go after him, they won’t need to find me,” I said grimly. “I’ll come to them.”

  “I’m sure that’s what they’re hoping for,” said Sip softly.

  “Yeah, well,” I continued, “I’ll introduce them to my talent with lightning.”

  Sip looked concerned, but she didn’t argue. Instead she asked again, “Will you sign it?”

  I sighed and took the pen she was holding out. “Who else are you going to have sign it?”

  “Rake, Lanca, Vital,” she said, ticking names off on her fingers. “Lisabelle and Lough. I need a pixie, and it’s probably going to be Cale. I hear he’s doing really well in his role as an officer.”

  “What are you going to tell those who ask about the objects on the Wheel?” I asked. I had a very bad feeing that we were soon going to have to tell the paranormals, or rather Caid was, that the Nocturns had them all.

  Sip shrugged. “I’m hoping it will just be motivation to get them back.”

  “Do you really think that’s likely?” I asked.

  Sip shook her head. “No, I think Caid is making a massive mistake and I can’t believe he’s still in office. I’m sorry, I know Dacer and he are friends, but Caid can be a good friend without being a good president, and I do believe that’s the true situation we’re stuck with at the moment.”

  “Do you think Dacer would ever be president?” Lough asked, just joining us. Dacer made Lough very uncomfortable. It wasn’t his flamboyant clothes or his makeup, it had more to do with the direct way he had of looking at you. Why that made Lough so nervous I had never been sure.

  “I doubt it,” I said chuckling. “Dacer wouldn’t like the idea that he had to conform to any other paranormal’s idea of behavior. Or appearance.”

  Lough looked relieved. “What about Zervos?” he asked.

  “He still wants to run Public,” said Sip, “but I doubt that will ever happen either. I don’t think they want vampires running anything other than the vampire courts.”

  “Too much darkness,” I agreed, twisting my ring around and around on my finger.

  Lough ran his fingers through his hair. “Hurry up and sign that thing, Charlotte, so I can as well.”

  I wasn’t sure if what Sip was doing was a good idea, but I knew I trusted my friend and I agreed with Lisabelle about loyalty. I pulled the cap off the pen and scribbled my name at the bottom of the constitution of the Sign of Six.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  We were again at breakfast. Outside it was bitingly cold. The dreary weather and the avalanche of coursework had everyone in a bad mood, and the students were subdued. At the high table, filled with Public professors, Oliva, and Caid, there was a hard new face.

  General Goffer didn’t look anything like President Caid. He had the same black hair and eyes, but his head was shaved and he was tall and broad shouldered. He was dressed much like Cale had been when I’d seen him that summer, mostly in black, but the colorful red, silver, blue, white, and green stripes down the sides of his sleeves were much wider than Cale’s had been. Sip said the width denoted his very high rank in the Academy.

  “He’s big enough for two men,” said Lough in awe.

  “He’s famed for his strategy,” Sip whispered. “And his cruelty to his enemies.”

  “Comforting,” I muttered. “So comforting.”

  “He doesn’t have the same easy presence as Caid,” I said.

  “Well, no, he got to where he is by stomping on people, not chatting them up,” said Lough grimly.

  Goffer strode into the dining hall, never looking left or right. There was a trail of Paranormal Police Academy guards behind him, and I was stunned to see that Cale was one of them; I thought Cale was with Ricky, and I would have expected him to tell me if he had been taken off my brother’s detail. Apparently my assumptions had been mistaken.

  Goffer had come for the next Tactical. None of us were sure why, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to get through it and finish, so I could get my homework done and go to sleep. I wanted to dream again.

  We were nearing the end of the semester, and there was less homework and more studying for finals. There was also one more weekend visit that Dacer had wanted me to make, but that seemed to be on hold for now. When we had told him about Winewin, he had paled and disappeared. Much later he had come to Astra and told me not to leave campus under any circumstances. He was so upset that I had promised, but now I was regretting it.

  Also, what if Lisabelle was spotted? Sip and I had made a secret pact to go and find her if anyone left word.

  In the meantime, we had a Tactical to live through.

  I walked outside with the rest of the students. The air was crisp and cool. Leaves swirled around my legs as I stuck my face upward. The clouds were dense and gray, threatening rain. It had yet to snow, but winter was fast approaching.

  “Now, remember the plan,” said Sip to Lough and me. “Here's what we do, we double-switch back and come at them from the flank and rear, we full guard on the right to protect Charlotte and our weaker right side, we use effervescent spells and incandescent charms to slow them down, hopefully trip them up.” Sip was pounding her fist into her hand for emphasis. Everyone in the circle around her was staring. She raised her eyebrows and nodded enthusiastically.

  “What she's trying to say in the most convoluted way possible is that we have to charge, and we have to help each other out,” said Lough dryly.

  “That’s what I said,” said Sip.

  “This isn’t what I thought war would be like,” said Lough, looking around at all the other grim-faced paranormals.

  “What do you mean?” Sip asked.

  “It’s taking forever,” said Lough grumpily. “I thought we’d have some battles, kill some demons, and that’d be that. But we came back from Golden Falls, did nothing, spent the summer doing more nothing, and now this semester we’re doing what?” He raised his eyebrows at us, but when neither of us spoke he said, “Doing nothing.”

  “We haven’t been doing nothing all semester,” Sip pointed out, a little insulted.

  “Yeah, I guess,” admitted Lough. “You and Charlotte have been enacting the Power of Five, helping paranormals. Sip, you run the Sign of Six. I want to help paranormals too.”

  “You help,” said Sip. “You tutor and you act as lookout.”

  “Coward’s work,” said Lough darkly. “I want to dream something grand and magnificent, something that makes a difference.”

  “We all want to make a difference,” I said. “Maybe the best thing to do is stop trying and it’ll happen when we least expect it.”

  “If we stop trying they’re going to put you in a glass case in Astra and leave you there,” said Lough. “The war will be over and we will have lost by the time they let you out.”

  To my surprise, Zervos interrupted at this point and pulled me aside. Sip and Lough gave me questioning looks, but I shook my head. “I don’t wan
t to talk to you,” I told him warningly, feeling bold.

  “Ah, yes,” he sneered. “The little elemental thinks she should get what she wants all the time.”

  I glared at him, but he kept going. His nostrils flared as he spoke. “That box you carried everywhere with you last semester?” His voice was low and intense, his black eyes never leaving my face.

  I felt cold. I’d tried to avoid letting Zervos see me with my mom’s wooden box, the one she’d used for all those years and that my stepdad had kept for me, the one that when I dreamed had a thistle design that I couldn’t see in real life.

  “That box of your mother’s,” Zervos repeated when I didn’t say anything.

  “What about it?” I could barely speak.

  “The Key of Light will open it,” said Zervos, a smile starting to break out on his face. He knew he was creating a dilemma for me, but before I could say anything he faded back into the crowd, leaving me with a lot to consider.

  Dacer had already told me he wanted me to find the Key, but Zervos had just told me why. What I couldn’t figure out was why Zervos would do that.

  But I didn’t have time right now to contemplate what Zervos was playing at, so I hurried over to my team. They stood in a huddle, giving no acknowledgement that I was there.

  “Now,” said Daisy, her ugly red skin looking dry and cracked. “We all know what we need to do. Camilla and I are going to search for the Key. We have a pretty good idea where it is. When we find it we present it to Oliva and Caid.

  “Jackle, Hutch, try not to get caught. Charlotte, feel free to let Faci catch you.” She smiled. “He’s going to anyway.”

  I thought back to the night I stayed out too late and he cornered me. I thought back to Lanca’s story about Faci’s sister. The vampire terrified me, more than Malle and maybe even more than Daisy and Camilla. I had nothing to say to Daisy.

  Meanwhile, over the heads of the crowd I saw Dobrov, but he never looked my way. Taking a slower look at the gathering, I saw that many of the students were wearing battle gear, which wasn’t something I had seen before. We weren’t supposed to hurt each other, we were just supposed to fight. But now I saw swords and knives, and a couple of the bigger paranormals even held clubs. What was happening to us? There was no will toward unity left.