Ever since we’d come back from Golden Falls it had been like this. If Sip could be taken and Lisabelle could disappear, many of the paranormals wondered what was the point of sticking together. It was better to just be out for yourself.
I pointed to a werewolf who was holding a club. “If that comes anywhere near my head,” I said, “I’ll knock you all the way to Vampire Locke. Got it?”
The werewolf was so surprised he just stared at me.
“Nice one,” said Trafton, and his eyes glinted. “I like it.”
I grinned at him. He and Lough were standing together. As the biggest targets in Tactical after the only elemental, they had hatched a plan to keep themselves from being taken. I hoped it would work.
“I won’t waste time,” Oliva called out. He was flanked by President Caid, General Goffer, and Professor Erikson, but I didn’t see Dacer as I frantically searched the crowd for my mentor.
“He’s over there,” said Sip, reading my mind and earning a ferocious glare from Camilla.
“Don’t look at me in that tone of voice, Camilla,” Sip ordered.
Camilla frowned, and Trafton laughed.
I glanced at Sip. Out of the corner of my mouth I whispered, “There’s something I have to do. Don’t worry about me.” I saw the worry spark instantly in her eyes, but she knew she couldn’t argue. There was no time.
Meanwhile, I followed my friend’s pointing finger to where Dacer was standing with his mother, Duchess Leonie. They were speaking quietly, but I thought I saw Dacer raise an eyebrow in my direction.
“Begin,” Oliva’s voice boomed over the gray field. I felt my stomach clench and I glanced at the sky. The clouds were so thick and close now, they looked almost black. Taking a deep breath, I glanced at Sip and Lough, gave them one final nod, and ran. I didn’t even have the chance to tell them what Zervos had said. It was something I had to do on my own, but at least because of what Dacer had told me, I had a good idea of where to begin.
In the confusion of starting the game I ducked down behind a couple of shrubs and waited. When no one attacked me, I slowly made my way from shrubs to trees to buildings, always keeping an eye on my back. I lost track of my friends in an instant, but it didn’t matter. I knew Sip was going to help keep Lough safe. I had told them not to bother with me, it would only earn them our fellow students’ disdain if they concentrated on me instead of on their own task. My heart was thudding so loudly in my chest that I felt sure it would give away my position. In this Tactical the teams were out for blood.
I hurried to the lake where I’d seen my mother during my first semester at Public, and where I’d gone from time to time in hopes of seeing her again. The brown house that Malle had used as her headquarters when she was President of Paranormal Public stood empty. Oliva could have used it has his office, but he’d decided against it. No other professor wanted to go near it, so it had started to fall into disrepair.
I could hear the yells of Tactical behind me and knew I didn’t have much time. There was a target on my back, after all.
This time I didn’t even look at the lake, because whenever I did I saw my mom, and right now I couldn’t afford to be distracted. The first drop of rain fell as my foot hit the bottom porch step. The wood creaked under my weight, but I kept going. The next step creaked louder and I moved to the side of the stairs, knowing there’d be more support at the edges. I didn’t like how the porch was sagging in the middle, and I worried that the whole thing could collapse around my ears, maybe with a little encouragement from Faci.
I pushed the door open. The magical protection on it still glowed, but dimly. It hadn’t been renewed in a long time. Besides, students believed the place was cursed. No one was going to loot it.
There was the secretary’s desk, sitting where it had always been. There were still papers strewn over the desktop and the chair, waiting in vain to be used again. But I walked right past all that and into President Malle’s office, which was mostly empty now.
Many of her books and papers had been confiscated, along with her artifacts. I now understood that she had probably known she’d have to leave quickly, so she would have had plenty of time to make a plan for taking her important possessions with her.
I sighed as I looked around. This was going to be harder than I had imagined. I glanced at the desk, but nothing looked out of the ordinary. While I examined what was left of the office I kept one eye on the window, in case any other Tactical teams had the idea of checking here. I wondered where Daisy and Camilla had gone, since I hadn’t seen them since Oliva had announced the start of the session.. Daisy had been sure she’d known where the Key was, but it looked like she had a different idea from the one Dacer had suggested to me.
Lough and Trafton had decided to trade off shadowing Daily, and if she found the Key they intended to attack her and try to take it. Originally I had planned to go with them, but now I needed to find it on my own, because I needed to take it with me back to Astra.
I ran my hand over the desk while my eyes roved over the fireplace. President Malle had hidden a hellhound on campus during her, and my, first semester here, and in the end the hellhound had ended up in Astra, where Lisabelle was being held prisoner. But where had President Malle kept the thing before that?
I touched the fireplace. At some point since Malle left it had been bricked up, and it was dull from disuse.
I pushed against several of the bricks, but nothing happened. I pushed harder, putting a bit of magic into it.
The fall into the inky black depths of the basement surprised me, but what worried me more was that right before I fell I saw some sort of movement outside Malle’s window. Unfortunately there was no way to stop my fall long enough to see who it was.
I tumbled through the air for longer than I should have, falling at least two stories and landing with a hard thud despite my efforts to cushion myself with magic.
I let out an “Oof” and lay there for a minute, feeling the cold dirt under my fingertips. My body protested when I pushed myself onto my knees, but I knew I couldn’t waste time. I glanced up, but there was nothing to see except darkness. The black basement enveloped me, and I quickly asked for a little fire. It was harder to do when there wasn’t already a flame, but I’d been practicing. In short order I had a little light illuminating my surroundings, and I finally got to my feet.
The basement had boxes stacked on one side, and there was also a pile of black rags that reeked, which I assumed must be where the hellhound had slept. I could just picture it lying down there to close its red eyes, lying in wait. I shivered.
I couldn’t go through every box, I didn’t have time. So instead I imagined my mom’s box, with the thistle blazing on its front. I took a deep breath, then another and another. I just kept breathing. When my eyes were closed the thistle blazed in my mind, the symbol on the locked box I had to open. I let my magic stream through me, hot and pure. There were no spells for this. Finding objects with magic was very difficult. You had to know what to look for and you had to know what to ask.
Where was the Key of Light?
After what seemed like an eternity, I could feel something start to shake. Relief made the skin on the back of my neck prickle. When I opened my eyes I saw that there was a chest under one stack of boxes, from beneath the lid of which light was now pouring. I hurried over and started to pull away everything that was covering the lid. Once it was free of encumbrances, the lid sprang open of its own accord.
The box was filled with strange treasures, mostly gold.
But only one of them was blazing.
The Key of Light sat on top, unmistakable even though it looked nothing like what I had imagined it would be. I had expected it to be a key for a massive door, but it wasn’t. Instead, the small gold key and its chain were very small, almost doll size, and a White Ring blazed around it.
I glared at the magical protection. Of course Oliva would have to do this.
Carefully, I took off my elemental ring. Pa
ranormals were never supposed to remove their rings, and mine felt hot on the skin of my palm as I held it.
“I really hope this works,” I muttered to myself.
I thrust my ring into the White Ring that surrounded the Key of Light. The moment my elemental powers touched the protective circle there was a massive crack and I was thrown backward.
I managed to hold on tightly to my ring, but that meant I didn’t have any way to keep myself from slamming into the opposite wall. I hit a pile of boxes and slid down to the ground with a thud.
I lay there for several minutes, my body pounding in pain, my only movement being to slip my elemental ring back onto my finger. Once it was firmly in place it felt like I could breathe again.
Well, that wasn’t my best idea, I thought grimly, slowly pushing myself to my feet and stumbling back toward the chest and the Key. My legs felt like straws and my feet, back, and neck all hurt.
The Key of Light lay where I had dropped it, on top of the open chest.
My cracked lips broke into a small smile; the White Ring was gone. Carefully, I picked up the Key and slipped the chain around my neck, hiding it under my shirt.
No sooner had I done that than there came a thud from above, then another. Someone was trying to break through the fireplace.
I took a deep breath. I was taking the Key of Light back to Astra. I didn’t care what Oliva wanted with it, and I certainly didn’t care about my team winning Tactical, not with Daisy and Camilla as part of it.
Trying to ignore the fact that I wanted to collapse, I looked around for somewhere to hide, but I knew it was useless. Fading into a corner wouldn’t work. I had to confront whoever had come after me.
While I was trying to figure out what to do, another section of the ceiling fell in. With a cry I threw myself into the boxes along the wall, again landing with a thud as dirt and chunks of ceiling rained down on me. If I hadn’t had my magic, I surely would’ve been crushed. As it was, I was able to create a cocoon over my head to protect myself from the worst of the debris.
“How’s it going down there?” Faci’s nasty voice called out.
I coughed and didn’t respond.
“Charlotte, dear, you’d be much better off just coming up. It’s over now. You’re alone. There isn’t anything you can do.” That was Camilla.
My heart sank. I had wanted to get the Key of Light back to Astra to open my mother’s chest, but that looked out of the question now.
“Get her up,” Faci ordered.
I scrambled to my feet. My hands were cut from where I’d landed on them, and a plume of dust came up around me.
Dobrov jumped down into the pit and landed near me, cushioning himself somehow with his own magic. He was silent as he came toward me.
“Don’t struggle,” he said, getting closer. I braced myself. I was no match against all of them.
He came up right in front of me, so close it was all I could do not to step backward. But I would not show fear; I would not give them the satisfaction. With a speed that surprised me, though, Dobrov leaned forward and whispered, “Give it to me. Quickly. I’ll get it back to you as soon as I can.”
I stared at him, trying to read his expression. Knowing I didn’t have a choice and understanding that he could very well be lying, I quickly removed the necklace that had been mine for so little time. I placed it in Dobrov’s hand and it disappeared into his pocket. He nodded and stepped back, then grabbed me bodily. Faci had dropped a ladder, and Dobrov pointed for me to climb it first.
Once we were both in the living room of Malle’s old house, I looked around at Faci, Camilla, and Daisy. Rain still lashed the windows.
“Isn’t my brother wonderful?” Daisy asked dreamily. “Always does what he’s told.” She patted Dobrov’s cheek, while he remained impassive. I held my breath, waiting to see if he’d give them the Key of Light, but he said nothing.
“Well, where is it?” Faci demanded, holding out his hand. “Give it over.”
“I don’t have it,” I said.
Faci’s eyes burned and his lips, already almost non-existent, got thinner.
“Of course you have it,” he hissed. “Give it to me. Now.”
He reached for me and I stepped back, right into Daisy’s arms. I flinched at the contact with her clammy hands.
I glanced around. Outside it was pouring, so thick and dark and fast it looked black outside.
“There’s no help for you,” said Faci, taking a menacing step forward. “You may not have the Key, but there’s still no help for you.”
Camilla raised her hand to strike me, but just at that moment, with no warning whatsoever, the door burst open and Sip came crashing in.
I gasped as Sip bounded forward, placing herself between me and my attacker.
The werewolf growled.
“Get out of here, werewolf,” Daisy said, glaring. “We have work to do.”
I wanted to tell them to stop this, that they couldn’t hurt me because the game was over, but that would mean admitting I had found the Key and revealing that Dobrov had it now.
Werewolf magic wasn’t like other magics. Sip didn’t cast spells unless she was forced into it by the most dire circumstances. I rarely saw her ring blaze, unlike the four black rings that surrounded us now.
But werewolves had power, and Sip was never lacking in fight.
Her purple eyes sparked, heat radiated off her back, and she lunged at Camilla, who toppled backward.
“Sip, NO,” Lough cried, bursting through the door, quickly followed by Rake and Trafton.
A full-on battle raged between my friends and the attacking Nocturns, here in the most random place of all, Malle’s old office.
Faci squared off with Lough and Trafton while Camilla challenged Sip. Dobrov tugged me out of the line of fire. No matter how hard I tried to pull my arm out of his grip, he was stronger than I was.
“Come on,” he said, “no use getting killed.”
Faci had Trafton by the neck, and it was looking grim for the dream giver when a familiar voice, in very unfamiliar circumstances, interrupted our battle.
“What is this meaning of this?” The voice was cold, colder than I had ever heard it before.
Keller Erikson stepped through the doorway, his black hair wet and his beautiful blue eyes scanning us, his voice as cold as a blast from an ice mage.
We were led back to Oliva, who was surrounded by professors. Keller walked in front of us and stopped to stand with Goffer. I felt like I was being arrested. Faci, Daisy, Camilla, and Dobrov were all allowed to go free. They weren’t the ones who had started it, claimed the Academy officers who had broken up the fight. Goffer stood silently, his eyes hard. I could see Cale, studiously ignoring me. There were other senior paranormals there, many more than there had been when the session of Tactical had started.
My friends kept giving me furtive glances, looking to see how I was taking the news that Keller had returned to Paranormal Public without telling me, that he had come to break up our fight, and worst of all, that instead of letting us go he was turning us over to Oliva.
My breath was coming in ragged gasps and I felt sick and confused, that’s how I was taking it. I might be glad he had broken up the fight, since Faci was strong and he lacked the grip on reality the rest of us possessed, making him all the more dangerous. But I wanted Keller’s eyes to light up when he saw me, as they used to. And as I had dreamed they’d do again.
But it had been the exact opposite.
“What’s happening?” Lough demanded.
“Shut up,” one of the officers ordered.
Oliva stepped forward.
“Was the Key found? We do know that the White Ring was breached.”
Faci’s eyes sparked with rage.
“No,” said Keller evenly. “It wasn’t.”
The rain had subsided, but it still drizzled, making me shiver. Or maybe it wasn’t the rain making me shiver.
Oliva gave me a hard look. I kept my head down, bu
t I could see Dacer standing off to the side, studiously indifferent. His mother, on the other hand, was having none of it.
“This is ridiculous,” she said sharply. “These are children and they were doing something that they were assigned to do, ordered even, and now they’re being treated like criminals for it!”
“Professor Dacer,” Caid barked, “why don’t you escort your mother back to your home?”
I was stunned. Caid had just dismissed Dacer and the Unforgiver. We were heading down a dark, dark road.
“Get them out of here,” Oliva said, pointing to us. “Now.”
But it was already too late. There was a hum of energy in the gathered crowd. I just now realized that I should have been wondering why the crowd was gathered in the first place, and I took a sharp breath. Keller was here. He was working for Malle. I glanced at my ex-boyfriend’s shoulders, where he stood with his back turned to me as he squarely faced the President of Public.
From behind Oliva a figure emerged.
Cynthia Malle had returned to Paranormal Public.
I didn’t lunge. I didn’t move, I just let a numbness take over my body. I should have wrapped my hands around her throat and demanded to know where Lisabelle was, but we were hopelessly outnumbered. I looked to Dacer. He gave the smallest shake of his head.
Then I was pushed away, and my friends and I were led back toward the dorms.
Sip and Lough were taken to Airlee despite their protests. I was taken alone to Astra. I watched Keller the whole time, hoping for any sign that he missed me, that he wanted to talk to me, that his heart ached half as much as mine did, but there was nothing. Nothing at all.
Chapter Thirty-Six
It took us almost a week to recover from Tactical, and we spent most of that week in Astra. I had one more visit to make for Dacer now, and I couldn’t wait, presuming he was even going to let me go. I hoped that with Malle showing up Dacer had changed his mind and realized that danger was everywhere, even within the walls of Public. The night Tactical ended I still nursed a tiny hope that Keller would come talk to me, but it quickly faded.
Elemental Darkness (Paranormal Public Series) Page 22
