Elemental Air (Paranormal Public Series)

by Edwards, Maddy

  “You,” Lisabelle said helpfully, “are the only chance we have of the Power of Five surviving. That doesn’t make you more important than me, obviously, because survival and evil go hand-in-hand, but you’ll do.”

  “You aren’t evil,” I said.

  Lisabelle just shrugged.

  But meanwhile, one of the visiting werewolves, Cyi, waved to us. She was short with black hair and a small nose. I barely knew her, but she seemed to know me, or us.

  “Why so many visitors this semester?” I asked. “I don’t remember them from before.”

  “We’re famous,” said Lisabelle. “Public is respected far and wide for standing up to the demons, and you’re here.” When I gave her a puzzled look she just shook her head.

  “When will you understand how important you are?” she demanded. “Caid invited you to his party because as the only elemental, you hold an enormous amount of influence.”

  “Then why do I still have classes with Zervos?” I asked bitterly.

  Lisabelle laughed. “I wonder the same thing about myself.”

  “Speaking of classes, we should go. We’re going to be late to ours.”

  That morning we had Korba’s Paranormal Defenses, and Lough joined Lisabelle and me as we hurried to class. “I thought Tactical took care of this,” he said, falling into step next to me.

  “Trust me, after my run-in with the hellhound last night it definitely does not,” I muttered.

  The first thing I noticed when we walked into Professor Korba’s class was that Faci and Daisy were sitting together and Camilla was sitting behind them. As far from them as possible, in the front on the other side, Sip waited. She looked a little frazzled, but she gave us a cheery wave.

  Lisabelle saw Daisy and flinched. Daisy was the only other student I ever saw Lisabelle shy away from. My friend hid it well, but she was afraid of the hybrid. Crazy was unpredictable and that was dangerous, she told me once, late at night when she was feeling as confessional as she ever did, which wasn’t much.

  “How was breakfast?” she asked. But it was a purely rhetorical question, and no one bothered to answer.

  We sat down on either side of her and I watched the other students trickle in. The two visiting werewolves, Cyi and Nolan, came in together and sat in the back, keeping their heads close together and talking quietly. Korba spared them a stray glance, but didn’t say anything.

  “First the Faeries at Caid’s party and now werewolves from NYC,” Lisabelle muttered, glancing back. “I don’t like new things.”

  “Or old things. . . .” said Sip.

  Lisabelle grinned.

  Korba climbed up on his desk and waved his hands. “Excuse me,” he called. “If I could have your attention?”

  The classroom quieted instantly.

  “We are going to do something different from what I’m used to,” he explained. “I am going to teach you all I can about defensive magics. These are magics that you can employ against any foe. I believe we have spent too much time simply teaching our students how to fight demons, or how to fight hellhounds. What we really need to teach our students is how to fight back in the face of threats from any kind of enemy. Once we have that mastered, we can truly begin to push against the forces of darkness.”

  It was as strong a declaration as I had heard from a senior paranormal, except Dacer, that we were in danger from any number of sides. Korba had also just skirted the issue of paranormals trying to kill each other, but at least he had finally said out loud that we needed to defend not only against darkness, but against any adversary that might come along.

  “To that end,” Korba continued, “I am going to review basic fighting principles. For example, I have seen an increase in the use of blast magic, meaning explosions. Although that is well and good, it is not all there is. Some of you have training in physical combat, but I am not going to worry about that bit.” He said it with a small smile, and I knew it was because he was too tiny to think of engaging any paranormal in a physical battle.

  “This class will be characterized by as much reading and studying as possible,” said Korba. “We will look at as many different types of defenses as we possibly can. Not only that, but I want the defenses to be as natural as possible. What I mean by that is that I want them to come from the earth, I want them to be rock and fire. You need to protect yourselves even if you lose your wands, your rings break, and your fangs are useless against your opponents. If you cannot fly away and are out of dust, you still must fight.”

  “He’s really getting into this,” I whispered to Lisabelle.

  “I had no idea there was a pixie so concerned with our well-being,” she muttered.

  We spent the rest of class practicing calling tiny pebbles from Korba’s desk and placing them on our own. He had mentioned that we used blasts of magic to defend ourselves, and I was certainly guilty of doing that myself. Using only a tiny bit of magic, like the amount it took to move a pebble, was almost as hard. It required concentration, something you didn’t have much of when a hellhound was bearing down on you.

  “This is stupid,” said Daisy as her pebble shook a bit and then fell off Professor Korba’s desk onto the floor. “How are we supposed to use this in a real situation? If we’re in a fight, what is a pebble going to do to help us?”

  “You never know,” said Korba, not the least bit ruffled by the hybrid’s outburst. “You might be up against a dragon or a Great Blue Viper. You might have to battle sea creatures whose only weakness is their nostril. Tell me, young lady, do you have your life so well mapped out that you have a clear idea of all the adversity you will face in your lifetime?”

  Daisy looked bored. “I have a pretty good idea where I’ll end up,” she said airily. “If there are sea creatures to fight I am sure I’ll have someone else to do it for me.”

  Dobrov looked at the ground while his sister spoke. Lisabelle was right, he did look better. He was bigger than he had been last spring, as if he had actually put on weight and was not just the little skeleton man he had been. His coloring had also slightly changed. He no longer looked like a bright red tomato. Noticing me looking, he briefly met my eyes, shrugged, and looked away.

  It was more than I had gotten out of him all of last semester.

  “Ms. Validification,” said Korba. “You must control your power. You must be able to use just a tiny amount and get the job done. Wildly throwing magic around will do you no good service.”

  “Fine,” said Daisy. She called to the rock again, but she was so agitated that she sent it flying into Vanni, who cried out in dismay as it struck her cheek. The fallen angel was only bleeding for a second, because she could heal herself, but her hurt eyes looked at Daisy for longer. Korba sighed tiredly.

  “Alright,” he said, “I think that’s enough for today. We will resume next class. I want everyone to come in able to move their respective pebble wherever I should tell you to put it. In the meantime, read the chapter on defending against demons. It is harder than it looks. Also, read the chapter on defending against sneak attacks, for those enemies who do not have enough sense of honor to attack out in the open.”

  We trailed out of the classroom. I knew where I had to go next, and I was dreading it.

  “You headed back to Astra?” Lough asked me as we left.

  I nodded glumly. “The woman’s crazy, and I’ve only known her for two days.”

  “Didn’t you go back last night?” Sip said.

  I shook my head. “No, and she’s probably going to be mad about it, because I have a curfew.”

  “Must always be in for curfew,” said Lisabelle, in a mock stern voice as she waggled her finger at me.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’m afraid that’s what she thinks.”

  Sighing, I left my friends and headed back to Astra. Sip was dashing off to another meeting and Lisabelle was going to tutor students.

  “I have to see you tutor sometime,” said Lough. “I just can’t believe it.”

  “You don’
t think I’m good at explaining concepts?” Lisabelle said.

  “I don’t think you’re good at being nice,” said Sip.

  “I can’t be good at everything. Something had to slide. Have a great time managing nonsense. Can’t imagine what that’s like.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Astra looked dark and cloudy, despite the nice day. I took a deep breath, wondering how Sigil was faring alone all day in the dorm with Martha. Sighing, I pushed the front door open. Usually when I reached Astra, I felt the old elemental magic that permeated every window, door, wall, and rock reach out to greet me, but now that spark didn’t come.

  I was just about to walk in when I heard a massive boom. I tried to turn around and look, but the earth underneath my feet heaved and bucked like a living beast. I stumbled, my powers reaching out to steady the uneven ground around me. From every direction I heard yelling and the noise of running footsteps.

  When I turned around to look, I saw what had caused the noise. The top windows of the library had blown out. Gray smoke hung in the air like clouds of birds.

  Like everyone else on campus, I raced to the library. On the way, I met Sip and Lisabelle.

  “Lisabelle,” I panted, as we continued to run. “What happened?”

  “I just love how you assume I know,” said Lisabelle dryly.

  “Well,” said Sip, running alongside us, “was massive destruction caused? Buildings obviously decimated? Fire and smoke and lives in danger? Silly Charlotte. Doesn’t have the markings of Lisabelle at all.”

  “You know there was just an attack,” I tried to interject.

  Lisabelle ignored me and responded to Sip’s comment. “Exactly,” she said. “I’m like an innocent butterfly.”

  By the time we got near the library a huge crowd had already gathered, and heads turned to stare at Lisabelle.

  “They’re checking to make sure she’s coming from somewhere else,” Sip muttered to me. “If damage is does on campus, she’s the most obvious suspect.”

  “Paranormals might be dead,” I tried again.

  “And why is that again?” Lisabelle demanded, ignoring me. “What do I ever do?”

  “It’s your flouting of authority and what you CAN do that gets us in these messes,” said Sip angrily. “Why don’t you care?”

  “Because I’ve never had a good reputation and it hasn’t gotten in my way yet, has it?” Lisabelle replied testily.

  “Never mind,” I said, throwing up my hands.

  “Did you say something?” Sip asked, frowning at me.

  I stared up at the smoldering library. What good was being an elemental with fire power if I couldn’t keep anything from burning? Anger coursed through me. I hated feeling useless.

  To my horror, Lisabelle started walking toward the library. The student body parted to make a path for her.

  “Lisabelle, stop,” I called after her.

  “Hey Verlans, go deal with that fire up there,” one student called.

  “Yeah, Verlans,” joined others in the cries.

  I tried to look around, but the wind swept fistfuls of hair into my eyes. I pushed it back behind my ears and tried again. Still no professors in sight. Where were they?

  “You know what amazes me,” said Lisabelle when we caught up to her right before she reached the library doors, “that paranormals still tell me to do things and actually think I will listen.”

  “Yeah,” said Sip. “Imagine.”

  Lisabelle didn’t stop.

  “Can’t we be mature about this?” Sip moaned.

  “I’m not that desperate,” said Lisabelle.

  “Going in there is a bad idea,” I told my darkness friend. “Seriously. Let’s wait for help to get here.”

  “Calling that a bad idea is insulting to bad ideas everywhere,” said Sip, throwing up her hands. It was only a matter of time before she resorted to her favorite gesture of frustration. “Going in there is a terrible idea.”

  “Explosions,” said Sip. “Notoriously hard to defend against. If the demons have figured out how to explode buildings so easily, we’re in a lot of trouble.”

  “Ms. Verlans, Ms. Quest, and Ms. Rollins, stop right there,” came the grainy voice of Dove from behind us.

  “Never thought I’d see the day when I’d be happy to hear that voice,” Sip muttered, glaring at Lisabelle’s back.

  Dove told all the students to go back to their dorms. Lisabelle was dismayed, because she wanted to find out what had happened and exactly which demon had attacked. I was dismayed because I knew I was in big trouble with Martha. We weren’t a happy crew at that point.

  But none of us argued with Dove. He was looking at Lisabelle as if he wanted to accuse her of something, so Sip wasted no time before dragging the darkness mage away.

  “Go face the music,” said Sip, making a shooing motion. “Lisabelle and I have research to do.”

  “We do?” said Lisabelle, raising her black eyebrows.

  “Yes,” said Sip. “We have to find out what kind of demon can blow out reinforced glass like that. It shouldn’t be possible.” She chewed on her lower lip, thinking. “It was demons, wasn’t it?”

  “Of course,” I scoffed. “What else would it be?”

  “I’ll help,” Lough offered. “I need something to do that isn’t dream giver related. Pity we can’t use the library.”

  “Yes, I’m sure it’ll be closed until further notice,” said Sip. “That’s okay. I have a lot of the books we need in my room already.”

  “Her bed doesn’t need a frame,” said Lisabelle. “It could just rest entirely on the books she’s put under it.”

  “That would be the coolest bed ever,” said Sip.

  “What’s that?” Lough pointed to the top of the library, where what was left of one of the windows stood shattered and smoldering.

  There was a weird marking on it in black.

  But before any of us could get a closer look, Dove ordered us further back.

  Keller appeared just in time to walk me home. He slid his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I was in a meeting with the visiting students.”

  “Like that guy from NYC?” Sip breathed. “All those tattoos? Wow. My mother would have fits.”

  Keller chuckled. “Yeah, they want to do exchange programs, so in the coming semesters students from Public would go to their schools.”

  “That would be fascinating,” said Lisabelle. “There are other darkness mages who are still in school in Europe. I might learn something if I went to one of those places.”

  Sip stared at Lisabelle. “Wh-? How DARE you!” she cried, and without another word she raced ahead to Airlee. Keller, Lisabelle, and I stared after her in wonder.

  “What was that about?” I asked. Lisabelle and Sip had a contentious relationship, but the only time I had ever seen Sip truly upset with Lisabelle before was when the darkness mage had given herself the wand tattoo, and even that hadn’t been entirely serious.

  “I have no idea,” said Lisabelle, frowning. “I’m sure she’ll be fine once I get back to the room.” Shrugging, she waved goodnight and trudged after her roommate.

  “Are you okay?” Keller murmured in my ear.

  I nodded. “It’s just that it’s already been a long week,” I sighed, wrapping my arm around his waist.

  “And we still have painting on Saturday,” he said. “I’ve missed you getting in trouble. I’m glad Oliva has brought back manual labor as punishment.”

  I gave him a playful shove. “I’m not.”

  He laughed. “I know. Sip has been working so hard planning his gala. It’s going to be a spectacle.”

  “I just hope he lasts more than a semester,” I said. “Having all these different presidents isn’t good for Public.”

  Keller nodded. “Oliva plans to remain president for a long time.”

  “Will Dove and Professor Erikson stay around?”

  “My aunt is just going to teach,” sa
id Keller. “She likes it here. I’m not as sure about Dove. He didn’t want to come here in the first place, and with Zervos and Dacer on the faculty there aren’t as many openings for professors.”

  “I won’t miss him if he goes,” I muttered. Dove wasn’t as bad as Zervos, but he clearly had no use for students either, as today had proved.

  To my surprise, Astra was dark when we walked up.

  “Should I go?” Keller asked.

  “Probably,” I said reluctantly. “I’ll try and talk to her. Hopefully she’ll understand. I’m a junior in college, after all.”

  Sometimes it didn’t feel like it, though. Sometimes college felt a lot like high school. Of course, we still lived in a place where our food was cooked for us and our dishes were done. We were provided with furniture and all we had were four classes a week. It wasn’t exactly like we were adults.

  But I still hated that I had Martha in my life. If it wasn’t Mrs. Swan, I didn’t want a dorm mother at all.

  “Love you,” said Keller, and he kissed me soundly. Before he could pull away I laced my fingers behind his neck and pulled his face down to mine one last time.

  By the time he walked away I was much happier, until I turned around and saw that there was now a light on in one of the living rooms of Astra. I wouldn’t be sneaking past Martha after all.

  I opened the door, expecting an yelling, fireworks, fury, but the house was silent. I looked toward where I had seen the burning light, and knowing that it was better to face the music now rather than later, I inched my way toward where I thought my dorm “mother” would be. Creeping into the sitting room, I found her sitting next to the empty fireplace. Her eyes looked out the window into the now late evening. It felt weird that she had seen Keller and me kiss.

  “Evening,” I said carefully, standing in the doorway.

  She didn’t meet my eyes.

  “How are you?” I asked, totally flummoxed. I had no idea how to deal with quiet Martha.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice sounding odd. “Demons attacked Public and you were in danger, so why are you here?”

  “Demons ruined the library,” I said. “Dove sent us all back to the dorms.”