Sip grinned. “Let’s go to the party,” she agreed.
Chapter Thirty-Three
The four of us followed the Nocturns to the gala. I had been sure it would be an interesting night, and it already had been, though we hadn’t even made it to Oliva’s celebration yet. Behind us we heard the dragons give a call that sounded remarkably like goodbye.
The scene in the tent was stunning, and Sip couldn’t stop beaming. Every student on campus had turned out in his or her best for the occasion, as had every professor. Since we were welcoming a new, hopefully very long-term president, all the employees of Public, even those who barely had magic, had joined the party.
Because Oliva was a pixie, the theme inside the great white tent was green, and more green. Moss covered the ground, the tablecloths were olive-colored, and even the walls appeared to have vines crawling up them.
Each table had place settings of silver on it in preparation for hungry guests who would bring heaping plates of food to enjoy. Along the walls were tables covered in more scrumptious dishes than I could count. I had gotten used to a wonderful selection in Public’s dining hall, and to be honest Martha’s baking this semester had spoiled me, even if I was still convinced she was a horrible dorm mother.
Gazing around at the crowd, I saw Dacer quietly talking to Caid and Oliva. Zervos was also with them, but standing a little to himself. Professor Erikson was nearby, talking to an Aurum group that included Vanni.
Lough left us instantly to go sample the food, and Lisabelle went with him. I was pretty sure that after her confrontation with Daisy she wanted something cool and sugary to drink. Sip was about to leave me alone to go and check on something party-related when a girl blocked our path. I recognized her as a vampire Starter, but I had never spoken with her. She was looking intently at Sip. I took the opportunity to look around for Keller, but I didn’t see him anywhere.
“Are you Lisabelle’s roommate?” The girl, taller even than Lisabelle, gave Sip a questioning look.
“That depends,” said the werewolf, looking the girl up and down. “On a scale of zero to atrocious, how badly did she offend you?”
“Oh, she didn’t offend me,” said the girl, looking relieved. “She’s my tutor and she told me she locked you in a closet when you annoyed her. She threatened to do the same to me. I’m glad you’re not in a closet. If you were I was going to tell President Oliva.”
Sip crossed her arms over her chest and said, “Uh huh. Suddenly I have this urge to chat with my roommate.” Then she grinned. The girl looked confused and wandered off.
Sip and I laughed. It didn’t take long for Lisabelle to rejoin us, carrying a cup of blue liquid.
“Blueberry juice,” she explained. “Yum. Lough’s coming. He just wanted more food first.”
“There’s a lot of space between the paranormal types tonight,” Sip commented, looking around with disgust. The rifts between the paranormals had not mended, and given the problems with the Nocturns, our divisions were growing even more hostile. The pixies were endlessly smug about one of their type being appointed president, while the fallen angels made a show of staying above it all.
“I wish we could all get along,” I murmured. “It would make the Power of Five so much easier.”
“Let’s see,” Sip mused, “the pixies are on the side of the Nocturns. Mostly. Although to their credit, they haven’t tried to make off with Charlotte this semester.”
“Thanks,” I said dryly.
“The vampires have too much darkness,” Sip continued, ticking that type off her fingers as she glanced at a group of vampire students standing in the far corner, separate from everyone and as far away from the food as possible.
“The fallen angels are too pure for everyone’s own good, Airlee isn’t strong enough to fight much of anyone, and Astra barely exists. But other than that, we’re just fine,” Sip finished.
“Excellent,” I muttered. “Glad we’re at a party.”
“Is Caid here yet?” Lisabelle asked. “I was going to propose that we sneak into his quarters while he’s here and get the Mirror back, but I didn’t think Sip would want to miss her own party.”
“It isn’t my party,” said Sip, blushing.
“Nonsense,” said Lisabelle. “This is all you.”
“Ladies,” said Nolan, materializing in front of us. His braids were pulled back into something that closely resembled a ponytail, and his dark eyes danced. “You all look lovely tonight. I’m glad I got to be here for this.”
“We are too,” said Sip, beaming at her fellow werewolf. He smiled at her.
“I hoped that Charlotte would dance with me.” The NYC werewolf extended his hand, but I just stared at it. I wanted my first dance to be with Keller.
“Um, no thank you,” I said. “Maybe later.” Or maybe not.
Nolan shrugged, appearing to take my rejection in stride.
“I’ll dance with you,” said Sip, stepping forward. “If you’ll have me.”
Nolan took Sip’s hand and bowed. “Lady, I would be honored.” Sip grinned and let Nolan lead her onto the dance floor. Lisabelle stood next to me and watched the two of them walk away.
“I like that guy,” she said.
“He’s alright,” I said. “I liked Dobrov too, though, and look what happened.”
“Looks are sometimes deceiving,” said Lisabelle. “For example, I spent a short period of my life looking like I might actually be a kind-hearted paranormal.”
“Then what happened?” I asked, laughing.
Lisabelle gave me a sidelong look. “I discovered black clothing dye, obviously.”
“Lisabelle, want to dance?” Trafton had appeared in front of us. “Where’s Sip? I was hoping to tell her what a great party this is.”
Lisabelle pointed to the dance floor, where Nolan had just finished twirling Sip around. Trafton grinned. “I’ll have to tell her later, then.”
Trafton always looked good, but he looked especially good tonight. Like Lough, he wore the light blues, silvers, and grays of the dream givers, but unlike Lough he was in a gray suit instead of a tunic, with black shoes and a blue button down shirt.
Lisabelle shrugged. “Charlotte, do you mind? I think you’ll have your own dance partner soon enough.” She nodded in the direction of the tent flap opening. I spun on my heel and smiled.
Behind me, I vaguely heard Lisabelle say, “Let’s go, the elemental’s in la-la land now.”
Keller stood in the doorway, and boy oh boy did he look splendid. He wore a white shirt and white slacks, with a white tie and a white jacket. It was a lot of white, but he looked delicious. I grinned and headed over.
His blue eyes were searching the space, but they stopped when they met mine. I was delighted to see them light up, linger on my face, and travel down to take in my dress. I was about to fling my arms around his neck in greeting when I small figure cut in front of me.
Vanni.
I wanted to stop and yell, but I contained myself. She hadn’t even seen me coming. Keller looked wryly amused as he bent down to listen to something she was saying.
“Hi, Vanni,” I gritted out as I reached the pair. She turned to look at me, wide-eyed.
“Hello, Charlotte,” said the younger girl cheerfully. Then, after an awkward pause in which she looked nervously between Keller and me while neither of us could quite decide what to do, she said, “Well, I should get going.”
She flitted off as I glared at her back. Keller didn’t watch her hurry away, he just stepped up to me, pulled me close, and gently turned my chin away from the fleeing fallen angel until we were eye to eye and only inches apart. Being this close to him still left me breathless.
“Charlotte,” he said softly.
“What?” I demanded a little more gruffly than I meant to.
He raised his eyebrows. “Is something wrong?”
“She’s always talking to you,” I said in frustration. “Even at the gala, which is OUR special night.”
; “You look beautiful.”
“And what is her problem anyway? She’s gorgeous and wealthy. She could have loads of paranormals.”
“I’m just so damned charming. For example, I tell the girl I’m crazy about that she’s beautiful, and she just falls weeping at my feet.”
I blinked several times. Now that I had stopped seeing red, it became clear to me that Keller was having a very hard time not laughing.
“Are you making fun of me?” I asked suspiciously.
“Who? Me?” he grinned, wrapping his arms around my waist. “How could you think such a thing?”
“So, you weren’t happy about talking to Vanni?”
I sounded like the kind of insane, jealous girl I used to hate. Well, that was before I had a boyfriend I was in love with, but unfortunately half the rest of campus was also in love with him.
But he was looking at me.
“Your dress is stunning,” he said.
“You aren’t looking at my dress,” I replied. I was a little confused, and I could feel the heat rising in my face.
“Nope,” he said. “But it’s stunning.”
“Thanks,” I said, looking down and blushing.
“I’ll have to fight off all the other guys who’ve been checking you out,” he said. “And this is my best suit.”
I shook my head. “Don’t be silly,” I chided. “You don’t have to fight anyone off.”
“I’m never silly,” said Keller.
“Keller,” I laughed as he darted in to kiss me. “You’re definitely being silly tonight.”
“Happiness does that to a guy, apparently,” he said dryly. “I’m sure Lisabelle will come around and try to put a damper on it soon.”
I grinned. “We all have to be good at something.”
“Want to dance?” he asked.
He started to lead to me to the dance floor, but I held him back for a second. Keller had said he was happy. Was that the feeling that was washing over me and making it hard for me not to smile? Yes, I thought to myself, I think it’s actually happiness. It suffused my body and made me giddy. And it wasn’t just Keller, although he was a big part of it. Maybe we were in danger and maybe there were more unanswered questions in my life than I could count, but tonight I was with my friends, they were safe, Ricky was safe, and Keller was here.
What more could I ask for?
Keller tugged on my hand. “You okay? You look like you’re thinking hard about something.”
I laughed. “Is it that obvious?”
Keller grinned. “I’m just very observant.”
“You think pretty highly of yourself,” I said, following him onto the dance floor.
“I’m just a lucky guy,” he retorted, grinning at me.
He swung me around and I waved to Sip, who was still dancing with Nolan. Both of them waved back at us and Keller gave them a nod.
“What do you think of Nolan?” I asked.
Keller shrugged. “He’s a damned talented werewolf. Whatever he’s learning in that New York City school of his, it’s impressive.” As he talked he stepped closer, so that we were pressed together for the slow dance.
“I don’t want to talk about Nolan,” he said, his voice soft. It sent a jolt right to my stomach and I bit my lip as warmth spread throughout my body.
“Whatever you want.” I smiled up at him.
Chapter Thirty-Four
I don’t know how long we danced, but it was a long time. There wasn’t anything else I had wanted to do that night anyway. Well, okay, I wanted to sample some of the delicious food that was waiting for us, but other than that I was content.
At one point Lisabelle and Lough came over to say hi, and we even managed to convince her to dance with the dream giver. It turned out that she was a very good dancer. Whereas I was just managing to follow Keller and the steps (we stopped counting how many times I stepped on his toes at six, but he claimed he thought it was cute), Lisabelle was excellent. Her mother had insisted that she learn the steps and practice them endlessly. Lisabelle, not liking to be bad at anything, had done so, even if she had never intended to use them.
I lost track of Sip for most of the evening, but I knew the werewolf had a lot to do since she was on the committee. I did see Dacer, who spent most of his time with Caid, Oliva, or Zervos. Dove was nowhere to be seen, but I had heard that the vampire was on errands for the paranormal congress now that the semester was ending. I tried not to look at Caid, or think about my mirror, because whenever I did my stomach twisted into knots and the happy feeling I was carrying around started to ebb away.
Partway through the evening, Faci and Daisy had come in and were sitting with Dobrov in a corner. Unlike her brother, Daisy still had the burnt red appearance with which she had arrived at Public. I wondered what her brother had done to get rid of it; whatever it was, she must have chosen not to bother.
“What are you thinking about?” Keller asked me. The lights had dimmed, and although I didn’t think many, or any, of the attendees had left the party, the evening had slowed. I was sleepy and had just stifled a yawn.
“I was thinking this is nice,” I said. “We should have celebratory galas more often.”
Keller chuckled. “Yeah, in our free time,” he said. “I’m just glad this semester is over.”
I nodded. “Me too, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”
“You mean you thought Dacer was going to get kicked out?”
“There was a lot of suspicion on him for a while,” I said.
Instead of responding, Keller echoed my yawn from a moment before. “It’s getting late, huh?” he said.
“Yeah, and Oliva hasn’t even made any sort of speech,” I said, looking to the dais.
“I think Caid’s going to do a lot of the talking,” said Sip, coming up to my elbow.
Keller and I paused in our dancing. I was tired, and it felt like time to regain a little energy by sampling the food. Nolan was nowhere to be seen, and Sip had completed the latest dance with Trafton. We decided to find Lisabelle and Lough, who had staked a claim to a table a long time ago.
Keller and I agreed to share a plate, but once he started piling it so high with food that orange berries were tumbling off, I decided I should have gotten my own. Then, just as we were about to sit down, Keller’s aunt beckoned him over with an index finger and a glare. While Keller went to chat with her, Dacer ambled over to join us carrying a plate of grapes and a smile.
“Ms. Quest, this place is simply breathtaking,” he said to Sip, taking in the gala. Sip beamed, her ears turning pink from pleasure.
“Thank you,” she gushed. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”
“There are many ways to show love,” said Dacer. “There are many ways to show that you care for another. Giving flowers is common, of course, but there is no more clear, more vital way for love to come forth than when one friend steps in front of another and says: you are not going to hurt her, not today, not on my watch. I think you have all shown your love to Public, and to the cause of keeping paranormals safe, by working so hard and showing up here tonight.”
“We’re loyal,” said Lisabelle, shrugging. Dacer nodded approvingly.
“Loyalty,” I said. “It always comes back to that.”
“It always will,” he said. “More important than love and stronger than hate. Just remember that the next time you have to choose where to stand, and when you look to see who is standing in front of you.”
Here we were at a party, and all of a sudden we were discussing the differences between good and evil. With that encouragement, I finally couldn’t help myself. I had kept my peace about Martha all semester, knowing that with the demon attacks coming every other day we had bigger and more immediate problems to worry about, but I couldn’t keep silent any longer. It was just too unfair.
“You know,” I said. “Not all of this applies. I mean, supposedly Martha is good, but she just acts so evil.”
Dacer raised his blue-paint
ed eyebrows. He had said it was a new fashion thing he was trying. Lisabelle thought he looked eternally bug-eyed, but I kind of liked the flash of color. “Is she a character in one of the books you’re reading for class?”
My irritation increased. He could at least bother to remember her name.
“Seriously?” I said. “I would have thought you’d have had some hand in choosing her.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my voice. With all of her talk of protecting Public, she had made my semester significantly harder.
“Charlotte, my dear, whatever are you talking about?” said Dacer, gently placing his plate and fork down on the table.
“Martha,” I repeated, as if he was slow. “My dorm mother. The woman who has been living with me in Astra all semester. Let me tell you, Dacer, I don’t think it’s fair. She’s awful. Like, I know she sits there and says that giving me a curfew and making me sleep in a different room and being mean to Sigil are all for the good of Astra, but I think it’s seriously out of whack. I got along perfectly with Mrs. Swan, but the fact that she’s gone doesn’t mean I should have to get a new dorm mother like the one I was landed with.”
I took a deep breath, surprised by the depth of my own anger. I had barely looked at Dacer while I ranted, but now I glanced at him from beneath my eyelashes.
Dacer stared at me, his face ashen under his makeup. Finally he managed to say, “Charlotte, you don’t have a dorm mother.”
“That’s silly,” I said nervously. “Martha’s been there all semester.”
“Martha?” Dacer asked, his voice quiet and filled with menace. He braced his hands on my shoulders and met my eyes. “Has she hurt you? Did she ask you to wear any jewelry. What has she DONE to you? Tell me everything.”
I was starting to panic. “Dacer, I don’t know,” I nearly wailed. “She’s just my dorm mother. She was there when I got home from summer break. She was baking. She told Sigil and me we had to follow lots of rules and that if we didn’t there would be consequences. She looks like an nice, old granny.”
Elemental Air (Paranormal Public Series) Page 22
