Dacer frowned. What I was saying had clearly come as a complete surprise as far as he was concerned.
“Are you sure she isn’t a ghost or a water sprite?” he demanded. “What about a Conjurer?”
“I don’t know if she’s a Conjurer,” I said angrily. “I don’t even know what that is.”
“Dacer,” said Sip nervously. “Lisabelle and I met her too. Don’t you think we would have felt something if she was darkness?”
Dacer sat back from me and straightened up, pursing his lips.
“I would have thought so,” he said. “The problem is that there are all kinds of hostile paranormals who don’t have darkness in them. Look at the pixies. Even if Oliva and Korba and your Cale” - he pointed to me - “are on our side, those like Ms. Van Rothson and her little friend are surely not.”
“Caid has been working hard all year trying to get as many of the other paranormal types on our side as possible,” Lisabelle said. “He’s just been doing it under the radar.”
“He needed time,” said Dacer softly, supporting his old friend. “He needed to prove that the demons were, in fact, a threat.”
“Like we needed proof of that,” I muttered.
“Some needed more proof than others,” said Dacer. “But back to this Martha. Charlotte, the committee determined that you didn’t need a chaperone this year. You handled yourself just fine last semester without any help, and they had planned to leave you to your own devices. Whoever this Martha is, she does not belong in Astra with you. I’m afraid you’re in danger.”
“I’m pretty sure she thinks she belongs,” said Lisabelle. “In fact, I’m pretty sure she thinks she owns the place.”
“She’s had plenty of opportunities to kill me and she hasn’t,” I said thoughtfully. “Maybe she’s not bad?”
“Who do you think she is, then?” Lisabelle mused. The look on my friend’s face was making me nervous; it was like she was thinking of a particularly delicious meal. I had noticed her eyes light up like that before, always when she was about to get in a fight. So, you know, often.
“Martha must be a member of the Sign of Six,” I breathed. “It seems unlikely that she creeps around campus late at night, but who knows. She might be more agile than she looks.”
“If I tell you one thing I will tell you this. Martha is most definitely not a member of the Sign of Six,” said Sip, her eyes hard.
Before I had a chance to ask her how she could be so sure, we were interrupted by Lough and Keller returning to the table.
“Hi,” said Lough, grinning happily. “This food looks delicious.”
“Hungry much?” I teased Lough as I watched him tackle yet more food.
“We’re guys,” said Lough, popping something that looked like chocolate into his mouth. “We’re always hungry. This is my third plate. I still haven’t gotten to that whole wall, either,” he said, pointing to the food tables off to our right.
I was about to ask Sip about Martha when I noticed that Lough suddenly looked upset.
He pointed to one of the long tables, then gasped as his finger started to shake.
We all looked, just as the gala erupted in screams.
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Oh, look,” said Lisabelle, “demons.”
Sip jumped up so fast that her chair went flying backwards. “How dare you ruin my party?” she yelled, shoving her hands onto her hips.
“Sip, I hate to break it to you, but these aren’t some students you can intimidate with your short stature, sweet personality, and solid sense of humor,” said Lisabelle.
“None of those things sound intimidating,” said Trafton.
“You don’t say so?” Lisabelle muttered. “On the bright side, we don’t have to listen to Caid’s speech.”
“It always amazes me how you can have these casual conversations right in the middle of an attack,” said Trafton.
He had a point.
The gala was in chaos. Demons weren’t pouring in through the front of the tent, they were burning through it from all sides.
Smoke was making it hard to see as professors and a few of the older students started to fight back.
The demons just kept coming.
“There are hundreds,” I cried.
“Damn the Sign of Six!” I heard Caid yell as his bodyguards hustled him out.
I looked for Dacer, but he had disappeared from sight. They must be taking Caid to Oliva’s house and garden, I thought, which was away from the center of campus, and at this point as safe as anywhere. Oliva’s pixie powers would be strong there. Caid would want to stay and fight, but he was too important. A skeleton crew of senior paranormals would probably go with him for protection, but many were needed here. I felt horrible when I realized that I hoped Dacer would go with Caid.
“This also means we’re missing the dragon show,” Lisabelle mused sadly.
“Lisabelle,” Lough said sharply. It was a tone I rarely heard him use, and never with the darkness mage. “This is serious. Can’t you be serious for once? Lives over entertainment!”
Lisabelle drew herself up, becoming darker and more shadowy. Through her clothes, her arm started to shimmer. Power radiated off of her.
“Yeah,” she said, “I can take it seriously. Keller? What do you think?”
“We should scatter,” he said. “Each get back to our dorms. It must be Oliva and Caid they want, and, well, Charlotte.”
“We should all stay with Charlotte,” said Lough quickly. “We can’t leave her.”
“You’re safer without me,” I said. “Anyone who comes near me is in danger.”
At that moment, one demon broke off from the swirl of burning, black power that was surging around the tent and darted straight for us. I felt Keller start to move to protect me, but Lisabelle was faster. In an instant she went from bored partygoer to powerful darkness mage. She stood up, her back razor straight and her eyes blazing. Her arm shot out and I saw a pulse of power that burned away the sleeve of her pretty new dress. She didn’t care. The demon turned to ice and dropped to the floor, shattering into a million pieces. All around us the paranormals stared at Lisabelle with a newfound respect.
“You’d think they’d never seen a demon destroyed before,” said Lisabelle, shaking her head. “I think Keller’s right. The demons won’t know where Charlotte has gone, whereas if we all stay with her they’ll be able to track us. We can lead them away from her and confuse them.”
“You think they’ll come after all of us?” Trafton asked.
Lisabelle shrugged. “I think Rake goes to Cruor, we go to Airlee, Keller goes to Aurum, and Charlotte goes to Astra. The professors and Caid are going to hole up at Oliva’s. Charlotte, Sigil is at Astra, if you need help get him. He’s not nearly as fragile as he acts.”
“He’s a ghost,” said Lough, kicking away a piece of demon ice. “He isn’t fragile at all.”
“I don’t like leaving Charlotte alone,” said Keller.
“He’s right,” said Rake, stumbling up. “What if the Sign of Six go after her?”
“Or, you know, the demons,” said Lisabelle, taking in the scene with a wave of her hand. When power started to shimmer up her arm Sip grabbed her. “Please don’t do that casually.”
“The Sign of Six is a myth,” Lough argued. “What would they want with Charlotte?”
“Unlimited power in the paranormal world, just like every other paranormal group. Other than that I can’t think of much,” said Lisabelle.
“I’ll take Charlotte to Astra,” said Lough. “They won’t be expecting her to be alone with me. The rest of you go to your dorms.”
“Think the demons will accidentally trample Faci and Daisy? Maybe Camilla too,” said Lisabelle dreamily. “I mean, I’d like my shot at them, but I’m not opposed to others doing the heavy lifting.”
“You already got your way in that Caid isn’t giving a speech,” said Sip coldly. “I don’t think you’ll be that lucky twice.”
Lisabell
e shrugged. “A girl can dream.”
“Most girls dream of diamonds,” said Keller. “Let’s go.”
The gala was already clearing. Professors, including Professor Erikson, were trying desperately to get students to safety while fighting off the demons at the same time. Keller spared one look at his aunt, but she waved him on ahead. I had to give it to Professor Erikson, she loved her nephew more than anything. Besides, she was a very powerful fallen angel. She would have no trouble keeping herself safe on Public’s own grounds.
“Let’s go,” said Lough, beckoning me to follow him.
I nodded, but grabbed Keller’s hand before I went. I pulled the surprised fallen angel to me and kissed him fiercely. It wasn’t a long kiss, but I got my point across.
“Take care of yourself,” I whispered.
He nodded and rubbed his thumb across my cheek. “You too,” he said, his eyes bright.
“I’ll take care of myself, too,” Lisabelle chimed in. “In case anyone was wondering.”
“We all know that, Belle,” said Sip dryly. She grabbed one of the beautiful silver plates on the table and threw it, disc like, at an oncoming demon. It just sailed through it, but it did force the monster to change course and smash into a wall.
“My turn,” said Lisabelle, stepping into the middle of our group and taking a deep breath. “Look, we all have to stay safe. It’s not about any mushy emotions or because we care about each other. We’re all important to the cause of resisting the darkness. Love makes you weak, but loyalty is the glue that holds us together.”
She looked around at all of us, checking for understanding. “I’ll follow loyalty,” she continued, “which means I’ll follow Charlotte. So Lough, if something happens to her on your watch . . . I will find you. And I will destroy you. Do we understand each other?” Her eyes were hard.
Lough nodded solemnly. He knew she was saying it more for her own benefit than for his.
“Charlotte, I’ll kill you too,” she added.
I started to step forward, but Keller held me back.
Rake nodded. “I second that. We should respect that we all have dear ones, and we all want them taken care of. I may like you, Lisabelle, and your friends too, but the Power of Five is important to lots of paranormals. Don’t forget that an army of us did not show up to hand Charlotte over to Malle. We still haven’t, because many of us believe that her way is evil, and we won’t stand for it. We also think Charlotte must be protected. Lots of us have a stake in this.”
“See, Rake thinks lots of paranormals besides us want to keep Charlotte safe,” said Sip. She grabbed Lisabelle’s arm and tugged. “Come on. I’m always telling you you’re too self-involved.”
“Let’s go,” I said to Lough, giving my friends one last nod.
We raced away as demons came on. For once I wasn’t going to worry about my friends. They would be fine, safe in their dorms.
We hurried outside, but it was slow going. Every student there was trying to get away through the one exit.
By the time we realized the demons were herding us to the exit, it was too late. We came outside in a burst of sparks and snarls. There, stretched out on the black sloping grass in front of us were hellhounds, hundreds upon hundreds of hellhounds.
“Nice to see the demons and the hellhounds work together so well,” Lough muttered as he pushed fellow students aside. “We paranormals could learn something from that.”
“Don’t say that,” I said breathlessly.
We fought our way through the throng of students. Hellhounds were attacking in every direction. I saw black bodies, red snarling eyes, and shining rings. Students who were nowhere near ready to fight were forced to defend themselves.
In the darkness I saw fear everywhere. Overhead, the moon was entirely covered by clouds, or maybe the Nocturns had sent it away. Maybe they were just that powerful now.
“We have to get you to Astra,” Lough panted. A hellhound made a great leap for him, but Lough caught the beast in midair, a nightmare-like web wrapping around the black body and squeezing.
“Wow,” I breathed. “That’s, you know, terrible and cool.”
“Don’t use your power,” he cautioned, his eyes intent on his captive. “Let me get us out of here.” Sweat had already appeared on his forehead and he wiped it away with an impatient movement.
“Why not?” I demanded. “I should be defending us the same as you.”
“We might need the Power of Five before this night is over,” he said tiredly. “We have no idea how the hellhounds overran the campus, and the night is young.”
He did have a point. I was so intent on blaming the Sign of Six that nothing else had crossed my mind.
I looked back for my friends, but they were already lost in a sea of faces. “They’re trying to kill us all,” Betsy Butter yelled, racing frantically past us. She had been through a lot last semester, and judging by her crazy expression she was breaking under the pressure.
“Betsy, STOP,” I yelled, but it was too late. She ran headlong into a trio of hungry hellhounds.
“I’ll get her,” Lough cried. Betsy screamed as the nearest hellhound attacked. Lough tried to get there quickly, but there were too many bodies between him and the fallen angel.
The hellhounds growled in hunger.
Betsy tried to push the first hellhound away, but in response the thing just plunged black teeth deep into her shoulder and started to rip her flesh away.
Lough sent another one of his webs to keep the hellhounds off the girl. Betsy continued to scream, but her bleeding stopped almost instantly. It must be nice being a fallen angel, I thought.
“Let’s go,” said Lough, turning back to me once he knew that Betsy could get up and run on her own. She stood shakily, her pretty dress covered in blood and slime and black hair. It was a gruesome sight.
“No,” cried Betsy. “You have to help me. You can’t leave me here to be devoured by these beasts.”
“Betsy, you’re a fallen angel and you can fly. Get going!” Lough said with exasperation. I felt the heat of the battle burning against my back. “We have other problems.”
And with that, we ran.
I didn’t stop to look behind me.
“I feel like a coward,” I said, once we could see Astra. “I’m running away.”
“You’re hunkering down and doing the smart thing until it’s safe,” said Lough, not looking at me. Instead he looked to the sky. “I’m really glad the dragons aren’t on anyone’s side. Having stuff dive bombing and attacking us from the air would really suck right about now.”
“The demons can fly,” I pointed out, sorry to burst his bubble.
“Yeah, but not like the dragons. I hope you get a chance to see them in action,” he said reverently. “Anyway, let’s get you safe.”
I was probably lucky I lived in Astra. If the professors and Public’s defenses didn’t deal with the demons, they would probably come looking for me, but then I had Astra’s own defenses, and although I was a high-value target, I had a feeling that the demons, who were far stupider than Malle or the Nocturns, would go where there were students in large numbers. Any of the other dorms would do, but Astra would be quietly empty.
We reached Astra’s front door. There were no lights on inside. Martha apparently hadn’t felt the need, and I had no idea where my dorm mother was. Except, of course, she wasn’t my dorm mother. We had no idea who she really was.
Chapter Thirty-Six
In all the confusion, what we hadn’t talked about again was Martha. But even in the middle of a demon attack, I couldn’t help but be amazed that I had put up with her all semester and it had turned out she wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place. I wondered who she really was - maybe some lost paranormal who wanted a warm place to stay? For a fleeting second I thought she might be my mother, but I pushed that thought away. I would know my mother, and Martha was nothing like her.
“I’ll go in first,” said Lough when we got to Astra. I had
stopped bothering to argue.
He opened the door to darkness. Following him in, I reached over and turned on the nearest hall lamp, throwing Astra into dim light and shadows.
“Lough, you should go,” I said. “I’ll be fine. Go and wait it out with Sip and Lisabelle.”
Lough turned to leave, but because I was watching him instead of thinking I had to be on the alert in my own home, I saw the danger too late. Martha, her hair in a perfect bun and her eyes emotionless, had a vase raised high above her head. The woman was much stronger than she looked. That vase was old and heavy and Martha swung it with ease.
Before I even had a chance to scream, she brought it down to smash on the back of Lough’s skull.
My friend crumpled heavily to the floor, a little dark liquid pooling around his ears.
I stared at Martha. Remarkably, she still held the vase and she was obviously very far from harmless.
“Your turn,” she said menacingly, swinging the vase a second time and aiming right for my head.
I woke up with my jaw throbbing. I was in a sitting position, not lying down like I was sure I wanted to be. At first I didn’t open my eyes, hoping that the pain would just go away. I had a fleeting thought that Sip would be running out of her healing salve soon if I kept this up.
I wanted to moan or groan, but that would involve moving. I was just about to pass out again from the pain when something cold and soothing was gently pressed to my jaw.
I opened one of my eyes.
I was in the Astra kitchen and it was still dark outside. The only light was from the fireplace, but even that was burning low at this point. I was seated on one of the chairs next to the kitchen table, with my wrists and ankles bound with some sort of black rope. I tugged against my bonds. Nothing happened. Growing more panicked I tugged again, but they were secure. I was tied up, with no apparent possibility of escape.
“Oh, don’t bother with those, dear,” came Martha’s maddeningly calm voice. She was sitting very close to me, holding a cold compress to my hurt face. Her eyes were grave. “It’s for your own protection.”
Elemental Air (Paranormal Public Series) Page 23
