As if he could hear my thoughts he said, “I don’t usually leave the Tower. Well, except to go home in the evenings. Some of the other vampires are not so understanding. But one of my all-time favorites” - he clasped his hands together again for emphasis - “the Princess Lanca, visits often.”
Lanca had never said anything to me, but just like her looking tired it was none of my business. I wondered if I could ask Dacer how Lanca was doing once I had been working with him for a few days.
“So, anyway,” said Dacer, “this is the gallery for pixies. You might notice a theme, and you must remember that there are strong protections on these masks. Only approved people can touch them without very strong magics, so be careful. Luckily, I’ve approved you.”
A quick stab of panic ran through me at the challenge of pointing something out to one of my professors, but I immediately realized that there was an obvious theme. Many of the masks were either a shade of green or had green on them, and the majority of them were small. Well, most pixies were on the small side, Cale being an exception. Obviously, there would be many visual cues for me to follow in the Museum of Masks.
I told Dacer what I could see.
“What else do you see?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. He wanted me to dig deeper.
Carefully, afraid he would stop and yell at me, I stepped closer to the masks, looking for clues to what he meant.
“Many of them are smooth,” I commented, “like glass. They appear very stylish. Just like the pixies.”
Stylish and vapid, which was why Camilla was the pixie poster child.
“Very good,” said Dacer, nodding with approval. “These were made when masks were first invented in the 1590s. During that time period, naturally the pixies wanted to have the best AND look the best. This is what they came up with, because of course if the mask was going to be magic it required certain properties, such as not breaking at the slightest provocation. That is, it had to be sturdy, and making something both pretty and sturdy is more difficult than just making it sturdy. Any carpenter will tell you the same.”
I nodded my understanding.
Dacer clicked his pink heels together and clasped his hands behind his lime green clad back. “Follow me.”
This professor was kind of amazing.
The next room made me gasp again, even though I was becoming accustomed to being surprised. This was the fallen angel room. It was entirely white, except that there was a very large sketch of wings covering the three walls that weren’t windows.
“Wow,” I breathed. Dacer nodded.
“Fallen angels and their descendants, the more pure the better, are the best at utilizing the powers of their masks. Many of their masks, as you can see, are made of feathers.”
“Either white or black,” I affirmed.
“Yes,” he said. “Women are white-feathered and men are black. Not that we couldn’t already tell men from women, but that’s just how it is. Now, fallen angels are strong and can fly and are obviously very hard to kill, because of the angel blood that runs through their veins.”
“So, naturally, the masks either enhance or diminish those powers?” I said without thinking.
A large smile spread across Dacer’s face. “That’s exactly right.”
It occurred to me that it would be almost comical to see the graceful angels on campus wearing a bunch of bird feathers on their faces. Keller would still look good, though.
“Are you coming?” Dacer yelled. I gave a start. He had already gone on to the next gallery.
I hurried to follow. This gallery was different. Everything about the room screamed vampire. The walls were red, with black dripping down randomly. I gulped. The masks in this room were grotesque. Many looked like they were painted with dried tomato, which could only have been blood. My stomach felt queasy as I stared around. The masks were also in odd shapes. One was a square, and another was made up of two large ovals.
“Many of these masks,” said Dacer, who was now watching me closely, “were made in reaction to the pixies’ desire for beauty. The vampires desire power and to inspire fear. Beauty is irrelevant to most of us. They made masks that would accomplish both. There wasn’t anyone they didn’t want a reaction from. It worked.” He said the last bit almost fondly, as if he was proud. I supposed he should be.
“My father was the first vampire to make masks and fill them with power,” said Dacer. “I have a couple of his masks, but they’re on display in the first room.” He looked reverently back that way. Obviously his father’s legacy was very dear to him.
“What can they do?” I asked in a small voice. Not because I wanted to know; I really didn’t. But if I was going to be here I wanted to do it right.
“That one,” said Dacer, pointing to the one with two ovals, “can poison the blood that we feed on. The result is that there is no vampire food supply.”
I knew that any blood for a vampire would do, which meant that an animal, or a willing human donation, could feed their hunger. But wherever it came from, they must have something. Without it they would wither and crinkle away, much like leaves turning from summer to fall.
“How can it do that?”
Dacer shrugged. “A simple spell is cast, ensuring that any blood consumed in the area will cause illness. Then, the blood consumed becomes deadly. Even vampires who do not drink it are in trouble, because where will they get their food? It must be fresh blood, so it can’t exactly be trucked in from Florida like humans do with oranges.”
My stomach was starting to turn over again. “So, if someone got hold of that mask, they could poison all the blood at Public?”
“Yes.”
Charming.
“Is there a counter mask?” I did remember something about that. It wasn’t like paranormals just made masks with unchecked powers. There was usually a mask to balance out the good with the bad.
He pointed to the mask next to the double oval, which was red and shaped as only one oval. “They’re a pair.”
“So, if something happens to that one?”
Dacer gave me a curious look.
“The vampires are in trouble,” he said simply. I don’t know why I cared so much. It was probably because I didn’t like the idea that there was such unchecked danger lurking nearby, and if I was going to intern here it made sense that I know as much about the danger as possible.
When I started moving towards the next gallery I felt a smile involuntarily spread across my face. As I stepped through the door to the next room I knew why.
The elementals.
This room was in the middle of all the others, which meant that it was circular and bigger, and that it didn’t have any windows. But there was no lack of light. The walls were broken up evenly into four different components, the same four I had started to see around Astra so often.
“And of course here is your own heritage,” said Dacer softly. “I had hoped to get to show it to you.”
I glanced at him, fighting back tears that came without my even knowing why. The masks of the elementals, my masks, were beautiful. They shone and sparkled in all directions and I wanted to look everywhere at once. My ring had started to hum, and when I glanced down at it I found myself smiling in return. It pulsed in greeting.
“Let’s check them out,” I whispered, whether to myself or to the ring I wasn’t sure.
The first wall I came to was earth. The masks were mainly brown, and some even appeared to be covered in dirt of both darker and lighter colors. But there were other colors mixed in, gray, green, blue, orange, all the colors found in the world.
The next wall was water. One massive wave was painted onto the wall, crashing down, providing a stunning backdrop to the masks that hung there. Some looked like seashells, while others were a little more unusual, like the skins of otters or fish. All were beautiful.
Air was next, and it might just have been my imagination, but I thought I felt a gentle breeze blow across my face as I stepped towards that part of the wall.
The last wall was the most . . . impressive. Unlike the vampire red, the elemental fire was more of a curling orange mixed with reds, yellows, and a little white and blue. The masks were stunning, many looked like flames, and I knew that if I were to put one on, my face would look like it was on fire.
“Do you know which proclivity you are?” came Dacer’s gentle voice.
I shook my head. “Haven’t had the chance to find out yet.”
“You know some elementals showed aptitude with all four elements,” he said wistfully.
I shrugged. “Sip, my friend Sip Quest, told me that was very rare.” I rubbed my hand lovingly over the masks.
I felt Dacer nod more than saw the movement.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know anyone was in here.” A boy, well, actually probably a guy around my age, came to a halt. He held a broom in his right hand and a pail in his left.
“Ah, Mark, no need to apologize. I was just showing my new intern her heritage.”
The boy, Mark, had light brown hair, almost blond, and milky brown eyes. A large dollop of freckles covered his nose. “Morning, Miss,” he said. “It will be good to have an elemental around again.” He gave me a nice smile and then nodded to Dacer. “I’ll go clean the front room,” he said, before disappearing back out the door.
“Mark takes care of the Museum,” said Dacer. “It is as fantastically clean as it is because of his hard work. There is nothing more important to him than keeping the Museum up to snuff. I’m very lucky to have him.”
“He seems nice,” I murmured. I paused, unsure how to continue, but then decided I had to just spit it out. “Sorry, why did you want me here?”
I had finally gotten to the question I had wanted to ask him ever since I found out that not only was I doing an internship, but I was doing one in a place that never had interns.
“Ah, well, I would have thought it was obvious, but if you require an explanation, an explanation you will have. It is a brief one.” He pursed his lips, as if thinking how to phrase it, while his hands were again clasped behind his back. “The masks can be cared for by anyone with an aptitude. I have such. I can care for all the masks here, but of course there are certain things that can only be done with the masks if you know how to use them. The best people to use the masks are the descendants of their makers. Obviously, others can use them to an extent if they get their hands on them, which is why the vampire masks are a danger, but some things can only be unlocked in a mask if you have the right heritage.
“The elemental masks have not been used in a generation. They are growing rusty. All of the other masks are taken out and used, albeit harmlessly, and if they’re dangerous, in controlled situations, by their paranormals. This keeps the magic sharp. It allows me, as curator, to know if there are any cracks or flaws in the masks due to their increasing age. If you’re willing, I’d like to teach you to use the elemental masks. That is my main aim, my mother aim, if you can call it such: to cultivate a good relationship with one of the most powerful paranormals in the world for me to use to my advantage in the future.”
His perfectly white teeth flashed in a large smile while I stared at him open-mouthed.
“Who is that?” I asked stupidly.
His smile grew wider, if that were possible. “You.”
He gave a wide grin. There was a sort of strong humming racing through the air. My attention was brought back to the room I was in and away from the vampire standing next to me and grinning like the Cheshire cat. My reactions amused him and he had given me a lot to think about.
It took me a minute to realize that the humming in the room was the power in the masks, calling to me, expressing their pleasure at my presence.
“I have done what I can with them and they are very good with me. The powers that reside in them understand that we are in special circumstances, but we both felt them wake up when you walked in. They know what’s important. They know where home is. You are it.”
I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. I knew that if I spoke I would start crying, so I simply nodded.
“I’ll try,” I whispered. My eyes locked on the masks. Somehow I felt like they were looking back at me.
“Excellent,” said Dacer enthusiastically. “Now, sadly, I do believe it’s time for you to go. You have to eat, and then you have Professor Zervos’s class, do you not?”
I sighed. “Yeah. He wants us to learn to fight. Or something.”
“His methods might be unusual, but he does care about the students,” said Dacer. I glanced at him sidelong. Given that Dacer was flamboyant and oddly happy for a vampire, I was surprised he spoke of Zervos with such praise. No one spoke nicely of Zervos, but then again maybe Dacer spoke nicely of everyone.
“Thank you for the tour,” I murmured.
Dacer smiled and gave me a small bow. “Until next time.” He showed me to the door and I waved at Mark as I left.
The descent down the Tower stairs was good for me. I needed the time to think before I got to the dining hall.
I was going to be working with the elemental masks. Maybe I should have guessed it, but I was now excited about my internship. I should have asked Dacer what the masks could do, but I guess I had the whole semester to figure it out. I couldn’t wait to tell Lisabelle and Sip. The other thing I now knew for certain was that the masks were dangerous, far more dangerous than I had realized. I was lucky to be allowed inside the Museum at all.
“Hey,” said Sip, meeting me at the bottom of the stairs. Lisabelle was standing next to her, brandishing her wand at what appeared to be the world at large.
“Hi,” I said, grinning. “How were your classes?”
Sip shrugged. “Werewolf Speed. I found out I’m very far from being a fast werewolf, but then again growing up with five siblings I already knew that.”
“And Lisabelle?”
I saw Sip grin. “What?” I asked. “What happened?”
“Lisabelle is a tutor this semester,” Sip squeaked out before she doubled over in a fit of giggles with her hands over her stomach. “It’s all kinds of awesome.”
Lisabelle’s face was sour. “Lisabelle,” I said, “who would inflict you on young minds?”
“I know, right?” she said. “Well, I’m working with vampires on darkness powers, since we’re the ones that have them. They discovered that Lanca and I are the two strongest, so we’re working with everyone else. Korba actually had the nerve to say I’d be a good professor one day. All kinds of crazy.”
“Tell her what he said after that,” said Sip, trying and failing to get her laughter under control.
Lisabelle looked affronted. “Oh, THEN he said I would only make a good professor if I got my temper under control. Imagine.”
“Yeah, it’s real tough to picture that,” I murmured, grinning at my darkness friend. “I think there’s something wrong with Lanca, though,” said Lisabelle. “We need to talk about it later.” I nodded. If Lisabelle had noticed it too, then we definitely should.
“And the only other bit of gossip is that the Bells transferred,” said Sip. “They were afraid to be here with the demons attacking.”
The two Bells had been Starters in Airlee with us. I had liked them, but it wouldn’t really impact my life that they were gone. The only impact was that they had done it because of me. I wondered how many other students Public would lose on my account.
After dinner we all headed to Professor Zervos’s classroom. On the way I talked to my friends about the Museum and they promised to visit.
As we filed into the classroom I was excited to see who I was in class with this semester. It was all the usual suspects, including Camilla, Cale, and Lanca. Lealand, the cute pixie transfer who had pickpocketed some of the students, was also there. And Evan Drapper, a vampire who had Started with us, was sitting next to Lanca. The only face missing was Keller�
��s. I felt my heart sicken to realize that I might not have any classes with him this semester.
The three of us settled in next to Lough, who was already there.
“Hiya, gorgeous,” said the transfer with the long blond hair tucked into a ponytail. I turned around. He was tall and tanned, as if he’d just stepped off the beach. He was sitting behind us, and he wasn’t talking to me. I remembered from the Demonstration that his name was Trafton and that he was a very powerful dream giver, which meant that we’d be seeing a lot of him, because like Lough he was in Airlee.
When Lisabelle realized that I wasn’t responding to the new guy, she glanced over her shoulder, crossing her arms over her chest in her best piss-off mode.
“What did you just say?” she demanded. Her black eyes bore into the guy. In a minute we’d start to see two holes in his chest. Trafton cleared his throat. He didn’t look at all nervous under Lisabelle’s glare. He was the first.
He gave her a huge smile, revealing lots of white teeth. “I called you gorgeous. I’d do it again.” Before Lisabelle could respond, he got to his feet, tucked his hands into his pockets, and sidled up to Zervos’s desk.
“He wasn’t afraid of you,” Sip murmured, fascinated. “We should study him or something.”
“Is studying your solution to all problems? There’s a first time for everything,” said Lisabelle, shrugging, but for the rest of class she looked irritated and would periodically glance over in the direction of Trafton. Next to me, I felt Lough tense.
Chapter Twelve
“Evening,” said Professor Zervos, glaring around the room.
I hadn’t missed him at all.
“As I’m sure most of you know, this is a special class called Tactical. I have given over the teaching of my other classes so that I can focus on this. As was announced last night, the entire student body will perform three Tacticals throughout the semester. In the time between one Tactical and the next, classes will meet and discuss good points and what was absolutely terrifyingly bad, and we’ll try to learn from what happened and do better the next time. I fully expect most of you to be awful. Now, outside we go! The organizational meeting for Tactical is tonight.”
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