“Um, great,” I said. I picked it up and handed it to Eighellie, who immediately went over to the fireplace, sat down, and started to read.
“My sister should be here soon,” I said.
Averett was giving me a strange look, but she didn’t ask why I had wanted the book open, and Eighellie was the one reading it. We all knew Eighellie was smarter and a better student than I was.
There was yet another knock at the door. I’d never had so many invited and uninvited visitors in one day.
This time, it was my sister standing in the doorway, with Keller behind her. He wasn’t just holding a tray of food, he was pulling a cart of it.
“I’ve been cooking,” said Charlotte, her cheeks rosy. She breezed inside.
It turned out that Astra had a dining room. My friends and I had to do some quick work to get it ready for company, but that was better than being around Charlotte. Something was up and I didn’t even want to know, except that I had the impression of barely controlled rage floating around her.
“Maybe she’s angry about the Tabble and what it’s saying about Lisabelle,” Keegan speculated.
I shook my head. That didn’t make sense. Charlotte rarely let the Tabble get to her; I was the one who always flew off the handle about it.
Eventually we were all seated at the dinner table. Lanca and Vital had arrived, and then so had Dobrov. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but my confusion must have showed on my face when I saw him at the door.
“A vampire queen is on campus and you think I’m just going to sit in my room?” Dobrov asked, looking amused.
I ushered him into Astra Dorm.
“Wow, this place sure is beautiful. It’s been a long time since I was inside it. Maybe your sister didn’t want me around,” said Dobrov, winking. As the paranormal president had become more comfortable with his role at Public, he actually made a joke every once in a while. I felt weird about it every time.
The dinner was quiet. Too quiet. It was mostly Keller, Vital, and Dobrov talking, while Charlotte and Lanca, who were the dear old friends, sat quietly, as did all the students.
“I’m afraid,” said Averett, leaning over and whispering to me. Keegan was on my right and Eighellie was next to him.
“Of what’s wrong with them?” I nodded toward Lanca and Charlotte. Averett gave one curt nod.
“This is going to blow up, and soon,” she whispered.
I didn’t like that she said it, but she was probably right.
Charlotte, in fact, hadn’t said a word since greeting everyone. Eventually, she asked Keegan to pass the salt, but that was about it. Keller wasn’t looking at her, not even a glance, which meant he knew what was wrong and didn’t want to see the fury on her face.
“You could just ask him already,” said Charlotte, glaring at Lanca.
Everything stopped in that moment. Keller, Vital, and Dobrov had been debating different flying speeds for dragons, a fun topic of speculation among many paranormals, and even Keegan had started to chime in. He could offer unique insight, after all, considering that if he wanted to he could speak with them.
Eighellie, who found all topics interesting, had also listened intently. Averett was more relaxed than I had ever seen her, not surprisingly since she was among family. But she still gave everyone eagle-eyed looks from time to time, as if she was just waiting for one of us to make a mistake.
Finally, Queen Lanca set her cup down gently. Her eyes were on the table, as if she was carefully considering what she wanted to say. The Queen wasn’t eating, and she had declined any special beverages, but she still picked up a napkin and dabbed at the side of her mouth with it before she spoke.
“I could, but I didn’t want to be rude. You invited us to this lovely meal among friends, and I wanted to do my best to appreciate it.” Her smile was thin.
“Like hell,” Charlotte hissed. “You wanted to speak with Ricky, now here is he!”
I was really sick of getting surprised that day. Charlotte had been angry a number of times since I had found out she was a paranormal, and she had even had fights with friends, but there was true venom pouring out of her now.
“You what?” I stammered. “She wants to speak with me? About what?” I glanced from my sister to Lanca and back again. Averett was looking at her queen, and I could tell that the wheels were turning behind her eyes.
“You could have said something. I wouldn’t have invited friends,” I said, thinking that whatever Lanca wanted to say probably involved something private. Later I would probably repeat it to Eighellie and Keegan anyway, but these people didn’t need to know that.
“Oh, no, if I want to talk to you we must all spend an entire evening,” said Lanca. She was equally angry. And then, softening her tone a bit, she said, “Not that I’m opposed to seeing you, Ricky. I’ve missed you around the grounds, but tonight was not a good night.”
“It was a good enough night that you had to Contact me,” said Charlotte harshly.
“You mean tonight wasn’t about pleasantries?” I shrugged. “I’m not surprised. It’s not as if Charlotte and Keller often have time to come for dinner in Astra.”
I could see both of their mouths open a little in surprise. I wasn’t trying to be nasty, but it was true. Keller spent most of his time healing, and Charlotte had her own responsibilities.
Keller reached over and covered his wife’s hand with his, but only for a second.
Before anyone could say anything else I cut in with, “What did you want to ask me?”
Lanca met my gray eyes with her black ones. There was no heart in them. “Have you seen Lough recently?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
I was so shocked I pulled off the lie.
“Lough? No, I haven’t. The only time I’ve heard of Lough recently is when you showed up at Neon Mountain and got into a fight with Lisabelle about it,” I said.
I threw that little bomb in there to surprise both Lanca and my sister. They walked around all the time as if I didn’t know anything, and I was tired of being treated like a kid.
“You what?” they both chorused together.
“I haven’t seen Lough in years, and I stopped asking about him because it clearly made all of you angry. But that isn’t fair. He was my friend, too. Now you show up here and ask me about him after you show up at Lisabelle’s and ask her.” I shook my head. “I’m the one who deserves some answers, if you come right down to it.”
I could see from the expressions on my friends’ faces that they were totally baffled. What was Neon Mountain? Who was Lough? Why was the queen of the Blood Throne angry about him? Who in their wrong mind yelled at Lisabelle Verlans?
All of those questions would have to wait.
“You listened in on the conversation of a vampire queen?” Lanca asked through gritted teeth.
There were only two ways to play this, now that I had gone there. I could be apologetic or defiant. Naturally, I chose the latter.
“Yeah, I did,” I said. “So? You should have known I was there.”
“How should I have known that?” Lanca shot back. Averett looked surprised that I was willing to yell at a vampire queen, but my sister had a point. She was angry at me in my own home and about my own friend. No, that was not okay.
“You could have said something,” said Lanca. “Had I known you were listening, I wouldn’t have said so much.”
“What you said is that you know Lisabelle knows where he is and that you do not,” I said. “That’s not much information, as far as I’m concerned.”
“So, you haven’t seen him?” Lanca asked. Her face closed.
Vital had remained silent so far, but now the vampire consort said quietly, “It’s not as if we want to hurt him.”
“You’d better not try to hurt him,” said Charlotte. “If you did, you’d have me to deal with.”
“You say that without having any idea what he’s up to,” said Lanca in amazement.
“I know he’s my friend,” said Cha
rlotte. “What else is there to know?”
“I guess we don’t know yet,” said Lanca, her eyes flicking to me.
“Why did you think Ricky had seen this Lough character?” Eighellie asked.
Lanca pursed her lips. “We had it on good authority that he was sighted in the area,” she said.
“You have SPIES around Public?” Charlotte was aghast.
“Of course. Haven’t you heard of owls and bats? Do you think they do not talk to me? Do you think I do not know? I am a queen, even though you have never acknowledged the title except when it’s convenient for your purposes.”
Charlotte looked like she’d been slapped. Both Keller and Vital looked like a line had been crossed that no one was going to be able to return from.
“I thought we were in this together,” said Charlotte quietly. “You aren’t the only one who has used her magic for the greater good.”
Lanca had no comeback for that, and I wished I could believe that she had forgotten who she was talking to for a moment.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “but Lough does not belong to Lisabelle. We must find him.”
“Lough is a senior paranormal now,” said Charlotte. “You don’t get to know where he is if he doesn’t want you to.”
“You mean if Lisabelle doesn’t want me to?” Lanca said.
“No, that’s not what I mean,” said Charlotte.
Trafton pranced in just then, carrying a bottle of what looked like a special paranormal drink. He took one look at the group and said, “I guess I should have brought more to drink.”
Lanca got up and walked out.
Sunday was quiet. In fact, it was the first time for the entire semester that I spent the day actually studying.
As a professor, Trafton had turned out to be a taskmaster. I wasn’t all that surprised, but it did mean that when he gave homework, you had to do it. He was a big fan of pop quizzes and randomly asking questions in class to see if you’d even looked at the mountain of reading he assigned. As the term went on, I got better at skimming and at learning the kind of stuff he wanted us to be getting from his class, but it took some dedication.
It also meant that I had less time for wondering about mysteries like the death of Ms. Cernal or how hard the attack on Sip had hit Bertrum.
A big part of me wanted to get started on the tasks Lough had set me, but I knew I should get my homework out of the way first. Having set Eighellie going on the subject, I also hoped that she would come up with something quickly. I was pretty sure she didn’t sleep, so she could be expected to have a lot of time to work on it.
In fact, I was so sure Eighellie would start looking into the Counter Wheel and come over to tell me something about it by the end of the day that when bedtime rolled around, I was quite surprised to realize that I hadn’t seen her. I went to bed that night with my mind full of dream giver history, wondering if any of the objects on the Counter Wheel would ever be found.
Breakfast the next morning was miserable. The Copper team sat at their own table as smug as could be, all of them looking around at the rest of us with expressions that said they knew they had won and wondered how bad a crushing defeat felt. I, for one, wanted to smash their faces into the pumpkin pie that was on the tables for desert.
When we were mostly finished eating, Dobrov got up and strode to the front of the room. All the professors lined up behind him, and I noticed with some amusement that Trafton placed himself as far away from Professor Heather as possible.
“As all of you are aware, we are meeting this morning to discuss the results of the first Cornerstone. I must say we were pleased with the displays of magic. I suspected that you would show yourselves as powerful, given that many of you fought in the Nocturn War or knew paranormals who did. Your families have taught you well, and for that I would like to say congratulations.
“Paranormal Public is proud to have so many dedicated students. That being said, there were several incidents of violence during Cornerstone that I would like to highlight, to make sure that they are not repeated. The rules stated no blood, and yet eighteen students ended up with injuries. The rules also stated that you must stay together as a team, and yet every team except the Hellcats split up eventually. Not wanting to give the winning team too much credit, I would like to go on record as saying that you can all do better next time. The goal of these battles is to test your abilities to plan and execute while under fire, and it is clear that many of you, probably including the Hellcats when they don’t control the scenario, are pathetic at that, and in need of a shocking amount of work.”
I was glad Dobrov was taking it to the Hellcats; they were too pleased with themselves. Other students were nodding their heads in agreement, delighted that the Hellcats were getting their comeuppance.
“Other students were woefully unprepared, which also tells me something,” continued the president of our university. The rest of us quieted down.
“We hope to see better in the second Cornerstone. Submissions are complete, and this morning it is my great pleasure to announce a decision,” he said with a smile. “The decision is that you are to have a battle with the Surround militia.”
A general outcry followed the announcement, with many students raising questions like, “Last semester you wouldn’t let us fight anyone, and now we’re going to fight an army!”
“They SHOT at some of us on our way to campus,” a few others yelled out.
“It’s going to be a controlled battle, obviously. I myself worried enough about it, and after what happened last night, I’ve decided to officiate this one. I will be present for the entire time the fight is carried on,” Dobrov continued calmly, just as if his charges weren’t freaking out.
All the students shut up. President Valedication was full of surprises.
Chapter Twenty-Three
There was only a short period of time between the first Cornerstone and the second, but a lot can happen in a short period of time, as the next day’s Tabble proved.
LISABELLE VERLANS MURDERED PRESIDENT SIPYTHIA QUEST
The newest headline was flabbergasting, to say the least. It was so incredibly stupid that I couldn’t believe I was reading it. In fact, I told myself I was wasting precious minutes of my life in doing so, but I did it anyway. Here’s what it said:
Sipythia Quest mysteriously goes missing. At first there is no information and no one with any knowledge of the incident is discussing it. That’s pretty far-fetched, am I right? Those (who number just a precious few) who see her assistant, Bertrum, who is always by her side in normal times, say he looks withdrawn to the point of being manic. There is clearly something wrong. At first suspicion turned on him, for he was believed to have been present at the event, but it soon moved on to the obvious perpetrator, the premier of all darkness.
Golliar Gillardin
At first I thought it was just another stupid Tabble article, but then something happened. Actually, to be more accurate, then something didn’t happen.
I meant to read the Tabble as usual the next morning, but that wasn’t to be.
For three straight days there was no Tabble, and no one seemed to know why. Students complained to professors and to the president so insistently that Dobrov finally had to stand up in front of the entire student body and make the announcement that they really didn’t know what was going on, that inquiries directed to Tabble headquarters had gone unanswered. Students were even more perplexed by this turn of events.
On the fourth morning the Tabble appeared as usual, but it did not look as usual. Once I finished reading it I was laughing so hard, the paranormals sitting around me were giving me strange looks.
“I don’t see how this is funny,” said Candace. “We need honest and unbiased news, and this is anything but. How can the Tabble’s staff report accurately when their lives and livelihoods are clearly being threatened?” Her mouth was set in a mulish line, but I just shrugged.
“They were printing all sorts of crap and propaganda about
the premier of all darkness. This might come as a surprise to you, but I bet she doesn’t take kindly to that. I think their last article, saying that she hurt Sip, went too far,” I said.
“The most amazing thing I find out of all of this is that Lisabelle reads the Tabble,” said Keegan, shaking his head. “I thought better of her.”
“This. Is. Awesome!” Eighellie was grinning ear-to-ear once she finished reading. “I love seeing the Tabble have their tail handed to them. Finally. They so deserve it, the dopes.”
“The Tabble is a respected news organization,” said Hannah.
“Not recently,” said Eighellie, her eyes flashing coldly. “Who respects them? You? I thought you only respected your friends’ lip gloss and blush.”
Hannah started to lurch across the table, but her two cronies grabbed her arms and held her firmly in place.
“Don’t you think that if Lisabelle Verlans wanted to send a clear message, she would use a different mechanism than the Tabble?” asked a student at the table behind me. “The Tabble hasn’t been clear since it started as a news organization.”
“It depends on who she wants to send the message to,” I said over my shoulder.
“She wanted to send a message to the Tabble, because they were being idiots,” said Keegan. “Mission accomplished.”
We all expected the Tabble to print a retraction when it appeared again on day five, but it didn’t. Instead, it wrote that the Tabble was comprised of offices filled with butterflies and pea pods and the brains of all the editors were made up of much the same. It printed an apology to someone named Ilene Palor.
We were all so concerned with the question of who Ilene Palor was that I started going through old copies of the Tabble to find an article about her.
Eighellie pushed at my shoulder to get a better look and asked, “What’s it say?”
Elemental Fate (Paranormal Public Book 12) Page 16
