“You too,” I said, clutching Bartholem as my voice broke.
“Oh, no, my dear,” said Dacer soothingly. “I don’t look that bad. It’s just the lighting.”
I croaked out a laugh as Sip and Lisabelle smiled.
“You look splendid,” I said, trying to smile.
“It’s this new night cream I’ve been trying,” said Dacer happily, patting his cheek. “It works wonders for the vampire complexion.”
“Since you don’t have to worry about sun damage, I imagine it does,” I said dryly.
“How progressive of you,” said Dacer approvingly. Over Bartholem’s head, Lisabelle coughed.
“Alright,” he said, sitting back a little so that I caught a glimpse of a collared shirt that matched his nightcap, “tell me what’s been happening. Oliva’s been getting reports that everything is fine, but he doesn’t believe Zervos is writing them.”
“Why not?” Sip asked.
“Ah, Ms. Quest,” said Dacer, a smile appearing on his tired face, “good to know you’re doing alright.”
Sip came to sit next to me and peered at Bartholem’s neck. “We must look ridiculous,” she muttered. Then she said out loud, “Nice to see you, Professor Dacer.”
“Nice to see you as well, Ms. Quest. Your parents have been asking after you and it is a relief to know that I can now inform them that I’ve seen you with my own eyes and you appear to be in good health.”
“Oh yes,” said Sip. “The biggest threat to my heath is demons, but that’s nothing new. Well, that, and Lisabelle’s driving me crazy.”
“Also nothing new,” said Dacer jovially.
“So, why don’t you think the messages are from Zervos?”
Dacer sat back and steepled his fingers. “There is a code he is expected to use when sending us messages. The information is encrypted. He is using the code, but the words he is choosing are not words we have ever heard Zervos use before.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s using kind words. Simple language. None of it is like Zervos. Is he alright?” Dacer asked, although I couldn’t really say that he sounded like he cared.
“Zervos is fine,” I said. “He’s still running the show and keeping track of us. I thought he was in regular contact with you.”
“Someone is,” said Dacer grimly, “but as I say, we do not believe it is Zervos.”
“Marcus died today,” said Lisabelle softly, sitting on my other side. Now you could see my face and half each of Sip and Lisabelle’s.
Dacer’s face went ashen underneath his makeup.
“When?” he asked gruffly. “How?”
Now that we sat in the cold silence of our dormitory, the only sound the echo of our collective pain, I realized that I had no idea whether Dacer had known Marcus.
“Today,” said Sip softly, casting her purple eyes down to her lap.
Dacer sat back in his chair and pulled his purple jacket more firmly around his body. His long thin hands shook slightly as he said, “This is worse than I thought. I thought Golden Falls would protect Public students better than that. It is a place known for its safety and its kindness.”
After that I told Dacer about what we had found in the medical wing. His nostrils flared and his breath quickened.
I didn’t think it was possible for his face to go any whiter, but I was wrong. When I was finished he gave us an order: under no circumstances were we supposed to attempt any such thing ever again. We agreed reluctantly.
“I just can’t believe Golden Falls has anything like that,” he said over and over.
Lisabelle started to say more, but Dacer interrupted her. “Ms. Verlans, I really must insist,” said Dacer. Holding up a hand before she could continue, he said, “I’m sorry, but I know you well and I expect you not to endanger the last elemental. It’s just foolish on all fronts.”
“But what now?” Lisabelle asked. “We don’t want to leave until we get to the bottom of the murders.”
“I think it’s Faci,” Sip chimed in.
“You just want it to be Faci,” said Lisabelle with exasperation.
“Don’t we all think it’s Faci?” I asked.
“You just want it to be Daisy,” Sip said accusingly to Lisabelle.
I rolled my eyes at Dacer and the tiniest bit of sparkle returned to his eyes.
“What do we do?” I asked my mentor. “We don’t know what to do anymore, so much has gone wrong.”
“There’s only one thing I can think to do,” he said slowly, pulling slightly on his ear as he thought. “This probably isn’t necessary, but I don’t want to take any chances.”
“Come here, storm the gates, so to speak, and take us home?” Sip asked hopefully.
Dacer shook his head. “That would probably create more problems than it solved. But you do need help. Professor Zervos needs help, and lots of it.”
“I hate to break it to you, Professor Dacer, but Zervos might not be on our side anymore,” I said softly.
Dacer’s eyes flashed and he sat forward with renewed life. “Professor Zervos is loyal beyond question. I would trust him with my life, and I have even entrusted him with yours.”
I bit my lip to keep from replying. He hadn’t been here. He hadn’t seen what Zervos had done and not done, I thought rebelliously. I knew my friends were having similar thoughts, but it would clearly do no good to voice them to Dacer.
Dacer sat back again, satisfied with our reactions.
“I’m going to send someone,” he said. “Right away. Just in case. But I don’t want any of you to worry.”
“Who?” the three of us chorused. I had images of large men, like Risper, strong men dressed all in black, maybe with some armor. Who knows, a sword could even be thrown in there for good measure.
Dacer smiled brightly. “I’m going to send my mother.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
After a couple of years of knowing pretty much nothing about Dacer’s personal life except that he had been educated in French schools and was still somehow friends with President Caid, we were dumbfounded at the idea that we were going to meet his mother.
“How’s she going to get in?” I asked, barely able to form a coherent question. “They keep the gates locked. It’s a miracle Bartholem got through.”
“Bartholem is a cat of many talents,” said Dacer calmly. “No one tells my mother no.”
“So, she’s going to come through the front gate?” Sip was clearly impressed. She jumped off the bed and started cleaning her already impeccably clean bed. “I guess it could work if Golden Falls feels the need to be hospitable.
“Are there any readings I can do to prepare for her arrival?” Sip asked. “Studies I should be looking into for her?”
“We won’t have time,” said Lisabelle. “Tomorrow we have a field trip,” she explained to Dacer.
“That might be a good thing,” said the vampire, nodding. “Get out of Golden Falls for a while.”
There was a sweep of hair and Bartholem started to meow.
“One last thing,” said Dacer. “Do not tell any Golden Falls student we have spoken, or about Bartholem. Any of them.”
“The students seem nice enough,” Sip commented. “Nolan, Jewel, Pearl. . . .”
Dacer shook his head. “I’m sure they are, but it doesn’t matter. You must keep yourselves safe, even if that means not confiding in friends.”
We all nodded.
“I must go,” said Dacer, looking over his shoulder at something on his wall, which I assumed was a clock. “Take care. I shall see you again.”
My friends waved and he gave me an extra nod before he disappeared out of the strange-looking jewel around Bartholem’s neck.
“See?” Sip yawned. “Everything will be fine. Even Dacer isn’t very worried.”
I could only imagine what his mother was like. With that comforting thought I laid my head down on the pillow.
None of us slept well. We were all still thinking of Marcus, and of his
death. It was inconceivable that anyone would have wanted him killed. Who had stabbed him? We brooded about that question all through the night.
Sip had found several textbooks on the one bookshelf in the living room, and she was poring over them when I awoke from a troubled dream in the dawn hours. Lisabelle was in another corner, practicing spells. I could feel her power breaking throughout the room even as she pulled it back.
“Lisabelle,” I said, “can I move the earth?”
Sip looked up. “Of course you can. You can control lightning. That’s pretty impressive. ‘Don’t make Charlotte angry or she’ll zap you’ is going to be my motto from now on.”
“Thanks, Sip,” I said dryly.
“Any time,” she said, with an impressive amount of cheer.
There was a knock on the door, and for a split second I hoped it was Keller, but at this point I wasn’t sure Keller was ever going to speak to me again.
Lough stuck his head in.
“Morning,” he said. “Sorry for barging in like this. I just couldn’t be in the same room as Zervos any longer.”
“We have a lot to tell you,” I said. Dacer might not want us to confide in some of our friends, but Lough was one of us.
“Good,” he said, rubbing his hands together. His cheeks were brighter than usual from the cold morning. “Anything to distract us from this field trip.”
He came into the suite and sat down on the floor with his back to the bookcase.
Before Sip, Lisabelle or I could explain anything, Bartholem, who had been happily curled up in the bowels of the sofa nearest the hearth, stood up and stretched, then jumped off the couch and headed for Lough, purring loudly.
“GAHHRRH,” Lough cried out, falling over on his side in the direction away from the cat. “What’s HE doing here?” he said, pointing angrily at Bartholem, who had stopped to wash a paw.
“Chillin’,” said Sip casually as Lisabelle covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
I just grinned. “He missed you, Lough,” I teased.
“Man, we’re in real trouble if we’re relying on that thing to get us out of danger,” said Lough, shaking his head forlornly.
“Bartholem’s here to help,” I said, while the white animal rubbed his head against Lough’s knee. “We talked to Dacer and he told us not to worry.”
“He knows you don’t like him and he just enjoys torturing you,” Sip observed, running her fingers through her hair.
“Sounds like a couple of other people I know,” said Lough accusingly. “I’ll have you know that I came here to improve my day,” Lough muttered helplessly. But despite himself, he started to pet the cat with just his right index finger.
“So, tell me what news Bartholem brought,” he said.
We did. We explained Dacer and what he had said and his insistence that we keep quiet about having talked to him.
“So, Dacer’s mother is coming to fight darkness? Isn’t she probably like eighty? Is that really a good idea?” Lough asked. “We have all these Golden Falls professors and students who are probably younger and much more capable.”
“Don’t let her hear you talking that way,” Lisabelle warned.
Lough merely shrugged.
Bartholem hissed and turned around, sticking his tail up at the dream giver.
“Bartholem doesn’t approve,” said Lisabelle, pointing to her cat.
“You don’t say,” said Lough. “I’m just trying to be realistic. We can’t pin on an eighty-year-old all our hopes of living out the semester without the marauder who’s running around Golden Falls killing us off.”
“If Dacer says we can trust her, then I think we can trust her,” I said. “We don’t really have a choice.”
“Marcus is dead,” said Lough. “Keller’s upset. He wants his aunt to come. I think he’s insisted on contacting his parents.”
“Is Sectar going to let him?” I asked. Keller’s parents had avoided seeing him when I was also there, a silent indictment of our relationship.
Lough nodded. “Of course. Golden Falls doesn’t want it to get out that their university isn’t safe, and no one says no to an Erikson.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Soon it was time to leave on our “field trip.” I was nervous, but I forced myself to grab a jacket and leave the toasty warmth of the suite.
Before we left, Sip had us read her latest missive in the Tabble.
It started, “We must bring the paranormals together to fight darkness, not tear them apart. Pixies, fallen angles, mages, faeries, vampires, tempests, and all the rest. We must rally around a single cause, and I know exactly what that is. You have all perhaps heard of the objects on the Wheel: each paranormal type has an ancient object that embodies that type’s most closely held powers. If these objects could be brought together, the Power of Five could be enacted without elementals.”
Her article went on for several more paragraphs, detailing how we could best utilize the objects on the Wheel to defeat darkness, if only we could gather them all together.
“My mom says you’re becoming quite the writer,” said Lough proudly. Sip clutched her Tabble and beamed.
A few minutes later we stepped out into the bright courtyard. Bartholem had decided to stay behind and cuddle up in Lisabelle’s blankets, but we had made him promise to move if the faeries came in to clean. We didn’t think we’d ever get him back, or escape with our lives, if he was caught.
As usual, the front courtyard was spotless and washed in gold. The sky was a hazy pinkish gray, with dots of darker gray clouds. Lisabelle craned her neck upward.
“It’s going to rain,” said Lisabelle, glancing up.
“Good,” said Sip. “Maybe it will wash away Marcus’s blood.” We all stayed very far away from that end of the yard.
Standing there waiting for us were Daisy and Faci. Near them was a group of Golden Falls students that included Jewel and Devlin. Professor Ferwick was leading us.
“Where are we going, anyway?” Sip asked. Daisy, of course, hadn’t told us.
Just then some carriages like the ones that had come to pick us up at Public came around from the side of Golden Falls, where it seemed probable that they were stabled when not in use.
“Oh, no,” Sip groaned as she caught the side of demons pulling them. “Not this again. Someone should tell Sectar that it really doesn’t improve my opinion of Golden Falls,” the werewolf muttered.
“I’m sure he’d be devastated to hear it,” Lisabelle drawled.
Trafton and Rake joined us just as the carriages arrived. There was something different about Rake now. His jaw was set in a hard line and his eyes searched the courtyard endlessly.
I guess carrying your dead friend changes you. I hoped I would never have to find out, but sometimes my mind did return to the dream I had had of Lisabelle killing our friends. Every time, I reminded myself sternly that it was just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream.
“Zervos isn’t here,” Trafton said. “He and Keller are staying behind today. They have to Contact Marcus’s family.”
“I thought we weren’t allowed to Contact,” I said carefully, knowing full well that what we had done last night would get us in massive trouble if anyone found out.
No one answered my comment.
“Why are you coming with us?” I demanded of Faci. The vampire smiled.
Faci smiled. “I told my father about the field trip and he thought my presence would be educational.”
“I feel more educated,” said Lisabelle. “I feel educated in disloyalty and lies. It’s quite the learning experience.”
Faci’s face contorted. “Don’t talk to me, traitor,” he spat out.
“Excuse me?” said Lisabelle.
“It’s funny,” Lough whispered to me. “Lisabelle doesn’t want to talk to him. The only way he could get her to would be by telling her not to.”
“You heard me,” said Faci. “The other darkness mages have come over to the right side, but there you stay, fir
mly on the side of the paranormals.”
He stepped forward, his misshapen face lit by fury. “You will come into line with darkness. After all, darkness calls to darkness. In the end, you will not be able to resist.”
Lisabelle was examining her knuckles in what most paranormals would have taken as a threatening gesture.
“I would hit you,” she said, “but your face already couldn’t get any worse.” She clasped her hands in front of her, but I was sure that was more to hide her tattoo than to keep her hands in check. By now, many of the paranormals around us had figured out that Lisabelle could use her powers without a wand, and that there was a very large mark on her arm, but she still didn’t want any of them to get a good look at it.
Daisy stalked up to stand next to Faci. “See,” she hissed. “We’re just standing here trying to mind our own business and you start a fight. We are blamed for your poor behavior far too often.”
“Is everyone ready?” Professor Ferwick called out nervously. We were only taking three carriages, and he was standing next to the one in front.
Daisy and Lisabelle were engaged in a glaring contest, but miraculously Faci wasn’t having it. He grabbed Daisy’s arm and pulled her away. “Later,” he muttered. “She’ll get what’s coming to her.”
“I’m just worried that I won’t be the one to give it to her,” said Daisy bitterly.
Lisabelle stepped back into line with me and Lough. Sip was standing a little to the side, examining one of the carriages.
“I don’t like this,” said the werewolf nervously. “Ever since the trip from Public, and Dove -”
“Want me to dream you somewhere else?” Lough offered. “I mean, I can try.”
Sip smiled sadly. “That’s very nice of you,” she murmured, running her hand slowly over the black wood, “but I need to do this on my own.”
I glanced back at Golden Falls once, thinking of Keller. I had hoped he would be there today, and my heart ached at not being able to talk to him. Now his family was probably coming, and he hadn’t even told me. I didn’t know what to do, but I did know there was someone I needed to talk to. I just had to figure out how.
Elemental Earth (Paranormal Public) Page 15
