“Well, they think our magic is foo foo,” said Lough. “Not your sister, mind, but a lot of paranormals. Sure, we can dream stuff into realty, and on a really good day we can dream into the future, but for the most part neither of those things are desired.”
“I can’t imagine who wouldn’t want to see their future,” I said. “I sure would.”
Lough gave me a sharp look. “Really? But then what’s the point? Besides, you would probably try to change it.”
“Of course I would,” I said stoutly. “Why would I want to see it otherwise?”
Lough chuckled. “You have me there.”
“If Charlotte had told me what was going on, I could have helped sooner,” I said, thinking back to the mass hysteria. I had been really angry when she had gone off with her friends without me. She wanted me to stay safe, I knew that, but I also felt like she was blind to the fact that nowhere was safe. I wasn’t safe and neither was she. We needed more elementals to fight the war, but two would have to do.
“How’s your magic?” Lough asked.
I shrugged and looked down. Lough asked again and this time I told him. “It’s non-existent,” I whispered.
“You can only do so much,” said Lough. “Your body needs to rest. It had rather a shock, after all. I can’t believe you did what you did. The entire paranormal world is grateful.”
“I’m sure they are,” I muttered. I didn’t care about them, and I wasn’t sure I should live among them at all. For Charlotte and Lough this was clearly their home, and these were their people. But I didn’t know where I belonged. If I could only talk to Charlotte, I thought, I might be able to figure it out.
“Want something to eat?” Lough asked. I shook my head. “It might help you get your strength back,” he added. I shook my head again.
That was another thing. I’d felt a little sick to my stomach ever since the battle ended. I knew it wasn’t from loss of magic, though. It was from witnessing all the dead bodies.
“This is a journey,” said Lough when he got back from the kitchen. He had two massive plates of food with him, one of which he set down in front of me. “You might as well be well fed while you go through it.”
I laughed a little bit. “Maybe it’s better than being bored?” I said.
“Oh, no, being bored is great,” said Lough, gently strumming an air guitar as he sat back and pretended to be relaxed. “But not if your friends need your help.”
“I’m just glad it’s over now,” I said.
I dug in. The food from the Astra kitchen was ridiculously good. Martha liked to bake, and she now cooked in our kitchen so she didn’t have to talk to paranormals. Also, the attack on Public had driven her a little crazy, so we pretty much avoided the kitchen at all costs except when we needed food. Which is to say, Lough barely avoided it at all.
Lough took the plates away when we were finished, and when he came back he said, “So, do you have questions?”
“What happens now?” I said.
“All the bodies have to be buried, that is, claimed by family and taken care of,” said Lough thoughtfully. He must have seen me flinch because he said, “I didn’t want to sugar coat anything for you.”
A gentle knock sounded on the door and a young paranormal peered in.
“Mr. Lough, someone wants to see you in Airlee,” said the youth. He was barely younger than I was, with a pale face and a flop of red hair. Lough sighed and stood up. “It can’t be that important. I’m a dream giver, after all, and a second tier one at that.”
“Because everyone wants to talk to Trafton?” I asked without thinking. Lough rolled his eyes. He was not a fan of Trafton.
“I’m sure it’s just because I’m leaving,” said Lough. The stout dream giver was going with Lisabelle to the darkness holes when she left. He was at ease about it, but no one else was.
The light started to fade from the sitting room after Lough left, but I didn’t move, I just sat there in the gathering darkness. If I had been at home I would have played video games or gone for a stroll and found a few friends to play baseball with, but I didn’t want to play video games here. In fact, I didn’t want to do anything that made me feel normal. I wasn’t normal, and nothing in my world would ever be normal again.
I was just about to go upstairs to shower when the door opened again. I was about to tell Lough I was too tired to keep talking, but it wasn’t Lough who came in. At first I didn't recognize the hard paranormal who walked through the door, but it was hard to miss the insignia on his shirt or the colorful stripes on his shoulders.
“General Goffer,” I said. I knew I looked surprised. “Charlotte isn’t here.”
General Goffer smiled and for the first time I understood what someone meant when they said that a smile didn’t reach a person’s eyes.
“Charlotte?” Goffer looked surprised for a moment but recovered quickly. “Sure, no, sure she isn’t. She’s been keeping very busy, hasn’t she?”
“Organizations have been keeping her busy,” I said. “It’s not all her doing.”
Goffer chuckled as he sat down and beamed at me. “Of course.” He sighed and looked around the sitting room. “I always thought the elementals were the coolest paranormals,” he said. “I mean, look at everything you can do. Look at everything you have.”
“Darkness must have thought we were pretty cool too,” I said, “so cool they destroyed us all.”
General Goffer didn’t lose the slightly amused expression he was wearing. “Of course all of that loss of life was tragic. Nothing else for it than to keep moving forward, though.”
I nodded and waited. He wanted something. The head of the paranormal police didn’t come to chat with teenagers right after the end of an epic war in which the president of the paranormals, who also happened to be his cousin, was killed. I braced myself. I would not tell him anything about Charlotte or her friends. He would probably start fishing any minute and I just wasn’t going to do it.
“Well, I’m glad Charlotte’s happy,” said Goffer as if he didn’t really care at all.
I didn’t think I had said anything that suggested that Charlotte was happy. Come to think of it, I had no idea if Charlotte was happy or not. As Lough had pointed out, the only thing that mattered was whether your friends needed you. If they did, personal feelings were set aside.
Goffer fixed me with dark eyes. He kept the friendly demeanor going, but what he said next took me off guard. “How do you like it here?”
I raised my eyebrows. “I like it fine,” I said. I looked around. Astra Dorm was as grand a house as I had ever been in, and I hadn’t really wrapped my mind around the fact that it was all Charlotte’s, and now mine.
Well, and kind of Keller’s, but I had already explained to Charlotte’s boyfriend shadow that I wasn’t looking to add another sibling into the mix, if he got my meaning. I took a deep breath. “It’s great here.”
Goffer nodded. “You like it so well you’d like to stay?”
“I don’t know,” I said, so caught off guard that a spike of fear shot through me. What was he getting at?
“Not all paranormals are so lucky as to get to live at Public,” said Goffer. “The rejects end up with the paranormal police.” He smiled wryly now. I did realize that I was probably supposed to say something reassuring, but I didn’t bother. He was making a joke and looking for sympathy. It wasn’t funny and I didn’t have the energy to pretend to care.
“I wouldn’t call myself lucky, necessarily,” I said, “given that my parents were murdered and I didn’t know who my dad was for years. I’m not even sure I know when I was actually born.” My mother had told confusing stories about that from what I could remember (which wasn’t much), and it wasn’t as if Carl had done anything to clear up the confusion.
General Goffer did not seem interested in offering me pity.
“There are a lot of decisions to be made, that’s for sure,” he mused.
I didn’t know where that had come from either. It
was as if he wasn’t really talking to me, but having a conversation by himself.
“Like what?” I asked.
“Oh, my boy,” said Goffer, “there’s no reason for you to worry yourself with it. Leave that to the adults. Just be sure to decide what you want for yourself. Don’t let anyone tell you what you are to be and do.”
“I thought my path was pretty well decided,” I said. “We need elementals. It’s not as if there are others who can take my place.”
General Goffer leaned forward. “You’re right,” he said, his voice low and throaty as if he was sharing a deep secret with an old friend, not a teenager he had never spoken to before. “You are not replaceable. I hope you realize just how important you truly are.”
“I’m not that important,” I said. “I know Charlotte is, but I’m . . .”
Goffer shook his head. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. Don’t compare yourself to Charlotte. Sure, she’s great, and she’s been here longer, but you’re just as important. Over time, you might see that you’re more so.”
He looked at me for a split second and I couldn’t read his expression, then he shoved himself out of the chair with a quick force. Our conversation was over just as quickly as it had begun. He moved to the door, then paused with his hand on the knob to look back at me. “Part of being a man is to know when you should speak of conversations you’ve had and when you should keep quiet. I rather think you’re more of a man than I thought you were.”
If I wasn’t very much mistaken, he was telling me to keep the conversation we had just had to myself. I didn’t think that would be hard; as far as I could tell, nothing much had taken place that was worth telling. He had told me that a lot of decisions had to be made, duh, and that I was important, duh again.
~~~
A deep tiredness settled over me. The emotions of the past few hours had drained me so much I could barely lift my arms. An unbearable feeling of regret will do that to you.
I don’t know when I slept, but when I awoke it was late in the day.
The deer was gone. The setting sun was hidden by clouds, so there was hardly any light at all. Tentatively I sent my magic out, trying to sense other paranormals if there were any around. Then I remembered that I hadn’t felt the ones who’d been looking for me in the city, and I forced myself to face the fact that that was a problem. A big one. In the past I had been able to sense them coming in time to clear out. This time I had felt nothing concrete, just a vague unease that I hadn’t been able to read.
Looking straight up, I saw green leaves that would soon start to turn brown.
I had stopped Greta from being beaten up, only to get her killed.
Pain racked my body, exhaustion overtook me, and I finally let the sobs come. I curled up on my side and cried and cried. Greta wasn’t the first friend of mine to die; I’d seen many people die by this time, friends, enemies, family.
But there was something about not protecting her that I couldn’t let go of. If it hadn’t been for me she would never have been there, and for what?
Some stupid sandwich.
I tried to take deep breaths, to get myself in hand, but it was no use. I tried to tell myself it wasn’t my fault, that I hadn’t killed her, the pixie had, but that didn’t help either.
I was so busy being upset that I didn’t hear the Bounty Hunters until they had crept up from behind and were on me. With a sudden cry, the nearest hunter sprang forward. I vaguely registered that some were wet and concluded in passing that they had probably tried to attack me from the river, but the river knew me now, unlike the land, and had probably slapped them down. Beyond that I had no time for theorizing.
The nearest hunter, maybe part werewolf, gave me a feral smile. He was missing a few teeth and he looked delighted to have found me.
“What have we here?” he cried gleefully. “A paranormal sleeping alone?”
I thought about running away, but there were so many of them that I’d have to hurt a few, and I didn’t want that. I was a prisoner.
Chapter Six
Judging by the looks on their faces, they didn’t know who I was. If they had known my true identity they would have been acting a lot happier than they were; they were clearly in for a shock when they found out. That they would find out felt inevitable, because I was too tired and beaten down to fight my way out of the trap this time. Besides, the amount of magic it would take would probably draw everyone’s attention, and then it wouldn’t matter anyway.
I sighed. There were eight of them that I could see and at least another four that I could sense.
“You don’t want to do this,” I sighed. “I promise you that you don’t want to do this.”
He gave me a toothy grin.
“Oh, but I believe that we do.”
I shook my head. Another werewolf, this one a girl who looked a lot like the first one, stormed forward.
“We have to eat too,” she said, swinging a dull and battered-looking sword at me. I gave her a bemused expression. I knew some of the best sword fighters in the paranormal world. This girl didn’t even know how to hold the thing properly.
“Fight us and die,” she hissed.
“I doubt it,” I told her. I almost felt guilty.
“What are you doing in our territory?” the guy asked.
“I got lost,” I told him. “Didn’t mean to be here.”
“How’d you come where we didn’t see you?” the girl asked. The first werewolf glared at her. Obviously he hadn’t wanted her to admit that I had snuck up on them. Well, that made two of us.
“River,” I said.
“How’d the river not swallow you whole?” asked the guy, forgetting that he didn’t want me to know he was incompetent.
“Got lucky,” I said.
The girl gave a smile and stepped forward with her sword.
“No you didn’t,” she grinned.
I sighed. This was already the longest day of my life, and it wasn’t close to over.
The others were just as happy as the clan to have finally caught a paranormal. In their excitement they hadn’t noticed me slip my ring off and put it in the secret pocket in my jacket. Just as well. They probably wouldn’t have known what it meant anyway.
We didn’t travel very far; they lived in caves overlooking the river. I cursed my own stupidity, since it was likely that they had seen me coming and had watched me all day. I had been careless and stupid. .
“What do you have in your satchel?” the girl asked, reaching out with a greedy little hand. I swung the satchel away from her, the faint clink of glass giving her a clue as to its contents. Her eyes brightened.
“You don’t want to know,” I said.
The guy swung his hand at my head, and shouted, “You heard my sister!”
I ducked, narrowly missing the blow. I had been taught to fight by another adopted relative, this one an uncle, and he was rather good at it. The guy’s eyes bulged.
I felt hands wrap around my arms from behind, pinning me in place.
“She said hand it over,” the guy said, then slapped me for good measure. I licked my lower lip, but really, the blow hadn’t even hurt. The guy’s eyes turned to angry chips as the girl waited and pouted.
“Look, you don’t want to handle it,” I said. I didn’t go so far as to tell him that it was magicked for me, but I tried to spell it out without actually, you know, spelling it out. Of course, that didn’t work well with these knuckleheads.
I had to go carefully regardless, because I was still reeling from Greta’s death and I wasn’t in the mood to have any others on my conscience tonight.
“I promise you, I swear on the paranormal gods and the black holes that if you open that satchel, if anyone but me opens it, you will die.
The girl, her barely suppressed excitement showing through her eyes, had already removed the bag from my shoulder. She had it halfway open when my words stopped her.
“Those swears aren’t worth anything,” the boy spat.
> “Spark, they’re worth something,” said the girl.
“No they aren’t, Sparell,” Spark glared.
The girl glanced at me. “Swear to it on something that means something. Swear to it on Lisabelle Verlans’s name.” Her eyes lighted up at her own words and she looked around. Some of the others shivered. My eyebrows raised involuntarily.
“I swear on Lisabelle Verlans’s name,” I said. Privately, I thought, “How fitting.”
The girl closed the pouch as Spark nodded approval. “Very well,” he said.
“Shall we continue?” He motioned for me to take the satchel back, which I did, replacing it on my shoulder with relief.
We trudged away from my refuge in the trees as night closed in. The mood had changed. I had gone from some hapless paranormal to something strange and dangerous. The average paranormal did not carry a murderous exploding satchel around wherever he went; I was a first among these paranormals.
“Some paranormals don’t really believe she exists,” I said. “What if you’re having me swear on a ghost?”
“I don’t like this kid,” said Sparell. “Can we just toss him back in the river?”
“No, we can’t,” said Spark quickly. “We’re going to take him to the Black Market and he’s going to fetch a pretty penny for us, or I’m not a hunter.”
“You don’t know the first thing about being a real hunter,” declared one of the women behind me, who until that moment had kept her silence. She was older, with salt and pepper hair. She had that hard, lean look of someone who had been hungry for years.
“Shut up,” Spark hissed.
“Don’t talk to your mother that way,” another of the hunters said. “She’s been around a lot longer than you.”
“And look what she’s got us. We have a paranormal now. We’re going to be rich.” Spark’s voice drifted off as if he was dreaming.
“Hey, did we check his ring?” Sparell asked. They had not, as a matter of fact, just threatened me, they had also bound my hands. To their credit, the ties were strong. It wouldn’t be easy to break free, and the fact that I had removed my ring would make it more difficult, since the basis of my power was gone. I hadn’t planned on trying to escape just yet, not until I heard of the Black Market. There was no way I was going there.
Elemental Omen (Paranormal Public Book 10) Page 4
