Elemental Darkness (Paranormal Public Series) (13 page)

“They haven’t shut me down,” she said with pride. “And they have definitely tried.”

“Her membership has doubled over the summer,” said Lough proudly.

Just then I saw something white out of the corner of my eye. When I turned to see what it was, there was Bartholem, making his leisurely way out of the woods and looking quite pleased with himself. He came to the edge of the blanket, plunked himself down, and proceeded to wash himself. Sip quirked an eyebrow at the cat, but she didn’t say anything out loud.

“Told you he’d come back,” Lough grumbled.

The light was fading and the breeze was starting to pick up. Clearly wanting to veer away from the subject of the cat, Sip peered into the teapot and observed, “All the tea’s gone.”

“No sense in being outside anymore without tea,” I said dryly.

Sip grinned at me, and we gathered our snack and rolled it up in the blanket, which Sip started to carry toward the house. I picked up Bartholem, who was one big ball of fluff, and carried him inside, since Lough didn’t seem inclined to acknowledge his existence.

We made our way into the kitchen, and Sip set about brewing more tea.

“So, tell us about your research this summer,” said Lough, settling in at the big kitchen table.

Sip wai
ted until she had set three piping hot cups of tea in front of us, then sat down and explained what she had found.

“The demons want all the objects on the Wheel. They think that once they have them, they’ll be able to bring all the paranormals under their control,” Sip explained.

“How can objects that were made by the founders of Public and filled with their purest and most powerful magic help demons?” Lough asked. “How do you know all of this?”

“From my research,” said Sip. “I think the Nocturns just figured it out as well. They initially wanted the objects on the Wheel to take away our last hope at the Power of Five. That’s all well and
good, but now they know that the magic can be bent and used to further their own goals. I think they’d still destroy the objects if they could, but that’s not their main goal anymore.”

“Their main goal is to use our greatest weapon against us,” I said thoughtfully.

Sip nodded. “Exactly. I mean, they could already have destroyed the objects if they wanted to. Long since. But they haven’t. Why not? They still have a use for them.”

“How many objects do they need?”

“They need the Mirror Arcane, which you still have, and they need the Globe White,” said Sip.

“We have to protect the Mirror at all costs,” said Lough. “We also have to assume that the Nocturns know that Charlotte has it.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Sip chided. “It’s depressing.”

Lough shrugged. “Well, it’s not like we have a lot of good news to celebrate these days.”

“At least after this we’re all going back to Public,” I said. “We can work better from there.”

Lough shook his head. “I just can’t believe we’re going to have classes at a time like this. I barely got here alive. I actually saw a demon searching the woods.”

Sip straightened up, her eyes filled with worry.

“It’s that bad?” she asked softly.

“Of course it is,” said Lough. “The reports of paranormals dying are growing by the day. Our neighbors disappeared. Even Mrs. Swan. . . .”

Lough trailed off as he glanced at me. Mrs. Swan had been my first dorm mother. She’d left campus to visit family and never come back. There had never been any trace of her since then. I still thought of her often.

“So, what do we do about the objects?”

“Well,” said Sip, leaning forward conspiratorially. “I think we have to find the Globe White. It’s the only other one not already in possession of the demons.”

“They now control access to the Fang First,” I said, “but they don’t know that they have it.”

Sip shook her head. “I think we have to assume that they do know,” she said seriously. “From all the information we have, we have to assume that they took over Vampire Locke just to get the Fang First, which means there’s no telling what lengths they’ll go to for the Globe White and the Mirror Arcane.”

“We know one thing,” said Lough grimly. “President Caid is in danger.”

Sip nodded. “Yes, he is.”

Bartholem had curled up by the fireplace and seemed to be asleep. But now he opened one purple eye and meowed.

By the time Hyder and Helen came back I was nearly falling asleep. Sip’s brothers had stayed at the Conclave to help get ready.

“Where is this Conclave?” I asked, thinking of how small Sip’s home town was.

Sip looked at me in surprise. “You don’t know?”

“If I knew, why would I ask?” I said irritably.

Sip shrugged. “You’re right. You aren’t Lisabelle. You don’t do stuff just to be annoying.”

“Pretty sure Lisabelle calls that entertainment,” said Lough, licking his fingers clean of peanut butter, which he had slathered on three bananas as a pre-bedtime snack.

“It’s on a ship,” said Sip. “It’s waiting for us in the harbor.”

I gaped at her. “That’s safe?”

“It’s the safest place for us,” said Sip. “At least for a short period of time. Water paranormals don’t like us. Some fall under the Strange category, but we don’t talk about them and they don’t come to meetings. Demons hate water, so that’s an advantage, and the water spirits, the mermaids, and the occasional kraken can join us.”

“Mermaids aren’t real,” I scoffed. “That’s just weird.”

“What’s weird is that seventy-five percent of the mermaids are women,” said Lough. “I’m jealous of mermen.”

Sip rolled her eyes. “Well, don’t be too jealous. It also means the women run everything.”

“That’s different from now, how?” Lough asked.

Sip grinned and waggled a finger at him. “Good,” she said. “I’m glad you understand. Now, go to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow.”

The plan was that we’d arrive at the ship for the Conclave and spend the night on board, in order to hear firsthand what Caid and the other senior paranormals wanted. I was mostly expecting to sit back and watch, staying out of the way as much as possible, but at least I’d get to see Dacer. Then, after the meeting, we would all return to Paranormal Public to begin our senior year.

I was almost afraid. Lisabelle and Keller weren’t there, and it just didn’t feel worth it.

I stayed awake for a long time after Sip rolled over on her side and I could hear Lough snoring on his mat on the floor. I kept trying to picture myself at Public without Lisabelle and Keller, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. At least we would have a lot to keep us busy, and my fight with Nicole and Nick had taught me something: I needed to get better. They had expected my attacks, and I had nearly died. If we were going to go to war to get Lisabelle back, I’d have to be not only stronger but smarter. Lisabelle wasn’t there to hide behind anymore. I was a senior and an elemental. And I was ready to fight.

“Good morning,” said Helen’s voice. I wanted to stay warm and cozy, so I tried rolling over and burying my head deeper in Sip’s extra pillow. But then I realized that today was the day of the Conclave, so I forced myself to crack one eye open and look at Sip’s mother. She was smiling down at me as if she’d been up for hours and already had her tea. I groaned.

“Sip’s making breakfast,” said Helen, with a hint of a smile. “You and Lough can get dressed and come join us whenever you’re ready.”

Even from Sip’s bedroom I could smell the wonderful aroma of breakfast being cooked. Helen was barely out the door before I pushed off the covers, grabbed a black hoodie, and followed her downstairs.

Lough looked at me blearily as I left, but I knew him well enough to know that despite the fact that he wasn’t a morning person, in five minutes he’d be following me down the stairs. If everything else failed, he’d still come for the food.

Bartholem, who had slept with Sip and me instead of Lough, was nowhere to be seen.

Sip’s kitchen was warm and cozy and obviously well used, everything that Carl’s kitchen was not.

“Morning,” said Sip brightly. She was standing next to the stove in a purple apron, which really brought out her eyes. She held a spatula and was gently poking some eggs.

“So, how’s Ricky?” she asked, turning back to breakfast.

I sat down at the table, where three kinds of jam were waiting for us to try: one was red, either strawberry or raspberry, another was either blueberry or grape, and the third I very much suspected of being orange marmalade.

“He’s fine,” I said, picking up a piece of toast and buttering it before turning to the jams.

“Did you tell him anything?” Sip asked. I knew she was being careful, because so far I had always refused to say anything to Ricky about our parents, or about the fact that that Carl might not be his real father. What surprised me most was that Carl himself somehow knew that, and knew that Ricky could be in danger; he had told me as much when I had been home last winter.

“No,” I said, putting what I thought was the grape jam on my toast and taking a bite. “There was never a good time. Besides, he isn’t showing magic.”

“Well,” said Sip dryly, “it would make it easier if he burned a house down, wouldn’t it?”

Just then Lough staggered in, still looking as bleary-eyed as he had a few minutes ago. But he brightened up immediately at the sight of the toast.

Leaving the subject of Ricky aside for the moment, I filled my friends in on what had happened with Nick and Nicole.

“What do you think they were doing there?” Lough asked nervously. “I don’t like that at all.”

“I think they came for Ricky and me,” I said grimly. “Cale said the Nocturns and their allies are now determined to eliminate the Power of Five once and for all. Leaving him this time was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Well, that’s just another day of college for you,” said Sip off-handedly.

“Yeah,” I said. “Ever since Malle put that bounty on my head when we were at Vampire Locke, I’ve been looking over my shoulder.”

“You’ve been glaring over your shoulder,” said Sip, “and no one from the forces of darkness has glared back yet.”

“Nick and Nicole won’t quit,” I said. “I just wish I knew more about them.”

“We can find that out once we get to Public,” said Sip.

“We can?” I asked skeptically.

“Public keeps amazing records,” Sip explained. “They have an archive.”

“Yeah, we’ve all been in the library, Sip,” said Lough. “It’s cool, but it’s not that cool.”

Sip fixed Lough with a death stare and said, “I wasn’t talking about the library. I was talking about the archive.”

“Well excuse me, Ms. I’m Number One in Our Class,” said Lough.

Sip sniffed and spooned eggs onto plates for each of us, and we barely spoke after that, nor did Hyder and Helen join us. I had an odd feeling that Hyder was avoiding me, but I pushed it away since I had no reason to think such a thing.

After we had finished eating, Sip went up to her room and frantically started to pack for school. The ship was expected to dock near Public the next day and drop all the students off, and Sip hadn’t even begun to gather her things.

“Most of my stuff’s still at Airlee,” she explained, “but I did bring a couple of suitcases home.”

“Girls,” said Lough. “They think they need all sorts of clothes that they’re never even going to wear.”

“You never know what you might want to do or what the weather will be like,” said Sip, sniffing again. “It’s good to be prepared.”

Lough had nothing to say to that.

Once we were ready we headed out to the Quests’ second car, in which Sip intended to drive us to the port. Looking around, I marveled at the jewel-like green of the grass; it had obviously been a good summer there. Trees and hills stretched for miles into the distance, and the sun shone brightly on all of it, with barely any wind to rustle the leaves. I felt no darkness anywhere near us. Sip, for her part, was quiet.

“I don’t know why we have to go to this meeting anyway,” Lough grumbled. “We’re just going to watch the adults make a few bad choices and then go home.”

“We’re going because they want to include us,” said Sip. “And it’s about time.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re thinking of speaking at this thing,” said Lough, with worry in his tone.

“I might,” said Sip. “As a founding member of the Sign of Six I feel it’s my right.”

“What exactly is the Sign of Six doing?” Lough asked. “And where’s Nolan these days?”

“The Sign of Six is attempting to find ways to bring the paranormal defenses up to standards that will repel demons. Barring that, we are fighting. Unlike Caid, who invites Malle to his summer home to try and talk her around to not killing us, we hold no delusions that we can talk Malle or the demons into or out of anything. We can only use force.”

“For such a smart girl I’m surprised you’ve decided that war is the only option,” said Lough skeptically.

“It’s not the only option,” Sip argued. “It’s just the only option left. I think losing Lisabelle proved that.”