Elemental Light (Paranormal Public Book 9) (3 page)

“I want to fight,” said Ricky, coming into the room looking a little ridiculous in the shirt he was wearing. It was obviously one of Lough’s, and way too big for him.

“You’re too young,” I said. I sounded harsh, even to my own ears, but the thought of Ricky going up against the Nocturns terrified me like nothing else did.

Ricky’s gray eyes, a mirror of my own, clouded with anger.

“You can’t keep me out of this,” he said, throwing his hands up in the air. “You’ve done that for long enough! My whole world is gone!” His lower lip trembled and so did my heart. His dad, or rather the man he thought was his father, had just been murdered. Our mom had died years ago, and now Ricky was finding out that, at a most basic level, magic was real, and at another level that supernatural powers were scary.

“We are in a battle for good and evil, and you want me to sit on the sidelines,” he nearly yelled.

I looked away. “You’re a child,” I said. “You’re too young and you haven’t been trained.”

“So train me,” he begged. “Tell me what to do and I’ll do it, but just let me do something”

“Ricky,” I said in frustration, “I don’t even know what to do myself. It’s not like there’s a plan. I was supposed to graduate from college this spring! Instead, I have thousands of magical creatures trying to kill me!”

I was not going to let Ricky risk himself, totally untrained as he was.

Sip and I exchanged looks. All we had done since we arrived at Dunne Ai Dorn was discuss our next move. Now we were waiting for Lanca to ask us for a favor, and Ricky felt left out.

“You can’t do this to me,” he said, his voice high-pitched. “You aren’t my mother. Carl didn’t die to save me so that I could sit here and do nothing.”

“Carl didn’t die so that you could go get yourself killed,” I shot back. “How could you put your life at risk after his sacrifice?”

I knew it was the wrong thing to say. The hurt and angry tears that appeared in my brother’s eyes confirmed that quite clearly, as did his silent departure from the room.

Almost as soon as Ricky had gone, there was a soft tap on the door and Lanca and Vital came in. Lanca rolled her eyes, a gesture that seemed to have become a habit since we had last seen her. “Sorry for keeping you up,” she said. “I know you must be exhausted. But we’ve been
isolated from each other that it feels like we should review everything we can, together, while we have the chance.”

She sat down in my plain chair, looking exhausted. It didn’t seem fit for a queen, but Lanca didn’t like a fuss.

Vital stood at her side, always protecting.

We chatted a bit, but soon it was clear that we had to get down to the business of darkness, and I finally started us off.

“Let’s review,” I said. “The cat Bartholem is with Duchess Leonie at Public. Bartholem is probably the only paranormal at Public the demons can’t kill. Paranormal animals are notoriously difficult in all respects, and death not the least. Duchess Leonie is also notoriously difficult, so the two are well-suited.”

My friends grinned at that, having met Dacer’s formidable mother. It wasn’t hard to believe that darkness didn’t want to go up against her. Despite our fondness, though, I was sure Bartholem missed Lisabelle. When you’re a creature that likes love but not attention, having an owner who gives the first only grudgingly and the second surreptitiously is all the better.

Once the laughter died down I continued.

“Since winter break had started when the attack came, we can be sure that most of the students were no longer on campus.” I swallowed, wondering where Dobrov was. “The Key of Light was hidden on campus under Cynthia Malle’s old offices. I need it to open a box of my mother’s, which I’m pretty sure contains half the crown of the Elementals.”

“Wait,” Lanca held up her hand. “Come again?”

One of the things I hadn’t filled Lanca and Vital in on was my success in discovering more about my family history. Now if someone could only tell me how my father had died, my information would be tolerably complete. In the meantime, I took this opportunity to fill in the blanks for Lanca and Vital.

I told them the story, trying to gloss over the bit where I was technically an elemental princess and my mother had the elemental crown hidden in our basement. They listened in stunned silence.

At the end Lanca nodded. “It doesn’t surprise me,” she said, seeing my questioning look.

“I already have the other half of the crown,” I continued. “It was hidden in the basement of Carl’s house. Dobrov took the Key of Light away safely, I’m pretty sure, but I have no idea where he had put it after that. I’m reasonably sure he didn’t give it to Malle or the Nocturns, but beyond that I have no idea.

“Public was overrun by demons right after Cynthia Malle was assured that Oliva and President Caid didn’t have the Key. Apparently that’s the adult way of pretending to do something while actually doing nothing. Now Public and Vampire Locke, the two strongholds of paranormals, are in the hands of the Nocturns. We are without safety, and the land is boiling dark.”

One bright spot for me, of course, was that Ricky was with me now, a small ray of hope in an otherwise grim outlook. He had nearly been killed by demons, but Lisabelle had saved him, and then us, but I didn’t say that to Lanca and Vital. Lisabelle had since gone back to the Darkness Premier, who I personally thought was Ms. Vale, Daisy and Dobrov’s mother. But I hadn’t said that out loud to anyone. I had also been surprised all along that Cynthia Malle would let
anyone
boss her around, especially someone like Ms. Vale, who always needed others to do her dirty work.

“In conclusion,” said Sip, “currently there’s a lot to keep track of.”

We all nodded in agreement. There were so many moving parts to the situation now that I wasn’t sure where to go next.

The biggest trouble was that none of us could think who Cynthia Malle would allow to give her orders. Each theory we came up as the hours passed felt more fantastical than the one that preceded it, until my head was spinning.

“I’m not even sure knowing will help us,” I said to a roomful of my friends and allies.

I did wonder whether I was so obsessed with this question not so much because it would help us if we knew who the Darkness Premier was, but more because I just didn’t like secrets. For a second I had wondered if it could be Mrs. Swan, but surely it wasn’t. I felt reasonably sure that Mrs. Swan had been murdered long ago. Otherwise, why would she have left Astra?

“I still think it’s Zervos,” said Sip. “Evil git.”

“Don’t you mean Evil Vampire Git?” Vital grinned.

Sip shrugged. “He’s nasty, and I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s a vampire.”

“Dacer is sure it isn’t Zervos,” said Lanca, “and I don’t think it is either. I think it’s someone more powerful, with more to lose if darkness doesn’t overrun us.”

“It’s Zervos,” said Sip. “I’d bet my favorite teapot.”

“That means she’s serious,” said Lough.

“Who do you think it is?” I asked the dream giver.

“I think it’s someone we don’t know yet,” said Lough. “There are many powerful vampires and even a few darkness mages I’ve never met. For a while I thought it was President Caid, but he seems more like a pawn in an ugly game than a real killer. Besides, there’s his friendship with Dacer to think of. I can’t believe any of Dacer’s friends are capable of ruling darkness.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Lanca. “We’ll know soon enough no matter what. Once we do, we’ll wonder why we cared. Let’s not give the Premier more of our attention than he or she already has.”

We all agreed to that, but we still weren’t finished.

“The next bit of review we have to do,” I said, “is about the paranormal objects.” I paused, but since no one else seemed ready to open this part of the discussion, I continued. “As it happens, I have either possession or knowledge of most of the important magical objects in the paranormal world.” I started to tick them off my fingers. “Lisabelle wears the Black Ring. It is the first ring of darkness and it binds her to the Nocturns. I have Alixar, an elemental mask that allows me to fly. Unlike all the other objects, I have it with me. If I had known I wouldn’t be returning to Astra I would certainly have packed differently.”

“You and me both,” Sip muttered.

“Next, I gave Dobrov Validification the Key of Light, which at the time seemed like a good idea, but because I haven’t seen him since then, it has turned into the worst idea since Sip and Lisabelle became roommates. But at least I can’t take credit for that one.”

Now it was Lanca’s turn to smile.

I continued, trying to remember everything. “Lisabelle gave Ricky a note, which he in turn gave to me, saying that Risper had failed to retrieve the Globe White from the Eriksons, and that it’s now in the hands of darkness. We had suspected as much, since we hadn’t heard of Elam in months.” I no longer felt bad about blowing Risper’s cover as the great thief. We were a long way past that.

“There’s been no word on what happened to Risper, but I have a bad feeling that if Lisabelle was mentioning the subject, then the news isn’t good.”

Lanca nodded agreement, and Vital went further. “I’m amazed by the amount of knowledge you’re in possession of,” he said, with a smile of appreciation. “You rival darkness.”

“How I got to be so lucky is anyone’s guess. Sip would call it a brand of stubbornness that I’d be better off without,” I said. I gave Sip a wink, and she just shook her head.

“How do you know all of this about Risper?” Vital asked, not to be deflected.

“Risper was a bounty hunter, and
he’d been assigned to find the Objects on the Wheel. He was also the famous thief known as Elam, but only a select few, including my friends and me, knew his secret.”

“Now we all know the secret,” Lanca mused. “I can’t imagine it matters anymore.”

“Risper is Elam, wow,” said Vital. “Elam’s like a magician who can appear and disappear, and no one ever knew how he did it. Several times they thought they’d caught Elam and started preparations to prosecute, only to have him disappear right out of their hands without a trace.”

“Risper must be very good at what he does,” I said. “Hopefully it will serve him well.”

“He is,” said Lanca. “I remember once, he came to Public during my freshman year and told a story about his youth. His story was that he grew up in the mountains and ran wild with his friends. To entertain themselves they played games that involved hiding in trees and among the rock formations. They set stuff on fire and stole stuff from council members they didn’t like. Risper never got caught, he never lost. He thought it was the best way in the world to grow up.”

“At least it set him up for a successful life of crime,” said Sip.

“Tell me about his chase of the Globe White,” said Lanca, with a brief smile at Sip.

“At the start of last semester, Risper had disappeared to go chasing after the Globe White,” I said. “In the end the Globe turned out to be in the possession of the Eriksons, Keller’s parents, and my understanding is that they have since handed it over to darkness.”

Lanca shook her head at the folly of supposedly smart paranormals.

“It doesn’t surprise me, since Keller works for Cynthia Malle, who was his godmother,” I said.

Lanca scrunched up her nose. “How did a nice guy like Keller get such idiotic parents?”

“I don’t know,” I said, “but if you ever figure it out please let me know.”

“Certainly,” said Lanca, making a somber face.

“Whenever I thought about that I found myself shaking my head in disbelief. How could such smart people be so foolish and so cruel?”

None of this was to speak of Keller. I couldn’t, and my throat closed every time I tried. Keller was in the wind. Sometimes when I turned my face to the breeze and thought of him, I smiled. Most of the time I felt like crying.

I hated his parents more than words could express, and for the first time since I had discovered who I really was, I hated my situation. Keller had made it all seem like a wonderful adventure. He had believed in me, taking the place of the elemental community I would never have.

And then he was gone.

Everything would have been so much simpler for anyone who wasn’t the last stupid elemental. I’d been raging about it to Sip and Lough for days, and they had given up trying to calm me down. At first Sip had said kind words about how change was difficult, and how, although some adults, like Professor Luc Dacer, supported me unconditionally and thought I should be held up high as a treasure, there were many others who feared the change and danger I represented.

Blah blah blah.

I had responded by insisting that they should all just make up their minds, and that not getting along with each other just because they were different paranormal types, and for no other reason, was the stupidest thing in the world. Lough said he thought that the vast majority of the paranormals agreed with that sentiment, but that a crowd mentality had set in, where pixies disliked vampires and all paranormals looked down on Airlee, and that it was hard to reverse that process once it had gained some momentum.

The bottom line for me was that I missed Keller and I was worried about Ricky. It was all well and good for me to walk into the middle of a fight between good and evil and take a stand, but I was now all my little brother had left in the world, and I was desperately afraid that no matter what side I chose, I would let him down. Besides, it didn’t look like I would come out of this alive no matter what.