Elemental Light (Paranormal Public Book 9) (33 page)

I ran my finger down the page until I found what I wanted. “Here it is,” I muttered. It was a paragraph under the heading, “Elemental Graveyard,” and it went like this:

Given how few elementals there are to begin with, the graveyard is very small. It is at a corner of Public that has no path or road leading to it. Elementals always have their graveyards at the top of a hill, and since Paranormal Public’s founding this graveyard has existed as the main one for elementals. Public is on seven thousand acres of land, and the elemental graveyard has its own quiet corner. Queen Ashray and her descendants are buried there. Recommended highly for enthusiasts of cemeteries and elementals.

“Humm,” I muttered, “this was obviously written before all the elementals were murdered. I went back to hunting for a more recent book.”

After another quiet few minutes of searching, during which Lough kept eating, I breathed out a “Wow,” more to myself than to Lough. After reading for a while longer I looked at him and said, “There’s a book called
Darkness Calls to Darkness: An Examination of All Things Evil, Including Demons, Memories, Love, and Hell
?”

Lough nodded. “Everyone’s heard of that book. It was the first to really argue that darkness exists everywhere, even in paranormals who are mostly light.”

“Saying that all paranormals can become evil?” I mused. “That’s terrifying.”

“Isn’t it?” Lough offered. “If I were you I’d try
A Revised Examination of Paranormal Cemeteries
,” he said, pointing to a shelf over his head, behind the large desk.

I hurried around and grabbed it while Lough cleaned his plate. “No cookies?” he asked. I pulled the bag of cookies I had sneaked from the kitchen out of my pocket and handed it to him.

“Marvelous,” he said, opening the bag and examining its contents.

I pulled down the volume he had suggested. It had a green binding and gold letters, and it was so heavy I had to take care not to let it drop.

There were more than eighty paranormal cemeteries, but only one of them was for elementals. According to this volume:

The elemental cemetery is by far the most beautiful, maybe with the exception of the faery cemetery, which is obviously stunning, adorned as it is with flowers that do not even exist. But I digress. The elemental power has infused the earth at Cemetery Elemental. The grass is the greenest in the world, the stones a warm gray, like sunlight and clouds filtered together. The wind blows the most perfect breeze, and the earth is always fertile for flowers. A sight to behind, a jewel in the crown of paranormal cemeteries. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Sadly, most of the elementals are buried here, at least those whose bodies were recovered. The cemetery was therefore forced to expand quickly in a short period of time.

“Umm, Charlotte?” Lough asked. I had stopped hearing the crunching sound of cookies a while ago, so wrapped up had I become in the information about my type’s cemetery.

“Yeah?” I asked absently.

“I hope you don’t want to know about elemental cemeteries because you want to finalize your burial information? That’s depressing, and I don’t handle stress well as it is.”

I choked and looked over my shoulder at the dream giver. His face was filled with worry, and I could see what things must look like from his perspective.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “It’s not that at all.” But once I had finished explaining to Lough that I’d been dreaming about elemental cemeteries, he didn’t look any less upset.

“You have a funny way of trying to make a guy feel better,” he said, shaking his head.

“Truly, it’s not that I think I’m going to die. I just need to figure all this stuff out.”

Lough still looked dubious, but he knew me well enough to know there wasn’t any point in arguing.

“Lisabelle promised she’d come,” he said, screwing up his face, “but she didn’t sound good. She asked about Sip, and I said she was behaving like her normal mad self. I think that cheered Lisabelle up a bit.”

“What about Lanca?”

Lough’s face clouded.

“No answer there,” he said. “I was pretty tired by the time I reached out. I was going to try again once I got some food in me, but I’m afraid they might be under attack. Anyhow, do you think they can help?”

I could tell he was trying to humor me. “I have no idea,” I said, irritation and tiredness taking over. I was so worried that my normal defenses against getting frustrated had completely broken down.

Lough shrugged. “I guess it’s good to examine all options.”

“Right,” I said. We needed to change the subject. “Try Lanca again.”

“Good idea,” he said.

He sat back and rolled his shoulders, closed his eyes. Then he steepled his hands and took a deep breath, and then another. I felt the air shift, but not because of elemental power. I felt heat and coolness, a light swirling around me. I watched my friend and closed my eyes as he brought me with him to find Queen Lanca.

We moved through a vortex of air that was at first fresh and clean, but quickly morphed into suffocating smoke. I coughed and felt my eyes start to water. My feet were still firmly planted on the ground, but the rest of my body felt like it was floating.

Lough was still next to me, and when his hand reached out to grasp mine, his fingers were clammy from fear.

“You okay?” I tried to ask him, but my mouth filled with soot. I coughed again and felt Lough move closer to me, pressing against my side.

“Open your eyes when I say go,” I heard him direct me.

Before I remembered that he couldn’t see me, I found myself nodding my head.

Noise exploded around my ears, causing me to jump, but then I caught myself, cried out, and flung myself to the ground. Landing with a thud, I didn’t feel the carpet in my bedroom underneath me, but rather a surface of hard stone. In my tumble I had been forced to release Lough’s hand, and I could sense him scrambling somewhere nearby, trying to get back into contact with me. I tried to reach out, but I had completely lost my bearings.

“Charlotte?” I heard him call out. “Charlotte? Are you alright?”

I tried to tell him that I was, but the face plant into stone prevented me.

Lough’s heavy body slammed down next to mine and we rolled over and over on the stone surface. My shoulder blades pressed into the cold hard ground, leaving bruises, but we didn’t stop. By the time we slammed into a wall I knew I’d be bruised all over my body. I’d need to visit a fallen angel soon.

“What was that?” I gasped. At least the dirt had stopped pouring into my mouth whenever I tried to speak.

“It was my dream,” said Lough, “and a rude awakening.”

I opened my eyes. “Something’s wrong,” I said. “I can see nothing but gold.”

“That’s my hair,” said Lough, his voice dry.

“Oh, um, right,” I said, almost laughing despite what had just happened.

I tried to push away, but my head was against the wall. Lough moved forward, scraping away from me onto his side.

“That’s better,” he said, sitting up and looking back at me. We were in an empty space, and except for whatever my back was resting against, there was nothing in front of us or behind. Over Lough’s shoulder I could see a dim light.

“What’s that?” I pointed.

Lough looked. “It’s a dream,” he said. “You can be here with me because of your mom, but I’m the only one who can talk. Lanca will be able to hear me, at least I think she will.”

Lough pushed himself to his feet and then turned around to help me up. His hand was as covered with dirt as my own. Once we had traded brown earth, I grinned at him. “Think we’ll ever be able to stay clean for twenty-four hours in a row?”

“Not any time soon,” he said, grinning back.

We made for the light. With each step we got closer and the picture became clearer, but I found myself wishing it hadn’t. We were in the courtyard of Dunne ai Dorn, and all I could see was smoke. Swirling in the midst of it was a pale form, her long black hair whipping around her as she used the power of the Blood Throne to wield ropes of fire.

“Lanca’s under attack,” I cried out, racing forward, but it was like running on a treadmill; no matter how hard I tried, I never got closer. Lanca couldn’t see or hear me no matter how loud I yelled. Lough, meanwhile, looked worried.

“I don’t want to interrupt her in the midst of battle,” he said, a frown creasing his brow. “She needs all her concentration to fight.”

“But we can’t stay here,” I pointed out, knowing that Lough’s dreams, especially one that volatile, wouldn’t last long.

Lough’s eyes glittered. “It sounds like they want a fight. I’d love to give them what they want.”

In the midst of the battle, Lanca turned. Her eyes searched the area where Lough and I stood, and I held my breath and hoped that Lough could get her attention. When I saw her mouth quirk up, I knew she realized he was there.

“Look out,” I yelled, already forgetting that she couldn’t hear me. A demon was bearing down on her left side, but then Vital was there, slamming into the demon and wrestling it to the ground. How he could stand such heat I had no idea.

Lanca glanced at her boyfriend and protector and flicked her wrist. Something that looked a lot like a black stream of boiling water snaked from her hand and coiled around the demon. The monster started to shake, and then the snake magic ripped it away from Vital.

Lanca kept coming toward us.

“Lough,” she said, her voice filled with warmth at greeting her friend, “I’m a bit busy at the moment.”

“I can see that,” said Lough, “but I had to talk to you. Can you get yourself to Astra tonight? Maybe with dreaming?”

Lanca bit her lower lip and glanced at the battle behind her. “I just don’t think I can leave,” she said. “My powers are all that’s holding the demons at bay. They’ve been coming in waves every two hours since you left. I’d love to know where their endless supply of hybrids is coming from.”

“Probably still from Golden Falls,” said Lough. “There’s no reason to think they aren’t still being created.”

Lanca nodded as if Lough had confirmed a suspicion she already held. “I’ve tried to get Vital to go, but he won’t leave me. Silly man. I’ll try again.”

“Good,” said Lough. “I’d hate to think of how Golden Falls will do against the best fighter in the world.”

Lanca gave a feral grin; obviously she liked to think about it as well. Sometimes I forgot that she was a bloodthirsty vampire, and that as queen of the Blood Throne you had to be comfortable with violence. It was just how it was.

“How’s Charlotte?” Lanca asked.

“She’s good,” said Lough. He didn’t tell Lanca that I could hear the conversation, which was probably for the best. It would only be confusing.

“How’s Ricky?” Lough asked.

Lanca’s eyebrows snapped together and I felt my heart rate quicken.

“He was good,” she said slowly. “Will you be telling this to Charlotte?”

“Er, yes,” said Lough.

“He’s missing,” said Lanca quickly, “but I think he’s fine.”

“What?” I yelled. “He’s what? Why didn’t anyone tell me? I’m going there immediately.”

I started to walk away, but Lough reached out and held me firmly. I glared at him, thinking there was a very good chance that he was about to lose that hand, but he said, “Hear her out.”

The queen gave him a weird look, wondering what on earth was wrong with him, but Lough merely motioned for her to keep going.

“Someone showed up saying he was Lisabelle’s father. I didn’t believe that, since I thought that Lisabelle had sent her parents away. I realize she’s now gone crazy, but I still didn’t think she wanted her parents involved in all of this. Well, there was something strange about this
man, and he didn’t stay long. After he left, Ricky was gone as well, but he had left me a note in his own hand, and with a Blood Promise, that he was alright and that he was still with paranormals and not darkness.”

I was so shocked that all I could do was stare at Lanca. Rationally I knew that this wasn’t her fault and that my intense desire to rip her head off (which I was pretty sure I couldn’t do anyway) would pass, but still, a pain unlike anything I had ever felt before was overwhelming my body and making it hard to stand. Lough must have sensed that I was near collapse, because he said, “Blood Promises can’t be broken. If Ricky left that, he really must be alright.”

Lanca nodded hopefully. “That’s what I thought. You cannot force another to make a Blood Promise, it merely backfires.”

“But Ricky could have been confused,” said Lough. “He could have thought he was going with someone he could trust when he really wasn’t.”

“Ricky is smart,” said Lanca. “He proved that and over and over when he practiced fighting with Vital. I trust his judgment.”

“Lanca, we need you,” Vital bellowed.

I pelted away. I sensed that Lough had turned to follow me, but I refused to wait for him. Instead I disappeared down the long black tunnel of dreams, searching for a way back to Astra.

I felt a crush of rock and a pressing of air, so I squeezed my eyes shut and leaped over an abyss I couldn’t see. What did it matter anymore? Even Ricky was gone.