Elemental Light (Paranormal Public Book 9) (35 page)

“So, you’re going to blame Lisabelle for your problems yet again?” Sip demanded. She pushed her chair back and stood up, but I wasn’t sure why she bothered. She didn’t look any taller as she glared around the table. “This is not Lisabelle’s fault. This is a problem that’s much bigger than Lisabelle or any of the rest of us.”

“We aren’t saying the war is Lisabelle’s fault,” said Lester. “We are merely saying that you, with your proximity to a known traitor over the years, cannot be trusted.”

Sip leaned forward and placed her hands on the table. In that moment I saw a leader for the first time. She had run the Sign of Six as something of an excuse to demand that power behave responsibly. This was the first time I saw her taking the reins of power herself

“That is a dangerous accusation to make,” she said softly, her pale fingers splayed on the dark wood.

Lester’s eyes snapped. “These are dangerous times.”

“Do not threaten me,” said Sip. “You will lose. You are seeking to discredit the elemental, the best and maybe the only chance we have left to defeat darkness, with these useless lies.”

“They aren’t useless,” cried Lester.

“We also have other avenues that can help us fight,” said Professor Erikson, “like the Mirror Arcane.”

“Whose whereabouts is a mystery known only by
. . . you guessed it, the elemental,” said Zervos.

“Well, if you turned helpful now we wouldn’t recognize you anyway,” Lough muttered.

“So you want me to turn the Mirror Arcane over to you, is that it?” I asked, fear prickling down my spine. Who were these paranormals?

“No,” said Duchess Leonie quickly. “We trust you.”

“Speak for yourself,” said Lester, his eyes boring into Dacer’s mother.

Now the Museum of Masks professor stood up. He was tall, but I had never thought of him as broad-shouldered or intimidating until now. His black eyes snapped as he pressed his large hands into the smooth wood of the massive table.

“Speak to my mother like that again,” said Professor Dacer, “and I’ll have your head.”

Lester’s eyes snapped to the colorful vampire and for the first time I saw Dacer as a fighter. I had always known him to be well-respected, but I had never translated that into the idea that any of his fellow paranormals fearing his fighting abilities. Now, suddenly, I did. His eyes were black chips of ice, and I was glad he was never going to look at me like that.

Duchess Leonie put both hands on her cane. “Really, my dear, I can take care of myself.”

“I know that, Mother, but this useless excuse for a paranormal may not, so I am only doing a son’s duty. Charlotte stays in possession of the Mirror Arcane, at least until we can get word from President Caid.”

“President Caid is likely dead,” said Professor Erikson, her voice calm as she eyed Dacer thoughtfully.

“Do you know that for sure?” Professor Dacer demanded. “I want proof.”

“At least get these kids out of the rest of the meeting,” Lester pleaded, pointing at me and my friend.

Zervos added his voice to that as well. He wanted us gone.

“Fine,” said Sip. “We have better things to do anyway.”

I had expected her to argue, so when Lough met my eyes and I saw the question there, I just nodded. We left with Trafton and Suze.

“Now what?” Trafton asked, as the five of us stood in the hallway. “We could try again to get in Contact with some of the council members.”

“Have you used your dreams?” Lough asked.

Trafton shook his head. “Tried, but couldn’t. Why?”

To my surprise Lough told Trafton that he’d gotten in touch with Lanca and Lisabelle. To my further surprise, Trafton looked impressed and said so.

“That’s really good work,” said Trafton. “That’s really advanced dreaming.”

“I don’t know if I could do it again,” said Lough. “And both of them seemed to be expecting me, so that may have made it easier.”

“Lisabelle was expecting you?” Sip asked, as we made our way back to my room.

“Seemed to,” said Lough. “Her power just reached out and plucked me out of the vortex like
. . . like it was easy for her to do.”

Sip gave a disdainful sniff.

“What do we have to do besides hurry up and wait?” Trafton asked. “What are you three going to do?”

He was careful not to mention the Mirror Arcane, I noticed, but I knew he wondered if I really had it and if I could really use it. I didn’t say anything, and neither did anyone else.

When we reached the door to my room Sip turned around and looked at Suze. “I’m sorry,” she said, “but we don’t know you and we can’t trust you, so you can’t come in.”

Suze’s eyes widened slightly, but then she nodded. “I understand,” she whispered. ‘I’ll just be in my room.”

“You can’t go there by yourself,” said Trafton. “I’ll go with you.” I had expected him to argue, but he just accepted Sip’s directive as if she was in charge.

We watched them go, with Suze’s shoulders dropping into a discouraged slump. When they were out of earshot Lough commented, “That power’s going to go to your head. But then again you’re short. It doesn’t have that far to travel.”

Sip rubbed her hands together, her purple eyes gleaming. “It’s not going, it’s already there.”

Then, instead of heading into my room, Lough changed the subject to what was always uppermost in his mind. “It’s almost dinner time,” he said. “Are we going to make another appearance downstairs?”

“Sigil’s going to bring us food,” said Sip. “We have a lot to discuss, so I made the decision to ask him.”

Lough and I again exchanged surprised looks.

“Who are you and what have you done with Sip?” Lough asked. He was laughing, but he was really serious. “Growing up, aren’t we?”

“Yeah,” I said. “We all grew up a long time ago, now we just have to accept it.”

“I don’t like to accept things I have to,” said Sip. “I prefer to fight against them until I’m blue in the face.”

“Don’t turn blue,” said Lough, “it doesn’t go well with purple. Now, we have a long wait until Lisabelle gets here, so why don’t you fill us in and tell us what you’ve found?”

“Yes, oh Master of Fashion,” said Sip.

We all went into my room and closed the door. I even locked it. Once I felt secure and we had made ourselves comfortable, Sip said, “First, I think we should all rest a bit. There’s a long day coming up.”

We spent the evening talking about different strategies for the next day. It was risky to leave Astra, but if we stayed there we remained inert. There was no going forward if we cowered behind Astra’s safe walls.

“Is there a way to fix this?” Sip asked quietly. “After all this time, is there a way to fight darkness? Assuming Lisabelle’s still on our side?”

“They have the other Objects on the Wheel,” I said. “As long as they don’t get the Mirror Arcane, I don’t think we’re lost. But the problem is that for the Mirror to be most affective WE need the other Objects on the Wheel.”

Understanding dawned in Sip’s eyes. “So, having the Mirror is merely a stopgap. On its own it doesn’t give us extra power
, but if we controlled all the Objects, the Power of Five is ten times, twenty times, incalculably stronger.”

“Exactly,” I said.

“But to what end?” Lough asked. “Surely you must have an idea in mind of how the Power of Five can be used to fight?”

I nodded grimly. “I do, but I don’t know that it will work, and it’s very dangerous.”

“Low chances of success are our specialty,” said Sip, rubbing her palms together. She looked more like a werewolf in that moment than she ever had in her human form.

At that moment, there was a weird sort of tapping on my door, and then a whooshing sound, and in flew Sigil with a broad grin on his face.

“Dinner’s served,” he said, motioning to the door. I hopped up from my seat on the rug and ran to open the door. On the other side of it there waited a tray piled high with covered plates, and a picture of blue liquid.

“Excellent,” said Lough, who came around my elbow to pick up the tray and carry it to my desk.

“Sigil,” said Sip, “how are you doing?”

Sigil stared at Sip as if he’d never seen her before.

“You’re the first paranormal here who has asked how I’m doing,” he said in wonder. He glanced down at himself, giving his worn shoes, knobby knees, and tattered jacket a careful examination, and finally lifting each wizened hand up to his eyes for close inspection. “Hum.”

“It’s a pretty common question,” said Sip, with one eyebrow quirked at the eccentric ghost.

Sigil just continued to stare at Sip until it got awkward. Lough broke the impasse with his usual obsession. He uncovered a plate filled with sweet potatoes, broccoli, and chicken, and said, “Dinner, anyone?”

“Me,” said Sip, and she sat down next to him and proceeded to dig in.

After watching silently for a few minutes, Sigil floated over to where the three of us were now eating at the table.

“I’ve been a ghost here for a long time,” he mused. “I’ve never seen anything like what’s going on now.” He was very obviously trying to make something clear to us that he didn’t think we had totally realized.

“Not even when Ms. Vale took over?” I asked.

“Certainly not,” said Sigil. “That was clearly temporary. A sense that it would pass. This
. . .”

“You don’t think this will pass?” Sip asked, horrified.

“I don’t know,” said Sigil. “Even the ghosts are scared.”

“I thought you were the only ghost,” I said, surprised.

“Why did you think that?” Sigil asked.

Lough rolled his eyes, but he turned his head away so Sigil couldn’t see him do that.

“You’re the only ghost we’ve ever seen and you haven’t mentioned any others,” I offered.

“I have friends,” said Sigil. He sounded offended, and Sip smirked into her freshest cup of tea.

“Of course you do,” said Lough. “We just didn’t realize they were ghost friends. You never talk about them,” he said sympathetically, trying to placate the offended librarian.

“Ah, well, they are,” said Sigil. “I would introduce you, but they’re shy, and with all this demon activity, they don’t really have the power to come out and see me. But hopefully when all of this is over, things will get easier again.”

“
If
it ends,” said Sip.

“It will end,” said Sigil. “I’m just not sure it will end happily.”

Sigil turned to me, the intensity of his gaze surprising me. “I’ve had a lot of time, being dead,” he paused and shook his head. “That didn’t come out right, but I’ve had a lot of time to fill, and I’m wondering, have you ever watched a flower unfurl? Have you ever come back day in and day out and watched each petal spread and spark in the sun? The color deepening, the stretch growing? It happens slowly, so that sometimes you don’t notice what’s happening at first. But then, suddenly” - he made a motion with his hands to show surprise - “whoosh!”

And he disappeared without another word.

Chapter
Thirty-Three

Once Sigil left, we all tried to sleep for a while. I’m not sure if any of us managed it, but I laid myself down in my bed, closed my eyes, and pretended. I don’t know how late it had gotten to be when I heard the soft tapping on my window. Sip, who was also in my bed, but so far away we’d both have had to turn sideways to touch, sat upright and glared at the window.

“Demons,” she muttered. “They shouldn’t even be able to touch the building. Ridiculous. They’ve just come to annoy you.”

Lough, who was rolled up in a blanket on the couch, uncovered his head just far enough to watch Sip throw off the covers and march over to the large window that looked out on the desolate lawn.

She swung the door open, and I saw a blast of brownish power burst through it. She didn’t have much; because she was a werewolf, her power was her transformation and the extra strength, speed, sense of smell, and different shape it gave her. Still, as a paranormal she did have some, even in her human form.

“Wow,” came a familiar voice. “Take it easy, Sip.”

Keller stuck his head around the side of the window, and even in the dark I could see his blue eyes widen. The moon hung behind him, framing his dark hair.

Sip stared at him, dumbfounded. Then she blasted him again with a burst of power. Not used to using her magic, she staggered.

He disappeared around the corner as Lough started up.

“Sip,” I cried. “What’d you do that for?”

Sip looked at me over her shoulder as Keller reappeared in the window.

“He hasn’t talked to you in months. Guys get smacked when they behave like he has. The good news is that since we’re paranormals, our smacking is more sophisticated.”

Just as Keller was moving within touching distance of the window again, Sip turned around and slammed it shut. I saw Keller’s eyes go wide again, bemusement on his face.

Sip walked away and made a big show of crossing her arms and plopping herself down in the nearest armchair.