Elemental Earth (Paranormal Public) (12 page)

“What paranormal type were they?”
the red-haired girl asked. She stood politely, with her hands clasped in front
of her.

Ferwick scratched his head. “I do
believe they were werewolves,” he said. “Yes, that sounds about right. The
werewolf, of course, is still alive and well, but that particular tribe did not
survive the vampire attack.”

And so it continued. Golden Falls
students would ask Ferwick questions, sometimes about objects in the room and
sometimes on different topics altogether, and he would answer at length. He
knew everything. There was never a moment when he appeared confused except when
he tried to remember details not related to symbols. At the end of class the
red-headed girl, who had asked several questions, turned to us.

“I’m Jewel,” she said, stretching
out her hand to me. “It’s nice to meet you.”

I shook her hand. “You too,” I
said. “Thanks for hosting us.”

She let off a peal of laughter as
other students streamed past us. Pearl waved to us as she left.

“Oh, happy to,” Jewel said. “It’s
always good when the exchange students come from Public.”

“Ah, Jewel beat me to it,” said a
guy who came up to us just then. He was solid-looking, as if he would be at
home as part of a brick wall. He had close-cropped brown hair and brown eyes.
There was nothing remarkable about him; he too wore the black clothes and the
black ring. “I’m Devlin,” he said.

Once introductions had been made,
our two new Golden Falls friends walked us to the courtyard for dinner. Other
Golden Falls students stopped to talk to us or smiled as we passed. I heard
several whispers about elementals and tried to ignore all the attention, but I
could feel my face getting hot.

Jewel smiled. “I want to hear all
about Public. It’s supposed to be the best paranormal university in the world.”

“We’d love to hear more about
Golden Falls, too,” said Sip. “It’s such an impressive place.” Jewel and Devlin
smiled at each other.

“What’s it like here during the
winter months?” Sip asked.

Devlin shrugged. “It’s not so
bad,” he said, grinning. “Most of the time we don’t go outside, so don’t be
surprised.” Sip looked a little disappointed. She was a werewolf and as such
she loved to run.

“I hear you have Professor Dacer
at Public,” said Jewel, her eyes lighting up as she said his name. “What’s that
like?”

“He’s Charlotte’s mentor,” said
Trafton proudly, pointing at me.

“Wow, really, you know him?”
Jewel asked. “That’s amazing. He’s world renowned for his study of masks. I
suppose he would like to mentor the last elemental.”

My blush deepened.

“Well, anyway, it’s nice to have
you here,” said Devlin, his tone changing quickly. Instead of coming into our
dining room, which is what I was about to invite them to do, they excused
themselves, explaining that they had lots of homework.

“How do they have lots of work to
do when we don’t?” Lough asked. “Cherries?” he added, holding up a bowl of the
bright fruit for us. Sip took one.

“Don’t mind if I do. Now, let’s
talk about the Sign of Six,” she said with determination.

The most puzzling thing to mar
our introduction to Golden Falls was the presence of faeries. When we went to
dinner I saw faeries everywhere, faeries who were very like the white and glittering
king and queen at Caid’s summer house who had disappeared so quickly. None of
them met my eyes.

“What are faeries doing here?” I
whispered to Keller, who had finally shown up. I hadn’t known faeries acted as
servants to anyone. They barely tolerated Paranormal Public’s existence, let
alone worked there.

Keller looked troubled. “I don’t
know,” he said. “I’m sure they’re being paid well, though.”

I looked at his face. It was very
familiar to me at this point. I knew his moods. I knew that when the corner of
his mouth tilted down he was trying not to laugh. I knew that when his eyes
were hooded he was thinking, and I knew that when his jaw was clenched he was
worried.

But this was Golden Falls
University. What could we possibly have to worry about?

The first week took on a quiet
pattern. Every day we would have classes. At night, Zervos would gather us
together for a meeting. He didn’t say much. He was surprisingly quiet, in fact,
and I wondered if he had worries of his own, or if he was on the Nocturns’ side
and just biding his time until he proved it.

I also made the mistake of asking
my Veneer professor if I would be asked to help strengthen the Golden Falls
defenses. At least I did it out of earshot of the other students. Annabelle
actually laughed in my face.

“You’re a cute child,” she said,
patting my cheek. “Golden Falls has defenses you can’t even begin to
understand.”

I hadn’t liked her touch, and
after that day I made more of an effort not to draw attention to myself.

There was only one strange thing,
which happened when Marcus took out his Contact Stone and Zervos ordered him to
hand it over, then ordered everyone to hand over their Stones. There was an
avalanche of opposition, but in the end he got what he wanted, and we were all
stripped of our Stones. I had planned to talk to Dacer on a regular basis, but
that was now out of the question. Zervos suggested that we spend the evenings
studying quietly in our suites instead of wandering the halls, and said we
wouldn’t miss the contact with the outside world.

“Golden Falls wants peace and
harmony. They can’t have that if we’re always chattering away on Contact
Stones,” Zervos explained. He continued to explain how this semester was about
eliminating darkness, and how Golden Falls would help us with that. I thought
Lisabelle did a good job of not hitting anything - or anyone - while she sat
and listened.

After Zervos and the male Public
students left our suite, we all settled in to study. I was staring hard at our
“Veneer” textbook, trying to make sense of it, but I fell asleep on it instead,
so that Sip and Lisabelle had to shake me awake. When Lisabelle said the
academics here were difficult, she wasn’t kidding.

The next morning, having slept
badly, I was late for courtyard breakfast and told Sip and Lisabelle to go on
ahead without me. On my way there, busy thinking about the symbols homework I
hadn’t finished, I almost ran into Kia.

Kia hurried up to me. “Can I
speak to you privately later?” she asked. “Maybe I’ve made some mistakes in the
past, but I refuse to make them worse now.” She looked around furtively as
Golden Falls students streamed past us, and she flinched away from them as if
they’d burn her. She was already paler and thinner than when we’d arrived, as
if she’d stopped eating.

She bit her lower lip, her eyes
begging. “Please.” She looked desperate.

“Okay,” I said gravely. “What’s
wrong?”

She shook her head, looking
around again as if she was sure demons were about to appear and cart her off to
prison. “I’ll tell you tonight. Just promise me you’ll be there.”

“Do you mind if I bring Sip and
Lisabelle?” I asked, thinking that it would be easier if they heard whatever
she needed to say directly to save me the need of repeating it.

She shook her head. “Of course
not. I was hoping you would.”

I nodded once, and before I could
ask anything else she’d melted into the crowd.

I wanted to find Keller, but
first I had to go to class. I stepped inside the classroom and an uncomfortable
silence followed. Professor Zervos glanced at me, but for once he didn’t say
anything. Even he looked tired, and I found myself wondering for the first time
if this was an assignment that he had wanted, or if he’d been forced into it.

Professor Zervos didn’t even have
Dove now, and Public had decided for whatever reason not to send another
professor in Dove’s place. I had wanted Dacer to come, but apparently he was
still refusing to leave Public. Zervos wasn’t showing it overtly, but I
wondered when the strain of being there on his own would start to show.

“Nice of you to join us,” said
Zervos. “Not like we’re here as guests trying to set a good example and you’re
lateness tarnishes our reputation or anything.” His voice was icy and dry.
Happiness didn’t seem to agree with him, either. I slid into a seat in the
back, not saying a word.

Sip and Lisabelle were already
far in front of me.

Zervos’s class was another
history class, which I was sure he was happy about, since history was his
specialty.

“We are going to cover paranormal
types at length,” he said, pacing back and forth, and he wasted no time
plunging into the subject matter. He looked uncomfortable and out of place in
our rich surroundings.

“There are the five obvious
types, and of course the sixth type as well, which is an umbrella type for
paranormals more unusual than the ones known to Airlee Dorm.”

Pearl raised her hand. I would
have sworn she was a pixie, she was so small, but I wasn’t sure. She also wore
a black ring.

“What’s Airlee?” she asked.

Jewel and Devlin both smiled a little
as she said it, and I wondered if they already knew what it was.

Zervos eyed the girl as she sat
next to Lough. Besides the fact that she was small like a pixie, in this light
her skin definitely looked green. She was perfectly put together and she held
her chin high. She might even have been a relation of Camilla.

“Airlee is one of the Public
dorms,” said Zervos. “Home to werewolves, darkness mages, dream givers and the
like.”

Pearl was about to say something
else, but Zervos cut her off. At least he was treating us all equally badly, I
thought.

But Zervos was in his element as
a history professor, and in this classroom he almost looked happy. He discussed
werewolves first, so I could see, even from the back of the room, that Sip was
fascinated. At least for her, the time went by quickly.

“If Zervos’s class turns out to
be the bright spot in this semester, we’re in a lot of trouble,” said Lough in
a disgruntled voice as we all filed out.

But I excused myself from the
discussion that was sure to follow, because I wanted to find Keller. I’d barely
seen him since we arrived, and with classes over for the day I figured he
should have some free time.

I hurried to the boys’ suite,
where Keller was staying with the rest of the Public males and Nolan. I was excited
to see him. I knew their suite was just as rich and beautiful as ours, and a
relaxing evening was just what I needed after a Zervos class.

As I reached the door I heard an
argument taking place.

“What do you think you’re doing?”
Keller’s voice demanded. I was shocked by his hostile tone; it was one I had
never heard him use before. Whatever answer he received was inaudible to me.

“I don’t trust you. Did Sectar
pay you to spy on us?” Keller’s voice again. His tone was filled with warning.

This time I heard the response.
It was from Nolan, of all paranormals. “I don’t want any part of what Sectar
has going on. That’s why I’m here.”

“You’re here to make sure all our
questions are answered,” I heard Keller drawl.

I stepped around the doorway and
peered inside. Nolan was cowering in a corner as Keller stood over him, glaring
furiously. With Keller’s back to me, Nolan was the one who spotted me first.
His eyes went wide and Keller spun around.

“Charlotte,” the fallen angel
said, releasing Nolan instantly and striding toward me. “Is everything
alright?”

“What are you doing?” I demanded,
staring at him. Unlike the girls’ suite, the boys’ suite was a mixture of gold
and earth tones, making Keller’s blue eyes look all the brighter.

Keller’s stride faltered.

“Nolan and I needed to have a
little chat,” he said, scowling.

“Nolan helped Sip start the Sign
of Six,” I said. “He’s trustworthy.”

Keller shook his head. “You’re
too nice. He doesn’t deserve our trust. He has to earn it.”

“He did,” I countered, “by
starting the Sign of Six.”

“You think it’s that easy?”
Keller said, his brow knitted together. “It’s just like ‘poof,’ now they’re
good paranormals. This is a life or death situation, Charlotte. Dove’s already
dead.”

I crossed my arms over my chest,
totally ignoring Nolan’s presence. “You think I don’t know that?” I said. “They
just reminded us. Dirr. Professor Lambros. They’re all dead because of the
Nocturns, I get it, but we can’t turn on each other. That’s exactly what the
Nocturns want. The paranormal types are still so splintered that we might not
be able to enact the Power of Five even if we do get all the artifacts
together. My relationship with you, my friendship with Rake, all of that is to
fight against the darkness. Even your parents don’t understand that.”

He stepped back from me, looking
stricken. “They’re my family,” he said, his eyes filled with hurt. “They just
want what’s best for me.”