Elemental Fate (Paranormal Public Book 12) (10 page)

LUTHER CAVES!

If our dedicated and delightful readers will recall, last semester there was an incident at Paranormal Public where Charlotte Rollins, formerly known as the last elemental, was targeted by her own secretary. Foolish hiring practices aside, this publication reported that the secretary, named Luther, had been taken in for questioning by the paranormal police.

There were certain issues of jurisdiction, as the Quest government wanted their own interrogators to do the questioning. However, that issue was not raised very loudly, because President Quest is missing. Therefore, the police took over and by all accounts have done a fabulous and splendid job. In fact, the police have done so well that Luther was released yesterday. He admitted to stealing the transports, but is not believed to have committed a real or serious crime.

He also engaged in a few ill-advised pranks at paranormal Public, but all of that was directed at the unfortunate president of the university because of Luther’s the animosity toward higher education in general. Neither of these things are believed to be very big crimes.

Golliar Gillardin

“That’s ridiculous,” said Eighellie furiously. “He must have been the one who attacked Sip, mustn’t he? She’s nearly dead. Doesn’t that count for anything?”

“Remember, he had already been arrested,” I said. The situation was getting more confusing by the moment, especially since it was getting ever harder to believe anything the Tabble said. “I just know I can’t have my sister in any more danger. I want them to come after me instead, and then we’ll see.”

“But who is ‘them’?” Keegan said. “We don’t even know who we’re talking about.” The tree sprite had again left Eighellie and gone to the dining hall alone. This time we found him covered in wood chips.

“I’m talking about Hunters,” I said. “I want the Hunters to come after me, not Charlotte.”

“Do you have a plan for making that happen?” Eighellie’s expression was a cross between skeptical and worried.

I spent a few seconds chewing my food. Then I said, “Yeah, I might.”

Both Keegan and Eighellie shook their heads, but they knew better to ask me to explain when I wasn’t ready.

“Are you ready to tell us why you smell like wood?” Eighellie demanded, turning to Keegan.

“No,” he said.

Talking to Lisabelle had given me an idea. She had said that I needed to control my essence better, but that wasn’t true. I had let it run rampant around me precisely because I wanted to offer her my assistance.

I got up from breakfast and left the dining hall quickly. That morning’s class with Professor Penny was scheduled for right after our first group meeting, which I wasn’t looking forward to. We needed to come up with a year-end project, and we hadn’t had much success at that so far. Last semester we had thrown out three ideas, none of which I liked very much. Somehow I had missed the part where whatever we did was going to involve violence, but I should have known.

“Do you think this is what President Valedication meant when he said he wanted us to do Cornerstone projects?” Eighellie asked. She was reviewing our options with distaste.

“I doubt it,” said Keegan, squinting at the list.

“Nighttime Pulse, Roof Battle, Ring Race,” he read off.

“The last one could really be interesting, except for the bit where it might destroy us,” said Eighellie. “We aren’t supposed to take off our rings, and we’re really not supposed to attack each other with them.”

“Supposed to, supposed to,” Keegan repeated. “I don’t even have a ring.” It was true that as a member of the Paranormal Strange he had flat-out refused to wear a ring. His tree powers weren’t very dependent on one anyway, and neither was his ability to speak with dragons. “That should be on the list,” he said. “Me speaking with a dragon; we’d win in no time.”

“Yeah, because no one else on campus can do it,” I said.

“How’s this going to work, anyway? We make plans and then submit them to Dobrov?” Eighellie asked.

“That’s right. He’ll choose groups to review,” said Keegan, “so that we could be engaging in fighting throughout the semester, which is what Ricky wanted all along. The first group has already gone, so we should know by the end of the week what we’re going to do.”

“And then all the groups have to do it? Working together?” said Eighellie.

“Yeah, it’s going to be a joke,” I said.

“Someone’s probably going to die,” said Keegan.

“Good morning,” said Professor Penny, trundling into the room.

Keegan groaned.

Our group meeting turned into an argument as soon as the Cornerstone project was mentioned.

“I like Nighttime Pulse,” said Hannah. “All the rest of you should, too.”

“That’s stupid,” said Candace.

One good thing to come out of strained relations was that the fallen angels, who used to try and keep the peace, had given up on that and now sometimes joined the fight, especially when it related to something we all had to do.

“Its like what happened that night at Astra,” said Fog, giving me a sideways look and grinning mischievously.

“Then it’s stupid and dangerous,” said Averett from her usual perch by the window, where she was standing with her arms folded, also as usual. She often stood in the backs of classrooms, too; I rarely saw her sitting. In fact, I basically had the impression that she was always ready to spring: fangs out, eyes wide, hands raised, and totally terrifying. I shook the image out of my head as quickly as I could.

“You’re only on his side because you like him,” said Hannah.

“I do like him. He’s better than dirt under my feet, which is all you are,” said Averett, her eyes flashing. I would have thought she’d react poorly to the implication that she liked me, but it flowed off her like the wind over Vampire Locke.

“We aren’t going to repeat a battle that almost got half the school expelled last semester,” Greek cut in. The other students nodded their heads in agreement, especially the girls; they didn’t want to go against the cutest fallen angel on campus.

“What about the Roof Battle?” Matthew asked. The fact that he had spoken at all was shocking. I supposed that as a vampire he liked the idea of a Roof Battle, because vampires could float around with ease. I didn’t like the idea of any kind of battle; even fighting the Burble siblings, who were mercifully not in our group, wasn’t really appealing. I wanted to waste my energy on a real fight, not some stupid pretend battle. I knew my sister had done Tactical in her day, and I did wish we had that. But even there the point system would have been a problem for our team, since both Keegan and I were high value, especially with no dream givers on campus. Still, it sounded like fun.

“We should do Ring Race,” I said.

“Why? You don’t want to do Roof Battle?” chorused several voices.

“No, I don’t,” I said. “There will be all sorts of battles submitted. It’s not very original. I bet no one else will have thought of Ring Race,” I finished.

“Are you willing to take that ring off and throw it?” Eighellie asked. The principle behind Ring Race was simple. We would take off our rings and threw them up the hill at Public, seeing how far our power could stretch. Then we’d use our magic to bring the rings back. It was sort of like video games for paranormals, which was why Keegan was the one who’d suggested it.

“We could come up with worse options,” Averett mused. “I like the idea of Ring Race best too.” The rings of most of the vampires were red, and they were all subtly was fingering them now.

But Eighellie had a point too. I didn’t like the idea of taking off my ring, I just liked all the other ideas even less. Each of the six groups had to pick an idea and submit it, but only two ideas at a time went before Dobrov for review. Then Dobrov picked which of the two he liked best, so that although each group was coming up with several options, in the end we would do only three Cornerstone projects in all. In other words, three groups wouldn’t even get to do their projects.

I thought Dobrov had instituted that rule so that if any group submitted a bloodthirsty idea he could reject it out of hand. The Burble siblings had probably encouraged their groups to do just that; they were split up between two groups, making the possibilities even worse than if they had all been together.

The groups were also yet to be given names, but Dobrov had said that he would assign names eventually, in such a way as to make the groups easily distinguished. If we had been left to choose our own names, lives would have ended before decisions could be reached.

“Let’s do the Ring Race,” said Greek. “It’s the most civilized and original. I think we have a chance of wining with that one.”

“What do we win?” said Hannah.

“Honor,” said Greek. “The best thing of all.”

Hannah looked slightly less excited.

“Ring Race it is,” said Averett. “I’ll enjoy watching the other groups try.”

That night in Astra was the first time I felt like I had time to study. Unfortunately, I had no interest in studying.

The first week back at school for second semester had started with a bang, literally, when we were attacked by Surround. Since then it had been business as usual. I had met my sister’s new secretary, Ester, I had started classes, and we had chosen a Cornerstone project. Keegan was still being mysterious, but I had a pretty good idea what he was doing. I didn’t want to say anything, though, because Eighellie still didn’t have the remotest shred of a clue.

I had even managed to get in touch with Lisabelle, which was more than any other paranormal could say. The fact that she hadn’t told me anything helpful wasn’t great, but at least I had planted the seed in her mind that we needed to talk.

Other than the article about Luther, the Tabble hadn’t reported anything of note since they’d revealed who Elam really was. There had been a small note in the paper stating that Risper was missing, but no one even reacted to that. Obviously Risper was missing. If he was the best thief in the history of the world and he decided he didn’t want to be found, then he wouldn’t be found.

In other news, Astra was quiet. Too quiet. Eighellie was staying at Airlee so she’d have a better idea of what was happening on campus, and Keegan was staying . . . well, wherever Keegan was staying. A couple of nights I had gone down to see Charlotte and Keller, and that had been nice, but they were in very different places in their lives from me. Keller didn’t say much, and Charlotte told me privately that he was still devastated about what the fallen angels had done.

There was still no sign of Sigil, the Astra ghost, and I hadn’t seen Martha since I had arrived on campus in the fall. Nothing new had been discovered, or at least published, about the murder of Ms. Cernal. The first news would probably come from either the Tabble or Ester, since she was a resident of the town where the murder had taken place.

The most newsworthy event to happen at Astra since we came back was not actually school-related. Eighellie had been in a panic at one point, thinking that the reason Keegan was being weird and mysterious was because he had a girl. I told her she was crazy, but she hadn’t seemed sure she could believe me.

“What if he’s dating someone?” she said, biting her lip. I stared hard at her. So this explained how agitated she’d been recently about Keegan’s disappearances. The fact that he was again off to a place he had refused to reveal was the only reason Eighellie felt she could have the conversation with me at all. When he disappeared, he disappeared for hours at a time.

My darkness friend and I had skipped the whole bit where you ask if she likes him, then ask what she thinks he feels for her. She knew I suspected and just hadn’t bothered to ask, and it was just as clear that she had a pretty good idea how he felt about her – platonically.

“You have a thing for Keegan?” I asked hoarsely. She glared around and ordered me to shush, but I needed to hear her say it.

“Who’s going to hear us?” I demanded, throwing my hands up in the air.

We were alone in the Astra kitchen. She had stopped by that morning at breakfast to discuss something of the utmost importance, and it had turned out to be this. I kicked myself. Given the way she always looked at the tree sprite, I should have known she was going to bring it up sometime soon.

“He likes Averett,” she said. “I know he doesn’t like me. He sees Averett and looks like a puppy dog. He thinks Averett likes you, by the by.”

Now she had said something truly shocking.

“Yeah, right,” I said. “No way.”

“Way,” she said, shrugging. “He rants about it when you aren’t around, that’s how I know he likes her.”

I shook my head to clear it. All of this sounded too fantastic to be real.

“You could tell him how you feel,” I offered. I wasn’t sure I wanted my two best friends dating, but then again, I couldn’t be selfish about it. Eighellie had obviously had a thing for Keegan for a long time.

Eighellie scoffed. “No thanks! I’m not a glutton for punishment, thanks all the same,” she said. “I don’t think he’s ready to hear it anyway.”

I looked hard at my friend. She was saying something very serious. The voice in my head was still yelling at me that I should have seen it coming, that Keegan should have also seen it coming, and that he hadn’t because he had a thing for a vampire, just as Eighellie said.

She leaned forward, scrutinizing my face. “Do you like Averett?" she demanded.

My arms jerked and I nearly sloshed my tea. I felt wild, sort of like I’d just been electrocuted.

“I mean, um,” I said, and squinted at my friend. She only leaned further forward and looked more intense. “Well, do you?”

My mind went over all the times I’d seen Averett, all the times I’d been impressed by her abilities. I thought about how I felt when she smiled at me (trust me, it did happen), and now even that fact felt telling.

“She’s a great vampire,” I said. Eighellie started forward as if she was going to climb over the table and wring my collar, but before she could I continued: “But I don’t like her. She’s a great girl, that’s all.” Lame, Ricky, so lame, I chided myself.

Eighellie eased herself away from me as if she’d just decided the prey she was stalking wasn’t going to be that tasty after all.

“Does Keegan know that?” she challenged.

I threw up my hands. Keegan and I talked about girls, but not a lot.

For a split second I was about to tell Eighellie as much, then I realized that wasn’t fair, so instead I said, “What Keegan and I talk about isn’t any of your business!”

Her eyes narrowed and once again I had the sensation that I was prey.

Luckily, she wasn’t as angry as she looked. “Fine, if that’s how you want to play it,” she said. Then she slid backwards until she was looking down her nose at me. “Good luck,” she added.

Until that moment I hadn’t realized I was going to need it.

I didn’t pursue it because I had other things on my mind.

My sister knew that my visits to her were really a plea for news, but she didn’t have any. She said Keller continued to check on Bertrum, and Bertrum continued to do poorly. She didn’t say anything at all about Sip, except that Keller had offered to help Lisabelle and the darkness premier had replied that she had better help already than Keller could give.

I went to one of the windows in the water lounge and peered out. There was night construction going on, a new big building. I wondered what it was for. There had been no announcements about the Public construction, although we saw workers moving around all the time. For the most part the workers had spent their time shoring up existing buildings, but this was one entirely new, and far taller.

Public had had a fire when Charlotte was first there, and the old Tower had come down. They had built a new building toward the end of her time at Public, but that was now used only for offices and storage, since they had found damage in it nearly a year after the end the Nocturn War. Apparently a couple of Demons of Knight had decided to call the place home.

At least the next morning the Tabble had something interesting for us to read about, unlike the stuff on our class reading lists. The night before I had fallen asleep doing the reading for Professor Penny’s class; I had figured out last semester that I could put myself to sleep that way. It had been a good night for me.

In the morning, the Tabble was going on about a new topic. The headline screamed:

Let’s get into the nitty gritty of the Counter Wheel

I leaned forward with interest. Although many students had apparently heard various things about the Counter Wheel already, I wasn’t among them. Charlotte found it upsetting to talk about it given how hard we had worked, the risks we had taken, and the danger into which we had put our own lives in order to gather the objects on the Wheel, so she hadn’t told me much. I was eager to learn more.

The article went like this:

The Counter Wheel is becoming increasingly prevalent as a topic of paranormal discourse, so we thought we would share what we know. We’ve spoken with several experts who have given us great information about what exactly the Counter Wheel means.

Our readers have sent in all kinds of questions about the Wheel, and we will answer them as best we can. The first question wonders if the Counter Wheel is even real, given that it has never been used, and unlike the lore of the real Wheel, where it was a known fact that powerful paranormals had placed massive amounts of power in important objects, the Counter Wheel is more of a mystery. To the best of our knowledge the Counter Wheel is in fact real. Part of the reason it is not so well known is that the whole notion was not approved of for hundreds of years. That didn’t stop many powerful paranormals from creating objects in which they stored enormous amounts of power.

Also, records were not so well kept in the past, and fighting factions destroyed each other’s artifacts, so even though all of the objects that are assumed to be part of the Counter Wheel are believed to have existed at one time or another, whether or not they still exist is a pretty big question mark.

Of course all the experts who love the study of power and the study of history believe that the objects do still exist. Any one of them could be in someone’s home, and that paranormal might not even realize the value of the object, which could be sitting in a pile of junk just waiting to be found. Or one or more of them could be hanging on the wall of the president of Public. There are many options for where the artifacts could be. The Map Silver could have found them, except that the Map Silver was only just found itself.

No one knows what happened to the objects on the Wheel after the Nocturn War. Despite the demand by this publication and others for information, information was not forthcoming. We get an across the board message that the records were lost, which if you ask us is a lie.

Now, today, why is the Counter Wheel so important? The Counter Wheel is important because, as the name indicates, it can be used to Counter the magic on the Wheel, or in a pinch to fight the likes of Lisabelle Verlans, the out of hand darkness premier.

I paused in my reading and wondered at the Tabble’s boldness. I figured all they really wanted was to provoke Lisabelle, and if they succeeded in doing that, all the better. But then if they did truly succeed in provoking her, surely, at the very least, their offices would be destroyed. What kind of game were they playing?

I read further:

The Hunters are now desperately trying to find the objects on the Counter Wheel. Many believe it’s a Hail Mary effort but find it a fun exercise to watch. This publication will keep you updated about these objects, which may or may not include some of the items on this list:

Golden curl Cup

Golden slice Saucer

Golden break Barrel

Golden cut Cathedra

Golden explode Rod

Golden decimation Sling

The objects are all named with a surname of Golden, only exhibited in reverse, and they all have middle names explaining how they are destructive. It’s charming, really.

Later, I discussed the article with my friends.

“What I don’t understand is where you start a search like that. Some of the objects on the Wheel had known locations, or were at least known to have been stolen,” I said.

“There are theories about some of the Counter Wheel objects,” said Eighellie. “They’re just not that easy to find. Theories aren’t directions.”

“Where are these theories kept?” Keegan asked.

“In the archives, I’d expect,” said Eighellie. She looked back and forth between us.

Keegan rubbed his chin. “Let’s add it to the list.”

“Are you joking?” Eighellie said.

“Not if you have to ask,” Keegan mumbled. When she still didn’t get it he said, “I only meant to imply that we had a lot to do in a lot of places where we shouldn’t be doing anything. It was funny.”

“What else is there? This article sort of cuts off. What aren’t they talking about?” I said.

“Well, they could always try talking about the Wheel itself, but maybe that’s too easy,” said Eighellie.

“When we fought, we didn’t use a wheel,” I told her.

“I know,” she said, “but that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t have. A golden wheel is a famous symbol. It’s all over the place. What do you think they’re talking about?”

“Steering a ship?” Keegan said.

“Um, no,” said Eighellie. “That’s not even a little bit what they’re talking about, but please feel free to play again tomorrow and remain wrong.”

Keegan dusted a wood chip off his shoulder and onto Eighellie’s eggs. She scowled at him and picked it off.

“Are you ready to show us what you’ve been working on yet?” she said.

Keegan pretended to think about it while Eighellie’s face got very red. Remembering her recent panic about him, I thought I knew what was on her mind.

“Yeah, I am,” said Keegan eventually, an evil glint in his eye. “Tonight after dinner?”