Elemental Fate (Paranormal Public Book 12) (11 page)

“Sure,” I said. “I could study, but why would I?”

“So that we can graduate and become useful senior paranormals?” Eighellie threw out there. “It’s just a suggestion.”

“Oh, that’s crazy talk,” I said, then grinned as she rolled her eyes.

“After we see whatever it is you have to show us, we should go to the Long Building,” she said. “I’ve figured out some stuff about Hunters.”

“Great,” said Keegan. “A fun-filled evening it is.”

Eighellie had made a good point. If the information about the Counter Wheel was anywhere on campus, it would be in the archives. The library was a possibility, but the librarians tried very hard not to restrict students from accessing any of the library’s materials, so all the important papers and books were hidden away in the archive, where students couldn’t get at them. Even less of a coincidence was that the archive was in the same place as Dobrov Valedication’s office.

That afternoon, after my last class, I wandered down to the pond. The place held special meaning for Charlotte because she had seen Mom there, which was why I had never visited. I was afraid of what I might see.

The brown house that stood nearby and that had once been President Malle’s had been demolished. In its place was nothing but a patch of brown dirt. Stones marked each corner of the patch, which made it look as if someone planned to plant a garden there.

I sat down on one of the large rocks near the pond and stared out into the water.

“What are you doing out here?” Trafton’s voice was very close behind me, and I was chagrined that I hadn’t heard him coming.

I stood up, spun on my heel, and shrugged. “I had some free time. Charlotte’s told me a lot about this place,” I said.

Trafton nodded. “The pond certainly has power.”

I nodded, unsure what to say. I didn’t know Trafton very well, and I had always been close to Lough, his rival. Now that the dream giver was a professor here, I didn’t really feel comfortable asking him questions.

“How are you liking Public?” Trafton asked after a couple of uncomfortable minutes of silence.

“I like it,” I said. “It’s not your average college experience, that’s for sure.” But I didn’t know anything else, I added silently, so how could I really tell?

“It’s different from when I came here,” he said. “When I was here everything was carefree. I mean, not entirely, of course; there were the Nocturns hanging over us, after all. But there wasn’t an immediate history of pain as there is now. There wasn’t so much revenge and blame in the air. Public was an institution and a respected one. Now everything has changed. To see Public just scraping by, to hear about the oversight board not approving Dobrov, it’s all disheartening,” he said.

“At least Dobrov’s still here,” I said. “At the end of last semester none of us were sure if he’d be around when we got back.”

Trafton shook his head. “You’re right, that’s a plus. I didn’t see Public last semester, but I’m sure it was in worse shape than it is now.”

“They taught a lot of theory,” I grumbled.

Trafton chuckled. “I did hear about that, and about how bored the students were. What do you think I’m doing here?”

“They brought you here to liven stuff up?” I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. Trafton was flamboyant in a way that Professor Penny, just for example, was not.

“Of course they did,” said Trafton. “How am I doing?”

I glanced at him and he winked at me. He was teasing me. Charlotte had probably told him how mad I’d been about all the theory classes.

“No, there are other reasons I came back to Public,” he said. “After what happened to Sip I felt it necessary to return to the elementals. It was a last minute decision. I don’t know if you realize this, but the paranormals are still recovering from the Nocturn War. There are not many centers of power or paranormal strongholds, and the Hunters are a far more deadly enemy than the hellhounds ever were.”

“How do you figure that?” I asked.

Trafton shrugged his broad shoulders. “True, we didn’t know who the darkness premier was a few years ago, but if you saw a hellhound or a demon you ran. You recognized your enemies, and for the most part they wore a different face from yours. Sure, some paranormals mistrusted others, but not on this grand scale.

“You’re saying that the Hunters are all hidden?” I said.

“Right in plain view,” Trafton confirmed. “For example, last semester was proof enough that there are Hunters operating on campus and in the villages, but since they look just like us, unlike hellhounds, it’s hard to tell who they are. Yeah, Camilla Van Rothson was evil, but we all knew she was evil because with her there was no hiding it. As far as I can tell, the only paranormals on campus that we can confirm are evil now are the Burble siblings, and sadly that’s just four of them.”

“They sure are evil, though,” I muttered. Trafton smiled.

“I’m sure Dobrov and my sister are glad to have you back,” I mused. “Dream givers are rare, and I don’t care what anyone says, you’re also powerful.”

Trafton gave me a bemused look and said, “Yes, we are. We can even direct coaches out of the sky.” He stood up and stretched, glancing at the lake. “It’s peaceful here. It’s a wonder more paranormals don’t come here more often.” With a wave he strode away, back toward some of the main campus buildings. He had given me a lot to think about.

I sat by the water, staring into the motionless pond long after I should have left.

That night Keegan was waiting for Eighellie and me outside Airlee, where we had agreed to meet after dinner. As usual, he was covered in wood chips.

“Are you trying to start a new style or something?” said Eighellie. “Wood clothing by a tree sprite?”

“You should stick to your strengths,” said Keegan. “Which don’t seem to be advertising.”

“Lead the way,” I said. It was still winter and too cold to spend more time outside than we had to. I wanted to get going.

Keegan nodded and turned on his heel. We passed several other Airlee students, most of whom were on their way to the library. We had more homework than last semester, so it made sense that people were buckling down. I hadn’t realized how easy the professors had gone on us up to now. After everything that had happened, I guess they wanted to make sure we could handle a college load before they dumped the real world onto us. For the first time, I was missing last semester.

Eighellie rubbed her arms. She was often cold, and unless she was going to the Long Building she didn’t like walking around at night, either.

“How much further?” she asked. “Tell me, tell me!”

“We’re heading for the trees,” I told her. They were about a hundred yards in front of us on the far side of a field. We had moved away from all the Public buildings at this point, and when I turned my head to look, all I saw were lots of lights winking at me, and the new tower that was under construction.

Keegan glanced at me and grinned. “You know what I’m up to?” he said.

“I have a guess,” I told him.

“What’s your guess?” Eighellie demanded. “Tell me.”

I grinned at her and shook my head. “Nope. I don’t want to spoil it for you.”

“I’ve been wracking my brain and I haven’t come up with anything!” she complained.

We kept walking toward the forest, and I felt as if the darkness wasn’t as fearsome when my friends were there. Once we were among the trees Keegan relaxed, his shoulders easing and his step lightening. He was happiest here.

Then Eighellie gasped. We both halted and instinctively came together. “What is it?” Keegan said hoarsely.

“It’s a TREE HOUSE, ISN’T IT!” Eighellie squealed, her eyes lighting up. “You built a tree house all by yourself!” She was yelling and nearly bouncing around in her excitement. Keegan interpreted her relief as happiness that it was something cool he was doing, while I knew it was mostly something else entirely.

Keegan chuckled. “I sure did.”

“Come on,” she said. She grabbed his arm and started moving in the direction where he’d been heading. “I want to see!”

Keegan glanced over his shoulder at me and shook his head, while I just laughed. “Let go of me, it’s this way, anyway,” he said, untangling Eighellie from his arm. She was still bouncing around with excitement as he led the way through the dark forest, while I was taking my bearings and realizing that we were still pretty close to the Long Building from here.

When I had imagined Keegan building a tree house, I hadn’t thought it would be anything fancy, I expected it to be something small and functional. Also, I didn’t think I’d be able to spot it unless he pointed it out to me. Camouflage was necessary if you were going to be out in the forest by yourself.

As it turned out, I was right on one count but not the other. When we reached the biggest, tallest maple tree in the forest, with branches stretching up so high I couldn’t see the top even when I craned my neck backwards, Keegan stopped.

“It’s up there?” Eighellie gasped. “How do you get all the way up there?”

“Rope ladder,” said Keegan.

First he made sure we were far enough away from the tree that when the rope ladder came flying down, neither of us got brained by the heavy wooden rungs. Then he touched the tree and stepped back himself. The ladder fell in a rush, then swung gently against the tree’s bark a couple of times before it stopped, almost as if it was waiting for us to use it. Which maybe it was.

“You go first,” Keegan said with a nod to me. “Eighellie’s so excited she’s liable to fall off if she tries to go first. When you get up there, help her up.”

“I’m not helpless! I don’t need to be led around like a ninny,” Eighellie argued.

“Of course not,” said Keegan dryly.

I headed up the ladder, my hands gripping the rope firmly. It felt good to climb something and use my body. Public so far had been a very non-physical experience, and my reaction to climbing Keegan’s ladder made me think it would be good to change that.

Halfway up I had to stop. My arms were burning and my hands felt raw. The air was cold and clear and I took a second to breathe it in.

“Good thing you aren’t afraid of heights,” Keegan yelled from below. I turned around to glare at him over my shoulder, but he did have a point. I kept climbing. The breeze blew around me, excited to have me so high up and reminding me that since I controlled wind, it didn’t really matter if I felt some fear when I was high among the trees.

It wasn’t until I was nearly at the top that I had a good view of Keegan’s treehouse. It took my breath away. We had been back at Public for about a month at that point, and the progress he had made was remarkable, although I supposed he might have used some of his powers to help.

The tree house roof was a canopy of very tightly woven branches that Keegan had clearly bent to his will. The leaves hung low, creating an overhang that blocked most of the wind and rain, while still allowing light in.

The floorboards were solid. To my right was a door with a glass panel, far prettier and fancier than I would have thought Keegan would choose. To my left was a kind of overlook, but not a relaxing porch. No, this overlook had a high, solid railing, and what looked like two telescopes set up along it. Keegan was prepared for a battle. He had designed this place with defense in mind.

“Eighellie’s coming up,” I heard Keegan’s voice call faintly from far below. I turned to look over the railing and caught a glimpse of Eighellie’s hair, which was so blond I could see her even from this high up. She was climbing steadily, the rope shaking a little every time she made any progress.

“Keegan, this is amazing,” I yelled down, and heard my voice echo off the trees.

“I know,” he yelled back.

I shook my head. Keegan was hard to compliment, mostly because he believed, rightly so, that if he chose to do something he would do it well. And he had. This was the perfect lookout, and I had a hunch that what he was going to end up seeing from his perch would surprise both of us.

Eighellie took a long time to reach the top. She was shaking and her eyes were wide when her head appeared above the edge of the platform. After a split second I realized that she wasn’t going to get off the ladder on her own, so I took her arm and tried to help her sit on the edge. But the edge was no place for her either; she immediately crawled away to the center of the floor. Her eyes were wide and her hands felt cold.

“That was terrifying,” she said. “Just terrifying.”

Then Keegan poked his head over the edge and climbed onto the platform. He must have basically run up the ladder, putting his two friends to shame. “Hi there,” he greeted us. “That was fun.”

“This place is awesome,” I said. “I don’t think Eighellie liked the climb, though.”

Keegan looked at her with concern. “Come in and I’ll make some hot chocolate,” he said.

Eighellie leaned on his shoulder as he helped her inside, where we discovered that the interior of the treehouse was just as impressive as the outside. The door was made of a solid, tan-colored wood, and the room had been built in such a way that the trunk of the great tree stood right in its center. Keegan said that was the safe way to design the space, then started rattling on about advanced acorn defense systems.

“And another thing,” he said, not yet moving further into the room than the doorway.

Eighellie held up her hand. “Hot chocolate. Now, please, then you can keep bragging.”

“Oh, right,” said Keegan. He disappeared around the center of the tree trunk – yes, it was that wide – and yelled for us to follow. When we did so, we saw that there wasn’t any furniture, just a couple of old cushions thrown on the floor to sit on. Keegan explained that he had borrowed them from one of the storage areas in the Long Building.

“I’d need help to get anything else up here,” he said, eyeing us.

“I’ll help,” I said. “This is the coolest, most awesome thing I’ve ever seen.”

Keegan beamed.

Eighellie was more measured in her response, but with both of us looking at her expectantly, she was backed into a corner.

“Oh, alright, I’ll help too,” she said, rolling her eyes just to show she didn’t really approve. “But what if you get caught out here?” she asked. “This has to be way out of bounds. What if Fallgrabber finds it?”

“I have everything set to attack anyone who isn’t you two,” said Keegan proudly.

“Oh, good. Really good. That’s going to go super well for you,” she said.

Keegan shrugged. “I can’t stand Airlee and I want to be in the trees,” he said. “Besides, I figure that at some point there will be more Paranormal Strange on campus, and we’ll need a place to live. I want this to be that place. All the other dorms reflect the types. I mean, look at Cruor Dorm. It’s a haunted house in the middle of campus. They have owls and bats and fire birds. Astra has its own essence. We don’t know what the pixies have, because who wants to be bothered with them, but I’m sure they have something. Maybe their very own way to churn out dust.”

Eighellie looked like she was deep in thought, then she nodded. “You have a point, I guess.”

“Thank you,” said Keegan. “And it’s not like this place is easy to find. I know I’m not being followed. I think of it as a safe haven.” He handed each of us a steaming mug of hot chocolate that he’d prepared on a sort of heated kettle. The mugs were cracked, more products of his Long Building hunt.

“This place is great,” said Eighellie. She took a sip of hot chocolate and grinned. “And so is this hot chocolate.”

“It’s only the beginning,” Keegan assured us. “It’s only the beginning.”