Elemental Fate (Paranormal Public Book 12) (13 page)

Keegan came back to sit with us after he finished the clean-up, but he looked shaken. We quickly did the work she had assigned and cleared out as soon as we could. We each made a stop at our dorms, then we headed for the pond near the garden patch.

There had been a time when I thought I wouldn’t want to go near the pond because of the stories Charlotte had told, but as she predicted, in the end I found it comforting to be near it.

Regardless, we didn’t have a choice. Trafton wanted us to dredge the pond, and I had a feeling that whatever punishment he dreamed up was a whole lot better than whatever Professor Heather would have come up with.

Keegan was quiet for a couple of minutes as we walked over, then he said, “Why do you think Fallgrabber refused to punish us? Isn’t that, like, his favorite thing?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Between that and Professor Heather being such a nightmare, it was a bold move to just slam the door in her face.”

“It’s not as if he seemed afraid of her,” Keegan mused. “It’s just strange. Given how he started the semester, you would have thought he’d take that and run with it.”

I agreed.

“You really like the treehouse?” he asked in a sudden change of subject. “I can’t wait for my mom to see it. Parents and family weekend next fall is going to be great.”

I smiled to myself at the thought that Keegan was planning to come back next fall. It was with only a little bit of a shock that I realized I was as well.

We reached the pond and I skidded to a halt. Our entire Lightmare group was there, milling around as if they were waiting for something. It turned out that they had come to talk to us while we worked, so we could strategize for the evening. Once we had a plan, we’d break apart and gather whatever we thought we needed for the fight, especially anything particular to our own magic.

“Thought we’d come to you all for whatever you got into trouble with,” said Greek. “I’d help, but I assume you’re supposed to do this on your own.”

“I’d help, but I don’t like you enough,” said Hannah.

“I’d help, but I don’t want to dirty my nails,” Averett mocked.

Torace, who was in one of the other groups but happened to be walking past, stared at us.

“What are you looking at?” Fog demanded. Torace blushed and kept walking.

“That was so pleasant of you,” said Eighellie. Fog stuck her tongue out at the darkness mage as she sat down on one of the rocks near the edge. Hannah and Frances gathered on the same rock, but only after putting cushions down. I risked a glance at Averett, who was fighting hard to keep a straight face.

“This is ridiculous. I don’t know anything about dredging ponds,” Keegan cried.

The three of us stood at the pond with big rakes, plus gaiters that came up to our hips, all of which had been stacked neatly next to the pond as if waiting just for us. Who had put them there I had no idea. Eighellie looked the most ridiculous, since her gaiters were the most outsized for her small frame. Also, her blond hair was tied up in a bun so as to avoid any contact with pond water, and that gave her a most unusual look as well.

Our group had brought food and blankets to make their spectating more comfortable; clearly they thought this was high comedy.

“Be careful, you don’t want to slip in the water,” called one of viewers, but when I looked to see who had said it, several paranormals were smirking. The pixies were doing their best not to look entertained, but even they couldn’t help it. Candace was fawning over Greek, who was actually yelling suggestions to the three of us.

“You just rake the bottom. It’s a magical pond. It’s not as if it’s going to hurt anything,” he called.

“Does it look like I care if anything gets hurt?” Keegan muttered.

“Are these going to protect from me being cold?” Eighellie demanded. “Why hasn’t this pond frozen over?”

It was an excellent question, and one I had been wondering about since I’d come to see it the other day. The winter hadn’t been that cold, but it was cold enough that the pond should have frozen, and yet it hadn’t. There it stood, cold and gray-looking under the cloudy sky.

“Given that we’re at a paranormal college, my usual explanation for these things is magic,” offered Eighellie.

“What exactly are we looking for?” said Keegan, ignoring the darkness mage

“I guess anything of interest,” I said. “Maybe a medallion or a platter. Maybe another music box or an orb. Who knows? I bet there’s a lot of stuff at the bottom of that pond.”

We waded in one at a time. Eighellie looked like she was experiencing torture until she realized that it wasn’t really so bad. Meanwhile, Greek had started a discussion of that evening and what our strategy was going to be. “The main thing is that we all have to win together,” he said. “No one can go off and not compete, because then we’d be disqualified.”

“What are you looking at me for?” demanded Hannah, fluffing her hair. “Are you worried I’ll see through this stupid little experiment of theirs and not participate?” she smirked.

“You’ll participate or you’ll have the fallen angels to deal with,” said Candace, only caring because Greek had spoken first.

“Oh, is that right? The fallen angels aren’t so formidable now that Professor Erikson isn’t feeding all of you titles and honors that you DON’T deserve,” said Hannah.

Candace stood up, her eyes flashing. Hannah continued to sit and look bored until Greek made his fellow fallen angel sit back down.

“We’re all going to participate,” said Averett with finality.

“Oh, yeah? Says who?” demanded Hannah.

“Says me and the bats I’ll sic on Volans dorm if you don’t,” said Averett, matching Hannah’s bored tone with one of her own. Hannah appeared to pause at that suggestion. The vampire bats and owls were legendary, and legendarily scary.

“We need a lot of pixie dust,” said Fog. “It’s really the only magic that works in these sorts of situations.”

“Pixie dust it is,” said Greek, putting a hand on Candace’s arm to keep her from moving.

“We also need the proper clothing,” said Hannah.

“Outfits, if you will,” said Averett.

“Yeah, although how you understand such things I don’t know,” said Hannah, sniffing. Averett, unlike Candace, did not need to be restrained.

Meanwhile, Eighellie was paying no attention to the conversation; she was too busy trying to handle the huge rake, without much luck. Keegan and I were both moving slowly, but we were faring better than Eighellie. There also did not appear to be anything on the bottom of the pond.

“Fallen angels will bring healing abilities, of course, and we can fly, which could prove useful since the building isn’t finished yet,” Greek said.

“The building is tall. If I were in the Copper group I would use the height to my advantage,” said Candace. “I can fly, but what about the rest of you?”

“Excellent point, what about us poor defenseless VAMPIRES,” said Averett.

“I’m just saying we need a plan of attack,” said Candace. “A tree sprite can’t fly, after all, and neither can a darkness mage. Who knows about the elemental! Hey Ricky, have you controlled your essence yet?”

“Yeah, what about the Airlee and the elemental?” said Matthew. “You
are
on the list of sought-after paranormals, after all.”

I shifted uncomfortably; I didn’t like that fact being brought up. The reminder that we were really only safe in a few places, like Duckleworth and Public, was frustrating.

Suddenly Greek stood up and shook off his half dozen or so admirers. He pulled off his jacket and set it aside, then clumped down toward the pond. Without a second thought he waded in and moved quickly toward the struggling Eighellie. So preoccupied was she with not falling over that she didn’t even realize he was coming, so when he took the handle of the rake, she stuttered in surprise. Maybe at first she thought it was Keegan or me, but it hadn’t occurred to me to help her, especially given that the last time I had tried to help her she had kicked me in the shins. Judging by the look of surprise on Keegan’s face, it hadn’t occurred to him either.

Greek made raking the pond floor look easy. When Eighellie insisted that he show her how to hold the rake, he did so. Meanwhile, Keegan and I were still making our slow way along.

“Ah! Haha!” Keegan yelled triumphantly. He had found something at last. Everyone leaned forward to get a better view as he used his rake to bring up whatever it might be.

Eighellie and Greek stopped their private lessons to watch Keegan and Candace asked, “What is it?”

“Um,” said Keegan.

“Is it a pen?” I said.

“Um, maybe?” said Keegan, pulling the object off the rake. I had only been able to see the handle, but I could already tell it wasn’t a pen. In fact, it turned out to be a mug, totally covered in muck and slim and who knew what else. In short, it was gross.

“Charming,” said Hannah. “That mug is totally worth all of us sitting out here getting cold just to talk to you three.”

“You’re free to leave now that we have a strategy,” said Averett. “Goodbye.”

With that we split up, knowing we’d see each other soon for our first Cornerstone.

The bickering had mostly distracted me from the fact that there was nothing else at the bottom of the pond. Mostly.

A little later, Keegan came over to Astra and sat with me while I read the Tabble, trying to calm my nerves and failing miserably.

Rampant political battles are heating up and flaming all around us. In the absence of President Quest, mad grabs for power are taking place. The list is not short on possibilities or on fear.

If President Quest doesn’t return to her post soon (an eventuality that’s looking increasingly unlikely), then special elections may be held.

“At least that one doesn’t blame Lisabelle,” I said, feeling like my head was stuffed full of Dacer’s pink boa. Oh, lets be honest, any of his boas. We had now had two late nights in a row, and I still had a lot of studying to do. Professor Penny had decided, right when the first Cornerstone was due, to wake up and administer tests and examinations, as if we were actually supposed to learn something in his class. At least those were over now. Keegan steadfastly didn’t believe it, but Eighellie was slowly convincing him that we might just have to study. Meanwhile, all the students were subdued that day.

“I told Trafton we didn’t find anything in the pond,” said Keegan. “He didn’t look surprised.”

I spared a bit of attention to wonder what Trafton was up to. Whatever it was, we hadn’t found it for him in my mom’s pond. Then I was quickly distracted again.

We gathered that night outside the Skeleton Tower, as we’d taken to calling it. The other groups were also there, each group standing in a close cluster, all of them keeping away from us.

Greek was standing in front of the building, waiting for the rest of the Lightmare group to arrive. “All the groups are going in together,” he explained, standing with his hands hooked into his silver belt with a silver buckle. He reminded me of a really good-looking pirate captain.

“Do you think he knows he’s standing that way?” Keegan asked me, sounding awed.

“No,” I said. “Only half the school seems to mind.”

“Are we READY!” Dobrov came out from around the tower with a shout. He was dressed all in black, and the students crowded closer to get a better look at our president.

“Ready,” we chorused.

“The Copper are waiting somewhere in the building. This is their game, so they’ve designed it the way they wanted it. The goal of the night is simple: defeat them.”

Students murmured and shook their heads and fists. We weren’t allowed to bring props, as in, no brooms or magical objects, but some of the students’ clothes looked rather bulky. I wondered if they had simply ignored the rules, but it didn’t seem worth making a fuss over.

“Go!” Dobrov cried, stepping out of the way as a horde of students raced for the building. A blur of motion left Dobrov in its wake.

Once we were inside, the attacks came fast and relentlessly. The student body was filled with terrifying ability, and it was clear from the outset that winning this contest was going to be no small feat.

The groups split up immediately, spreading out in the enormous basement. We all rushed in thinking we’d have a few minutes to get our bearings and catch our breath, but there was no time. The Hellcat team rained blood, sparks, and fire down on us from the moment we passed under the first beam, creating chaos and causing countless screams.

“How did they know where everything was?” Eighellie gasped, ducking low as she tried to shield her head from the violent explosions of magic that surrounded us.

“Maybe they snuck out a night,” said Keegan. “It’s illegal, but they might have done it.”

“Who would do something illegal?” said Eighellie. “That’s just crazy talk!”

Keegan gave her a rueful smile. This event was a reminder that we were not the only ones who could play games and take advantages of opportunities at Public.

The Copper team was relentless in their attack. Flashes of magic just kept coming, and none of the other groups could evade them effectively enough to move away from the entrance, including the Lightmare Group. We had essentially been rendered motionless.

“This is ridiculous,” Averett yelled. “We needed more time to prepare, then we might have been able to try and kill these jokers, not just defeat them in a contest.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “We would have had to argue about whether we wanted to try and commit murder, and then Professor Penny would have fallen asleep.”

Averett smirked, but only for a second. Another massive explosion above her head wiped the look from her face.

“Wait, I have an idea,” said Eighellie, holding up her hand. “Is there a pattern to this power?”

Now that she’d said it, I thought she had a point. The attacks seemed to be evenly spaced, and the same colors kept exploding over our heads in the same order.

“Yeah, maybe there is,” said Keegan. “Are they even using their power, or are they somewhere up above laughing at us?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” said Averett. She motioned to Greek, who was bent low but kept looking around the pillar he was hiding behind, intent on finding any opening in which to move forward.

“What do you think?” he asked, racing over to us in a crouch.

Averett had to wait to answer until a fresh round of attacks had died down. Keegan took a deep breath and coughed. The air was filling with dirt.

“I think they set up some magic to go off when we came in, and they aren’t even here,” said Averett. “We have to get around it.”

“And then disable it?” Eighellie said.

Averett gave a cold smile. “No. If it’s going to keep the other groups in check, we shouldn’t disable it. Then we can hope that the others won’t be able to figure out a way around it. Why help them out?”

Eighellie opened her mouth to argue, because that’s what she did with Averett, but then she snapped it closed. “You’re right,” she said. “Let’s get around it and then destroy the Copper team.”

“I like it,” said Greek. “I like it a lot. Okay, team! Break!”

“I like the determination,” said Keegan, “and it’s good to have goals, but what about our lives?”

“We can’t just hide here until the game is over. If we do that, we’ll lose for sure,” said Averett.

“But we’ll still have our lives,” said Keegan.

“What is living without honor?”

“Is that a trick question?” said Keegan. He ducked low again, and this time a shower of red sparks came down on his shoulders. “Alright, that’s it,” he cried. “No more! I’ll distract them. You guys make a run for the stairs.”

“Where are the stairs?” Greek asked.

“Go around the corner to your right, then take your first left. Haven’t any of you been watching the construction as it happens?”

The answer to that was clearly no, but Keegan didn’t seem to notice. “Let’s go,” he bellowed, and without giving us a chance to say anything further he darted around the corner and away.

“What’s he going to do?” Eighellie screamed. “He can’t just go off without explaining his plan of action!”

Averett rose up a little to get a better view. “He just did,” she said. Then she cried, “Now!”

Keegan was a tree sprite, which meant that he could create trees anywhere. It also meant that he used acorns as hot little rockets, and his idea of preparing for this fight had been to gather as many as he could, no props be damned. Now he tossed them into the air in handfuls. Instead of just falling to the ground, they sped outward, zinging around in hot lines and drawing the attention of the attacking power.

“Go, go, GO,” Averett yelled. With the exception of Hannah and her cronies, who hung back a little, Lightmare Group listened to the vampire. Greek paused to say something to the laggards, and Hannah rolled her eyes until one particularly hot-looking acorn started zinging toward her head and chasing her around.

“Alright, ALRIGHT,” she screamed, racing after Averett.

Eighellie smirked, then grabbed my arm. “THAT is why I like Keegan, right there,” she said.

She had a point. Keegan was standing in full view, entirely exposed in the cavernous dark space. But a nasty explosion was gathering near his head, so he was forced to throw another set of acorns and then run away. We were out of time.

I raced after Averett, who was running through the dark corridor at breakneck speed. Greek was waiting by the first turn, helping us all through, directing us, and making sure we all made it. No paranormal would be left behind on his watch. “Go,” he yelled to me as Eighellie raced through first. I nodded once in gratitude and kept going, knowing that if I stopped now I wouldn’t make it.

“I’ll get Keegan,” he yelled after me. We all had to finish, after all. Keegan couldn’t sacrifice himself, and given how ruthless this attack was, I didn’t think any of the Lightmare team wanted him to. I nodded toward Greek as smoke filled the corridor, and he disappeared just as I reached the stairs.

The stairs were dark and close, and each landing had a door. I raced blindly upwards, even though I couldn’t hear my group because of the noise of the explosions. I ran and ran. The stairs were crude, waiting for the next layer of finishing, but they were solid and sturdy. I caught up with Eighellie, who glanced over her shoulder at me but then kept going. Now I caught a glimpse of some of our teammates ahead of us, but none of us stopped. I spared one glance over my shoulder to see if Keegan and Greek had caught up, but they were nowhere in sight.

On the next landing was an open space where Averett and the others had gathered to wait for us.

I was breathing hard. “Why are we stopping?” I said.

“This was the first landing with an open door,” she explained. Her eyes scanned my face, then she looked away. “It’s not exactly a good sign.”

A pit formed at the bottom of my stomach. What she was saying was that this was the only place where we could get through, so someone had obviously wanted us to come through this door. The only light was the tiny glow from our rings, so we would be traveling blind.

“What do we do now?” Hannah demanded. “We can’t just stand here. We’re more like sitting ducks than we were before.”

“If you’re so unhappy, why don’t you go see if you can get any of the other doors unlocked?” Averett said, glaring at the pixie. Hannah had dressed in stylish fight clothes, the sort that you wear in public to be seen in, not to go to battle in. Averett was clearly sick of her and her complaining, and she didn’t care if the pixie knew it.

“I’m sure that if you tried the door and it didn’t work, it won’t work for me either,” said Hannah.

“No, do you think so? Are you sure? Because, I mean, you’re an important and powerful pixie, so the door should really just open for you.”

I stepped forward and put my hand on Averett’s shoulder. “Not now.”

She nodded without looking at me and said, “We have to make our way through this level, and when we’re not busy getting killed we have to make the Hellcats seriously regret that they ever existed.”

“We’re going to have the best Ring Race ever,” said Matthew.

Suddenly Torace, who was not in our group, tumbled in from the stairwell. He was closely followed by a girl with curly brown hair whom I had seen around campus but didn’t know much about.

“What is WRONG with you?” she was yelling at Torace. I had some sympathy for the pixie, who seemed to be getting yelled at every time I saw him.

“One, I don’t chew my food long enough. Two, my feet smell after a long day. Three, I have a tendency to repeat stuff people said that I shouldn’t. Four, I argued with my mom once three years ago . . .”

“You forgot that you talk too much,” cried the brown-haired girl.

“No I didn’t, that’s number seven. Does that mean that one of your vices is that you interrupt?” Torace asked, blinking his large, nearly white eyes. He was a very strange-looking pixie; he must have had some faery in him. His voice was low and husky and reminded me of the Oggles. Now he turned around to see all of us staring at them. “Oh, hi,” he said.

The brown-haired girl scowled at us. “Well, we’re clearly alone. If you want to win, you might as well go on with getting rid of us.” She stamped her foot, her curls shaking a little.

“We’re kind of busy trying to beat the Hellcats,” said Averett. “Can you help us with that?”

The brown-haired girl looked at Torace. “I’d have an easier time of it if I wasn’t saddled with this one,” she said, “but yeah, I can try.”

It turned out that the girl’s name was Tules and she was a pixie. She hated Hannah and Hannah clearly felt the same way about her, because my group-mate turned on her heel and walked away as soon as Averett offered to help Tules and Torace.

“This is awful,” Hannah stormed.

Averett just rolled her eyes. “Don’t mind her, she thinks she’s important.”

Tules nodded. “Oh, believe me. I know.”

“What do you know? Did you see Greek?” I asked. “Or Keegan?”

“The gorgeous guy and the tree sprite? Yeah, they were down there. That’s how we got away. They were distracting the magic, and we saw you all make a break for it. We tried to get in another door, but it didn’t work.” She gave Torace another dirty look, as though it was somehow his fault.

“I was trying to tell Tules that I heard them saying rumble floor,” said Torace. “I was trying to tell her, but she didn’t listen.”

“There’s no such thing,” said Tules. “Besides, where would they even do something like that?”

Averett glanced over her should at the dark space beyond us that we hadn’t yet tried to explore.

“I have an idea,” she said, her voice suddenly filled with concern. All of us exchanged looks.

“Rings ALOFT!” Averett yelled in a rarely used demand for light. All of us held up our rings, illuminating the darkness beyond.

“Um, it just looks like a floor,” said Hannah. She was holding her ring up, but she looked skeptical.

“Looks can be deceiving,” said Eighellie. “Just look in the mirror.”

Hannah gave my friend a sour look. Eighellie had recovered from her mad dash up the stairs and was now eyeing the floor, looking for clues or weaknesses.

“This is stupid,” said Fog. “I’ll go check it out.”

“No,” Eighellie yelled, but Fog wasn’t going to listen to a mere darkness mage. She strutted forward, seemingly forgetting that downstairs a massive attack using magical powers was still under way.

Averett’s head snapped around to me. “If Fog wasn’t risking us losing, I’d say I’m about to enjoy this.”

Before I had a chance to respond, an earsplitting scream ripped the air. Unfortunately, Fog’s terror was nearly drowned out by fresh explosions from below.