Elemental Fire (36 page)

“No,” I managed to finally
whisper. “No, it’s not true. I didn’t come to you to have you tell me that.”

Sigil handed me the book of
names. It was the one he had insisted on looking through instead of letting me
see.

My hands trembled as I handed the
Mirror Arcane to Keller. He held it gingerly, like he was afraid he would break
it. My bedroom was still mostly dark, but Sigil, sensing what I wanted, ordered
small flames into the candles all around. With my bedroom thrown into light I
opened to the bookmarked page.

I scanned down, but what I looked
for was immediately clear. Grace Lancing was listed as married to a Gregory
Hail. I had never heard the name before, but that wasn’t what made my blood run
cold. What made my blood run cold was that Grace Lancing’s name was crossed
out. It was done to shame paranormals. If you were killed in battle your name
received a star next to it. Only if you were considered a traitor was your name
crossed out of your house’s, or your husband’s house’s, ledger.

My tears quickly started to fall.
I don’t know how long I sat there, gently rocking back and forth as Keller held
me, the Mirror Arcane safe in his lap. I lost track of time as I gave in to the
pain, but when I looked up again, Sigil was gone.

I had finally answered some of
the questions about my mother that had always bothered me, but instead of
making me feel better, the answers had only made everything worse. And now
there were even more questions. The sweet release I had always wanted from
knowing what had happened might not come from knowledge, it might only come
from vengeance.

The President of the Paranormals
had told me to get all six artifacts. I was glad he had. Now I felt like I had
a purpose and a goal, instead of just “Learn how to be an elemental,” or “Avenge
my mother’s death.” Lough was spending his summer at the paranormal Police
Academy. Ricky wanted me home and I had promised I would visit. He had tried to
tell me that he would never turn into a fine young man without his big sister’s
good example, knowing full well that between the two of us he was the one who
set the example. It had at least served to make us both laugh. Vale was really
okay; she had been more or less brainwashed and ruthlessly threatened, and she
had just wanted to be around her kids because she hadn’t thought they were
being treated well. But she would never spend another semester as President of
Public.

It was now summer break. The last
Tactical had been canceled, as were finals (no one thought Korba would give a
good Decorating 101 final anyway), and I was waiting with Dacer, who had agreed
to accompany me for the summer. The summer between my freshman and sophomore
years at Public I had been on campus, working for Dacer, but this year he was
taking me to a library in Vermont. He said it was the oldest paranormal library
in the country, and a good place to start our search for the Globe White.

I looked back at Astra. My packs
were at my feet, ready to go. My dorm stood silently, with most of the curtains
drawn. Sigil was still in his library, since I couldn’t very well kick him out.
He had promised to look after the place while I was gone and to let me know if
Mrs. Swan returned.

Next to me my mentor sighed. He
had arrived with twice as many bags as I had. I didn’t know anything about
expensive luggage, but I was pretty sure Dacer’s was just that. He was busy
filing his nails as he waited for our car to arrive. As a vampire he could fly,
but it was hard in daylight and would have been even harder with all that
luggage.

“Are you moving or something?” I
teased him. He glanced at me and then returned to examining his hands. “A
paranormal must always be prepared.”

I laughed and looked to the sky.
We would be leaving any minute. I did want to go to Vermont with Dacer, but
Keller had a major hold on me and I didn’t want to be away from him. He had
wanted to protect me, but he couldn’t. I wished he could, but what I knew now
was that no one could protect me, and that was how my life was going to be from
now on.

Just as Dacer and I saw the car in
the distance I a heard a rustling overhead, then came the sweet smell of roses.
I turned my face upward and saw one wing, dark but somehow transparent, swoop
over us, then another.

“Mr. Erikson,” said Dacer dryly.
He wore a new rainbow-colored button down shirt and a navy blue velvet overcoat
with shining silver buttons. He jeans were dark and his shoes had silver
buckles. It was the most casual look I had ever seen on him. He stuck his
thumbs into the loops of his pants and said, “I don’t recall inviting you.”

Keller landed in front of us and
inclined his head. It was a sign of respect that he really didn’t owe, but
Dacer seemed to appreciate the gesture. “I want to go with her. May I?”

“Here I was thinking you wanted
to go with me,” said Dacer dryly. I grinned and stuck my face into the wind.
The colors of the sky were stunning, as if someone had plopped purple and
yellow down on a palette, then mixed them up and swirled them around.

My friends knew where I was. They
had offered to come with me, but I hadn’t wanted that. I just wanted Keller to
come and he was. I glanced down at our linked fingers, wanting a vision to go
along with the tingling feeling all up my arm.

Sip had taken my refusal to let
her come worse than Lisabelle had. I had braced for the darkness mage to yell,
but she had merely shrugged. She planned on spending her summer near Maine,
where she promised to look in on Ricky from time to time.

“I’m sure he will grow out of
whatever phase he’s in,” she said agreeably.

“You mean the phase where he
isn’t afraid of you?” Sip said. “I hope not.”

I saw Keller looking at me and
smiled warmly at him. The feeling I had when we were together was not something
I ever wanted to fade away or change. Now that he was back, I knew that. I knew
I would always love him.

“Your friends were pretty worried
about you,” he said, reaching his arm around my shoulders to pull me close.
“Something I realized this semester. . . .” He stopped, and frowned. “Loyalty.
It’s going to be important in the months and years to come. For both of us.”

I nodded. “Dacer said that our
best defense against darkness is loyalty.”

Keller laughed softly. “Not
love?”

“Dacer says that love can blind
you.”

“What else does Dacer say?”

I started to list stuff off on my
fingers, then realized he was teasing me. I stopped making my list and gave his
shoulder a playful shove.

Dacer turned around and quirked
an eyebrow at us. “We have the Globe White to find, do we not?” he said,
smiling. “And only a couple more years to find it in.”

Now I knew why I had to go on an
adventure. At some point, I would like to stop having an exciting life. I know
it sounds strange, but as I keep saying, I’m not special. Not everyone has to
be special. Sometimes it’s more important to just be happy. The things that make
me happy, I realized - Ricky, Keller, reading - those things don’t require an
exceptional life. They just require a little peace and quiet.

The
End

~

Also by Maddy
Edwards:

One Black
Rose Series

One Black
Rose

August

Autumn

Susan’s
Summer

Paranormal
Public Series

Paranormal
Public

Elemental
Rising

Elemental
Shining

Elemental
Dawn

Spiral
Series

Spiral