Elemental Light (Paranormal Public Book 9) (19 page)

I sat reluctantly.

“The situation with the demons worsened,” she explained. “I couldn’t just sit by while paranormals were left to die. It took Caid and the council far too long to recognize the problems the demons were causing, and by then hundreds if not thousands of paranormals had died, including your family.”

It was like she had stabbed me.

“Don’t talk about my family,” I said through gritted teeth, wondering what I was doing here and why I even bothered expecting adults to help in this battle.

Mrs. Swan bobbed her head slowly up and down. “Very well, but there had to be a system, a group of paranormals willing to work to help others, even at great cost, and I wanted to be on the front lines.”

“So, you think flouting paranormal laws instead of working within the system’s the way to go?”

Mrs. Swan raised her eyebrows, but she didn’t seem to take offense at my rudeness.

“Darkness calls to darkness,” she said. “So long as that was happening and President Caid was leaving the paranormals unprotected, yes, I was willing to do whatever was necessary. The president thought the Power of Five would protect paranormals who weren’t under the umbrella of protection that places like Public, the Circle, and Locke offered, but it didn’t. Caid didn’t care. He let them die, Charlotte,” she said, her voice rising in anger. “I couldn’t sit back and watch that happen.”

What she said made sense, but her disappearance still irked me.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Mrs. Swan shrugged. “I didn’t know you very well, I didn’t know what direction you would take or what direction we would take. I simply had to disappear, and I hoped you would understand. I knew you didn’t need me at Astra, not really. The place has enough of its own secrets.”

“That’s true enough,” I muttered, thinking of Sigil in the library at Astra dorm.

“Speaking of secrets,” Mrs. Swan said, standing up, “there’s someone who has been at Public who wants to speak with you. But before I call him, is there anything else I need to clarify for you?”

My heart soared with images of Dacer and Trafton. I missed both of them desperately, and I was miserable at having no way to get word from them, or to them.

“You want something from me,” I said. “Are you going to tell me what it is?”

Mrs. Swan smiled. “I just want you to do what you think is right. I know in my heart that you and I have the same beliefs.

I swallowed. I really wasn’t sure that was true, especially if she ever found out I still believed Lisabelle was good. But when I said nothing more, Mrs. Swan gave me a long look, then walked over to the tent flap and unzipped it.

Dobrov Validification, his skin smooth and his eyes bright, stepped into the tent. The torches flickered and I saw that in his hands he held a wooden box.

Chapter Seventeen

The last time I had seen Dobrov he had looked, well, puny. He had been scared of his vicious, violent, and downright crazy twin sister, and as a hybrid, a cross between a darkness mage and a vampire, he had looked like a small, over-boiled cabbage.

Not anymore. Dobrov Validification looked good. Not Trafton Rooks good, but good nonetheless.

I felt my jaw drop as I continued to stare at him.

“Hi,” he said, glancing at Mrs. Swan. “Heard you might be here.”

He came over to her desk and set the box down on it.

“Yeah,” I said, knowing my face must reflect the shock I felt. “Can’t say I heard the same about you.”

He smiled at me, meeting my eyes. There was something different there. He was determined, and some of his boyish fear was gone. He almost looked like my friend.

“You’re in cahoots with Mrs. Swan?” I whispered.

Dobrov shrugged. “I’m on your side,” he whispered back. “So, I’m ‘in cahoots’ with whoever helps you.” He winked at me.

“Thank you Dobrov,” said Mrs. Swan, coming over to us. “I appreciate your help in this matter. Charlotte, this is your box, isn’t it?”

I looked at the smooth wooden box that had belonged to my mother, running my hand over the surface and feeling the wood, knowing my hands were touching places where hers had been. In the center of the box’s lid was a thistle design, the symbol of Queen Ashray of the elementals, and also a founder of Public. Ours was the oldest dorm on campus for a reason. Queen Ashray had been a tireless crusader for the paranormal and especially the elemental cause. I loved this box because my mother had loved it, and because I knew my father had given it to her.

“Now you can open it,” said Mrs. Swan, her eyes locked on my face.

I nodded, feeling my throat tighten. I had almost gotten used to the rush of emotions, the battles, the running. The death and the tiredness felt ingrained in my very blood, but my family, my mother - that was something different. A far more personal pain. Her loss would hurt even if I’d had all the sleep in the world. I wanted nothing more, but I didn’t want an audience.

“Do you already know what’s in it?” I asked softly.

“Of course not,” said Mrs. Swan.

I glanced up.

“But do you suspect?”

Mrs. Swan sighed. “You’re the elemental queen, Charlotte,” she said. “That ring you wear? That’s a royal ring. Your average run-of-the-mill elemental wouldn’t use it for power. We have suspected and hoped for years that that’s who you are.”

I’d have to ask Dacer sometime why he had never mentioned who I might be; surely he must have known. His specialty was artifacts, too, so he must have recognized the ring. Only now did it occur to me that there might be others who would understand its origin and its implications. I’d been blissfully oblivious all these years.

“Charlotte,” said Dobrov, “I brought the Key of Light.” He stuck his hands - I still couldn’t believe how un-burned they were - into the neck of his shirt and carefully drew out a simple chain, swinging at the end of which was the Key of Light. The Key was tiny like a doll, gold, with a matching chain. I could hardly imagine how something so delicate could open or seal any lock. Malle had searched desperately for it, and Dobrov had never handed it over. From his appearance I could only guess that Daisy had no idea how brave her brother truly was.

“I can’t believe you still have it,” I whispered, staring at it and knowing that in Dobrov’s hand was the answer to many problems, if only I had the bravery to take it. “I thought Daisy would beat it out of you.”

Dobrov smiled a little sadly. “My sister decided who and what I was years ago. I have changed, but her impression of me has not. It is difficult, since for a long time I have known that she interacts with me as who I am in her mind, and not as what is in front of her.” He shrugged.

Without hesitation he handed me the Key. Both Dobrov and Mrs. Swan were watching me, and I realized that I didn’t have a choice. I took the Key and examined the lock on the box.

“It won’t fit,” I said. They were completely different sizes. The thistle lock was much larger than the tiny gold treasure I now held in my hands.

Mrs. Swan said, “The Key changes form to open the lock,” she explained. “That’s part of its power.”

Of course it is, I thought.

Very well. I held the Key up to the lock, and sure enough I felt a deep power flow through me. I gripped the Key tighter, carefully inserted it into the slot, and felt it open the lock. My elemental powers rushed to the box, and I knew that only I could have opened it, I or someone else with elemental power, perhaps even royal blood.

With a blast of white light the box sprang open, revealing three compartments. The side sections each held a small trinket box. In the middle was something wrapped in teal cloth.

I felt Dobrov and Mrs. Swan lean over my shoulder, but I was trying to block them out of my mind and focus on what was in front of me.

I pulled the cloth-wrapped package out of the center compartment, and as soon as I touched it I knew what it was.

I smiled a little. My mother had wrapped it perfectly; such care had always been a point of pride with her. Unwrapping the other half of the elemental crown, I felt a warmth and a comfort, as if I was finally home.

That night I shared a tent with Sip. Lough had to share with Dobrov, which he wasn’t thrilled about but was trying to ignore. The oggles set up tents all around us. Mrs. Swan still clearly didn’t like the oggles’ presence, but there was little she could do about it.

I showed Sip the two halves of the crown, having tried very hard to get away from Mrs. Swan as quickly as possible after I’d opened the thistle box. I was falling asleep on my feet, and besides, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do for the council meeting the next night, and I needed some space to think.

“Wow,” said Sip, “that’s beautiful. Have you put them together yet?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m a little afraid to.”

“That makes sense,” said Sip, rubbing her eyes and yawning gustily, “but I know they’ll fit perfectly. It’s who you are.”

“Every time I think I know who I am, it changes,” I whispered. “It’s very confusing.”

Sip smiled and patted me gently. “I think what you’re doing is amazing. All of this, all this fighting, for Ricky, for paranormals. I’m honored to call you my friend.”

I smiled gratefully at her. Sometimes it felt good to be reminded of why we struggled against darkness. Gently I put both halves of the grown back in the thistle box for safekeeping through the night.

“Have you had any luck finding something that might help Lisabelle?” I asked as I snuggled into my blankets. They were camp issue and smelled faintly of the road and trees, but I was so tired I’d have slept on the bare ground at that point. I knew that Sip was still searching for a cure for our friend, but she hadn’t said anything about it until now.

“I need a better library,” she said, sighing, rolling over onto her back, and staring up at the dark ceiling. “I can’t find any literature about what’s happened to her. If I have to make it up I need better resources, like Public’s standard materials.”

“I wish we were at Public,” I muttered, running my hand over the wooden box again.

“Me too,” Sip agreed. “At least Dobrov got out. Why didn’t the rest of them?”

“They decided it was more important that they stay and fight,” I said. “Some of them probably didn’t have a chance, and as for Dacer, he would never leave his beloved Museum of Masks anyway. Dobrov used the same tunnel into Public that Caid used, and he thinks they didn’t know where the Mirror Arcane is. I have a feeling Martha would have had a fit if they had tried to remove it anyway, so Dobrov left and the others stayed to fight, another pocket of resistance in a losing battle.”

“We’re losing the battle,” said Sip, “but we’ll win the war.”

“I’m glad one of us is confident,” I said.

I wasn’t nearly as optimistic as Sip. Nothing was going right even when nothing was going directly wrong, and then there were moments like the one when I watched my best friend murder her own uncle in front of a crowd of people, and the despair was as overwhelming as if I’d walked into an ocean of tears and blood.

“In other news,” said Sip, “you’re a queen. So is Lanca. I have some mighty important friends. Do I have to bow, by the way? My knees are a bit sore at the moment and I don’t react well to authority.”

I threw my head back and laughed. “You could put that on a t-shirt.” I took another look at her and kept laughing. I laughed so hard that I started to cry. The absurdity of the notion made all the stress and worry melt away.

“No,” I managed to choke out, “I don’t think so. That would be ridiculous.”

Sip grinned. “You say that now. Hopefully the power won’t go to your head.”

“Hopefully.”

It was late that night, so late it was almost early, when I heard the tent flat unzipping. I waited several breaths for the intruder to get all the way into our tent. I was about to spring up when I heard Sip’s voice, “Don’t move or I’ll bite.”

A familiar chuckle reverberated softly around the walls and I rolled over to look at Lisabelle. Her pale face was barely visible in the dark.

She looked worse than she had just the night before. I tried not to show it, but worry raced through me.

“Hi,” said Sip, staring at our friend. She made no move to hug her, and I had to remind myself that this was the first time they had seen each other since what happened with Risper.

Sip and I sat down on her bed, while Lisabelle sat on mine. Sip asked, “How’d you get away?”

Lisabelle shrugged. “They’re very busy preparing to kill all the
paranormals. After tonight the Premier will be there for a couple of days, so I may not be able to get away again soon. I wanted to take my chance.”

“Well, Kerry Kettle Kettling teapots has a new make,” Sip said. “I’ve been checking in on it, but it’s been sold out for weeks. I bet it makes the tea perfectly. All the reviews have been glowing, like the tea kettle itself, I expect. I told my mom and dad that’s what I wanted for Christmas, but it never came back into stock. The waiting list is days long and they just can’t make them fast enough, not to mention the expense is ridiculous, but I’m sure it’s worth it. What could make tea better? It’d be like if you actually cared about how you looked and dressed appropriately and found something you loved.”