Elemental Shining (Paranormal Public Series) (11 page)

I chewed on my lower lip, thinking. Finally, I just said: “Sip, I don’t want you to get in trouble over me.”

Sip waved a careless hand. “If I get in trouble over any of my friends it’s definitely going to be Lisabelle. I’ve made my peace with it and I’ve chosen to put up with her anyway.”

“I love you too,” said Lisabelle.

Lough sat there looking like a lost little puppy who needed someone to say “I love you” to him as well. No one did.

“I have the Museum tomorrow afternoon,” I said. “Dacer will work me hard, and I need to spend the evening studying, but after that might be a good time to starts.”

“I’ll meet you there,” said Sip. We both looked at Lisabelle, who shrugged.

“I’m tutoring,” said Lisabelle. “But I can go afterwards.”

“Really, who lets you near impressionable minds?” Lough asked.

Lisabelle grinned. “I’m very good at what I do.”

“Oh, I know,” he said, his face becoming red and shiny. Sip leaned over to him and I heard her whisper. “Just don’t look directly at her. That might help.”

He gave a brief nod and took in great gulps of air. Time away from Lisabelle had only increased his attraction to her. Maybe by Christmas he would be able to be in the same room with her without hyperventilating.

But at least she didn’t notice; her head was still firmly stuck in the sand. Quicksand, apparently.

“So, wait, let’s review,” said Sip. “Clarity is key.”

Lisabelle rolled her eyes, but she didn’t interrupt.

“The deans don’t want you to use anything beyond basic elemental magic, because if you dampen your magic now, you’ll be able to do so later if necessary. You want to use advanced elemental magic to protect yourself against future demon attacks, so at designated times you will practice forbidden spells in the Long Building. Yes?”

“Right,” I said. “Makes me sound brave somehow, but I’m not.”

“Sure you are,” said Lisabelle.

“I don’t feel brave,” I muttered.

“Don’t worry,” said Sip. “You’ll be fine.”

Lough stood up and grinned. “Bring on the fall semester.”

“Yeah,” I said glumly, all my excitement from earlier having drained away. “Can’t wait.”

It was getting late. Soon I would need to head back to Astra, so that I wasn’t caught out past curfew.

“Excuse me,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I have to go defy authority. Again.”

“That’s the spirit,” said Lisabelle, pumping her fist in the air.

Lough just looked confused, while Sip said, “Lisabelle, don’t encourage her. I can’t deal with two people who behave like you.”

“Oh please,” said Lisabelle. “There will never be two of me.”

“Life’s little blessings,” Sip murmured.

I glanced outside. There was a clear night sky, with a million stars twinkling against a black backdrop. It was stunningly beautiful, but I couldn’t help but think that somewhere, maybe not very far away, were the Knights of Darkness, drawing ever closer.

When I returned to Astra after saying goodnight to my friends, Mrs. Swan greeted me with a cup of hot chocolate to celebrate everyone’s first night back on campus. After that I fell asleep almost instantly and woke up the next morning feeling nothing but excitement at the prospect of my first day of classes as a sophomore at Paranormal Public.

Of all my classes, I was sure that the History of Death with Risper would be the most fascinating, and after that I had the Museum in the afternoon. I hardly had time to worry that Keller had spent his first evening back showing a perky and perfect fallen angel girl around campus while I had plotted ways to break the rules. Nope, I didn’t think about that at all, not even a little bit.

Before classes could even get started, though, the entire school had to meet on the Dash field.

“At least they’re giving us breakfast first,” grumbled Sip. “I get cranky without breakfast.”

We had decided to grab breakfast before the ceremony, though I knew a lot of other students would just roll out of bed and go.

“Why couldn’t they just do this last night?” Lisabelle asked. “It’s too early in the morning to be sitting outside watching poor Starters be nervous.”

“What are you talking about? You love watching people squirm,” accused Sip.

“Tired and hungry and still sharp,” said Lisabelle, condescendingly patting her roommate on the back. “Good for you.”

Sip rolled her eyes. “Someone give me tea. And a mallet.”

After breakfast we made our way to the Dash field. It was definitely the start of fall. The leaves blew across campus in sheets, tumbling end over golden brown end. It felt a little sad to be going back there when there was no more Dash, even though I agreed with the decision to spend the extra time on Tactical. Besides, it was a foregone conclusion that Keller would win Dash if they had it, so who cared anyway, I wondered. Speaking of Keller, I hadn’t seen him in the basement of the library, but he wasn’t much of a morning person so that didn’t necessarily mean anything.

Unlike the new dining hall, the Dash bleachers were filled with students.

“How did they get so many students to turn out for this?” Lough asked, yawning gustily.

“They did what any mature and intelligent adult would do when they wanted something from a bunch of college students that they knew would be unpopular,” said Sip. “They threatened us.”

I saw Vampire Princess Dirr sitting far at the top of the bleachers. She looked a lot like Lanca, small, pale, and stunning, with black hair that cascaded to her waist. She was surrounded by vampires. As a princess she had several bodyguards, and I was glad to see that, even if the image of Lisabelle killing everyone had only been a dream. Lough would say that dreams for paranormals had strange grains of truth to them.

I scanned the rest of the bleachers. It was comforting to see all the familiar faces, bundled up against the chilly fall morning. I saw Keller sitting with his fallen angel friends and waved, glad that Vanni was stuck down on the Dash pitch waiting to be introduced as a Starter. I figured she probably had something impressive planned for her debut, but at least she wasn’t with Keller.

The group of Starters looked a little different this year. There was a high proportion of vampires this semester, because word had spread that after last semester’s attack Public had done everything possible to protect its vampires, and that had led to an influx of applications. There were only a few fallen angels and a handful of Airlee students, but there were a lot of new pixie faces.

“Just what we need,” said Lisabelle, “more pixies.”

I nodded in agreement. Cale, my friend from home, was dating the queen bee of crazy pixies, Camilla Van Rothson. They had been together much longer than any of us had thought they would last, but she had sunk her claws into him and there was no way she was going to let him go without a fight. Now that she was back on campus, I knew he wouldn’t be allowed to even talk to me. I could see him sitting close to the pitch with Camilla and a bunch of other pixies surrounding him. His red hair was windblown and his head was tilted down so that he could listen to his girlfriend chatting into his ear.

The Starters were lined up in a row at one end of the massive field, while the deans and professors sat in a row in front of one set of bleachers. I hadn’t yet seen Professor Korba, the pixie professor, but now I picked him out as he sat sandwiched between the much larger Professor Lambros, also a pixie, and Professor Zervos. Our run-in with him the night before was still fresh in my mind, and being reminded of it cast a shadow over the morning.

Just as we were walking to our seats Professor Zervos turned around. His eyes caught and held mine instantly, burning through me like fire. I didn’t look away and neither did he. Our locked gazes were only broken when Professor Lambros leaned over Professor Korba to say something to Zervos and he was forced to bend his salt and pepper hair to listen to what she said.

So, he still hates me, I thought. At least I can count on some things. Then, catching Professor Dacer’s gaze, I grinned. He had seen the exchange between Professor Zervos and me and was giving me a sympathetic look, and just the sight of him cleared away the shadows again. Today his outfit looked like a painting, as if someone had literally painted a watercolor of a lake with lilies floating on it and printed it onto a suit, right down to his shoes. His hair was styled in an elaborate coif on the top of his head, in an eye-smarting shade of yellow.

“Wow, Dacer has cool hair today, huh?” Sip gushed, plucking thoughtfully at her own short and spiky locks. She was so blond her hair looked almost white. She always talked about dying it crazy colors, but she hadn’t done it yet. Lisabelle had told her that if she didn’t stop talking about it she would do it for her one night while Sip slept, and the werewolf wouldn’t like the results. Sip had countered that if Lisabelle did that she’d dye all Lisabelle’s black dresses pink. Stalemate.

To get to our seats we had to pass the pixies. The second Camilla’s eyes fell on me I knew I was in trouble. She’d gone a whole summer without being able to harass me, so the joy she must have felt at having me back in her clutches must have been overwhelming. Of course, Cale was nowhere to be seen. Camilla was only passive aggressive in front of Cale, instead of just plain nasty and evil.

“Excited for classes to start?” she called out as we got closer. “Lisabelle, planning on killing anyone this semester?”

“Maybe,” said Lisabelle sweetly. “I have a paranormal in mind already.”

“Just take your friends out past the protections. The demons will deal with you worthless lot pretty quickly,” Camilla sneered.

Camilla’s best friend Kia, who sat next to her, gave Lisabelle an innocent look. She said, “I really wouldn’t be surprised if she does kill someone this semester. She has no control. Just a menace, that’s what I say.”

“Thanks for chiming in,” said Sip. “I feel better already.”

Kia’s eyes turned cold and hard. She was small and greener than most pixies, with dark green eyes to match. “I’d be careful if I were you, little werewolf,” said Kia. “You have a lot of promise, but if you let the other Airlees drag you down . . . who knows what will happen.”

Sip stuck her chin out and glared. Through a clenched jaw she said, “Who do you think you’re calling little?”

“Pixies are supposed to be small,” said Camilla smoothly. “Unlike werewolves.” She raked her eyes up and down’s Sip’s short figure. “It’s really sad.”

The only seats left were at the very top of the bleachers, where no one else wanted to climb, and that’s where we headed. I was interested to see the Demonstrations this year. I had a feeling that after everything that had happened with the demons the previous year, all the Starters would be really good.

“What do you think of all the vampires being here?” I asked my friends.

Lisabelle glanced at the long line of vampires. “The more here the better. We need more darkness power here.”

“More?” Lough asked in surprise. “You’re advocating more magic that’s the same as the demons’ magic?” His surprise was plain as we sat down on our cold metal seats.

“Of course,” said Lisabelle, her eyes hard. “Fight fire with fire.”

“Just don’t go taking on the demons without me,” Sip cautioned. “I’d be angry.”

“Oh, the horror,” Lisabelle muttered.

“Doesn’t that guy have his own friends?” Lough growled as he watched Trafton approach. Watching Trafton was like watching a celebrity move through a crowd. Girls reached out to talk to him, touch his arm, shoulder, and chest, and giggle. He smiled and grinned, clearly reveling in the attention. He moved with an ease that even Keller didn’t match. But I still liked Keller better. He was just unassuming and kind. Trafton clearly assumed that he was good looking and sought after.