Elemental Shining (Paranormal Public Series) (23 page)

“Yeah,” said Lough. “I’m sure that once I meet Ricky he’ll say the same thing about you.”

I grimaced. I had emailed Ricky, but otherwise we’d had no contact. I figured it was all for the best. Give him as long as possible to enjoy his childhood before I had some tough things to explain to him.

“Let’s go,” I said, and we started running. I had no idea where everyone else had gone, and I saw no other students as we dashed toward the blaze. The light was coming from around the same area where the bonfire had been.

As we got closer the screams got louder, and as we rounded the last crop of trees the view sent shock waves through me. Students were running up the hill, away from the blaze that had grown until it was as tall as one of the houses on campus. Everywhere there were screams, and it looked like some of the students had been burned by the fire. All around me paranormals were shoving to get away.

Lough grabbed my arm in a painful grip and yanked me backward as a group of pixies ran past. They didn’t care if they hit us. One even stuck his elbow out and tried to hit Lough, but my friend was too quick for him.

“What is going on?” Lough asked no one in particular. “What happened?”

I ignored him. My eyes were scanning the area, looking for our friends. I knew they wouldn’t leave, so where were Sip, Lisabelle, and Keller? I would even have been happy to see Trafton in this mayhem.

Out of the smoke and acrid air I saw a small werewolf dashing toward us. It was too dark to see her eyes, but I knew it was Sip. When she reached us she transformed, instantly clothed. It was a trick I always found impressive.

“Are you both alright?” she asked, breathing hard.

“Yeah,” I said. “We are.”

“I guess this would be the wrong time to catch both of you and win the Tactical game?” Sip said.

“Yeah, because if anyone gets credit for catching them it’s me,” said Lisabelle, appearing on our other side. She had a long soot train across her cheek and her black eyes were blazing.

“What is that fire and who’s attacking us now?”

I looked back to the fire, but I couldn’t see any clue to how it had started. “Maybe it was just an accident.”

“No,” said Lisabelle. “It wasn’t.”

She started forward, Sip and me at either side. Lough hung back, helping students who had been knocked over by the blast. There was no sign of the professors anywhere, including Zervos. It was like they had vanished and the three of us were alone with the raging fire.

I was still looking around, seeing students running for safety while the fire continued to rage. It was swallowing everything around it, like a great black hole stained red. At the top of the hill leading back to the school I saw a familiar form, dark wings outstretched: Keller. I imagined he was helping heal any of the injured. Breathing a little easier, I followed my friends.

The three of us walked side by side, watching our flanks. The fire only seemed to get larger while the air got more cold and brittle, as if fall was racing toward winter right on this very night. Burning leaves blew around us, carried by a gusts of wind that whipped the fire larger.

“I think I see something,” Sip cried, squinting in front of us. As a werewolf she had exceptionally good eyesight, much better than either Lisabelle or I did. She danced forward, simultaneously trying to protect herself and get a better look.

“Oh no,” she murmured. “Oh no no no.”

The wind was blowing the fire away from us, giving us a better view of the charred and blackened earth around it.

“Care to elaborate?” Lisabelle asked. Her wand was already in her hand from the Tactical that we hadn’t finished.

“It’s a
body
,” Sip breathed. “In the
fire
. Someone is burning!”

“Who, who is it?” Lisabelle hissed, but I could already see. Daisy Valedication was lying prone in the middle of the fire, face down. She had been the one to cause the blaze.

“Well, that’s good, at least,” said Lisabelle as she started to wave her wand.

“How is that good?” Sip demanded. “One of the students is on fire.”

“She’s half fire anyway,” said Lisabelle. “Fire is like the one thing that couldn’t possibly hurt her. I have no idea what she thinks she’s doing, but I’m very sad to report that there’s no way she could be dead. She would use fire as a protective measure, not for harm. For a hybrid like Daisy, fire is a safety net.”

Somehow, hearing that she wasn’t dead made me feel better, but it didn’t explain what had happened, or why she was on fire.

 Then I looked overhead. The sky, already dark, was now an unfathomable black, blotting out the stars. I saw why instantly. Soaring overhead, against the barriers that kept them at bay, were hundreds of black and red shapes.

While I gaped at the demons, one of Daisy’s teammates, Kia, jumped out of the woods. We had been tricked, called by a fake fire, so that Daisy’s team could capture us, and it had worked beautifully.

Worse, the demons had returned to Public. Daisy had called them, so that she could win Tactical. The games had truly begun.

“Get Daisy,” I cried, darting forward. “Stop her!”

“No,” said Lisabelle, grabbing onto my arm and holding tight. “The fire is supporting the force field. She had the fire up first before the force field realized what was happening. She called the demons and now she’s protecting Public from them. We have to help her.”

“I thought the force field would just hold?” I said weakly. The sky, a teaming mass of evil, made me queasy.

“Don’t want to risk it,” said Lisabelle, her eyes on the sky.

“All of you inside,” Zervos’ voice rang out across the field. “Now.”

We looked around.

The professors had come back, their rings blazing as they ran forward in a line, all eyes directed upward. No one looked happy.

“She needs help,” said Lisabelle pointing at Daisy.

“What she needs is a good flogging,” said Zervos. “Now go.”

Reluctantly, we joined the stream of students heading up the hill. The fire was dying down and the screams had stopped. Daisy still lay on the ground, but the demons were clearly trapped on the other side of the barrier. They weren’t getting into Public tonight. Her performance had been incredible.

“I mean, we knew they were there somewhere,” said Sip. We could see Airlee in the distance now, warm and inviting as ever. “I’m just glad they’re finally out in the open.”

“The deans are going to kill Daisy” said Lisabelle. Her voice was ragged and there were dark circles under her eyes. It was now late and all I wanted to do was sleep.

“We have to talk,” I said tiredly.

“Yeah,” said Lisabelle. “Tomorrow. I need to return to our someone-vomited-Barbie bedroom and sleep.” She gave Sip a glare, but the blond werewolf ignored her.

“Are you all right?” Keller asked, rushing up to us. “All of you?”

I nodded. “We’re fine. It’s Daisy I’m worried about.”

“She’s going to be okay,” he said. “We have the best healers here.”

“I know,” I said, smiling as our fingers tangled together and held.

“Want me to walk you back to Astra?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Sip and Lisabelle together. I glared at my friends.

“You shouldn’t be alone,” said Sip. “I don’t care what you say, you’re liable to do something idiotic.”

“Yes,” said Lisabelle. “Agreed.”

The next morning I woke up groggy and worried. At least I hadn’t dreamed.

“Want to see the news?” asked Mrs. Swan as she came in with my breakfast. I had already decided to skip breakfast in favor of some quality time in bed, but apparently she had decided otherwise.

“Yes, please,” I said.

Paranormals communicated in various ways. There were the human ways of texting and email, but that was risky. There was also something called Tabble. Somewhere, at the governmental headquarters for paranormals, there were scribes who worked feverishly every night to write down the paranormal world’s latest news on a large roll of paper. As they wrote on that paper, the very same words appeared on the rolled tablets in the home of every paranormal. I had a Tabble in my bedroom, and while I had been busy tossing and turning in my bed, that morning’s news had appeared. It was something I hadn’t cared about last year, but now I thought it was time to start paying attention.

“There was an attack on another student last night,” said Mrs. Swan, as I sat up. She brought me the Tabble with my breakfast and I scanned it while I ate.

“Another?”

“Like the one that happened to Sip,” said Mrs. Swan. “Dacer went to the deans after the second attack happened.”

“Who was attacked?” I asked, breathless. “Was it the same man who attacked Sip?”

“They think so,” said Mrs. Swan. “A Starter was attacked late, in the library. Same thing. Hit in the head. The Starter said that the Shadow, as the deans are calling him, was looking through books.”

I shook my head to clear it. “So, Public has a Shadow and he’s looking for something? Then why was he in the Long Building?”

“Same reason he was in the library,” said Mrs. Swan, patting my hand, “He hasn’t found it yet.”

“And the demons are back,” I murmured. “That didn’t take long.”

“Not the best day, is it?” she asked, gently brushing a strand of hair away from my forehead. She could say that again. The curtains on my window were still drawn, and I was perfectly happy to leave them that way. I didn’t want to have to see the demons.

“What do you know about Elam?” I asked her, thinking maybe the Shadow and Elam were somehow connected. Mrs. Swan seemed to have an endless depth of knowledge about other paranormals, and I had come to rely on her for it.     

Now she gave me a bright smile. “Elam is a legend among legends for the feats he has accomplished and the treasures he has stolen that others didn’t even know were there. It is one of our greatest success stories.”

I stared at her open-mouthed. “You think a master criminal is a success story?”

She shrugged, still smiling. “Many have tried to catch him. It hasn’t been just Risper, though he has always been on Elam’s tail. Paranormals have tried and tried over the years, but they’ve come up with nothing. The rumors of him are legendary, but I have a feeling that the truth is even more so.

“He stole the Lonely Jewel right in front of the entire paranormal court. It was sitting there in the middle of the meeting hall, in the middle of everything, and the next second it was gone. He always leaves a mark, a flourished E, as he did on that occasion. He stole the ceremonial vampire crown out of the throne room. That created a massive ruckus and led to an increased effort to find him. I like to think that’s why he did it. He was bored with the same old same old and wanted more of a challenge. Angering every vampire in the world certainly provided him with that.”

“Wow,” I said. “What are the rumors of who he is?”

“There was a short period of time when Valedication’s name was mentioned, but that’s been disproved in any number of ways. Most clearly, because Valedication doesn’t have the use of his legs and Elam is known for scaling walls. Also, he was in different places at various times when the crimes were committed.”

“Is it possible there are several Elams?” I asked. “Instead of one master criminal, just a man who takes over the name of Elam when the last one is done?”