Elemental Shining (Paranormal Public Series) (9 page)

“I’m sorry, I’m not very good with names. Who are you again?” Her eyes were icy.

“You’re funny,” said the girl, attempting a laugh that didn’t reach her eyes. I turned around. Standing behind me was a very pale—though not as pale as Sip—girl with shoulder length brown hair the color of roasted almonds and brown eyes that were several shades darker than her hair. The combination gave her a strained and staring look, like she was perpetually spying on you.

If I hadn’t known know better I would have thought Lisabelle looked physically pained at her presence.

“Are you really a freshman now? Did monkeys actually start ice skating in hell?” Lisabelle asked pleasantly.

“Only on Tuesdays and Thursdays and with the devil’s full permission, of course.”

The girl continued to smile, her large white teeth making up half her face. Looking at this girl made me nauseated. Not because of something I ate, but because her skin was a strange reddish color, as if at some point she had washed in dried blood or been dipped in scalding water. The thought made me queasy.

“You must be the famous Charlotte Rollins,” said the girl, turning toward me with those strange brown eyes. “I’m Daisy.”

“No way,” said Lough, who until that moment had remained quiet and passive.

“Way,” said Daisy. “Sorry, what are you surprised about?”

“That someone as psychotic as you has a name like that,” said Sip. I was surprised my werewolf friend had come out and said it, but maybe she knew something I didn’t.

“Ah, well, I had to get it from somewhere. Nowhere better than dear old Dad,” she said.

“Do my eyes deceive me or is the famous Lisabelle actually looking worried?” asked Trafton, walking up to our table, holding his tray and grinning. Trafton was very good looking, with surfer blond hair and blue eyes. He also liked to flirt with Lisabelle, which made Lough furious, which was unfortunate, because Trafton and Lough were the only dream givers on campus and were expected to support each other.

I saw Lisabelle twitch and Daisy smirk. She liked that one of Lisabelle’s friends had called her out publicly for being afraid of a much smaller, boiled-looking girl.

“Not a good time, Trafton,” Sip gritted out.

“It’s so difficult to find a good time with you people,” said Trafton irritably.

“Maybe you should just assume it never is,” said Lisabelle, her voice hard.

“Anyway, I just wanted to come say hi. I’m sure you’ll see me again tomorrow at the Demonstration. Until then. . . .”

As Trafton talked, Daisy faded away into the background. It was only after she was gone that I remembered to breathe normally.

“Who on earth was THAT?” Lough asked in wonder. “And why does she look like a boiled red cabbage?”

Lisabelle stared after the small girl. She was quiet for so long I was beginning to think she’d been put in a trance, but finally she said, “That was Daisy Valedication, the only daughter of the only other darkness mage not in my family who has not joined the demons and President Malle. I didn’t think she’d come here. Her powers have always been erratic, and on top of being a darkness mage she’s half vampire. Her mother. Not sure how all that happened. It was a big scandal and very hush hush. Her father didn’t want her. He tried numerous times to get rid of her, and if the whole scandal hadn’t been so public, Uncle Risper thinks Master Valedication would have murdered her in infancy.”

“No wonder she’s a little nuts,” said Sip. “Poor girl.”

“No,” said Lisabelle harshly. “Not poor Daisy. She passed that point a long time ago. I really didn’t think they would let her in here.”

“Why? What did she do that was so bad? Did she advocate for President Malle?”

Lisabelle sighed. “No, I never heard that the two knew each other. But her father is a very powerful darkness mage, and hybrid vampires are always a little unbalanced unless they’re handled very carefully. How can you only be half undead, you know? You gotta be careful if you’re in a paranormal relationship. Mixing magics is dangerous. It can be done, obviously, but it’s not something you can take lightly.”

“Yeah, as far as paranormal mysteries go that is certainly at the top of my list,” said Sip.

I had never really thought about that. I was technically a hybrid, but it was a safe combination, whereas vampires were famously volatile and complicated. So were any mages who possessed darkness, which was a strange and evil substance that couldn’t be easily controlled. When it lived and mixed inside you, the dangerous combinations that could result were incalculable.

“She looks crazy,” said Lough, shaking his head. He was careful not to watch her walk away. She had gone to eat at a table by herself in the corner.

“Aw, poor thing,” said Sip, noticing the same thing I had. “She’s all alone.”

“She likes to survey the room,” said Lisabelle. “And make sure she knows all the escape routs.”

“That’s healthy,” said Lough.

We finished our meal quietly. At some point the deans arrived and made the regular announcements, mostly reminding everyone to join them on the Dash field in the morning for the Demonstration. Dash was canceled for that semester, to be replaced by Tactical. I was looking forward to Tactical, especially because we hadn’t had enough time for it the last semester and I wanted more practice.

Secretly, part of my joy at Tactical stemmed from my relief that Dash had been canceled. If it hadn’t been, I would have been forced to participate for Astra as a team of one. The embarrassment would have been unspeakable.

“Should we head back to Airlee?” Sip asked.

All the rest of us agreed except Keller.

“I told Vanni I’d show her around,” he said as we all gathered our trays and rose. “You’re welcome to come.”

I tried to hide my hurt feelings but I didn’t do that great a job. “No, um, we need to talk about stuff,” I said, tilting my head toward my friends. Mostly I wanted to talk to Sip, and especially Lisabelle, about how I could practice elemental magic this semester without getting caught, even if there was a “Map Silver” out there somewhere. The government had it, so how worried should I be?

“I’ll come by later,” Keller offered, watching me closely.

“Yeah, no, I mean, I’m really tired.” At least that was true. “I’m going to sleep when I get back from Airlee.” Also true.

Keller’s shoulders fell, but he didn’t argue. Once we had turned away Lisabelle gave him a Serves You Right look, but he didn’t see it. Then the four of us walked to Airlee in silence.

All around us as we walked, students were arriving for the start of another year at Public. Pixies rushed into each others’ arms and vampires floated on clouds of darkness. As Cale and Camilla walked hand in hand out of the dining hall, Cale turned around to give me a smile and a wave. But I couldn’t help but notice that he did it when Camilla wasn’t looking. Apparently we were back to the old ways when he wasn’t allowed to talk to me and he went along with it.

My friends and I made our way out of the library with the flow of other students. All around us there was laughing and giggling. Everyone was happy to be back and ready to start another semester. We had lost last year’s seniors, including Lanca, but she had promised to visit at some point this year, so I knew I would get to see her again. We had lots of freshmen and a few more transfers to walk around looking lost and asking questions.

“This is great, isn’t it?” said Lough happily. “Back on campus and sophomores now. We aren’t the Starters anymore. Everyone isn’t walking all over us.”

Just then a vampire almost ran over Sip. “Watch it, werewolf,” he hissed. “Mind your place.”

Before Sip could say anything, Lisabelle rounded on the hapless Cruor.

With her hands balled into fists at her sides as if she was ready to fight, she said, “Apologize. Just because she’s so tiny, pale, and translucent that she’s barely there doesn’t mean you can walk all over her.”

“How sweet of you,” Sip muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and planting her legs. Lough and I stayed behind, watching.

“Hey, Mage,” said the vampire, who I recognized as a junior, “I see you walking all over your friends all the time.” He was a big paranormal, at least six four, with broad shoulders and a blocky head. His face hung naturally slack and I wondered if he even knew what a smile was. “And your little friends might not mind when you order them around, but I do.”

Lisabelle stepped forward, until her nose was in line with the vampire’s shoulder. “Apologize. Or else.”

I don’t know what he saw in her eyes, but he only managed to stare her down for a few seconds before I saw a gigantic gulp. “Fine, whatever. Who cares anyway?”

“Sip?” he said, breaking Lisabelle’s gaze reluctantly, like he didn’t trust her enough to take his eyes off of her.

“Yes, Rake?” Sip said sweetly, folding her hands politely in front of herself.

“I’m sorry for almost running you over.”

“That’s perfectly all right,” said Sip, smiling.

“And just what is going on here?” a familiar and angry voice demanded from behind us.

“Oh, here we go,” Lisabelle muttered. “It just wouldn’t be Public if Zervos weren’t here.”

I turned around to greet the vampire professor. His eyes were bulging. He was furious.

“We were just having a nice chat and catching up with friends,” said Lisabelle without even blinking.

“You don’t have friends,” Zervos growled. “And you’re blocking the entryway.”

We were about ten feet from the doorway of the library now, standing in the circle of light from the building as other students flowed around us.

“Oh, you know, we just can’t hold in our joy,” said Lisabelle.

“Lisabelle,” Sip muttered. “Shut up.”

“Yes, Ms. Verlans, it really would be better if you learned some restraint,” said Zervos, his eyes sparking with malice.

“I’ll work on that, Sir Vampire,” said Lisabelle.

Zervos turned his gaze to me. “Still here, are you, Probationer?”

“Yes,” I said, raising my chin. “Of course.”

“You won’t last the semester,” he said. “Once all the hype over your being a supposed elemental wears off, you’ll get kicked out like so many other students who can’t hack it in the paranormal world.”

I didn’t say anything, but I was clenching my jaw so tightly that it ached.

“Until then I’ll have my eye on you. I do believe you are in a class of mine. Don’t think I’m going to put up with any of your nonsense,” Zervos spat. “Or that what happened to you last year in any way exempts you from the work you’ll have to do. I have no problem failing you.” With that he swept away, dragging Rake with him.

Not for the first time, I was very glad I wasn’t a vampire. Zervos lived in Cruor and helped keep order, and Lanca claimed he wasn’t so bad, but I didn’t believe it. Zervos might have saved my life first semester, but most vampires were nasty and Zervos was the nastiest of them all. He wouldn’t give anyone but some of the other vampires a break. He had now and then been nice to the pixies, but even that had stopped.

“Is it just my imagination, or does he suck even more this year?” Lisabelle wondered.

“You don’t have an imagination,” said Sip, grabbing Lisabelle’s forearm in a vice-like grip. “Come on, before you get us kicked out.”

“Why Sip, I didn’t know you were so strong,” said Lisabelle, letting her drag us off to Airlee.