Chapter Twenty-Four
Cries erupted around the room. The President, looking stricken, waved her hands for order. “Allow me to confer for a moment with my colleagues,” she ordered. Professor Zervos darted to her.
I yanked out of Keller’s grasp.
Turning back towards the room the President said, “Classes are canceled, and the school is on lockdown until this mad woman is caught. I realize that you are all young adults, but we still must consider your safety, and with Lisabelle Verlans on the loose no one is safe.”
At that Lough got up and stormed out. Keller grabbed my arm again and hauled me out the door. His fingers felt like steel rods biting into my skin.
The fact that everything had been going well for the past month made it even harder than it might have been to accept what was happening. I’d been looking forward to the end of the semester. The change in the weather as it started to get colder didn’t bother me. I had been working hard with Keller, and even though I hadn’t produced the kind of magic I had managed at midterms, I had been improving. Keller had started to seem slightly withdrawn, and that had been worrying me, but I had told myself that it was just stress from finals and from Dash.
The finals at Dash were for individuals, and Keller was one of them. He would be competing against Tale and Cale for the trophy. Lisabelle was supposed to be the fourth finalist, but given that she had been arrested, a senior mage named Nancy, who had been fifth in the individual standings, would compete in her place. Everyone would be there to watch.
Keller deposited me at Airlee and ordered me to stay there. I informed him that he had no right to tell me what to do, but he ignored me. After he left I examined my arm; bruises were already starting to form where his fingers had dug into my flesh.
A knock on the door startled me out of my anger. I yanked it open to find Cale standing there, hands shoved into his pockets, red hair flopping over his forehead.
“Hey Charlotte,” he said. “Can I have a word?”
My heart thumped in my chest. “Okay.” In an instant I made a mental checklist of anything visible in my room that might be embarrassing. Sip liked everything clean, so there wasn’t much. Relieved, I invited him to sit.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Fine.” It wasn’t, of course, but what was I supposed to say?
He cleared his throat. “Sorry about Lisabelle.”
“Me too.”
He fiddled with papers on the desk, neatening a pile that was already neat.
“Charlotte,” he said. “I like you. A lot. Always have.”
Why, given that Camilla hardly let us spend time together.
“And, well, I was hoping we could be . . . something . . . at the dance, but . . .”
If I breathed, he might go poof. What was he talking about?
“But you’re a mage,” he said. He wasn’t looking at me. “I just thought I should explain why . . .”
I was sick of this. Maybe a little part of me had liked Cale and I hadn’t admitted it to myself, but Camilla had always been there. After what had happened to Lisabelle the night before, I had a hard time caring in the slightest about what he was saying anyhow. And besides worrying about Lisabelle, I was having a hard time keeping my mind from drifting to Keller.
“Why what?”
“You’re in Airlee,” he said.
“That’s your problem?” I demanded.
“Charlotte, you can’t date someone in another dorm,” Cale said. “People would be so mad.”
“Cale, that’s just a stupid idea people have. The demons tried to drive a wedge between paranormals during the wars and we let them.”
Cale sighed. “I just wanted to come here and I explain why I treated you the way I did and why . . . I’m back with Camilla.”
Ah, there it was.
I expected myself to feel some sadness, but I didn’t. I just felt a little sorry for him. He had just assumed that I was interested in him, too, which I never really had been. Not seriously, anyhow. It would have been nice to have a friend from home, but at this point it was long beyond mattering.
“Thanks for that, Cale,” I said. “Really appreciate it.” I got up and opened the door for him. He looked at me incredulously.
“Are you mad?”
“No,” I said. “I just have bigger things to worry about.”
For the rest of that week, Sip, Lough, and I spent every free moment trying to figure out what could have happened to Lisabelle, where she might be, and if she would come back. I didn’t even bother telling them about Cale. He had loomed large for me at the beginning of the semester, but I had found my own group of friends. After what had happened at the dance, I couldn’t really look at him in the same way again. And I hadn’t seen Keller since that day at breakfast when we found out that Lisabelle was missing.
“If Lisabelle ran away, where would she go?” Sip demanded late Thursday night.
“I don’t know,” said Lough for the millionth time. “But why would she run away?” The three of us were sitting in our common room.
After Lisabelle had escaped, the library had been closed during the evening. The only other place we saw Lough besides class was at meals, but we were afraid to talk there. Professors now walked us back and forth from class, in case the dangerous fugitive Lisabelle jumped out of the bushes and attacked us. Even the students who believed she was guilty thought it was silly.
Around us we heard whispers of what Lisabelle must have done. Professors condemned her. Part of me understood it – the President had decided she was guilty, after all – but another part of me, the larger part that had spent all semester with Lisabelle, never would. If she had wanted to be on the side of the demons she would never have bothered coming to Public. A nasty part of me pointed out that her goal all along might have been to infiltrate Public and do what no demon could, but I pushed that thought away.
As the three of us sat in Airlee, Mike, Sip’s date to the homecoming dance, came in.
“Did you hear?” he asked us.
“Hear what?” asked Sip, blushing slightly. She had developed a huge crush on Mike. He was oblivious to it.
“The President called an Assembly for first thing tomorrow morning.”
“What’s an Assembly?” I asked.
Mike shrugged. “It’s just that she’s going to talk to us at breakfast again, only she’s letting us know ahead of time.”
Wonderful, I thought. What other bile could she spew about Lisabelle?
It turned out that the Assembly wasn’t about Lisabelle. All week the professors had seemed distracted. Lesson plans had been confused; sometimes whole lessons had been forgotten. We’d all just chalked it up to end of the semester stress, coupled with the catastrophic event of having a student die on campus.
Of course, Bailey’s funeral wasn’t held on campus, but concerned parents had been calling all week, and professors had to deal with that and with the at least some students’ grief at losing one of their own. Once Lisabelle disappeared, the pressure on the school increased, because many parents believed that their children were still in danger.
All through breakfast I had a feeling of anticipation. Students wanted to know what the President was going to say. There had even been whispers that the school would be closed once the semester was over, at least until Lisabelle was caught.
“Good morning, students,” said the President from the top of the podium. “I’m sure you are all wondering why I wanted to address you again this morning.” She cleared her throat. I thought it was just for dramatic effect. I disliked her even more.
“I first want to commend all of you for your excellent handling of the events of the past week. I am in awe of your strength and fortitude.”
“What crap,” Sip muttered to me, glaring.
I tried not to smirk.
“I have some news that may surprise some of you, but I must say, it’s the best news we’ve had in a long time,” she continued.
“You speared the darkness mage and she’s dead?” someone called from the crowd. I was sure it came from a pixie table.
The President ignored the speaker. “There is believed to be an elemental in hiding from the demons,” she announced.
The change in the room was instant. It was like an electric current shooting through the hall.
Camilla, sitting next to Cale, stood up and said, “Really?” I was shocked by the raw hope in her eyes. “Really?” she repeated, then sat down heavily, as if her legs couldn’t support her anymore. The air in the room tightened as everyone waited for the President to answer Camilla’s question. I looked around at different faces. My stomach twisted. I saw hope. I had heard the stories of a last elemental and shrugged them off. Until this moment, I hadn’t known how important it was to other paranormals.
The President beamed. “Yes, it’s true. The Power of Five might once again be reunited and thrive,” she said, her voice rising in triumph. “We will push the demons back yet.” Slowly, and then with growing speed, students around the room started to cheer. Some jumped to their feet, and suddenly everyone was standing and clapping. Several professors even had tears in their eyes. I stood up with the rest and clapped, while the President continued to stand at the podium.
When everyone had quieted down, the President continued. “It is the most wonderful news. I know many of you have heard whispers about it these past few weeks, but we couldn’t make a formal announcement until we were sure. In the past month our sensors have been sensing elemental magic. We have some idea where it’s coming from, but not a clear one yet. We must find this elemental before the demons do. We have it on very good authority that the elemental is young. The logical thing to do is to go and retrieve him or her.”
Several students called out questions. The President raised her hands. “I cannot tell you everything you want to know. We are not sure why the elemental has remained hidden all this time. Possibly it is for safety, but we will find out if we get there before the demons. Public remains the safest place for paranormals. Therefore . . .” She was forced to pause, then to raise her voice as students began to talk again. Many were proposing going with her and helping in the search.
“The professors are the trained fighters here. Yes, this semester, more than in previous years, you students have been working on improving your fighting skills, but you are still no match for the demons. I, along with the professors, are planning on leading an expedition to find the elemental.”
Cries rang out and Evan Drapper, the Starter vampire said, “But it’s the Dash championships this weekend.”
“Oh, who cares,” said Camilla. “Dash doesn’t matter if we can get the Power of Five back and not live in fear anymore.” It made me hate her a tiny bit less.
“Shut up,” was the vampire’s retort. Students started to rise again, ready to fight, but the President ordered calm.
“We leave this afternoon,” she continued. “We have canceled classes for today, since there will not be any professors here to teach them. The only professors on campus will be Professor Zervos and Professor Korba,” she said. “They will do their best with Dash tomorrow, and depending on how long we are gone, they will administer final exams, including to all you students on probation. We wish this weren’t necessary, but every moment lost is a moment that allows the demons to get closer to our elemental.”
I wanted to point out that there was only one student on probation, but I kept my mouth shut. Something was wrong here. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around what.
Without another word the President swept off the podium. I glanced at Cale and saw Camilla cooing in his ear. I rolled my eyes, then started searching for Keller. It wasn’t hard to find him; he was sitting in his usual place with Nate and Marcus, stony-faced.
“Good luck to the competitors tomorrow,” she said, nodding toward Cale, Keller, and Tale. Then, without another word, she and the rest of the professors swept out of the room.
“Wow,” said Sip. “Can you believe it? All those rumors all semester turn out to be true? It’s amazing.”
“Is it really that big of a deal?” asked Lough. “We’ve been holding our own.” He was torn between relief that what the President had said didn’t start with “We captured Lisabelle Verlans,” and disappointment over the same thing.
“It is,” Sip insisted. “With the Power of Five there won’t be fighting among the paranormals anymore. Did you see how relieved Camilla was? And she’s the most unpleasant person here.” She gave me a crooked smile. “Without the Power of Five, the paranormals will eventually fall. Now we have a chance.”
“It’s thinking like that that got us in trouble in the first place,” Lough accused. “They should be spending their time looking for Lisabelle.”
“Do you really want them to find Lisabelle?” Sip asked.
Lough shrugged. “I bet she could take them.”
“Exactly. Lisabelle can take care of herself,” Sip said.
“Not lately,” Lough muttered.
“What’s wrong?” Sip asked me. I’d been quiet, swirling a drop of water around with my fingertip.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Something.”
“What do you mean ‘what’s wrong?’” asked Lough. “Haven’t you noticed that Bailey was murdered and Lisabelle was arrested, and now we have finals, and all of our professors are gone? Don’t you think that’s enough to be wrong? And, there’s something else . . .”
Something in my mind snapped into place, but before I could grab it, Keller appeared at our table. “We have to talk.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“Didn’t we just do this?” I asked him. “Are you just going to order me to stay put again?”
“No,” he said.
“Lough, was there something you wanted to say?” I asked as I got up to leave.
Lough was frowning at his tea. “No,” he said. “I have to think about it a little more.”
Right before we left the dining hall Lanca bumped into me. In the confusion I almost fell over. I saw her give Keller a smile and bristled. When I righted myself she was gone. She didn’t even apologize. Vampires were rude. Some things were never going to change.
Outside, the freezing air bored into my cheeks. “Where are we going?”
“My room.”
That might have been the only thing he could have said that would have surprised me so much that I shut up. Well, that and his saying that his favorite color was baby pink.
“I should go back to my friends,” I pointed out. He never slowed down, and for some reason I didn’t turn around.
Aurum was closest to Cruor, which was ironic since the fallen angels’ dorm was filled with light and the color of clouds. I had wanted to see it; it was the only dorm that Korba had yet to take us to. But I had never expected to be going there alone with Keller. All the other students were still at breakfast, and if I had to guess, they would be there for a long time, which meant that Keller and I would have the dorm all to ourselves.
“We have to talk privately,” he told me, as if that explained everything.
Into the dorm we went. He tossed his jacket on a peg without stopping. His room was on the top floor, so up we went. It was the sort of room I would expect Keller to live in. Clean and neat. Just the necessities.
“Do you want to sit?” he asked.
I sat in the only chair. He sat on his bed. There was only one of those, too, which meant that Keller was one of the lucky few on campus who had a single room.
“What do you know about your mom and dad?” he asked.
A lead ball dropped into my stomach.
He could see in my face that I didn’t like his question, but he shook his head insistently. “Don’t get offended,” he said. “I need to know. There isn’t much time now.”
I blinked quickly, trying to get my bearings. “I don’t know anything. My mother would never tell me anything about my dad. The only dad I’ve known is my stepd
ad.” And he hates me, I added silently.
“So, you don’t know anything at all?” he asked.
“No,” I cried in frustration. “It’s none of your business anyway.”
“And what about your mom?” he asked, ignoring my protests.
For anyone else I wouldn’t have answered. It was no one’s business, but this was Keller. He had hardly asked me a non-school related question in weeks, and there was something inside me that knew he wouldn’t do it unless the information was vitally important.
I took a deep breath. “She was part of Airlee. Her name is on the wall of students over there.”
Keller nodded as if that confirmed something for him.
“I want to know what’s going on,” I said.
“Sorry,” he said, relaxing his tone a little. “It’s just….”
He paused, looking past me to his desk, then stood up and moved towards me. I watched him come. He reached past me and pulled out a sheaf of papers from a drawer. He stood less than a foot away from me and I didn’t know where to look, but instead of moving away he offered me the papers. I got a good view of the pale skin on his wrist, the fine dark veins that contained his heartbeat.
He offered the papers a second time.
I took them, aware that our hands were too far away to touch. “Are these the papers we found at Astra?” I asked. The day Keller and I had been in the attic and had come across the boxes of papers and the lessons, I thought Keller had taken some home. Now I knew I was right.
“Yes,” he said.
“Why?”
He bit his lower lip. “I think your dad, and maybe your mom too, were elementals,” he said. His eyes were staring at my face, refusing to look away. He was daring me to argue with him.
I couldn’t help it. It was so absurd, I laughed. I laughed until my sides hurt. I laughed so hard tears came to my eyes.
“Yeah, right,” I said. “The demons killed all the elementals, you said so yourself.” Slowly Keller shook his head. His eyes were still locked on my face. I felt my chest tighten. Was he serious?
“You must be joking.”
“You remember earlier in the semester, when we heard that the demons might be acting up because they had heard that there was still one elemental somewhere, and that’s why they’ve been attacking paranormals?”
“What’s your point?” I asked. My hands felt cold and clammy. He couldn’t be right.
“My point is, they were right. The professors running off proves it,” he said.
He was too close to me. I wanted him to move away, to sit back down. I shifted so that I was hunching my shoulder toward him. He took the hint and returned to the edge of his bed.
“The paranormals have no chance without the Power of Five,” he said. “There are spells; there are artifacts that can only be used if the Power of Five is viable. Without the elementals there will never be another Power of Five. Without the elementals, the paranormals are vulnerable to attack. That’s why the demons have come after us in such force this summer. If all the elementals aren’t gone.…” He took a deep breath. “If they aren’t gone, we might be able to fight them. For the first time we might be able to fight them and win.”
I felt like there was a pressure on my chest and it grew with every word Keller spoke. “Look,” I told him. “My dad was not an elemental.”
“Who was he?”
I had no idea.
“Wait, do you think he’s the elemental the professors went after?” I wondered if the next thing Keller was going to tell me was that my dad was alive, but it wasn’t.
“No, you said your dad was dead. That’s probably true.”
Normally I didn’t let myself think about my dad, let alone talk about him. I swallowed. It hurt my chest. I swallowed again. “My mom told me he died before I was born. He never met me. Come on, Keller,” I pleaded. “There’s too much going on for jokes like this, and this one isn’t even funny. You have Dash tomorrow and I have finals, and if I don’t pull out some magic, I won’t be coming back here next semester.”
Keller scoffed. “Charlotte,” he said, standing up. “Think! You aren’t seeing what’s right in front of your face!”
I jumped to my feet too. “What am I not seeing?” I demanded. “This is insane.”
Keller stepped up to me so fast I rocked back on my heels. He grabbed my arms, bringing us eye to eye. I didn’t want to breathe on him. “What makes sense,” he said, “is that you are the elemental they are looking for.”
He’d already said that and I’d told him he was crazy. I told him again with the tone in which I demanded, “Why?”
“Because,” said Keller, exasperated, “you can do magic, but you can’t do Airlee magic. You can’t use the Airlee ring, and it’s obvious that you aren’t a darkness mage. No one knows who your dad is, and then suddenly this semester we find out that there might still be an elemental alive, because they’ve started to sense magic. Plus, you told me that a hellhound was following you, and you just so happened to be saved by vampires. What are the odds of that?”
I started to protest, but Keller cut me off. “And I saw your face the first time you came into Astra. You looked like you were home. Your magic almost shone. And something happened there that first day, didn’t it?” He raised his eyebrows.
“It doesn’t make sense,” I said again, but my protests were getting weaker.
“Why didn’t the professors know it was me?” I asked. I hoped this, at least, would foil Keller’s theory. There was no way the professors wouldn’t have known I was elemental.
“I think they thought you were at first,” said Keller. “But then when your magic failed, they stopped thinking that or maybe they never thought that. Maybe their saving you from the hellhound was a happy accident.” He didn’t believe that theory himself, though. “You were late to school because they didn’t believe it was you, but the presence of the hellhound convinced them at the last minute that you might be.”
“But let’s say they did think I was the elemental,” I said. “If I am, why can’t I perform magic?”
“Could you in Astra? In the ballroom that Saturday?” he challenged. He had guessed my secret.
I looked down at my lap. “Something happened in that dorm,” I mumbled. Maybe I wouldn’t get in massive trouble if I told someone. Now I knew Keller well enough to know that he wouldn’t turn me over to the President. I told him everything that had happened.
“I’ve looked at that glass case countless times,” said Keller. “There’s an elemental ring in there.”
I looked down at my Airlee ring. It had been useless all semester, dull. No magic had gone through it. Could it really be that simple?
“I can’t,” I whispered.
“Charlotte,” said Keller, “they are looking for you. Maybe as long as you wear the Airlee ring and don’t have the proper Astra support you will be able to hide, but it’s not going to last forever. The hellhounds already know it’s you. The professors will figure it out, but what if the demons find you first?”
“Even if you’re right,” I said, “I’m safe here.”
Now the look on Keller’s face actually scared me. “Charlotte,” he said quietly, “all the professors are gone. Don’t you think that’s too convenient? That they all race off to find the elemental? And the elemental is here? And if you’re right and it’s not Lisabelle who let in the hellhound, then whoever it was is still . . . here.”
I worked to get air into my lungs. Was he saying what I thought he was saying?
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that this is a setup and they are coming for you. It’s the most logical explanation under the circumstances.” He was scary calm about it, but Keller was always calm.
“You’re wrong,” I whispered, even though I was no longer sure that he was. “You have to be wrong.” I tried to believe that, but Keller had spent the past few weeks telling me to be careful. He had known the demons were attacking and he had
suspected it had something to do with me.
“There are still protections here,” I told him. “Ancient protections. And if the professors don’t know that I’m an elemental, then how could the demons?”
Keller shrugged. “They’ve known since summer,” he said. “It’s not like every student that comes here is first chased by a hellhound. Once you got here they couldn’t get past the protections, but they’ve been trying. Your putting on that ring clouded everything, but it’s only a matter of time.”
“I need to know for sure,” I told him, “before I do anything.”
“Fine,” said Keller, striding forward. “Let’s go.”
“Where?” I asked.
“To Astra,” he said. “And take that thing off.” He pointed to my ring.
I looked down at my ring. I’d been wearing it all semester hoping that it would start to shine, just like Sip’s and everyone else’s in Airlee. I rubbed the dull stone.
“Charlotte,” said Keller, “it’s your best way to find out where Lisabelle is.”
“How?” I demanded.
“Well,” said Keller, “if she’s innocent, it will make you powerful enough to find her, and if she’s not, she will come find you.”
“That’s a really cheerful thought, Keller,” I said. “Thank you. I’m so lucky you’re my tutor.”
It was almost afternoon now and the air around campus felt dead. We didn’t see anyone as we walked. With the campus on lockdown, students weren’t supposed to be out anyway.
“What if Zervos catches us?” I asked.
“I’ll tell him it’s my fault,” said Keller absently. We were close to Astra. Keller was flexing his hands, absently twirling his own bright silver ring.
Before we reached the path leading to Astra, Keller halted and reached out a hand to stop me. “We can’t go in there.”
Astra looked like it always did. Silent and colorful. A ripple moved across my vision. I squinted, trying to get a clearer look. It wasn’t easy to see, but if I looked right at Astra I could see that there was something surrounding the building.
“What is that?” I asked.
“It’s a protective spell,” said Keller grimly. “We aren’t going near that dorm.”
“But what about my ring?”
“You admit that it’s yours?” Keller asked. He sounded a little amused.
“Maybe,” I murmured. Keller laughed softly.
“I don’t want to be an elemental, just so that I have the satisfaction of proving you wrong,” I grumbled.
“Yeah, I know. But you’ll have to wait for that.”
“Keller,” I asked, “not that I think so, but well . . .”
“What?”
“What if you are the one letting the demon in? Maybe I shouldn’t be going off alone with you.”
Keller threw back his head and laughed. “Whoever is letting the demon in has to have darkness magic. Fallen angels don’t. We are pure and good.”
I almost laughed. “But that leaves Lisabelle and the vampires. There are no other darkness mages on campus.” I waited for Keller to say something. When he didn’t, I glanced at him.
Keller’s face had paled. He looked at Astra, then at me.
“Charlotte,” he said, “go back to Airlee. Now. We’ll figure out what to do tomorrow after Dash,” he said. He was breathing hard. “Until then I don’t want you alone. Stay with Sip and Lough at all times. I don’t know what’s going on here, but it could get bad.”
“Keller,” I said, “what did you just figure out?”
Keller shook his head. “Maybe nothing. I have to see. I’ll tell you tomorrow. Charlotte?” he reached out a hand and cupped my face. His skin felt soft against my hot cheek. “If you have a problem, get Lanca. The demons might not even come, but you need to be prepared.”
I nodded. “They are coming. They are definitely coming. For me.”