Elemental Light (Paranormal Public Book 9) (22 page)

“You clean up good,” said Lough to Callum approvingly.

“You aren’t so bad yourself,” said Callum, grinning, “for a dream giver.”

Lough smiled as we moved to walk alongside Mrs. Swan. She placed a hand that I was sure was meant to be reassuring on my shoulder.

“You can do this, Charlotte.” she said. “Just follow your heart.”

I wished my heart was telling me to grab Ricky and run for the hills, but it wasn’t. My heart was telling me to fight until the very end, if not for myself then for the paranormals we had lost and the paranormals whose futures were in jeopardy.

I nodded. Mrs. Swan turned to speak to the gathered crowd.

“We do not know what tonight holds,” she said, her voice carrying to the very back of the group as her face was lit by torches, “but we know that the choice at hand isn’t a choice at all. When we can either fight or die we will always fight. I know I, for one, will fight until the very end.”

Sip tapped me on the arm. Her eyes were to Mrs. Swan’s left, where a shadow that looked like Mound was fading into the background. So the night’s games had begun.

We hadn’t trained for this in Tactical. I had some experience with political games, but I knew tonight would be different. The balances of power would shift, and we had only a small chance of success. I nodded to my friend and then focused on what Mrs. Swan was saying.

“We will stand tonight, because no one else will,” Mrs. Swan said. “We will fight, because no one else will. When our friends are falling and dying needlessly, do we really have another choice? I, for one, have always known how this will end . . . it will end in battle.

“One of the main criticisms of paranormals, if it can be called that, is that we do not work together. My group seeks to eliminate differences. We have extended olive branches to oggles and pixies alike. We will fight alongside them always. We will fight for each other. If we do not
let our differences divide us, we can be strong. The demons have been allowed to pull us apart for too long. Now is the time to stand. We will fight today and every day for what is right.

“Who is with me?”

A cry went up. The men who had fought for her for so long raised their chins and nodded their heads in unison. They had already been fighting, but tonight would be different. Tonight
I
had to make a statement. I wondered what the plan was supposed to be if I failed. Wrapping my cold fingers around one of the crown halves, I pushed that thought away.

“I don’t like this,” said Sip quietly to me. “I don’t like the obsession with fighting for the sake of fighting.”

“No one really does,” said Lough. “Even the paranormals who think they do really doesn’t. They’ve just forgotten how much fun reading a good book and eating a burger can be.”

“How much fun is it, Lough?”

He grinned. “It’s a lot of fun.”

Mrs. Swan started walking and we all trailed behind her. She was different, her back razor straight, her clothing swirling around her and her eyes hard. Okay, so she wasn’t that different. I just didn’t remember her as so bloodthirsty.

“Charlotte,” Lough whispered, “do what you have to do. Sip, Dobrov, and I will back you up. No matter what.”

I glanced at his face. He looked as serious as I’d ever seen him.

If Lough was worried, maybe I should be too. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I shouldn’t be doing what I was doing, that tonight everything would change.

Chapter Twenty

The Circle was in fact a massive circle of stones pressed into the earth. I couldn’t see the design while I was standing so close to it, but Sip had explained that it was a massive wheel, the embodiment of all the Objects and a focal point of power, which was why it was still safe for us to gather here. That and the fact that darkness didn’t know where we were.

There were so many paranormals in front of us that our party was forced to stop. President Caid and an entourage and every other member of the council were there, milling around. I was sure Saferous was there, and I wondered if the Eriksons would be as well. Oliva would probably be there, but I wasn’t sure if there were any other senior paranormals from Public who had gotten out. I didn’t know where Zervos, Professor Erikson, and the others were.

I stood on my tiptoes, but I couldn’t actually see President Caid or Mound. Somehow I felt it was important to find them.

“Charlotte,” said a familiar female voice. I took a deep breath. Sip’s mother, Helen Quest, smiled at me. She stretched her arms out and I gave her a hug. From behind me Sip gave a cry of pleasure and rushed forward to greet her mom.

“I wasn’t expecting you, sweetheart,” Sip’s mother whispered into her daughter’s hair.

“We weren’t expecting to be here,” said Sip. “Mom, what’s happening?”

Mrs. Quest looked grim. “Too much. All I can say is to be careful.”

Sip nodded.

“We’ll talk after, okay? I love you,” her mom said. She gave Lough and me smiles and waves and then disappeared into her rank. We weren’t all just going to stand around. We had to form lines in order of hierarchy.

“Think our council is better than the demon council?” I whispered to Sip.

The werewolf grinned. It was a feral look, a glint I saw in her eye when she was ready for battle. “I bet the demon council is merely the Premier cracking the whip, whereas ours is in chaos.”

“Lisabelle seems to think it’s a thing,” I said. A sense of unease washed over me, but I told myself that my worry was only because of what I was about to attempt. Challenging all the senior paranormals wasn’t exactly what you could call “no big deal.”

“Lisabelle thinks anything’s a thing that she’s in charge of,” said Sip. “And I’d say that to her face.”

“You say everything about her to her face,” said Lough. “It’s why I get headaches.”

“The High Council will meet in the center of the Circle,” Sip whispered to me. “You aren’t supposed to have a say, because there aren’t enough elementals. Technically, though, there should be elementals on both councils, just as there are for the other paranormals.”

I nodded. We had talked about this a thousand times. Elementals weren’t represented, because until I’d shown up at Public the paranormals had thought there were none of us left. Since I had appeared, the council had said there was no point in my representing the interests of one of my kind - me. With other things on my mind and no desire to participate in government anyhow, I had let it go. Now Mrs. Swan thought it was ridiculous that I was being excluded, because the other paranormals were simply using the fact that there were no other known elementals as an excuse to consolidate power in the hands of a few.

“You know what else I think?” Sip mused. “I think you’ll be a great paranormal leader.”

I liked that she said paranormal instead of elemental. There were always too many divisions among us, but I didn’t instinctively think that way for two reasons: first, I hadn’t grown up with it, and second, as the last elemental I really couldn’t afford to turn down friends.

The council members numbered nineteen, and there were also four High Council members. Saferous was now on the High Council, as was a Radvarious vampire named James Gallavin, a pixie named Lessi Anderonics, and a werewolf named Zuss Suuculant.

Of those four I knew only Saferous, though I’d seen James at Lanca’s coronation. The others were new to me. At some point recently there’d been a vote on new members, but I hadn’t paid any attention. The High Council was an irrelevant constant in my life, much like traffic lights I never thought about and a hundred other such things.

Many of the council members were also present, although I realized I couldn’t identify all of them anymore either. I was pretty sure Keller’s father was on the council. I remembered that Mound also had a brother on the council. President Caid presided over it all, but who knew for how much longer? Standing next to Caid, his eyes angrily snapping around the gathered crowd, was a tall man with broad shoulders and a shaved head. General Goffer never looked happy, and now was no exception. He was dressed in the clothing of the Paranormal Police, all black except for the wide red, white, silver, blue, and green stripes down the sleeves.

Now that I looked more carefully, I saw that there were paranormal police everywhere. Goffer wasn’t alone; it looked like he’d brought every Police Academy graduate with him, and maybe even some who paranormals who were still students. Cale was nowhere to be seen. Now that I thought about it, neither was Camilla. I wondered if she’d been officially inducted into darkness. A lot of the pixies unofficially sided with the Nocturns already.

I had many expectations for the night, this glittering meeting of the most powerful senior paranormals, but what I hadn’t expected was that so many paranormals would be present. It wasn’t just members of the High Council, it was members of Mrs. Swan’s organization, paranormal police, and many others. I wished Dacer were there to explain everything; he had a way of framing an event that made it bearable if not downright entertaining.

“How’s this going to work?” I asked, grateful that at least I had Sip.

Sip shook her head, her purple eyes filled with worry. “I have no idea.”

Lough was standing on my other side, so that together my friends seemed to form two protective barriers. I could see eyes dart toward me as I walked into the circle, so I was glad of the support. I had always been well-protected at Public, so much so that even Caid hadn’t been allowed to do any real harm. But now I was out in the open, separated from my school and from Professor Dacer and even President Oliva.

The eyes on me told me that some of the paranormals in the crowd didn’t think I should be there at all, while others were likely to call for blood. I inched closer to my friends as Mrs. Swan went to greet some of the other paranormals.

“Do you trust her?” Sip whispered to me.

I glanced at my former dorm mother’s back as she bent to say something to General Goffer. He didn’t look happy to see her. The answer to Sip’s question was clear in my mind.

“I used to,” I whispered back, “but sometimes people’s agendas become bigger than they are themselves, and I’m not sure I agree with hers.”

“I was afraid of that,” said Lough.

We waited, getting more uneasy, but finally Caid stood up and we were under way. Lights flickered across f
aces as all eyes turned to the president of the Paranormals.

“Good evening,” said Caid, raising his hands. I could see Michael Mound inching his way in next to Caid, and I fought the urge to start a fight with him on the spot. Mound had made my life horrible for years, and I had no use for him. But I told myself that was not the agenda for tonight, and kept myself quiet.

Michael Mound was dressed importantly, with a topcoat, a cane, and a vest, but at least he had left his hat somewhere else. His suit was a dark gray, and I could see a gold chain hanging from his breast pocket. He was short and wide and took up a lot of space next to Caid.

“What’s he doing here?” Sip huffed. Once Mound had realized he was never going to convince the paranormals to turn me over to darkness (it was illegal, after all), he had turned his attention to the Sign of Six, a fringe organization run by a child - as he framed it.

“Pretending to be important,” said Lough.

But now Caid was speaking. The whirl of torches punctuating the night’s darkness made examining the faces of the other paranormals who were present difficult.

“We have gathered here tonight to deal with something deadly that is spreading throughout the paranormal community. We had hoped it would not come to this, but the Circle is now the only safe place left for paranormals. Our brethren are trapped at Public, agencies have been overrun, as have homes. We are broken and on the run. It is a miracle we have all gathered here.”

Caid looked around, his dark eyes searching the crowd. Finally they passed over me, but by the next time my heart beat I saw those dark eyes swing back and land on me like two beams in the darkness. I shifted uncomfortably. Mound’s eyes also turned to us.

“How do we fight back? Many of you have encouraged us to turn over the last elemental. It has always been a possibility I find abhorrent. Although our lives would be easier without her, she has used her . . . talents . . . to assist us in the past, and giving her over to darkness would be a sad form of repayment.”

I tried to keep a straight face, but it took a great deal of effort. Neither Sip nor Lough bothered with so much self-control. The werewolf was openly glaring while the dream giver cracked his knuckles.

“Our friend, a tireless advocate for paranormal causes, has some words. I will turn the lectern over to him and maybe more will be clear.”

Caid stepped out of the way, and to my disappointment Mound took his place. The fat pixie waddled forward, his pudgy hands clasped over his large belly. I liked him even less than I had before.

“Dear friends, the traitor known as Lisabelle Verlans must be killed. Now that her uncle is out of the way, we can move forward with other plans for her death. Her siding with darkness is unfortunate, because it gives her protections that will be hard to penetrate, but she cannot be protected all the time. That much power - just like the elementals - cannot be allowed to continue.”