Elemental Omen (Paranormal Public Book 10) (19 page)

He parked the truck, and I stepped out and looked around. Now that we were up close, I could see the level of fine detail the Strange had put into camouflaging their whereabouts. A light burned in one of the houses and a curtain blew from an open window. Footprints pocked the dirt around each of the shacks. If Rake hadn’t prepared me, I would have had no idea that no one lived here.

“They’ve really gone all out on this,” I whispered.

Before Rake could answer, something hurtled down at us from above. Rake slammed me sideways, his giant body squeezing my ribs as we fell hard to the ground.

“Ooof,” I muttered, feeling the crush of the massive vampire on top of me. “Ouch.”

Rake was on his feet in a moment. “It’s me!” he bellowed. “Stop that!”

“I’M NOT GOING TO NO STUPID PARANORMAL PUBLIC UNIVERSITY,” yelled a voice. “YOU AND MOM CAN’T MAKE ME! I WON’T DO IT!”

Another fireball came hurtling down, like a massive flaming orange flying through the black sky. This time, safely out of Keegan’s range, I could see that it was a bottle filled with red liquid with a cloth sticking out of it. The entire thing exploded on the muddy ground.

“KEEGAN WEBBER YOU STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!” came a woman’s shrill voice, but Keegan didn’t stop. Instead, two more lighted bottles came flying down.

The next threat was more serious. “IF YOU DON’T STOP, RAKE WILL TELL THE DARKNESS PREMIER ON YOU, AND THEN YOU’LL HAVE TO ANSWER TO HER.”

I imagined this Keegan character pausing to weigh how serious his mother was. I also wondered how often Lisabelle’s name was used as a threat against children.

After a short pause, a pale face appeared high up in the trees. It wasn’t even one of the trees I’d been looking at.

“Do you know Lisabelle?” asked a slightly breathless voice.

“Ricky just came from spending a couple of days with her,” said Rake.

The boy gave me a look of mistrust. “I don’t know no Ricky.”

I dusted myself off. This would probably have been a good time to introduce myself, but I wasn’t sure about the etiquette for paranormals who try to burn me alive before they’ve met me.

Rake gave me a hard elbow to the ribs and I saw Keegan’s eyes turned to slits. Whether he was growing impatient or laughing I wasn’t sure.

“Ricky Rollins,” I said through gritted teeth.

Keegan’s jaw dropped and his face disappeared.

“MOM! THERE’S AN ELEMENTAL HERE! MOM! THIS NIGHT JUST KEEPS GETTING WORSE AND WORSE.”

“STOP LYING,” came the woman’s voice, but then, very close to where Keegan’s face had been, a woman’s face appeared. She had a tint of silver or gold to her skin and her eyes were brown, but she had the same jutting chin and long forehead as her son. Her eyes skidded over Rake and landed on me while I stood there awkwardly.

“Who’s that?” she pointed her chin at me. The tree sprites’ mistrust of outsiders was palpable.

“Ricky,” said Rake. “He’s Charlotte’s brother.”

“The one who ran away?” her nose wrinkled. “Interesting. You’d better come up, then.” With that, she disappeared too.

Rake started walking toward the tree where the faces had appeared, but before he got there a very odd-looking paranormal appeared and walked toward us. It took me a minute to realize that it was Keegan. He was wide and block-like, with silver flecks in the skin around the eyes, probably part of his faery heritage. His black hair grew in tufts, but there were patches missing. His hands were green.

“We already had that elemental visiting,” he said, his voice gruff. “We don’t need another one. I don’t like outsiders.” He gave me a mulish look.

“I can help reinforce your protections,” I said. “Top them up. Keep your mom safe.” I had no idea why I was offering such a thing, but the words were already out of my mouth so I resigned myself to having to back them up.

Keegan instantly softened. “I heard about you,” he said. “You were this great big hope that only led to disappointment.”

“Maybe you don’t know what you’re talking about,” I shot back.

Keegan shrugged. “I know what I know.”

I turned to Rake. “What am I doing here?”

“Topping off the protections, I guess,” said Rake, his voice neutral. He was clearly trying hard to maintain control of himself.

I sighed. “Fine.”

I glared at Keegan as he stepped aside. All around us, pale faces in the trees disappeared as I looked at them. There were no bats visible, but I had a feeling they weren’t far off; a creepy anticipation hung in the air that I associated with the watchful black creatures. My feet sank into the mud and I wondered where the water had come from; it hadn’t rained since I had arrived at Duckleworth. The tree dweller looked awkward, but he moved fast. I had the feeling that running into him would hurt about as much as Rake body slamming me to the ground for my “protection.”

A rope ladder hung down along the enormous tree trunk that Keegan led us to. I couldn’t even see it until Keegan pointed it out.

“You want me to go first?” I demanded.

“Yup.” Keegan grinned and ran his hands over his tufting hair. “Guests first.”

Shaking my head, I gripped the ladder and started to climb. The tree was even bigger than it looked. When Keegan and Rake started to climb after me, the ladder started to shake a bit. I tried to focus on each rung in front of me, but my arms soon started to get tired.

I passed several landings where tree dwellers stood watching us pass. They kept their distance but looked at me curiously. I wondered how long it had been since they had seen another paranormal that wasn’t Rake.

Just as I thought I was reaching the very top of the tree, Keegan called out, “To your right.” Nearly toppling sideways to get off the ladder, I stumbled to my knees on a rickety platform. Keegan brushed past me, while Rake moved to stand beside me, and in front of us was the woman I had seen through the trees. She was more willowy than Keegan, but her skin was just as pale and she had a strange set to her eyes, which were further apart than a pair of eyes should be.

“Welcome,” she chirped. “You’ve come to work on the protections?” That wasn’t why I had come, at least not knowingly, but there didn’t seem to be any reason to refuse.

“They’re over here,” Keegan said. He marched forward, then looked back at me, his expression clearly saying he thought I was pathetic.

I pushed myself to my feet. I felt a little queasy, but I made myself walk over to where Keegan stood. Rake moved to talk quietly with Mrs. Webber.

“How has everything been here?” he asked.

“Good,” she whispered back. Then she lowered her voice so much that despite the fact that both Keegan and I were straining to listen, we couldn’t hear a word she said.

“This,” said Keegan, pointing out a window. At first all I saw was black leaves, but as I looked more closely I started to see a ripple. The protective barrier looked strong - it would be if Charlotte had been there - but the more recent the better. I reached my ring hand forward and felt my hand touch raw power.

When I opened my eyes again Keegan was staring at me.

“That was cool,” he muttered. “I suppose you learned that at Paranormal Public?” He sounded bitter about it, an attitude that fit with what Rake had been saying about his reluctance to go there.

I shook my head. “No, I just picked it up from my sister and some of her friends.”

“You
do
know Lisabelle Verlans?” The tree sprite’s eyes shone as he said it.

Keegan looked shocked and I nodded. “Yeah, for years now.”

“Boys!” Keegan’s mother and Rake were apparently finished exchanging news and wanted us to join them. As we walked over, Keegan kept looking at me funny, and I wasn’t sure why.

“How’d he do?” Mrs. Webber asked her son.

Keegan nodded once. I could tell that he didn’t want to compliment me, but in the end he conceded: “He did really well.”

Rake grinned. “Ricky’s pretty darn good with his magic when he wants to be.”

“With Keegan, it’s just that he doesn’t want to be,” sniffed Mrs. Webber with a glance at her son.

Keegan didn’t say anything. In all fairness he probably should have agreed with her, but if he did he would be admitting he should maybe attend Paranormal Public after all, which he clearly did not want to do.

“Both you boys are silly,” said Mrs. Webber. “I swear, the young do not properly appreciate education.” Then she shook her head and stomped away. Rake kept quiet, but I knew he agreed with her. It seemed as though no one could say a word in this situation without making someone else angry.

I glanced at Keegan, who had started to argue with his mother, but before I could figure out how or whether to intervene, I suddenly felt that something wasn’t quite right. A feeling of unease crept up the back of my neck and made me walk back over to the window where I had reinforced the protections. This wasn’t the same feeling as the one the bats gave me, but a more threatening push at my awareness. When I stuck my hand out into the force field again I didn’t feel anything at first, but after a minute, strange ripples started washing over my hands, surges in power that I had never felt before. I took a deep breath, and then another, trying to see if the ripples were normal, maybe just breaks in the chain of magic or wind moving some of the focal points.

My concentration was broken when I felt something at my shoulder. I spun around and found Keegan glaring at me. “What do you think you’re doing?” he snapped.

I looked past him to Rake, who suddenly looked alert and concerned. “What?” the vampire asked me. He could tell I thought something was wrong.

“I think there’s something out there,” I said. “I think there’s something attacking the defenses.”

Keegan rolled his eyes. “Don’t be dramatic,” he ordered, as if he had a right to tell me what to do. “There’s nothing attacking those defenses. They don’t even know we’re here.”

“If they didn’t know we were here we wouldn’t need defenses,” said his mother, her voice suddenly concerned. Keegan kept glaring at me, but I saw his confidence waver. He had just opened his mouth to say something else when I heard a ripping noise tear through the air, then a crash that sent a burst of light roaring through the night. It was clearly visible through the dirty, vine-covered windows that faced the road where our truck was parked.

Suddenly, every paranormal was in motion. Rake was the only one still on his feet after the first explosion, and he raced to the window. “Why didn't the bats alert you!” he cried. It was more of a statement than a question. As far as silent sentries went, it turned out they weren’t much use. They were supposed to be the first line of defense, but they hadn’t given any warning.

“I told you we wouldn’t survive with darkness protecting us,” snapped Mrs. Webber. I was getting the idea that these tree sprites trusted almost no one. “The Verlans premier was bound to sell us out eventually.”

This was the coldest statement I had heard against Lisabelle in a while, and I was taken aback by the hatred in Mrs. Webber’s voice. It was almost like she thought Lisabelle was working with bounty hunters.

I had just gotten my balance back when another round of explosions lit the night sky. I managed to stagger over to Rake, but there was a ringing in my ears that didn’t bode well for being able to hear the burly vampire. I had lost track of Keegan after the first blasts, but now he appeared beside me, his face grim and ready for business.

“Mother, I’m going to release the brakes,” he said, his eyes trained outside, scanning rapidly for a clue as to where the attack was coming from.

“No, wait, let Mace see if she can locate the source of the attack first,” his mother cautioned. Another boom came, then screams, and I saw Keegan start to twitch. He obviously didn’t want to wait, and I couldn’t blame him when I caught the smell of burning trees and saw smoke wafting up from the muddy ground below.

“What now?” I asked Rake. I had the thought that Rake’s truck could be used as a missile if we could ignite the gasoline in the tank, but then I remembered he had probably spelled it for safety’s sake and it would be hard to blow up.

Rake shook his head. “At first I thought that we might have brought trouble with us, but I’m sure no one followed us. We just happened to come on the right night.”

“You call this the right night?” I asked.

“I want to see how their defenses work,” said Rake. “I already sent a message to Sip, so she knows what’s happening. If worst comes to worst she’ll tell my squad and they’ll come and help.”

I marveled at Rake’s calm. He seemed to be viewing the situation more as an exercise to test the defenses of the little settlement than as a life or death situation. I guess for someone whose entire existence was a series life or death situations, that shouldn’t have surprised me.

Rake glanced over his shoulder at Mrs. Webber. “Is everyone else safe?” he asked.

“Everyone’s in this tree,” she said. “And they’ll have a hard time hitting it.”

“Those screams, though?” I asked, flinching at a fresh round of anguish.

Keegan looked at me with something bordering on disdain. “Those aren’t real screams,” he said. “They’re part of the decoy.” I remembered the buildings down below that looked lived in but apparently weren’t. The tree dwellers had gone so far as to create not only fake dwelling, but fake screams from the fake people who didn’t really live in them. Maybe, I thought grudgingly, I could learn something here.

“What if they figure out that they’re hitting empty buildings?” I asked.

“That’s where the next phase comes in,” said Rake. “You were testing it earlier, weren’t you?” he asked with a glance at the Webbers. I had no idea what he was talking about or how he knew what they’d been doing when he wasn’t there, but apparently he did, because they nodded as if they saw nothing odd about the question.

“Keegan, you and Ricky go to the lookout and see if you can see anything,” said Mrs. Webber.

“Are you sure that’s safe?” Rake asked.

“It’s safe since you said we had adequate defenses, and they’re young and have the best eyes. Besides, they won’t be expecting us to have an elemental in our pocket.”

“How is he helpful? He shows up and then we’re attacked. If he weren’t so busy thinking how cool he was it might be a different story,” said Keegan, not even pretending to mask his scorn and mistrust.

“Oh, shut up,” I muttered. But I didn’t say anything else out loud, because I knew Keegan was afraid, I could see it in his eyes. His mother was in danger, and I knew that if Charlotte were in danger, I would stop at nothing to protect her. That still didn’t mean I wanted to listen to him, but I had more important business to take care of right then.

“Follow me,” Keegan said grudgingly.

“If you need me, just yell,” Rake called after us. “Charlotte will kill me dead if something happens to you.”

“My sister can’t always protect me,” I yelled back.

We passed several other tree dwellers who stopped and talked to Keegan as we made our way further into the maze of tree shacks. I was impressed by the lack of fear. Everyone looked grim and ready to get to work, but no one was afraid or crying. Even the children in their mothers’ arms looked more curious than frightened.

The lookout was even more terrifying than the rest of the tree house. It was so high above the gully we were in that the trees were thinner and the view was more open. But we were also much more exposed. Handholds had been carved into the trunk of the great tree to aid anyone climbing it, and when I touched them I felt power radiate through me.

“I would have thought that carving into the tree would hurt,” I whispered, “but this tree is thriving.”

“It’s all in the execution,” said Keegan. The curious expression on his face when he looked at me was starting to become a permanent fixture, as if he really didn’t know what to make of me.

“You go first this time,” I told him. Keegan grinned and nodded. We were so high up now that the explosions almost sounded far off. Whoever was attacking us hadn’t yet figured out that they were targeting the wrong tree, but it probably wouldn’t take them much longer.

“We need to see where they’re shooting from,” I said.

“How will that help?” Keegan asked.

“Have you ever seen Rake fight?” I replied. The vampire was a force to be reckoned with. When he sparred with Lanca’s husband Vital, paranormals from far and wide would gather to watch.

“No,” said Keegan, curiosity shining in his eyes. Apparently energized by the thought of Rake’s prowess, he climbed faster than before. For a Strange who stated so categorically that he did not want to attend Public, he took a lot of interest in the paranormal titans of our time. I had to scurry after him, telling myself the whole time that I wasn’t so far off the ground, not really, and that if I tumbled out I wouldn’t tumble to my death, even though I probably would.

When we got to the top, Keegan and I crouched side by side in the lookout tower. The wind at that elevation brushed directly against my body and made me feel like I was toppling off a cliff, so I ordered it away. It went sullenly.

“You just do that, use your magic willy-nilly?” Keegan demanded. He had felt the sudden shift and instantly known its cause.

“I use it when it’s necessary,” I said. We were both looking around and through the thickly clustered trees, scanning to see where the next cannonball was coming from. “You must have used it too if they knew you were here. Who is ‘they,’ by the way?”

“We think it’s mostly bounty hunters,” said Keegan, “but that label covers all manner of sins.”

“What do you mean?” I was starting to form the idea that what all these paranormals had to fear was not some sort of ragtag army, but a coordinated network with a specific purpose in mind and the power to work toward it.

“A bounty hunter isn’t a paranormal type,” said Keegan. “It’s pixies and vampires who are coming after us. I just know it. Calling themselves bounty hunters doesn’t change the fact that types that are supposed to be on our side are trying to destroy us.”

“How long have you been in hiding?”

“Hang on, do you see that?” Keegan pointed to the trees near where Rake and I had come in. The buildings that the tree dwellers had constructed so carefully were in flames, but I knew it wasn’t the fire that Keegan wanted me to see; we had both been smelling the smoke for a while, even up in the treetops.

“I don’t see anything,” I said, squinting.

“It’s gone now,” whispered Keegan breathlessly. We both stared at the spot that Keegan had just pointed to, waiting for any movement. At ground level far below us I saw a couple of tree dwellers start to venture out from the safety of their hiding places. Just as quickly I saw a flash of vampire; Rake was racing forward to force the tree dwellers back inside. Whatever had attacked us, Rake obviously thought it was still out there.

“I see it,” I whispered hoarsely. Something small and black, moving very fast, skittered just inside the cover of the trees

“What is it?” Keegan whispered.

“Uh oh,” I said. “It’s bats.”

“The bats that are supposed to be protecting us?” Keegan demanded.

“Yup,” I said.

“Are they still?”

“I don’t think so,” I said, eyeing the frantically flying animals. Flashes of red and gold glittered over the little creatures and made them look like they were on fire.

Below us, all movement had ceased. Even Rake was out of sight for a moment, but then he appeared and looked up at me as if to ask what we had seen from on high. Instead of pointing, I used my magic to lift a stone from the ground and waited until Rake caught sight of it. Once his eyes were on the little rock, I sent it flying toward where the bats were clustering. Just as he turned in that direction, another round of cannon fire came shooting out of the trees from the very same spot.

“The cannonballs are magic!” I cried. They were burning circles of fire, and they offered me nothing to use my magic on because they were pure magic themselves.

“They’re still aiming at the wrong place,” said Keegan, his eyes frantic. I looked back to the spot where Rake had stood a moment before, but he was gone now.

“He’s going for the cannons,” I yelled. Just as I realized that, I realized something else: the crazed bats had broken cover.

“The bats are coming,” Keegan yelled. He wasn’t talking to me - he could see that I already knew what they were doing - he was warning the other tree sprites below us. “They’re on fire and they’re coming straight at us!”

The artifact hunter flashed into view again. Rake was nearly across the clearing, throwing bats aside as he went.

I tried to call wind, but it was all being sucked up by the fire, and the blaze itself wasn’t controllable. Or at least, I wasn’t good enough to control it, even if I had wanted to. With all of these tree dwellings to worry about, I’d have to use the utmost care, and I just wasn’t that good.

“I sense a lot of water,” I said to Keegan. “Where is it?”

Keegan smiled grimly. “It’s on its way.”

“What?” I started to ask what he meant, but I didn’t even get to finish the question before I heard a roar and a surge, and the next second I learned exactly why the ground was so wet and what Rake had meant about testing. I also learned what Keegan had meant about releasing the brakes. He sat next to me with his eyes closed, rocking back and forth slightly.

At that moment, massive spurts of water came pouring out of paranormal-sized hoses that appeared among the trees. The spouts of water were so large and so thick that I figured that it must take at least ten tree sprites to control each hose. It was like an avalanche of water slamming into the oncoming bats. As I watched, I heard cheering coming from below us in the tree that held the lookout tower.

Rake didn’t bother turning around to see what was happening. He was pelting toward the woods, intent on whoever was controlling the cannons. The flames that had covered the valley were instantly extinguished, the bats that were flying everywhere, filling the sky with flapping black wings, disappeared into a massive flood of water. I felt a surge of power that Charlotte would have loved. The water just kept coming, and now I could see why the tree sprites were still here. Their trees were nearly impossible to access, and if you weren’t up almost as high as we were you’d be swept away by the flood. I gave a brief thought to Rake’s truck, but decided it was worth it. He must have known the risks of parking it on that soggy ground.

Something was nagging at me, though. Rake had disappeared into the trees, flying through the branches, and that was the last I had seen of him. Something a lot like fear stuck in my throat.

“Where’s Rake?” I asked.

“The artifact hunter will be fine,” said Keegan. “He always is.”

I searched the trees, but there was still no sign of the big vampire. Meanwhile, the surge of glittering water was slowly dissipating, leaving flooding rivulets in its wake. I glanced at the tree sprite, who was watching with a certain amount of glee.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Keegan whispered. “All that fire, all those bats. I’ve never seen such an attack.”

“I have,” I whispered, thinking back to the night when the bounty hunters attacked the cottage where Charlotte and I were staying, and remembering the strange dream giver who had showed up to speak with me and then disappeared just as quickly. I had seen the exact same attack, before, in fact.

I looked again for Rake.

As the flowing water slowed, other tree sprites started to stick their heads out of the sanctuaries where they had hidden themselves. There were more of them than I had thought, maybe hundreds.

“Aren’t the trees damaged?” I asked.

“You tell me,” said Keegan, “or are you too afraid to use your power for something useful?” I bit my lip so hard to keep my anger in check that I tasted the tang of blood.

“You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about,” I muttered, running my fingers through my hair. I felt them shaking and lowered my arm to make sure Keegan didn’t see my reaction.

“What I know is that you’re more powerful than the rest of us combined and that you don’t give a damn,” Keegan spat.

“How do you know I’m that powerful?” I asked.

Keegan gave me a dumbfounded expression. “You honestly don’t know?”

Again I stamped my irritation down, letting a just little escape. “If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking,” I said through gritted teeth.

Keegan shook his head. If I hadn’t known better I would have said he almost looked amused.

“Power radiates off of you. There’s literally a glow,” he said. “Do you think I glow? If I glowed I wouldn’t be here hiding in the dark!”

I frowned. That certainly hadn’t been true when I ran away; if I had been like a beacon of light, surely more bounty hunters would have come for me. Still, if I really radiated power it would explain why I was so easily trackable. I decided I’d have to ask Lisabelle. In my free time and hers.

I shook my head. “So, you can tell I’m powerful?” I said.

“Uh, yeah,” said Keegan, “you’re the most powerful paranormal I’ve ever really seen in person. Someday I hope to see Lisabelle Verlans and see what she’s like.”