Elemental Shining (Paranormal Public Series) (20 page)

“What is it?” Lough asked.

“Creativity,” said Dacer. “Elam is endlessly creative. It’s why he has eluded capture all these long years.”

Dacer had a dreamy look in his eyes. I wasn’t sure I agreed that Elam being creative was such a good thing, but at the moment I was just relieved that Malle couldn’t possibly be Elam.

“What does Elam do with the things he takes?” Lough asked. Dacer glared at him again and Lough carefully moved over to a stool and sat down, placing his hands in his lap. He was not going to touch a thing.

“He collects them,” said Dacer grimly. “He has taken many a priceless item. None have ever been seen again, not even on the paranormal black market. The only explanation is that Elam collects power like some men collect sports cards.”

“Great,” Lough muttered.

Dacer clapped his hands together. “At least Elam will not give in to the demons. We just have to worry that the demons will find and kill Elam for the Map. He takes a great risk.”

I shook my head, overwhelmed and worried. “What about Mould? Could he be Elam?”

Dacer frowned. “Mould is trouble, but he isn’t agile. He doesn’t have the skills required of a master thief. He’s trying to get the pixies on his side to revolt against the other paranormals, but it isn’t working, at least for now. But if paranormals keep dying, who knows what could happen. Only pixies and paranormal outliers, paranormals in remote locations, have been hit hard.”

“So, you think it might be a pixie vendetta?” I asked hopefully. That wasn’t very farfetched. No one liked the pixies.

“It very well might be,” said Dacer. “But Mould is looking for a likely scapegoat regardless of that.”

“And I’m it,” I said quietly. This just got worse and worse.

“Wait a minute,” said Lough, snapping his fingers. “Is that where Risper went?”

“Of course!” I cried. “That’s it, isn’t it? He went after the map. That’s why he’s not back yet.”

“Risper has been tracking Elam for twenty years. Elam is the only man Risper has never caught.”

“Wow,” Lough breathed. “Risper failed?”

Dacer looked at Lough sharply. My red-faced friend clasped his hands more tightly in his lap.

“Where exactly does this Map lead?” My friends had explained what they knew about the Map before, but I wanted to hear the full story from Dacer.

Dacer rubbed his forehead. “That’s the problem. It is . . . well . . . it leads wherever you tell it to.”

I was pretty sure I understood what Dacer was talking about, and it made me sick to my stomach.

“What?” I squeaked. “It’s really a map to EVERYTHING?”

“Meaning what?” Lough asked.

“Meaning that you command the Map to tell you where something is, and it does, which is why the Map being missing puts Ms. Rollins in such grave danger. It’s a treasure map, and there is no bigger treasure than the elemental.”

“Wow,” said Lough with wonder. “Wait, that’s bad. Like, really bad.”

“Yes,” said Dacer. “Which is why it is imperative that we get it back and destroy it if at all possible. If Malle were to get her hands on it, Charlotte, you would never be safe.”

My heart felt like it had plummeted into my stomach. I hadn’t even thought about myself. “It can do that?” I asked incredulously.

I had thought the Map was safe with the government, but now it was stolen, and what I had told myself would never happen, had. Unless the Map was found I would always be in danger. I couldn’t hide. The Map Silver would say where to find me.

Dacer nodded. “We think so. No one ever tried it, because there was never just one elemental, but now that there is. . . . Yes, I think the Map could be used to find you.”

“But the demons already know where Charlotte is,” Lough protested. “What difference does it make?”

“None, at the moment,” said Dacer, casually adjusting his smock. “But this is a long distance race, not a sprint. It could take years before we’ve finished dealing with the Knights of Darkness. At some point during that time we might need to keep Charlotte safe, and that becomes increasingly difficult if we don’t get that map back.”

“What do we know about Elam?” I asked. “Who is he?”

Dacer shook his head. “That’s the thing. No one knows. Risper has never gotten close enough. He saw him once and has said that he’s a big, brawny man, and therefore highly unlikely a pixie. But they’re usually known as the best thieves because of how crafty they are.”

“Strange,” Lough murmured. “Very strange. He’s a legend, basically. No one can touch him. No one has ever caught him or gotten so much of a whiff of him. He really is a ghost and the bane of Risper’s existence.”

“Risper,” said Dacer, his voice crisp and dry, “has never devoted his full attention to the matter before. Now he is doing so. I am sure he will have a resolution shortly. The only suspect that ever had any credibility was Valedication, but he is too old and frail now to be the one, so we know if must be someone else.”

“Maybe one of his children?” I asked, thinking of Daisy’s crazy eyes.

“She is too unstable,” said Dacer. “Besides, Risper must have crossed the children off the list, because they are here at Public and he is not.”

“Why do you think Elam did it?” I asked. “Just for the power?”

“Power calls to paranormals just as it calls to ordinary humans,” said Dacer quietly. “It says a lot about your character that you have not once thought about the power you have.”

“I just think about the responsibility,” I said. “What power?”

Dacer laughed shortly. “You are the only elemental. The damage you could do? The fees you could charge for simple magics? It is astounding to think about, and yet here you are, toiling away at Public. You could demand any price for your services, and yet you never will.”

“Of course I wouldn’t demand a price for my services,” I said, offended at the very idea. “I have to represent the elementals well.”

Dacer smiled. “And you do.”

“Will Elam come here?” I asked. “Even if he only collects items to have them for himself?”

Dacer nodded grimly. “Yes,” he said. “Elam wants something from this place. From you. Maybe another artifact he thinks you have. Maybe something else. It’s only a matter of time before he comes for it, and there is no defense against Elam. He has been too good for too long.”

“What can I do?” I murmured.

Dacer shook his head and sighed wearily. “Be ready.”

“Dacer,” I murmured, my eyes downcast. “Why are they sending me outside the force field? It’s certain death.”

Dacer’s face tightened. “Don’t say that,” he said. “Just practice your magic. When the time comes, maybe there will be no demons to attack you.”

“Maybe,” I said. “Maybe not.”

Before Lough and I left, Dacer said something about Lisabelle.

Lough had mentioned my saving his life in the Tower, and Dacer turned to me and said, “Something very strange happened with you and Ms. Verlans last semester. She lent you strength. I don’t know if you realize this, but that is nearly impossible to do.”

“Why didn’t anyone mention that?” I asked.

“Because with you, my dear, the impossible has become the commonplace. I would be careful about that. It becomes so hard to impress people when they expect the extraordinary.”

He winked at me, but I felt my stomach drop. It was obvious that expectations were high for me because I was the only elemental, but knowing that and living up to those expectations were two different things.

When I told Lisabelle this over second meal she laughed.

“Dacer has a flare for the dramatic. Have you seen the days when he paints his nails every color of the rainbow? Come on. Give the rainbow its colors back,” she said gruffly.

“I love Dacer’s style,” said Sip. “I wish I could pull that sort of thing off.”

“Pull what sort of thing off? The sort of thing that makes it look like he walked into a paint store and all the tubes exploded on him at once?”

“Look,” I said. “Just keep it in mind. It might come in handy some day.”

“So, let me get this straight,” said Lisabelle as we walked to Tactical for the first time. “The Map that could destroy all the paranormals was stolen, and my dear uncle is the only barrier standing between us and the Knights of Darkness?”

It was already dark outside, but still warm—the last remnant of summer. I was glad, because I wasn’t looking forward to this Tactical and it would have been even worse in the cold. Students flowed around us, forcing me to keep my voice low. I didn’t want anyone to hear what I was saying about the Map or Risper. Who knows where he was or how he was trying to find the Map, but Dacer had told me what had happened in the strictest confidence.

“He also told me that it could be anyone,” I said, “except who we think. Even though Gordon Valedication was a suspect, no one thinks it was his children or any of the professors at Public. Risper left because he got good information that Elam was elsewhere.”

“Trying to narrow it down, was he?” Sip asked.

“Have you told Keller?” Lough wanted to know. He, Lisabelle, and Sip had come to Astra so that we could walk over together. Now we were part of the stream of other students heading to another semester of Tactical.

“No,” I said. “I never had the chance. We’re supposed to hang out after Tactical, though, so maybe I’ll have a chance then.”

“Aww, are you going to kiss him?” Lisabelle teased.

“I certainly hope so,” I muttered. The first week of classes had been stressful and I was looking forward to things settling down, somehow. This Map business was worrying, but I was used to worry, and if I trusted anyone to handle it, it was Risper.

We reached the open grass by the force field where we usually met for Tactical. I wondered who was going to run it this semester with Risper suddenly gone. Jenkins was a good choice, since he was so like Risper in relevant ways, but I sort of hoped it was Oliva, because we had been on his team last semester.

Turns out it was neither of those.

“Oh no,” Sip groaned when we spotted the figure talking to Professor Erikson. Keller’s aunt was dressed in her customary white, her gray hair pulled back in to a severe bun. She was talking to Zervos.

“Come on,” Lough complained. “I must have done something seriously wrong in another life.”

“Or in this one,” said Lisabelle.

In the distance, among the paranormals gathering for Tactical, I saw Zervos, all in black. His dark hair was scraped back from his pale face and his lips were pressed into a thin line. His eyes sparked with intensity. He was waving his hands animatedly, appearing to argue with Professor Erikson.

“Hey,” said Keller, coming up to stand by my elbow. We didn’t touch, but mere inches separated us.

“Hey,” I said. Keller wore a black hoodie and dark jeans. Part of Tactical was to hide and you couldn’t do that in clothes that couldn’t blend into the background.

“How are you?” he asked, as we joined the massive circle around Zervos and Dean Erikson. Students were murmuring to each other. The vampires looked thrilled that Zervos was running Tactical, the pixies looked indifferent, while all the other students looked worried or angry. I felt a mixture of both. Zervos hated me and my friends with a passion I could barely put into words.