Part 26 (2/2)

Was the Key found? We do know that the White Ring was breached.

Facis eyes sparked with rage.

No, said Keller evenly. It wasnt.

The rain had subsided, but it still drizzled, making me s.h.i.+ver. Or maybe it wasnt the rain making me s.h.i.+ver.

Oliva gave me a hard look. I kept my head down, but I could see Dacer standing off to the side, studiously indifferent. His mother, on the other hand, was having none of it.

This is ridiculous, she said sharply. These are children and they were doing something that they were a.s.signed to do, ordered even, and now theyre being treated like criminals for it!

Professor Dacer, Caid barked, why dont you escort your mother back to your home?

I was stunned. Caid had just dismissed Dacer and the Unforgiver. We were heading down a dark, dark road.

Get them out of here, Oliva said, pointing to us. Now.

But it was already too late. There was a hum of energy in the gathered crowd. I just now realized that I should have been wondering why the crowd was gathered in the first place, and I took a sharp breath. Keller was here. He was working for Malle. I glanced at my ex-boyfriends shoulders, where he stood with his back turned to me as he squarely faced the President of Public.

From behind Oliva a figure emerged.

Cynthia Malle had returned to Paranormal Public.

I didnt lunge. I didnt move, I just let a numbness take over my body. I should have wrapped my hands around her throat and demanded to know where Lisabelle was, but we were hopelessly outnumbered. I looked to Dacer. He gave the smallest shake of his head.

Then I was pushed away, and my friends and I were led back toward the dorms.

Sip and Lough were taken to Airlee despite their protests. I was taken alone to Astra. I watched Keller the whole time, hoping for any sign that he missed me, that he wanted to talk to me, that his heart ached half as much as mine did, but there was nothing. Nothing at all.

Chapter Thirty-Six.

It took us almost a week to recover from Tactical, and we spent most of that week in Astra. I had one more visit to make for Dacer now, and I couldnt wait, presuming he was even going to let me go. I hoped that with Malle showing up Dacer had changed his mind and realized that danger was everywhere, even within the walls of Public. The night Tactical ended I still nursed a tiny hope that Keller would come talk to me, but it quickly faded.

I cant believe Keller didnt even talk to us, Sip said for the millionth time, as the three of us sat in the Astra sitting room. The weather was still terrible. It was raining harder than ever, with what seemed like egg-sized drops pounding against the window panes. Lough sat huddled under a blanket, his eyes filled with concern. Theyd left Airlee the minute theyd been allowed, while I had just stayed in Astra, not wanting to miss Keller if he came.

Over the past three years Sip had become friends with Keller too. His ignoring us in favor of Malle had hurt her, but she masked her pain with anger.

I stared hard at the fire, wondering how much more I could take. Even the end of the semester wasnt going to offer any relief. I missed Keller and I missed Lisabelle, and it hurt me deep inside that they were so close and yet unreachable.

We should have our own hybrids, she said, that would show all the darkness mages.

Someone doesnt want to talk to you, so you invent evil monsters to have them killed? Lough said. Sounds about like a girl.

Sip took a sip of tea. Shed been furiously boiling water, letting the tea steep, adding honey, and pouring it for the last twenty minutes. Now she sat on her sofa, cradling the steaming mug and glaring ferociously.

Weve now lost both of them, said Sip sadly. I never thought Keller would go over to darkness.

I spun around.

We havent lost either of them, I said. Keller was only doing that because he had to. h.e.l.l come!

Sip looked troubled, and Lough didnt say anything. h.e.l.l come, I insisted.

Charlotte, said Lough quietly, they already left. Malles delegation. It was only a handful of Nocturns and they didnt stay very long. They talked with Goffer, Oliva, and Caid, and then they left. Once they knew Oliva didnt have the key, they didnt wait around.

I swallowed hard. I felt like there was a ma.s.sive hand pressing down on my chest and keeping me from breathing.

What about Dobrov? I asked. Have you seen him?

Sips face got even darker. Not since the end of Tactical.

I had told my friends that Id given Dobrov the Key. At first Lough been appalled, but he quickly realized that I had had no choice.

Now, though, Dobrov was nowhere to be found.

Charlotte? Sip asked. Keller will come back. He didnt go over to darkness. Its just that he didnt have a choice either. She looked at me pleadingly, so I nodded, feeling numb.

Lough looked at me with worry in his eyes. Are you okay? he asked.

I looked at my two friends, the only two friends I had left in the world, or so it felt.

I shook my head. No, I said. No, Im not.

By the end of the week it was clear that Dobrov wasnt going to come either. I had risked my life for the Key of Light for nothing.

Chapter Thirty-Seven.

The end of the semester was near. I would have thought that the ache of missing Lisabelle and Keller would have eased with time, but it hadnt. Instead it was getting worse, and Lisabelles absence was feeling less and less like she was taking an extended vacation and more like it was permanent. Seeing Keller had done nothing to help my sleeping, or my mood.

We had one more strengthening task to carry out for Dacer, and he had decided to let us risk it. Over the course of our previous excursions, Sip and I had become more efficient at putting the Power of Five into effect and then returning to Public, and it seemed to make sense for us to try this last one.

I was having a hard time concentrating on anything, including schoolwork, so I was relieved when it was time to leave campus. Public had become stifling. Everywhere I went the students either ignored me entirely or gave me dirty looks. I didnt much care, but it made for very unpleasant cla.s.ses.

We didnt think it was a good idea for Sip, Lough, and I to all just disappear for the weekend, but when Lough grumbled, we got Rake to look after Astra and the three of us set off together for our last mission of the semester.

The house we were a.s.signed to this time was unlike the others. Dacer had mostly sent us to cl.u.s.ters and families where there were lots of children with unusual talents, like the Tempest, or rare and special animals at risk of going extinct at the hands of the demons.

But this house was on a hill far out in the middle of nowhere, and it was too small to contain any children. Dacer said that an old woman lived there alone, and that she had once been a professor at Public. Maybe that warranted protection, but I wasnt completely convinced, and neither was Sip.

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