Elemental Darkness (Paranormal Public Series) Read Free Page A

that was really all we needed to know.
    Normally, returning to Astra was comforting for me; I felt my family there. Normally, Keller would be waiting for me, and I had always loved the feeling of expectation that gave me.
    But now I knew that elementals had killed my mother.
    And Keller was with Malle.
    Everywhere my thoughts went, there was gloom.
    “Earth to Charlotte,” said Lough, waving his hand in front of me.
    I glared at him. I was too tired and too sad. “What?” I demanded.
    He pointed to Astra.
    There were lights winking at me from a distance. I frowned.
    “Maybe Martha’s back,” Lough said hopefully. “And baking.”
    “I doubt it,” I replied. “Although she did say she’d come back and bake from time to time.”
    “I don’t think even a cookie could cheer me up now,” said Lough sadly. He was probably right. I didn’t think a cookie would cheer me up either.
    “You don’t have to come in with me,” I said, as Lough made it clear he wasn’t going to Airlee.
    He shrugged. “I don’t really want to go back to Airlee if Sip and Lisabelle aren’t there. Besides, you’re the only friend I have left.”
    He took a shaky breath. “I just turned my back for one second. You know, it’s one of the many prices of hanging around with girls. Well, no, there’s another: you aren’t in the same suite with them, so you can’t protect them when Happiness Enforcement Officers come, and girls are crazy.”
    “I think you’ve said that before,” I murmured.
    He nodded. “I’ll keep saying it. Makes me feel better.”
    “Anyhow, I think there are people in Astra,” I said
    Lough followed as I hurried forward with my heart clenched, wondering what else could possibly go wrong. Dacer and Oliva had both told me to return to my dorm; if something awful had happened there, wouldn’t they have warned me?
    “Let me go in first,” said Lough. He stepped in front of me, his face grim.
    “No,” I argued. “Not this time. I’m sick and tired of being protected.”
    I didn’t even wait for him to react. The thing with Astra, and me being the only elemental, was that the dorm’s old powers recognized me as its owner. I might not have been as strong as a senior paranormal, but I was getting there. My junior year in college was over, after all.
    I stepped around Lough and blew the doors off. It barely took any effort, I was that angry.
    In front of me there was a snap and a massive puff of dark gray smoke, obscuring my vision. Behind me I heard Lough coughing. What was more interesting was that there were worried cries coming from beyond the smoke.
    Ignoring any worries about my own safety, I held my breath, then darted through doorway and into Astra.
    “You trying to kill us?” Rake asked. He was half laughing, but sweat had broken out on his brow.
    The thick smoke prevented me from seeing a face, but I recognized the voice and the massive shoulders of the burly vampire.
    “Huh?” I said, staring at him in shock as the smoke started to clear. “What are you doing here?”
    “Do you mean here as in Public or here as in Astra?” Trafton asked sweetly. The beautiful dream giver, another friend of ours who nursed an unrequited crush on Lisabelle, came forward. He had a long cut on his cheek, which he had probably gotten in the escape from Golden Falls, but it was already starting to heal.
    “I had no idea you were here,” said Lough. He only sounded kind of glad. Trafton was not his favorite paranormal.
    “We just got here,” Trafton said. “Dragons are awesome, but they got tired carrying us.”
    “They got tired carrying you ,” said Vanni, stepping delicately around him and meeting my eyes. Vanni had a crush on Keller, and for that reason and others I had never particularly liked her. But in recent semesters she had tried to be brave, and I had to respect her for that.
    “We’re glad you’re okay, Charlotte,” she said, smiling shyly at me.
    I looked beyond them into the house and saw