Elemental Fate (Paranormal Public Book 12) Read Free Page A

holes?” She frowned for a moment, then continued. “No, that is why the best way to use the Golden Rod is in concert with other artifacts on the Counter Wheel. It is only then that your friend Lisabelle Verlans will be in extreme danger.”
    “So, if paranormals put together the Counter Wheel, they can go against Lisabelle?” I repeated, trying to make sure I understood her correctly. There was too much at stake to risk a misunderstanding.
    “They can go against darkness,” she corrected. “Lisabelle Verlans has put herself in a dangerous position. If she did not control darkness, there would not be so many paranormals seeking to destroy her. It is the perception that she’s power-hungry that changes everything.”
    “She has all the power, so how . . . oh never mind,” I muttered. Why I sought to understand evil was beyond me.
    “The Counter Wheel and the Golden Rod are real, though?” I asked. “How do you know?”
    The Witch then did something I had sometimes seen on TV. Someone being interviewed was asked a question, and instead of answering it, the interviewee just talked about whatever he or she wanted.
    “The Golden Rod and the other objects on the Wheel are all made of gold. There’s power in those rare metals; why do you think humans wear them in such strange places?” She twitched crinkled fingers near her dripping ears.
    Knowing they were all gold really narrowed it down for me. I bit my tongue to stop myself from saying something sarcastic.
    “Alright,” I said. “Thanks.”
    “I still want the Golden Rod,” she said. “In time you will realize that the deal we struck is all that matters. But until then, a word of caution.” She bent forward a little. I had imagined that she possessed a strange smell, but it turned out she didn’t smell like much of anything. I sniffed the air, and even the flames didn’t smell like smoke. Staring at me, she saw what I was doing and smiled a little.
    “Caution?” I reminded her, irritated.
    “Yes,” she said. “My caution to you is that the fact that you possess great power does not mean you know how to wield it. Others would do well to remember that too.” She gave me another of those almost toothless smiles, then started to sink back into the flames. The place where her eyes should have been stayed trained on me until she was entirely gone.
    I had forgotten that my hand was on the stone and that the stone was very hot. Until the witch disappeared, it hadn’t felt hot to the touch, but now it was starting to hurt. I pulled my hand away, looked at the stone for another minute, and trudged back to the water. As I slipped into the clear pool, my clothes got soaked all over again.
     
    I didn’t waste any time in returning to the upper world and the grounds. I was just closing the trapdoor I had come through, proud of myself for sneaking out without being caught, when someone behind me cleared his throat.
    Turning around, I groaned. Standing there with his hands stuffed into his pockets was Keller Erikson, my sister’s husband and fallen angel extraordinaire, trying to appear casual. I knew he was anything but. Keller was a talented fallen angel from a fallen angel house that had wanted him to marry another fallen angel. But his family’s status had become more complicated when his aunt was discovered to be that era’s premier of all darkness. The shame she had brought to the fallen angels in general and the Eriksons in particular had been excruciating.
    Still, they were proud, and they weren’t happy that Keller had married a non-fallen angel, especially one with such a checkered and famous history as Charlotte Rollins.
    My sister loved Keller, and he loved her, and he had never wavered. I liked him pretty well in general, but I liked him a whole lot less at the moment.
    “How’s it going?” I said, mimicking the way he was standing – just because.
    “Oh, good,” he said. “My wife asked me to find her brother because it’s time for