Elemental Shining (Paranormal Public Series) Read Free

coat, I vaguely caught a glimpse of Lough behind her. Well, of course he would come with her. He always wanted to be where she was. She was just too dense to notice, which was funny because she wasn’t dense about much else.
    I wrapped my arms more tightly around Lisabelle, ignoring that she felt a little cold.
    “How are you?” I asked her, pulling away just enough to search those black eyes. She wore her customary black dress, with her long black hair falling over her shoulders and brushing against the crook in her arms.
    She nodded. “I’m good. We had a long walk, but it’s nice to be home.”
    The word lodged in my mind. Lisabelle thought of Public as home. She wasn’t the only one.
    “Hey, Lough,” I said, stepping forward to greet my other friend. I didn’t recognize anyone else. There were just three other students, but the girl greeting Lanca had to be her sister. They looked identical, but if possible this girl was even more delicate and more beautiful.
    “Hey,” said Lough, wrapping his chunky arms around my thin shoulders. “Long time no see. Miss me?”
    “Of course,” I said grinning despite my dislike of the black woods. “Couldn’t wait to see you.”
    “I must say,” said Lisabelle, eyeing Cale, “I expected more from this whole thing.”
    I gave her a look that said, “Now is not the time to cause trouble,” but to my discomfort she ignored me and continued to glare at my escort.
    I moved over to Lanca. “This must be your sister,” I said, smiling at the girl now holding Lanca’s hand. Up close she was a little smaller than Lanca, but with the same small straight nose and pale features: the other Vampire Princess. Her jaw was softer, giving her less of an intimidating look, but I had a feeling she wasn’t to be trifled with either.
    Lanca beamed. “Yes, one of them, anyway.” The girl stuck out her hand in greeting.
    “I mean,” Lisabelle continued, starting to pace, “we were gone all summer, and here Cale is, actually hanging out with Charlotte. It’s just not appropriate after everything that his girlfriend did.”
    Lisabelle walked in a circle, forcing the rest of us to move out of her way. Everyone else had stopped their greetings. The other two students who had come in with Lisabelle and Cale were pixies, and Cale seemed to know them, but they weren’t talking. We were all staring at Lisabelle, who was walking faster and faster, throwing in hand gestures and tossing her head.
    “We’ve had a good summer,” I said in Cale’s and my defense. Something very strange was going on here. The darkness was starting to become suffocating; the cold was pressing in on my skin like icy fog.
    Lisabelle glared at me. her eyes blazing. “You had no right to have a good summer with a pixie. Sip would say the same thing.”
    “Actually,” I said, “Sip would say we should all get along.”
    In the year—really, had it been that long?—that I had known Lisabelle, never once had she questioned my judgment. She had questioned my sanity several times, but she had never told me not to speak to someone when I wanted to. Now I hadn’t seen her for months, and suddenly she was coming back full of fury and spitfire. Something was very, terribly, wrong. I could feel it in my bones.
    “Is everything alright?” I asked cautiously.
    Lisabelle’s eyes flashed. She had no patience for my fear. Fury was clear in every line of her body. Her face was tight and her hands shook in anger.
    “No, it is not alright,” she spat back. “As long as the demons know where you are, everyone else is in danger. The demons haven’t stopped wanting to get to you, and yet here you are, traipsing around the woods like it’s nothing, like it doesn’t matter if they come.”
    Involuntarily I had drawn closer to Cale’s warmth. He was big for a pixie, and I felt safer next to him. Lanca—with her sister, who had been introduced as Dirr—closed ranks on my other side. The two pixies who had come with