Elemental Shining (Paranormal Public Series) Read Free Page A

Lough and Lisabelle looked like they wanted to join us, but they probably knew that if they moved they might draw Lisabelle’s attention, and no one wanted that.
    “Lisabelle,” I murmured. “What’s wrong?”
    I couldn’t bring myself to come right out and say that she was scaring me, but she was scaring me.
    “You think you’re so special,” she said venomously.
    Then she turned cold eyes on me and I gasped. They weren’t Lisabelle’s eyes. They were the lifeless eyes of someone else, someone I didn’t know. Not my friend Lisabelle’s.
    “What’s happened to you?” I gasped. But I already knew the answer to my question. It was the demons. I wasn’t sure how and I wasn’t sure when, but at some point when she had tried to return to Paranormal Public, the demons had gotten to Lisabelle. I searched her eyes for any sign that she was still my friend. Looking into their depths I felt nauseous, and only when I looked away could I breathe properly again. I pressed my hand to my chest, trying to steady my racing heart.
    Demon eyes.
    “No,” I whispered, staring in horror at my friend, or what used to be my friend, who was now just a cusp of fire and hate and fear.
    Cale stepped forward. He was still Cale. “You can’t do this,” he said, his voice strong. “No way.”
    I didn’t know exactly what he was referring to, but I appreciated his stepping between me and certain death.
    “But I can do it,” said Lisabelle, her voice filled with amused malice. A smile devoid of all mirth appeared on her face. “I already have. Do you know how easy it was?”
    Slowly she walked forward, toward me. It hurt to do it, but I shrank away from my friend. All around me the shadows coiled, becoming denser, darker, sharper. Now there was nothing but darkness.
    “Who are you?” Cale asked, standing his ground between me and Lisabelle.
    “You know who I am,” said Lisabelle, her voice becoming clearer. “And if you don’t, that’s fine. You aren’t supposed to.”
    She turned her eyes to me. I was the one who was supposed to know her, because I’d had dealings with President Malle during my first semester at Public. It was, I realized, her voice coming out of Lisabelle now. Her sickly sweet voice had taken over my friend’s body and used it to come after me. I had stupidly gone out into the woods, knowing that the demons weren’t eliminated, just diminished, and this was what had happened.
    “She’s supposed to.” Lisabelle’s body pointed her finger at me.
    “Is Lisabelle dead?” I asked.
    The President/Lisabelle gave a thin smile. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
    If Sip had been there she would have said something perfect and sarcastic, but my werewolf friend hadn’t returned early. She was on vacation with her parents and her five brothers, and they had wanted her to stay with them for as long as possible. I now felt bad for trying to convince her to return to Public. She was better off away from this place of inky darkness, because she wasn’t about to die.
    “Where’s the closest fallen angel?” Lanca whispered to me.
    I shivered. The Vampire Princess was cold. I could see her hands shake slightly at her sides.
    “My sister is here,” she said feverishly.
    I knew Dirr’s life was more important to her than her own, but we needed a fallen angel to attempt the Power of Five and we did not have one.
    Lanca read my thoughts. “Alright, enough of this,” she said, stepping between everyone and Dirr. “We are on Public territory. You cannot possibly get away with what you are trying to do.”
    “Oh?” Lisabelle’s body asked coldly. “I already have gotten away with it. The one thing paranormals must do is protect their precious little elemental, who is—forgive the pun—elemental to their survival. Haha. Ha.”
    Lisabelle gave a twitter of laughter at her own joke and my stomach turned. Lisabelle didn’t laugh like that. The noise coming out of that thing’s throat sounded awful, like