Elemental Darkness (Paranormal Public Series) by Maddy Edwards Read Free Book Online Page A

shaking his head. “What do you expect to do there?”
    “Figure out how to get Lisabelle back,” said Sip grimly. “I heard stuff while they had me. They really didn’t have any idea how good a werewolf’s hearing is.”
    “What’s their plan?”
    “I guess the demons and the hellhounds are going off by themselves,” said Sip quietly, giving a furtive look at her closed door, as if she was afraid a Nocturn was listening.
    “Which is why Doblan was making hybrids,” I said, understanding suddenly what had puzzled me before. “They want their own army, because they don’t have one.”
    “Exactly,” said Sip, “but what they’re really trying to do is to leash the darkness. That’s their best bet. And the more we know about the power they could possess, the better. Therefore, library.”
    “I’m pretty sure we already know a lot,” Lough pointed out. “You’re the best student in the class.”
    “Library,” Sip repeated stubbornly.
    “Dacer could probably tell us some, so could Oliva. If we were feeling brave we could even ask Zervos.”
    “Library!”
    Lough sighed. “Fine,” he said, getting to his feet.
    Trafton excused himself to go call his parents, but Sip, Lough, and I headed to the library. It was a very quick trip.
    “I can’t believe it’s closed,” said Sip as we trudged back to Airlee.
    Lough put a comforting arm around her shoulders, but she just glared at him. “The semester’s over,” he said gently. “No one wants to study.”
    “I do,” said Sip, raising her hand. “This is throwing off my entire worldview.”
    Lough and I made eye contact over Sip’s head.
    “Yeah, I know you two want to laugh at me,” she said, still not giving up. “Go right ahead. I know I’m right.”
    After we got back to Airlee we talked again for a long time about what had happened, but none of us mentioned Lisabelle. We all knew she wasn’t there when by rights she should have been, and for all we knew unspeakable things were happening to her (although it was unlikely . . . I mean, come on). But it was as if speaking about it out loud would somehow make her absence more real.
    Sip also hadn’t talked about what had happened to her. I figured she’d tell us when she was ready. When Trafton came back and he and Lough started to argue about some arcane magical dream giver spell, Sip stepped closer to me.
    “I also have to write a missive for the Sign of Six,” she said thoughtfully. “Now I have a lot to say.”
    Then she pulled me aside, into Lisabelle’s half of the room. “I want to put a message in the missive,” said Sip conspiratorially. “For Lisabelle.”
    “How are you going to do that?” I demanded. “How’s she even going to read it?”
    “Code,” said Sip excitedly. “I’ve been reading up on them. Brilliant things. I’m very excited about it. All I have to do is put a basic word cypher in the text.”
    “She’ll notice?” I asked. “Without you two having talked about it?”
    Sip grimaced a little. “That I’m not so sure about, but I’m hoping she will. I’ll have to make the first one obvious.”
    “Okay,” I said, thinking fast. “You need something that only she would know is you.”
    “Yeah,” said Sip, “so tea is out. Everyone knows I love tea.”
    I grinned. “Right, everyone does, because you offer it to everyone all the time.”
    Sip shrugged. “I like to be friendly.” She paused and thought for a minute, then her face lit up and she said, “Oh, I have the perfect thing.”
    “What?” I asked. We didn’t have personal codes or anything, and if she used something obvious, like her name, it would be spotted in no time. “What is it going to be?” I asked, impatient to know what had gotten her so excited.
    “Neon,” said Sip, beaming happily. “I’m going to put the code neon in there. Next time she’ll know to look for it. Who would be crazy enough to put something like that in there if not me?”
    “Good point,” I said