Free Elemental Darkness (Paranormal Public Series) by Maddy Edwards Page B

in relation to the demons. We are never going to reach an accord if all you do is create discord. I really thought you knew better, given that you are one of the very best students at Public.”
    “I am not. . .” was all Sip managed to say before Oliva talked over her again. Sip closed her mouth with a snap.
    “The Sign of Six is a child’s organization,” said Professor Erikson, cutting in for the first time. Up to that point I had had no idea what she might be thinking of the proceedings, because I couldn’t bring myself to look at her. “I can scarcely believe that any of the Nocturns take her nonsense seriously. She is, after all, still a child.”
    “Lisabelle Verlans took it seriously,” said Oliva grimly. “Look where she is now.”
    Sip gasped and sprang to her feet, no longer willing to stay silent. “How dare you accuse me of turning Lisabelle into a Nocturn.”
    “Didn’t you?” Oliva asked quietly. “That’s the story I heard.”
    Sip looked like she was close to tears as she glanced over at me. I wasn’t sure I could help, but it didn’t seem like there was anything to lose by trying.
    “Enough,” I said, shooting out of my chair and glaring around the room. “We’re leaving tomorrow morning, correct?”
    Oliva nodded, surprised by my reaction. I went right on and asked, “You want Sip to stop writing in the Tabble, correct?”
    Oliva nodded again.
    “Well, she won’t,” I said. “She can write in it if she wants. It’s still a free paranormal society, at least for now.”
    “Not if I expel her she can’t,” said Oliva coldly, rising out of his chair. “Again, Charlotte Rollins, you overstep your bounds. Did it ever occur to you that your stubbornness does more harm than good?”
    “No,” I said flatly, “it didn’t.”
    Sip was standing next to me, while Zervos and Professor Erikson stayed seated, looking on with shocked expressions. I had a feeling that not many students had ever come in here and defied requests from the President of Public.
    “You wouldn’t expel Sip, because that would give her even more time to write in Tabble AND she’s Lisabelle Verlans’s best friend. Lisabelle would come for her, and there’s just no way you want that. The Tabble would have a field day, for one thing.”
    Oliva ground his teeth, his lips glued tightly together and his eyes glinting. He was clearly not accustomed to being defied. I also had a feeling that I had just pointed out several possibilities that he hadn’t thought of himself, and he wasn’t pleased about that, either. Meanwhile, Sip was standing next to me, trying to hide her smugness by shifting on the balls of her feet. It wasn’t really working.
    “Now,” I said, turning and grabbing Sip’s arm on my way to the door, “we will show ourselves out. Have a special summer.” I tried to keep the fury and sarcasm out of my voice, but both seeped in.
     
    “I can’t believe he didn’t want to hear what happened to you,” I cried as soon as we were out of earshot, though it hardly matter at this point. Ice ran through my veins. It felt like every day we had fewer and fewer allies. “I can’t believe it.”
    Sip shrugged. “Nothing much did happen to me. They kept me blindfolded. I rode in a carriage. I sat on a dirt floor. I was really hungry, and then they brought me back.”
    I looked at her in surprise. “No torture? They didn’t even talk to you?”
    Sip shook her head. “They wouldn’t have tortured me, not if they wanted Lisabelle.”
    When we got back to Airlee there was more bad news. Lough, who had already packed and was now at loose ends, was waiting for us, holding a copy of the latest Tabble. Apparently Sip wasn’t the only one writing for it; Michael Mound was still making his contribution as well. The headline read:
     
    The defection of Lisabelle Verlans, by Michael Mound, Pixie President and Proprietor of Paranormals First, Last, and Only.
     
    “Do we really want to read this?” I asked