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

wearing
a large gray hat and topcoat and holding a black cane bustled over to me. He
was as round as he was tall and had a jovial air about him.
    “Yes?” I said, unsure of how to
respond to this stranger. My friends were busy greeting other paranormals;
Caid’s party was packed. It seemed that all the students of Public, plus their
families, plus any other paranormals within reach, were already there.
    “I’m Michael Mound,” said the
stranger, stretching out a hand. My first thought, which was horrible, was that
I’d never seen such a fat pixie.
    I felt like a ton of bricks had
fallen on my head. This was the man who had spent semesters terrorizing me in
the paranormal daily news, the Tabble, and here he was, stretching out his hand
and smiling at me for all the world as if we were friends, while all I could do
was stare stupidly at him.
    He raised his eyebrows
questioningly at me. This was one of those times when I wished I could be
Lisabelle. Her perfect timing for biting remarks would have come in handy with
this guy.
    Suddenly, a light bulb went off
in my head. “I wish I could say it was nice to meet you,” I told him honestly.
    To my great surprise, for I
thought I’d achieved a pretty good zinger, at least for me, Mound threw back
his head and laughed.
    “I heard you ran with a smart
crowd,” he said, shaking his head.
    “You spy on me?” I asked
suspiciously, giving him a hard look. I wouldn’t put it past him. Some of the
stuff he had printed in the past year he could only have known if he talked to
other students on campus.
    “My dear, that’s such a vulgar
term,” he said, waving me off.
    “Not if it’s true,” I said.
    “As the only elemental, you should
expect a certain amount of press,” he chided me.
    “Besides,” he said, “I keep the
paranormal public interested, if you’ll excuse the pun.” Again he threw back
his head and laughed at his own joke. Amazingly, he managed to accomplish this
without spilling the large glass of red wine he was clutching.
    “How was your summer?” he asked.
“See any demons?”
    I instantly bristled. Until this
morning I hadn’t, but he couldn’t possibly know that. Trying for lightness I
said, “It was great. Warm weather all along, and now I’m back with my friends.”
    “Hum, yes,” said Mound. “You
didn’t see them over the summer?”
    “I’m sorry, but why are you
asking?” I didn’t like this man, and from his articles he didn’t like me. He
was fishing for something, and I was determined not to help him find it.
    But before he could say anything
else, the most wonderful thing in the world happened.
    I saw Keller walking toward me.
    My eyes went to him by instinct,
even though he was dressed casually in a button down, with an open black jacket
and nice looking slacks. Our eyes locked and his face lit up. I was sure that
mine was doing the same.
    Mound followed my eyes to Keller.
    “Ah, still with the fallen angel,
are you?” Mound muttered. “I wonder why the young always wish pain on
themselves.” He shook his head and raised his glass to my boyfriend, whose
smile slipped a little when he caught sight of who I was talking to.
    “You should be more careful of
the darkness,” Mound muttered in my ear as wine from his breath wafted into my
nostrils. “The darkness is careful of you.”
    I gave him a sharp look, but he
seemed serious. “And you’d do well to be nice to me. The more friends you have
in powerful places, the better off you will be.” I thought about taking issue
with his assertion that he was in a position of extreme power, but after a
moment of reflection I thought better of it and said nothing.
    I didn’t want to let on that I
didn’t know what he was talking about, so I just turned away and walked, well,
basically ran, into Keller’s outstretched arms.
    I had no idea what anyone else
was thinking or doing at the party as Keller enfolded me into his arms. I
nearly tipped him backward as my nose slammed