Elemental Fire by Maddy Edwards Page A

being silly. She had known I was there since the beginning, and as long as
I didn’t make a mess, which I most certainly did not, she was happy to have me
for as long as I wanted to stay. She quickly noticed that I knew the cataloging
system, and since there were several projects she needed help with, I might as
well make myself useful. She also missed having someone to talk to. She didn’t
mention for a long time that we had been classmates, and that when I died she
felt sorry for me when she heard of my plight as a ghost. I used to be
respected, you see.” He looked down and bit his lip. I saw now that his thin,
frail hands were fidgeting with the fraying edge of his coat. “That’s another
story, though.” He looked up quickly. “Do you like stories? I have many. Who
are you, anyway? What’s happened?”
    “I’m Charlotte,” I said
tentatively. I stepped forward to shake his hand and then realized that there
was no point. “It’s nice to meet you, Sigil.”
    He smiled, tipping his hat
slightly to me. “You too. I ask again: what’s happened? Mabelle just didn’t
come back one day. After that there were a couple of days when they came and
looked around, sort of boxed up her things, but not long after that everything
went quiet. I hid, of course, and I’ve been glad for the quiet, but it does get
lonely.” Sigil looked down, scuffing his booted foot on the ground. No dust
rose up from his movements.
    I swallowed hard. “You really
don’t know?” I asked softly. “The elementals that were last here, they didn’t
talk about it?”
    Sigil looked up at me, hearing
the sadness in my voice. “They discussed murders, but I was so afraid they’d
make me leave that I stayed as far away as possible. Sometimes I look out the
window and see the students walking around, and they look so happy and . . .
and alive.” Sigil looked longingly at the covered windows. “I could see that
none of them came to Astra until you and your friends showed up: that tall,
intimidating-looking girl, the cute blond, and that incredibly handsome young
man.”
    I raised my eyebrows as Sigil waggled
a finger at me. “I have eyes. I used to be young once. The way he looked at
you. . . .”
    I cleared my throat, sure that my
face was burning. “So, you’ve been watching me for years?”
    Sigil nodded enthusiastically.
“Every once in a while I would venture out at night, of course. Didn’t want to
get too cramped. But I had to be careful, avoiding the vampires and such.
Horrible creatures.”
    I nodded, deciding to answer his
question in as straightforward a manner as possible, just to get it over with.
“All the elementals are dead. Murdered. That’s why they stopped coming here and
Astra stopped being used. There were no elementals left to use it.”
    Sigil stared at me, his eyes
growing to the size of saucers as he sucked air in through his teeth - well,
that was the sound he made anyway. Since air technically went through him I was
not sure where it was actually going.
    He threw up his hands and started
to pace, staring around. “Oh no!” he cried. “How awful. How just awful. So many
lovely elementals. I thought they just stopped using Astra, that they had a
bigger and better home, maybe that some went into hiding, but I never. . . .”
    He paused in his pacing and
stared at the floor. His hat tipped forward, nearly covering his eyes. He
shoved it back on his forehead.
    “I’m sorry,” he said, meeting my
eyes.
    I was touched by his compassion.
“Thank you,” I said. “That means a lot.”
    He took a deep breath and tried
to straighten his shoulders. “Get it together, Sigil,” he muttered. “You have a
guest and you should be nice. Must be nice. Offer to help. Okay.” He looked at
me again. “What did you come here for? Can I help you find something? I’ve read
every book here twice. I’ve had some free time, after all.”
    I nodded, grateful for the offer.
“I’ve been afraid to come up here,” I said,