Elemental Fire by Maddy Edwards Page B

my voice breaking a little. “I’m
the only elemental left, and somehow if I came up here, read about my history,
researched my family, somehow. . . .”
    “It would mean they were truly
gone,” said Sigil, pushing his glasses higher on his nose. Movements from
ghosts were strange, like watching colored air move. “I understand,” he said,
waving his hands gleefully. “Sigil understands and I can help.”
    Sigil has spent a little
too much time alone ,
I thought. And as a ghost. I knew nothing of ghosts; I would have to ask Sip
later how to help them find peace. I felt sure she’d know all about it.
    “What is it you want to know?” he
asked, nearly disappearing down the stacks and then reappearing. Without
waiting for my answer he started madly grabbing books. He picked out a
purple-bound volume with gold letters, than a green one inscribed with orange.
He moved so fast I could barely see him. After a few moments he dashed over to
me and started to pile the books in my arms, sputtering off names as he went.
    “ An Elemental History of
Elementals ,
and The
Last Stand of the Elementals in 1704 , Power
and Purpose in Elemental Society , How to
Get Along with Other Elemental Powers, A Revised Version 1968 .”
    I laughed as the pile got large
and larger and started to teeter.
    “I’m not sure I need all this,” I
murmured, amused.
    “You do,” said Sigil, pausing for
only a moment. “If you are the only elemental you are the keeper not only of
their future but of their past. I understand it is a large responsibility, but
you can manage.” I raised my eyebrows at his confidence in me.
    “I also wanted to find out about
my family,” I said tentatively. “I don’t know anything.”
    Sigil paused for only a moment.
“When you come back,” he said, nodding. “You tell me the name and I will find
the material. Then we can read it together.”
    I tottered away, my back bowed
slightly under the weight of all the books. “I’ll get the door,” said Sigil. He
rushed forward and somehow - I had no idea how, and I was half tempted to ask
him for a book about ghosts - he opened the old door. I heard the rusty hinges
creak and saw the dark stairwell in front of me.
    “Do you want to come out and be
in the rest of the house?” I asked, not sure I wanted this flappy little ghost
around but feeling bad that he’d been up here for years. Sigil’s eyes grew wide
again.
    “Oh no,” he said brightly.
“That’s alright. I like it here, with the books.” He ran a loving hand over one
of the shelves as he said it.
    I smiled and left quickly. That
had not gone as I had expected, not at all. Unfortunately, more unexpected news
awaited me. Ms. Vale wanted us all to meet her the next evening in the center
of campus, where the pens had been. She had an announcement to make.
     

 
    Chapter
Twelve
     
    I tossed and turned all night. At
first I started out back in the library, only Sigil wasn’t a kind, slightly
eccentric ghost but a mace-wielding darkness mage. Then I transitioned back to
the lake where my mother had appeared, before finally reuniting with Keller
back on the grassy hill with the sun shining.
    “Can’t I stay here forever?” I
whined to him as I sat in his lap, his arms comfortably looped around my waist.
    He chuckled into my ear. “You can
try. Wouldn’t you get bored with me?”
    I snorted. “No, never, but
Lisabelle might come and wake me up. She has a habit of doing that when I’m
dreaming.”
    “Lisabelle just wants what’s best
for you,” said Keller. He was so close to me that his warm breath tickled the
nape of my neck and I shivered with pleasure. “But she understands danger. And
danger likes her. You are not Lisabelle, and you should still fear it.”
    “I wish you were here,” I
murmured. “It’s lonely at Public without you.”
    Keller’s arms tightened around
me. “Like I said, I’m always there. It’s just hard not being able to protect
you. I keep having visions of. . .