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wrong?” I asked,
frowning. “I thought you liked Caid.”
    Lough shrugged, looking troubled.
    “It’s just been odd here,” he
said. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know anything,” he added hurriedly, as I
continued to glare at him. “It’s just a bad feeling I’ve had.”
    “We’ve had so many bad feelings
it’s hard to keep track,” I said dryly. “I was sort of hoping for a quiet
semester.”
    “That’s just silly,” said Lough,
his eyes dancing. “Never going to happen. You’re the only elemental.”
    “You’re one of two dream givers,”
I pointed out.
    “I like to pretend I’m the only
one,” said Lough forlornly.
    I grinned. The other dream giver
was a transfer into our year. His name was Trafton, and he also had a thing for
Lisabelle. I wasn’t sure how serious Trafton was about it, but Lisabelle was
very serious that both of them were to leave her alone. Well, actually just
Trafton. She had never given any sign of noticing how Lough felt, even though
it was as obvious as the sun shining at midday.
    We were halfway around the lake
and I was listening to Lough tell stories from his summer of trying to plow
fields when we heard voices. Somehow, we both instinctively hid.
    Lough grabbed my arm and tugged
me quickly behind one of the huge old pine trees stationed around the lake.
    “Where are they coming from?” I
asked, looking around. One of the voices had definitely been male, but at least
one other was female. I wasn’t sure how many of them there were.
    Lough didn’t say anything. He
just pointed, and I followed his slightly shaking finger. Right by the water
was another patio, set in perfectly circular stone, with several chairs facing
the perfect view of the lake. Sitting in one of the chairs was Caid. I
recognized another head as Saferous, because he was older and more
distinguished than most of the other fallen angels I’d come in contact with.
    The voice of the female took my
breath away. Sitting there across from President Caid, for all the world as if
it was any normal day, was Cynthia Malle, president of the Nocturns.
     
     

Chapter Four
     
    I gasped and started forward, but
Lough tightened his grip on my arm until it felt like a vice.
    “I’m going down there and
demanding -” I sputtered angrily, but I was cut off when Lough used his other
hand to cover my mouth. He gently shook his head.
    I struggled in vain against my
friend, but he held firm. It was one of the few times I had ever seen his eyes
so serious.
    Very quickly I realized why.
    The air hadn’t been cold just
because it was the start of fall. The air was cold because the black clouds
overhead had started to block out the sun. I realized now that the air was also
oddly still, as if even it was afraid to move. I looked around. Now that the
sun was gone, the forest was one big shadow, much darker than it should be at
this time of day, even with clouds overhead.
    Lough leaned forward until I
smelled the fresh scent of his soap and his early morning snack of banana. He
was hardly breathing.
    “She can’t possibly be alone,” he
said, so close that his lips brushed the tip of my ear. I shivered. He was
right. There had to be demons or hellhounds or both nearby. She might be by
herself when she met me in dreams, but not here. The real question was what on
earth was she doing talking to Saferous and Caid. When had Saferous arrived,
and why wasn’t he in one of the fallen angel eyries?
    A shiver ran down my spine as I
looked at the spindly head and patches of gray that were all that was left of
Malle’s hair.
    She was sitting so close to me I
could almost hear her breathing, yet I couldn’t confront her. Fury ripped
through my chest and anger made my temples throb as I saw how easily she sat
there, relaxed, for all the world as if she hadn’t murdered hundreds of
paranormals and ruined all kinds of lives.
    It was a good thing Lough kept a
firm grip on my arm, because left to myself I would have raced down