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school,” she began. “I know it’s supposed to be wonderful, but we are natural
skeptics. Yes, Nolan is there and yes, he helped found the Sign of Six, which
is meant to protect us and fight back against the demons when other paranormals
will not. I guess there’s a New York City campus and an upstate New York campus
and Nolan will be at the same one as us this semester,” She took a deep breath
before continuing. “But that doesn’t mean we’re safe.” She glanced at
Lisabelle, who was still eating, and rolled her eyes. “Isn’t it always drilled
into our heads that we’re never safe? So, we are never going to leave you
alone. I mean, I suppose you can go to the bathroom alone. I mean the stall,
but one of us has to go with you.”
    I was dumbfounded. I looked back
and forth between my friends as if they had totally lost their minds. This was
Golden Falls; even I’d heard of it. Lough clearly wasn’t worried, and I had
spent the last two and a half years of my life in danger, so I didn’t see what
was so new about the situation we were heading for.
    “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I
sputtered. “You can’t be serious! You want to babysit me?”
    “Much like we did first semester,
yes,” said Lisabelle, grabbing a second cookie. “Only by this time we will have
perfected the art of fear and intimidation.”
    “You were born a master at
those,” said Sip. “I’m surprised you’re surprised,” she said, turning to me.
    “It’s ridiculous,” I sputtered
out. At this point I was tired and already nervous about the next day’s travel,
never mind about being at Golden Falls for the semester. But I was also
excited. I too had heard the stories of a honey waterfall, and I secretly held
out hope that Golden Falls would hold some of the secrets of the elementals
that I so longed to know.
    “You need to be protected,” said
Lisabelle. “The best way for that to happen is for us never to leave you alone.
Do you realize that the president of Golden Falls has been asking if you’ll be
there? They want to know everything about you.”
    “So do a lot of paranormals,” I
said hotly. “I’m the last elemental, so they’re curious. It’s only normal.”
    “Right, well, we don’t like
curious,” said Lisabelle, “unless it’s coming from Sip.”
    “Or normal,” Sip put in. “Who
wants that? Totally overrated.”
    “I’m fine,” I said through
gritted teeth. “I’ve made it this far and I don’t want you to worry.”
    “And we want to see that you make
it to a nice, ripe old age,” said Lisabelle. I looked at my friend. She was
totally serious, and Lisabelle was hardly ever serious. Bitter and sarcastic
often, but seriously so, no.
    I took a deep breath. “Does
Keller count as a babysitter, too?”
    “Do I count as a babysitter?” My
boyfriend strode through the doors into the kitchen. He looked tense, but I saw
his shoulders relax as he looked at us.
    I just shrugged and waved at Sip.
“You tell him. I’m going to get ready for bed.” I pushed away from the counter,
and before any of my friends could argue, I retreated upstairs.
    I heard their voices long after I
had crawled under the covers, but I couldn’t sleep. Part of me was waiting for
Keller while another part was trying to calm down. My mind was racing, and I
couldn’t get it to stop. I was excited about the semester and I was hoping for
a fresh start. I knew my friends would be there, except for Dacer, who was
staying behind to “take care of the little ducklings at Public,” as he put it.
Having my friends at Golden Falls too should only have made it better. Now I
wondered a bit. But I knew that in the end it was just annoyance and stress.
    When Keller finally came to bed I
felt the mattress sag. I was relieved that he was there, but I didn’t turn
around. Then a strong arm snaked around my middle and he pulled me close.
    I snuggled next to him, anxious
to soak up every second I could in his presence, but