Once I had finished telling the story, Lanca nodded as if she wasn't surprised. "Of course Dacer knows what he's doing. I'm surprised there's even a question. Maybe everything with the demons is making them wary."

"What stuff with the demons?" I asked. "Them trying to get in?"

Keller and Lanca exchanged a look. I hated it when everyone else knew more about what was going on than I did.

"I just know more and more are coming," said Lanca. I started, worried that they would break through the force field. "I don't think they can get in," Lanca hastened to add, "but it's still a strain on the defenses."

Sometimes at the beginning of the semester when I had looked into the night sky, I could see spots of color from the force field at work. Now I wasn't seeing those spots any more because the magic was being stretched thin. But if Lanca said it couldn't be broken, then I believed her.

"Are the Committee members going to call for help to get rid of the demons?" I asked. "Do they have any sort of long term plan?"

Keller grinned. "I'm sure my aunt has something up her sleeve, but who knows. They don't share with students."

We didn't stay long after that. Lanca could barely keep her eyes open. Without food, she wasn't going to last much longer.

"Isn't there anything they can eat?" I asked as we left Cruor.

Keller ma.s.saged the back of his neck. "There's some stuff in stores, but it's limited, and since it isn't fresh it doesn't have as many of the nutrients that they need."

"Are all the vampires going to die?" I asked.

Keller looked at me and I could see the deep worry shining through in his eyes. "Unless someone figures out what is going on, yes."

Chapter Twenty-Four.

After the stronger vampires fell ill, the others quickly followed suit. It turned out that somehow, no one in a position of power was saying how, the vampires' food supply had been compromised. I wanted to yell at them that Dacer had said it was the masks, but I kept my mouth shut. If they weren't saying that then they probably had a good reason.

The drag on the vampires' strength was just too great, and the lack of food was crushing. Dacer was not there the next time I went to the Museum. He had also fallen ill, and telling me that the vampire mask was missing was his last act as curator. After much searching I found out that Dacer was not in Cruor with the other vampires but in his private apartments, which were in a small house on campus, close to the library.

I needed to talk to him, because I had no idea who was supposed to look after the Museum or what I was supposed to do about my internship while he wasn't there. I also wanted more information about the missing oval mask. Was it the only thing that could fix the food supply? I knew that Dacer was the only person on campus who had total access to the Museum, but lots of people had partial access, including me, the guards, professors, and members of the Committee. It was a lot of people to consider, but the Museum's sensors should have gone off when someone took the mask and they hadn't, which meant that whoever it was knew the Museum intimately.

"You should go talk to him," said Sip. We were sitting in her and Lisabelle's dorm room, which had gone through a complete transformation since I had left. Lisabelle's will had only been imposed on her half of the room, and it clashed heatedly with Sip's neon covers and walls. It had been weeks since Lanca had fallen ill and we were still no closer to finding a cure. It had been difficult to go on as if nothing had happened. Tactical had been suspended, because the trainings were impossible to carry out while we were missing a fourth of the school. It was hard to concentrate in cla.s.s, and although I did what I could in the Museum, I was afraid to do any serious magic without Dacer's supervision.

I rolled my shoulders, trying to get rid of the tension. Seeing Lanca collapse had taken its toll on all of us. The only good thing to come out of all this was that my friends and I had gotten even closer. Keller, Lealand, and Lough were all there, Keller with his legs stretched out and crossed, one over the other.

I was sure that Lisabelle had invited Keller, but it still gave me goose b.u.mps for him to return to what had been my room, where we had kissed at the end of last semester. I was doing my best to avoid his eyes, scared of the heat that would rise in my face if I looked directly at him. I couldn't forget that his aunt would be angry if she knew he was here with me. She had been adamant that he should stay far away from the rogue elemental, and I wanted to respect that, even if Keller thought it was ridiculous.

"I agree," said Keller, shifting a little. I was forced to look at him, but instead of meeting his eyes I examined the spot on the wall above his head. Niiice white wall, I thought to myself.

"Dacer was one of the last senior vampires to go down," Keller continued. "He's strong, and what's happening to the vampires shows signs of being a spell, maybe some sort of poison. But vampires are hard to poison, so there's a chance the illness has something to do with a mask. I don't think Dacer would casually throw that accusation around. And if it's a mask and Dacer is down, you're person best equipped to discover what's going on."

I nodded. I was the only intern in the Museum of Masks, and Dacer was the only non-cleaning/non-security employee. Then again, I had hardly gotten any experience with the masks before Dacer disappeared.

"If I could help, wouldn't one of the Committee members, like maybe Risper, have asked me to by this time?" I asked, looking from one friend to another around the room.

It was Lealand's turn to answer. "No," he said. "The members of the Committee are all stuck in their ways. It's hard to become a Committee member if you're not."

"I wish Oliva, the pixie Committee member, had come," said Lough. "I've heard he's pretty young and progressive."

"I've heard he's awesome," said Sip, "for a pixie. . . ."

Lisabelle laughed softly. "I'm not sure how much that's so, but I've heard the same thing."

Lealand shrugged. "He isn't here, but maybe you're right. A younger Committee member would be a lot more likely to understand what's going on and to have a feel for how the students are dealing with the changes and attacks taking place at Public."

"So," said Lough, "what are you going to do about it?" There was silence in the room for a second, then I gave a start when I realized he was speaking to me.

I looked at all my friends. Everyone was looking expectantly in my direction.

"What?" I asked. "Why is it up to me?"

"Charlotte," said Sip gently, "I know you didn't ask for this, but we can't do what you can, no one else can. Still, it's your choice. You're the only one, so it doesn't make sense for Lisabelle and me to sit here and tell you what to do."

"I would love to tell you what to do, but girls scare me," Lough muttered.

Lisabelle gave a derisive snort and grinned at Lough.

His cheeks got pinker.

Keller said, "We'll support you whatever you choose to do, but it has to be your choice."

I pursed my lips. I was about to speak, even though I wasn't sure what my decision was, when there was a knock at the door.

Mrs. Swan opened it at Sip's invitation.

She glanced around the room, her eyes resting on Lealand for a second longer than on the rest of us. Then she turned to me. "A message arrived for you a short while ago. I was asked to deliver it immediately."

She held out a folded piece of paper. Even from across the room I could smell the perfume permeating it. Involuntarily, I grinned.

"I guess he wants to see me, too."

"What?" Lisabelle asked, not understanding.

I got up from Lisabelle's bed and took the paper from Mrs. Swan. Unfolding it, I glanced at the message. It was short and the handwriting was choppy.

"Please come soon, Dacer."

I read it aloud after Mrs. Swan disappeared back to Astra. Apparently she felt no need to hear private messages sent to me, though I had a feeling she already knew what it said. In fact, I had started to suspect there was a lot more to Mrs. Swan than her casual appearance as half witch, half water maven. Sometimes I would walk into the kitchen and catch her spinning air into funnels and sending it flying around the room to clean. She didn't realize that I had seen, but I knew enough about magic to know that what she was doing wasn't easy.

Sip sucked in her breath. "You gotta go. He must know what's going on. Maybe he can tell you what to do."

"I just don't see how I can help," I murmured. "He must have already talked to the Committee members and told them what he thought was going on and they didn't take him seriously, even though a mask is missing."

"Personally, I'm just surprised someone isn't blaming you for taking it," said Lisabelle, grinning.

"Your uncle has more sense than that," I argued, although I wasn't sure that he did. Was I really being treated so carefully that even though I was the only one besides Dacer with magic and access to the masks, they weren't going to accuse me? Or did they just think Dacer was crazy?

I glanced at Lealand, remembering the day he and Trafton had come to the Museum. I wasn't the only one who went to the Museum regularly. Lealand was there all the time. "It must be a regular visitor," I mused, trying not to give myself away. "Dacer got lots of company. He was always getting interrupted from our lessons by people dropping by."

"I've never met such a social b.u.t.terfly," said Lealand, grinning. "No wonder he runs the Museum. Probably half the people who visit, visit just to see him."

Lisabelle nodded. "Besides, Lanca trusts you and she needs our help. She's sick." Lisabelle actually looked a little upset by this. Keller and Lough were both nodding.

"Just talk to him," said Keller. "It can't hurt."

"You should go with her," said Sip to Keller. "He asked you to help her with the masks. He obviously respects you."

"Keller is an Erikson," said Lealand. "Everyone respects him."

I wanted to roll my eyes, but I resisted. It was that respect that was getting in the way of my getting any more makeout sessions. I had been sure that college would come with makeout sessions, but so far not so good.

"I'll go," said Keller, glancing at me. "If it's alright?"

"Sure," I said, still not looking at him. I wasn't sure how to act around him, but I was sure I wasn't going to disrespect his aunt's wishes, which she had made painfully clear. Maybe he and I could just be friends.

Lisabelle gave me a nudge.

"What?" I asked.

"Why are you two still here?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"It's nighttime," I said. "The vampires. . . . Oh."

There were no vampires out at night now; they were all too ill. Though it was still dangerous to wander around at night - actually it was downright against the rules - we would have to do it anyway.

"I agree," said Keller. "We should go sooner rather than later. It's not like the demons have broken through the barrier."

Actually, the demons had been enjoying the suffering of the paranormals who were inside Public. More just kept coming. Now, any time I looked up I could spot them in the sky, waiting, hoping. It made my stomach twist with worry. I just kept telling myself that the Committee members must have a plan to deal with them. Well, whatever it was, I wish I knew, or I wished they would get on it. Having a cloud cover of demons overhead was not my idea of a good college semester.

"Then let's go," I said. I stood up and tried to look brave. Inside, my stomach was in knots. "Then you can walk me back to Astra. Just in case something terrible happens to me."

He got up and opened the door, ushering me out. "After you."

I couldn't be sure, but I think behind me Lisabelle gave a wicked grin.

I had never been to Dacer's house before, and I would have gotten a little turned around before I found it except that Keller knew where it was.

I was slightly surprised to see that the house looked like all the other ones around it. Somehow I had expected a fireworks burst of color on the outside walls, but they were painted white, just like most of the other houses in that area. On the second floor a light burned brightly, but other than that the house was dark.

"Should we knock?" I asked, reaching the door. The steps had been shoveled, even though Dacer was surely too weak to do it himself. It was clear that the school was taking care of him when he couldn't take care of himself: the mark of an inst.i.tution that took care of its people.

Keller tapped lightly on the door, and within seconds we heard a feeble, "Come in." Without hesitation Keller pushed the door open.

Dacer's home didn't look as I expected it to. It was uncluttered and homey, with not a purple stuffed teddy bear anywhere in sight. Dacer himself was reclining on a dark blue chair. I tried not to blanch when I saw him, but given the look he gave me I wasn't sure I managed it. His hair was undyed, which left it an interesting shade of brownish gray, hanging moppishly over his forehead. The fact that he was without any trace of makeup only made the dark circles under his eyes more p.r.o.nounced. At least his bathrobe was still colorful. It was blue with yellow daffodils everywhere.

"Evening," he said, his voice was firm but low. I could tell it took more effort than he would have liked to talk.

He glanced from Keller to me. "It's unfortunate that we haven't had more time with the masks," he commented, almost off-handedly.

I nodded. I had wanted more time as well. I didn't feel comfortable using a mask without Dacer present.

"I'm sure you'll be back in no time," I said with a confidence I didn't actually feel.

He smiled, but with his thin face and pale cheeks it looked more ghoulish than anything else.

"Yes," he said. "Maybe."

"What is it you wanted our help with?" Keller asked. He perched himself on the edge of the armchair, watching Dacer closely.

Dacer nodded approvingly. "Direct and to the point. Certainly an Erikson."

Keller grinned, never taking his eyes off my Museum mentor.

"I want you to find out what's causing this," he said. "There hasn't been enough progress, despite the weeks of my insisting. The Committee members keep haring off in the wrong direction."

"What's the wrong direction?" I asked, wondering what the Committee members were trying.

"All the directions they have taken that were not mine," said Dacer mulishly.

I frowned. "I just don't understand what I can do that isn't already being done." I wondered if this semester could get anymore overwhelming. Serves me right for thinking I could relax, I thought. It seemed entirely possible at that point that I was never going to relax again in my life.

Dacer shook his head, and Keller, eyes locked on Dacer's face, suddenly sat up straighter. "Oh," he said, glancing towards me, his eyes alight with understanding. "Oh, oh!"

"That's all well and good," I huffed, "glad your light bulb has gone on, but does someone want to fill me in?"

"Do you think the oval mask is still intact? You don't think whoever took it destroyed it?" said Keller, his bright blue eyes locked on Dacer for confirmation.

Dacer nodded. "That's my theory, but no one believes me." What Keller had just realized was that the oval mask, the antidote, might not have been destroyed. Dacer had implied as much when he talked to me weeks ago, but after there had been no trace of the mask I had started to lose confidence that it was findable.

"Why doesn't anyone believe you?" I asked.

"Because it makes no sense to keep the mask intact. If whoever took it has the power to get into the Museum undetected, he or she should have the power to destroy it. The fact that they haven't raises questions."

"Like what?"

"Like who would want to kill the vampires, but keep the masks," said Keller. "It's an odd little problem."

"So, you want me to find out who did it, and you think that when I do I'll find the mask as well?"

Dacer nodded. "I was hoping not to drag you into this further, that the Committee members would see reason, but they obviously have no intention of being reasonable. It's just like people in positions of power, really."