"I don't think the Committee members will want me looking around," I said, shaking my head. "I just don't see what I can do."

"Just keep doing what you're doing," said Dacer. "Pay attention. Whoever has that mask is still on campus. There are only so many places it could be. You're the ideal choice. No one is going to question you, because they're so desperate to keep you safe. Besides, you're obviously not taking advantage of your status as the only elemental. You could do with being more a.s.sertive."

Keller snorted as I sat there gaping open-mouthed. "He has a point there," he said to me.

I chucked a pillow at him and he grinned.

"How's that for a.s.sertive?" I muttered.

Keller tossed the pillow back at me. "Getting better all the time."

"Children," said Dacer plaintively. "As much as I like seeing young love, let's please try to stick to the task at hand."

I didn't know if it was Dacer's intention to make me go as red as flame, but it certainly worked.

For the next ten minutes I couldn't bring myself to look at Keller, or Dacer either, but at least some color had returned to the museum curator's face . . . because he was laughing at me.

"Charlotte, you can do this," said Dacer quietly. "I have complete faith in you."

I nodded, wishing I had that much faith in myself.

"You want me to find out who it is and get the mask?" I asked. I fiddled with the fringe on one of the pillows, not sure I could do what he wanted but desperate to help my friends.

Dacer nodded, but before he could say anything else he started to cough. "I want you to find out who it is. And I want you to stop them. The Committee is working on this from other angles, but we're running out of time. I don't think they're intentionally dragging their feet, but they're held up in their thinking that this is a conventional magical problem with a conventional magical solution. And that is never the case with the Museum of Masks."

Chapter Twenty-Five.

As the days after that flew by I spent as much time as I could in the Museum. My friends often joined me there. We simply worked with the masks and looked for clues as to who might have gotten in and who might have gotten out. If the work hadn't been so grim it would have been nice to be with my friends. We talked about everything: about the President's betrayal and our frustration that she was still at large and that there was nothing we could do, about my mother and my goal to find out more about her, even about summer plans. Since I was opposed to going home I had decided to find somewhere to work for the summer, and I secretly harbored a wish to return and work at the Museum of Masks. Of course, that was contingent on Dacer's survival, which with each pa.s.sing day became less and less likely.

I still avoided Cale and Camilla. Even though Cale and I had once been friends, he was now almost entirely wrapped around Camilla's dainty fingers. We didn't talk much, and when we did it was curt and brief. It would have made me sad if so much else hadn't been going on. The vampires were such a weight on my mind that I almost forgot about the demons around Public. Whatever Professor Erikson was going to do to them she was taking her sweet time about it, and everyone could see they were getting stronger. Other students had started to mutter that they would take matters into their own hands, except that was obviously silly. There were now way too many demons, even for the more powerful students like Lisabelle.

One morning, not long after my visit to Dacer, I was talking to Sip and Lough at breakfast. Lisabelle had been cornered at the breakfast bar by Trafton, so she hadn't worked her way over to our table yet. He was still trying incredibly hard to "be friends" with her.

"Hey, do you know what today is?" Lough asked, smiling happily.

Sip and I both frowned. "We didn't forget a birthday, did we?"

"Do you think I should get Lisabelle a Valentine's Day gift?" He waved his hands around the hall. I had vaguely noticed that someone had decorated the walls in lots of red hearts, but it hadn't really registered. Every spare thought I had spent trying to figure out who the Mask Thief was.

"That depends. Do you want to make her cry?" Sip asked.

Lough's eyes widened. "Of course not."

"Then I wouldn't," Sip said with a.s.surance.

"Girls are complicated," Lough said again. He had been saying that a lot this semester.

"You and my brother would get along great," I said, grinning at the thought if Ricky. He had sent me an e-mail the night before, reminding me that I was too young to have a Valentine. I had laughed for about ten minutes.

"Where does your brother go to school?" Lough asked curiously. He glanced at Lisabelle, who had just laughed at something Trafton said, and his jaw tightened.

"Um, Tuttle Elementary? It's just the local school. He hasn't shown that he has any powers yet, so he's still there. Besides, my stepdad probably wouldn't take kindly to having Ricky suddenly disappear. He actually likes Ricky. Everyone likes Ricky."

"That's good," said Lough, nodding approvingly. "It's good if he can stay normal for as long as possible."

"Tell me about it," I muttered, glaring at my eggs. I loved my life and my friends at Public, but things had been significantly less complicated when all I had to do was worry about my calculus homework. And who would ever have thought I would say that?

Once Lisabelle joined us, the topic of conversation turned back to Valentine's Day. Sip couldn't resist having a little fun at our unromantic friend's expense.

With a twinkle in her eye the blonde werewolf said, "It's Valentine's Day, Lisabelle. What sarcastic comment do you have to say to that?"

None," said Lisabelle nonchalantly. "Too easy. Like shooting apples in a barrel, taking candy from a baby, hitting the broad side of a barn. And all the other trite expressions. I like my mockery to contain some sporting difficulty. Otherwise how will everyone know to be impressed?"

Before Sip could formulate a response, the doors swung open and in came the new Chief Nurse, Jacob. He had replaced the Chief Nurse from last semester, who had been murdered in the semester-ending demon attack. Jacob was a little b.u.mbling. I had avoided interactions with him at all costs, because I thought that last semester I had spent enough nights in the infirmary for a lifetime, but given the state of affairs around Public that probably wasn't going to continue. Dressed all in brown, he marched, or waddled - to be less kind about it - towards the front of the room where the Demonstration had taken place. With only the slightest nod from Professor Lambros, he faced the waiting students.

"Good morning," he said, clearing his throat. He had watery blue eyes that always observed when people laughed at him, but somehow he didn't mind. He was an excellent nurse and from all accounts very nice, if awkward.

He cleared his throat loudly and continuously rubbed his hands together as if they were cold. "First, happy Valentine's Day. Second, As everyone knows, the vampires have taken ill. This is unprecedented in the history of Public, and in such a situation unprecedented measures must be taken. I am here to explain these measures, so that students understand the situation more fully. Obviously, we had hoped for a quick resolution to this terrible situation, but with the acc.u.mulating weeks it has become clearer that no quick resolution is in sight."

Murmurs started to go up around the room, and when Jacob couldn't calm everyone down on his own Risper flashed to his feet. Instantly there was silence. Jacob might be nice, but that didn't earn respect like Risper's authoritative confidence.

"Thank you," said Jacob, craning around to nod at Risper. Perspiration had broken out on the Chief Nurse's forehead and he was forced to mop his brow before continuing. Apparently Jacob, for all he was nice, was nervous in front of crowds.

"The measures that will be taken may seem obvious. There is to be no contact with vampires. Those of you who have come into contact from this point on will also be quarantined. There are no exceptions. We want you to know that we are doing everything we can to find the source of these attacks on the food supply."

"We already know it comes from the Museum," Sip murmured to me, irritated. I nodded, but when Risper's face started to drift our way we instantly stopped talking. "It's not like it's catchy unless you're a vampire."

"He's giving me a headache," Lisabelle muttered.

"Maybe it's the French accent," said Sip. Even though I knew exactly the point Jacob was making, I could only understand about eighty percent of the words he spoke. He had come directly from Paris and he spoke very fast.

"No," said Lisabelle. "I'm pretty sure that his speaking would give me a headache in any accent."

"Anyway," said Jacob, raising his voice when the noise in the room started to increase again. "I want you all to be warned. Until this threat is contained, we wish you to stay away from Cruor and away from vampires."

Before Jacob could move away, Camilla's pretty little hand shot into the air.

"Excuse me, but what do we think is causing such horribleness?" Camilla asked. Her voice rang out across the room, clear and confident. I was sure she was enjoying herself. Next to her, Cale turned his head ever so slightly. When he caught my eye he gave me the smallest of smiles. I nodded in return. "I have theories," she said, and turned her head in obvious disgust in my direction.

"We believe it's some sort of demon contamination in the water supply," said Jacob. "With the demons surrounding Public it is not hard to believe that they are somehow contaminating the vampires' supplies." Again he started to move away, and again he was interrupted.

"Why just the vampires?" Camilla asked. She had asked exactly what I was thinking. This was nonsense. Why weren't they listening to Dacer!

"We have yet to determine that," Jacob said with finality. Before Camilla could ask anything else he dashed off the podium, almost catching his foot on the stairs. Risper was forced to move with his cat-like grace to catch Jacob before he tumbled into the first table.

"It wouldn't do for the nurse to get hurt," Lough muttered, eyeing them.

Lealand appeared at my elbow and asked, "May I join you?" He looked just as good as usual, but maybe a little paler under his green-tinted skin.

"Of course," said Sip, pushing over. "Any friend of Charlotte's."

I raised my eyebrows. I guessed we were friends. Lealand didn't seem to have any problem befriending non-pixies, and I wondered why. I also still wondered if he was the one who had taken the mask, since he spent so much time in the Museum.

"Excuse me," said Lough, "but I have things to do." With a glare at Lealand he grabbed his tray and walked away.

"That was odd," Lisabelle murmured. "Lough is normally the nice one. Did he and Lealand have a falling out?"

"Don't worry," said Sip comfortingly. "I don't think your t.i.tle of scariest paranormal on campus is in any danger."

By the end of the night I was thoroughly depressed. Vampires were sick and for all we knew would start dying soon. Dacer, my new mentor, who had taken me under his wing and been a source of guidance and protection, was lying ill in his house, possibly never to recover. My cla.s.ses were difficult. Tactical was non-existent without the vampires, which meant that we weren't training properly to fight off the demons. And I don't care what everyone said, nothing was being done about them that I could see. At any moment our defenses would fail and we would have a repeat of last semester.

On top of all that, and even though I knew it shouldn't matter but it did, I didn't technically have a Valentine. It was silly, because I had never had one in high school and I had been fine with that, but now, with Keller always somewhere in my consciousness, it was difficult not to be with him then, in that moment, every moment. I knew there were problems with his aunt and I was dragging my feet over that more than he was. Obviously all the rhetoric about inter-paranormal cooperation and whatever else was nonsense, because we weren't getting along any better than we had since before the Power of Five was reenacted, but still, I hadn't grown up in this world and I was frustrated. I was also more than a little aware that if I saw Keller with another girl I would throttle her, or him, or someone, possibly whoever was nearest, and that wasn't the best feeling. I had never thought of myself as the jealous type, but then when had I ever fallen in love with a fallen angel before? So, yeah.

That night, lying on my bed trying to sleep, I heard my computer ping, letting me know that I had an e-mail. Instead of leaving it until morning, I threw off the covers to see who was writing to me. It wasn't as if I was going to get to sleep any time soon anyway.

My face broke into a broad grin. The e-mail was a Valentine's Day card from Ricky. It said: :The Only Valentine You Will Ever Need, Love Ricky P.S. No boys. Does it look like I need a brother-in-law? No, no I don't.

I laughed out loud, slapping a land over my face to keep from cackling too loudly.

There was a light tap at my door, and I nearly jumped off the bed when Mrs. Swan opened it softly and appeared as a darker shape in the thin line of darkness between the door and the hallway. Surrounded by the darkness of the dorm, Mrs. Swan looked like an avenging angel more than a dorm matron. Every time I saw her I was reminded that she was a strong and powerful mage, not meek in any way, however controlled her manner. They would never have left me with someone who couldn't defend herself, or me.

As usual, she gave me a warm smile. "Something funny?"

I nodded. "Just heard from my brother. He's doing well. Up to his old tricks."

"It must be hard for him," she commented, moving to sit down at my motioned invitation. "First he loses his mother, and now you're so far away."

I felt a pang in my chest. I hated to think about that. I felt guilty every day for leaving Ricky in the clutches of his father, but I knew the best way for me to take care of him was to get a college education. It just turned out it was a paranormal college education instead of the normal kind.

"We keep in touch," I said tightly. Whenever I heard from him I missed him desperately, but I probably wouldn't see him until the semester was over . . . if we lived that long. With the demons trying to get in, who knew what would happen.

"Of course you do," said Mrs. Swan. "Is he well?"

I nodded. "He will be so ready for college once it comes. He's always been a little adult. He wears ties to school."

Mrs. Swan laughed and nodded. "Some people are forced to grow up fast and some people are just old souls. It sounds like your brother is a little bit of both."

"Yeah," I said. "Somehow he has never wanted to cause trouble. He has always just wanted to be very capable, and he is."

"Probably because trouble has a way of following him around whether he causes it or not. Has he. . . ." Mrs. Swan's brow creased in a frown. I realized instantly what she was getting at.

"He has no signs of magic," I huffed, not sure why the question irritated me. If Ricky had shown signs of magic there would have been no way I would have left him there.

"I didn't mean to offend you. He might take a while. You did. It would be good, though, Charlotte, to inform him of what has happened to you. At least in some form. You had some warning and it was still a very jarring experience for you. If the time comes for him, he should also have had some warning as well."

She raised her eyebrows at me to confirm that I understood what she meant, then rose gracefully out of her chair. "Until the morning. Pleasant sleep."

Mrs. Swan was unfailingly positive. I had a feeling that a tsunami could be crashing over our heads and she would say something nonchalant and completely untrue like, "I'm sure the dinghy can withstand this."

As Mrs. Swan closed my door behind herself I was forced to contemplate what she had said. I knew in my heart that it was true. Ricky would need some warning. I hadn't had have any and I had barely survived my first semester at Public. He would never forgive me for keeping something like this from him. We had the same mother, after all, and she was Airlee. But how on earth would that conversation go? Ricky was more mature than I was, so it would go something like this: Me: Ricky, we have to talk.

Ricky: That's always ominous. Are you going to just talk at me or are we going to dialogue?

Me: I'm going to talk at you.

Ricky: Try not to babble.

Me: It's already hopeless.

Ricky: There is nothing in the absence of hope.

Me: [Banging my head against a wall.]

Ricky: What did you want to tell me?

Me: I don't know. I banged it out along with my remaining brain cells.

Ricky: That's okay. I have enough for the both of us.

Option number two.

Me: Ricky, did you ever think there was anything odd about mom?

Ricky: She had terrible taste in nail polish colors. All icky brown and orange.

Me: Anything else?

Ricky: No, why?

Me: Because she was a mage and went to a paranormal college.

Ricky: I wondered when you would go off the deep end. Took you a little longer than I thought.

Me: No, I'm serious.

Ricky: Of course you are. We are all about serious in Funland.

Me: Ricky, this isn't funny. I am trying to tell you where I am now and about our future.

Ricky: There's free counseling in college, right? Get some.