"They aren't going to let you live there alone," said Lough with certainty. "They'll have someone there with you. There's no way they're going to let the last elemental be at risk like that. Besides, the place is ma.s.sive, and now that other students won't be cleaning it they need someone there to take care of it."

"Wonderful," I said sarcastically. "Now everything is all better."

Sip sighed and leaned forward. "I know it sucks now, but just think about it a little. It might not be so bad."

I stared at her. I loved Sip and I appreciated that she always tried to be positive, but it was most definitely going to be that bad.

"Have any of you heard of a Mrs. Swan?" I asked my friends. "That's who's going to live with me." They all shook their heads. It was a long shot and it really didn't matter, since I would be meeting her whether I liked it or not, but it would have been nice to have some inside information.

I didn't eat much for the rest of the time we were at dinner, and once everyone was finished I said, "I'm going to head to Astra."

"We'll come too," Sip offered.

I shook my head. "Why don't you come by in like an hour? I should probably check everything out by myself."

I actually hated this idea, but Mrs. Swan was an unknown quant.i.ty. It would be just the two of us in the dorm, and I figured I might as well start off on the right foot with her.

The four of us split up outside the Tower. There still weren't very many students on campus, and as I walked towards Astra I was the only one on the paths.

Airlee and Astra weren't very far apart, but you couldn't see one from the other. I was dreading the prospect of getting to Astra and having it be dark, empty, and imposing. I hadn't been back since Lough's and my desperate rescue of Lisabelle out of the Astra kitchen walk-in freezer the previous semester, and I wondered how it would feel to be there again. At least the demon force field that the President had put around the place would be down.

I didn't know what to expect when I got to Astra, but seeing it lit up like a Christmas tree was not it. Astra was the oldest dorm on campus, with five stone towers that each had a room of a different color. When I got within sight of it that night, each color was shining brightly. Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, or green, blue, red, and while, plus the black tower in the middle, created a stunning combination of colors. I found myself smiling as I walked towards it.

My new home.

Chapter Five.

As I reached Astra, the door swung open. I paused, staring at the woman who appeared in the doorway. There were actually a lot of adults around Public: the professors, for starters, and then all the employees who made the campus run. From the cleaning staff to the administration to the people who worked in the campus stores, I often saw non-students walking around.

None of them looked like the woman standing in the doorway of my new home.

She was exceptionally tall, like, a basketball player in the NBA tall. Not the WNBA, but the NBA. She must have been over seven feet in height. She was draped in a variety of blue hues, as if she went around to different houses, found blue curtains, and wrapped herself in them.

I mentally chastised myself for not paying more attention in Intro to Para Studies.

"Hi," I said. My voice made me sound like a squeaky ten-year-old. Wonderful.

She gave me a soft smile. "Good evening, Ms. Rollins."

"I, um, huh," was my next intelligent sentence.

"I'm Cat Swan," she said, extending one brown hand. "Mrs. Swan."

"Charlotte," I said.

"May I call you by your first name?" she asked.

"Um, yeah, you should," I said. "What can I call you?"

Again that soft smile. "Whatever you like."

"So, um, not to be rude" - actually I was very tempted to be rude; I wanted my stuff - "but who are you?"

"I'm the matron of the dorm. Obviously, you had to live in your own dorm, and under normal circ.u.mstances there wouldn't be an adult, just older students to supervise. But the Committee didn't think it was fair to expect you to stay in a whole dorm all by yourself."

"Fair?"

Committee?

Her smile was a little larger this time. "That's their way of saying they were worried you would throw some rager party and a certain friend of yours, Ms. Verlans, would cause trouble."

I snorted. "She hasn't caused any trouble so far, despite being accused of lots of it."

"Perception is a powerful thing."

Okay, book of wisdom.

"They're coming over later." I set my jaw in a mulish line.

"Of course," she said. "I'm not here to tell you what you can and cannot do."

"Wonderful," I said. "That makes one of you."

"Can I show you around?" She extended one long, brown arm, offering me the s.p.a.ce in front.

I shrugged. "I spent a lot of time here last semester."

"You did indeed. Maybe you want to choose a bedroom?"

"Oh yeah! My stuff," I cried. "Where is it?"

"I set it up in the largest bedroom, which would normally be reserved for the highest ranking senior. But of course, if you prefer a different room I'm sure we can see if it's . . . available."

My eyes narrowed. I thought she was making a joke, but my head barely reached her elbow, so it was hard to tell.

"Cool."

I tried not to stare at this woman in wonder. She wasn't like any of the professors on campus, and she had agreed to live in Astra, alone, with me, when she obviously wasn't an elemental of any kind (any time I was near anything with elemental powers my own powers started pulsing).

"You are staring," she said from ahead of me, just as we reached the large staircase and started up. I had a flash of memory of last semester, of cleaning a certain attic with a certain fallen angel, but I couldn't think about that now.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

She c.o.c.ked her head around. "I'm half water maven, half witch. I didn't go to Paranormal Public, unfortunately, so my education was lacking. I have worked as a nanny for wealthy paranormal families for many years. Professor Korba knows many of them, so when they were looking for someone to take care of Astra while it housed its first student in a generation, I was contacted."

I nodded to myself. I was relieved that she knew Korba. Of all the professors, I felt like he was the most solidly trustworthy, mostly because he was so obviously absent-minded that I didn't think it was possible for him to be turned to the dark side.

"What are your duties here?"

"Simply to look after the house, supervise cleaning, that kind of thing. I will have a buffet breakfast here on the weekends. Obviously, to be around in case you have any of the normal questions that paranormal students have in college, or that any college student might have, for that matter."

"Who is the Committee?" She had mentioned something called the Committee, which I had never heard of before, another sad example of how much attention I had paid in cla.s.s last semester. I had a million questions for this woman, but that one felt like the most pressing.

Mrs. Swan paused on the third floor landing and turned around to face me.

"The Committee is the group of senior paranormals who have been formed to find another President for Public, one who is trustworthy. While they're looking, they'll be in charge of the school."

It was a good thing Lisabelle wasn't there to hear that. She would have said something sarcastic about how terrible that was going to be, but I wouldn't have been able to say that she was definitely wrong. It sounded intimidating.

All I said out loud was, "You mean a President that won't let demons onto campus, and kill and kidnap students? That sounds like an excellent idea."

"I agree," she said. Her face was unreadable. I wondered if Lisabelle would make any headway getting a reaction out of her. Somehow I hoped not. The reaction would likely be negative.

"And they're in charge?"

Mrs. Swan shrugged. "Finding a President who is capable is going to be a difficult and long process. They won't rush it. The four members of the Committee will arrive tomorrow, in time for the start of cla.s.s, and spend at least this semester interviewing possible candidates, as well as taking charge of the running of the school."

I raised my eyebrows. "So, this semester we're going to have four Presidents?"

"Something like that."

"Four people to get into trouble with?"

"Do you plan on getting in lots of trouble?" asked Mrs. Swan. "I ask merely because if you do, I might be called, and I normally have my hair in rollers in the evening."

I wasn't sure how to answer that, so I just said, "I don't plan to, but things don't seem to go how they're supposed to here."

We continued to climb. Not long after we reached the fourth floor, Mrs. Swan stopped in front of a large set of double doors.

"This is the largest room. I hope you like it." Without further ado she flung the doors wide. I gasped.

The room was ma.s.sive, like, so big I couldn't even see all of it while standing in the doorway. It snaked away and around a bend, disappearing in a maze of beautiful furniture.

"This is your living room," said Mrs. Swan, going into the room ahead of me. Until she said it I hadn't noticed that there wasn't even a bed in this room.

"This is ridiculous," I murmured. "I didn't expect to live in a place this nice . . . well, ever."

Mrs. Swan smiled. "I'm glad you like it."

"Oh," I said. "I love it, but I can't stay here."

I looked around. The furniture was mostly blue and gray, but there was a large green table in the middle of a set of sofas, and the carpets were red. I realized that I was standing in a room made up of all the Astra colors, not just one. Red, Green, Blue, White.

"What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Swan, her perfectly smooth forehead puckering in a frown.

"It's too nice," I said. "What if at my rager someone spills beer?"

"I sincerely hope you are joking." Her voice had lowered several notches and she was looking at me sternly. I gulped.

"Yes," I said meekly. At that moment she reminded me of my mother.

Her face smoothed out again. "Wonderful."

"But it doesn't change the fact that I can't live here."

"You don't need to worry about the furniture. All of the ancient artifacts and things that were part of the Queen's chambers have been put into storage in Astra's very clean attic. All of this furniture is expendable, though I do hope you won't make a habit of ruining furniture." She was frowning again.

"It just feels too grand," I said again. "Can I see the other rooms?"

She sighed. "You can, but I would really rather you stayed here."

"Why?" I asked. "Are there, like, hidden cameras all over the place?"

I hated to admit it, but I had become a lot less trusting since last semester. If the President of my college couldn't be trusted, could anyone?

Mrs. Swan waved her hand. "Certainly not. Cameras are a rudimentary way of spying on individuals, not nearly sophisticated enough for someone with magic. Like myself." She winked at me.

I choked and she grinned.

"There is nothing in there that spies on you. There is an alarm that will tell me if there is a high concentration of darkness in your room or if you're in distress. It has been especially set not to go off in the presence of Ms. Verlans. That is all."

"Speaking of my friends. . . ."

I turned and hurried down the stairs. Just as I reached the bottom there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," said Mrs. Swan as she swept past me in a blur of blue.

I skidded to a halt. "Why can't I open the door?"

She paused, hand on the handle, and said, "You can, but why risk it when I'm around?" She raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow and I blinked stupidly. This was going to take some getting used to. Basically, what she had just told me was that she was expendable and I was not.

"Good evening, Ms. Quest and Ms. Verlans," said Mrs. Swan as she swept the door wide.

I took a little bit of comfort in Lisabelle's shocked expression. I didn't think I had ever seen her shocked before. Ha.

"Hi," said Sip brightly. "How are you?" She stuck out her hand to Mrs. Swan, who looked pleased.

Lisabelle raised her eyebrows to me and I shrugged. "We can't have even one normal night with you, can we?" she asked dryly.

Sip gave her a playful slap on the shoulder. "Who wants normal anyway?"