by A. N. Sage
“Why would anyone even bring him up? It was so tragic.”
“I don’t know. That’s why I thought it was weird.”
“He said he’s going to the office?” Shaylah was trying to figure out what Ruby’s plan was. “And we’re, what? Following him there?”
“Look, Shay. I get it. I sound like a serial killer, but it didn’t sound like a business call. Who makes a business call at night? And I doubt his family would be talking about Evan randomly. Something just felt... off.”
“Ok.” Shaylah said, she didn’t sound like she was on board.
“How about this? We go to his dad’s office and if he’s not there, then we’ll know he lied, and I’ll have every reason to worry.”
“And if he is there?”
“Then drinks are on me tonight.”
“Deal!” Shaylah looped her arm under Ruby’s, and they walked down the steps to the subway platform.
By the time they reached the Okenos offices, it was almost ten. The light from the streetlights was casting shadows on the building walls, and Ruby felt as though they were part of some illegal, drug smuggling operation. The more time they spent lurking in the shadows, the less right the entire thing seemed. Why was she spying on her best friend? This was very much unlike her and she felt like she had betrayed Jake somehow by not believing him. The time she’d spent at the resistance with Liam had put too many paranoid thoughts in her head. Not everything was a conspiracy.
Ruby tightened her leather jacket around her chest to keep the wind out. She was just about to tell Shaylah that they should leave when the doors in the office opened and Jake’s father, Cyril, walked out followed by Jake himself. Ruby put her arm in front of Shaylah and pressed her into the shadows of the wall. The last thing she needed was for them to be caught here. They watched quietly as the two got into Cyril’s black car and drove off. One of the perks of being part of the Okenos family was never having to take the subway. A fact Ruby always made sure to point out when Jake complained about his life. She wouldn’t even know what to do with all the money they had.
“See?” Shaylah smirked, “I told you it was nothing.”
She felt dumb now and tried to play with her hair to hide her embarrassment. “Weird, I was honestly sure he wouldn’t be here.”
“Look, if you want, tomorrow is that presentation at the bank that his dad is putting on with the mayor. I know you’re shooting it so you won’t have time to hang, but I can go with Jake and see if I can pry some low-key info out of him. It’ll probably look less creepy coming from me. No offense, babe, but you’re, like, way too intense right now.” She was right. Ruby would probably say something she’d regret later if she started poking around for answers.
“That would actually be great, Shay. Thank you!”
“How about we chill out for the night? I feel like you could use a break right now.”
Her friend was right; a quiet evening at home was exactly what she needed. She smiled and followed Shaylah back to their apartment. She couldn’t wait to have a normal night without paranoia or Elementals. Just two friends hanging out and getting face masks.
Chapter 18
Someone knows you can see Elementals
“Fish! Did you leave the window open?” Shaylah pointed up to their apartment when they reached the back door. The window to Ruby’s bedroom was wide open and the fire escape staircase was pulled down.
“I don’t think so...” Her thoughts were already jumping to conclusions as she ran up the main stairs.
They huddled together as Ruby slowly and quietly opened their front door. Luckily, she’d left in a hurry this morning and had forgotten to turn off their hallway light, so they could clearly see the entire apartment. Everything seemed to be in place, but they were careful walking in, just in case. Shaylah was switching lights on like a maniac as they made their way through the living room towards their bedrooms. Inching closer, Ruby could already see the mess in her room. She nudged Shaylah towards the small bedroom.
“What the hell!” Shaylah yelled out, no longer trying to be quiet.
“Shhh. What if they’re still here?” She was scared. Whatever powers she had been practicing did not set her up for any of this. If there was someone still inside, what was she able to do? Throw some toasty paperwork their way?
“There’s no one here, Fish. It was probably some creep looking for cash. Check to see if anything is missing.”
Ruby walked around her room. It was hard to tell if anything was actually gone. It seemed as though whoever broke in took everything she owned and tossed it upside down. As though they weren’t even looking for anything but wanted to make a huge mess to piss her off. Her laptop was still there but the screen was locked.
Someone tried to crack my password. Why?
She reached into her backpack and pulled out her camera; relieved that it was still there.
“Great idea! Take some pics so we can go to the cops or something. This is honestly so stupid. Does it look like anything is gone? Is your jewelry still here?” Shaylah was in full-blown detective mode now, shifting parts of Ruby’s bedroom out of her way with a pen she’d found on the floor.
“What are you doing?”
“Not leaving fingerprints. Obviously. It’s like the first thing the cops check for.” She rolled her eyes at Ruby and continued her examination.
“We live here, Shay. Our fingerprints are, literally, everywhere.”
“Right. Well, you know, better safe than sorry. They’d better get these guys!”
“There’s no point, nothing was taken. This is so weird. How come your room doesn’t look like this?” Ruby was well beyond worried. Was she a target? And if she was, what were they looking for?
She turned on her camera and started taking photos of the room just in case her sitcom watching friend was right and they decided to report this. She moved through the piles of clothes and papers. Zooming in on her laptop screen and moving around the room like a crime scene investigator. She stepped back to take a wider shot and froze. Fear forced her mouth to widen.
“What is it?” Shaylah asked.
“Oh. Nothing. Just taking it all in I guess.” She lied. It wasn’t nothing. There were Elemental symbols all over her wall. “I’m going to start tidying up really quickly, ok? This is really freaking me out.”
Ruby walked over to the window, closed it and locked the latch. She’d have to look into getting some bars installed tomorrow. She grabbed a random piece of paper from the floor and drew the symbols that she saw in her photo. Some were the triangles she’d seen on the subway, but there were more now. Lines running through geometric patterns and odd shapes all around. She was moving quickly to capture the drawings on her phone, her fingers shaking as she dialed.
“Liam?” her voice was panicked as he picked up. “I Just sent you a photo, can you take a look at it?”
“Sure. Are you all right?”
“Just please look at it. Have you seen anything like this before?”
The line went silent, but she could hear Liam fumbling with his phone in the background. She wished he was here with her now. Something about him put her at ease and she knew that if he were here, she would not be as afraid.
“Ruby, where did you see this?”
“In my room. They’re all over the wall. Someone broke in today, but nothing was taken.” She took a deep breath in and willed herself to relax. “Liam, I’m getting really scared here. What do they mean?”
“You need to get out of that place immediately.” His voice was stern and serious, he was as worried as she was. “They’re threats, Ruby. Someone knows you can see Elementals, and they know where you live. Probably, someone from the other houses… and you already saw how far they’re willing to go. You can’t stay there tonight. It’s not safe.”
“Liam, I am not going to run away from my own home. Shaylah is here. I’m sure whoever did this will not be coming back when we’re both home. You said it yourself, they would be in serious t
rouble if they used their powers in front of a human.”
“They don’t have to use powers to hurt you, Ruby. You’re not as tough as you seem to think. I’m coming over there!”
“You absolutely are not!” she yelled. “I’m not about to start trying to explain to my roommate why some firefighter is coming to hang out with us after our house was ransacked. That is completely out of the question!”
“Well, I can’t very well sit back and do nothing while someone is threatening you, can I?”
“You want to help, Liam? Why don’t you try to help me figure out why I’m having visions randomly, and why I can control all four house powers. Or why I have them in the first place! Also, maybe instead of trying to rush over here and save me like I’m some wounded baby bird, you could put in the effort to find out what my vision about Jake means, and how we can possibly, oh, I don’t know, prevent him from dying?” Ruby’s palms were heating up. She had better calm down before she accidentally burned the apartment down.
“Ok. Ok. But promise me you will text me regularly, so I know you’re not in trouble. And keep your phone nearby.”
“Fine. Whatever.” She hung up the phone and had to take a few more deep breaths in order to calm down. She hated the idea that he was treating her like she couldn’t take care of herself. Somehow, she’d managed to get through life just fine without his Elemental heroism.
She looked up towards the kitchen where Shaylah was already pouring them two very large glasses of wine.
“You need help in there?” Shaylah yelled out.
“Nah. I think I’ll get to this after the event tomorrow. After tonight, I kind of just want to get my mind off everything.”
“Already one step ahead of you!” Shaylah was walking towards her with two glasses full to the rim. “Let’s go in my room, you can crash there for now.”
Chapter 19
The Elementals are here
The presentation was held in the lobby of the Westerlake Main Bank. Fifty people were already there when Ruby and Shaylah arrived, with more trickling in by the minute. Ruby went straight for the stage to get the best viewpoint; she would have to spend most of her time photographing the presenters and the crowd. She was still shaken up over last night’s break-in, but Jake had gone to a lot of trouble getting her this gig and she couldn’t very well back out last minute. Besides which, being out of the apartment was a very big bonus at the moment.
She looked back at Shaylah who was already making a beeline for Jake.
Good! Maybe she’ll find out what he was up to with his dad last night!
Once the lobby was full of attendees, Jake’s father and Mayor Vanti made their way to the stage. Cyril Okenos was as put together as always. His suit screamed wealth and his white hair was styled in a perfect coif. Ruby could see him shuffling through his papers as he walked over to the microphone. He was the polar opposite to her rock-loving dad, no wonder the two never got along. Ever since they were kids, Ruby and Jake did everything to make their parents as close as they were. From impromptu play dates to forced dinners, nothing did the trick. The two families clashed like water and oil. After a while, they gave up on the idea all together.
The mayor, however, was almost a mix of the two. Not as stoic as Cyril but not quite as peace-loving as Ruby’s dad. Ms. Vanti looked much better for her age than anyone Ruby had seen, with legs that started from her neck and worked their way down to her five-inch heels. Her waist-length black hair was perfectly straight, and unlike Cyril, she did not come prepared with a speech. Ruby started photographing the two of them as they made their way through the crowd, they resembled a prom couple about to be crowned king and queen.
Slowly shifting her camera to the attendees so she could capture their awe, watching the two like one watches a celebrity on television. Jake’s mom, Rhea, was seated just off the stage and holding onto the Vanti twins for dear life. The two young girls looked like they were about to run off screaming, and Ruby assumed that Rhea had been tasked with babysitting while her husband and the mayor spoke.
She scanned the crowd with her camera, trying to capture as much of the event as possible.
Professor Tremblay would be proud! She thought and continued recording every detail of her surroundings. Making her way to the outside wall, she started circling the large group of attendees. Some were taking notes, some were whispering to one another and a few were looking around much like she was, to see who they could spot in the mass of people.
Cyril had just finished speaking on the economic future of Westerlake and how people could get involved and was handing the mic off to Mayor Vanti for her portion of the presentation.
As she moved towards the front of the stage, Ruby noticed a group huddled near the front door. Something felt off about , so she pointed her lens and zoomed in, focusing her lens with sniper-like precision. The two boys were looking around and scanning the crowd while the girl stood between the two, her face fierce with concentration. She could see her shoulders moving up and down and shifted her camera down to the girl’s hands. The girl was not taking notes but rather furiously rubbing the palms of her hands together. Ruby could see smoke begin to form at her fingertips.
Something is wrong. There are Elementals here. She thought. She was about to put her camera down and warn the guards when the glass on her lens shattered. She looked up to see one of the boys looking directly at her, his palms ready for the next attack.
Chapter 20
Covered in ashes and debris
Ruby’s head was spinning, and she was starting to feel nauseous from the vertigo. She managed to duck out of the Elemental’s sight line but could now hear a panic start to rise in the crowd. The wall and ceiling behind the stage were crumbling and large cracks started to appear in the tiles. She could see the mayor’s bodyguards rush to her side, and she was shooing them off in the direction of her children. Rhea was pulling the girls, who were now crying, away from the stage.
The small curtain lining the podium in front of the mayor sparked and just a few seconds later the entire cabinet was on fire. The screams in the crowd got louder as people began to run towards the exit. The event was a stampede of panic, all rushing towards the same door.
Ruby looked back to the spot where the three Elementals were, but it was now filled with a wave of people pushing each other out of the way. The Elementals were gone.
“Jake! Shay!” She yelled, trying to spot them in the crowd.
Her eyes darted from side to side. Someone pushed by and shoved her hard enough into the wall behind to leave her back paralyzed for a few seconds from the hit. She steadied herself and pushed her way to the front, through the crowd.
A few feet past the stage she could see Cyril pull someone away and knew it had to be Jake. Shay was nowhere to be found. She grabbed one of the stools next to her and used it as a shield to push through the herd. It was easier to get through once people realized she wasn’t trying to take their spot to the exit.
“Jake! Jake!” She yelled at the top of her lungs, but between the screams and blasts of collapsing tile and cement, her voice was muffled. She could see Jake struggling to get back to the stage. Why?
Her eyes moved quickly to scan the area and landed on Shaylah’s curly hair at the bottom of the stage. Her friend was trapped under a large piece of marble, struggling to get up.
“Oh, my God! Shaylah!” she ran towards the stage. “We have to get out! This whole place is going to collapse!”
She tried to push the tile off Shaylah, but it was too heavy to lift.
“Hang on, let me find something to help!”
Ruby grabbed the stool she’d used to get here and threw it on the ground, shattering some of the pieces loose. She ran back to her friend and prodded one of the broken legs under the tile and began to kick it in order to raise the piece. She just needed to push it up by a few inches so Shaylah could slide out from under it.
“It’s too heavy, Fish.” Her friend was pushing back tears of fear
and pain. “You need to leave right now!”
“I’m not leaving!” she kept kicking. The tile looked like it was starting to lift. Her next kick sent the stool leg flying across the room. She crouched next to Shaylah and grabbed hold of the rock. “I just need to get it loose so you can squeeze out!”
Her tiny feet slid back across the floor as she pushed. Nothing was working.
Think, Ruby! Concentrate!
She squeezed her hands together and felt energy course through them. Placing her palms below the marble, she closed her eyes and thought of every wrong she’d experienced. Every boy who made her cry, every time someone told her she wasn’t good enough. She thought about Liam’s need to protect her and how it angered her that she needed his help. She thought about everyone who had been lying to her since she found out about the Elementals. Her doctor, Alice, even Liam.
Ruby let out a scream and the marble tile shattered down the center and fell to pieces on either side of Shaylah. She grabbed her friend by the shoulders to pull her up.
“Ruby, how...” Shaylah’s eyes widened with intrigue and then closed abruptly. Her body, as heavy as a corpse, fell to the ground making Ruby tumble with her. Without hesitation, she grabbed Shaylah’s arms, dragging her towards the exit. The lobby had been almost completely cleared out now. The stage was alight with fire, and the damage to the wall was spreading fast.
A few blazing seconds later, a security guard was by Ruby’s side, helping her get Shaylah out of the building. When they finally reached fresh air, she could see the crowd standing across the street, pale faces full of wonder. Covered in ashes and debris.
Chapter 21
Other things to worry about
Shaylah’s pale face stared back at her and if Ruby hadn’t ridden in the ambulance with her, she would never have recognized the figure in the hospital bed to be her friend. Jake watched her while she sat in silence, holding Shaylah’s hand. They’d called Shaylah’s parents as soon as they got to the hospital, but they were still a few hours away from the city, and she wasn’t going to leave her alone.