Elemental Power

by Rachel Morgan

  4

  Ridley hurried home after school, her thoughts split between which elemental to track down first and what to say to Grandpa when she walked into the apartment. What if things were totally awkward with him? What if she couldn’t remember all the questions she wanted to ask? And when it came to looking up the names of the elementals, what if she found there were multiple people with the same name living in Lumina City? Surely that was possible, even in a post-Cataclysm world with a decimated population.

  But all thoughts fled Ridley’s mind as she walked into her kitchen and stopped at the sight of Archer sitting at the table. “Um, hi?” She looked around for Grandpa, but he was nowhere in sight. “Well,” she said, facing Archer again. “This is creepy, you just sitting here all alone in my apartment. Almost as creepy as that time I found out you have hidden cameras in your bedroom.”

  Archer stood. “Those are for security.”

  “Right, like you really need the extra security in your bedroom.”

  “I’m just not sure who I can trust anymore, that’s all. If someone in my family starts to think I’m involved with the elementals and goes looking through my stuff, I want to know about it.”

  Ridley tucked her thumb beneath the strap of her bag. “So you’re paranoid enough to hide cameras in your room, but you don’t bother securing your computer with a password?”

  “Not necessary,” he said. “I don’t store anything important on that computer. Fortunately for you,” he added with a pointed look, which she assumed was meant to be a not-so-subtle reminder of the video she’d posted from his account.

  “Okay, whatever.” She folded her arms across her chest. “How did you get into my kitchen?”

  “Your dad let me in.”

  Ridley groaned. “Can we go back to a time when my dad didn’t like you? Things were less weird then.”

  “Oh, I’m still not sure he likes me,” Archer said. “But we happen to agree on a few key issues, so the rest doesn’t really matter.”

  “And these key issues are what, exactly?”

  He shrugged. “You know, the important stuff. Magic, the Shadow Society, keeping you safe.”

  “Wonderful,” Ridley muttered.

  Archer grinned. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re planning to get up to this evening?”

  “Uh, how about I don’t?” She lowered her arms to her sides as she turned away. “My plans have nothing to do with you.” She left the kitchen and headed along the passage to her bedroom. Archer followed.

  “Okay, why don’t I guess then.” He leaned against the doorframe. “You’re going to go and find those other elementals on your own.”

  Ridley’s heart jumped into her throat, but she refused to let him see he’d guessed the truth. She dumped her bag on the bed and returned her gaze to his smirking face. He was so damn sure of himself, it was infuriating. “You know what I realized last night after you left?” she said. “I was trying to fall asleep and I suddenly remembered everything we spoke about when we were locked underground together. That whole conversation where you pretended to guess things like me not being able to have arxium under my skin. You pretended to guess, you pretended to be surprised, when you actually knew everything already.”

  Some of Archer’s confidence disappeared. “I know. I’m sorry. But what else was I supposed to—”

  “And you let me believe that the information on the flash drive was about Lumina City’s underworld of magic users.”

  “Look, I explained this last night. I had to let you believe that because I couldn’t tell you about the elementals. Your dad didn’t—”

  “Yes, right, okay. You and my dad are all buddy-buddy, and you’ll do whatever he says.”

  After a moment of quiet, Archer said, “It’s really not like that.”

  Ridley sighed. Of course she knew it wasn’t like that. She was just being petty because for some reason, it bothered her that Dad and Archer had a shared history she knew nothing about.

  “So,” he said, that smirk creeping back onto his face. “You were thinking about me in bed last night.”

  She gave him a withering look. “Yes, and that was the point at which I fell asleep. Because the thought of you is even more boring than counting sheep.”

  “Admit it,” he said. “You’re planning a secret mission to go elemental hunting tonight.”

  She opened her mouth to deny it, but the words died on her tongue. What would be the point in lying? He’d already guessed the truth. “Last night, when I told my dad I wouldn’t go looking for them, I was telling the truth. But I’ve …” She tugged absently at her tie, flipping the end back and forth. “I’ve changed my mind. I was thinking of how I’d never choose to go back to not knowing what I am. Knowing the truth is so much better than feeling confused and alone. If I can spare anyone else that lost, confused feeling, then I will.”

  Archer watched her in silence for a moment, then looked away. Instead of answering, his eyes traveled around the small bedroom. Ridley crossed her arms and tried not to feel self-conscious. It was weird that she knew exactly what every room inside the Davenports’ home looked like, but this was the first time Archer had seen inside her bedroom. After the first few months of living here, she’d come to appreciate this tiny space. She’d made it her own with dozens of photos pegged to strings across the wall in front of her desk, twinkle lights wound around the head and foot of her metal bed frame, and every one of her mom’s blue scarves draped over the top of her wardrobe. The space was distinctly hers, and she hated the way it suddenly felt not quite good enough because Archer was no doubt comparing it to his palatial home.

  “What if other people aren’t like you?” he said, looking at her again. “What if they’d prefer not to know?”

  “Look, it’s none of your business,” Ridley said, turning her back to him and opening her bag, “so you don’t need to worry about it.”

  “It’s dangerous,” Archer said. “You don’t know if the society may already be tracking one or more of these people. You don’t want to get caught in the way of that kind of thing.”

  Ridley paused in the process of removing all her new devices from her bag and looked back at him. “You’re saying you don’t want me trying to save someone the Shadow Society is planning to kill? You realize how hypocritical that sounds, right? You know, after the big fuss you made about us getting the flash drive back so that innocent people didn’t have to die?”

  “What I’m saying,” Archer continued as he pushed away from the doorframe and stepped into the room, “is that you could give me the names, and I’ll go looking for these people. You can get on with your life, just like your dad wants you to.”

  “No.”

  “Ridley—”

  “No,” she repeated. “Do you think these people are going to trust you? Archer Davenport? The guy whose father was so vocal about banning magic after the Cataclysm?”

  He sighed. “Okay fine. Maybe I can’t talk you out of doing this, but you can’t do it alone. You need my help. You don’t know what these elementals look like, so if there are multiple people with the same name, you might end up giving the letter to the wrong person. I, at least, saw the files on the flash drive before we destroyed it, so I’ll recognize the faces when we look up these names.”

  “But …” Ridley lifted her new laptop from the bed and moved it to the desk as she frowned. “Why do you need me to give you the names then? Surely you know them already?”

  “Look, my memory’s not that great, and I didn’t spend a long time examining the information. I just scanned through the files specifically for Lumina City because I was interested to see how many elementals are living here. I’m better with faces than names, so that’s the part I remember.”

  “Okay, so how about I give you the names, you look them up and confirm who these people are, and then I will go talk to them and hand over the letters.”

  “Or I could go with you,” Archer countered, “and make sure you stay safe whi
le doing this.”

  “I don’t need you to make sure I’m safe.” She placed the new commpad in the top drawer of her desk on top of the old one. “I’ve been sneaking around for years on my own.”

  “Does your father know you’ve changed your mind about wanting to find these other elementals?”

  “Will you leave if I say yes?”

  “Uh—”

  “Yes, he knows everything. I’ve told him my whole plan.”

  Archer raised an eyebrow. “Ridley Kayne, you’re a terrible liar.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, maybe compared to the expert standing in front of me—”

  “Ah, here you are,” Dad said, peering into the room and smiling at Ridley. “I was just checking to see if Archer waited for you or if he’d left.”

  “Nope, still here,” Archer said, raising his hand in a small wave.

  “But he’ll be leaving soon,” Ridley added quickly. “Because there’s that person you wanted me to talk to, right?” She gave her father a meaningful look he would hopefully understand. “That, um, important customer. I thought he was going to be here when I got home. Is he … out somewhere?”

  “Oh, right,” Dad said. “He had to go deal with something. He’ll be back soon. But you can, uh …” He glanced at Archer, then back at Ridley. “Well, it’s a family secret. Obviously. But for someone who already knows most of our other family secrets …” Dad shrugged. “You can tell Archer if you want. That’s all I’m saying. Aaaaanyway.” He rocked forward on the balls of his feet and clapped his hands together. “How was your first day back? Everything … normal?”

  “Yes. Totally normal. I lied to my best friend, and apparently so did Mrs. Lin, so Meera doesn’t think anything too weird is going on with Shen.”

  Dad’s smile faded. “Ridley,” he said softly.

  “I know, I get it,” she said, already wishing she’d kept her flippant comment to herself. “This is the way it has to be. I understand.”

  “You do?” Dad’s eyebrows rose toward his receding hairline. “So you really are happy to move on with life as normal?”

  Ridley’s eyes darted immediately to Archer, expecting him to announce that she’d changed her mind about searching for the other elementals. But he gave her a small smile and kept his lips firmly sealed. “Yes,” she finally said. “I’m carrying on with life as normal.” Which was sort of the truth, she tried to convince herself. It wouldn’t take long to deliver a few letters, and other than that, her life would be as normal as it had been since the Cataclysm.

  “Okay,” Dad said. “Great. Anyway, I need to get back to the store. Just in case there’s a hoard of rabid customers waiting outside and getting ready to tear down my ‘Back in 10 Minutes’ sign.”

  “That’s the spirit,” Ridley said.

  As Dad’s footsteps disappeared along the passage, Archer asked, “What was all that about an important customer and family secrets?”

  Ridley ignored the question, letting her eyes travel over him for a moment as she tried to figure him out. “Why didn’t you tell him what I’m planning?”

  Archer lifted one shoulder, then moved closer to the desk and leaned against it. “What would that have accomplished? You’d just go off on your own without telling either of us. I’d rather show you that you can trust me so you’ll let me accompany you.”

  “Does it matter if I don’t need your company?”

  He tipped his head to the side. “I promise I’m not trying to make your life difficult. It’s just … what if you’re on your own and something happens to you? What would that do to your dad? It’ll be easier to get out of a sticky situation if there are two of us. You know, like that time you passed out in the mayor’s lounge and I had to go ring the doorbell and pretend I was paying a visit so Lawrence wouldn’t find you.”

  Ridley pursed her lips, not wanting to admit that Archer might have a valid point. “That’s something else you knew about and didn’t tell me. You knew I must have breathed in something with arxium particles in it, and that’s what made me pass out.”

  “Yes.” Archer nodded. “I didn’t realize Lawrence had it in a handy little spray canister—though I probably should have—but I knew about the air freshener inside his home. Not something that’s on the market, obviously, but Lawrence mentioned it to me on a previous visit when I was fishing for information. His father’s completely paranoid about elementals breaking into their home and using magic on them. And even though I couldn’t tell you about it, I did try to warn you that something similar might happen if you went after Lawrence to get your father back.”

  Ridley frowned and chose not to answer, mainly because Archer was right.

  “Look, I know you’re still mad at me for keeping things from you,” he continued. “It’s like you said last night: even though you understand why I couldn’t tell you everything, that doesn’t automatically stop you from being angry about it. But before you found out I’d kept all this information from you, when you realized Lawrence had taken your father, you came to me for help. Remember? You asked for my help, and I helped you. So … I guess I’m hoping you’ll focus on that and let me help you again.”

  “Fine,” Ridley said. “We can do this together.”

  Archer paused. “Okay, you made that decision way too quickly. Are you just saying that to keep me happy while planning to go off on your own?”

  “Apparently I’m not a good liar, so why don’t you tell me?”

  His eyes searched hers for several moments. “I don’t think you’re lying.”

  “Thank you.” She lowered herself to the edge of the bed and sighed. “I guess I see the value in what you’re saying. I do need you to verify that I’m handing letters over to the correct people. And it’s probably a good idea not to do this alone in case something goes wrong.”

  “Great.” Archer straightened, pushed away from the desk, and held one hand out. “So we’re doing this together?”

  Reluctantly, she placed her hand in his and gave it a firm shake. “We’re doing this together.”

  “Okay.” He lowered his hand and asked, “Did you write the names down, or are they in your head?”

  “I wrote them all down during first period.” Ridley picked up her new commscreen and tapped a few times. She didn’t have much on it yet—she still needed to link all her social accounts, her bank card, bus pass, and anything else she used her commscreen for—but she had used the notes section several times today. She located the note with the elementals’ names and handed the device to Archer.

  “I thought there were more,” he said as he frowned at the five names.

  “I guess we elementals really are that rare.”

  “No, I’m pretty sure I saw more people when I looked through the files on that flash drive. But maybe the others already know what they are. Or maybe they’ve already left the city. It’s been a few months since I looked at that information.” Archer removed his own commscreen from his pocket, tapped hers a few times, then added, “Okay, I’ve sent the note to myself.” He returned the device.

  “Thanks. I’ll make copies of my letter tonight, seeing as Dad confiscated the others.”

  “Okay. Were the others the same?”

  “Yes, I took a quick look at them all before giving the envelope to Dad last night. I know I probably shouldn’t have, since they weren’t addressed to me, but the way mine was written, typed with a blank line for someone to fill my name in at the top … I kind of guessed they’d all be the same.”

  Archer nodded. “Well, I guess I should probably get going then.” He pushed his hands into his pockets. “You’ve probably got homework or something. I assume you need to maintain that straight-A image if you want everyone to believe nothing’s changed in your life.”

  “Right,” Ridley said with a nod. “Homework.” But so many other thoughts had occupied her mind throughout the day that she honestly couldn’t remember whether any teacher had assigned homework for the first day back.

&n
bsp; “So, that other thing your father mentioned,” Archer said. “The important customer, the family secret … I know I have no right to ask, given all the secrets I’ve kept, but …”

  “But you’re asking anyway.”

  “Well, yeah. Can you blame me for being curious?”

  She crossed her arms and decided to just say it. “My grandfather is alive.”

  Archer’s expression remained blank. Then he blinked. “What?”

  “Yeah. He showed up last night.”

  “The grandfather who used to own this place?”

  “That’s the one. He never actually died. People were threatening us because of him—because of certain things he knows—and so he pretended he was dead. Apparently my dad didn’t think I needed to know about this gigantic family secret until Grandpa arrived last night. I don’t think he ever would have told me if Grandpa hadn’t come back.”

  “That’s … wow.” Archer ran one hand through his hair. “He’s alive? That’s crazy.”

  “Yeah. Anyway, I have one night to get to know him, and then he’s disappearing again.”

  Archer raised both eyebrows. “No pressure.”

  “None at all.”

  “I’d better not waste any more of your time then.” He turned toward the door. “I’ll let you know what I find out about the people on the list.” He glanced back at her over his shoulder. “Have a good evening with your grandfather.”

  “Thanks.” He walked out, and Ridley placed her face in her hands. After letting out a quiet groan, she flopped back onto her bed. “Carry on with life as normal,” she murmured. “So … not … possible.”

  5

  Ridley had almost finished preparing dinner when Grandpa returned home that evening. She was still in her school uniform, though she’d removed her socks and shoes at some point. Slow footsteps on the stairs told her it was Grandpa rather than Dad who was ascending, and by the time he’d moved through the living room and reached the kitchen, her insides were once again a churning mix of nerves and annoyance.