by C. J. Felver
“You shouldn’t have brought me here,” my dad declares, his tone ominous. My stomach drops and my heart clenches within my chest.
I haven’t seen my dad in years. Four. Freaking. Years. And now he’s telling me that I shouldn’t have brought him here? Didn’t he say something like this when I first saw him too? I thought that would’ve stopped as soon as we got him away from that building.
My chin quivers, the wad of paper towels falls from my grasp. Hot tears well up behind my eyes, threatening to spill over, but I don’t permit them to fall. Where the heck else would I have taken my dad? There’s nowhere else for him to go.
He looks down at his feet before looking back at me. “Don’t get me wrong, I am so glad to see you …” His voice cracks. “I thought I’d never get to see you again.” He reaches toward me, caressing my face. I lean into his touch, not sure how to feel. He swallows before continuing. “Cleo, I’m afraid they’ll be able to harm you through me. What if they follow us? What if they come for me and take both of you?”
Hysterics work their way into his words, his voice rising in volume.
I rush forward and wrap my arms around him, hugging him tightly. The last four years’ worth of built-up emotion seeps into me and a sob escapes my lips.
“It doesn’t matter,” I say, my voice cracking. “If they come, we’ll just fight them. The three of us should be able to handle them with our powers.” He breaks away from me, pulling back and gripping my shoulders. His hazel eyes lock on to mine. The pain he feels is clearly evident as he speaks, along with another emotion, one I don’t really understand: shame. Why would my dad be ashamed?
“I … no longer have powers. Water no longer responds or calls to me.”
I hear Lyza gasp behind me. Everything inside me goes cold, like ice has replaced the blood in my veins.
“How can that be?”
How does an elemental lose their abilities?
Fear grips me as his gaze drops to his feet again. “I don’t know. I don’t remember much about being locked in AGAS’s facility.” He looks up, his gaze switching between me and Lyza. He doesn’t seem sad. Maybe haunted? I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s definitely something there. I don’t like it. “What I can remember, I do my best to block out.”
Oh my gosh, it’s exactly as I thought. Probably worse. “I’ll find a way to fix this, Dad. I promise.”
How, I have no idea. Not that the damage done to him can even be fixed, but I’ll make them pay regardless.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ve come to terms with it now. My only wish is that I could’ve been here for you instead.”
Our conversation in the car rushes back to me. Is this what he held on to while he was locked away? Is this what he spent the last four years focusing on?
“I know, Dad,” I say, reaching out to hug him again, “I know. You’re here now, though.” Releasing him, I take him in, again. He looks exhausted, like he didn’t sleep much during his time at HSI Labs. Seeing those conditions, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep. “Get some rest, Dad.”
He steps away, yawning. “I’ll see you girls in the morning.” His words are punctuated with another yawn as he pads his way back to the couch. I tried to set him up in my room, but he wouldn’t let me, saying the couch was improvement enough.
I stare after him for a beat. This is … a lot. I don’t really know how to process this.
Lyza looks as shaken as I feel, her eyes wide and shoulders drooping. Learning that someone can take away our elemental abilities—a fundamental part of our being—is absolutely gut wrenching.
After a moment, Lyza takes a deep breath, letting it out in a huff.
“I guess I have a lot to be thankful for, huh?” Her voice is quiet, almost breathless. “The most they did to me was knock me out with chloroform, steal my phone, and lock me in a cell for a few hours without food.”
“Oh, yeah. By the way, I never did grab your wallet. After watching them take you, it slipped my mind.” She could report her wallet stolen, but I’m sure that wouldn’t get her anywhere, considering what happened when I tried to report her abduction.
“Honestly, I’m surprisingly not worried about it. I’ll do what I can in the morning.”
“You have time to get it dealt with, don’t stress. Right now, you just need to rest.” Even though she’s hiding it well, I can tell this is weighing on her. Someone drugged her and threw her into a truck, then locked her in a room. I don’t care who you are, that shit takes a toll.
“You’re right. I’m gonna shower first,” she says, then turns to walk down the hall, tossing a goodnight to me over her shoulder.
I lean back against the kitchen counter, thinking back to why that AGAS guy let us go. Something about it doesn’t seem right. Could he have anything to do with what happened to my dad’s loss of his powers? There’s something going on here, something deeper than AGAS’s blatant hate for elementals and our abilities. Otherwise, why would they even bother capturing us to begin with? It seems like that would only call a ton of unwanted attention their way.
And what does it have to do with my dad? He didn’t have his powers taken away for any ol’ reason. AGAS is behind it. But why?
I’ll get to the bottom of it somehow.
After cleaning the blood from my face, I trudge to my room and cry myself to sleep worrying over my dad.
A hand on my shoulder, shaking me softly, wakes me. “Cleo,” Lyza says. “Hey, Cleo. Wake up.”
Batting her hand away and stretching my arms over my head, I ask her what she needs. When she doesn’t say anything, I rub my eyes and look her over. Her wide eyes tell it all: she’s worried. About what, though?
“What’s wrong, Lyza?” Her expression quickly changes, mask back in place.
“Other than your nasty breath, nothing. But, I have to go to the DMV, and we never picked up my Jeep last night.” After everything that happened, her Jeep is still where we left Friday night. What she’s really telling me, though, is that she doesn’t want to go on her own. I don’t blame her. There’s no way I’d go anywhere by myself now if it had been me.
“Yeah, sure.”
“Great,” she says, hopping off my bed and heading toward the door. “Thanks, girl.”
“No problem. Let me get cleaned up first.”
Lyza pauses in my doorframe, her nose all scrunched up. “Make sure you brush your teeth.” I toss my pillow at her, but she’s already gone, so it bounces off my closed door instead of her face.
Grabbing some clean clothes—jean shorts and a cropped tee—I make my way to the bathroom and clean up—including brushing my teeth and flossing, because oral hygiene is a must. Then throw my hair into a ponytail and call it good.
Pulling the door open, I come face to face with my dad. He looks well rested, color returning to what I remember it being before AGAS took him. “Mornin’, Daddy,” I say, moving to kiss him on the cheek as I pass. He flinches at first, but leans in, pressing his cheek forward in a sign of acceptance. “Have you had breakfast yet?”
“No,” he says, “I just woke up.”
“Alright. I’ll warm you up some pancakes. Lyza’s cooking is the best,” I tell him as he shuts the door.
In the kitchen, I get his pancakes around, grabbing a granola bar and bottle of water for myself, then head to the hall closet to retrieve my shoes.
“Lyza and I have to run into town for a bit this morning. Will you be okay here by yourself? It shouldn’t take us long.” I know he’s a grown man, but all things considered, I wouldn’t feel right without checking.
“Cleo, I spent the last four years in a solitary cell. I think I’ll be okay in your apartment where there’s food, a couch, and TV.”
“Alright, Dad.” I chuckle. “Just wanted to make sure. We’ll see you in a bit. Lock up behind us?” He nods, and I kiss him on the cheek one more time and head for the door.
“See ya, Frank. Stay out of trouble and don’t open the door for strangers,” Ly
za teases as she pulls the door shut behind her. My dad used to say those exact words to us when we were kids and he’d have to leave the house.
Through the door, we can hear my dad sliding the locks into place. The two of us exit the apartment building and slip into my car without a word. It’s an easygoing, comfortable silence, but when Lyza clips her seat belt into place, I can still see the worry lingering in her eyes.
She looks up, catching me watching her. Seeing her this vulnerable hurts, so I wrap her in a hug and let all of my love for her seep through. Her breath hitches for a second, but she returns the hug.
“Thank you, Cleo.” She says it so quietly, I almost don’t hear it.
We stay like that for a moment longer before she pulls away and wipes her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater.
“You wanna get your Jeep first, or head to the DMV?”
“Let’s—” She stops to clear her throat. “Let’s get all my crap done first. We can pick up my Jeep last.”
“Sounds good,” I say, turning the engine over and backing out of the parking space. Getting her Jeep first would’ve defeated the purpose of me going with her in the first place.
Suspicion confirmed.
Two hours later, we walk out of the DMV with a temporary paper copy of Lyza’s driver’s license and a promise that her permanent card will be in the mail soon. It took an hour and a half to wait in the ridiculous line—thank goodness they have chairs for you to sit in while waiting for your number to be called—and twenty minutes arguing with the receptionist for them to understand what Lyza needed. Apparently, the lady was new and had no idea what to do and refused to ask for help. I thought my eyes would be permanently rolled into the back of my head.
As we start walking toward the exit of the resource building, Lyza catches me off guard.
“I’m really worried about Joe. I can’t shake the feeling that something bad is happening to him. My stomach has been in knots over it.” She lowers her voice: “What if he ends up like your dad, Cleo? What if something worse happens?”
What could be worse for an elemental than losing your abilities? I don’t even want to think about it.
“I’m worried about him too.” Something’s been niggling in the back of my mind. “My gut is telling me he’s in trouble, but I don’t think he’s in HSI Labs. It seems like we would have seen him if he was.” Not that we looked into each room—because we most definitely did not—but I don’t think he’s there. My gut is insisting on it.
Lyza looks at me like I spontaneously sprouted a third eye in the middle of my forehead. “Really? If AGAS took him, then where else would he be?”
The first set of automatic doors opens up for us as we exit the foyer. “Did AGAS really take him though? Reese said he basically disappeared. It could’ve been anything. What bothers me is that the police didn’t do anything—not to help his family or to find him. Probably for the same reason they wouldn’t help me with your situation.” The memory from yesterday of the blond officer refusing to help me find Lyza simply because she’s an elemental will forever be ingrained on my brain.
“Girl, you don’t even know how disgusted it makes me feel that they wouldn’t do anything. To know that they had you going through all of those steps, only to halt you in your tracks the moment you said ‘elemental’ … it makes me sick to my stomach. How long would I have been stuck in there if you hadn’t come for me?”
Her eyes go out of focus, like she’s looking at something that isn’t there. It reminds me of the haunted look in my dad’s eyes last night in the car. I suppress the shudder making its way down my spine. The last set of automatic doors open as we exit the building and head down the sidewalk.
“I don’t know,” I say, not even wanting to imagine it, especially knowing how long my dad had been in there. “It took me everything I had not to freak out in the station.”
“I’ll bet,” Lyza says, chuckling. “I would have. I can never manage to stay as calm and collected as you. My rage,” she says in a joking manner, “it burns deep.”
Laughing with her, I step onto the crosswalk. Lyza grabs my shirt and tugs me backward as a car flies by. For a moment, all I can do is stand there with my hand on my chest, trying to calm my racing heart as I watch the vehicle that almost ended my life whip around the next corner of the parking lot.
“You alright, girl?”
“Yeah,” I puff out a breath, “I’m good.” No thanks to the damn speed demon. Thankfully, Lyza was watching or I would have been maimed. And—of course—the crazy driver didn’t even stop to see if I’m okay, or—I don’t know—apologize. Jerk.
I start walking again, glaring at the car as it parks down the lane. A man gets out, locking the car with his fob. Actually, there’s something a little familiar about him.
Wait. Holy shit!
I stop so abruptly that Lyza, whose arm is threaded through mine, stumbles beside me.
“Shit. What now?” Lyza grumbles.
“Whoops, sorry,” I say, then I lower my voice to a whisper. “Did you see the guy who almost took me out with his car?” She gives me a look that says Why would I want to? “He’s the officer. The one we were just talking about … the one who wouldn’t help me with your abduction …”
Lyza’s eyebrows shoot up and her mouth rounds to a perfect “o” shape, before turning angry. I guess when you speak of the devil …
“An officer driving like that? Do you think it would be bad form for me to go give him a piece of my mind in the parking lot?”
“Uh, as much as I would like to see that … yeah, probably.”
She leans into me, lowering her voice to a whisper, “Do you think he’d know anything about Joe?”
That hadn’t even crossed my mind. We reach my car, climbing in and buckling up.
“Probably not? Reese said the police didn’t get involved.”
“You’re right,” Lyza says, sounding a little upset. “I just want to know something about him. If we at least knew where he was, then we could try to bust him out.”
“Me, too. After what happened yesterday, we would be recognized on the spot, even if it’s some other AGAS secret prison. Something tells me we wouldn’t be let go a second time. I think we should try to find out as much as we can about Joe’s situation before we go hauling our butts in blind.”
“Alright. Sounds reasonable.” She pauses for a moment. “The government really needs to get things in gear and give us our rights. I don’t understand why there’s even a debate here. We deserve to be protected too.”
“I don’t understand, either. The whole situation makes me want to throw up. It seems like they’re so worried about the ones misusing their gifts and the threat they pose. Uh, last I checked regular humans have issues too, and they don’t even need elemental persuasion to do the heinous things they’ve been put away for.”
“You aren’t kidding,” Lyza says, grunting in frustration. “And for the few elementals who do abuse their power, can’t they just punish them the same way everyone else is punished? It’s insulting that they’ve been fiddling around with it this entire time.”
Wanting to drop this conversation before I actually do throw up, I decide to bring the conversation back to her errands.
“Was there anything else you needed to do before we go get your Jeep?” While we waited at the DMV, she borrowed my phone to call the bank. I can’t remember if she had any other bases to cover.
“No,” Lyza says, “I’m set. Thanks, though.”
In no time at all, we make it back to her Jeep and split up. We end up pulling into the parking lot to our apartment complex at the same time. At the top of the stairs, I dig into my pocket to fish out my keys—why I even stashed them there, I have no idea.
Only … the door is broken.
Defenseless
“What the—?” Lyza whispers behind me. The door is hanging crooked on its hinges, unable to close properly.
What happened?
“Dad?” I call caut
iously as I push the door open further. “We’re back,” I announce, inching into the entryway.
Nothing answers but eerie silence.
Another step has me fully inside the apartment. Shock rolls over me like a wave crashing into the beach. My keys slide through my fingers, landing on the floor with a jangle.
Our living room is trashed. Couch cushions are upturned, the center of the coffee table is caved in, the TV hangs crooked on the wall, and blankets are scattered all over the floor.
Lyza is already down the hallway, checking our rooms. She rushes back to me, shaking her head.
Dad’s not here …
I failed him. I didn’t protect him. I didn’t keep him safe. I left him alone to fend for himself after promising I would be there to fight AGAS away if they came for him.
“This had to be AGAS,” she says, staring at the carnage of our living room. “Who else would do this?”
“How did they find us? Why did they take my dad?”
Why him? Why can’t they just leave him alone?
“Well, I mean … AGAS still has my phone, they could’ve easily tracked my whereabouts or something.”
“We need to go. We need to find my dad.” I made him a promise and it blew up in our faces. Just when I finally get my dad back, they take him again.
“Alright, girl, let’s go.” We both head back out the door.
Fucking AGAS! I grit my teeth against the angry scream threatening to escape.
He was worried something like this would happen and I brushed him off. I should have listened to him. He spent four years as their captive, and I ignored his worries because I was too hurt by what he said.
My hands tremble as we fly down the stairs. It feels like my heart is going to beat out of my chest at any moment. Fury rears its ugly head, but I push it away, trying to keep a calm mind. Getting emotional all over again won’t help me find him.
We run into the parking lot. There’s a familiar blacked-out SUV leaving the far side. Without hesitation, I sprint after it. I lose sight of it before I can even make it a block.