“You don’t know how happy I am that I got you back. I love you so much, honey. I’ll never tire of saying it.” She pulled me into a hug once again. “I was desperate when we found out you were captured. I knew you wouldn’t just leave somewhere and send us pictures without calling or anything. It was Elemontera’s style and we knew it. I was afraid we’d find you too late...” My mom’s voice cracked.
“But I survived everything, and we’re back together again.”
“Yeah, I’m so proud of you. I want you to know that. To survive in such a place for so long... It’s impressive,” my mom said.
“Thanks.” I grinned, leaning on my mom’s shoulder. “Where’s Dad?”
“Oh, he went to talk to someone who might be able to help us with the bracelets. The techs have almost discovered a way to take them off, but the key piece is missing.”
“Isn’t hiring ex-Elemontera workers and some random friends risky? What if they tell Elemontera and they find us here?”
“You don’t have to concern yourself with that. Lily knows what she’s doing. We’d been dealing with various secret organizations for years.” She smiled.
“I was hoping Dad wouldn’t leave so quickly,” I said, a hint of disappointment in my voice.
“He’ll be back soon,” she said. “And then we can get some popcorn and watch movies like we used to.”
“Wait, they have popcorn here?” I gaped at her.
“Yeah.”
That sounded like the best idea I’d heard in my life. I had to get away from all the elemental drama for a while.
Chapter 23
When I woke up the next morning in the small room that had been assigned to me, I breathed out a sigh of relief, because that confirmed that I was no longer in Elemontera. After getting dressed, I headed for the door. As I stepped into the main room, I noticed Noah and the others had brought chairs and were sitting all together in one corner of the room, opposite from the people with computers. I padded over to our little group and realized there was food on the table.
“Moira!” Marissa said, looking up at me. “Want some cereal?” She picked up one of the bowls and handed it to me. “It’s delicious.”
I took the bowl and sat on one of the empty chairs. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Sam and Bailey were laughing. Ashley was explaining something to Noah, and Marissa was munching on a spoonful of cereal as if it were the best she’d ever eaten in her life.
“I think I know what we’re going to do today,” Sam said. “I found a pool table in one of the rooms.”
“Oooh, can’t wait!” Noah rubbed his hands together.
I leaned toward Marissa, who was sitting next to me. “Did you hear anything about Jaiden?”
Her eyes went wide for a moment, and she shook her head, still chewing her food.
“He’s fine,” Noah said flatly.
“So what’s our plan now?” I asked before anyone could start a discussion over Jaiden again.
“To play pool?” Noah grinned.
“No, I mean, are some of you going back to the island or what?”
Sam looked around the room. “Well, this underground place is better and more fun than the one on the island. We even have protection here. Why would we go anywhere?”
I gaped at him. “But we can’t stay here. Isn’t this a temporary hideout? Elemontera could find us here at any moment, and I don’t think a few element preservers and regular elementals will be able to save us.”
“No, Moira, stop.” Noah grimaced, waving his hands. “We decided to have some fun, and everyone will stay here until we make sure it’s safe to leave and until you, Nick, and I get rid of the bracelets.”
“Where’s Nick?” I realized I hadn’t even seen him since we got here, and he wasn’t anywhere in the room.
“Lily took him for questioning,” Ashley said, and popped a cracker into her mouth.
“For questioning?” My eyebrows shot up. “Why? He’s still mind-controlled not to reveal any crucial info about Elemontera.”
“I don’t know. I guess they’ll be trying to see if there’s something he can tell them. I talked to one of their specialists and they showed me photos of some people I recognized from Elemontera. It will help with some missing cases,” Noah said.
“What else did they ask?”
“Not much.” He shrugged. “Most of what I could tell them they knew already, but that’s because I didn’t have high clearance in Elemontera anyway. Maybe you could tell them more. You were actually in the boss’ office, weren’t you?”
I ignored his question. I had no doubt that Lily’s team wanted to get as much info as possible to try to destroy Elemontera, but I didn’t really know these people. My parents seemed to trust them, but they’d known Lily for years, and she’d actually helped them get me back, so even if she was hiding something from them or planned to do something questionable, I wasn’t sure my parents would disagree with her. “Did they ask you about Jaiden?”
“Sure,” Noah said, his eyes boring into mine. “I told them everything.”
“About the island, too?” I asked.
“Yeah. Everything. We don’t have to hide anything from these people. They’re going to help us,” Noah said confidently. “This is Lily we’re talking about. She’s been fighting for the rights of oppressed elementals, carriers, and minorities for years. It’s pretty awesome that we can help her.”
“Hey.” Lily appeared at our table out of nowhere, making me jump. “Hello, Moira. Nice to see you’re all here.”
I glanced past her shoulder and saw Nick coming toward us, a few bruises from yesterday’s fight still visible on his face, but he was smiling.
“I have a few questions for all of you,” Lily said. “Those elementals that attacked you at the university... Do you know anything about them?”
“Not really, except that they are powerful and hate Elemontera agents,” Noah said.
“It’s not surprising a group like this appeared,” Lily said. “But we couldn’t get in contact with them, and from what I heard, Elemontera agents couldn’t capture them either. If there’s something you know about them or could tell us what they look like, it would be great. It seems like they have the same goal as us, to destroy Elemontera, but we don’t know where to find them.”
“I’m sure you’d work together just fine,” I said. “They tried to kill Jaiden and me, apparently to put us out of our misery or something equally poetic.” I didn’t know what had gotten into me or why I was so antagonistic about Lily and her team.
“I know their names, but I guess they’re fake,” Marissa said. “Sam, Bailey, Ashley, and I were with them for a while. We can describe them. They lied to us a lot, though, so I’m not sure how helpful our info will be.”
“Anything will be helpful, really,” Lily said. “Can you come with me now?”
“Sure,” Marissa said, and the four of them got up, leaving Nick, Noah, and me alone, or as alone as we could be in our little corner.
Noah looked at me. “Is Jaiden the only reason you don’t trust these people?”
I shook my head. “No. I... I’m having a hard time trusting anyone after everything that happened. I just don’t know. They shot at us...”
“They shot at Jaiden. That’s not the same.”
“No, it could have been any of us. I think they would have tried to shoot me, too, if I weren’t the daughter of Lily’s friends.”
“Honestly, I could understand that, too,” Nick said. “We are Elemontera agents. That makes us all threats, I guess.”
“I know. I just... I need some more time until they convince me they really are the good guys as they claim,” I said.
“They want to take down Elemontera. That’s good enough for me,” Noah said. “It’s funny you can’t trust them, but you trust a liar and a traitor who almost killed me. Don’t you get it? All he’s done – not mind-controlling me, helping us sometimes – was to manipulate you?”
I put my bowl down and go
t to my feet. “I have to do something. I’ll be right back.”
“Tell Jaiden I said hi,” Noah said, and I rolled my eyes. Was everyone right? Did I trust Jaiden too much? Maybe I did.
I found my way to Jaiden’s room without any trouble, and I slowly pushed the door, holding my breath and wondering if he would be there. Maybe Lily’s team had decided to transfer him somewhere where they could keep an eye on him better. The lack of guards at the door was surprising. If they really believed Jaiden was so dangerous, why didn’t they worry he’d escape? Or were they as confident as Elemontera in the power of the bracelet?
Jaiden’s eyes were closed, and I slowly made my way closer to the bed. He didn’t even twitch. The machines and liquids that had stood next to the bed were gone. I sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out for his hand that was cuffed to a small bed rail.
I don’t know for how long I’d been sitting there, but suddenly I heard a soft moan and looked up at Jaiden’s face. His eyes fluttered open, surveyed the room, and settled on me. He tried to push himself up, grimacing in pain, but I put my hand on his chest.
“No, don’t move,” I said. “You’ll tear your stitches.”
“Guess I’m still alive, then.” He settled back onto the pillows, gritting his teeth.
“Yes, you are.” I couldn’t help but smile. “We’re safe for now.”
His eyes narrowed at me. “Where are we? What happened?”
“I’m not sure exactly. Some underground hideout.”
“Those people who shot me...”
“This is their place,” I said, and his brow furrowed. “They are friends of my parents.”
“Your parents are here?”
“Yeah, they are. Their friend Lily has a team that wants to fight against Elemontera. You might know her. She’s the president of some organization that fights for the rights of element preservers, magic disease carriers, and elementals like that. The government doesn’t know she’s doing this, though.”
“I see.” Jaiden’s face was pensive, and he glanced at the cuffs on his wrists and back at me, flashing me a forced smile. “I’m glad you got to see your parents. That’s what you wanted, right?”
“Yeah.” I got to my feet, unsure what to say.
“What are they going to do to me?” Jaiden finally asked. “Did you tell them...?”
“I didn’t tell them anything. They already knew about your father, so they’re a little bit, umm, paranoid.” I grimaced. “I’ll talk to them about that. It’s not your fault... If it makes you feel any better, my elements are blocked, too.”
“Moira, you don’t have to.” He shook his head. “Just tell them that if they’re planning to blackmail my father, it’s not going to work. Elemontera is everything to him. He won’t throw it away because of me.”
“No, no one is planning to trade you for anything,” I said, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to truly believe that. I was sure Lily was thinking about this, just like the others. They planned to use Jaiden to get to his father. I just didn’t know how. “They might ask you some questions, if you could give them what they want...”
“I won’t tell them anything.” Jaiden curled his lip. “They’ll kill me anyway.”
“What? No, they...” Could I promise something I wasn’t sure about? No, not really, but I could promise what was in my power. “I’m not going to let them hurt you, okay?”
“Why?” He tilted his head, looking genuinely curious.
“Because that’s not how things should be done.”
“You don’t know anything about how things are done when you have a chance to take down your worst enemy.” He swallowed hard.
“Do you want some water?” I asked.
“Please,” he said. I went to the nightstand and filled a glass with water. Leaning over Jaiden, I carefully pressed the glass to his lips. He looked at me for a while and then opened his mouth, taking a few sips. Some of the water trickled down his chin and I wiped it off.
“Thank you,” he said. “Was this your idea or theirs?”
“What?” I frowned, returning the glass to its place.
“Being nice to me. Is that their way to get me to talk? Through you?”
“No, they didn’t send me here. I wanted to make sure you’re okay. Is there a reason why you’re protecting Elemontera, aside from protecting your father?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Can’t or won’t?” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Are the others fine?” he asked. “Are they here?”
“Yeah, they’re all fine. Lily’s team is trying to figure out how to take off the bracelets so we can all be free.”
He nodded, offering me a small smile.
“Do they know? About my father?”
“Yeah.”
“I imagine they’re not happy about it.”
“No, they’re not. They think you lied to them too much.”
“And they’re right.” His dark eyes met mine.
“I have to go see my parents,” I said after a brief silence. “I’m going to call someone to be here with you.”
He broke the eye contact and just nodded. I opened the door, yelling for the doctor. The woman I’d seen earlier in Jaiden’s room poked her head from one of the rooms down the hall. “Can I help you?”
“Yeah, Jaiden’s awake and you should check on him. Make sure he doesn’t stay alone,” I said. When the doctor was a couple of feet away from me, I closed the door so Jaiden couldn’t hear me. “He could get panic attacks if he stays alone. Please make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Of course,” the woman said and went inside. If Jaiden didn’t plan on giving any info to Lily’s team, I could see how that could earn him even more distrust, but hey, I was apparently free here and I didn’t trust these people either, so I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t trust someone who had shot him and cuffed him to a bed. It reminded me a lot of Elemontera, except Elemontera had the decency not to cause me a permanent injury. Lily’s team was doing everything wrong here. If they got him to trust them, maybe he’d help them. Maybe they could offer him something in return, but I didn’t know what. I didn’t know what was keeping him in Elemontera. All I knew was that it certainly wasn’t his father’s love.
Chapter 24
The days passed by so quickly that I didn’t even realize it. I’d spent a lot of time telling my parents what had happened to me in Elemontera, omitting things that might upset them too much. But whenever I asked anyone about the progress on the bracelets, all I got were elusive answers that it would be soon and that I shouldn’t worry about Elemontera finding us.
As I put my plate on the table after another meal with my parents, someone knocked on the door of our room, which was the biggest one in the building and which had a big table with many chairs, a couch, and a TV set. My mom opened the door and Lily poked her head inside. “May I come in?”
“Sure,” my mom said, stepping aside. “We’ve just had lunch. There are still some potato chips left if you want any.”
“No, thanks,” Lily said, taking a seat at the table, opposite from my father, who observed her carefully, leaning his elbows on the table.
“What brings you here, L?” he said with a smile.
“I need to talk to Moira about something and I assumed the two of you would want to be present as well,” Lily said, clasping her hands.
“Talk about what?” I frowned. If Lily came here, that meant she didn’t want to talk about this in front of the others, so it had to be important.
“About Elemontera,” she said.
“I told you already I don’t know anything that could help you.” By the time it was my turn to talk to Lily’s team about what I knew, the others had already told them everything. All I could add was that Jaiden’s father had an office with interesting stuff.
“It’s not about that,” Lily said, licking her lips. “What I’m about to ask you is very important and I want you to think about it very carefully. I
wouldn’t be asking if I had a better option.”
My mom stopped behind my chair and put her hands on my shoulders. “Lily, you’re stalling. What’s going on?”
“My team and I came to the conclusion that the best way to defeat Elemontera would be to find an agent of our own to go undercover, but since we don’t know any elementals like you who could get into Elemontera and pass their tests, we thought you’d be...”
“No, absolutely not!” my mom yelled. “You can’t be thinking about sending my daughter back there!”
“Paula, please understand me. An undercover agent is our best shot, and your daughter is already highly estimated in Elemontera. She could help us take them down once and for all.”
“I’m not letting you take my daughter away from me again!” my mom said, taking a step toward Lily. My dad got to his feet and put his hand on my mom’s arm.
“She’s right. We can’t let you do this,” my dad said. “My daughter has been through enough. She almost got killed there. There’s no way we’re letting her go anywhere near those monsters.”
“Mom, Dad, it’s okay,” I said, and they looked at me in surprise. “I want to hear what she has to say. No harm in that, right?”
“But it’s ridiculous...” My mom started to say, but my dad shook his head and took her toward the couch. She pressed her lips into a tight line. “Fine.”
“Why do you think an undercover agent would be the best option?” I asked.
“Elemontera has killed many elementals, and not just those like you, but any proof we can get our hands on can be rebutted or explained away by something simple. We do have footage of killers getting inside a house and hunting down children while killing off the rest of the family in cold blood. But what the cops say is that the killers are acting on revenge or that children escaped by accident or that the killers are element preservers who go after children to get their elements because these elements would be stronger or last longer,” Lily said, her voice filled with anger. “The government won’t let us anywhere near Elemontera, and our attempts to get an inside agent failed. Our sources simply don’t have enough reach. We don’t know what else to try.”
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