Invisible

by Alycia Linwood

  “We have to get away from here,” he said, his eyes widening. “Elemontera knows where we are. We can’t stay!”

  “It didn’t happen nearby.” I crossed my arms. “And even if Elemontera knew, where are they?”

  “Waiting for an opportunity to strike.”

  “I don’t know. It didn’t really look like Elemontera. I mean, it was one person, dressed in black.” I closed my eyes as the footage of Bailey’s death replayed at the back of my eyelids. As I tried to recall every detail, something else popped into my mind; something I’d been too shocked to notice. “There was some kind of a triangle with lion heads on the jacket.”

  When I opened them, I saw Jaiden’s frown deepening.

  “Why does that symbol sound familiar?” he said more to himself than to me.

  “Another possibility is that those elementals who wanted to kill us used someone as bait thinking one of us would come, and then they killed Bailey by mistake.” I sat down on the bed, hugging my knees to myself. Jaiden settled next to me but didn’t touch me.

  “They wouldn’t have sent one masked assassin.” He chewed on his lip. “It wouldn’t make sen...” His whole body went still.

  “What?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

  “I know where I saw that symbol,” he said. “There are three small lion heads in each point of the triangle and a bigger one in the middle, right?”

  “Yeah.” My brow furrowed. “How did you know...?”

  “I’ve seen a tattoo like that. On Sheridan’s lower back.”

  “What?” I gaped at him

  “She’s my father’s lover. Once I saw... more than I was supposed to.” He cringed.

  “Oh God, gross.” The image my mind created for me was so not nice. “Wait, that means it was Elemontera! Maybe they weren’t looking for us but for any elemental, so they found Bailey and decided he wasn’t strong enough...” Or they’d simply killed him to make a point to us in case we’d run away and hadn’t been kidnapped like we all wanted them to believe.

  “I don’t know. Elemontera usually doesn’t have a symbol like that anywhere,” Jaiden said.

  But that didn’t mean it wasn’t them. What were they planning to do? Start killing off anyone close to us until they forced us out of hiding? Black spots danced in my vision, my hands curled into fists at my sides, warmth rising inside of me. All the shock and grief I’d felt turned into something else. Something dangerous.

  Jaiden’s hand found mine, and he gently traced circles on my skin until my fingers relaxed. My bracelet was burning slightly, but I didn’t care. I let Jaiden pull me into his arms and leaned my head on his shoulder. The tension seeped out from my shoulders, my anger ebbing away, as he rocked me lightly in his arms.

  “Something has to be done,” I said, looking up at him. “We can’t let this happen again.”

  “Do you have a plan?” he whispered, caressing my hair.

  “I guess I’ll try to figure out how to take off the bracelet before Lily’s team strengthens it. Then I’ll make sure my family and everyone else are safe.”

  “So you’re going back to Elemontera to destroy it from within,” he said.

  “I don’t know.”

  He put his finger under my chin and lifted my head until my eyes met his. “That’s not true. You’ve already decided, haven’t you?”

  Was I ready to go back to Elemontera, risk my life and try to destroy them? Probably not. But did every fiber of my body want to do it? Yes, yes it did. “I guess I have.”

  Elemontera proved that they could send anyone anytime and take out our friends and family. I couldn’t let them hurt my parents. We’d never be safe. Elemontera would go after us until they found us. There was nowhere to run. Even Jaiden couldn’t have stayed out of their grasp for long, and he knew things about them that none of us did, and yet they’d found him. And who said there wasn’t some variation of Elemontera in the other parts of the world? We’d just be running off to a different kind of enemy. It wasn’t as if other countries around the world hadn’t done genetic manipulation and weren’t hiding elementals like me.

  “And what about you?” I asked. “Are you going to be my enemy or my friend?”

  He looked away. “I can’t fight Elemontera. I’m too weak.”

  I placed my hand on his cheek and forced him to look at me. “No, you’re not. That’s what your father wants you to believe.”

  He gave me a sad smile. “I almost believe you when you say it like that.” He covered my hand with his, rubbing his cheek against my hand.

  “I’m serious. I’m going to need help to take down Elemontera and you’re the one who knows it the best. You could do a lot of good and truly help elementals. Elemontera needs to be stopped for what they did to you and the others. I know you said that Elemontera wasn’t all bad, and maybe it isn’t, but we need to weed out the bad parts first. Maybe one day it can be an organization that helps people and only hunts down elementals who are a real threat to people.”

  “Sounds naive to me,” he said. “But okay. I’ll try to help you as much as I can, but it won’t be easy.”

  “You don’t have to agree to anything, you know, if this whole thing is a conflict of interest for you.” I wondered how crazy I had to be to trust him after everything. It would be so easy for him to betray me again and ruin everything, so I had to find some kind of insurance before I took him with me. His word wouldn’t be enough, but I wanted him to offer me something himself.

  “I do want to change Elemontera,” he said, his eyes glistening with emotion. “And with your help that might be possible.”

  “Okay. I’m going to ask you something, for one last time,” I said, taking his hand into mine, as if I could tell if he was lying to me by touching his wrist. “Why didn’t you go far away from Elemontera? You didn’t have a bracelet. You could have run far away and help elementals in some other place, but you stayed. Is it because of your father? I really want to understand. I’m putting a lot of faith in you by what I told you and what I asked you to do. Like a whole lot.”

  “I won’t betray you. I promise. I’ll let you mind control me if you want,” he said, and I flinched. “I’m not like you and the others. If you knew some things about me, you’d... you’d change your mind about everything.”

  “I’m sorry, but that sounds like a pathetic, cliche excuse. You can’t know what I’d do or think.” I knew that if I tried to mind control him to tell me the truth, he’d push me out and would never trust me again, but I could work with mind-controlling him not to tell his father we were undercover or anything about the others.

  He took a deep breath, pulling his hand back. “Let’s just say Elemontera has something I need, and if others found out about it, they’d use it against me in an instant. I won’t give anyone that much power over me.”

  “Right,” I said, gritting my teeth in frustration. “But I guess I accept your offer to mind control you before we go back.”

  He inclined his head. “What about your parents? I got the impression they don’t want you anywhere near Elemontera or me.”

  “They’ll have to understand.” I ran my hand through my hair.

  “Are you going to mind control them?” he asked, and I cut him a glare.

  “What? No!”

  He put his hands up. “Okay, okay. Got it.”

  I sprawled across the bed, grabbing the pillow and tucking it under my head. Jaiden lay next to me, his face only inches from mine.

  “You said Sheridan and your father were together. What about your mom?” I asked.

  “I never met her,” he said. “Don’t know anything about her.”

  “Is she alive?” I couldn’t imagine my life without my mom or without ever knowing her.

  “No idea.” He turned away so he faced the ceiling.

  I let go of the pillow and rolled over until I could rest my head on his chest. Closing my eyes, I let the warmth of his body envelop me. He tensed a bit, but only for a moment.

 
“Why the hell did you want to spend the night with me?” I mumbled. “I’ll probably kick you off the bed or something while I’m asleep.”

  A soft laugh escaped his lips and he wrapped his arm around my waist more firmly. I smiled to myself, drifting off to sleep.

  Chapter 29

  A loud bang on the door jolted me from my sleep, and I pried my eyes open, realizing I was lying on my side and Jaiden’s head was resting on my arm.

  “Jaiden, hey.” I gently shook him, and his eyes fluttered open. “Please move.”

  “Oh.” He immediately sat up, glancing at the door as someone banged on it again. I cradled my arm to my chest, feeling nothing except pins and needles in it.

  “I’m sorry,” Jaiden said.

  “It’s okay.” I laughed, shaking my arm.

  “Moira! If you don’t open the door, we’ll bust it down,” my dad yelled. Oh, great.

  “They probably think I kidnapped you,” Jaiden said as I got to my feet and padded toward the door.

  “Yeah.” I grabbed the knob and pushed the door wide open, stepping aside so no one would run me over if they tried to rush inside. “What?” I looked at my parents, whose eyes were darting from Jaiden to me.

  “We thought...” my mom started to say, frowning, and just shook her head. “Nothing. Lily found out that a dangerous prisoner was allowed to walk free and she’s furious.”

  “Oh.” My eyebrows shot up. “I don’t know anything about a dangerous prisoner. Better look elsewhere.” Noah must have told Lily about Jaiden a long time ago and she hadn’t sent anyone for him, so I suspected my parents were the ones who were worried.

  “Honey, this isn’t a joke,” my dad said, glancing at Jaiden, who stood there awkwardly, his hair tousled, with an amused look on his face.

  “I know. I need to talk to Lily.” I looked around the room but didn’t see a brush anywhere, so I ran my fingers through my hair. “Jaiden, come with me, please.”

  When we reached the main room, I realized everyone was gathered there, including Noah, Nick, Ashley, Marissa, and Sam. They all shot curious looks at Jaiden and me; some even narrowed their eyes at us. Lily’s face was flushed when she stopped in front of me.

  “What were you thinking? You can’t just let him out without my permission! This is my place and you’re here only because my team helped you. A little gratitude and respect wouldn’t kill you, would it?” she whispered so that no one could overhear, and she was right. This was her hideout, and aside from hiding some things from me, she’d done nothing but protect and save my parents and me. But if I’d asked her first, she’d have refused, and I wouldn’t have discovered that they must have figured out how to use more of the bracelet’s functions since they let Jaiden stay in my room.

  “I accept your offer,” I said calmly. She blinked, looking at me as if she saw me for the first time.

  “You do?”

  “Yeah, I’m going back to Elemontera. Well, I have a couple of conditions, but I’ll do it.”

  Someone gasped behind me and I turned my head to see my mom staring at me in shock. “No! You can’t! I won’t let you!” My mom was shaking and my dad pulled her into his arms as she burst into tears. My own tears welled up in my eyes, my throat constricting.

  “Honey, I know it’s your choice, but please reconsider,” my dad said. “Your mom and I don’t want you to go there again.”

  “I’m sorry. I’ve made my decision,” I said. “I have to do this. For myself and for everyone else. We can’t be happy while Elemontera exists.”

  “But you don’t have to be the one to take it down,” my mom said through tears, letting go of my dad and looking at me. “I can’t... I don’t want to lose you. I can’t bear the thought of you being there. Please don’t break my heart.”

  “And I can’t bear the thought of you or anyone else I care about dying because of that stupid organization! I believe I have a chance to stop Elemontera. I really do. Jaiden will help me.”

  “Jaiden? No, there’s no way we’re letting him back there with you,” Lily said.

  “Actually, you are. That’s one of my conditions.” A small smile appeared on my lips.

  “Moira, you’re crazy,” Noah said. “He’s going to feed you to the wolves!”

  “He won’t. He’ll let me mind control him so he doesn’t reveal anything about what we’re doing,” I said.

  Noah curled his lip. “Are you sure he won’t find a way around it? He’s had practice at this. Moira, please, think about it.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” I said. “I know what I’m doing.” At least I hoped I did, but at least I was sure I’d be able to recognize if Jaiden was or wasn’t mind-controlled. He couldn’t fake the way his brain signals looked to me. “Noah, you’ll get Kenna off the island and take everyone somewhere safe, okay?”

  “Yeah, sure.” He nodded.

  I faced Lily again. “Oh, and I almost forgot my second condition. I know you’re planning to enhance the bracelets so that you could control me like Elemontera can. You’re already blocking our elements and tracking us, aren’t you?”

  “That’s not what...” Lily said, her eyes bulging. So she didn’t know Jaiden and I had been in her office, which meant the tracking must have been developed later.

  I lifted my finger to shush her. “Save it. I saw the blueprints. And I know you wouldn’t have let Jaiden stay with me if you didn’t know where he was. All I want is that Jaiden and I go undercover with fake bracelets and that you make sure Elemontera doesn’t figure it out, but no one will be allowed to control the bracelets. My parents will make sure of that. Noah’s and Nick’s bracelets go off, and I want an elaborate plan of the whole mission.”

  Lily swallowed. “Okay. We should have the fake bracelets ready in a few days.”

  “Good,” I said.

  Suddenly an explosion rocked the building, the lights getting so bright that I had to close my eyes. My bracelet scorched my skin, making me cry out. I heard footsteps and grunts, but when I tried to open my eyes, I was blinded again, this time by smoke.

  When my vision finally cleared, my breath got stuck in my chest, my feet rooted to the spot. Everyone in the room was surrounded by soldiers in black who had that symbol with lions on their jackets. Lily’s guards were lying on the ground, unmoving, blood pooling on the floor.

  Four soldiers held my parents by the arms, placing element-blocking bracelets on their wrists so they couldn’t fight back. The rest of the soldiers had their guns trained at everyone’s heads. Noah and the other elementals were kneeling on the ground. Jaiden stood not far away from me, surrounded by three soldiers. I couldn’t see Lily anywhere.

  I slowly turned my head and saw more soldiers with their rifles trained on me. A movement at the edge of my vision caught my attention. Sheridan strolled toward me, her high heels clicking against the floor.

  “Hello, my dear,” Sheridan said, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder. “I hope I’m not too late. I’m here to set you free.”

  I eyed her, wondering if she thought Jaiden, Noah, Nick, and I had been kidnapped. For a heartbeat, I wondered what I could do except play along. “We were just about to break out and return to Elemontera,” I said. “Umm, are all these weapons really necessary? You can at least let my parents go. They didn’t have anything to do with this.”

  Sheridan burst into a hysterical laugh, which only unnerved me. “You’re not going back to Elemontera. It’s time for you to reclaim what is yours.” She must have seen my frown, because she stopped snickering. “I’m talking about your legacy. What your father and grandfather had started.”

  “I don’t understand.” What the hell was she talking about? My father and my grandfather? Did she mean the Marlaus? But how did she know about that?

  “You will,” she said with a smile. “Your elements are stronger because your father’s element was enhanced. Your abilities are better than you could ever dream of. And now you’re the heiress of your grandfather’s company.”
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br />   “I don’t want any part of that. I don’t know anything about that company or enhanced elements.” Hadn’t the company been shut down after my grandfather was arrested? I couldn’t imagine anyone would continue the dirty work of illegal experimenting on elementals. Or was there another company that no one knew about? For the first time, I wished I knew more about my biological father and grandfather.

  “I’ve been watching you and I know you’re good. You’ll figure it out,” Sheridan said with all the confidence in the world.

  “Elemontera wants me to take over Marlau’s company?” I blinked at her.

  “No, of course not.” She scowled. “I’m not really Elemontera. I started working for them only because I knew they’d find you easier. They had the resources I needed, but now it’s time to leave them behind. You have much more important work to do.”

  “I’m not sure about that,” I said, trying to break through my bracelet, but I couldn’t.

  “I promised your grandfather I’d do this in case something happened to him. Don’t be afraid,” she said. “I’ll guide you.”

  “You killed Bailey,” I yelled.

  She shrugged. “Had to be done. That happens if you don’t comply.”

  “Is that really what my father and grandfather would want?”

  “They wanted you to be who you’re supposed to be.” She waved her hand. “Nothing else. If I have to use force to fulfill my promise, I will.”

  I looked up in time to see the barrel of a gun pressed against my mom’s head. “Okay.” I raised my hands up. Sheridan was obviously insane. “I’ll do whatever you want. Just let my parents and everyone else go.”

  Sheridan cocked her head as if she had to really think about it. “Very well, but first you need to do something.”

  “What?”

  “Punish your grandfather’s murderer,” she bit out. “Since he’s here and all. It would make no sense to hunt him down later.”

  “My grandfather died of a heart attack,” I said incredulously. What did she want me to do? Punch a dead man’s heart? I would have laughed if everyone’s lives weren’t in danger right now.