by Ali House
“Are you asking me?” she said, and then immediately felt like an idiot. Of course he was asking her – there was nobody else at the table.
“If it’s okay with you.”
The timing wasn’t the best, as she was now considering going home, but he seemed nice enough.
The man put out his hand for an introduction. “My name’s Eston. Don’t worry; I don’t bite. I just saw you sitting alone and thought that you might like some company.”
She took his hand. “I’m Kit.”
“So, how about that drink?”
“Sorry, but I’m driving.”
He smiled and nodded. “How about a dance instead?”
Kit took another look at the man in front of her. He seemed harmless enough – a little taller than she was, well built with nice smile. They were in a public location, surrounded by a lot of other people. If she danced with this guy, then she would prove to Bryanna that she was socially adjusted, and maybe Bryanna would stop bothering her.
“One dance,” she said.
“One dance,” he echoed, smiling.
She stood up and walked with Eston to the dance floor. They moved through the crowd, towards Bryanna and her dance partner. Kit made sure to make eye contact with Bryanna, who gave her a thumbs-up before turning back to her partner.
Kit was glad that she’d already been dancing this evening, because she was able to find the beat easily. She was actually starting to enjoy herself when she felt a pinch on her behind. She whirled around, hoping to find the culprit. Behind her was a tall man with orange hair and blue eyes. The man winked at her and smiled. She turned away from the man and back to Eston.
“Let’s move somewhere else,” she said.
Eston followed her without question. They found a new spot to dance, but a few seconds later she began to feel dizzy.
“What’s wrong?” Eston asked.
“I think I need to sit down,” she said. He helped her maneuver across the dance floor and back to the front of the bar.
“I’ll bet you’re dehydrated. I’ll get you some water,” he said as soon as she was sitting down.
While he was gone, she tried to remember what she’d done with her original glass of water, but it must have been cleared away when she went up to dance.
“Sorry about the wait,” Eston said when he returned. “There was a line up at the bar.” He handed her a glass.
He mouth was suddenly very dry, and she drank almost half the glass before stopping.
“Thank you,” she said, taking another drink. The water made her feel much better.
“Don’t mention it. Do you want to sit for a while longer?”
Suddenly Kit became aware of how hot it was in the bar. Even her arms, which weren’t covered, were hot. She felt like she was in a furnace.
“I think I’m going to go outside for a bit,” she said. The cool night air would help her feel better. She didn’t think that she’d been overdoing it, but maybe she’d underestimated the heat of the club. She stood up and walked to the door with Eston following her. She told him that he didn’t have to go with her, but he said that he wanted to make sure that she was safe.
As soon as she was outside, she took a deep breath of cool air, but it didn’t help. She still felt warm and the dizziness was coming back. Was she getting sick? Had there been something in the water? Her vision started to blur and it felt as if her legs could no longer support her weight. She knew that she should go inside and find Bryanna, but before she could move, everything went black.
Vaughn had lost track of time taking pictures. Since Kit had gone out with Bryanna, he’d decided to go out and shoot some night scenes. There was no point in sitting home alone when he could be doing something productive.
He’d given Kit the spare key to his studio, and he was sure that she would have been there tonight if Bryanna hadn’t intervened. Offering his space seemed like a small gesture, but he was glad that he could help.
Around twelve-thirty in the morning, he went to his studio to drop off his film, as well as check to see if Kit was there. He wondered if she’d skip out on Bryanna and go here to practice, but the studio was empty.
It was after one o’clock when he arrived back at the house. Kit’s El-car wasn’t in the driveway, so he assumed that she was still at the club. Maybe he’d wait up for her, just to see how she was doing.
A part of him wished that he’d gone through the elemental training in the army so that he’d be able to help her. There was no practical training for Elementals outside the Cambrian Forces or the Police Force. Most people didn’t have to worry about fighting. To the general public, elements were more of a novelty than a weapon.
When he walked into the house, he saw Bryanna sitting in the living room. She had turned to see who was entering, but looked away when Vaughn walked in.
“Where’s Kit?” Vaughn asked.
“Out.”
“How’d you get back?”
“Took a cab.”
Vaughn was confused. “Why didn’t Kit drive you back?”
“I don’t know,” Bryanna said angrily. “Maybe she was having so much fun that she thought it would be a good idea to ditch me for some guy.”
“What?”
“She was dancing with this guy and, I don’t know, maybe she decided that she really liked him or something. All I know is that she was at the club one minute and the next she was gone. Her El-car’s still parked outside, so I guess she left with him.”
“No,” Vaughn said. “Kit wouldn’t do something like that.”
Bryanna shrugged. “After all the crap Zenyth gave her about not sleeping with Nathan, I wouldn’t be surprised if she jumped the first guy who talked to her.”
“She’s not like that.”
“Whatever.”
Vaughn thought back to last night, and to the hours he’d spent with Kit. It had been about so much more than sex. Hell, he’d come dangerously close to saying the ‘L’ word. He doubted that she would run off and sleep with some stranger after a night like that.
“Bry, are you sure she went with that guy?” he asked. “Because that’s not like her.”
“How am I supposed to know? Kit’s a big girl. She can do whatever she wants. It’s not a big deal, Vaughn.”
“If it’s not a big deal, then why are you waiting up for her?”
Bryanna crossed her arms. “I’m not waiting for her because I’m worried. I’m waiting because I want to yell at her for leaving me.”
There was anger in her voice, but Vaughn could also hear hesitation. It wasn’t like Kit to disappear on someone and Bryanna knew it. Even if Kit was going to go off with some strange guy, she’d have told Bryanna first.
“Do you mind if I wait with you?”
“It’s a free Segment.”
Vaughn sat down on the other side of the couch. He tried to concentrate on the television, but all he could do was worry. Where was Kit and what was she doing?
As Kit began to wake up, she was aware of two things – one, that the ground was hard, and two, her arms hurt. It was possible that she’d slept on her arms weird, but why was she on the floor? Her bedroom floor was carpeted, and this felt more like concrete.
She became more awake and with that she became more aware of the fact that she was in a small unfamiliar room. There was a dim light above her, which gave her just enough light to see the grey floor and white walls.
She tried to sit up, but her arms wouldn’t move. It was a few seconds before she realized that her hands were handcuffed behind her back. She could feel the metal around her wrists, pinching her skin where they’d been put on too tightly.
The realization that she’d been handcuffed finally woke up her brain and the disorientation was replaced by panic. Where was she? How did she get here? What was going on? The last thing she could remember was being at the bar with Bryanna and Eston and…
If her hands were untied, she would have smacked herself. She should have gone to Bryanna the mom
ent she felt dizzy. The pinch she felt on the dance floor might have been a needle, and Eston might have put something in the water he gave her. Had she been drugged? Had she been drugged twice?
She managed to maneuver herself into a seated position on the floor. There was absolutely nothing in the room that would give her a clue about where she was, but she had a bad feeling in her gut. There were two people who knew her secret and only one of them was trustworthy.
It was stupid of her to think that Nathan would keep that information a secret. She’d hoped that everyone would think he was crazy, talking about a Six-Elemental, but maybe she’d underestimated Tecken. It wouldn’t be a problem for them to haul her in, just to make sure. They probably had no qualms about abducting someone.
She wasn’t sure what they’d do with her. It was true that she was weak, but she doubted that they’d let her leave and go back to the ISS.
Suddenly she realized that she wasn’t entirely helpless. The handcuffs on her wrists were made of metal, so if she could lower the temperature of the metal, she could break them.
She tried to concentrate on cold and ice, but her thought slipped away and she found herself staring at the wall. Kit wasn’t sure what had happened. She tried again, but she couldn’t stay focused long enough to use the element. She tried another element, but the same thing happened for all of them. One second she’d be thinking about the element and the next she’d be staring at the white wall, almost in a trance.
This had never happened to her before. Yes, she was under-practiced, but she wasn’t unfamiliar with the process. Was it a side effect of the drugs? Would it wear off?
She heard a click as the door handle turned and the door opened. Kit tried to move further away from the door, but she couldn’t get far in her condition. Her worst fears were confirmed when Nathan sauntered into the room, closing the door behind him. He looked at her with a satisfied smirk.
“Good morning,” he said.
She didn’t reply.
“From the look on your face, I can tell that you’d like for me to spontaneously combust, but I know that won’t be happening. Would you like to know why?”
“What did you do to me?” she said angrily.
Nathan knelt down and reached towards her. She moved away, but her back hit the wall and she could go no further. She felt his hand around her neck, and then she noticed that there was something else there.
“This is a collar designed by our science team to neutralize Elementals. There’s a long needle that goes from the back of the collar into your brain-stem, so I wouldn’t recommend fidgeting with it.” He moved his hand down her arm. “As long as you’re wearing this, you can’t do anything. You’re as helpless as a non-Elemental.”
Kit wished that she had her powers because she really wanted to set him on fire.
“Oh, and another thing,” he said, reaching around his back.
Her eyes widened as he pulled out his gun and pointed it at her head.
“It’s because of you that I’m wanted by the police. You’ve ensured that I can’t leave the compound, that my boss is completely pissed at me, and that my co-workers have something to mock me about. I don’t like being made a fool of.”
He glared at her and she knew that he was serious. Tecken wasn’t going to try to convince her to join them, and they would never let go back to the ISS. They were going to kill her, no matter how weak she was.
Nathan squeezed the trigger.
“Bang.”
Kit waited for pain, but there was nothing. She looked around, her breath fast and uneven. She had no idea why she was still alive.
Nathan put the gun away and stood up. “The next time I pull this on you, the chamber won’t be empty.”
As Nathan walked down back to his room, he twirled the gun around his finger and whistled to himself. He was suddenly feeling a lot better.
“Nathan, what are you doing with that?” Eston asked as he passed by.
“Don’t worry. I’m just having a bit of fun.” He continued down the hallway, still whistling.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Kit had no idea how much time had passed since Nathan’s visit, but it wasn’t enough. When the door opened again, she saw her second most-hated person.
“Judging by the look on your face, I can assume that you remember me,” Eston said.
For the second time that day, Kit wished that she had the ability to make someone burst into flames.
“I know you’re angry, but I thought that you’d rather see me than Nathan.”
Kit turned away from him and looked down at the floor.
“Since Nathan’s the one who ‘discovered’ you, they wanted him to have the honor, but I thought it might be better if I did this instead.”
“I’m in the Tecken base, aren’t I?” she asked.
Eston nodded. “I’m not sure how you found out that we were on the island. I guess that the Centre or the ISS have a spy somewhere. That doesn’t matter, though. You were never able to find out where the base is, so you can be sure that nobody’s going to find you or rescue you.”
Kit wanted to know where the base was – where she was – but she didn’t want to talk to him anymore. Besides, even if she found out where she was, she doubted that she’d magically be able to break out of here. She couldn’t even get rid of the handcuffs.
“The reason I’m here right now is because we need proof that you’re the Six-Elemental. They wanted to keep you drugged and put you in the lab, but I thought that it would easier and that you might be more co-operative if we just asked.”
Kit had a bad feeling about this.
He raised his left hand and she noticed that he was holding a camera. “I want you to show me your Tattoos.”
She shook her head. “No.”
“It doesn’t have to be a big deal. Just tell me where they are and I’ll document it for everyone. Once we’ve proved that they’re real, we move onto the next step.”
“And what’s the next step?”
“You’ll find out once we’ve finished the first.” Eston held up the camera and took a quick picture of the Electricity Tattoo on her arm. “Now, where are the other Tattoos?”
She continued to glare at him.
“If you don’t tell me, then I will leave this room, get a syringe from medical, knock you out, and do a full-body search while you’re unconscious. Which would you prefer?”
Kit muttered something that was too low for him to hear.
“What did you say?”
She sighed angrily. “Air, left wrist.”
Eston moved behind her and took the bracelet off her left wrist. She looked at the floor as he took a picture.
“Next?”
Kit said the location of her Tattoos one by one. Eston moved around her, taking pictures of all of them. He had to remove her boot and pull up the leggings to see the green circle of Water on her left ankle, but she didn’t fight him. After the picture had been taken, he courteously pulled the leggings back down and put her boot back on. When it came to the Tattoos on her stomach and back, she didn’t complain when he had to lift her dress, although the look of hostility never left her face.
“Thank you,” Eston said, standing up.
“What now?” she asked.
“You’ll find out.”
There was nothing for her to do in the room, except stare at the wall. The handcuffs were too tight for her to try and move her hands under and in front. She considered the possibility of bringing her hands up and over, but the thought of what that would do to her arm sockets made her hesitate. She could try to open the door but even if it was unlocked, she wouldn’t get far in an unfamiliar building with her arms tied behind her back.
She wondered what the next step was. They’d managed to capture and neutralize her – what else did they want? Maybe they were going to kill her – maybe that was the next step. Obviously she wouldn’t join Tecken. She was no use to them if she wasn’t on their side, and they couldn’t risk her get
ting back to the ISS.
For some strange reason she was suddenly okay with the thought of death. It had freaked her out when Nathan had pointed the gun at her head, but now she felt indifferent. She’d been given the power of all six elements, but she had never deserved it. She was a waste of elements. At least if someone came in here and put a bullet in her head, she wouldn’t have to worry about never living up to everyone’s expectations.
Time passed, but she didn’t know how much. She tried to count, but she kept losing her place. It was probably a side effect of the collar. She tried to guess how long she’d been in the room, whether it had been hours or days, but since she was unconscious when she arrived she had no idea.
Maybe the next step was leaving her in this room and forgetting about her.
When the door opened, she hoped that it was Eston instead of Nathan. As much as she hated Eston right now, she still hated Nathan more.
Instead of Eston, an older man walked through the door. He was tall with broad shoulders and black hair that was graying at the temples. His eyes were a dark stormy grey, and his dark grey suit fit his muscular build perfectly. For some reason he looked familiar.
“How are you doing, Katherine?”
Kit’s mouth dropped open. It couldn’t be...
“I apologize for the conditions of your stay, but we went to great lengths to get you here and we can’t risk your escape.”
She wanted to look away, but she couldn’t tear her eyes from his face.
“I want to let you know that I am honored to be in the presence of the Six-Elemental. I hope that someday we will be able to be friends.”
Kit was astonished. Magnus Erikson the Second, the leader of Tecken and an army, wanted to be friends with her.
“No,” she managed to say.
“You don’t want to be friends?” The look on his face was less annoyance and more amused.
“I can’t. You’re trying to take over the Segment.”
“In order to bring peace and unity.”
“War for peace’s sake is still war,” she countered.