by Ali House
“Should we go someplace more private?” Nathan asked.
“Yeah, let’s,” she replied.
Akola knew that it was petty of her to run away whenever she saw Kit and Nathan together, but she couldn’t stand to watch it. Nathan was only with Kit because he got some sort of sick pleasure from it. Akola didn’t understand why he had to do something like that.
Now that Kit had fully realized her power, she was more important to the cause than ever. If Nathan did even the slightest thing to jeopardize that... Akola wanted to hit something, but she refrained. If this stupid charade was okay with Erikson, then she had to let it play out.
Nathan ran his hand along Kit’s back, feeling her warm skin as he traced along her spine. Her head was resting on his chest as they lay side by side. He wondered if she was listening to his heartbeat.
“Stay,” she said quietly.
He shook his head. “I can’t, I’ve got weapons training early tomorrow morning.”
Kit put her arm around him. “You never stay.”
“Because I’m always busy. We’re getting ready for war.”
“Which is why we should enjoy whatever peace we can find.”
Nathan continued to run his hand up and down her back. She was so warm.
“Please?”
“I can’t,” he said, moving away from her. “I’ve got to go.”
Kit pulled the sheets around herself. She was unable to hide the disappointment on her face. “I could set the alarm.”
He hesitated. It would be so easy to get back in bed with her. “No. I’d probably keep you awake all night, and you need your rest.”
She watched as he pulled on his clothes. There was never any convincing him to stay. “Nathan... can I ask you something?”
“What?”
“How did you get that burn mark on your shoulder?”
He paused, suddenly transported back to that night when he discovered that she was the Six-Elemental. His skin still hadn’t healed from the jolt she’d given him. “I got into a fight with Calypso,” he explained, “and she used a bit too much power.”
“It must have been painful.”
Nathan just shrugged. “It’s in the past. It’s not worth thinking about.” He finished getting dressed, gave her a quick kiss, and left.
Two days later, Jermaine walked into Erikson’s office, formerly his office, and told Erikson the good news.
“We’re ready,” Jermaine said.
“Great,” Erikson replied. “Let’s begin.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Alarms were raised the instant the letter arrived at the ISS. It was contained in an 8x10 inch brown envelope that was addressed to Dominika Haskell and had no return address. Security immediately called Dominika, and analyzed the envelope as they waited for her to arrive from Cambria.
It was lucky for them that Dominika was in Segment Delta. She lived on the Centre, but she’d come to Cambria after hearing about the suspected Tecken trespass, the incident with the gun, and the possible abduction of a possible Six-Elemental. The fact that Tecken knew she was here was troubling.
As the ISS set about increasing their security measures, they realized that their Head of Security, Hunter Jolen, was missing. All efforts were put forth to locate him, but he had vanished. Suddenly everything became clearer. That was how Tecken had managed to make it onto Stanton and operate without a trace. Triton had no idea how a Tecken spy had managed to make it to such a coveted position, but the how didn’t matter anymore.
By the time Dominika arrived at the ISS building, the letter had been cleared of all suspicion. There was nothing hazardous about the envelope or anything inside.
As Dominika read the words on the white sheet of paper, she felt herself growing strangely still. They were directions to a place that shouldn’t exist on the island – a place she didn’t want to believe existed. She wanted this to be a bluff, a distraction. She didn’t want to think about what this all meant.
The ISS had set up a security team at the location. So far nothing suspicious had been seen.
When she arrived at the location, she carefully followed the instructions in the letter, and found exactly what Magnus Erikson wanted her to find.
“You were right,” Dominika reported to the room. The leaders of the islands that made up Segment Delta were in the room, along with Triton. Dominika insisted they all meet so that everyone could learn what was going to happen to the Segment.
She was a commanding presence, tall and broad, with dark purple hair and black eyes. Tecken had been a sore point ever since she’d taken this job, and she was sick and tired of dealing with it. The leaders of Segment Delta were paranoid and called her about the least little thing, but yesterday she learned that they had been right all along.
She held up the letter she’d received yesterday. It had instructions to go to a residential house, go down in the basement, find a door marked “Hot Water”, and proceed down the hallway behind it. The house had not been on their watch list, and it had been abandoned by the time the security team arrived. At the end of the hallway was the very thing the ISS had been looking for – Tecken’s base.
“They were under our noses all along. A sweep of the base revealed that there must have been over twenty people living there. We traced every entrance and exit and found ten different locations where Tecken soldiers could come and go. This is why we couldn’t find their base.
“The owners of the house have vanished and the base is completely deserted, except for a few items left behind. All of the rooms except for one have been cleared out. This room was a bedroom belonging to one of their soldiers. We found some clothing, a few personal items, a book and a disk. The book was ‘The Legend of the Six-Elemental’.”
The room went silent.
“We dusted the place for fingerprints and found more than we cared for,” she continued. “We were only able to ID one set, which belonged to Katherine Tyler, the girl we’ve been searching for these past three and a half weeks, and whom we believe to be the Six-Elemental. Her prints have been found all over the base, and there is no proof that she was being held against her will.”
Triton felt as though all his worst fears had been confirmed. He knew that Kit would never turn against him, but everything Dominika found proved otherwise. What had Tecken done to her?
“The disk we found contained a message from Tecken.” Dominika paused. “It’s not good.”
After seeing what was on the disk, Triton requested that the rest of the civilian team be called into watch it. He was worried that Dominika would tell him that his services were no longer required, but Dominika told him to do what he had to do. The rest of the team would be able to give Triton some insight about what was on the disk. She also felt that they deserved to know what was going on.
They gathered in Triton’s office, sitting in darkness as the message played on the computer screen.
The first image was of Kit. The camera showed only her shoulders and head. Her eyes were open and looking straight into the camera. There was a bruise on her left cheek, but other than that she did not look harmed or in distress. After a few seconds of silence, she began to speak.
“The Council of Twelve would have you believe that life is great in this new world. They would have you believe that peace can only be achieved by a lack of war. They would have you believe that living under them is your only hope of a long and peaceful life. The Council is lying to you. They are cowards, afraid to act, afraid to make the hard decisions that you need made. The Church of Humanity openly persecutes Elementals, but they are allowed to live freely and spread their hate. The Council will do nothing about this, despite the number of Elementals who are bullied, harmed and murdered for being what they are and embracing their true selves. This is not peace. This is not utopia. Only one man is brave enough to admit this and he is the man who will bring unity to this Segment. His name is Magnus Erikson II and he is coming to finish what his father started. You are either with us o
r you are against us. I hope, for all your sakes, that you are with us.”
The message ended. Triton turned on the lights and looked at the five of them.
“Well?” he asked.
“I don’t believe it,” Bryanna said, her eyes wide in disbelief.
“What’s not to believe,” Zenyth said angrily. “She’s been with Tecken for almost a month. It’s not a surprise that some of their beliefs have started rubbing off on her.”
“Zenyth...” Naydir warned softly.
“No, I won’t be quiet. This tape speaks for itself. She’s on their side now.”
“I know it looks like it –”
“There’s no ‘look’,” she shot back at her brother. “There was no fancy editing to make it look like she said that stuff – she said it. And now we’re all screwed because she’s gone and switched sides.”
“Do you really believe that?” Triton asked.
“I have to.”
“You don’t have to,” Cale said indignantly. “You want to.”
“Yeah, you’ve never really liked Kit. You don’t really like any of us,” Bryanna added.
“Because you’re all irresponsible! You and Vaughn got found out by Tecken, Cale’s practically useless, and Kit’s gone over to the enemy.”
“I am not useless,” Cale said. “I’m just not deliberately getting myself into trouble.”
“I wasn’t getting into trouble!” Bryanna shot at him.
“What else do you call running off with the enemy?”
“I call it doing something instead of sitting on the couch all day!”
“Hey, I’m the only person who’s actually from this island, so don’t call me useless! I lost my great-grandparents in the First Invasion!”
Naydir stood up and slammed his hands on the desk. “Stop fighting! We’re not here for this.”
“Yeah, we’re here about Kit, the traitor.” Zenyth laughed bitterly and shook her head. “I guess we’re really screwed now. There’s no way we’ll win the war with the Six-Elemental on Tecken’s side.”
“We don’t know that she’s really on their side. It might be an act,” Naydir said hopefully.
“I doubt it. You saw the tape, Naydir. She’s gone.”
“Vaughn?” Triton asked carefully. The man hadn’t said anything since the message ended.
“Whoever was on that tape, it wasn’t Kit,” he said. “Not really. Kit would never say something like that, and she would never join Tecken willingly. I don’t know who that person is, but it’s not her.” He stood up and walked out of the room.
Triton felt the same as Vaughn. The person on the tape definitely looked like Kit, but it wasn’t her. This person didn’t have the same mannerisms and her voice even sounded different. He didn’t know what Tecken had done to her, but she had changed.
Kit wondered if she’d ever see the sun again. The move back to Tecken had been done under the cloak of darkness, so she hadn’t been able to see anything. Thanks to their inside man, they’d made it back to the island without any problems.
She had thought that once she was back on Tecken, she’d be allowed to go out and relax a bit, but Erikson wanted her within arm’s reach at all times. If he needed to ask her something or tell her about any strategies, he wanted her to be close.
He was also having her meet with Carter every day, so that he could run more tests on her. She didn’t care for any of the tests, but she knew that Erikson wanted her to comply. Thankfully it was only a bit of blood, a bit of plasma, and a few tests that didn’t cause any harm.
A part of her was glad that she was spending so much time in the base. After spending so much time on Stanton, she had forgotten where everything was located. Yesterday she was heading to the Elemental training room when she ended up in the tech corridor. She had to keep reminding herself that the layout here was different than the Stanton base and that her brain would eventually catch on.
Akola was here to help and Nathan too. Still, Kit couldn’t help but wonder if she’d fried a part of her brain when she Accepted. It shouldn’t be so hard for her to remember a place that she’d spent so much time in. Akola was constantly telling her not to worry and that things would come back to her eventually. She kept telling Kit that she had more important things to think about, like the upcoming war.
Erikson’s plan was ambitious, to say the least. He didn’t want her to do everything, because that would make her a very big target for the Forces, but he did need her for some very important tasks. Mostly she’d be there to support the Tecken army and for shows of force. If the Forces managed to gain any ground, it was her job to take it back.
It was great that Erikson was including her in all of his plans. Sometimes she’d find Nathan grumbling because it wasn’t him that Erikson was discussing his strategies with, but he’d quickly stop whenever he noticed her. He was spending a lot more time training, along with everyone else in the army. She was worried that he’d be too busy to spend time with her, but he always managed to see her at some point in the day.
Even with her free time, Kit knew that she had more important things to concentrate on other than Nathan’s training schedule. What was important now was the upcoming war and securing a victory for Erikson. Her problems were small compared to the number of Elementals who were living under the oppression of Humanists. Why the ISS would bother fighting for people like that, she couldn’t understand.
The only way to guarantee peace was to have someone like Erikson in charge. He would punish the unjust and reward the just. Peace was about balance, and only someone like Erikson could bring balance to this world.
Carter had a folder full of reports in his hand, but they all told him the same thing. He didn’t bother giving the folder to Erikson, because it wouldn’t have done any good. He’d been working extra hours in the lab trying to find the smallest hint of a clue about Kit’s powers, but nothing was showing up. She was so normal it was infuriating.
“We’ve run every test we can think of,” he explained to Erikson. “We can’t find a damn thing. There’s no scientific reason for why she is able to do the things she does. We’ve analyzed her blood down to the smallest particle, but there’s nothing that can help us. She’s so perfectly balanced that I doubt I’d ever be able to replicate it. The other scientists can’t explain it, I can’t explain it, and I doubt that anyone else would be able to.”
“So this is our only chance, then, isn’t it?” Erikson said.
“Our only chance to have the Six-Elemental fighting on our side? Yes. I don’t want to take a myth for truth, but it’s said that the Six-Elemental only arrives in times of great need. If she dies, another person might become the Six-Elemental, and there’s a good chance that the person will be on the Council’s side. There’s never been an account of two Six-Elementals during the same time, so she’s all we have.”
“The myths were right about the power of the Six-Elemental, so they may be right about other things. We know that there’s no other Six-Elemental in Tecken – and I doubt that anyone else would be able to keep their secret as well as Katherine has. There’s only one and we’ve got her.”
Carter nodded. “I know you were depending on us to help enhance the other soldiers, but without a more intensive study we can’t go any further.”
“Intensive?” He raised an eyebrow. “As in…?”
“If a full physical won’t help us, the only other option is complete dissection. And even then I’m not certain we’d be able to find anything.”
Erikson considered the options. Right now he had a functional Six-Elemental on his side. Wes’ reassignment was holding up beautifully, despite the move back to Tecken. There was an answer for every question and proof to back it all up, so there was no reason for her to suspect anything. Reassignments were never guaranteed, but this one was a work of art. For now Katherine was under their control, and that was good enough for him. If they cut her open and the scientists still couldn’t figure out what made her tick, they’
d have lost a valuable asset.
“You and your men will work with what you have,” Erikson said. “The intensive study will be a last resort, especially if you doubt its findings. If the reassignment fails and we are no longer able to control her, then we can consider the option, but for now I want you to continue looking for anything that might have slipped by unnoticed.”
Carter nodded and left the room.
“There has to be something that they’re missing,” he said to himself.
“Or maybe it’s just something that our mortal minds were not meant to know,” Jermaine replied.
Erikson had forgotten about him. Jermaine was sitting in the corner of the room and hadn’t said a word during his meeting with Carter. Erikson felt that Jermaine should continue being updated about the status of Carter’s research, but he hated how quiet the man could be.
“Science will find a way to replicate her powers, I’m sure of it,” Erikson said. “We just need to figure out what she has that nobody else has.” He tapped a pen on the desk as he thought. An army of Six-Elementals was a tempting thought, but he didn’t want to act rashly. If the science team went ahead with the dissection and they discovered nothing, he would not be a happy man. They were missing something and the sooner they discovered what it was the better.
“Would you like to hold off on the plan or would you like to keep moving ahead?” Jermaine asked.
“We continue as scheduled. A tighter deadline might make the science team work faster. Besides,” he added, “there will be plenty of time for them to continue their studies once I’ve won the war.”
Overconfidence had been the downfall of many men, but Jermaine didn’t say a word. Erikson was the most confident man in the world right now. He had a strong bloodline, generations of tactics, and the most powerful person in the world on his side. If he couldn’t win this war, nobody could.