Good. Keep underestimating me, Elena thought. Elena felt she had a pretty good idea where he was. Unfortunately, the other emotions, mostly anger and fear, were not giving her any clues as to how many people were here. Or who was here, for that matter. She prayed her roommates were actually here. And Samantha.
She could hear mumbled talking. It grew a little louder, and she thought she heard a woman’s angry voice. Finally, she heard Monica’s voice. “Elena, I don’t care what they say, get out of here!” she yelled and was interrupted by what Elena thought was probably a slap. Two bright spots of anger, one filled with pain. She tried to tell herself that at least that might mean both Monica and Jacob were here. She hoped she had given Phillip enough time. She also hoped Monica had only been gagged and not silenced by some other means, like having a gun pointed at her. There was little Elena could do against a weapon that could reach across distances. She could hear angry voices again.
“Come!” Nathaniel screamed out while trying to use Voice. Maybe he didn’t know yelling made it less likely to be effective. She could see no reason to enlighten him, though.
“I’m coming!” she called out. Slowly, she started in their general direction. She was pretty certain she knew where Phillip was, and he had stopped moving. She prayed silently that signaled he had found the place he wanted. Nathaniel must have believed she was following his command. His arrogance rose. It was ugly, and Elena fought to keep it from affecting her while still keeping herself open enough to allow her to continue to garner information.
Finally, she could see them. Monica and Jacob were tied up in chairs and gagged. Nathaniel was there. He was holding a large knife, but she could see no gun. She also couldn’t see Samantha. Was she truly not here? Oh, God, could she have found Phillip? She walked closer, her eyes roaming over her roommates. They didn’t look to be too injured.
She stopped several feet away from Nathaniel. He was standing between her and Monica and Jacob. “Why are you doing this?” she asked him allowing herself to sound like she was scared and trying to hide it behind anger. It wasn’t a big stretch. She drew in Nathaniel’s arrogance and Projected a sharp stab of it at him.
He smiled at her. “Now can’t you figure that out for yourself? I was told you were really smart,” he said derisively. She kept quiet and tried to hide her disappointment. She had used a lot of energy, and so far, her gamble had not paid off, other than making him finally sound the way he actually felt.
“Where is Samantha? I thought your friend would be here,” Elena said, trying another tactic.
“Where is yours?” he retorted angrily, although once again his voice sounded pleasant. “I told you to bring him. He has been such a pathetic puppy dog, whining, after you abandoned him. Did he finally wise up?” It was sickening how he kept smiling. What was even worse, was that although the words were hateful, Nathaniel really wasn’t feeling that way. He was cocky, even arrogant, but he was still enjoying himself. To Elena, he felt little different from any of the times that she had seen him at the bar. Almost easy-going. “You better have brought him.”
Why did they want Phillip? Did they know of his talent? He could Sing, true, but he was not yet a Bard. He couldn’t Sing a Twist for them, if that’s what they wanted.
She took a step to the side, hoping to get closer to Monica and Jacob, who were both struggling in their bonds. They were both trying to communicate with head gestures and meaningful expressions. Maybe Samantha was here. Maybe many more people. She wanted to search the shadows and around all the stuff that was piled up, but wouldn’t risk taking her eyes off of Nathaniel. Apparently, he didn’t like the idea of her getting closer to her friends. He stepped closer, his body language aggressive, that smile forever on his face.
“Idiot! I told you not to let her touch you!” Samantha exploded from behind one of the piles. Elena thought they were computers and lap tops. “Stick to the plan, like I told you,” she continued yelling at him. Odd, she stayed far back and would not look at Elena. “Get the jewelry,” she spat out at him.
Not a moment too soon, Phillip began playing. It echoed throughout the large open space. He had chosen well. In spite of the situation, Elena felt her heart swell. She had told him to play from the heart. He had chosen her song.
Samantha spiked fear, a steely gray, but there was more derision from Nathaniel. “What do you think? Playing some music at us is supposed to scare us? Bring me your jewelry,” Nathaniel tried Voice on her. He failed.
Elena kept switching her gaze back and forth between Nathaniel and Samantha, thinking furiously. She noticed a scar along Samantha’s arm. She tried playing a little dumb, “All of this so you can steal some jewelry? There are other, easier ways to get money.” Phillip’s music kept on in the background. Elena listened to his Song, let it fill her and flow through her. She felt love, of course, but also calm and peace. That is what she focused on. Focused on peace and calm and then Projected it.
“Surely there is a way to work this out peacefully. I know people who can help you,” she kept her voice even and continued Projecting. All along, Phillip played in the background. She softened her voice, the cadence matching his music. She continued speaking and Projecting peace. “We need not be on opposite sides,” she persuaded. Elena swayed a little and had to stop talking for a moment. She was making progress though. They were listening.
She took a step forward, but that was a mistake. Samantha leaped back. Fear spiked again. She was afraid to let Elena near her. “Nathaniel, try again. Get her jewelry,” she demanded in a hard voice, “and stop listening to her.”
“She can’t hurt me by talking,” Samantha had hurt his pride. He kept his smile, but it was mean and ugly now. “When I talk people act. I am the one with the power. Now, Elena, bring me your jewelry,” he demanded angrily. Again, he took a step towards her.
“Nathaniel!” Samantha warned. He stopped, looking back at her. Elena thought she understood. Should she take a gamble?
Struggling to ignore the negative emotions of anger and fear that predominated in the room, Elena listened to Phillip’s guitar trying to feel that peaceful calm again. She couldn’t risk trying to Project it again, she wasn’t feeling very peaceful or calm. She probably wouldn’t succeed. Instead, she relied on her experience from volunteering at the crisis hot-line. She pitched her voice to be even and soothing. “So you have Sight, Samantha? You can sometimes see things before they happen?” This time, Samantha looked directly at her. “Visions can be tricky. I have been told interpreting them can be difficult, especially without training. I see no reason why you should be afraid of me touching- “
“Why would I be afraid of you?” Samantha snorted with derision. But you can’t lie to an Empath. Not about what you feel. It reinforced Elena’s idea that Samantha and Nathaniel had received little to no training. The amount of fear and anger in the room was beginning to wear on Elena. She was running out of time. Elena needed to get back on track. She needed to calm them down in order to talk them out of this. She needed to find a crack in their emotions so that she could manipulate them, but Nathaniel and Samantha’s emotions were only getting more volatile.
Nathaniel interrupted with his usual smile back in place, “We are not the ones who need to be afraid. Now, I have your friends tied up over here. Are you going to bring me your jewelry or do I have to take drastic measures?” he finished with a casual gesture of the knife he was holding. “Bring me your jewelry,” he tried Voice again. When Elena didn’t move, he erupted in anger, “Ahhh". Stop the damn playing! Phillip, you pussy, quit hiding behind your girlfriend and get out here!”
Then Samantha figured it out. “Nathaniel, Phillip is using his Talent on us. James was right about him. He can do more than just make people like his music. We have to get him to stop. He’s why you can’t make her give you the jewels. We need him, too.”
Nathaniel took a moment to glare at Elena and around the warehouse. He drew in a deep breath, ready to yell again, Elena thought, and the
n must have thought better of it. With a smile and a wink that made Elena’s skin crawl, he turned around and sauntered over to Monica. He held the knife to her throat, looked at Elena and said, “Get him down here.” Jacob struggled in his chair, and Nathaniel casually kicked it over. Jacob fell, sickeningly, to the floor, striking his head hard. His struggles ceased.
“Phillip,” Elena called out, “stop playing, and come here please. He has a knife pressed to Monica’s throat,” she added in case Phillip couldn’t see them. A discordant cord rang out, and then the music stopped.
“Why do you need, Phillip,” she asked. “He has no jewelry.”
“He has power,” Samantha answered disdainfully. “I know what he can do.”
She took a guess. “He can’t Sing a Twist for you.” It was true. He was not yet a Bard. Carefully she watched. She Sensed some brief confusion from both Nathaniel and Samantha.
Samantha didn’t answer, but Nathaniel said, “Stop stalling, and give me your jewelry.” She had guessed wrong. So what did they want?
There was no peace and calm for Elena to work with. She didn’t even feel anything but anger and fear herself. She had failed. How far would these two take this? She was afraid they had already killed before, already taken two lives. How many more were they willing to take? And why?
Angrily, Elena asked, “Why do you want my jewelry? It is made for me. It works to help me have control. What could you possibly want with it?”
The emotions she was Sensing from Samantha were odd. “Don’t pretend to be stupid with me! Don’t pretend you don’t know! James was wrong about you. You do lie!”
“I can’t lie,” Elena admitted. She thought about all the information that was being shared. Dangerous information. Even if they made it out of this, how could this possibly be cleaned up? These two had ruined the life she had worked so hard to build. And she still had no idea why.
“Give up, and bring me your jewelry,” Nathaniel demanded in a mockingly triumphant voice.
“Have her leave it on the ground,” Samantha demanded. Despite everything, she was still very much afraid. Elena wondered what she had Seen.
“You may have Sight, but you are no Seer,” Elena said angrily. Reluctantly she placed her ring on the ground. Samantha gestured at Nathaniel, and he stepped away from Monica towards it.
“Wait! Make her step back,” Samantha’s fear continued to rise.
“James wasn’t wrong about me. And he liked to be called Evenfall,” Elena said as she stepped back. She desperately hoped they would be happy with just the ring. “He found you, didn’t he? That was what he did. And that was you, in the picture, with the blue streak in your hair. He found you in that state home when you were both so young.” She looked again at Samantha’s scar.
“He found a lot of people for us,” Nathaniel said as he grabbed the ring and took it to Samantha. She was pleased with it, but otherwise her emotions were odd right now. “Get the other pieces,” she told him curtly as she placed the ring in one of the boxes.
Phillip finally joined Elena and took her hand. Angrily, he took in the situation. Monica tied up. Jacob, still lying on the floor, not moving. At least he was breathing. “Samantha, Nathaniel, this is crazy! I’m getting my friends and leaving,” he started towards them, but Nathaniel once again threatened Monica with the knife. She fought uselessly against her bonds. Elena grabbed Phillip’s shoulders briefly to stop him, then let go. It hurt too much to touch him. She shouldn’t have let him come. Somehow, she should have snuck away without him. At least he would have been safe.
“That is some scar,” Elena called out to Samantha. “Did you get that while leaving blood behind at a double murder?” Nathaniel looked between Elena and Samantha in surprise. He was worried. Did he not know that Samantha was involved in Evenfall’s death, or was he just surprised that Elena figured it out? Had she just made another mistake? Put them in even more danger? She laid the bracelet down and stepped back several steps, drawing Phillip back with her. “Why did you turn on Evenfall? He had been with you for so long? What could he have possibly done- “
“Don’t you dare judge me!” Samantha screamed at her and for Elena, the world was bathed in that sickly green color. "You - who lived her whole life with people who could understand and help you. Give you power!” she gestured to the jewelry. “We were alone with no one to help or explain what was happening. No one was there to help me! No, all the foster parents hated me. They sent me to doctors who told me I was acting out on purpose!” she spat the words at Elena.
“Stop.” This time Nathaniel’s Voice worked. Immediately, Samantha stopped talking, and the sickly green color faded. This situation had clearly happened before. She stood there breathing hard, slowly gaining control of herself. Nathaniel took the bracelet and brought it to Samantha. Then he quickly returned to Monica with a smirk at Phillip, who halted his movement towards the chairs. Samantha put the bracelet with the ring.
“You are right,” Elena said calmly. “I did have help, both from people, and from my jewelry. But I am telling you the truth, my jewelry can’t help you. They can only be used by me. To anyone else, they are only jewelry.”
Samantha looked at her for a long time. “Maybe you don’t know,” she said almost to herself. “You’re wrong, though. Some people want these. They want Objects of Power. Now, take off the last piece.”
That Samantha knew their proper name frightened her. “I can’t,” Elena said honestly. “What people are you talking about?” she asked, getting a bad feeling. “Are these people Evenfall also led you to?” She looked around the warehouse and thought about what she saw. A lot of the items there could be easily sold. Lap tops, tv’s, cell phones. Off to one side, there were a couple of cars parked. Maybe stolen? The Speaker had mentioned petty crimes in the area, possibly by a person or group of people using Talent.
“James,” she stressed his name, “did lead us to them. Then you got in the way. He started following you around and refused to do his job. He liked you too much to hurt you, he said. We had finally found people to help us, and he chose you. Blame yourself, Elena, for his death.”
“How could I possibly be to blame?” Elena asked incredulously, with Phillip simultaneously asking the same question not near as politely. Elena continued, “I saved him from hurting himself and eventually led him to a place where he could get help. Help that he desperately needed.”
Samantha answered, “He was supposed to help us get your jewelry, not get himself locked up. Certainly, not decide to stay there.” She was feeling guilty now as she threw out, “And he never cut himself before he met you.”
“We were only trying to get him out,” Nathaniel broke in. “He wouldn’t come. He believed he could get help because of you.” Guilt surrounded him as he mumbled, “Then that orderly showed up.”
“He didn’t want to go with you, so you decided to kill Evenfall,” Elena deliberately used the name, “and some poor orderly for doing his job? What kind of a sick monsters are you?” Evenfall had felt off to Elena. His mind was damaged, but Elena truly felt he had been sick with a mental illness. Not these two. They were just sick.
Anger spiked, murderously so, as black as she had ever seen. Elena pulled Phillip back as Nathaniel started towards them aggressively. They were both shouting. Fear and anger filled the room and Elena had trouble focusing. Samantha shrieked, “Don’t let her touch you! I told you, Nathaniel, get back!”
It stopped Nathaniel in his tracks. Whatever sick relationship they had, he trusted her. “It was an accident. I was trying to get James to come with us. He was crazy cutting himself! He even cut Samantha,” he uttered harshly. For the first time tonight, Nathaniel was truly rattled. “Then that big guy showed up. James had the knife, and they fought. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean what I said, but it all happened too fast. First the big guy, then James.” He was breathing heavy when he finished, “For once James did what I told him. He was going to tell everyone. Confess. He said so. It’s not my faul
t.” With a painful wince, he mumbled, “I had no choice.”
But he did. And he knew it, too, Elena could tell. You can’t lie about your feelings to an Empath. That painful wince told Elena a lot. Nathaniel wasn’t very powerful, yet, but he must have started training. Recently. Eventually, he would be unable to lie as well. Samantha’s fear was overwhelming. It pulled Elena’s gaze off of Nathaniel over to her. She leaned heavily on some boxes, knocking them over. Nathaniel made a move towards her, but she held her hand up to stop him. “I’m okay. Get the necklace. We have to get out of here now.” Whatever she had just Seen, terrified her. “Whatever you do, don’t let her touch you,” she warned Nathaniel again.
Elena had thought that Samantha had some confused notions of what Elena’s talent allowed her to do. Now she was certain it wasn’t Elena’s talent, necessarily, that Samantha was afraid of. Her Vision was of Elena touching them, or one of them. And it terrified her.
“Take off the necklace, now, Elena,” Nathaniel demanded. Once again, he was threatening Monica. She was screaming behind her gag. Her eyes wide, only muffled sounds getting through. Horrified, Elena realized he had cut her. She was bleeding.
Elena took a step forward. “I can’t. Honestly. Someone else has to take it off. Please, don’t hurt her,” she sobbed. Elena let her own fear build. Samantha’s fear continued to skyrocket. Monica and Phillip added to it, too. “Phillip, you will have to do this for me.”
He stepped up to her ready to argue. “Elena,” his voice held so much anguish.
“It’s okay. Trust me. Take it off,” she said and then added in a whisper barely audible, “but after stay back, and don’t touch me.” She loved him so much. She wished she could tell him one more time, but she had to focus on nothing but the fear. She was an Empath. She could handle emotions like no other. She was counting on that.
Elena was afraid. She was afraid for Jacob, still lying unconscious. She was afraid for Monica, for Phillip. She was afraid for her parents who she had left behind, not knowing their fate. Behind her, moving her hair out of the way, Phillip was afraid. And Samantha, of all present, she was most afraid. Phillip unclasped the necklace. As she felt it begin to slide away from her skin, Elena stepped forward with a prayer.
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