“What do you want?” she said, her eyes glassy. She believed me, or maybe she wanted to. I snatched the phone out of my pocket and showed her the picture of the symbol.
Her hand flew to her mouth. “Where did you get that?”
“Someone sent me a note with this,” I said. “Oh, and some woman tried to kill me a couple of days ago while I was in a coma. Not that you care or anything.”
She gaped at me, her dark brown eyes weary and frightened. “Honey...”
“I’m obviously still alive and I’d like to stay that way, but it looks like someone is after me, and maybe after our whole family because of that stupid deal my great-grandfather struck.” I put my hands on my hips, wondering whether my mom still called me honey because she was used to it or because she was starting to believe me.
My mother’s gaze flew in the direction of my left hand. “You didn’t get married, did you?”
“Of course not.” I groaned. “Even if I did, why would it mean anything? You said those people would hunt us down if we married someone who had an earth, water or air element. Adrian has ice.”
“I’m not sure that means anything,” she said. “At the time Jonathan signed the deal we didn’t know about… Sub-elements.” She glanced at Adrian.
“Still, I didn’t get married, so why are they trying to kill me?” The tension left my shoulders.
“I don’t know.” A frown line creased her forehead.
“Can you tell us more about the deal?” Adrian said. “We need to figure out who those people are.”
“I’m afraid I told Ria everything I know.” She sat down in her chair and clasped her hands. “I guess I could show you the police reports, but the police never found anything substantial.”
“That would be great, but we need something more personal,” I said. “Maybe something that belonged to Jonathan, like a journal or something. Or any info about who takes care of the bank accounts in Las Vegas? We know his lover’s name was Rosalia, but we need a last name, address, phone number or anything that could identify her.”
My mother’s cheeks were flustered. “Your great-grandpa had many secrets, but he’s gone. There’s no point in ruining his memory.”
“Oh, really?” I gritted my teeth. “I might die because of him!”
“Ria.” Adrian put a hand on my shoulder and I realized I’d gotten closer to my mother. Only the desk was in my way.
“Mrs. Milanez, if you have something we could use or know where we can find it, you better tell us or we won’t be able to stop those people from hurting your daughter or anyone else in your family. It is possible that whoever was monitoring the deal is dead, so there’s nothing stopping the assassins from finding you too,” he said.
She considered Adrian’s words for a moment, then reached for one of the drawers. I immediately stepped back because I couldn’t sense her element and I couldn’t tell whether she was upset. I had no idea how I’d lived so many years without being able to feel other people’s elements. Who’d have thought I’d miss my disease?
My mom took out a dark brown wooden box and placed it on the desk. “All the things that belonged to Jonathan are stored in the attic of his old house. My mother gave me the key for safekeeping. This office seemed like the safest place for it.”
“So our house is still full of cooks, maids and drivers, and you can’t keep such an important thing there,” I grinned. Some things never changed, I supposed. I’d been wondering if my mother wanted more privacy after everything that had happened, but apparently she’d never bother to learn how to cook and clean.
“I’ll give you the key,” she said, giving me a reproachful look. “But you must return it to me.”
“Whoa, why don’t you just tell us not to steal anything while you’re at it?” I said. “I know that you’re thinking it.”
“Honey.” She sighed. “Your great-grandpa wouldn’t want his things disturbed or damaged. You have to be careful. See if you can find what you need, but don’t take anything else.”
“Got it.” I snatched the box off the desk so I could inspect it. The golden clasp that held the box together had a symbol carved into it. Squinting at the inscription, I noticed a tiny letter R in the middle of something that looked like a heart. “Jonathan really loved Rosalia, didn’t he? Does that mean Rosalia’s children are related to us? I mean, when I heard the story, I assumed...” I didn’t want to say that it wasn’t my assumption, but Oliver’s. Maybe my mom knew the truth.
“Ria!” my mom said, horrified. “How can you say such a thing? Your great-grandfather might not have been the best of men, but you can’t assume he’d...”
“He’d what, mom? Send his own children to kill his other children?” I smirked. “Yeah, I totally believe he’d do it. How crazy do you have to be to kill off your offspring just because they have the disease, especially if there is a chance they inherited it from you in the first place? That’s, like, a whole new level of hypocrite.” I was sure my great-grandpa hadn’t had a clue about genetics and hadn’t even considered that one generation could inherit the disease. He must have thought everything was safe since his children and grandchildren didn’t inherit the disease. His great-grandchildren were a whole other story. My great-grandpa had still been alive when Oliver showed the symptoms of the disease, but either he was too old to change the terms of the deal or do something, or my parents had lied to him like they lied to me.
“Enough!” She got to her feet and made her way around the desk. Adrian stepped closer to me, uncertainty flashing across his face. But before any of us could react, my mom crossed the distance between us and put her arms around me. “Honey, I missed you so much.”
Taken aback, I placed my arms around her. “I missed you too, Mom.”
“You’ll have to explain to me why you took the presidency of the Element Preservers from your father. I still don’t understand why you did that,” she said as she caressed my hair. “You broke his heart.”
“We’ll have time to talk about everything.” I had questions for my mom too, but now wasn’t the right time for that. “I have to go now.”
“Alright, but call me or leave a message. I want to at least know that you’re fine.” She sniffled and let go of me. “Tell your brother to call me too.”
“Will do.” Maybe there was still hope my mother would realize Oliver and I couldn’t help who we were. She just needed time and an opportunity to hear our side of the story, but I didn’t know if we had time.
Chapter 10
“This is useless. We’re never going to find anything,” I said as I finished checking out another one of the dusty books from my great-grandfather’s attic.
Adrian coughed as he picked up another book and tried to shake off the cobwebs that were plastered all over it. “When was the last time someone cleaned this place?”
“I have no idea, but it wasn’t in this century.” I picked up a photograph of Jonathan in the military uniform. He didn’t look like a crazy elemental purist, but truly crazy people rarely looked crazy.
“Would he really keep any proof that he had the disease in his house and leave that to his kids?” Adrian asked.
“Maybe not, but there could be something about this other family or about whoever that ensures the terms of the deal are respected. I mean, it doesn’t have to be something anyone could recognize.” I inspected another photograph - this time a grainy one - of Jonathan and some of his friends. “We could be looking for a friend of his or an old acquaintance.”
Adrian flipped through another book. “Your great-grandpa had a lot of friends, so it could be anyone. There’s no way we can recognize that person.”
I let out a frustrated groan. “You’re right. I don’t think we’ll find anything. I mean, we’ve been looking for a clue for hours and there’s nothing here.”
“Do you think Rosalia is her real name?” Adrian got up from the floor, dusting off his pants.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You mean it might be a nickn
ame? A fake name?”
“Why not?” He shrugged. “If she was his lover and had to keep their relationship secret because she was a carrier, she might have invented the name.”
If the floor wasn’t so dirty, I would have rolled over and banged my head against it. “Then there’s no fucking way we’ll ever find out who she was!”
“I found a list of people who went to university with Jonathan.”
I looked up at him in surprise. “Do you think he met Rosalia at university?”
“I don’t know, but he decided to keep only one picture of his university days and the people on it could have meant something to him.”
I jumped to my feet and took a closer look at the picture. “There are at least nine girls here.”
“One of them could be her.”
“Yeah, but which one? This here is my great-grandpa.” I pointed at the smiling man in the middle of the picture. “But none of the girls stand particularly close to him.”
Adrian flipped the photograph, revealing a list of names. “He wrote down everyone’s name, but none of the girls have a name that starts with an R or anything that could be turned into Rosalia.”
“But Rosalia was a carrier who couldn’t keep an element. How would she even go to university? They all require the use of magic on a daily basis. Even if she was killing people, it would be complicated to hide the disease.”
“Maybe she didn’t have the disease back then.” Adrian gave me a meaningful look.
“But...” I bit my lip. “We don’t even know how my great-grandpa got the disease, but if he infected her, why would she stay with him?” Could love be that strong? Or were there things we didn’t know?
“No idea, but maybe neither of them had the disease while they were going to university. The disease might have developed later than usual, or they might have contracted it somewhere else. Jonathan could have gotten married and gotten back with Rosalia later. If they stumbled upon each other after so many years and realized they were both carriers, they could have bonded over their mutual secret.”
“Umm, okay,” I drawled. “But how do we find out which one of the girls is Rosalia?”
Adrian tilted his head. “Do you know what happened to my father’s journal?”
I opened my mouth, closed it. “I think it might have stayed under the ice back at your room at the University of Magic.”
“Fuck.” Adrian ran a hand through his hair. “There is a list of people with the disease, but I never got to the end of it.”
“You think your father might have come across Rosalia?” So Adrian hadn’t lied about the names in the journal? Because he’d been lying to me a lot when it came to that journal.
“Maybe. He knew a lot of rich people, and he might have met your great-grandfather and Rosalia. We could compare the names in the journal and the names on the photograph. What are the chances that a person who went to university with your great-grandpa contracted the disease and moved in the same circles later?”
I squinted. “I don’t know. At that time, people who went to universities were practically obsessed with pure elements. I don’t think anyone would mess around with someone who didn’t have a pure element, but if a carrier had an element, there was no way normal elementals could have known it.”
“Alright, so it’s possible some of Jonathan’s female friends contracted the disease later, but how many of them still have living offspring with the disease? We could even look for photos of the great-grandchildren to see if anyone looks like the woman who attacked us.”
“But we don’t have your father’s journal! And we’re not detectives. I don’t feel like looking up nine or more different people and searching for their family tree.” I yawned. “I’m tired of all of this.”
“Maybe we can get the journal back,” Adrian mused. “Someone must have collected my things from my room.”
“Yeah.” I gave him a deadpan look. “And that person probably threw it all away after finding out you were gone.”
“Could be, but I don’t think Alan would allow it.”
“Oh, you mean your crazy, power-thirsty guardian would keep things that belong to you?” All Alan had ever cared about was to get the vice presidency or to get to a higher position in the society, even if that meant getting Adrian out of his way. And no, I didn’t care that Alan most likely wouldn’t let Adrian die.
“He would.” A small smile appeared on Adrian’s lips.
“But he won’t give us anything, especially now that we don’t have what to offer to him in exchange.” I frowned. Either Adrian knew something about his guardian that I didn’t or he had more faith in him than I did.
“He will if we ask him nicely.” The wide grin on Adrian’s face made me think he was totally planning to threaten Alan. That was fine with me, though.
“Is Alan still working at the university or did he have to resign because you left?” If Alan was still Adrian’s guardian, he had to go wherever Adrian went, or at least that was the idea.
“Actually, the whole guardian thing is being reconsidered and will probably become history because everyone realized there are way too many carriers out there and that it would be stupid to assign guardians when carriers can take care of themselves. Some of the carriers have already decided to reveal their identity and I’m no longer the only carrier the whole world knows about. Besides, I have a sub-element and I’m over eighteen.” He returned one huge dusty book to its shelf. “That means Alan is still working at the university.”
“Oh, cool.” Adrian would finally be free of Alan. That was the best news I’d gotten lately, which made me wonder why Adrian hadn’t told me earlier. “So what are we going to do? Pay Alan a visit?”
“Yep.”
The world tilted around me and I closed my eyes, my hand grabbing for something to steady myself and finding the edge of a cabinet.
“Whoa, are you alright?” Adrian placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah, but my head hurts from all the dust and mold. Take that photo and let’s get out of here.”
“As you wish.”
The fresh air did nothing to chase away the tiny tremors that went through my body. What the hell was wrong with me now? As soon as we reached the car, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 11
A frown line appeared on my forehead as Adrian stopped the car in front of an apartment complex. “I thought we were going to the university.”
“Alan might still work at the university, but he no longer lives there. He doesn’t have to watch over me anymore, so he wanted to find a place where students wouldn’t bother him,” Adrian said.
“How do you know this?” The last time Adrian and I were at the university, Alan had been still living there. And we hadn’t really heard from him later because we’d hoped he wouldn’t uncover my secret and try to manipulate me again.
“I’ve been tracking him over the last three months. I sent some people to tell me where he went, what he did...” His voice trailed off as he undoubtedly saw my wide-eyed look. “What? He’s my guardian. I had to know where he was.”
“Did you talk to him?” I’d never understand Alan’s and Adrian’s relationship.
He looked at his hands in his lap and licked his lips. “Maybe.”
“Ah, I should have known. I just can’t believe you keep going back to him even after he was willing to put your life in danger to get what he wanted.”
“He raised me, Ria.” Adrian’s eyes grew sad. “He took me in when no one else wanted me and he treated me better than any other guardian would have.”
I spread my hands in defeat. “Fine. Whatever you say.” If the government planned to do away with guardians, then Alan could get whatever job he wanted without Adrian being an obstacle.
“I told him you were in a coma,” he said cautiously. “I didn’t tell him anything else about your condition, but I had to talk to someone about what was happening to you.”
“Well, even if Alan knows I
have the disease, he can’t use that information against me because there’s nothing I can do for him.” At least I hoped there was nothing I could do for Alan. He was a cunning bastard and always found a way to make my life complicated, although his plans rarely succeeded.
“Don’t worry. After all the arrests and scandals, Alan is glad he wasn’t in some important position.” Amusement flashed in Adrian’s eyes. “I can go alone if you don’t want to see his face again.”
“No way. I’m not letting you to see that guy alone. He might not have any reasons to kill you or hurt you, but I don’t trust him.” I pushed the door open. “So are we going or what?”
Alan’s apartment was on the sixth floor of a building that looked more like an expensive hotel than an actual living place. The cream walls in the hall were ornamented with golden embroidery and the white marble floor was covered with thick cream carpet. Who would have thought Alan could afford to live here? Certainly not me.
Adrian stopped in front of a dark brown door at the end of the hall, his hand hovering over the doorbell.
“Don’t tell me you’re nervous.” I smiled. “You’ve been here before. I can tell because they didn’t stop us at the door. They know you.”
He gave me half-annoyed, half-playful look. “Does it bother you that I left your side for a couple of hours? I needed to talk to someone who didn’t keep telling me to say goodbye to you.”
“No, of course not. Why would it bother me?” Did he really think I’d be mad at him for leaving me? I’d been in a freaking coma for three months. I didn’t expect anyone to sit by my side all the time for that long. “I’m kind of glad you had someone to talk to, even if it’s the guy I don’t like.” I was surprised Lily had let him out, but maybe she worried only about me or Adrian had found a way to sneak out.
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