“Water,” she said.
“So you didn’t create all of this?” I pointed at the snow.
She shook her head. “I think you did that. Is your element ice?”
“No, it’s not. I don’t have an element.” I took a step closer to the girl. “Are you a magic disease carrier?”
She nodded. “I’ve been in this place for months.”
“This place? You mean the lab?” I was hoping Sara could tell me more about where we were. She might have seen something I hadn’t.
“Yeah.” She chewed on her lip. “They told me they brought me here because I’m the youngest carrier they could find.”
“Do you know where we are? Where did you use to live?” All I needed was the name of the town. That could help me a lot to calculate how much time Lily and the others would need to find me.
“I’m from Annville, but I think we’re somewhere near a big city. The drive from Annville wasn’t long, and sometimes I think I can hear planes.”
If the girl was telling the truth, then we were back in the city. Lily and her men should be here at any moment. Sebastian must have been annoyed that the assassin had managed to drag me all the way to Las Vegas when he could have just captured me while I was visiting my mom or Alan. But if this place was so close to Lily’s compounds, then why hadn’t they rescued me already? No, I couldn’t think that they all believed I was dead.
“Do you know if there’s a way out of this place? Where are you being held?” I asked, getting impatient. The snow kept falling on top of me, the coldness intensifying. I couldn’t feel it before, but now small trembles started to shake my body.
“I don’t think there’s a way out.” The girl’s green eyes were big and frightened. “They hold me in a white room, but all the rooms look the same. I never know where I am or how close I am to people whose minds I touch.”
I’d never thought there’d be a person who could exchange her element at a long distance. Did that mean she was transmitting the disease if she touched a regular elemental? If that was possible, then this girl could be used as a weapon.
I was about to ask her another question when everything started to spin around me. The girl disappeared from view and chunks of snow flew up, nearly hitting me. I was getting colder and colder, barely able to move my frozen fingers. The coldness seared me from the inside as I took another breath. I had to wake up from this or I was going to die in my sleep.
The ice on the surface of the lake cracked open, leaving a hole big enough for a person to jump in. I eyed the cold water, wondering whether it would save me or kill me if I flung myself into it. There was only one way to find out. Forcing my feet to move, I walked over to the edge. The ice was slippery and all I had to do was lean forward. Closing my eyes, I dove into the cold water, welcoming its deathly embrace.
Chapter 17
“I told you to force her to use her element! Not kill her!” Sebastian’s angry voice rang through my consciousness.
“She was supposed to use it to save her life. Maybe she really doesn’t have her elements,” the doctor said, his voice calm.
“She took my cousin’s element! I know it’s somewhere inside of her. Ethan’s fire is too strong to fade away.”
I heard the slam of the door and the scurrying of feet across the floor. A cold hand touched my arm and I shivered.
“The subject is alive,” the doctor said, but no one else spoke. Either the doctor was alone and recording this, or whoever else was in the room didn’t have anything to say. The door opened and closed again, and I dared to open my eyes. I was back in one of the white rooms, but this time I was actually in a bed, my head propped up on a pillow.
The cuffs rattled when I tried to move my arms. No surprise there. They wouldn’t have let me untied and alone. I squirmed under the warm covers, satisfied that Sebastian’s plan hadn’t worked. It was hard to believe that he still thought I had his cousin’s element. Even if I did, what would he do with it? He couldn’t bring Ethan back to life. Or was that his way of confirming that I’d really killed Ethan? Either way, it seemed pointless.
An hour or so later, the door opened and a nurse came in, her black hair tied into a tight bun. She was carrying a tray with food and set it on the edge of the bed. Her hazel eyes met mine and there was something in them that was different from the usual cold, empty stare everyone was giving me here.
“How am I supposed to eat if I can’t sit up?” I rattled the cuffs. The woman glanced at the tray, then at me, a frown line appearing on her brow. But instead of uncuffing me, she started for the door.
“Hey! Come back!” I yelled after her, but she left the room. A couple of minutes later, she returned, but with two guys in black and with my least favorite person in the world, Sebastian.
“I didn’t know you were so afraid of little old me,” I said, flashing him a smile. “Do you really need all the security?”
“Shut up,” Sebastian bit out. “Get her up and don’t forget to cuff her.”
The men approached me, their grip on my arms so tight I thought they’d leave bruises. It took them a couple of moments to force me to sit up and shackle me to the middle part of the bed so I could reach the plate. They weren’t too concerned with the fact that I’d have to bend forward into the most uncomfortable position if I actually wanted to eat something.
“What do you want, Sebastian?” I said, unnerved by his presence. “I’m sure you didn’t come here just to watch me eat.” Thanks to his little experiment on me, I knew that he didn’t want me dead, at least until he got his cousin’s element back, which was impossible. This only gave me hope that Lily would find me in time.
“Nothing much. Just came to tell you the doc is preparing something special for you.” He stopped very close to the bed, his hand reaching for my throat. I tried to get away, but the cuffs wouldn’t let me. Sebastian’s fingers wrapped around my throat and he squeezed. My eyes watered and I coughed. He let go of me, wiping his hand on his pants.
“Your life belongs to me, Ria.” He smiled. “Don’t you ever forget that.”
Leaning forward, I spat into his face. The guards started toward me, but Sebastian waved his hand. “Don’t bother. The bitch will get what she deserves.” He grabbed the napkin from my tray and dabbed it at his face.
With one last look full of hatred, he went through the door, the guards trailing after him. The nurse stared at me, her eyes wide.
“What?” I raised an eyebrow at her. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then simply went for the door. I grabbed the sandwich off the plate and bent forward until I could take a bite. Whatever Sebastian wanted to try on me next couldn’t be any good. If Lily, Paula and Adrian couldn’t find me, then I had to figure out how to get out of this place on my own.
How big could the lab be? I assumed it was pretty big, since they had enough space to move us around like it was nothing and ensure we didn’t see each other. Sara had to be somewhere here too, but since I couldn’t feel any elements, I didn’t know whether this place was full of carriers or there were normal elementals, aside from the doctors and nurses. I was entirely sure the doctors weren’t carriers, but I doubted they’d be willing to experiment on their own people.
The only time the guards uncuffed me was when I was allowed to go for a bathroom break. Could I overpower two guards without any weapon or elements? I’d say not really. Damn it. There had to be a way. I looked around the room and saw a tiny red flashing light in the corner. I’d almost forgotten they had cameras. If I wanted to do something, like hide the spoon somewhere for later use, I’d have to be extra careful. I wasn’t exactly sure what for I could use the spoon, but they hadn’t given me a knife or a fork.
At least I knew Sebastian didn’t want me dead, so if I decided to explore the building a little the next time they took me for a bathroom break, they wouldn’t be able to do much except catch me. I wasn’t sure how much of the building I’d be able to see if I tried to run off, but I’d rather try some
thing than sit here and wait for help that might not come.
The guards had no idea what hit them when I jumped on one of them and pushed the other. I stormed down the hall, hoping to see where it was going. To my surprise, I couldn’t see any cameras in the hall. If they were monitoring only the rooms, that could prove to be useful. I looked right and left, but all I could see were gray doors with keypads. My progress was stopped by a large glass door in the middle of the hall. The only way to open the door was by punching the right code into the keypad next to it. Great. There was no way in hell someone would tell me the code, unless I threatened them. The guards relied on their strength and maybe their elements, because I didn’t see any weapons on them.
I fell onto my back as a gust of wind hit me in the stomach. The guards were running toward me, and one of them had a fireball ready in his hand. Raising my hands in the air, I slowly pushed myself to my feet.
“Do not do that again,” one of the guards said before he backhanded me. An idea came to my mind. There was one person who could tell me the code for the door; Sara.
Chapter 18
Every inch of my body hurt after the guards were through with me. They tied me up in a different room, and this time my hands were cuffed above my head. At least I could sit with my legs sprawled. The doctor came in with another one of the beeping devices attached to the pocket of his coat.
“You shouldn’t have tried to run away,” he said. “You know there’s no way out of here.”
I chuckled, but even that little movement hurt. “Tell me, doc, what are you going to do now?”
“I want to try something else.” He turned to the camera and made a cutting movement. The red light stopped flashing. Uh oh. “Shall we proceed?” Pushing his sleeves up, he came closer. “They told me you didn’t only have fire. You had air and water too.”
“Yeah, so?” I tilted my head at him.
“I’ll make you use one of your elements,” he said determinedly.
“But I don’t have...” Particles of dust and sand flew into my eyes and filled my lungs. My mouth and tongue felt heavy, the sand crunching under my teeth. I coughed, but instead of clearing my throat, I kept swallowing more and more sand. If he continued with this, he was going to kill me or knock me out.
“Come on, Ria. I know you have it in you. Element preservers don’t lose their elements.”
Yeah, right. He should have asked me how not having elements felt, because I knew all about it. Obviously element preservers weren’t what he imagined they’d be. Still, I needed him to knock me out and send me back to my land of ice. If I was right, the doctors conducted their experiments at roughly the same time, which meant Sara would be looking for someone to connect to.
The darkness took me in, ending the pain. But instead of a kingdom of ice, I found myself standing knee-deep in a river. The water was dark and cool, the grass around it dead and yellow. Even the sky was a cross between light and dark gray. My mind was indeed a dark place.
“Sara!” I yelled, spinning around, but I couldn’t see her anywhere. “Sara! If you can hear me, please come. I need your help!”
I was beginning to lose hope when a shadow caught my eye. Wading through the water, I tried to get closer to the black shape. “Sara?”
“Ria?” the shadow whispered. “How...?”
“Thank God you’re here.” I noticed that the vision of Sara was darker and thinner than the last time. Her hair was wet and tangled, her nose bloody. What had they done to her? “Sara, are you okay?”
“I’m not supposed to be here,” she said.
“I know, but you have to help me. Can you get in the head of your doctor and get him to tell you the code for the door in the hall? Can you read his mind?” I didn’t know if such thing was possible, but if Sara could jump into someone’s head with her element, then anything was possible.
“I...” Sara frowned. “I don’t know.”
“Can you try? I could get us both out of here if you can get the code.” I wasn’t sure how I’d do that, but once I had the code, I could start planning.
Sara nodded, but she was fading. A strong white light lit up the sky, forcing me to close my eyes. When I opened them again, I was back in the room with the doctor.
“I suppose you really don’t have any elements,” he said. “Or you have a death wish.” Sighing, he leaned on the door. “Maybe we should try giving you a new element. Or maybe... We should infect you with the disease all over again. You don’t act like a carrier.”
I froze, my mind feeling like a sponge. The doctor must have given me a bunch of drugs while I was out. Could they infect me with the disease again? Would that even work? I was afraid to even consider it. There was no way of telling what that would do to me.
“You look terrified, my dear.” A smile quirked the doctor’s lips. “I think I know what we’re going to try.”
I did my best to keep my face free of any emotion, but I doubted I was successful. My blood was pumping through my veins so fast that it must have sped up the effect of the drugs, because the next thing I knew, I was dreaming of Adrian’s gray-blue eyes.
Chapter 19
Someone slapped my shoulder, rousing me from sleep. Still groggy from the drugs, I pried my eyelids open, only to see the dark-haired nurse crouching above me.
“Hey, wake up!” She nudged me in the ribs. “Come on.”
“What? What are you doing?” I blinked at her.
“Getting you out of here,” she said. “Quick. We don’t have much time.”
I stared at her as if she’d sprouted a second head. “What are you talking about?”
“Lily sent me. I don’t have time to explain.” She reached for my cuffs and unlocked them.
“Lily sent you?” I narrowed my eyes at her. “But you were here all this time and you didn’t do anything to help me.”
“I couldn’t help you, but now I can. The cameras and alarms are down temporarily. You must go.”
I got to my feet, unsure what to do. The woman was pointing at the open door. Was this a trick? But Lily should have found me by now. There wasn’t time to question the woman to find out whether she was really working for Lily or pretending to be working for her. I ran for the door, wondering how the woman had managed to turn off the alarms and cameras. Or maybe it wasn’t her. Maybe she knew about some routine maintenance.
As I hurried down the hall and noticed the open door, I became even more suspicious. If Lily knew I was being held here, wouldn’t she have just stormed the place? She wouldn’t pass the opportunity to free the others. I slowed my pace as I found myself in another hall. Had Lily sent someone else to open the other rooms? Something strange was going on. Not a single guard came into view.
The woman hadn’t even bothered to tell me what I should do after I left the room. Shouldn’t she have given me a code for the door or told me where to expect the guards? I glanced to my right and realized that instead of a door, there was a big glass on the wall, almost as long as the hall itself. As I took a peek through it, a gasp escaped my lips. The world stopped spinning, my heart skipping a beat. No. It couldn’t be.
“Surprise!” Sebastian yelled, jumping out from around the corner.
I placed my hand on the glass. “You son of a bitch!”
“Oh, come on, Ria. It was a nice trick. I loved seeing your face so hopeful!” He was coming toward me, but I was numb to every sensation. “I’ve been thinking. They told me you were selfish and would do anything to save yourself, but you didn’t really fight anyone who tried to kill you here. So I figured you might care about someone more than you care about yourself.”
“You sick son of a bitch!” I breathed, turning toward Sebastian, my blood boiling.
“Oh, don’t worry. He’s alive. Barely.” Sebastian smirked. I would have wiped the smile off his face if the guards hadn’t come and grabbed me from behind.
“Let him go! You don’t need him!” Tears clouded my vision, but when I looked through the glass again, all
I could see was Adrian slumped against the wall, his hair caked in blood, his face bruised and bloody.
“It turns out I do need him,” Sebastian said. “I quite like your reaction. Maybe you’ll finally use my cousin’s element.”
“Don’t you get it?” I screamed. “I don’t have Ethan’s fucking element! It’s gone! If I had it, I would have burned you and this place to the ground already.”
“Don’t be dramatic,” Sebastian cooed. “Get her inside. Let’s reunite the lovers.”
The guards dragged me through the glass door that I hadn’t even noticed. Adrian lifted his head. His left eye was swollen shut, his good eye staring at me in disbelief. I ripped myself out of the guards’ tight grip and ran over to him. His hands were tied above his head, his knees barely touching the ground. Kneeling in front of him, I placed my hand on his bruised cheek, tears stinging my eyes.
“Adrian...” My mouth could only form his name over and over again.
“Ria.” He attempted to smile, but ended up grimacing in pain.
“Are you alright?” I pressed my forehead against his.
“Don’t worry about me,” he whispered. “Been through all of this already. If you find an opportunity, run and don’t look back.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”
His good eye glared at me. “Promise me. Promise me you’ll get out of here.”
Before I could say anything, one of the guards took hold of my arm and pulled me back. I was kicking and screaming, but he was too strong for me. Sebastian lounged in the corner across from us, an amused look on his face. This whole thing was just entertainment for him.
“What is wrong with you? Adrian had nothing to do with the death of your cousin!” I yelled as the guards held me down. “I’m the one who wrapped my fingers around Ethan’s throat and took his life and his element. Me! It was all me! It’s me you want. Not him.”
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