"I will be least of your problems if you do this." A smile tugged at my father's lips. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into. Being the president of the Element Preservers is not a game."
"Will you do it or not?" I impatiently glanced at the door.
"Fine." My father took one of the papers from the shelf and started scribbling something on it. A few moments later, he signed it and put the organization's stamp underneath it. He pushed the paper across the desk toward me. "Congratulations, daughter. You're the youngest president ever." Walking around the desk and stepping away from Adrian's gun, he went for the door, smirking at me. "And you'll be the one with the shortest presidency." With that, he ran out and closed the door.
"Shit." I slumped in my chair, which sent a wave of pain down my arm.
Adrian lowered his gun and flexed his arm, crouching next to me and rotating my chair so he could rest his elbow on my knees. "Why did you let him go? Oliver will be livid."
"He's my father. I can't let him get killed." He hadn't let me die so far, so I could at least return the favor. Not to mention that I would need a serious therapy session if my brother killed our father in front of me.
"What now?" Adrian gently pried my fingers off my shoulder and cringed as he saw the wound. "You need a doctor."
"We wait for Oliver and Lily. The last thing I need is for my brother to rip this into pieces." I gingerly picked up the paper my father had signed, checking if everything was fine. Strangely enough, my father hadn't tricked me. "Have you felt that woman when she came near?" I swallowed audibly, trying to breathe against the sudden tightness in my chest. Whether it was because of me or not, the woman was still dead and I had her element. The sense of wrongness was huge, but my disease didn't agree with that. My disease liked my water element too much to care it had belonged to someone else.
"I have," Adrian admitted. "Whatever was blocking the feel of elements from inside the office stopped working. I thought she would run off to another room and not come in here. I couldn't concentrate on her when we were in the middle of convincing your father to agree to our terms."
"Right. We were too occupied." I swayed in my seat, and if it weren't for Adrian, I'd have fallen.
He wrapped his fingers around my wrist, holding my arm steady as he pulled a bloody bit of my sleeve off the wound. "It doesn't look good. Are you sure the bullet isn't inside?"
"Yeah." I sighed. "I'm sure it's not inside. It just grazed me... I wouldn't be here discussing it right now if it was serious."
"You have a new element in you. I think it reduces your sense of pain." He caressed my hand, trying to comfort me.
"How is it possible that I have both fire and water in me? Will they cancel out each other?" My head was starting to hurt just from the thought that having three elements and controlling all of them was going to be even harder.
"I don't know. Doesn't your brother have four? You should ask him." Adrian pushed himself up and leaned on the desk, his fingers intertwined with mine. "We should get you out of here."
"I killed those two guards." My eyelids were so heavy that I could barely keep my eyes open. "I killed them, Adrian."
"You saved my life." He loaded his gun, watching the door. "You're in shock, Ria."
Was I in shock? I had no idea. "Do you think my father told the guards to come back while he was leaving?"
"It's a possibility." Adrian shrugged, but the wariness in his gray-blue eyes told me that he believed my father had really done it. He reached for the receiver my father had used to notify the guards to leave. "We need a doctor in the main office. Hurry!"
"Doctor..." My vision distorted, elongating Adrian's form as he folded the paper my father had signed and slipped it underneath his vest. I wanted to ask him what he was doing, but my voice came out in a gurgle. Why were my movements so slow? My eyes closed despite my efforts to keep them open, and a cold darkness enveloped me.
Chapter 12
A bright ray of light pierced through the darkness, forcing me to open my eyes. A moan escaped my lips as I tried to move, and pain laced my left arm.
"She's awake," an unfamiliar voice said. "I'll be back later to check up on her."
"Thank you," Lily said, and I couldn't help but wonder what she was doing in the same room with me. Once the brightness faded, I could see that I was back at the compound where Lily's group lived. Adrian, Paula, Michael, Oliver and Lily stood around my bed, Michael and Oliver the only ones who looked grim. Memories flooded my brain in a dizzying speed, reminding me of today's horrible events... or had that been yesterday?
"How are you feeling?" Adrian sat down on the bed, smiling at me.
"Like a herd of cows ran over me." I reached for his hand, but Lily stepped forward.
"No! Don't touch him," she yelled. Adrian and I both glared at her.
"I'm not in the mood for your touching phobia." Seriously, couldn't Lily relax for a second and stop overreacting? Who was she to tell me not to get too close to Adrian when she and Oliver never followed that rule?
"It's not that." Lily bit her lip, hesitating. "You have three elements in you. The disease will want another one now more than ever, and if Adrian touches you... You could lose control and attack someone."
"Right." I flashed her a bitter smile, keeping my hands to myself. If I was lucky, she'd leave soon and I could be all over Adrian.
"Ria, what happened to Richard?" Oliver's face was expressionless, but I knew he had to be churning from the inside. Oh, yeah, he was pissed off at me for letting our father go.
"Our father escaped when I got shot." I met Oliver's dark eyes, willing him to believe me, even though whether he believed me or not didn't matter. "But he signed over the presidency to me." I looked at Lily.
"Good. I guess he used that policy that allows him to retire and pass on his position to one of his children. Everything is perfectly legal." A small smile quirked Lily's lips. She obviously couldn't care less about the presidency as long as the person in charge wasn't against magic disease carriers... Or she was sneaky and could hide her true feelings better than my brother. "We won't make any announcements until you're feeling better."
Oliver paled, barely containing himself. "We don't have time for that! Someone must make all the necessary announcements before the government realizes something fishy is going on. We need to ensure everything looks legitimate."
"Don't worry," I said, lifting myself up on my elbows so I had a better view of everyone. "Our father won't cause problems. He'd never be able to explain how his children forced him to resign without revealing that the said children have magic disease. I bet he believes we won't tell the world about the disease. Besides, once people find out the truth, they'll never trust our father again, even if he publicly declares he doesn't have any contact with us."
"Are you trying to say that we should cover up the whole thing and try to pretend everything is the same?" Suspicion crossed Lily's face, and I knew she wasn't happy about staying in hiding.
"Well, you covered up the attack already, didn't you? We'd never pull this off if people believed we forcibly took the position." The key idea was that we should convince the public that my father had given me the presidency for personal reasons and not because I had pointed a gun at him. The police would be after all of us in seconds. Of course, my father had to keep quiet or everyone would find out his children had the disease, and that wouldn't be only the end of us, but the end of him too. Who'd believe him he didn't have the disease and wasn't killing people to get a fire element?
"Yeah, the guards won't talk and they'll even come to work on Monday." Adrian looked up at Lily. "But Ria's father saw her taking an element and he knows she still has hers. Even if he believes she recently got infected, he might suspect some of us can keep an element. His scientist thought I was an exception, but now..."
Lily swore under her breath. "We made sure the guards believe they were attacked by people with elements, not carriers, but your father could be a problem
with such a powerful secret in his hands."
"He can't be sure," I said, wondering just how we were supposed to lead an organization that was against magic disease carriers. "And as far as I know, the pension for a retired president and ex-Council member is big enough, so he won't need to trade information for money. And he can't really claim his daughter has a weird case of the disease."
"He thinks it's my fault you have the disease." Adrian sighed. "If he believes I'll lose my element soon, then he'll think the same about you."
"Well, an element doesn't always disappear instantly as soon as the disease hits." Paula shrugged, her blond curls splaying around her shoulders.
"True, and he might have other things on his mind." Michael entered the conversation for the first time. "He could be waiting for us to fail."
"Yeah, he could be waiting for me to call him and tell him I can't do the job anymore." I winced as the pain in my shoulder reappeared. What kind of lame painkillers had they given me?
"Ok, so we wait for Monday." Lily crossed her arms and looked at me. "You'll invite all those associates, ex-members of the Council and everyone to a meeting and tell them you're taking over. That way you'll find out what they have been planning."
"They'll never accept her!" Oliver snorted. "An eighteen-year-old girl without corresponding education can't be a president."
"I'm almost nineteen." I scowled, annoyed that he was mostly right. Who was I to be a president of an organization when I couldn't even sort out my own life? But if Oliver became president, he'd ruin everything.
"I think Ria can do it." A smile tugged at Lily's lips as she reached for Oliver to rub his arm. "Others might not be careful around her because they'll think she's not a threat, so we might find out more. If I or Oliver appeared, they'd be wary and suspicious."
"Maybe we can say Ria's father went on a short break," Michael said.
"That's not a bad idea." I nodded, and Adrian tensed next to me as he glared over his shoulder at Michael. "It could be my way out once we find our feet in the organization. I don't want to be the president."
A little bit of tension seeped out of Oliver's shoulders. "I still think we should trap all the important people in the building, force them to do what we want and bombard the world constantly with images of what they have done to carriers over the years. I'm sick of us being called monsters."
I shook my head at Oliver, getting frustrated. "You can't do that. As someone who a year ago thought all magic disease carriers were monsters, I can tell you that people won't change their mind just like that. Especially not when you try to push your viewpoint into their faces."
"We don't have time for that!" Oliver stomped his feet like a child throwing a tantrum. What was his problem? Was he tired of being Lily's lover already?
"We have to take it easy," Lily said. "We've been waiting for this so long and we won't ruin it now. All we have to do is stop further bashing of magic disease carriers in the media and spread the word of tolerance."
"I'm tired. Can we talk about this some other time, please?" I sagged back to the bed, unwilling to talk right now about what I had discovered from my father. Lily would have to hear me out later.
"Sure." Lily tugged on Oliver's arm, and he reluctantly followed her out of the door, giving me a chilling look as he went.
"We have things to do, right Michael?" Paula said, her blue-green eyes wide as she tried to give Michael a hint to agree with her.
"Umm, what?" Michael was clueless for a moment, but then realization dawned on him. "Oh, yeah, that."
"See you later." Paula waved at me, and she and Michael left, closing the door behind them.
"We need to talk." I met Adrian's gray-blue eyes, scooting over so he could lie down next to me.
"Yeah, we do." He settled himself on my right, resting his head on his arm. Our faces were only inches apart and I yearned to touch him now that Lily wasn't here to yell at us.
"I..." I'd been longing to ask Adrian something for ages, but I couldn't find the right words.
"I'm not really on board with your 'let's take it easy' plan," Adrian said, chasing my thoughts away. That wasn't what I wanted to talk about.
"You agree with Oliver?" I turned away from him, staring at the ceiling.
"Not exactly, but I can't be friendly with people who murdered and tortured carriers, not even for the sake of world peace. Should we let them laugh in our faces and beg them to accept us?" His voice was coated in anger, the air getting colder and colder.
"I'm not asking you to shake hands with them or drink coffee." I felt for his hand on the bed and was disappointed when he moved away. "Besides, not everyone is guilty. People who are responsible for what happened to you and others will pay, but you have to..."
"No!" He rolled off the bed, anger coming off of him in waves. I had to call my element from within me and warm the room, glad that I could still use my fire without triggering air or water. "Those people might not have directly participated in imprisoning and torturing magic disease carriers, but they surely didn't do anything to help. You saw what people think of us."
"Adrian." I pushed myself up, risking tearing the stitches I undoubtedly had in my shoulder, but I didn't have other choice. "People like me have been raised to hate magic disease carriers. We've been told horrible stories about them and we don't know any better."
"People like you?" Adrian scowled. "Whose side are you on? You're one of us, not them!"
"I like to think that I belong to both." I shakily stood up, supporting myself on the bed. How long had I been out? My legs were incredibly stiff as if I hadn't moved them for hours. "I understand you, Adrian. I really do, but I understand those people too. It's not easy for any side, believe me."
A very thin layer of ice spread down Adrian's sleeve, and he shook it off in annoyance, sending crystal bits flying everywhere. "Yeah, it's not easy for people to live without being constantly shunned, hated, shamed, rejected,..."
"Adrian, please." I made a step toward him, attempting to calm him and make him listen to me. "Things are going to change, but you have to give it time."
"Don't you get it, Ria?" He turned to me, his face grave. "They'll never accept us because we are taking their elements. Some of us truly murder people, and while that happens, you can't have peace."
"Well, both sides have extremes. People can hate carriers, but that doesn't mean all of them would sentence a carrier to death. On the other hand, there are carriers who kill people and there are those who can control themselves. We need to isolate the problematic ones on both sides and work together to find a cure."
"That's a utopia, Ria." He shook his head, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "You're trying to create a perfect society where everyone lives in acceptance and peace. That might work in theory, but in practice..."
"And what do you prefer?" I raised my voice, letting go of the bed. I couldn't really look confident while I kept holding onto something for support. "That we start an uprising against the majority of the population? Do you think other carriers would show themselves and help us? If so, then you're the one living in a dream."
He chewed on his lip, thousands of thoughts and emotions flashing through those gray-blue eyes. "I don't know, Ria." He clenched his fist and lowered his eyes. "I'm so angry and I just want to scream in people's faces that they're no better than us."
"I know." I placed my hand on his shoulder and he flinched before he let me pull him into a hug. "We'll get through this, ok?"
He nodded, leaning his forehead against mine. "Anything else you wanted to talk about?"
Yeah, like I could ask him now if he loved me or not. With my luck, all of my worst fears would come true and Adrian would reject me. Seriously, what if he wanted us to be together, but not in a serious relationship? "No, not now."
"Then we could test your new element. How about that?" Adrian's gray-blue eyes bored into mine, his hand going lower down my back.
"Sounds good." I instantly felt a pang of guilt that I ha
d taken a dying woman's element. "But it's too soon."
"It can wait." Adrian ran soothing circles down my back, avoiding contact with my injured shoulder.
"Yeah, it can." I closed my eyes, wondering how long it would take me to get the faces of the guards I had killed out of my mind. I had no idea how many people had died during the attack, but I promised myself I wouldn't let anyone die in the future if I could help it.
Chapter 13
I was sitting at the head of a huge black table, watching my father's associates trail in with bemused expressions on their faces. Was it surprising that most of them had fire? No, not at all. My new element lessened the feel of other elements for a short while, but Lily and everyone kept insisting that I'd be craving the fourth element pretty soon. Oliver refused to tell me what it was like to have three or four elements because I hadn't given him the presidency, so I was left wondering whether I'd want earth next or it didn't matter. I believed Oliver told me once we could keep only one of each element, but maybe he wasn't right.
Once everyone was seated and looking at me expectantly, I rose from my chair and addressed the crowd. Chuckles, raised eyebrows, astonished faces and eyerolls were the most common reactions when I finished my speech.
"It's a joke, isn't it?" one man said. "Richard is playing with us."
"It's not a joke. I'm serious." I hadn't felt this stupid in my whole life, and my cheeks practically burned with embarrassment. Would picturing all these people naked help? Ugh, probably not, but picturing their faces while I unleashed all three of my elements on them made me grin to myself. "My father had to leave for personal reasons. It was an emergency. I promise you I'm capable of taking over until he returns."
"Honey, you do realize that we have business to do and don't have time for daddy's daughter to pretend she's the queen of the world, right?" an elderly woman said, contempt evident in her blue eyes. How had my father worked with these people? I hadn't even met them and I already wanted to throw something in their faces, preferably the bottle of water that was standing on the table.
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