Divided

by Alycia Linwood

  "Yeah, but what would be his motive?" Why would Alan want to get into the Pandora's Box if he wasn't a carrier? "And how would we explain why the element is missing from Azzurro's body?"

  "How do they even detect if the element is missing?" A frown line appeared on Adrian's brow. "You'd think they'd be able to tell for a living person too."

  "Paula once explained it to me." She'd used lots of weird terms to do it and I'd been only half-listening, but I still remembered bits of what she'd told me. "I believe they open the body and pour some poisonous liquid. A living person would die from it."

  "Damn. So we can't frame Alan unless we prove that he's working with a carrier." Adrian's eyes met mine.

  "No." I sat up, glaring at him. "You can't be that carrier!"

  "Think about it, Ria. You can't give Alan what he wants, which means he's going to frame me for the murder. This way, I'd drag him down with me." He sounded so reasonable that I wanted to smack him.

  "Why don't we just kill him?" I hated the idea of killing anyone else, but Alan was a threat and I was sure he wouldn't have any qualms about killing me to get what he wanted.

  "No!" Anger poured out of Adrian in waves, the temperature in the room dropping.

  "Umm, you do realize that Alan will only go to jail for a while and you're going to die, right? You're a carrier and he's not. He's going to get a trial, probation and God knows what! They'll blame you for everything."

  "But he won't have a chance to be the vice president or anything! That's what matters, Ria!" His pleading eyes wanted me to agree with him.

  "How does Alan plan to explain the bones appearing in Italy? You couldn't have traveled that far." Of course, once a guardian accused a carrier of something, questions were rarely asked, but I was the president of the Element Preservers, so maybe I could force a trial.

  "He'll pay someone to say he'd been hired to transfer the bones there."

  We could bribe someone too, but Adrian was a carrier, so it didn't take a genius to guess whose side the jury would take. "Why don't you want Alan to die?"

  Adrian tensed, avoiding my eyes. "He practically raised me. I just can't... I can't kill him or have someone else do it."

  "Did Alan kill someone?"

  Adrian chewed on his lip. "Not that I know of."

  So aside from allowing torture of carriers and doing nothing to stop it, Alan didn't do much. That was an interesting piece of information. I wished I knew all about Alan's and Adrian's relationship, but Adrian simply refused to tell me whenever I asked, so maybe, just maybe... "Alan expects me to give in to his demands because he knows I don't want to let you go. But would he really kill you? He wanted to give you to the labs, but that doesn't mean he'd kill you."

  "He said he would if he had to." The hurt that flashed through Adrian's eyes was heartbreaking. "And he did threaten us both with a gun."

  "Yeah, he did, but maybe he didn't really mean it. Besides, he said the gun wasn't even loaded that time when he threatened to shoot us both to force you to show your sub-element."

  Adrian lifted his eyes toward me. "What are you thinking?"

  "I say we call his bluff." And I hoped like hell that Alan was indeed bluffing. "If he accuses you of murder, we'll hide you somewhere until we can prove you're innocent. I'll pull all my strings as the president and maybe that gets me somewhere."

  "Should we ask him to meet us? If he comes to your office, maybe we can get his prints off the knob. It could be of use later."

  I pressed my finger to my lips, considering his idea for a moment. "Sure, why not?"

  The corners of Adrian's lips went up, and he grabbed me by the waist, pulling me in for a kiss. I settled down with my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. As I closed my eyes, I couldn't stop seeing Parker's cold stare full of malice.

  Chapter 24

  It was easy to convince Alan to come see Adrian and me in my office. The eagerness I could hear in his voice when he told me he was coming meant that he believed I'd give him what he wanted. Well, he was going to get disappointed.

  Thank God, we didn't have any problems getting to my office because the protesters had dispersed when they realized nothing was happening. Maybe they'd forget about my supposed negotiation with the terrorists. I didn't have time to deal with their bigotry.

  "We'll search him for weapons and other devices," Lily said. "You go to the office and don't touch anything after he's gone. We'll clean the knob and get his prints."

  "Do you think he has a plan B?" I had mulled over the possibilities the whole night, half asleep, half awake. Alan could always accuse me of being in league with magic disease carriers, but he couldn't prove that.

  "Let's hope he doesn't," Adrian said, his hand on the small of my back, steering me toward the office. Alan was supposed to come soon, so we had to be ready. I sank into my leather chair as Adrian closed the door.

  "I could get used to this." I shifted in the chair, pretending I was going to put my feet on the desk.

  "Don't fall off that chair." Adrian laughed, and drew another chair so he could sit next to me. "You wouldn't be able to wear those high heels if you broke your leg."

  "Yeah, a cast totally wouldn't fit with my outfit." I straightened my back, clasping my hands in my lap. "How's this?"

  Adrian winked at me. "Perfect." His attention shifted toward the door, his smile fading. "He's here."

  "Looks like they took his element-blocking bracelet too." I wasn't sure why Lily's men would do that, unless they thought the bracelet was a weapon or could be used as one.

  "Maybe he doesn't want his element blocked," Adrian whispered as a knock sounded on the door.

  I cleared my throat. "Come in."

  "I assume you made your decision," Alan said, a carefree smile plastered on his face. Loosening his red tie, he lowered himself in the chair opposite to us. He totally thought he had won. Wow. That was a whole lot of confidence.

  "We did," I said, and Alan's brown eyes flickered with surprise. It bothered him that I implied Adrian and I had both made the decision rather than only me.

  "Did you choose the only possible option?" He arched an eyebrow at me.

  "You are not getting the position of the vice president. I already have a vice president," I said, meeting his eyes.

  "What?" Alan gaped at me. "You're going to sign your boyfriend's death sentence?"

  "It's his choice to do with his life what he wants," I said, glancing at Adrian. "Right?"

  "Yes," Adrian said. "It's my choice. I won't let you ruin everything for me. My life means nothing. You taught me that, or have you forgotten?"

  Alan swallowed, the feel of his element getting stronger, but he still had a complete control over it. "Ria, don't think that being the president makes you omnipotent. I have connections everywhere. Adrian will be persecuted and killed because of you."

  Adrian stood up, his furious glare directed toward Alan. "Why don't you kill me here and now?"

  "Sit down," Alan said. "I'm not stupid. If I lay a finger on you in here, the guards outside will kill me for it."

  "Look, I don't care what you do." I tried to appear as confident as I could. "I'm not giving you what you want. End of story."

  Adrian settled back in his chair, cracking his knuckles as if he wanted to punch Alan.

  Alan looked from me to Adrian, clearly frustrated. "So your girlfriend is simply going to let you die?" Alan pinned Adrian with a cold stare, a smile quirking his lips. "How sad is that? When did she realize she doesn't truly love you? As I heard, she risked her life to get you out of that lab. What has changed now? Oh, wait. I know." Alan raised his hand as if he were in school. "She's found a more interesting game. Dating a magic disease carrier isn't enough for her. Now she wants to play the president. She wants to be the hero, but saving you won't make her one, so she needs to do something else."

  "Shut up!" I yelled. "Our relationship is none of your business."

  "I know it looks like she's respecting your wishes," Alan sa
id, completely ignoring me. "But she wants to get rid of you and this is her chance. Don't you get it, Adrian? She can't be in a relationship with a carrier now. She doesn't love you anymore."

  "I told you to shut up, didn't I?" I leaned forward so Alan's attention would turn back to me. "You're embarrassing yourself. First you claim I love him, then you think I don't love him. Hell, I'm not even sure what's going on in your mind, but it sounds a lot like a soap opera, and I don't like those. I know you're not happy that we didn't agree to your terms, but you'll have to deal with it. Oh, and don't even think about spreading the rumor about Adrian and me being together because no one is going to believe you."

  "You're making a big mistake." Alan got up, his face a mask of fury. "You'll regret this!"

  "We'll see about that." I hoped Alan would leave soon because his element was getting stronger. He was confused why I was still with Adrian because he didn't know I had the disease too, and we had to make sure he didn't find out.

  "If you're done talking, get the fuck out," Adrian said. With the last glance at us that promised he'd be back, Alan stormed out of the office. I grabbed Adrian's hand because I felt like I was floating in the air.

  "Did we win this one or not?" I interlaced my fingers with Adrian's, glad that I couldn't feel Alan's element anymore.

  "I have no idea. We'll know if my face appears on the news today." He gave me a small smile, but it didn't reach his eyes.

  "I think we've confused him. He didn't seem to have a back up plan."

  "He can't figure out our relationship and that bugs him, but I'm afraid he could suspect you have the disease. We have to be careful because his next plan won't be so lame." Adrian's brow furrowed with worry, and I wondered if we'd done the right thing. Pissing off Alan was never a good thing, but giving him power in the organization was far worse.

  The door opened and Lily gave us a triumphant smile. "We have his prints."

  "Good," Adrian said, tension seeping out of his shoulders. "We might need them."

  "Thank you, Katherine" I said to the secretary who had brought me the first report about element collectors. We'd placed them in a couple of stores and bars, and they'd been active for a week. No one had complained or realized there was something different. So far, so good. But now that I looked at the report, I could see that the amounts of collected energy were very low.

  "Are we losing energy because of the transfer?" Each collector was connected by wire with a special tank in the storage which could keep the energy inside. Those tanks were then transferred to the factories and elemental energy was converted to power or water, depending on the type of energy.

  "No," Katherine said. "But the transfer is expensive. We should look into building an underground system that could connect the factories directly with the collectors."

  "Sure, but that will take time." I studied the charts, biting my lip. "We need to produce more collectors and spread them throughout the country."

  "The amount of energy is good for now," Lily said, placing her copy of the report on the desk. "I'm not sure about the future. If we ran out of energy..."

  "This won't be nowhere near enough," I finished for her.

  "Exactly. There aren't enough people with pure and strong elements, or they don't frequent the places where we put the collectors." Lily took a plastic cup of coffee and brought it to her lips.

  "That's because people with pure elements are getting old, so their elements are too weak and we can't collect them." I was still waiting to get a report from Cassandra and Paula. Paula had promised me to call me as soon as the scientists were sure their genetic manipulation was successful. Some of the scientists had been working on it for years, so they didn't want any mistakes. Still, I was expecting Paula's call any minute. My father's scientists would have needed a couple of months more, but Lily's scientists were more dedicated.

  "Well, if the genetic manipulation works and we convince people they should choose only one element for their baby, we will have pure elements just in time. We will have enough potable water for another 20 or 30 years, so all the babies will be grown up by then. And while we wait for our natural resources to disappear, we'll collect as much of water energy as we can and convert it to water." Lily scratched her chin, a thoughtful look on her face. "Energy is going much faster, but we still have our solar, water and wind power plants, so we'll have to use elemental energy of earth to get gas and petrol."

  "That would be all, Katherine." I smiled to my secretary. "Thanks." She nodded and left, closing the door behind her. When I felt her element going farther down the hall, I looked up at Lily.

  "Are we even going to be alive when the energy runs out?" We might be a special type of magic disease carriers, but none of us knew how long we'd be able to live without giving in to the disease. Elements helped, but how long would they last? Would they simply expire and leave us? I shuddered just at that thought. Losing our own element would probably drive us insane.

  "Who knows?" Lily shrugged. "We're not doing this for ourselves. We're doing it for the future generations."

  "Right." I shook the mouse and brought my computer screen to life. For the last couple of days I'd been carefully looking for any news about Adrian and the Pandora's Box, but nothing showed up. "I can't believe Alan was bluffing."

  "He might be waiting the perfect time for his next move." Lily pulled her chair closer so she could see the screen. "I'm only sure that he won't give up."

  Alan rarely gave up and usually came up with an even worse plan, so I was expecting one. "It annoys me that we still aren't one step ahead of him. I hate not knowing what he will try to pull next."

  "Don't worry about it. Adrian is as safe as he can be. Do you know that Alan could report him missing?"

  I was aware of that, but then my father and Alan would have to admit they had taken Adrian to the lab and that he'd escaped. "He won't do it. I think that in his own twisted way he cares about Adrian enough not to cause his death."

  "Let's hope you're right." Lily uncrossed her legs and stood up. "I can't wait for the day the world finds out about us. Maybe they'll hate us, maybe they'll be scared, but I still want to see it happen." A smile quirked her lips and she shook her head as if she thought her fantasy was crazy.

  "People hate us anyway. It will be fun pissing them off, though. Do you have the videos ready?" I knew Lily's team was preparing for the big event even though we didn't know when it would happen, but we knew we had to hurry before it was too late. Lily had carefully chosen a couple of people she trusted so we wouldn't have to worry about moles leaking our plans to others. Even my brother was clueless because he was strongly against the idea of the world knowing some carriers could keep an element, so Lily decided to keep him in the dark about our plan, just like a couple of other carriers who shared my brother's view.

  "Of course we have." Lily winked at me. "We have a whole documentary about carriers, what they can do, the abuse they suffered in the labs, the problems they face in everyday life, testimonials from normal people who interact with carriers, live with them, and so on. It's beautiful. You should see it. I bawled like a baby when I first saw it."

  Somehow I found it difficult to imagine a strong woman such as Lily crying like a baby, but I believed her. "I'm only afraid people will refuse to watch it."

  "Oh, they will watch it," she said confidently. "It's like a train wreck. You don't want to watch, but you still do. People will be curious. Besides, we'll show it on all channels at the same time so no one will be able to switch to another channel."

  "That's sneaky." I laughed. "People will start throwing their TVs through the windows."

  "Some might." She nodded. "But someone will see the truth in the video. And if we get only ten percent of people to believe us and change their views on magic disease carriers, we'll consider it as a win."

  "Yeah, but we will also have at least sixty percent of petrified people who will be afraid for their elements."

  "Yeah, but just because they f
ound out about carriers who can keep an element doesn't mean that the number of murders will increase significantly. Carriers wouldn't disappear if people didn't know about them. We will only persuade people to plan their offspring's element because their partner might as well be a carrier but they can't tell because he or she has an element. Magic disease could disappear completely in a couple of years."

  "Are we going to tell people that the disease can be contracted only by exchanging elements?" The scientists had confirmed the theory that when elements brushed against each other, they could get the disease, and that could happen when people touched each other's skin and lost control of their element, and that was mostly during sex. So our original belief that the disease was transmitted by sex wasn't true. Of course, the carriers who lost their element could transmit the disease because the disease somehow faked a presence of an element, so it could brush against another person's element and infect it.

  "We'll try to explain it, but I'm not sure people will fully understand it. It seems that normal people exchange elements for a while during sex too, but we can't prove it because they don't feel it. The exchange lasts for a couple of seconds and they don't have the disease which would allow them to see and feel the other element. They don't crave it either, so the elements return back like nothing had happened."

  "Yeah..." My phone rang, Paula's number flashing on the screen. "Paula, please tell me you have some good news."

  "I do," she said, an excited undertone in her voice. "We did it! People can now pick the element their child will have!"

  A big grin spread my lips. "Congrats! You guys are amazing." I covered the phone with my hand and looked up at Lily. "Genetic manipulation successful."

  "Yeah, everyone is celebrating," Paula said. "It's crazy in here. We even got Cassandra to take a glass of whiskey."

  "I don't believe you without proof. Snap a picture!" I teased.

  "Will do," Paula said. "Look, I have an idea. It's absolutely crazy and people will going to hate it, but..."