Runaway

by Alycia Linwood

  "Well, it had to happen sooner or later," Michael said. I just nodded, but Paula was still sobbing.

  "I'm going to take you to your room, ok?" I said to Paula, taking her hand and leading her down the hall. Her element was pretty strong, but for some weird reason it didn't bother me as much as it should. Oh yeah, it was probably because I was strangely calm, almost numb. This was all a bit too much for me. But at least Adrian was more or less safe with my brother, even with a death penalty threat hanging over his head.

  I had no idea what the Council planned to do now that Adrian was out of their reach. Would they keep it all a secret so they could just take him to one of those research facilities? But he couldn't just disappear, so maybe they'd have to announce it, which meant everyone in the country could be looking for Adrian in the next few hours to collect the prize offered for killing a magic disease carrier who'd turned into a murderer. Oliver better have something smart in mind. Or we were all screwed.

  "I'm coming with you," Michael said. "We need to talk."

  Chapter 02

  We were sitting on the floor in Paula's room and going through the papers Adrian and I had taken from the Pandora's Box. I had actually decided to tell Michael and Paula everything about the Box, because they just wouldn't stop asking how I'd gotten the papers, although I'd left out a few dangerous tidbits about the security system and my brother's involvement.

  "I can't believe no one told us about this!" Paula was upset and back in her scientist mode, her worry for Adrian completely forgotten or at least buried inside. She kept staring at the papers, shaking her head in disbelief. Most of the files were about various tests made on magic disease carriers all over the world, similar to the ones Oliver and Adrian had experienced. Unfortunately, those files weren't really useful to us, except maybe to Paula. If Adrian and I hadn't been in such a hurry, we could have found something more valuable.

  "Does Alan know about Adrian's sub-element?" Michael said, meeting my eyes.

  "Yes, but you two are not supposed to know," I said. "So don't tell anyone about this and don't talk about it where someone could hear you. It's obviously a delicate piece of information when they bothered so much to cover it up."

  "But Alan knows you know too. That means you're in danger!" Michael's element rose like a wave, worry written clearly all over his beautiful face.

  "Michael, please. Stop that water," I choked out, taking a deep breath. The water immediately stopped its assault on my senses. Good. I slowly got off the floor and walked over to the window, staring outside. But one look at the windowsill made me think of Adrian's soft black hair and his breathtaking gray-blue eyes and... No. I couldn't be thinking about Adrian. Not now. I turned around and walked back to Michael and Paula.

  "Are you ok?" Paula asked, her blue-green eyes wary.

  "Yes, I'm fine. It's just weird how our elements are related so closely to our emotions."

  "I'm sorry, honey," Michael said, running his hand through his short wavy brown hair. "But I can't control myself so easily when I think you might be in danger. Alan might do something to you."

  "Alan is a nice person!" Paula complained. "He wouldn't do anything, right?"

  "I know you trusted him while you were dating Adrian, but... please, don't do that anymore," I said. "It's not safe. Nothing is safe anymore."

  "Oh," Paula said, staring at the paper in her lap. "I guess you're right. If he was truly a good person, he'd do something to reveal the truth to the world."

  "It's not just that," I said. "What do you think they'd do to a person who revealed such a big secret?"

  "Ria, you need to get away from here. Fast!" Michael abruptly got up, grabbing my arm. I frowned at him, wondering what was on his mind.

  "Why?"

  "I just realized something. Alan said he knew where Adrian and you were! That means he knows about you two breaking into the Pandora's Box and that you know about Adrian's element! He's going to do something against you or send someone for you! And that means Paula and I are in danger too because we are associated with you and Adrian. We have to leave here now! Before the police comes!" Michael said urgently, pulling me toward the door. Paula was frantically collecting the papers and stuffing them into the backpack.

  "Wait!" I said, pulling my arm out of Michael's steely grip. "Just wait! Alan doesn't know Adrian and I broke into the Box or the police would be here already and not just because of the papers. Besides, my father is a very important figure in all of this, so I guess that is why Alan isn't threatening me not to tell about sub-elements right now. But you're right. We can't stay here. And I know exactly where we are going. Let's come early to my father's party."

  Actually, I didn't think Alan wasn't all over me about telling about sub-elements because of my father. It was more likely that he knew Adrian wouldn't let me betray his secret, and he thought I cared enough about Adrian to keep a promise. Well, yeah, I'd been doing that for a while, but not anymore. And of course, Alan was sure Adrian wouldn't let me tell anyone about his element because then the news would spread and everyone would want to do experiments on him.

  Besides, I might have missed a part of conversation between the two of them while I'd been unconscious. What reasons could Alan have to promise Adrian he wouldn't tell anyone about his sub-element? He'd probably given Adrian that old excuse about how he didn't want to live in a laboratory or ruin his career at the university just because he had to follow Adrian everywhere as his guardian. It was actually better if he hadn't promised anything, because he was a big fat liar if he had convinced Adrian to trust him.

  But what if Alan planned to say something about me when the police got here? Huh. He probably hoped I wouldn't run. Then he could just say I was Adrian's lover and the police would take me for questioning... before my father could do something, if he would actually want to. Shit! Michael was right! I threw myself into his arms and kissed him, taking him by surprise, but he kissed me back.

  "Whoa, Ria!" He grinned. "We can do that later."

  "Yes," I said, breathless. "Ok. Paula, you take those papers with you. We should take everything important we have in our rooms with us because the police will probably be searching through our stuff. But first I need to get the car key."

  "Your car isn't here," Michael said, confused.

  "Not mine. Adrian's." I winked at him, and his frown deepened. Before he could ask anything, I opened the door and ran down the hall.

  When I opened the door to Adrian's room, I was greeted by a soaked carpet, dripping furniture and floating papers. Of course, the ice had already melted, and Alan would no longer have a problem how to explain it. Now he could simply say Adrian had paid someone with a water element to soak the room to hide the evidence, and that was that. Or blame him for murdering someone with an element. Oh, God, I didn't even want to imagine what would happen if the dead guy's element had been water. If Paula, Michael or I tried to say something about ice, Alan could easily say we were just crazy students who wanted some attention, so we had invented it all.

  I tried to find the spare car key in the drawer where Adrian usually kept it. Of course, it was right under a small notebook, which was there just to hide the key. Not that Adrian was ever worried someone would steal his car, because no one was stupid enough to steal from a magic disease carrier who could kill you for it. Besides, it wasn't easy to drive in that kind of a car without people noticing; the police would have you in a second. But all of that was none of my concern because I had something crazy in mind. Hanging around Adrian must have made me a little bit braver, or crazier.

  I snatched the keys and ran out of the room, splashing water everywhere. The red carpet in the hall was already getting soaked and I wondered why there weren't tons of people already here. As I came around the corner, I noticed a guard with a gun attached to his belt. He was probably the reason why others weren't around. I stepped back and pressed myself against the wall, hoping he hadn't seen me. Holding my breath, I quietly padded over to the first door and tr
ied to open it. The guard had probably evacuated everyone from the hall, so I hoped someone's door was unlocked.

  I wasn't lucky. Damn it! The fifth door finally opened and I slid into the room, closing the door carefully after me. I let out a breath of relief. That had been close. I hurried to the window and opened it, letting fresh air inside. Really, whoever lived here should be thanking me right now because the room smelled and looked like a pigsty. Glad that we weren't on the first floor or somewhere higher, I jumped out of the window, nearly twisting my ankle.

  Michael was already impatiently waiting for me in front of Paula's room by the time I got there. He didn't look thrilled when I waved the key in front of him with a huge smile plastered on my face.

  "I grabbed some of your stuff," he said, handing me a black duffel bag. "I'm not sure I took everything you want, so maybe you should check it before we go."

  "Thanks." I smiled at him. Whether he took the right clothing or not was the least of my worries. It wasn't like we were going anywhere where I couldn't buy something. Besides, my father wasn't going to let his daughter walk around in dirty clothes. I was sure of it. But as I stared at the bag, I remembered something. Something Michael would never think of taking, because he didn't really know I had it; the crystal necklace Adrian had given me.

  "I'll be right back," I said, giving the bag back to Michael and running down the hall. He yelled something after me, but I didn't quite catch it. Must have told me to hurry.

  "Do we have everything?" Michael asked as we were trying to sneak out of the university building. There were a few unknown students wandering around, along with an unusually high number of guards. Yeah, it wasn't easy to leave the building without being noticed. They were still letting students go outside, but only after someone, probably Alan, allowed them to do so. And there was no way Alan would let the three of us go anywhere.

  "Yeah, I think we do," Paula said, pulling her light blue backpack over her shoulder.

  "Ria?" Michael's green eyes met mine, my hand automatically going for Adrian's necklace which was now around my neck. I nodded, letting my hand drop under Michael's intent gaze. He didn't say anything, but his lips were pressed together into a tight line. Did he know who had given me the necklace or he just suspected it? There was no time to think about it, so I peered around the corner.

  "It's clear. We can get to the car if we run really fast," I said, feeling my pulse speeding up. If we got caught now, we'd never leave here without police escort.

  "But why are we taking Adrian's car?" Michael frowned. "It has a tracker. They'll immediately find us and think we're helping him or something. I suggest we go in my car instead."

  "I agree with Michael," Paula said, nervously running a hand through her blond curls. "Besides, we can't just borrow Adrian's car without permission. It's like stealing."

  "Fine. You two go together then." I sighed.

  "Ria! Don't be silly." Paula shook her head. "Why do you want so badly to go in Adrian's car? You don't think he'll need..." She stopped talking and narrowed her eyes at me. "You know something. You know where he is!"

  "No, I don't," I said, but she just raised an eyebrow at me and Michael looked pale. "I'm not lying!"

  "Alright," Paula said, unconvinced. Ok, yeah, I deserved that. After all the lies I'd told them, it was only natural that I didn't have their trust anymore.

  "I want my father to know I'm coming," I finally said, closing my eyes. If we didn't move soon, someone might come.

  "Umm, you could just call him and tell him that," Michael said.

  "No. I want to see his reaction when I appear in front of him in a magic disease carrier's car." I felt my lips stretching into a small smile. "Alan will notice when we start the car and realize we are gone, so he'll call my father. Nothing bad will happen. Trust me."

  "Ria, I don't think that's a good idea," Paula said. "The police might notice us first and just shoot at us thinking it's Adrian."

  "I'll take that risk," I said determinedly. "But you probably shouldn't go with me if you're scared." I was almost sure that the police or whoever would prefer to catch Adrian alive, especially if they needed him for whatever they had planned.

  "I'm not leaving you alone, Ria," Michael said and glanced at Paula. "You can take my car if you want."

  "Ok," Paula said, "but I'll go with my car, and only so I can do something if anything happens to you two."

  "Great! Then we settled it! Now let's hurry before someone comes," I said impatiently.

  "Wait, where are we going actually?" Paula asked just as we were about to start running.

  "Rosentown," I said. "Two hours from here. I'm sure you know the way."

  "Rosentown? Isn't that the town named after a scientist who was researching elements? I thought the town consisted only of factories and laboratories." Michael frowned.

  "Yes, it is. But I bet my father is there. Where would they build that Element Preservers Organization if not there? Besides, they have a huge fancy house there for politicians and the members of the Council. It's a perfect place to host a party if you ask me." I was getting nervous by each minute that passed. "We have to move. Now!"

  "Ok, but you'll have to explain to us what this whole Element Preservers thing is," Michael said, taking me by the arm. I nodded, and then we were running across the hall as fast as we could toward the storeroom. My heart was beating like crazy in my chest when we stormed into the small room, but I was instantly relieved when I saw no one was inside. Of course, there usually wasn't anyone here, but you never knew whether you would find some students making out behind the shelves of detergents, pillows, blankets and other things.

  Michael helped Paula throw the backpacks out of the window and it was her time to climb through it and jump out. She must have panicked, even though it wasn't a high jump, because it was suddenly hard to breathe. I moved away from them, closing my eyes for a moment and supporting myself on one of the shelves. These elements were going to be the end of me one day. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to pretend all the time that nothing was wrong when I finally reached my father, but somehow I would have to.

  "Ria!" Michael called just as he was about to let himself drop down from the window. I hurried to catch up with them, not being able to get rid of the guilt I was feeling. Michael and Paula were in all of this mess because of Adrian and me, but they were going to Rosentown only because of me. I was the one who needed them, not the other way around. And I wasn't sure for how long I could keep lying to them about everything. It just wasn't right.

  Paula waved at me, her curly blond hair flying around her as she ran toward her car. Michael and I hid behind a dark blue BMW and waited for a perfect moment to reach Adrian's black Lamborghini. It took us only a few minutes because, obviously, the guards were doing a great job inside of the university and weren't letting anyone out. I almost wished I could see Alan's face at the moment he found out we were gone. Would he really send the special police after the daughter of the future president of the Element Preservers Organization? I guessed we were going to find out. And we also might find out whether Alan and my father were still in contact.

  "Give me the key. It's safer that I drive," Michael said as we reached the car.

  "No way," I said, running my hand over the car's shiny black surface. "Adrian wouldn't want you to drive his car."

  "You really do care what he thinks." Michael said quietly, his face serious, but he settled himself in the front passenger seat.

  "Let's get out of here." I started the car and turned on the radio, feeling a smile creep up my face. Really, what would Adrian think if he knew I was driving his car? Would he like it or would he freak out that I dared to touch his baby? If we survived all of this, maybe I would ask. Someone ran out of the university just as we were leaving the parking lot, but we couldn't see who it was. Well, it didn't really matter. They couldn't catch us anyway. At least I hoped they couldn't.

  Chapter 03

  "Is anyone following us?" I asked just a
s we were about to go off the highway and onto the road that led to Rosentown. By this time Alan must have already notified someone about the car missing, so if someone was following us, I probably couldn't get us to the town before the police found us. If they were tracking the car right now, then they might be expecting us somewhere, but maybe not in Rosentown.

  "Not that I can see." Michael strained his neck to look behind us, but nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. "Maybe Alan knows you took the car and not Adrian, so he didn't send anyone after us."

  "No. They must be waiting for us somewhere." I shook my head. "We should probably stop somewhere and let Paula go first. You should go with her. No one's looking for her car. At least I think so. I'm not sure if they are investigating her too because she used to be Adrian's girlfriend."

  "I'm not leaving you. I do think what we are doing is extremely dangerous and reckless, but I see I can't change your mind." He sighed. "You're doing this because of him, aren't you? You think they'll follow you instead and think you're going to meet with him. You know where he is."

  I licked my suddenly dry lips. It wasn't exactly like that because I really didn't know where my brother held Adrian, but all of this what I was doing was more of a test to find out the truth and see who was involved in this mess. The only problem was that Alan knew he had told me about the tracker, but maybe he had forgotten about it or he thought I had forgotten. Nevertheless, our reception in Rosentown was going to uncover at least some of the secrets; I was sure of that.

  "Michael, we need to talk." I stepped on the brakes as soon as we were off the highway and parked on the grass next to the road. The car was still close enough to the highway so that anyone who might be tracking us couldn't be sure where exactly we were.

  "Now?" Michael looked at me like I was insane. "But someone might come! You said it yourself we didn't have much time."

  "We need to wait for Paula. She needs to go first," I said, staring down at my hands in my lap. Could I tell him what was bothering me? Could I give him a choice to leave now even though it was unlikely I could do what I had planned on my own? But I couldn't just keep lying to him, keep pretending that everything was fine and perfect when it wasn't. Some dark part of my mind was telling me to just let it go for now and confess everything when I no longer needed him, but what would that say about me? That I was the most selfish, manipulative bitch ever.