Monster (Tainted Elements Book 3)

by Alycia Linwood

  “Stay here,” I said to the recruits, and went outside the training room. “What’s going on?” I asked an agent who was passing by.

  His face was white as a sheet. “We’re in trouble. Elemontera has been surrounded by cops and a team of some people dressed in black. The boss is apparently negotiating with someone from the government.”

  “What?” I fought the urge to smile. We’d done it! Lily had managed to convince the government to shut down the organization, but why was there someone negotiating? That would mean the boss could get to live, or worse. I didn’t want that to happen.

  Running toward the elevator, I felt my elements surge in me again in a rush. As I got inside the elevator and pressed the button, I realized it wasn’t working. Banging my fist into the metal door, I walked out. Why had they blocked the exits? Was it Elemontera or someone else? Maybe the other elevator wouldn’t be locked down.

  As I made my way down the long hallway, I ran into two guards who appeared to be ready for a fight, their weapons at their sides, helmets on their heads.

  “You!” one of them said. “Get ready for a fight. The soldiers will be here any minute. Take down any of the attackers who come your way.”

  “Whoa! Wait, what? Fight? I heard there are cops and agents surrounding the building, but they’re the government men. Why would we fight them?” I was hoping to confuse the guards and see whether they would really fight for Elemontera no matter what. It wasn’t as if many in Elemontera liked the organization or lived for it. But, still, I knew some would agree to fight for Elemontera if they thought their families would be in danger otherwise.

  “Because the boss is about to start a war with them,” the guard said.

  “Start a war? How?”

  “We’re going to blow up their precious agents before the negotiation ends.” The guard smiled.

  “Blow up? That’s a terrible idea. The building could collapse with us inside.” I frowned.

  “No, dumbass. Not the building. Do you really think the streets around us aren’t protected in case something like this happens? We can collapse the streets right under them and anyone stupid enough to stand with them.”

  “Okay. That sounds interesting, but then what? Are we going to defend our fort forever? Fly out? The government will send the army to our door. Or just drop a bomb on the whole building.”

  “We’ll escape through the tunnels. Don’t worry, girl. There’s a whole plan for this, and you’re going to see it. Just follow directions and try not to get lost, will ya?” The guard winked at me.

  If these tunnels were on the maps, Lily would have to know about them. But what if she was just standing outside, waiting for whoever was negotiating, because the government wouldn’t let her make another step on her own? What if the only thing she achieved was to cut some of Elemontera’s financing sources? I was sure that if Elemontera simply moved into another building, they’d continue to be what they were. Someone would always be willing to pay for what they were trying to achieve. No, I couldn’t let any of that happen.

  Calling to my elements, I pushed them all into my bracelet, ignoring the burning sensation in my wrist. The bracelet flew off my arm, smoke rising from it. The guards pointed their weapons at me, but it was too late. I slipped into their minds, twisting the signals, and they both dropped to the ground.

  Tapping their suits, I quickly found the devices that could start the elevator. As I ran past the training room, I stopped and went back in, hoping I wouldn’t be too late if I picked up the recruits first. When the door opened, four panicked faces looked up at me. “Come with me. You’re getting out of here.”

  “But what about our families?” a fifteen-year-old girl said in a shy voice. “I don’t want them to die.”

  “They won’t. I promise. Now come with me. We don’t have much time.” I sent fireballs at the cameras, knocking them to the ground. The recruits finally followed me and we all hurried to the elevator. As the door of the elevator closed, my hand hovered over the button for the floor where the boss’s office was, but that would have to wait. I needed to get out first. Pressing the right button, I turned to the recruits. “Stay behind me.”

  “What about these?” The girl next to me shook her wrist with the bracelet.

  “Fuck.” I’d forgotten they had those too. But theirs were temporary, so they weren’t as strong as mine had been. Checking if the device I’d stolen from the guard would unlock the bracelets, I finally realized there was no time and forced my elements into the bracelets, breaking them all. The door opened all too soon, but no one was looking our way because everyone was focused on the people standing outside the door. Before the guards could turn to see us, I knocked them out with my air.

  “Careful,” I said to the recruits and slowly opened the front door. Creating a shield of air just in case someone got trigger-happy, I walked toward the police cars.

  “Moira!” I heard someone yell, but I couldn’t see who. Noah and Lily came running toward me, dressed all in black, their weapons at their sides.

  “Take the kids somewhere safe!” I yelled. “You have to get inside or get away from here. Now!”

  “We can’t,” Lily said apologetically. “One of the conditions of our agreement with the government was to let them run things, and that includes letting someone talk to that asshole inside first. But I know we can fix that later.” She gave me a meaningful look.

  “Well, you’ll have to violate that agreement. The boss isn’t planning to negotiate. He can make all the streets around the building collapse, and he’s planning to do that and then get away through some tunnels.” The boss was probably only pretending to talk, because I doubted such powerful mechanisms could be started with just one press of a button.

  “What fucking tunnels?” Lily gaped at me. “There’s nothing in there! We checked!”

  “Well, the guards believe there are some tunnels. But even if there aren’t, they could use tainted elementals who think they don’t have a choice to carry them somewhere. Hell, maybe they’ve even escaped already.”

  “No, they haven’t,” Noah said. “We’re monitoring everything. We won’t let them get away.”

  “Okay. Great. Then attack already!” I started toward the building, but Lily and Noah didn’t move, so I turned to look at them. “Are you coming?”

  “I’ll have to ask the chief if we can attack.” Lily grimaced.

  “Who is he? Show him to me.”

  Lily cocked her head toward the man in front of the cars.

  I let my element go for him, forcing him to act. “There. Problem solved.” Turning on my heel, I broke into a run before anyone could ask anything.

  Chapter 19

  I threw the elevator key on the ground where Lily would see it and turned into air, looking for tiny holes that I could use to reach the floor I needed to go to. My search was successful, and I slid through an opening that led to the stairs I’d never seen anyone use before.

  I flew up until I reached a door, but it was locked, and there wasn’t any hole big enough for me to pass through. My anger rising, I materialized and slammed a fiery fist into the door until it gave. Kicking the door aside, I burst into the hallway, greeted by bullets. No one even hesitated, which meant they’d all been notified I was no longer on their side. Good.

  Deflecting the bullets with my air, I elbowed the nearest guard in the face, hearing a satisfying crack of his nose. Dust flew through the hallway, getting into my eyes, and I squinted, a body slamming into me and bringing me to the ground. Someone was yelling to the others to block the elevator.

  A waterball hit my face, making it impossible to breath, trying to choke me. I pushed my air out, the water bursting into millions of droplets, and I managed to shove aside whoever had pinned me. My anger was a hot living thing inside of me, and I let flames engulf my arms and legs.

  When the air cleared, I saw one of the agents, a tainted elemental, like me. No, he wasn’t like me, something inside of me was saying. He was we
aker. Much, much weaker. With a smile spreading over my lips, I rushed the agent, trying to hit him with my fiery fist. But he enveloped his own hand in fire and caught my hand. Out of nowhere, sand hit my eyes and filled my mouth, sticking to my tongue. I coughed, my grip on my element weakening. Pain jolted through my leg and I fell to the ground. As I rolled around, I narrowly missed being hit by a fireball.

  Spitting what was left of the sand from my mouth, I called for my air and reached into the mind of the agent who was attacking me. He resisted, but his face was contorted in pain. Before I could breach his defenses, a strong blast of wind sent me flying, breaking the contact. My head hit the wall, and black spots danced in my vision.

  I saw Lily’s men at the beginning of the hallway, trying to fight their way in with weapons and elements. I knew they’d be coming closer to me, and I had to get away from the fight if I didn’t want to be caught in the middle of it. Turning into air, I dodged a few waterballs that weren’t even aimed at me. Materializing in front of the agent who’d attacked me, I knocked him down, turned him and myself into air, and dropped him to the ground just around the corner. We had a minute or so until the fight reached us again, but first I wanted to take this one out by myself.

  He regained his composure and immediately created a dusty cloud, but I wasn’t about to let him blind me and escape, so I created more wind to clear out the dust, avoiding two fireballs aimed at my legs.

  “You can’t win this,” I said, letting my air seep out of me not far from the ground so the agent wouldn’t see it coming toward him. He didn’t respond but instead surrounded himself with fire, which wrapped around his neck like a protective scarf. I realized he was thinking I’d try to choke him with my air.

  A laugh bubbled up from my throat. “Really? That’s all you’ve got?” I wasn’t sure if I’d ever seen this agent before or if I’d worked with him sometime, and for some reason I didn’t care. My air slithered across his fire and broke through it, trying to get inside his head. His dark eyes widened and his fire flickered in and out of existence, but my air finally slipped inside.

  “Fight against Elemontera,” I said, and let go of him, leaving him dazed. I ran down the hallway toward the boss’s office. It was me who had to deal with him and not anyone else. That man had threatened my parents and hurt Jaiden more than he could possibly know. I wanted him to pay for everything. With his life. And I wouldn’t let anyone stop me. Not even Jaiden.

  A wall of ice waited for me in the middle of the hallway, and I hit it with a fireball, but it remained in place. Fuck! Increasing the strength of my fire, I let it surge out of my arms toward the wall until there was a hole large enough for me to pass through.

  But after I got through, I was met with yet another icy wall. Whoever had made this would meet his end. I’d make sure of it. Something at the back of my mind nagged me to stop, to think about what I was doing, but the voice was soon drowned out by shouts from the guards. Melting the last of the icy walls, I turned into air, only a couple of feet away from the boss’s office.

  “There she is!” one of the guards yelled, pointing some kind of device at me. Were the silly little elementals trying to spot me with an energy level reader? How cute. I slammed into first one of them with my still invisible body, and rolled us both, so he would serve as my shield when I turned visible again. Bullets and elements slammed into the guard’s back, who cried out, and almost fell on me. Creating a shield of air in front of me, I got to my feet, kicking the dead guard aside. I tilted my head toward the guards. “Get out of my way.”

  The guards didn’t budge. Instead, one of them created his own shield of air around them.

  “You think that’s going to stop me?” I raised an eyebrow at them, and burst into laughter. They glanced at each other, and the shield wavered a little, but it held on. The other guard prepared for water attack, tiny waterballs appearing around him. The one who was holding up the shield lifted two guns and pointed them toward me. I sighed.

  Increasing my air’s energy, I let it slide up and down their shield, but without really touching it. They had to lose the shield if they wanted to attack me, and considering how red and strained the face of the guard who had put it up was becoming, he was about to drop it any moment. The other guy was surrounded by waterballs, but I could see the fear in his eyes.

  My air waited patiently, and I waited with it. As the shield went down, I sent my air at the guards, slicing through their minds. They both dropped to the ground, the waterballs falling onto the floor in a big puddle. I sidestepped them and advanced toward the office. Kicking the door open, I braced myself for an attack, but nothing happened.

  Peering inside the office, I spotted the body of a man in a suit lying face down on the floor in a puddle of blood. As I neared the desk, broken things crunched under my feet. No one else was there. The guy on the ground was too fat to be the boss. He’d escaped! That son of a bitch!

  My element unleashed itself all over the room, creating a mini tornado that was ripping everything in its way and sending bits of furniture flying around me. Cracking my knuckles and taking steady breaths, I managed to pull my air back inside of me, but it still demanded of me to find the boss. Where could he have gone? I wouldn’t be able to find any clues in this fucking mess.

  Jumping over a broken chair that had landed right in front of the door, I headed back into the hallway. Now what? My elements wanted to be used, not wait until I caught up with the boss. I didn’t even have to call my air because it came all on its own, reaching outside of me as sounds of fighting reached my ears, but there was no one in the hallway. No one to quench my element’s thirst. Where could I find someone? Someone meant to die, my element purred inside of me.

  A smile crept up my lips, and I turned into air, whizzing up and down the hallway until I found an exit. This time it was much easier to reach the forbidden hallway. I couldn’t quite remember how I’d gotten there, but suddenly I was standing in front of the lab, the alarm wailing. Why did those damn detectors still work?

  I sent fire at them until they started to melt, sparks flying around them and silencing them forever. The guards prepared to attack me, but I wasn’t in the mood for a fight. My element broke through their elemental shields and I plowed inside their minds, dropping them all to the ground. Behind the glass door, Josette stared at me with panicked eyes, unmoving. I supposed she felt safe behind the door. We’d see just how much that stupid door could hold.

  I stopped right in front of the door and placed my hands over the glass, unleashing my fire on it. But as soon as the fire reached its surface, I was thrown back, as if by some invisible force. Grinding my teeth together, I pushed myself up, dusting off my pants. Oh, now I was really, really pissed off.

  Letting my air roam through the room, I looked for a crack—something big enough that my tiny shimmering thread could pass through so I could get into Josette’s mind and force her to open the door. But there weren’t any holes, so I sent my elements at the door to find a weak point that could help me crack it. But no matter how much I tried, nothing budged. I let out an angry roar, pacing in front of the glass like an animal in a cage. Josette just watched me, titling her head. What wouldn’t she give right now to be able to run her tests on me, to turn me into one of her experiments?

  I took a deep breath, pulling my elements back, unwilling to waste any more of my energy. Josette would have to come out eventually, and that thought made my stomach churn. The scientists had another way out of the lab, but I didn’t know where that door was or how to get to it, and I couldn’t be in two places at once. And yet, I couldn’t let her escape. Would she stay here to observe me and take notes? I was just about to try another fire attack when everything went dark.

  Only a moment later, red lights came on, and Josette’s eyes were wide as she looked at something in the corner of the door. Something was wrong. She started running toward the end of the hallway, and I swore. I couldn’t let her escape. What was it that had made her panic?
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  I placed my hands against the door, bracing myself for getting thrown across the hallway by some invisible force, but this time my fire heated the glass until it made a hole in it. I almost jumped up in triumph, but my head was starting to buzz, my vision going blurry. The door gave way and I pushed inside, barely seeing where I was going, led by the force of my element.

  I stumbled through the door that led into the lab room, glad that it was open, and my element found Josette just at the end of the room. I willed her to stay still and dragged myself to where she was, my head pounding. I had to stop. I had to, but I couldn’t.

  “Please, don’t!” Josette cried, huddling in the corner of the room, her eyes filled with tears.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t hear you. Did you say something?” I frowned at her. “Oh, no, you didn’t. I only heard those locked-up people crying out for help, but no one came for them either.”

  “You don’t understand,” she said, hiccupping.

  “You’re right. I don’t.” My element caught her brain signals, breaking them in half. She convulsed on the floor, and I turned toward the next mind. The only thing I could tell was that it was a man, and my element took care of him. I was going through some rooms, or at least I thought I was; everything was so hazy. My air never hesitated, not even when one of Lily’s men poked his head into the lab. Someone screamed, telling everyone to go back, but his words were cut off. I finally slammed the door of the lab room, locking myself in.

  Dropping against the wall, I hugged my knees to myself as my element raged around the room. “Stop,” I pleaded, but it didn’t want to.