Monster (Tainted Elements Book 3)

by Alycia Linwood

  “Some of Elemontera’s agents have already agreed that they want to help. No one is going to get hurt. You can participate too, if you want. You’ve helped Lily and the others a lot. I’m sure she’ll listen to what you have to say. Maybe the new organization does sound like Elemontera a little, but if we keep track of tainted elementals and make sure they don’t misuse their abilities, then we might be able to officially reveal your existence to the public one day, and people will know that they’re safe and don’t have to worry. All Lily is trying to do is to make sure no one will want to harm tainted elements once the truth is out.”

  I rolled my eyes. “As if they’d ever catch us.”

  “Well, maybe they’d have trouble catching you, but if many people came together, I’m sure it wouldn’t be so easy for anyone, even with mind control. And if they can’t get to the elementals, they might even come for their families.”

  I didn’t even want to consider that someone could attack my family simply because of what I was. “What about the experiments? Are those continuing too?”

  “No, definitely not,” she said adamantly. “What Elemontera was doing... it was horrible.”

  “Did you get my message and check what I asked you to?” I asked curiously.

  “Yeah, Noah brought it to me. Didn’t look too pleased about it.” She gave me a disapproving look. “I think I figured out what was happening to those poor people. Elemontera was trying to change the genetic code of adults, similarly to what we did with fetuses, but it didn’t work, because elements were already mature, not still in development like those of unborn babies.”

  “But it worked for some. I mean, I’ve seen one man use his new elements once.” Right until Jaiden had shot him.

  “It had to be only for a short time. All of these people died eventually, some sooner, some later, but none of them survived. Their bodies couldn’t hold the elements, so they’d just... well, most died in pain and agony as their elements ripped their way out of their bodies.” She grimaced. “As for that vial that you sent me, I’m afraid the sample was too small. I tried to recreate it, but it wasn’t completely identical, so... Why did you want a permanent version of that serum? What does it do?” She arched her eyebrows.

  “I was hoping it would help those people,” I lied. My mom wouldn’t be pleased that I was trying to find a permanent solution for Jaiden’s problem with weakening elements.

  “I doubt anything would help them. That kind of experimenting...” She shook her head. “I don’t know why anyone would try something so horrible.”

  “I’m sure someone would pay good money for it, especially if there’s even a slight chance of success.”

  “Jack Maiers must have shown his benefactors one of you and convinced them they could be like that. No one told them that you were born with those abilities.”

  “Jaiden wasn’t born with them,” I said, and my mom frowned.

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s like two years older than me. You came up with genetic manipulation after he was born.”

  “Then how is he still...?” Her eyes widened.

  “His father experimented on him as a baby and was successful, but after that, he could never repeat it with someone older. And since it’s adults who want enhanced elements and are willing to pay for it, he had to come up with something new, and that clearly didn’t work.”

  My mom sighed. “Sounds intriguing, but Jaiden’s case must have been an exception. We can’t kill thousands of people to enable just a few to have more powerful elements. That would be absurd!”

  I nodded. “We can’t let those experiments happen ever again. What about that address? Did you check that out? I found it in Sheridan’s office.”

  “Yeah.” She glanced around uneasily. “It’s an address of one of Marlau’s houses. I don’t think you should go anywhere near there. You’ve never been one of them.”

  “Um, okay.” I briefly wondered who’d killed more people: my biological father or me. “I’ll need you to run some tests on me.”

  “Why? The doctors already made sure everything was fine with you. We even checked your energy levels. It’s all as it should be.”

  “I need to be sure, because I think my elements were out of control a bit even before the drug pushed them to their worst. There are things I’ve done that... I just want to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.” I didn’t want my elements to control my life. Maybe Jaiden was right and the behavior of my elements was a product of my emotional state and subconscious, but I didn’t want the part of me that enjoyed messing with people’s minds to get the best of me.

  “If it will put your mind at ease, I’ll do whatever tests you want me to,” she said, bending down and kissing my forehead. The door swung open and my dad burst inside, carrying a tray with food.

  “Did you say you wanted more fries or more chicken? I totally...” his voice trailed off as his eyes fell on me. A smile broke out on his face, and he dumped the tray on a chair.

  “I knew she’d wake up while I was fetching you food! God, woman, couldn’t you have been hungry a couple of minutes earlier?” He glared at my mom, but he was smiling. Then he turned to me. “Hey, sweetie. How are you feeling?”

  “Hungry,” I said as he pulled me into his arms.

  “Well, good thing that I brought food.” He winked at me.

  Chapter 22

  As soon as I was able to get on my feet without help, I told my parents I needed to talk to Lily, and they’d taken me to a big office with an elegant dark blue table and matching chairs. Lily stood by the huge window, gazing at the city. Her black hair was tied in a braid, and her left arm was bandaged. A smile appeared on her lips when she turned toward me.

  “Hello, Moira. Nice to see you up,” she said.

  “I heard some things about your deal with the government,” I said carefully.

  “You have nothing to worry about. Elementals like you will no longer be hunted.” She came closer to the table, leaning on one of the chairs. “And no one will hold anyone anywhere against their will or do experiments.”

  “Sounds good, but I also heard you’re going to be actively searching for tainted elementals and track them. That kind of concerns me.” I crossed my arms.

  “You do realize your abilities are very... special. Someone with that much power could do very bad things and we might not be able to even discover their identity. Elemontera was somewhat notorious for killing those who misused their abilities, so most of the elementals behaved. But we need to know exactly how many of you are out there, and we need to be able to catch those who are a danger for everyone.”

  “Are you talking about those like me?” I was well aware of the danger, but I didn’t want people to judge all tainted elementals based on what a few of us had done or could do.

  “You’re not a danger for anyone. What happened with your elements wasn’t your fault. You were a double agent, and we all know such missions have certain consequences. And thanks to you, the government gave me a chance to change things. But there are things that I had to agree to so they wouldn’t put someone even worse than Jack Maiers in charge. We were lucky there was enough evidence against Elemontera, so the government didn’t have a choice, but they’re not exactly happy with this.” She clasped her hands. “Still, I’m planning to run things my way, as always. You can ask your mother if you don’t believe me, but we really are trying to do the right thing, even if that goes against the rules.” She winked at me. “We just have to be careful.”

  Maybe she was right. Lily didn’t seem like one of those people who’d issue a kill order for hundreds of innocent people out of fear, and she certainly had experience with oppressed groups, but she’d never be one of us. “My mom told me you were hiring tainted elementals to help you out. Did you get many applications?”

  “Yeah, some ex-Elemontera agents would love to help out. What about you? You’ve done so much for us already, but I’m sure you’d be a great addition to our organizat
ion.” She beamed.

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I could help out from time to time, I guess, but I don’t want to be your full-time agent or anything.”

  She hesitated, looking at her hands.

  “What is it?”

  “Well, we have one problem, but I don’t want to bother you. You’ve barely...”

  “Just say it. You obviously need me to do something for you, so cut the crap and tell me.” I tapped my foot against the floor.

  “The thing is, I don’t really trust any of our new agents with this. They’ve just been freed from Elemontera and I’m still not sure where their loyalties lie. You, on the other hand, I totally trust. Elemontera is gone, but the man behind it is still alive out there somewhere. I’ve sent my team to look for him, but we’re not having much luck.”

  “You want me to help you catch him. But I don’t know how. I’m not psychic. Besides, he’s a regular elemental. All you need to do is track him down and get him.” Just because I’d been training with Elemontera and somehow successfully fulfilled my mission didn’t mean that I was a secret agent. I had no clue how to find someone, unless they were shimmering.

  “It’s not that simple. He has a powerful guard, and that’s where you come in. He wouldn’t have escaped if his son hadn’t helped him. So find Jaiden, and you’ll find his father. All we need is both of them in custody. Although, if something happened to them on the way to prison, I wouldn’t mind.” She flashed me a smile. I must have looked as horrified as I felt, because her smile vanished. “You’re not still into that boy, are you? He left you to bleed to death and escaped before anyone could catch him. He’s killed way too many people, including the officer who went to negotiate with his father.”

  I just stared at her. This is exactly what I’d been afraid of. Lily might not hurt innocent people, but as soon as she thought someone was guilty of something, she was ready to gun them down. “I’ve been at the office. That man had been shot. I saw the blood. How can you know it was Jaiden who pulled the trigger?”

  “He probably didn’t pull the trigger, but someone did. Still, our investigators confirmed that the officer had died of a cardiac arrest and not the gun wound.”

  I wondered if she also had a list of people I’d killed, or if that had been all deleted because I was her agent and I’d helped her obtain what she wanted. “Does this mean all agents who’ve done bad things while working for Elemontera will end up in jail or something?”

  “No, of course not. They didn’t have a choice, but Jaiden did. He could have overpowered his father in the blink of an eye, but he didn’t. After all, he’s his father’s son. If he were innocent, he wouldn’t be protecting his father, he wouldn’t have tried to kill you, and he wouldn’t have run from us.”

  I had a very good idea why Jaiden was still protecting his father, but if I argued more in Jaiden’s favor, Lily would never listen to me and she’d send someone else after him. I couldn’t let that happen. “Right.”

  “So you’ll do it? He’s very strong, and I believe you’re the only one who can match that.”

  “Yeah, I’ll try, but I bet it won’t be easy. They may have both already left the city. They could be anywhere by now.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of, but you might be able to extract information from people. Maybe someone has seen them.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.” Even if her intentions were good, I didn’t know how the whole plan would unfold, so it was better for me to stick around.

  “Oh, and report any tainted elementals you spot, or, even better, bring them here. We want to make sure everyone knows there’s nothing to be afraid of. We’re not Elemontera.”

  Maybe if she kept saying this to herself over and over again, she’d believe it. “What about those rogue elementals? While I was in Elemontera, I discovered they might be a part of some weird cult that believes one person will get all the elements and sub-elements. They left behind a whole bunch of old books about prophecies.” If Lily wanted to find potentially dangerous elementals, she should focus on Raven and her group first.

  “As far as I’m concerned, they were trying to bring down Elemontera. Now they no longer have an enemy. We will try to reach out to them, and I hope they won’t give us trouble. Those books were probably some kind of a tactic or distraction until they found a way to attack. Maybe they just wanted to see how many of Elemontera’s agents would come.”

  “I think we should keep an eye on them. Marissa saw some of them, so I suppose she gave you their descriptions. Did you find out who they are?”

  “We tried, but no one really matches the description, or too many people do, and Marissa can’t quite remember them, so let’s just hope they’ll reappear now that the air is clear,” she said. “Oh, I almost forgot. Do you know your friends are here?”

  “What?” I hadn’t had a chance to ask about them, but I figured they’d be safe on Roivenna. “When did they come?”

  “Earlier today. Noah went for them immediately after we were done with Elemontera. Kenna had to stay behind, I’m afraid, but I’m sure you’ll find some time to stop by the island and free her.”

  “Yeah, sure.” I started for the door and realized all I’d seen of this building, aside from my room and this office, were mostly empty hallways. “Where do I find the others?”

  “Go to the end of the hallway. The elevator will take you to the second floor. You’ll find them either in the biggest room or somewhere just around there. I gave each one of them their own room.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  “Your parents insisted that you go home with them, but if you want a room here, you can have it.”

  “Thanks.” I gave her a smile and closed the door behind me.

  Chapter 23

  The elevator door opened and I found myself in a long hallway with pale yellow walls. A thick orange carpet covered the floor, and I padded toward the open door at the end. I peered around the door and saw Noah and the others sitting around a big table.

  “Hey, guys,” I said, and they all looked up at me.

  “Moira!” Marissa’s face brightened. Ashley and Sam inclined their heads at me and then went back to their card game. Noah watched me carefully, his smile wavering. I took a seat in an empty chair next to him.

  “I think I owe you an apology,” I said to Noah. “I shouldn’t have mind-controlled you.”

  He looked away for a moment, then his blue eyes met mine. “I thought you trusted me. I wouldn’t have revealed anything. You know that, right?”

  I picked at my nails. “Yeah. I was just...”

  “Look, you don’t have to explain. I get it. You were under a lot of pressure and your elements were a bit unruly,” he said. “So what was it that you wanted your mom to check so urgently?”

  “It was a serum I stole from Elemontera. I thought it would help with something, but I was wrong.” I said. He didn’t have to know more than that. “What are you all planning to do now?”

  “I’ll stay and help Lily,” Noah said. “I don’t really have a family or a home to go to. This place seems perfect for me.”

  “I’m going to see my family.” Marissa beamed. “They left the city a few months ago because they thought they’d never see me again, but now that they know I’m alive, they’re coming back!”

  “That’s great.” I offered her a smile.

  “We’re going to stay here until we find a place to live,” Sam said, giving Ashley a loving look. My eyebrows shot upward. Many things must have happened while I was gone.

  “What about you?” Noah asked, his eyes boring into mine. “Are you going back home with your parents? Back to college?”

  “I haven’t really thought about college at all,” I said. “Lily has a mission for me that needs to be done, but yeah, I’ll go home.”

  I didn’t want to live in a place that reminded me so much of Elemontera. Actually, any building that wasn’t my home and was full of agents and guards reminded me of Elemontera. My house was
n’t that far away, and I was sure my parents would love me to live with them again. Going back to college would have to wait, though, because I needed some time to recover and think things through.

  “Nick asked for a favor,” Noah said. “He stayed with Kenna on Roivenna because she can’t leave, but he hopes you can heal her brain like you healed his.”

  “Yeah, I’ll do it in a few days. Just need to make sure I’m ready for something like that.” I got to my feet. “Actually, I have to see my mom about something. See you all later.”

  Noah got up too. “I wanted to talk to you in private.”

  “Sure. Come on.” We walked out of the room, and Noah stopped me when we were well out of earshot of the others.

  “Lily wants you to find Jaiden and his father, doesn’t she?” He regarded me carefully.

  “Yeah, but I told her they’re probably far away from here by now.”

  “How are you holding up? I mean, you trusted Jaiden and he almost killed you.”

  “Is that what Lily told you?”

  His brows pulled in. “Yeah. Isn’t that what happened?”

  “Not quite,” I said. “I think I would have hurt more people if he hadn’t stopped me.”

  “You could have bled to death!” he snarled.

  “No. He knew Lily’s men were coming and that they’d take care of me.” Noah had been Jaiden’s friend once. Surely he’d understand that not all Jaiden’s actions had been ill-intentioned.

  “And that is why he just left and didn’t even bother to check if you were fine?”

  I sighed. “If he had stayed, they would have killed him.” If Lily was ready to kill the boss, I had no doubt she’d do the same with Jaiden, especially after he’d helped his father. She’d wanted him out of the picture.

  “Don’t tell me you’re excusing his behavior and everything that he’s done!” Noah curled his lip.