Jaiden nodded and we started toward the closest of the houses. As we were walking to the front porch, I noticed something dark lying in the grass.
“Jaiden...” I said as I halted, staring at the object, but it was too dark to see it.
“Yeah?” He stopped next to me, his eyebrows going up.
“What’s that?” I pointed at the object.
A frown line creased Jaiden’s brow and he used his air to lift the object and bring it closer to us.
“Oh God.” I covered my mouth with my hand as I realized it was a phone, a familiar looking phone. Jaiden took what was left of it into his hand. The screen had been smashed.
“Is it his?” I asked.
“Probably.” Jaiden’s face was expressionless.
“Someone attacked him here.” I narrowed my eyes at the dark windows, wondering if someone was observing us or if everyone was fast asleep. Could someone have realized Noah was a tainted elemental and had taken him hostage? With our ever-growing list of enemies, we could never know who was after us.
“We should ask someone.” Jaiden strode toward the porch, and I followed him. We briefly turned into air so we could pass through the cat door, and once we were in the house, the sound of soft snoring drew us to the room where a man was stretched out on the couch, his arm draped over his stomach, his glasses askew on his nose. The TV was still on, but muted, and a can of beer was lying on the floor, along with a half-eaten sandwich.
Jaiden used his air and slipped his shimmering thread into the man’s head. The man’s eyes flew open and he sat up, his dark eyes staring in front of him.
“Did you see any strangers around here today?” Jaiden asked. This wasn’t an area with many visitors and probably everyone knew everybody, so any new faces would certainly be noticed.
“Yes,” the man answered. “A group of people.”
“Other people must have come too when they heard about the fight,” I whispered to Jaiden, and he nodded.
“Did you see a guy with dark hair and blue eyes? He was wearing a dark blue sweater and black pants,” Jaiden said.
The man was quiet for a moment. “Yes.”
“What can you tell me about him?” Jaiden’s air swirled around the man’s head.
“He was looking around for a while. Really suspicious fella,” the man said. “I was watching him through the window, but then his friends came and he went with them. Haven’t seen him after that.”
“His friends?” I asked suspiciously.
“Yeah, they were in a van. Someone waved him over and he got in. They drove off.”
I looked at Jaiden, frowning, and he shook his head. What friends? All Noah’s friends were currently worried about him or looking for him. There was no one else...
“And he went with them willingly?” I asked.
“Yeah, was smiling and everything.”
“Could be mind control,” I said to Jaiden. A good mind controller could’ve reached Noah from inside the car and gotten him to act as if he were happy to see the strangers. But what did they want with him? Had it been someone who worked for Sophia? Did she know he had worked for Elemontera?
“What about his friends? What did they look like?” Jaiden asked.
The man shrugged. “Don’t know. It was too far to see and the van was dark.”
“What else do you remember about the van?”
“Not much. It was black and big. I wasn’t paying much attention to it.”
“You won’t remember any of this and you’ll go back to sleep,” Jaiden said, and the man lay down on the couch, closed his eyes, and continued snoring as if nothing had happened. The only difference was that his glasses had fallen off his nose.
“So someone really took him.” I swallowed past the lump forming in my throat. “We just don’t know who.” They must have tossed his phone later, or used their elements to get rid of it so it couldn’t be traced.
“We’ll find him,” Jaiden said determinedly.
“What if Sophia is looking for other ex-Elemontera agents? If she has files about them...”
“I don’t know. She hasn’t publicly accused anyone of anything, except us.” Jaiden frowned.
“Yeah, that’s weird.”
“Everything about that woman is weird. Maybe she only wants to hunt down tainteds she considers evil and will let others go...”
“Or maybe not.” I wasn’t about to count on Sophia’s humanity. “Now what? Do you think she’ll try to use Noah against us? If she wanted him dead, she would’ve done it already and announced it somewhere.”
“I don’t think she’d gain anything by actually admitting she killed a tainted elemental,” Jaiden said. “She could get away with killing us, but Noah... he’s innocent. She has nothing on him except that he worked for Elemontera, and he hasn’t really done anything bad.”
“She’ll use him to draw us out, then.” There was an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. Jaiden’s phone vibrated and he answered.
“No, we haven’t. He’s been taken. No. I’ll explain later,” Jaiden said. “Yeah, okay. See you.”
He ended the call and I raised a questioning eyebrow at him.
“It was Nick. He says the cops will need at least two weeks to fix their systems. There’s no sign of Noah anywhere, but we already knew that. Told him we’d go back to the lab.”
“Okay.” I let my element envelop me, and we left the house and headed back to the lab. Wherever Noah was, I prayed that he was fine. And if he wasn’t, whoever had kidnapped him would seriously regret it.
Chapter 17
Jaiden and I looked at each other as we landed in front of his father’s new lab. After trying every possible way to discover something about Noah, we gave up and decided to ask for help.
“Oh, there you are,” Jack said as he passed through the door, his smile as wide as it could be. “I was wondering when you’d need my help again.”
“One of ours has been taken,” I said. “If you still have the means to find out who it was...”
“Whoa, Moira, I didn’t resurrect Elemontera completely,” he said. “But maybe there’s something I can do. Not that I care about your friend.” He waved his hand. “Come on inside.”
I took a deep breath and followed Jaiden and his father into the building.
“You haven’t really been successful at solving my problem,” Jack said, shooting a displeased look at his son. “I’ve given you so much power, and yet, Sophia is still walking freely. If you were still in Elemontera, we’d have solved this in less than a day.” His mouth curled. “But no, you had to ruin Elemontera, and now look where we are... hiding like rats.”
“Oh, what do you know about hiding and rats?” I snapped. “You know full well why there are people after you. It’s your own goddamn fault.”
“I wasn’t talking to you.” He sneered and placed his hand on Jaiden’s arm. “Now seriously. Why do I have to wait so long? Are you any closer to capturing that woman?”
“Father...” Jaiden licked his lips, and pulled away from Jack’s touch.
“No, don’t say it,” Jack said. “You’re absolutely incompetent on your own.”
This time a puff of air sent Jack flying down his sparkling clean hallway.
“Moira!” Jaiden said, but he didn’t look angry about it. In fact, the corners of his lips were tugging up.
“Sorry, couldn’t help it.” I shrugged as Jack got to his feet, his eyes shooting daggers at me as he dusted off his clothes.
“Are you trying to kill me?” Jack asked, crossing his arms. “I don’t have to help you, you know. It’s the two of you who need me!”
“Yeah, yeah.” I threw my hands up. “Whatever. But my friend is missing and I’m sorry if I can’t listen to your useless yapping right now!”
“Useless yapping,” Jack murmured, touching the back of his head and inspecting his hand, but there was no blood.
“Just tell us how you can help us,” Jaiden said as we made our way to the comput
ers.
“One of my men managed to get the satellite to work again. Well, partially, but it should be able to get images of the area where your friend was taken. It’s been recording everything for the past three days, so if it was filming that area...”
“Good.” Jaiden immediately took a seat in front of the computer and started typing something. I assumed he still remembered how to use the satellite from the time when he’d worked for his father. I settled in the chair next to him, watching the screen. Jack loomed over us and I lifted my eyes toward him. He just offered me a twisted smile, clearly not willing to go away and leave us alone with his precious satellite.
“Got it. The van unfortunately disappears because the satellite moved to another area, but it’s something,” Jaiden said after a few minutes, and I focused on the zoomed image on the screen. It was indeed a black van, and this time we could make out the plates. Jaiden entered the search system that would hopefully tell us who owned the car.
“Who else has satellites that are this good?” I asked Jack. If anyone could film and zoom everything so clearly like this, then we were screwed because there was nowhere to hide.
“Only me, for now,” Jack said proudly. “It’s the latest technology.”
“Great,” I muttered. Why do the bad guys always get the best things?
“The van belongs to one Carl Thomasen,” Jaiden said. “He lives on Fireby Street.” The photo of an elderly man with short gray hair and brown eyes flashed on the screen.
“Know him somehow too?” I glanced at Jack.
“No, never seen him,” Jack said, and I hoped he wasn’t lying this time.
“Who’s the guy?” I turned to Jaiden.
“No idea. Probably some random guy, although he didn’t report his van as stolen. Maybe someone mind-controlled him into handing it over.”
“Could be, but we still might be able to find out who did that.” I could heal his brain or we could mind-control him to tell us what he remembered.
“Yeah. We should pay him a visit.”
I jumped to my feet, ready to get as far away from Jack as possible.
“Leaving so soon?” He actually pouted.
“Why? You need company in your hideout?” I asked, my body slowly turning into air. “Why don’t you just call one of your men? Or the rats can keep you company.”
Jack tsked, and Jaiden and I were out of there before he could say anything else.
“I’m coming with you,” Nick said determinedly as soon as Jaiden and I had finished telling everyone that we’d be going to inspect the van owner’s house for any clues. We didn’t want to waste any precious time, so we all whizzed straight to the house. As we landed onto the porch, I observed our surroundings and slowly materialized. The sky was dark and cloudy, the rain almost ready to fall. The door of the house was locked, and the shutters were closed.
“Maybe he’s not here,” Nick said. “He could’ve gone to live somewhere else or he’s on vacation, so he left the van here and doesn’t even know it’s gone.”
“Could be,” I said. That was a far better option than Sophia’s group mind-controlling him or even killing him to take possession of the van. Although, I wasn’t entirely sure how far she was willing to go to obtain what she wanted. If she really cared about regular elementals, she would never harm one. “Or maybe he’s a supporter, so he gave her the van.”
“If it’s even Sophia who kidnapped Noah,” Jaiden said.
“Has to be,” I whispered. If we were dealing with yet another threat, I was going to lose my mind. The porch was hidden behind the trees, so at least no one could see us from the street.
“I don’t see any holes,” Jaiden said. “We’ll have to break in.”
“Do it,” I said, and Jaiden hit the door with his air, pushing at it until it flew open. We stepped into the dark hallway, and Jaiden searched the wall for a light switch, but when he flipped it, nothing happened.
“Lights are out,” he whispered. Either nobody had lived here for a long time and the electricity had been turned off, or someone had destroyed the lights. We stood there in the darkness for a moment. The only thing I could hear was our breathing and the beating of my heart.
“What now?” Nick asked.
I created a small fireball and illuminated the hallway.
“That’s nice,” Nick said. “And what are we non-fire people supposed to do?”
“Find a candle or something,” Jaiden said, his own fireballs illuminating the walls. I picked up a photo from the cabinet and realized it was dusty.
“I don’t think we’ll find anyone here,” I said.
“Yeah, this place looks abandoned,” Nick said, then found a small candle in a glass. Jaiden lit it up for him, and Nick grinned. “Thanks.”
“Moira, you check the room to the right. Nick, go left. I’ll check the back yard,” Jaiden said. “Meet me outside later. I doubt you’ll find anything interesting here.”
He was probably right. The house was small, with only a kitchen, a room, and a bathroom, and I could already tell from here that the bathroom was empty. Slipping into the kitchen, I let my fireballs hover near the ceiling, and headed for the fridge. When I opened it, I saw it was empty. No food or anything that would indicate someone had been here recently.
I checked a few drawers, but they were mostly empty. There was nothing here for us. We were wasting time. Still, since we were already here, it couldn’t hurt to check every corner. Crouching, I traced my fingers across the floor. There was no dust or dirt, which was strange. Maybe someone had been here after all... The door slammed shut, making me jump. I sent more energy into my fireballs so they’d be bigger, and then turned toward the door, ready for action.
“Nick? Is that you?” I yelled, just in case it had been him who’d closed the door. Maybe he had been flying outside and the door had closed because of the wind. My shoulders tense, I inched toward the door. But as I pulled the knob, I realized the door was stuck... or locked.
“Hey!” I banged at the door, hoping to catch someone’s attention. I slammed my fist harder, but the door didn’t budge. Dropping my hand to my side, I listened for any noise, but I couldn’t hear anyone’s footsteps.
“Nick!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, but I didn’t get an answer. Great. I stepped away from the door and glared at it. If it wanted to go down the hard way, it would. “If anyone’s out there, don’t come near the door!” I wouldn’t have yelled a warning if I hadn’t believed Nick or Jaiden would come, and I didn’t want to hurt them.
Focusing on my fire, I sent a powerful blast at the door, which was strong enough to withstand the first attack, so I increased my energy. The door finally burst outward, bits and pieces of it on fire. I threw more of my fire at it, but used it to catch the flames and extinguish them. Using my air to disperse the smoke, I headed into the hallway and followed a thin trail of light until I reached the exit and nearly bumped into Jaiden.
“What happened?” A frown line creased his brow. “I heard noises and was just about to... Are you okay?” He looked me up and down.
“Yeah, the door closed and got stuck. I had to break it.” I couldn’t see Nick anywhere. “Is Nick still inside?”
Jaiden shrugged. “I guess. Didn’t see him come out.”
“Okay, let’s go get him. There’s nothing here for us.” I turned into air and flew back inside, whizzing through the hallway and into the room that Nick was supposed to check.
“Nick?” I called, but there was no answer. Jaiden materialized next to me and used his fire to illuminate the room, which was empty.
“Where did he go?” he asked.
“Maybe he’s outside.” If he had gone back to the porch, then we wouldn’t have seen him. We flew outside, but he wasn’t there either. Circling the house, we glided in and out, but there was no trace of Nick. I became corporeal in front of the door and raked a hand through my hair.
“He’s not here,” Jaiden said, his shimmering thread coming back toward his
hand. “I can’t sense him anywhere.”
I swore under my breath, going for my phone. I dialed the number with shaky fingers. Oh God, not Nick too. But we were alone in front of the house. The phone rang again and again, but nobody answered.
“I’ll go check for any hidden doors or traps,” Jaiden said, turning into air and rushing inside. A sense of dread filled my stomach as the phone kept on ringing. Someone had taken Nick. I didn’t know how, but whoever had locked me in the kitchen had kidnapped Nick.
When Jaiden returned, his face serious, I knew that I was right. Nick was gone too. Someone was playing games with us and watching us constantly. I turned around, trying to spot any shimmering in the trees or in the sky, but I couldn’t see anything.
“No,” I whispered. Jaiden pulled me into his arms, and I clung onto him.
Chapter 18
I chewed on my nails as Sam and Ashley were arguing about Sophia’s intentions. A week had passed without any news or clues about Nick and Noah’s whereabouts. We didn’t know where to look, and Sophia hadn’t made any announcements.
“Maybe it wasn’t her,” Sam said.
“Yes, it was.” Ashley raised her voice. “Who else would just kidnap them without being seen or without leaving a trail? We’d know if there were another Elemontera-like agency out there.”
“But what’s she doing with them?” Marissa asked. “It’s been days! She hasn’t contacted us or made any demands. She didn’t even turn Nick and Noah over to the cops. What the hell does she want?”
“Maybe she’s trying to mind-control them into telling her our location.” Ashley said.
“I don’t think so,” Jaiden said as he strolled into the room. “There are no traces of any intruders or spies around here. And since Sophia is so powerful, she would’ve had our location in seconds if she wanted it.”
“What then? I can’t do this anymore!” Marissa was at the edge of tears and Ashley pulled her into a hug.
I dialed my parents’ new number. After what happened, I decided to send them to a safe place, and I made them promise they wouldn’t tell anyone, including me, where they were staying at.
Hunted (Tainted Elements, #5) Page 10