Different (Tainted Elements Book 1)

by Alycia Linwood

  “What about your parents’ friends? Adrian and Ria?” Noah asked. “If someone came for them and heard them talk about you or forced them to tell...?”

  I inhaled sharply. “What if it’s the same people who attacked the house the first time? My mom told me Ria’s friends took care of it, but what if they didn’t? She said they were after Ria, but I don’t know what they wanted.”

  “They did. The house was safe a day ago,” Jaiden said. “I sent Sam to check.”

  “Okay, but what if they came back? What if they want to lure me to the house so they could force Ria and Adrian to come out of hiding or something?” Ria and Adrian had to be alive in that case, but it still didn’t make sense. Why would the kidnappers think Ria would care about me? At this point, I wasn’t even sure if someone wanted me in that house because of my elements or because of something else.

  “We’ll figure this out,” Jaiden said. “Noah, are you ready to go back?”

  “Yeah,” Noah said without hesitation.

  “I’m coming with you,” I said.

  Jaiden gave me a long, hard look. “Are you sure? If you can’t follow my orders once we get there, you could put us all in danger.”

  “I’m sure.” I intended to follow his orders as long as I agreed with them. Everything else be damned. Jaiden’s parents weren’t tied up and threatened by some psychos.

  “I’m coming too,” Kenna said, wiping her eyes. “I need to know if my brother is on the island.”

  Jaiden considered it for a moment, then sighed. “Fine. But you’ll leave as soon as we determine whether your brother is there or not.”

  “Jai...” Kenna started to say, but Jaiden placed his finger on her lips.

  “No. If he’s there, you leave. He’s your twin. If he sees you, he might come after you,” Jaiden said firmly and dropped his hand.

  “He wouldn’t hurt me.” Kenna’s eyes flashed with anger.

  “Maybe. Maybe not. We can’t risk it. You’ll leave or I’ll make you.”

  She huffed, crossing her arms.

  “Or you can stay here,” Jaiden added.

  “No, I’m coming, but I’ll leave when you tell me to. Promise,” she said through her teeth. “So, are we flying there?”

  “Yeah,” Jaiden said. “We need to be quick about this. Can’t leave a trail.”

  “Wait.” The three of them could fly, but I couldn’t. “What about me?”

  “I’ll carry you,” Jaiden said casually.

  Kenna rolled her eyes.

  “You can do that?” I gaped at him. How exactly could someone turn another person into air?

  “Yeah,” his lips quirked. “It’s not easy, but it can be done.”

  “Okay.” Maybe, just maybe, I’d learn how to turn into air by myself if Jaiden did it for me. A girl could hope.

  Chapter 17

  Flying was a completely different sensation from what I’d expected. Jaiden had simply put his arms around me and lifted me into the air. I didn’t feel invisible at all, especially because I could see the shimmering contours of my body. As we flew through the branches, I could feel the air against my face, but I couldn’t feel anything else because things seemed to pass right through me. My stomach was doing little flips of excitement, but I wasn’t sure if that was because of the air passing through my whole body or because I was thrilled to be flying.

  “Am I a ghost now?” I yelled, unsure if Jaiden could hear me. How I could still make a sound while I was like this was a mystery. How could air pass through my vocal cords if they were now made of air too? Or maybe they weren’t. God, this was confusing. Or just magic.

  “No, you’re not,” he chuckled. “The feeling might be similar, though.”

  “But can you touch things while you’re like this? Won’t they just pass right through your hand? Oh, can you also pass through walls?”

  “Yes, I can touch things. All you need is to have an intention to lift something or take it. It’s easier to pick up the object before turning into air, though.” Jaiden moved us to the left to avoid a tree. “We can’t pass through walls. We would need a small opening to go through.”

  “Is that why you’re avoiding trees? But what about the branches?” I was certain I’d give Jaiden a headache from so many questions, but I wanted to know.

  “Trees are huge and branches are small. We can easily divide our air and ourselves around small objects, but not around big ones. Any objects in our way slow us down or can even hurt us if we don’t part our air right.” He paused. “I’m not sure if I’m explaining it right, but imagine a weak gust of air hitting a stick. The air won’t go through the stick, but it will pass around it. If that same gust of air hits a wall, it will go up or down the wall, but it can’t go through. Not if there isn’t an opening.”

  “I think I get it.” Maybe. “I just don’t understand how we can pass through a small hole if I can still see my body like it is.”

  “That’s an illusion. You’re air now, but your brain can’t quite grasp that concept, so you still feel your body as if it’s there. Trust me, it’s not. Well, not in the usual sense of that word. Same happens when you turn into fire. You’ll see that you can move your fiery hand just like you’d move a normal hand, but your brain is the one turning the fire into the hand because that’s what’s familiar to you.”

  “Okay.” I saw that we were nearing a fence. Kenna’s and Noah’s shimmering clouds went right above it, but Jaiden and I slammed right through it. I had no idea if Jaiden was simply showing off or trying to prove a point.

  “We’re getting closer to the house,” Jaiden stated the obvious. I could recognize some of the trees and see the shape of the house ahead of us. Noah and Kenna turned visible, hiding behind the trees. Jaiden put me down and I could see my body again.

  “Wait here,” Jaiden said and flew toward the house.

  “So, how was your flight?” Noah teased, a smile curving his lips.

  “Awesome, actually.” If I could only learn how to do it myself, I’d be the happiest person in the world.

  “Do you...” Noah started to say, but I shushed him.

  “I appreciate your attempt to distract me, but I still feel like I’m about to jump out of my skin,” I whispered. My parents were somewhere in the house, so close to me, yet so far. I didn’t even know if they were hurt. Were they terrified? Were they hoping someone would come save them? Were they hoping I wouldn’t do what the mysterious man wanted me to? I took a deep breath, digging my fingers into the trunk of the nearest tree. Kenna was standing right across from me, biting her lower lip. Her whole body seemed to shake.

  Jaiden materialized right in front of us, a frown line creasing his brow. “That’s not Elemontera.”

  “How do you know?” Noah said.

  “I know, okay?” Jaiden said, clenching his jaw.

  “Can I go see for myself?” Kenna said, suspicion flashing in her eyes.

  Jaiden sighed. “Go, but leave right after. I’m not trying to hide your brother from you!”

  Kenna immediately turned into air, flying for the house. Jaiden shook his head at her and turned to me. “Your parents are fine. It’s up to you if you want to go inside or do something else.”

  I frowned. If it wasn’t Elemontera who was after me, then who was it? The man did come with a whole team of armed men, so it wasn’t someone harmless. “We need to call someone. Find out what these guys want.”

  “Oh, I don’t think we’ll have any problem finding out what they want,” Jaiden’s lips quirked up.

  I raised an eyebrow at him.

  “We can get one of the men here and question him.” Jaiden leaned on a tree, his posture relaxed. He seemed much happier after he found out we weren’t dealing with Elemontera.

  “And how are we going to get a guy here without risking being shot?” I crossed my arms.

  “Easy.” He tapped two fingers against his temple.

  I opened my mouth, closed it. Right. If these guys weren’t from Elemonter
a, they were just regular elementals who didn’t have a clue about what Jaiden could do. I felt my lips spread into a smile. “Do it. Wait, why can’t you just convince the kidnapper to let my parents go?”

  “Too risky. I could lose control over his mind or someone could realize something was wrong. He wouldn’t change his mind just like that. Besides, some minds and thoughts are easier to control than others.” Jaiden closed his eyes and when he opened them again, they were darker than the night. His brow was drawn in concentration, his muscles rigid. I was about to ask how he could do this if he couldn’t even see the person he was trying to mind control, but I didn’t want to disturb him. One part of me was frightened of his ability. If there were more elementals with the same ability, they could control anyone they wanted and they could do it while hidden somewhere. No one would even know or suspect anything.

  Dry leaves crunched as one of the men approached us, gun in hand. Someone I couldn’t see yelled something to him, but the man waved him off and pulled off his mask, revealing a mop of unruly black hair. I took a step back and bumped into Noah.

  “Relax. Jaiden has it under control,” he whispered. I licked my dry lips. The man pretty much looked like he was coming toward us on his own, not like someone was controlling him. Couldn’t Jaiden at least make the guy drop the gun? Or did it look more believable this way? Not that anyone would ever assume mind control was real.

  “Who are you?” Jaiden asked as the man stopped not far away from us.

  “Thomas,” the man said, his green eyes glazed.

  “Okay, Thomas. Who do you work for?”

  “I...” Thomas stammered and Jaiden narrowed his eyes at him. “...for Montgeary Security.”

  “Security?” Noah snorted. “Yeah, right.”

  Jaiden raised his finger to shush him, his eyes never leaving Thomas. “Who hired you?”

  “I don’t know. Boss didn’t tell us.” Thomas’s eyes were darting from Jaiden to Noah. I hoped Jaiden could maintain his control over the guy or we would be in trouble. The guy’s gun was now safely tucked in his belt, but I didn’t know when he’d decide to use it.

  “He’s useless. Just hired muscle,” Noah said, shaking his head.

  “Do you know who owns this house?” Jaiden said, ignoring Noah.

  “Ria Milanez and Adrian Liandre,” Thomas said. So he did know something.

  “Do you know where they are?”

  “No.”

  I rubbed my eyes. If the guy was just a guard who stood outside the house, then he didn’t know much. “What exactly are your orders?”

  “To watch the house and make sure no one goes out.”

  “What if someone wants to go in? A girl?” Jaiden asked, glancing at me.

  “We should make sure she’s unarmed and put an element-blocking bracelet on her.”

  “What do you know about this girl?” I asked. Maybe I could at least find out if the mystery man wanted to kill me or capture me.

  “Brown hair, brown eyes, eighteen years old, air elemental.”

  Noah stopped pacing and looked at me, a smile tugging at his lips. “They don’t know who they’re dealing with, do they?”

  “What if the girl fights you or brings someone with her?” I tilted my head at the man.

  “We fight back, capture the girl.”

  “Capture or kill?” Noah asked.

  “Capture. The girl mustn’t be harmed.” Beads of sweat broke out on the man’s forehead.

  Jaiden stumbled. “We have to hurry. I can’t do this forever.”

  “You can let him go. We don’t need him anymore,” I said, turning on my heel. The mystery man obviously didn’t want me dead. That was all I needed to know. “Wait.” I glanced over my shoulder at Jaiden. “Will he remember this? Can you erase his memories?”

  “Not really, but I can convince him not to think about it,” Jaiden said, reaching for the guy’s gun.

  “But if someone asks him all the right questions and he remembers...” He was here long enough to make someone suspicious. Hell, maybe someone was coming our way already.

  “That won’t be now. He’s going to sleep.” Jaiden gave me a chilling smile a second before he hit the guy over the head with the gun. The guy fell to the ground like a log, his head bumping against a rock, his eyes closing.

  I stood there, open-mouthed. “Was that necessary?” My voice was more intense than I intended it to be.

  “He’ll be fine.” Noah put his hands on my shoulders. “We need to come up with a plan.”

  “Okay.” I took a steadying breath. “Umm, can we call for help? The cops?”

  “It’s your decision,” Noah said. “If you think the cops could deal with this without endangering your parents...”

  I chewed on my lip. By the time we called the cops and they arrived, the whole island would be alerted. That would give the kidnappers enough time to whisk my parents away to some unknown location. I didn’t know if Ria’s house had secret tunnels underneath. If it did, the bad guys could run away without anyone’s knowledge. I didn’t know Ria’s friends who had helped the first time and I sure as hell didn’t know how to contact them. “You’ll get my parents out while I distract everyone,” I said to Noah and Jaiden, who in return gave me incredulous stares.

  “How are you planning to do that?” Noah jumped from foot to foot, glancing in the direction of the house.

  “Well, whoever wants me, wants me alive, so it should be safe for me to go inside to talk to the kidnappers and see what they want. While I’m busy talking, you two can fly inside without being seen and get my parents out.” I offered them a wide smile, hoping they’d go along with my plan. “I can’t force you to do this for me, but I’d appreciate it if you could help me. These guys have no clue about elementals like us, so you should be safe. If something goes terribly wrong, which I hope won’t happen, you can always fly away from the danger.”

  “Umm, yeah, I’ll help,” Noah said, scratching his chin. “But there’s one tiny problem. I can’t turn another human invisible. Only Jaiden can, but only one person at a time. We would have gone inside and gotten your parents a long time ago if it were simple.”

  “Right.” A wave of warmth overcame me, but I forced my element down. “So we would have to get all the guards to another room and then you could get my parents out.”

  “It’s unlikely they’ll leave their hostages unsupervised,” Jaiden said. “Even if they’re under attack.”

  “Yeah, but if one of my parents disappears into thin air, the guards could panic and start shooting.” I took a quick look at the guard on the ground. He was still unconscious, but he wouldn’t be for a long time. “Wait. I think I know what we can do.”

  Noah looked up at me expectantly.

  “We can’t plan this until we know exactly what the kidnappers want. I need to speak to the guy who answered my mom’s phone.”

  “You’re not going in there,” Noah said determinedly. “I won’t let you.”

  “No, I don’t mean to go inside. I want to call the guy.”

  “We don’t have a...” Noah started to say, then his lips spread into a smile. “We can get a phone. No problem.”

  “Maybe our guard has one.” I nodded toward the man on the ground. If only Jaiden hadn’t interrupted my call the first time, but there was no time to think about that. Jaiden crouched next to the guy and patted his pockets. As soon as he found the phone, he tossed it to me.

  “Can’t we just storm the place? We’re stronger than them anyway. They wouldn’t know what hit them,” Jaiden said, getting up.

  “I’m not risking my parents’ lives like that.” Who knew how the guards would react? I didn’t want any stray bullets hitting my mom or dad while the guards tried to fight invisible threats. If the fight turned into an elemental fight, we’d be in even more trouble.

  As I dialed my mom’s number, I could see Jaiden rolling his eyes.

  “Hello?” a male voice said, but I wasn’t sure if it was the same man I’d
been talking to the first time.

  “I want you to let my parents go,” I said.

  “Ah, little Moira. Why don’t you come and join us? We’re all waiting for you.”

  “Let my parents go and I’ll do whatever you want me to.” I tried my best to hide the quiver in my voice.

  “You don’t have to be afraid of me. I only want to talk. No need for anyone to get hurt.”

  I had to bite back a laugh. Was he kidding? My parents were tied up and the whole house was surrounded by armed men, and he claimed he wouldn’t hurt anyone? Yeah, right. I waved at Noah, pointed at my eyes, then at the phone, hoping he’d understand I wanted him to go inside the house and see who I was talking to. Noah nodded and turned into air. “I don’t believe you.”

  Soft laughter echoed through the line. “You have my word that no one will get hurt if you just come here and talk to me. I’m not your enemy.”

  “Is that why you’re keeping the people I love hostage?” I had a really bad feeling I was dealing with an insane man.

  “Ah, well. Let’s just say your mother has a secret that she’s been keeping from you and she doesn’t want me to tell you. She’d rather make sure I take that secret with me to my grave. So you see, I can’t really set her free.”

  What was he talking about? “What secret?”

  “I’ll tell you everything. Just come to the house and wear an element-blocking bracelet.” The line went dead.