“I’ll make sure of that. It’s strange Elemontera isn’t here already.” Noah let go of Nick and strode off toward the van.
Nick leaned heavily on my shoulder. “What is he talking about?”
“Can you stand on your own?” I ignored his question. “Would turning into air be less painful than standing? Wait, can you even do that if you’re hurt?” A frown creased my brow. I’d never tried to turn into air while I was injured.
“Yeah, I can do it, but it would still hurt as hell. Maybe even more.” He shrugged and winced. “God, I wish I hadn’t rolled all over the stupid ground and smashed my face into the rocks. Should have turned into air. What was I thinking?”
“Thinking is kind of hard in the middle of a fight.” I gave him a weak smile and glanced at the van. Jaiden was taking off his jacket while Noah glared at him, his arms crossed. Marissa was moving around behind them, but I couldn’t see if any of the unconscious elementals had woken up.
“Shit. Someone’s coming,” Nick muttered. “I can see the shimmering.”
“Turn into air and follow us. Even if it hurts, it will still be easier than running,” I said, letting go of him. He stumbled, but his body started to disappear. I rushed to the van. “They’re here! We have to go!”
“Okay,” Jaiden said, throwing his gun and a device that looked like a phone to the ground. “Looks like we’ll have to fly. Noah, can you take Marissa and Ashley?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Noah said.
I raised an eyebrow at him, because as far as I remembered, he wasn’t able to carry any elementals with him.
“What?” he said. “You aren’t the only one who picked up new skills at Elemontera.”
“Right,” I said and looked at Jaiden. “What about me?”
“I’ll get Sam and Bailey. You will defend us. Nick doesn’t seem to be in good shape and Noah and I need a lot of energy to carry everyone, so you’re the only one who can make sure we’re not taken out of air,” Jaiden said, placing his hands on Sam and Bailey, slowly turning their bodies into a shimmering cloud.
“I thought you could carry only one elemental.” I lifted an eyebrow at him.
He bit down on his lip. “Turn into air. Now.”
Wonderful. So had he been holding back on his abilities back at the island when he claimed he couldn’t carry both of my parents out of the house or he had done something else that day that had drained his energy? I doubted I’d ever find out.
“This isn’t going to work,” I said, changing into air. “We’ll be too visible in the sky.”
“That’s why we’ll be flying low,” he said, and started for the nearest house. We whizzed around it, and I hoped we’d be fast enough to escape. I didn’t even want to think what would happen if we were caught.
Chapter 18
When we were sure no one was following us, Noah started to slow down. “There’s a place nearby where we could hide. I used to go there when I was on my own. Elemontera never found me, so there’s a chance they still don’t know about it.”
“Lead the way,” Jaiden said.
“If you warn or ever tell Elemontera about any of this,” Noah said, “many elementals will die.”
“How many times do I have to tell you I’m not going to say anything to anyone?” Jaiden said, annoyed. “I wouldn’t be doing all this if I wanted to give you up to Elemontera.”
“Yeah, but you might use this info to save your ass later. Tell me, are you really willing to risk Elemontera’s wrath and lose your status as the best agent to save someone else’s life? If you change your mind later, you could put many elementals, both regular and those like us, in danger.”
“If Elemontera finds out I helped you, there won’t be anything I could do or say to save myself,” Jaiden said. “So let’s do this quickly before someone finds us.”
I thought about what Jaiden said, realizing that if his father found out what Jaiden had done, it would be considered as the ultimate act of betrayal. Jaiden was really risking a lot by helping us, but so were we. At least he had better chances of survival. Even though Elemontera needed us and wouldn’t kill us off for nothing, some lines probably couldn’t be crossed. We’d met another one like us today, and I was sure there were more, so Elemontera could easily find a substitute for us.
“Come on. Hurry!” Noah said and we charged for what looked like an abandoned building. The paint on the walls was peeling off, crisscrossed by various cracks. The windows were broken, the glass lying all over the ground.
We slipped through the window and found ourselves in an empty room, which didn’t have a door because it was sealed off. That meant the only ones who could get inside were those who could fly like us since the window was a bit too high to climb through. There were pieces of old furniture on the concrete floor and they crunched under my feet as I turned visible again. Jaiden and Noah laid Ashley, Sam, and Bailey down so they were sitting up with their backs resting on the wall. The rescued elementals were still slightly pale and their eyes were closed, but their hands were twitching slightly. Marissa was pacing and biting her fingernails, her gaze flitting around.
“Shouldn’t they have woken up already?” I asked Jaiden.
“Yeah, the sedative must have been stronger this time,” he said, crouching so he could touch Sam’s cheek. “Hey, wake up.”
Sam wrinkled his nose, mumbling something, his eyes fluttering but not quite opening.
“Ashley?” Marissa said, shaking her by the shoulders. “Ash, please wake up! Come on!” Her voice broke into a desperate sob.
Nick watched from a distance, a pensive expression on his face, and I came up to him. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “So all of you here know my sister?”
“Yeah. I lived with her for a short while, but the others were with her longer.” I had no clue if Nick knew Jaiden had dated his sister or how long his sister had been with the others. I didn’t want to tell him anything that could upset him until we were all safe.
“I’m glad she’s not here. I...” He looked away.
“I promised you I’d try to undo what Jaiden had done to you. Do you think you’re ready to try?” I wasn’t looking forward to being in someone’s mind again, but I wasn’t planning to bail on my promise. Besides, I still had to make sure Elemontera never found out what Noah, Jaiden, Nick, and I had done.
“Yeah, I guess.” He shrugged.
“Okay.” I took a deep breath. “Just try to relax and don’t fight me. I know it will hurt a little, but it will be easier if you let me in.”
He nodded and I found my air inside of me, guiding a thin shimmering thread toward Nick’s head. I felt my element diving inside and getting lost in the field of signals. But how was I supposed to find a way to undo Jaiden’s mind control? My mind-controlling ability seemed more intuitive. It was as if I just wished to do something and my element suddenly showed me a way how to do it, but this time I wasn’t sure what to do.
Wading through the signals, I grasped one and willed it to show me the signals that had been touched before. As if I were playing a game, some of the signals I could see went black, as if they were dead. I focused on those signals, nurturing them back to life by feeding them my elemental energy until they regained their usual gray-bluish color.
I had no idea if what I was seeing was a product of my imagination and some chemical reaction produced by my element, or if I was truly seeing what was in Nick’s head. But it didn’t matter as long as I could ensure Nick wouldn’t have to kill his sister when he saw her next time. I let my element fulfill my wish, and then I slowly pulled it out, closely observing Nick’s face.
“Is it done?” he asked, frowning.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I think it is, but I suppose we can’t know for sure until we try it out. How did you know Jaiden’s mind control worked, anyway?”
“They showed me a photo of my sister and I felt...” He bit his lip, bowing his head. “My wh
ole body screamed that I had to kill her.”
“Ashley!” Marissa squealed, and Nick and I looked at her. Ashley was slowly pulling herself to her feet, rubbing her forehead. She stumbled forward, leaning on Marissa’s shoulder. Finally, she looked around the room, blinking at all of us.
“Are you... Are you all really here? Where are we?” She was probably surprised to see us all crammed in a doorless, unfamiliar room.
“Yeah, we’re all here.” Marissa beamed, hugging her. “Moira, Noah, and Jaiden helped me save you all from Elemontera!”
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Noah said, pulling Ashley into his arms. “Don’t let this strange room scare you. We’re in an abandoned building where Elemontera won’t be able to find us so easily.”
Sam groaned, groggily opening his eyes. He jumped to his feet as his eyes fell on Noah, and nearly tumbled to the ground.
Noah firmly put his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”
Sam pursed his lips, his eyes narrowing at Noah. “You’re Elemontera agents. How can we trust you?”
“Well, if you didn’t notice, you no longer have that stupid bracelet around your wrist.” Noah grinned.
Sam lifted his arm and stared at it for a moment, tension leaving his shoulders. But then he looked at Noah’s wrist, his brows drawn. “But you do.”
“Yeah, the three of us have different bracelets, but we’re blocking their signal right now so no one can find us. You could say we’re having some time off.” He clapped Sam on the back. “Don’t worry. The four of you will be able to return to the island without any problem.”
“No, we came here for you. We can’t just leave you in Elemontera’s hands,” Sam said.
“Yeah, I get that, but you got us in trouble by coming here. Don’t you see? We can’t just leave. Elemontera has us in their system,” Noah said.
“So you’re just going to work for them?” Sam’s voice was accusing.
“Only until we figure out how to get free,” I said. Bailey stirred, a soft moan escaping his lips. Marissa was at his side immediately, placing her hand gently on his face.
“Bailey, hey. Welcome back.” She smiled as he opened his eyes.
“Are we in Elemontera?” he asked.
“Nope,” she said and held her hand out to help him up. His gaze focused on the rest of us. “Did our plan work? Are we going back to the island?”
“It’s not that simple.” Noah started to repeat what he’d just told Sam, and I faced Nick again. I wished we had a photo of Kenna somewhere, but we’d gotten rid off any devices that we could have used to find her photo.
“Is Kenna your only family?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said, his eyes filled with sadness. “We’ve been on our own since our parents died in a car crash. Our last relative died two years ago.”
“Wait, so there isn’t anyone Elemontera could threaten to force you to keep working for them?” If Elemontera didn’t have any power over him, then he could go with the others and be reunited with his sister. “No friends or anyone else?”
He shook his head. “Only Kenna.”
A slow smile spread across my lips. “Perfect. Then you can escape with the others.”
The lack of excitement on his face told me that I was wrong about that. “No. You know what they do when they can’t find someone to threaten.”
“More mind control. Right.” I felt as if I swallowed something sour. I looked across the room and waved at Jaiden. “Hey, come here for a sec.” Noah was in the middle of arguing with Marissa and the others about what they should do.
“What’s going on?” Jaiden asked, glancing at Nick, whose whole body tensed.
“You mind-controlled Nick to stay in Elemontera, right?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He picked at his fingernail.
“Can you tell me what you did so I can reverse it or something? I think I successfully removed your mind control, so he won’t hurt Kenna when he sees her, but I’m not sure about this.” I looked at him expectantly.
Nick had mentioned that Jaiden had mind-controlled him once only to please the boss, so I had a feeling that had been less complicated and less damaging than mind-controlling someone to work for Elemontera. It hadn’t taken me long to convince Jaiden that he shouldn’t mind control Noah, so I supposed he’d been at least a bit worried he’d damage Noah’s mind. Besides, he must have chosen the option that had higher chances for success or he’d have just pissed off his father.
“What?” Jaiden’s mouth fell open, his eyes wide. “Are you out of your mind? You can’t just reverse something like that!”
“Umm, I just did.” I offered him a quick smile. “And it was you who told me it’s doable sometimes, but you couldn’t because the agents are protected against you.”
“You just don’t want me to be free, do you?” Nick spat out, glaring at Jaiden.
Jaiden shook his head. “It’s not that! I’d be glad if you got free and could go back to your sister, but I swear to you I’m not lying when I say that this isn’t something you can do with a snap of your fingers. And Moira, I told you that because I was probably drunk and didn’t want you to think that I did something irreversible. I didn’t actually mean...”
“We know it’s not easy. That’s why I’m asking what you did so I can be careful when I go back into his mind,” I said, crossing my arms. “I believe it can be done.”
“I don’t know.” Jaiden scratched his head. “I mind-controlled him so he couldn’t leave the city without Elemontera’s permission or disobey their orders. I even covered some of the possible loopholes.” He looked at Nick. “Obviously I didn’t figure them all out because you’re here helping us.”
“Well, technically you’re all Elemontera agents, so I’m still helping Elemontera, and they didn’t order me not to show anything to anyone, just not to say anything.” Nick lifted his chin, a satisfied smile on his lips.
“So, the biggest problem is that he can’t leave the city?” If Nick could get out of Elemontera’s grasp and they couldn’t find him, we’d worry about everything else later.
“I guess,” Jaiden said. “Elemontera always relied on the trackers to tell them where anyone was, and while agents stayed in the city, it wouldn’t be hard to find them anyway.”
“Okay, so can I change only that part?” I asked. “We can deal with the rest later.”
“I don’t know. I never really... Well, I tried once and...” Jaiden’s voice quivered.
“What happened?” I asked softly.
“It didn’t end well.”
“It didn’t end well?” Nick raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Umm, we’re going to need a little bit more detail than that, don’t you agree, Moira?”
I nodded, reaching out for Jaiden’s arm, but he flinched away. “Just tell us what happened.”
“They asked me once to reverse what I’d done to one elemental because Elemontera needed him to go on a mission out of the city.” He scrubbed a hand over his face, his eyes darkening.
“And?” Nick scowled.
“And... I tried, got into his mind, changed what I wanted, and... He went mad. He couldn’t remember his name. Couldn’t remember half of the things he used to know,” Jaiden said, a pained expression on his face. “He’d just sit there and laugh randomly. He was... useless, so Elemontera put him down.”
“But what exactly did you do?” I asked, a bitter taste in my mouth.
Nick’s shoulders were hunched, his lips slightly parted, an unidentifiable emotion in his eyes.
“Doesn’t matter. It didn’t work.” Jaiden started to turn away from us.
“No, wait.” I grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at me. “Tell me exactly what you did.”
“I told you already. I got into his mind and convinced him he could leave the town despite the orders. It didn’t work.” He swallowed.
“So you tried to cancel out one order with the other?” I wasn’t even sure if I could describe it right. Maybe he pictur
ed things differently when he mind-controlled someone, so my explanation wouldn’t make sense to him. “I mean, when you mind control someone, you sort of tell them you want them to do something, so if I got this right, you first told the guy that he couldn’t leave the city and then you told him he could do it.”
His brow furrowed. “Yeah, I guess it was like that.”
“Maybe that was the problem,” I said, and his frown deepened. “You weren’t trying to undo what you’d done. You only added a contradictory order, which might have caused the brain signals to fry or something.”
“I don’t think there’s a way to undo something like that. I mean, really undo it.”
“Umm, sorry, but you’re wrong. If that were true, then I wouldn’t have managed to stop Nick from wanting to kill his sister.”
Jaiden gave me a skeptical look. “I don’t know what you did, but we can’t be sure it worked.”
“Fine. You think I didn’t do anything, and there’s no way to prove it right now, but if I tried to undo the order about not leaving the city, we might actually get to test that.”
Jaiden shook his head. “No, it’s too dangerous. What about the bracelet? He can’t just take it off. We don’t know for how long the device will hide our signals. If he goes with the others, Elemontera could catch them all.”
“But if he managed to leave the city, he might be able to go far enough to be out of Elemontera’s reach. There has to be a reason they don’t allow agents out of the city, aside from possible attempts of escape. And he might even have enough time to figure out how to take off the bracelet. It’s probably not easy, but I doubt it’s impossible.”
“I still don’t think it would work,” Jaiden persisted. “And what if your mind control messes up everything? What if you damage his brain?”
“You didn’t worry about that when you mind-controlled him,” I said, and he opened his mouth to say something, but I raised my finger to shush him. “Sorry. What I meant is that I’ll be careful. He’s perfectly fine after what I did.”
“And what if he won’t be after your second try? I told you this was much more complicated.”
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