“There was a woman…” Adrian let go of me and approached one of the men who was the closest to us. “A carrier. She ran.”
“Call the doc,” one of the men yelled as he saw Adrian’s shoulder.
“Ms. Milanez, you’re awake,” someone exclaimed, but I couldn’t see who it was because there were too many people in the room. Some were assessing the damage, others were checking on the dead man on the ground, the rest just looked alert. A beginning of a headache started to form behind my eyes and I had to sit down on the bed.
“Ria, hey, look at me.” Adrian was at my side in a heartbeat, a concerned look on his face.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. It’s just… weird to be awake.” I yawned. “How long was I out?” It was good to be able to feel my own body and move as I wished. I hadn’t even realized how much I missed Adrian’s warm touch until his fingers grazed mine.
“Three months,” he whispered.
“What?” I gaped at him. No, it couldn’t be. A prickly sensation traveled through my arm and I realized there was a needle stuck in my skin. One look at the machinery near the bed told me I’d been connected to it, but I must have ripped myself free. The machinery was broken now anyway. “Three months?” I repeated, shaking my head. No wonder I felt like the walking dead.
Adrian nodded, his eyes softening. “I thought… I thought I lost you.”
“You didn’t. I could hear you, but…” I swallowed past the tears. I’d only lost three months of my life. That wasn’t so bad, right? The nauseous feeling in my stomach told me otherwise.
“Oh God, let me check that!” A nurse rushed toward Adrian, covering his wound with a gauze pad.
“It’s just a scratch,” Adrian said, but allowed her to inspect his shoulder. An elderly man approached me, his green eyes filled with disbelief, his stethoscope ready in his hand.
“I told you she’d come back to me,” Adrian bit out, smirking at the man.
“Yes, you did,” the man said absent-mindedly. “Ria, my name is Dr. Jenkins and I’d like to check your vitals.”
“Sure, go ahead.” I waved my hand at him. I was too weary to complain.
“Welcome back,” Lily said, a smile crossing her face as soon as she laid eyes on me. The smile disappeared when she noticed the dead man on the floor. “Who took him out?”
“Actually, the woman who was with him did it,” I said, wincing as the doctor pressed something cold against my skin. Lily’s eyebrows shot upward.
“I broke his leg,” Adrian said. “She must have realized that and decided it was better to kill him than risk him talking to us.”
“I can’t believe they managed to get inside. They weren’t even supposed to know Ria is here!” Lily chewed on her lips, her arms crossed. “Anything else you noticed? Something that could help us track her?” She kept looking at Adrian, which meant she didn’t think I was reliable enough. Oh well, I probably wasn’t. It had all happened way too quickly for me to process it.
“She has dark hair, dark eyes and I believe she could be a carrier.” Adrian pressed his lips together as the nurse applied an antiseptic to his wound.
“A carrier?” A frown creased Lily’s brow. “Are you sure?”
“No, not really, but she didn’t use an element against me. Only the guy did and I couldn’t feel his element, so he must have been a carrier.”
“But she could have worn an element-blocking bracelet just to be safe around the carrier.”
“It’s an option, yeah.”
“Interesting. Anything else?”
“Umm.” I raised my hand and waved at Lily like a kid at school who wasn’t sure whether she knew the right answer. “She stared at my wrist. It was kind of creepy.” I didn’t even know if that was relevant, but somehow it felt important.
“The bracelet,” Lily said quietly.
“What brac…” I looked down my arm, and surely enough, along with the needle there was also a silver bracelet around my wrist. It was so thin that I barely felt it. “Oh, you mean this one.” I shook my hand and the bracelet jiggled.
“Maybe she was afraid you’d use your element,” Lily mused. “Some people claim they saw you use two or three very powerful elements. I’d be scared too if I thought you were in a coma and found you wide awake instead.”
My head snapped up. “Wait, so you’re telling me everyone knows I have more than one element? That I’m a carrier?”
Lily shook her head. “No, of course not. People talk, but no one has proof. There are rumors that you simply used a lot of your fire or that someone helped you.”
“But if someone had helped me, the elements would have canceled each other or at least tried to cancel each other.” If what I’d heard was true and the Element Preservers Organization no longer existed, then it didn’t really matter what people thought about me.
“Yes, but some people think you are special. They have a hard time believing you are a carrier since they know the government would never allow you to be the president,” Lily said, not bothering to lower her voice. Did that mean she trusted everyone in the room? That was surprising for Lily. What else had happened while I was out?
“Right. You’ll have to explain that to me later,” I said. “So are we at war?”
“No, we’re not.” Lily grinned. “Surprising, isn’t it?”
“You could say that.” I took a deep breath.
“The whole world is judging the actions of our government. They tried to cover the whole thing up, but they failed.” Lily’s good mood quickly disappeared. “But we have other problems. People are frightened for their lives and families, both carriers and elementals. There are movements that want to eradicate everyone who doesn’t agree with them…” She sighed. “I won’t bother you with this right now. You’ll see it for yourself.”
So that was what not at war meant for Lily. Great.
“Everything fine, doc?” Lily asked.
“Surprisingly yes. I’d like to do a couple of more tests, but it would be safer for Ria to leave this place. We don’t want more people to come after her,” Jenkins said.
“Of course.” Lily motioned at the doctor to follow her. “I’ll be right back.” She winked at me.
“Seems like I’m as good as new.” I flashed Adrian a wide smile, but the emptiness inside of me twisted my smile into a grimace. Glaring at the bracelet, I ripped it off my wrist. Who the hell put an element-blocking bracelet on my wrist in the first place? I wasn’t going to blow myself… Oh, wait, I probably would have blown myself up if I hadn’t been in control of my elements.
Adrian froze, all expression fleeing from his face as he watched the bracelet fall to the ground. Alarms went off inside of me. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.
“Ria…” Adrian licked his lips. “Please don’t freak out.”
“Freak out about what?” My voice shuddered as I reached inside of me, searching for the familiar feel of my elements. I hadn’t felt the warmth of my fire, the breeze of my air and the cool depths of my water for months. And while I missed all of my elements, I missed my fire the most. My fire was a part of me, a part of who I was… Even if it had melted with one that wasn’t mine. Who was I kidding? My fire was me. I was nothing without it.
As I desperately grabbed for a tiny spark of warmth and found nothing, I realized what the lost look in Adrian’s eyes meant. He didn’t know how to tell me. He didn’t know how to tell me that my elements were gone. All gone.
Chapter 04
“Ria, it’s going to be fine.” Adrian laid his hand on my shoulder.
“No, it’s not.” I was sitting on the bed, unmoving. How was any of this possible? Even if I’d lost the elements that weren’t mine, my fire should have stayed with me because it had been a part of me since I was born, even though I couldn’t use it until adolescence. Ethan’s fire might have overwhelmed mine, but that didn’t mean my fire couldn’t survive. Now there was only a big black empty hole inside of me, as if someone had ripped
out my very essence. Suddenly going back to a coma seemed like a better idea than living without my fire.
Adrian placed his finger under my chin and made me look at him. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but it’s not the end of the world. You’ll get used to it. Maybe your fire will come back.”
I snorted. “I wish more than anything that it would come back, but I feel like a part of me is missing. I know I said that I could feel only Ethan’s fire, but I didn’t know then how having no elements feels, and I think my fire was somewhere in there. If my fire was just partially gone, shouldn’t I be able to feel it like I could when I was young? I didn’t know it then, but now that it’s gone…”
“Lily’s doctors don’t have any experience with cases like yours. I’m sure there’s someone we can talk to about this.” His face lit up with hope I couldn’t feel. Well, at least one of us was optimistic.
I shivered and rubbed my arms. “And how are we going to find this super-knowledgeable person? There are people coming after me for God knows what reason and I don’t even… Wait, do I still have magic disease?”
“I don’t know. Everyone here is either a carrier or wears a bracelet because we don’t want to risk any accidents.” He shrugged and winced.
“Does it hurt a lot?” I nodded towards his injured shoulder.
“It’s fine, just a scratch. Nothing serious.” He tried to smile, but his eyes still held concern for me.
“So if the doctors here know nothing, then how did they know I lost my elements?” Judging by the look Adrian had had on his face when I took off the bracelet, he’d known all along what I would discover.
“They didn’t. I did.”
“How?”
“I tried to exchange elements with you because I wanted to see if that could wake you up. But I couldn’t reach or feel your element.” He brought his hand to the bandage on his shoulder. I had a feeling his wound was more painful than he let on.
“Right. And we can’t know whether I still have the disease because anyone can briefly exchange elements, only healthy elementals can’t feel it like carriers can.” I licked my dry lips. “What if the disease didn’t get sucked out with my elements? I mean, it’s genetic. How could something disappear if it’s in my DNA? But our elements are genetic too and my fire is gone, so I guess that doesn’t mean anything.”
Every human being was born with an element, but some people either couldn’t use them or chose not to, so everyone regarded them as people without elements, which technically wasn’t true. The element was still in there somewhere, only in a weak and dormant state. The only people who didn’t have an element were regular magic disease carriers, but since carriers couldn’t sense each other’s elements even if they had them, it was hard to say whether regular carriers had some very weak, diseased element they didn’t know about and couldn’t use, and the element exchange wouldn’t work with dormant, weak elements anyway. I was what my brother called an element preserver, but we didn’t know much about all possible genetic mutations that might have occurred. It was so frustrating not to know the reason for my elements’ disappearance.
“This place is protected against the elements from the outside, but you might want to go out and we can see whether touching you blocks the feel of elements for me. That could confirm that you have the disease, but you should be careful. If you’re a regular carrier without an element, things could get complicated when you are in the same room with someone who has an element.”
“Complicated? You mean I could kill someone.” Since I’d already had elements in my system, it was very likely I’d behave like a carrier who turned into a serial killer. Unless my body had forgotten it ever had elements, but I doubted I was so lucky.
“I’ll make sure that you don’t.” Adrian flashed me a reassuring smile.
“Thanks, but what if I have to use a public restroom and I murder some innocent girl in there?” Surely not even Adrian could follow me everywhere. A girl like me needed some privacy from time to time.
“Stop being ridiculous. We’ll survive this, like we always do.” He offered me his hand and I took it. In one quick motion, he pulled me to my feet and I ended up pressed against his chest. He bent his head and brushed his soft lips against mine. “I got you back. That’s all that matters. We’ll figure this out. I promise.”
“Ok, yeah. You do the optimistic part and I’ll do the pessimistic one.”
“Deal.” He chuckled.
“So what else has happened? How is Paula? Where is my brother?” A lot could have happened in three months. “Please tell me everyone is fine and that you’re not waiting the right moment to deliver more bad news.”
“Everyone’s… fine.” Adrian stepped back, looking away from me. “Paula should be here soon. She’s busy in the lab, but she usually comes to see you every day.”
“I don’t think I heard her.” The only one whose voice had truly gotten through to me was Adrian’s. I’d heard some of the others, but not that clearly.
He pressed his lips together into a tight line, making me frown.
“What? Is everything alright with her?” Paula had been in the hospital during the fight between the government and carriers, so her life couldn’t have been in danger. “Is Ryan okay? Is she still dating him?” I hadn’t seen him for a while, so I couldn’t know whether he was participating in the protest against the government or not.
“Yeah, they’re both fine and they’re still together.” He scratched his chin.
“There’s something you’re not telling me.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“You’ll have to ask Paula about it.”
“Oh, great, a secret. Awesome,” I said sarcastically. “And what about my brother? Did he ever come to ask about me or see me?”
“Yes, he did, but Lily sent him to another city to investigate some movement against carriers. He hasn’t been happy about how things turned out with the Element Preservers and everything, and I guess he and Lily are taking some time off in their relationship.”
“I’m surprised there’s still a relationship. I always thought Oliver was using her to get what he wanted.” Maybe somewhere deep, deep inside, my brother had a heart. Who would have known? Or maybe there was something more he wanted. My brother, always ambitious.
“I wouldn’t know anything about that.” Adrian grinned. “I’m not really a relationship expert.”
“Me neither.” A soft knock on the door made me jump a little. Paula poked her head through the open door, her face brightening at the sight of me.
“Oh my God, you’re really awake!” She ran into the room like a lightning bolt, throwing herself into my arms. “I can’t believe it! I missed you so much.” Her voice cracked.
“Hey, I missed you too.” I squeezed her close to myself, burying my face in her long blond curls.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Adrian said and promptly went for the door.
Paula sniffled. “How are you feeling?” Her blue-green eyes were pooling with unshed tears, just like mine.
“I’m fine. I guess.” I tried to smile, but I couldn’t make it convincing.
“What is it?” Concern crossed Paula’s face.
“I miss my elements. It’s like I have a gap inside of me... This emptiness...” Darkness, my mind suggested, but I wasn’t sure what that meant. “It’s hard to describe. I just feel it.”
“I’m sorry I can’t tell you more about your condition, but no one has ever documented anything about a case like yours.” She sat next to me, covering my hand with her own.
“It’s okay.” I focused on her face and noticed the dark shadows under her eyes, the slight wrinkles on her forehead. “What about you? Is everything alright?”
She cast her eyes down, licking her lips. “Adrian didn’t tell you?”
“Well, he might have mentioned that you had something to tell me, but... No, he didn’t tell me.” I was starting to get worried. What was going on?
Paula sighed. “I don’t even kno
w how to tell you this, but everyone here knows it already.” A nervous chuckle escaped her throat. “I actually told you while you were in a coma. It was easier then.”
“Tell me. Before you make me explode from anxiety.” I gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder.
“I’m pregnant.” She looked up at me, her eyes wide.
I blinked. “What?”
“I’m three months pregnant,” she said, chewing on her lip.
My mouth opened and closed, unable to form words.
“Ria, please say something.”
“Umm...” I wasn’t exactly sure whether I should congratulate her. Something about her demeanor told me this wasn’t happy news. “Three months? But I was in a coma...” My eyes met hers. “No. Please tell me it’s not what I’m thinking.” I didn’t even dare to think about the worst option.
She nodded, her face serious.
“Oh my God.” I thought I was going to be sick. “Ethan? Ethan is the father?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“No!” I yelled, getting up. My blood boiled and if I hadn’t already killed Ethan, I’d be compelled to do it again. That sick son of a bitch! He hadn’t only kidnapped and tortured Paula, he’d also violated her in the worst possible way. I’d been at the hospital when Paula woke up, but there hadn’t been time to talk. She couldn’t have told me. I wasn’t even sure if she would have wanted to. My fingers curled into a fist. I didn’t have my elements to channel my anger through them, so I punched a plastic bottle of water, which rolled to the ground.
“Ria... Please calm down.”
“How could I possibly calm down? I want to strangle that twisted son of a bitch all over again!” I turned to look at her and saw her pleading eyes. She needed me right now, not my bad temper. Taking a deep breath, I slowly relaxed. “I’m sorry. I just... I thought I already had enough of reasons to hate the bastard, but now...”
“Thank you,” she said, her eyes the coldest blue I had ever seen. “Thank you for killing him. I don’t think I could stand it to ever see his face again.” The Paula I knew would never have said such a thing, but after what she’d been through, I didn’t find it too surprising.
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