“You know, I thought Lily would want me out of here. She doesn’t need me anymore. No one does,” I said as we walked down the stairs. The guards were usually posted around the elevators, so using the stairway was our best shot at not getting caught. Besides, we needed to pick up something at another floor first.
“She wanted to get us out, but she couldn’t find a place safe enough. She thinks this is her best fort against all the enemies, especially now that she brought more guards,” Adrian said. “And she probably wants you to stay here because she thinks everyone else wants you, so she’d rather be the one to have you even if she doesn’t know what to do with you. I’m surprised she didn’t kick me out, though.”
“Right.” I sighed. “But I don’t even know why anyone would want me. Didn’t they just come to the conclusion that I’m a carrier? At least a dozen of other people did with their elements what I did. It would be stupid not to assume I’m a carrier too.”
“I’m sure some of them assumed exactly that, but there must be something we don’t know about. No one ever stepped up to clarify your case because there are many more important things that everyone is talking about. The Element Preservers doesn’t exist anymore and most of the members of the government are imprisoned or are on the run because they secretly attempted to eradicate the carriers and their sympathizers. The president got killed because he resisted arrest and tried to run. I think he even killed some cops before they got him.” He put a hand on my arm to stop me from going farther down the hall. The news about the president made me smile. He was the one working with Ethan and responsible for Paula’s kidnapping. Who knows in what other illegal things the president was involved? I looked up and noticed a guard not far from us.
“But I was a president of the governmental organization in charge of everything related to elements.” I frowned. “Why didn’t they arrest me or try to question me?”
“Lily took care of it.” Adrian lowered his voice as the guard walked past us. “She had proof you were on her side. There was enough of video and audio evidence, so no charges were filed against you. Trust me, the cops and judges have enough cases, so they closed yours pretty quickly.”
“Doesn’t that mean everyone knows I’m a carrier?” How likely was it that none of the evidence showed anything about me being a carrier? Surely even Lily couldn’t find that much material without any compromising bits.
“Apparently not everyone. I don’t know to whom Lily showed the evidence or what the evidence was, but no one will out you for being a carrier for no good reason. People are sensitive about that topic right now. Many people died in the attack and not all of them were carriers. Even the religious groups don’t know how they feel about the whole thing.” The guard was out of our sight, so Adrian took my arm and we continued our way down the hall. No one could stop us from walking up and down the building, but someone would certainly get suspicious if they saw us going into one of the rooms that wasn’t our own.
“I knew the government would do us all a favor with their narrow-minded thinking.”
“We’ll see about that,” Adrian said, his face serious. “Just because the media and the world see carriers as victims doesn’t mean everyone will accept us.”
“You mean those radical groups that still want us all extinct?” I slowly pushed the door of the room Adrian had told me about while we were packing. Too bad everyone was wearing the element-blocking jewelry because that meant Adrian couldn’t sense if there was someone in the room. We had to do it the old-fashioned way and take a peek inside.
“Yeah, Lily is trying to deal with them.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief when I realized there was no one in the room. Pushing the door wide open, Adrian and I hurried inside. He immediately went for the cabinet with weapons, while I searched the desk for anything else we could use. My eyes fell on the set of keys hanging on the nearest wall. “I think one of these is a car key.”
“Take it,” Adrian said as he put another gun in a large dark blue duffel bag.
“You know, we should leave a note for Lily so she doesn’t think someone kidnapped us.” I carefully separated the car key from the chain. Adrian and I didn’t need the rest of the keys, but whoever worked in this room probably did.
“We will.” He zipped the bag in one quick motion and set it on the floor. His brow furrowing, he grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. I glanced at the note and nearly burst out laughing. He wrote ‘sorry’ in capitals, put a smiley behind it and signed the note with our initials.
“Lily is going to kill us,” I said.
“Should I put another smiley?” He grinned.
“Nah, one’s enough.” I slipped the car key in my pocket and Adrian slung the bag over his shoulder. Relying on our hearing, we scurried out of the room and luckily for us, there was no one in the hall.
“The emergency exit is right down this hall,” Adrian whispered.
“How do you know that?” I didn’t see him checking out any plans of the building or anything like that.
“I’ve been here for three months.” He gave me a long look. “What do you think I was doing after they kicked me out of your room because they were doing some tests?”
“Right.” I was still getting used to the idea that I’d been unconscious for three months. Just as I was about to step around the corner, Adrian grabbed me from behind and pulled me back. As our bodies collided, I heard someone’s soft humming. Adrian and I pressed ourselves flat against the wall, hoping that whoever that was coming would get in one of the rooms before seeing us.
The frown on Adrian’s forehead deepened and I raised a questioning eyebrow at him. He shook his head and his hand found the zipper of the bag. I held my breath, wondering why Adrian was on alert. If whoever that was coming our way was a guard, we could always come up with a story to explain what we were doing on this floor. Handing me a gun, Adrian nodded at me to step behind him.
I took the gun and did what he wanted me to. If I had my elements, I would have never stepped back. But without them, I couldn’t do much to protect myself, even if I had a gun. Quietly dropping the bag to the floor, Adrian inched forward. Before I could stop him and convince him to consider the idea of going back until the person leaves, Adrian jumped out and rushed whoever that was around the corner. I heard a yelp and ran toward Adrian, my gun pointed in front of me.
Adrian was rolling on the ground with a dark-haired man, and they were both punching and kicking. I awkwardly pointed my gun at them, but there was no chance I could shoot without risking hitting Adrian.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Adrian yelled as he pinned the man to the ground.
“And who are you?” The man retorted, his blue eyes flashing dangerously as he managed to push Adrian off him. I realized the guy couldn’t be much older than Adrian and me, and I wondered why Adrian had attacked him. The guy was wearing a black vest and black pants, just like any other guard.
“I’m the one asking questions here.” Adrian panted and the ice began to form on the guy’s arms.
“I don’t think so,” the guy said and Adrian’s ice melted in a couple of seconds. Fire burst out of the guy’s palm and Adrian had only a moment to dodge.
I swore under my breath and pointed the gun at the guy’s head. “Actually, I’ll be the one asking questions. Unless you want me to put a bullet through your head. And don’t even bother trying to block the bullets because we’ve made sure they can’t be affected by an element.” Flashing him my brightest smile, I hoped he couldn’t tell that I was lying about the bullets being element-proof. Our scientists should have totally done something like that with the bullets and weapons, and maybe they had, but I didn’t know about it. We’d gone from glowing cuffs and suits to normal-looking bracelets in a matter of weeks, so maybe someone somewhere had element-proof bullets, but they hadn’t shared their invention with us yet.
The guy considered me for a moment and finally lifted his hands up. “I mean
you no harm.”
“Then tell me who you are.” I glanced at Adrian, who got up and dusted off his pants. If we wanted to get out of here without being seen, we couldn’t stay in the hall for much longer.
“My name is Sebastian,” the guy said. “Sebastian Marlau.”
My finger tightened on the trigger. Ethan’s last name was Marlau.
“How did you know I wasn’t one of you?” Sebastian eyed us carefully. “Are you all carriers here? Because that’s not what I heard.”
“Some of us wear element-blocking bracelets,” Adrian said. “How stupid do you have to be to enter a place full of carriers without protection?”
“Maybe I wanted you to find me.” A mysterious smile crossed Sebastian’s lips.
I groaned. “I’m getting sick of this. What do you want?”
“You killed my cousin.” Sebastian’s eyes narrowed at me. So much about not meaning us harm.
“Did I?” There was no way in hell someone had proof that I’d killed Ethan. It was in the middle of the fight and chaos. How could anyone have seen me? Besides, Ethan had been trying to kill me. What was I supposed to do? After I found out what he’d done to Paula, I didn’t feel even a tiny bit sorry for what I’d done.
Sebastian sat up. “I think you did.” His face was expressionless and I couldn’t tell whether he was mad at me. I couldn’t imagine he’d be glad I’d killed his cousin, but what did I know about Ethan’s family? Not much, except that his father was a carrier who had contracted the disease from his lover.
“You’ll have to prove it first.” I shrugged.
“Now why don’t you tell us what you are doing here?” Adrian said. “I’m losing my patience.” He gave me a quick look and I knew we didn’t have much time left.
“I came here to warn you,” Sebastian said.
My eyebrows shot upward. “Look, I got enough of threats. If you want revenge because you think I killed your cousin, get in line.”
“I didn’t come here to threaten you.” He got to his feet, holding his hands in front of him. “I came to tell you that my family wants revenge and they won’t stop until they kill you. My uncle will make sure of that.”
“Your uncle? Ethan’s father?” I lowered the gun a little because I was certain my arm would have fallen off if I’d held the gun in the same position for a minute longer.
“Yes. He wants you dead. I thought you should know.”
“And you came all the way here to tell me that?” What was wrong with people lately? Did they all miss a brain cell? Had our element collectors taken more than just a bit of people’s elemental energy? First the mysterious woman, then Amaya and now Sebastian. Something was wrong about this whole thing.
“Perhaps.” The words had barely left Sebastian’s lips when a fireball flew in my direction.
Chapter 08
I dropped to the ground, feeling the heat of Sebastian’s fire on my face. Adrian sent his ice shards in Sebastian’s direction, but Sebastian’s fire was strong enough to intercept and melt them. Ethan’s fire had also been strong, so it shouldn’t surprise me that his cousin had a powerful element too. My fire wouldn’t have been a decent match for it, but if I had it, I could at least help Adrian, who was trying to create a wall of ice between us and Sebastian.
“We have to go!” Adrian yelled to me as the last bits of his ice turned into water. We couldn’t even stop Sebastian for a short time, let alone defeat him. I fired a couple of shots at him, but they were all enveloped in fire and gone in seconds. Shit! Adrian grabbed my arm and we started running toward the emergency exit.
“You know, I’m starting to believe you didn’t really kill my cousin,” Sebastian said. “You’re too weak!”
Adrian kept creating blocks of ice behind us, but Sebastian tore through all of it as if there was nothing in his way. Maybe I was wrong, but he seemed even stronger than Ethan. Or maybe Ethan hadn’t known how to use his element to its full capacity. One thing was clear; Sebastian hadn’t come here to warn me about anything.
A fireball flew next to my head, singeing my hair, as Adrian and I ran down the stairs. Sebastian was looking at us from the top, a smirk on his face. Was it just me or did insanity run in Ethan’s family? Because the look in Sebastian’s blue eyes was full of malice, or maybe I was mistaking anger and grief for malice simply because that dark look was directed at me. Now that Sebastian knew I wasn’t dangerous at all, he’d come after me himself.
“Do you still have that key?” Adrian asked, his voice strained. His fingers were cold to the touch and I wondered how much energy he needed to keep creating ice. We’d already passed two floors and every single step behind us had a wall of ice rising from it. Sebastian was not far behind us, somehow managing to melt the ice without setting anything on fire.
I patted my pocket and felt the familiar shape. “Yep.”
“Good.”
We burst through the door and onto the parking lot. There were no guards in sight, but the parking lot was full of cars. I took the key and glanced around. “We need to find the car.” I pressed the key to unlock the car, waiting for a beep or a flash of lights.
“There!” Adrian pointed to his left. “Run!”
We broke into a run, weaving through the rows of cars. I had to press the key once again because we were no longer sure which car we’d seen. Adrian was the first one to reach the black Toyota, so I threw him the key. He’d already started the engine by the time I jumped inside. The hem of my pants nearly got caught in the door, but I managed to free myself.
“He’s stronger than Ethan, isn’t he? No wonder he came all the way here and wasn’t even worried about his safety,” Adrian said as the car lurched forward, taking us far away from Sebastian. At least I hoped he couldn’t follow us.
“Yeah, but I think he hesitated at first.” Something poked me in the back and I realized my gun was tucked in my waistband. I didn’t even remember putting it there. “Some people really might think I’m powerful.” They clearly hadn’t seen me nearly putting a hole in myself because I didn’t know where my gun was. Tucking the gun away, I prayed once again that at least one of my elements would come back.
“You killed his cousin. He was right to be cautious.” Adrian glanced at the rearview mirror, but his face remained calm, which meant no one suspicious was on our tail.
“But now he knows I’m powerless.” I sighed. “Do you think Lily’s guards will catch him? They must have realized something was going on.”
He shook his head. “He probably got out right after us.”
“Lily will kill us for all the damage we caused.”
“She’ll kill her guards first. A guy with an element went right through the security when no one was supposed to get in or out.” A frown line creased Adrian’s forehead. “It’s strange. His element is strong, but I didn’t feel it until he was only a couple of steps away.”
“He could have been wearing a bracelet or something.” I shrugged. “When he got inside far enough, he could have taken it off.”
“Probably, but even if he pretended to be one of the guards, someone should have noticed that he wasn’t one.”
“Lily brought the new guards to protect us, so probably many of them don’t know each other, and he was wearing guards’ regular clothes and fooled them.” He couldn’t have picked a better moment to try to come after me.
“I don’t think it’s that simple. He must have had someone inside who let him in and told him where and when to go.”
I whistled. “Lily is going to be outraged if she realizes there’s a mole in her super safe building.”
“There’s always a mole,” he said. “Lily is surrounded by too many people. Things can’t always go smoothly. Do you think the woman who attacked us has anything to do with Ethan’s family?”
“Wouldn’t she have just killed me then? Besides, you believe she’s a carrier. I don’t think Ethan’s family likes carriers after what happened with the father.”
“I don’t know
, but the whole thing is strange.”
My phone rang, making me jump. Half of the melody had played by the time I fished the phone out of my pocket. “Yeah?”
“Hello, sis,” Oliver drawled at the other end of the line. “Glad to hear your voice.”
“Hi. Umm, I’m kind of on the run, so unless you have something smart to say, I suggest we talk some other time.”
“You were in a coma for three months. How can you be on the run already?” Curiosity filled Oliver’s voice. “Wait, no. Don’t tell me.”
“So, did you call just to hear my voice or because you need something?” I’d put my money on the latter. My brother and I had a very complicated relationship, which was mostly a result of our parents’ lies. He rarely called me just to find out how I was.
“Don’t be silly, sis. I was worried about you.” He chuckled. “I heard you were attacked by some woman. Do you have any idea who she is?”
“No, why?” Could my brother know something about the woman who had tried to kidnap or kill me... Or both.
“I don’t know if Lily told you, but I’m dealing with some more extreme groups here and one woman I met thinks you developed some weird mutated element. She wanted me to bring you to her so she could do some tests, but I refused. She disappeared the next day, though, and no one has seen her for days.”
“You think it could be the same woman?” I scratched my head, wondering whether the woman could be a scientist. “Is she a carrier?”
“Yes, she’s a carrier and she’s researching elements and the disease.”
“Does she belong to any group? Do they have some symbol they use for their work?” I couldn’t hide the excited undertone in my voice. It would be awesome if we could identify the woman.
Indestructible Page 4
