“A symbol?” Oliver asked, his voice strained. “What symbol?”
I chewed on my lip, debating whether to tell my brother about the symbol and the note Amaya had given me. “The woman sent me a message with a weird symbol through an acquaintance.”
“Do you have a picture of it?”
“Yeah, I’ll send it to you. Just give me a sec.” If my brother could help me uncover the secret surrounding the symbol, it didn’t matter if Lily or someone else found out about it. Browsing through my files and folders, I tried to find the picture of the symbol that I’d taken earlier so I could search for it on the net. “There it is. I’m sending it to you right now.”
A quick intake of breath on the other end of the line indicated that my brother indeed knew what the symbol meant. “Oliver, what is it? Do you recognize it?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” He sighed. “You’re screwed, little sister.”
“What? Why?” I scowled at the phone, even though I knew Oliver couldn’t see me.
“It doesn’t make sense, but if they sent you this symbol...”
“Stop fucking stalling and tell me what is going on.” Patience wasn’t my strongest trait, especially when my insides were twisting in anticipation of what he had to say.
“The woman that is after you isn’t the one I met. That’s for sure,” Oliver said. “But I know who she is. Well, partially. She’s one of Rosalia’s descendants.”
“Who?” I couldn’t say I remembered anyone named Rosalia, let alone anyone related to her.
“Do you remember the story I told you about our great-grandpa having a lover with the disease? And the deal they made?”
My great-grandfather’s lover? “Oh.” My mother had been the first one to tell me that my great-grandfather had made a deal with someone to kill off any members of our family who married a person with a water, air or earth element. Apparently, one of my aunts had been killed because she married someone whose element wasn’t fire. Our great-grandfather had wanted our family to preserve the purity of our element, especially because he’d been keeping his disease a secret.
“Did you marry in the meantime? Because I don’t see how they could find a loophole to go after you.” Oliver’s voice was strangely serious. I’d expected him to sound snarky, but he didn’t. That couldn’t be good.
“No, of course not,” I said. “Didn’t you tell me someone else controlled the deal because of those safes that opened only for people who had our element? They would have killed us all off, taken the money and our element after our great-grandfather died if it weren’t for someone else, right?”
“Yeah, but I never figured it out who was involved in the deal. It’s possible that the other person or family involved no longer stands in the way. Great-grandpa died some 14 years ago. A lot can happen in 14 years.”
“You mean they’re dead?” I had no idea who could have ensured the deal remained in effect even after all that time, but someone had obviously been doing it for years. Whatever had happened, it usurped the natural order of things.
“Maybe.”
“But why would they come after me? Why not after our parents or you or anyone else? I’m not the only in the family.” I couldn’t be that unlucky to attract every possible killer or attacker for no good reason, could I?
“I wouldn’t know that, sis. If they heard about what happened at the city square, they might think you have the strongest element. They can’t find me so easily since I’ve been in hiding for a long, long time.”
“We have to find out who those people are!” My parents and I hadn’t been talking ever since I left with Adrian and took over the presidency of the Element Preservers from my father, but I didn’t want something to happen to them. They were my parents after all. “And we need to warn our parents.”
“It won’t be easy to find out who exactly those people are. It took me years just to discover what our great-grandpa was doing and what his lover’s name was, but the name alone won’t help us.”
“Do you think Mom knows more about it?”
“Only if she has some of Jonathan’s files.”
I considered Oliver’s words for a moment. Would my mom keep my great-grandfather’s files somewhere? Of course she would. She’d need them. Maybe she didn’t want to tell me much, but she certainly knew about the symbol. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t remembered her mentioning the symbol. “Okay. I’ll go talk to Mom.”
“What?” Adrian and Oliver said at the same time.
“Oh, come on. I have to warn her that her life could be in danger. Besides, I don’t think she’d tell me anything over the phone.” I met Adrian’s incredulous eyes.
“Good luck with that.” Oliver actually laughed. “Don’t be surprised if she freaks out and calls the cops. Both of our parents know you have the disease and while they didn’t tell anyone, just like they didn’t tell about me, they will treat you differently. Trust me. I know.”
I licked my dry lips. “I have to try. Do you happen to know where I could find her?”
“Well, Dad left the country after the Element Preservers got shut down so that no one questions him about the organization or his secret deals with the terrorists, but Mom stayed. You can find her in the headquarters of the new Elemental Society party”
“Elemental Society party? You mean, a political party?” My mom and politics? That didn’t make sense because she rarely paid attention to any of that.
“Yup.” Oliver sounded amused. “She fights for the safe society in which all elementals would live in peace. Of course, her plan doesn’t include carriers or anyone else without a pure element.”
“How can that party even function? Isn’t it illegal from now on to openly be against carriers? It’s pure discrimination.” I’d been told that every decision and law the old government had passed was either being reconsidered or abolished. Even the notorious tax law that was the reason for the protest was withdrawn. No one would be paying higher taxes because they didn’t have pure elements.
“Oh, it’s illegal only if you want all carriers to die, but they only promote pure elements, so they are safe simply because they say they fight for a society of people with pure elements and want to find a peaceful solution for everyone. They want to convince us they’re right and that we should respect our heritage, but they don’t condone carriers and those who want to give up on their elements... Well, not openly anyway. You know how politics is in our country: all lies, manipulations and pretenses.”
I took a deep breath and slowly released it. “Right. Can you give me the address then? I’m going to pay our mom a visit.”
“I’ll send the address to you, but be careful. Our dad might be the one who was more interested in experiments, but don’t think Mom wouldn’t secretly send us to some lab. She didn’t exactly stop Dad from sending me to a lab.” Oliver’s voice turned bitter.
“Thanks, and don’t worry about me. I’ll have Adrian with me. No one will be taking me to a lab.” Did my mom know what had happened to me? Did she even care? A part of me believed she’d be happy to see me. “Why didn’t you just tell our parents the story about our great-grandfather? I mean, I thought they knew, but maybe they don’t. Why else would they accuse you of contracting the disease from some girl?”
“I found out about the whole thing only recently. It’s too little, too late to talk to them. Besides, I don’t have any concrete proof. Most of what I told you were my assumptions based on the things I found.”
“Do you know anything else about Rosalia or her family? I think you told me our great-grandpa had a family with her too. Is that true?”
“I don’t know much, except her name.” He groaned. “I thought he might have had a family with her, but maybe he didn’t. Maybe she was involved with someone else too and they were merely secret lovers. I know what I told you, but now that we know more about the disease, I don’t think I got everything right.”
“Of course.” So we still knew nothing about Rosalia, her family or
my great-grandpa. “Call me if you discover something or if that woman reappears.”
“Sure.” I was about to hang up when I remembered something. “Oh, can you tell Lily Ethan’s cousin, Sebastian, tried to kill me earlier today? He said his whole family would be after me and his element is really strong.”
“Wow, sis. You really got yourself into trouble. I’m impressed, but yeah, I can tell Lily.”
“Good. Bye then.” I ended the call and rubbed my eyes. Maybe I should leave the country like my father had done. I had way too many enemies here.
Chapter 09
Adrian parked the car in the alley behind the building that was supposed to be the headquarters of the Elemental Society party. I eyed the building through the window, wondering how I was supposed to figure it out where my mom was.
“She’s on the fifth floor,” Adrian said.
I raised an eyebrow at him.
“What? I’m a carrier and I’ve seen her before. Her element is similar to yours, anyway.” A smile spread his lips.
“Good thing she’s not wearing the element-blocking jewelry.” I looked at the gun in my lap and a heavy weight pressed on my chest. “I wish I had my elements. I hope I won’t have to defend myself against my mother because I don’t think I can do anything with a gun.”
“Leave the gun. We can’t bring it with us anyway. They have a weapons detector at the entrance.” Adrian’s gray-blue eyes sparkled with confidence I didn’t feel.
“Wait, we’re not going through the main door, are we?” I grimaced. “She’ll never agree to see me.”
“She will. If she refuses to see her daughter, people will start to talk. No one wants that kind of attention at their new workplace.” He took the gun from me and placed it in the glove compartment.
“Do you think someone will alert the media when they see me? I mean, I’m the ex president of the Element Preservers.” Suddenly I didn’t even want to get out of the car. Maybe I should just call my mom and try to talk to her, but then she’d be able to hang up or never answer in the first place. Ugh.
“It will be fine.” His fingers wrapped around my hand, his eyes meeting mine. “Do you trust me?”
I nodded.
“Then let’s go.”
We got out of the car and I shivered. The air around me was unusually cold, so I rubbed my arms in hope of getting warmer. Adrian’s worried eyes followed my every move.
“What?” I snapped.
“We’re in the crowded part of the city. Can’t you feel any elements at all?” He came to stand in front of me, his fingers brushing against my cheek.
I shook my head. “Don’t you think I’d be screaming for your help if I could feel every single element around here?” If I still had the disease, I wouldn’t be surprised that it acted strange. From the very beginning, things went differently for me. Hell, back at the time when I was starting to show the symptoms of the disease, I could still feel elements a little even when Adrian was touching me. My disease never had logic.
“Nope, you wouldn’t.” He flashed me a smile. “You’d be trying to deal with it all on your own.”
“Let’s do this before I change my mind.” I crossed the street, my heart thudding loudly in my chest. Adrian bumped into me when I stopped just a couple of feet from the door. “I don’t think I can do this.” My throat constricted.
“Come on. You’ll live.” He gave me a push, forcing me to go forward. My palms were sweating as we entered the lobby. The guard gave us a long look, but didn’t move from his position or say anything. The blond woman at the reception desk, however, was gaping at me, her hand going for the phone.
“Hi, I’m here to see Mrs. Milanez. Can you please tell her I’m here?” I gave the woman my best fake smile.
She kept staring at me, then cleared her throat. “Right, of course, and you are?” She gave me a quizzical look as if she didn’t have the faintest idea who I was.
“Her daughter.”
The woman nearly knocked a book off her desk, but her shaky fingers managed to pick up the phone and dial some number. I prayed to God she wasn’t calling the security. What the hell had people been talking about me? Maybe Lily and Adrian hadn’t told me everything. The woman mumbled something over the phone and I could only catch a couple of words.
“Mrs. Milanez is waiting for you on the fifth floor.” The corners of the woman’s lips awkwardly quirked up. “Once you come out of the elevator, go to the first room to your right.”
“Thanks.” I took Adrian’s hand just in case anyone doubted he was with me and we hurried to the elevator. We didn’t want the guards to stop us or ask questions.
“That woman was totally checking me out.” Amusement flickered in Adrian’s eyes.
“She wasn’t.” I rolled my eyes at him as the elevator door closed.
“Oh, she so was.” He was grinning from ear to ear.
“I don’t care. You’re mine.” I placed my hands on his face and pulled him in for a kiss. My tongue found his as my hands traveled through his hair and down his back.
“Can we stop the elevator?” he breathed. “I like where this is going.”
“Maybe.” I kissed him again, pressing my body close to his until his back collided with the mirror. The elevator beeped to indicate we arrived to the fifth floor, so I stepped back from Adrian. “But not now.”
“Damn it.” He checked himself out in the mirror, combing his fingers through his messy black hair. I stepped out of the elevator with a big grin on my face. The good thing was that I no longer felt cold, but my heart was still skipping a rope in my chest, or something like that. Gathering all my courage, I knocked on the first door to the right and opened it.
My mother stood at the far end of the room and she was gazing through the window. She’d dyed her hair, so the curls that came all the way to her shoulders were black now. Her black suit jacket and black skirt hugged close to her body and I could tell she’d lost some weight.
“Ria,” she said as she slowly turned around and her dark brown eyes met mine.
“Mom.” I swallowed past the lump in my throat. She placed her hands on the back of her leather chair as if she was afraid she’d fall down. As soon as Adrian came in and closed the door behind him, my mom’s red lips curled in disgust.
“How dare you bring him here?” she spat out.
“Mom, he’s my boyfriend, okay?” I had no idea why I had the urge to convince my mother to accept Adrian. Now that my dad was far, far away, maybe she wouldn’t be so much under his influence and share his opinions.
“You shouldn’t be here. Neither of you.” She pressed her lips together and glared at us.
“Mom, I came to tell you that your life might be in danger. Our whole family might be in danger, actually.” I gave her a pleading look, willing her to listen to me.
“Our family?” She scoffed. “There’s not much left of our family, is there? Your brother ruined us, then you, then your father had to go because of you.”
The accusatory look in her eyes hit me like a ton of bricks. “Mom... It’s not my fault that I have the disease.” I didn’t want to explain to my mother that maybe I no longer had the disease because that was beside the point. I wanted her to accept me for who I was, not because the disease might be gone from my system. And I definitely didn’t want to tell her my fire was gone.
“Of course it’s not your fault, honey. It’s his.” She laughed and looked at Adrian.
“Mrs. Milanez, your daughter didn’t contract the disease from me,” Adrian said. “Don’t you think it’s a little bit strange that both of your children have the disease?”
“I don’t believe you.” She crossed her arms, but she blinked a little bit too fast and too often.
“Mom, he’s telling the truth. I inherited the disease, just like my brother did.” I slowly stepped closer to the desk. “And we can thank our great-grandfather, Jonathan, for that because he was the one who passed the faulty genes on to us. Why else do you think he’d
need to seal a deal to kill off anyone who married someone of a different element? He needed us to maintain the illusion that we had a pure element. He couldn’t have known the disease would show in another generation.”
“That’s impossible.” My mother shook her head. “Your grandma would have inherited the disease. I would too.”
“Not necessarily. The chances of inheriting the disease from one parent are big, but they’re not a hundred percent. Grandma could have easily inherited only a fraction of the bad genes, which got transferred to Oliver and me.” I stopped in front of the desk, facing my mother, who looked pale.
“Your great-grandma would have noticed if her husband had the disease. She would have contracted it.”
“Not if he was careful around her. It was scientifically proven that the disease is contracted only if the disease and elements touch each other or exchange briefly, and if that doesn’t happen, there’s no way a carrier can transmit the disease.” Lily and I had revealed this to the world with some of the other secrets, but it seemed my mother needed a reminder.
“Fine,” she finally said. “But you and your brother are still carriers, even if you did keep your elements. You’re both killers. Murderers.” She must have heard I’d used my element in the fight, so she knew I was an element preserver. I’d had my element when my father found out that I had the disease, but he could have assumed that I’d gotten the disease recently and hadn’t lost the element yet.
The darkness and emptiness inside of me spread their fingers through the rest of my body, squeezing my heart. I stumbled back and Adrian was there to catch me. His wide eyes met mine as I tried to breathe. Was that what my mom thought of me? That I was a murderer? “I didn’t...” Tears stung my eyes. “Mom, I was defending myself...”
“Do you have their elements? The elements of the people whose lives you have taken?” A vein in her neck pulsed with anger.
“Not anymore.” My voice was so low that even I barely heard it. “But I’ve taken the elements of people who died near me. I didn’t kill those people!” I glared at her, my anger surging. “How many people Dad tortured and killed for his experiments? Or it isn’t his fault because he didn’t do it personally? You know what? I don’t care what you think. I never killed someone just to get their element.”
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