Resilient (Tainted Elements, #6)

by Alycia Linwood

  Enveloping Marissa in my element, I pictured her body changing. At first, nothing happened except for the shimmering, but then Marissa’s body twisted, and when the shimmering was gone, she looked exactly like the dark-haired, blue-eyed woman who’d agreed to help us. Marissa’s eyes widened as she stared down at her body.

  “Awkward,” she said, as Jaiden directed his air at Noah, who swallowed hard, probably unsure of what to expect. A few moments later, Noah was completely changed.

  “You’re ready,” Jaiden said. “If there are any element blockers inside, you’ll have to get out of there immediately. It won’t matter who sees you as long as you manage to escape. We’ll be right behind you so that your disguises stay on. If Phil breaks through them or tries anything, just run.”

  Noah and Marissa nodded. I could feel a connection to my air that was all over Marissa, and I knew it would hold unless Phil or some blocker severed it, but I hoped there would be no blockers. Phil was probably confident enough by now that he could do anything he wanted and fight off any enemy. Jaiden and I followed Marissa and Noah down the street, but when they walked inside after handing over their invitations, we hid behind one of the trash containers across the street so we could see the entrance, and waited for Marissa and Noah to come back to switch with us.

  “Did you see anything? Any blocker or anything? What if it’s a trap?” Jaiden whispered.

  “Who knows? Phil has way too many abilities, and since the whole town is under his control, maybe he feels brave. He probably thinks he scared us off, and that he’d see a bunch of agents coming after him. The guards at the entrance look young, so they’re probably tainteds. If they spot any shimmering, they’ll alert Phil.” It was really a good thing that the disguises didn’t have any shimmering on them, which was strange, considering they were also made out of an element, but very strong magic like this one didn’t visibly shimmer. Otherwise, the whole thing about shapeshifting would be completely useless.

  Everything seemed calm as people trailed in, and the guards kept monitoring their surroundings. After a long twenty minutes, I hopped from foot to foot, praying that Marissa and Noah were fine and that Phil hadn’t seen right through their disguises, but I could still feel my element somewhere out there.

  Finally, Marissa and Noah strode toward us, but they pretended to pass us by so the guards wouldn’t see anything suspicious. Jaiden and I immediately pulled our elements back, turning Marissa and Noah back into themselves, and I healed their minds. Then we let air envelop us.

  “He didn’t mention the serum yet,” Noah said. “But he was in our minds. I don’t know what he saw, but be careful.”

  “Okay,” Jaiden said, and he took me by the arm. We flashed our invitations to the guards at the door, although they weren’t really paying attention to us because we must have looked familiar to them since Marissa and Noah had just come out wearing the same faces.

  “I can’t believe you left our plans in the car!” I snapped at Jaiden, just in case the guards were wondering where we’d been. “We need to show Mr. Clarkens that we’re serious about this.”

  “I thought you were supposed to get them,” Jaiden said, and I saw one of the guards roll his eyes at us. We entered a room full of people, who were drinking and chatting loudly. Phil was standing at one of the tables and eating a cupcake. Two guards were right behind his back, observing the room. As I made a step forward, something shimmered in front of me, and I frowned. There was something in the air... some kind of a barrier. Jaiden tugged me aside and everything was back to normal.

  “It’s his protection. It’s like a block that’s always around him, but now it’s not strong enough to completely hide itself. I bet he can sense anything that enters the field, and that’s how he knows when to protect himself. The field can probably stop bullets or any darts, probably elements too,” Jaiden whispered into my ear. That actually made sense. I placed my hand over the syringe that was in my pocket. Could Phil sense the shape of the syringe in my pocket? If he asked, we’d say it was our new serum. We hadn’t brought any weapons because we were sure there would be a detector for those at the entrance, but now I suspected Phil could sense those too. It would explain how he’d walked out of that factory unscathed.

  Jaiden and I stepped right through the field of Phil’s element and strode straight toward him.

  “Ah, there you are,” he said, a wide smile spreading his lips. “I thought you wouldn’t be coming back.”

  “Why?” I said, touching my throat. “It’s an honor to be able to be here with you. We wouldn’t miss it for anything!”

  “Thank you, my dear,” he said, and I stepped closer to him, but he backed away a little, far enough that I couldn’t actually reach him with the needle because he would’ve sensed it and stopped me before I could do anything. “You mentioned you were working on something special. Care to tell me more?”

  “Of course,” Jaiden said. “We heard your speech, and we were intrigued by your idea because we were working on something similar.” He glanced around. “I’m not sure if we can discuss this here.” Jaiden pulled a piece of paper out of the pocket of his suit and slid it across the table toward Phil. The notes contained info about the serum that the real scientists were actually working on, and the concept was very similar to what Phil had in mind, although it was for converting an impure water element into a pure one. We couldn’t offer Phil exactly what he wanted because he’d be suspicious, but this was close enough to pique his interest and to not sound too far-fetched.

  Phil read through the notes. “I see. That’s very interesting, indeed. We could discuss it... in private. Come with me.” He waved at his guards, who immediately stepped around him, and he whispered something into their ears.

  “My guards will escort you to a more private room. I’ll be with you in a moment,” Phil said to us.

  “Thank you,” I said, flashing him a smile. As the guards led us into a hallway, I prayed he wasn’t taking us somewhere secluded just so he could kill us.

  Chapter 22

  Jaiden and I entered a room with only one table, so we took a seat and waited for Phil to join us. My hand trembled slightly as I ran my fingers over my pocket and wondered if we could finally take this guy out or if he’d come tell us that he had us all figured out. Maybe he wouldn’t even come but just send his guards to kill us. But why hadn’t he done it already? A few moments later, Phil strolled in, adjusting his tie.

  “Sorry you had to wait,” he said, taking a seat, and one of the waiters came forward with a tray filled with glasses of wine. I glanced at Jaiden, but his face was unreadable. What if there was poison in the wine? I didn’t touch my glass, but Phil picked his up and took a sip, watching me carefully. “You don’t like wine?”

  “I don’t really drink alcohol,” I said.

  “Me neither,” Jaiden added with a smile.

  “Okay, then.” Phil snapped his fingers. “We’ll get you some water. Or do you prefer juice or something else?”

  “Water will be fine. Thanks,” I said, getting hold of the syringe in my pocket.

  “About your serum...” Phil leaned forward. “I’d like to know something. Did you already create it? Do you maybe have a sample somewhere?”

  “It’s still in testing, but we do have some here.” Jaiden pulled a vial out of his pocket and pushed it toward Phil. “We haven’t tested it yet because we couldn’t find any volunteers.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. I’ll help you with that.” Phil picked up the vial and twirled it between his fingers, inspecting it from every side. I was sitting close enough to him that I could jab the syringe into his knee, but just as I was about to raise it, the waiter came with the water, so I had to drop the syringe onto my lap. The water was actually in a bottle, which was unopened.

  “We’re always trying to find ways to improve our serum, so if it doesn’t work, we won’t stop until we find the right formula,” Jaiden said.

  “I understand,” Phil
said. “I’ve always wanted what’s best for this planet. People are destroying it every day and don’t even care what happens. Our water supplies are going to go dry soon, and then what are we going to do? If we can’t use elemental energy for this, then what’s left? We can’t let death take over this amazing world.” His eyes became distant, and I wondered if he was telling the truth or if he was playing us.

  “Many people don’t understand that, and they aren’t ready to do whatever it takes to save our future,” Phil continued, his eyes narrowing at me. My heart skipped a beat. He knew. I didn’t know how, but somehow he knew. “I’m not like them.” He looked at Jaiden, whose whole body started to shimmer.

  I didn’t waste a second. Gripping the syringe, I stabbed Phil in the knee with it while he was still focused on Jaiden, who transformed back into himself. But as soon as I drained the contents of the syringe into his body, Phil started shimmering too, and I jumped to my feet, my disguise unraveling. Instead of Phil, the waiter who’d served us drinks was slumped in the chair.

  I turned my head and saw the real Phil going for the door, a smile playing on his lips. Jaiden raced after him, but a guard got in his way and tried to lay a punch on him. I propelled my air at the guy, sending him flying, but something caught my leg and I was thrown to the floor. Multiple guards stormed the room and opened fire on us.

  Turning myself into air, I dodged the bullets and headed toward Jaiden, who slugged one of the guards in the face and threw a fireball at another one. I surged toward the ceiling, then let a shimmering thread catch one of the guards, but as I entered his mind, I realized his brain signals were shriveled. Shit. All the mind control and everything Phil had done hadn’t affected his energy too much. If he really wanted to save the planet, maybe he should hook himself up to some machines. His power seemed to have no end, so why not use it for something good instead of chasing some serum like a madman? The madman part was probably the problem.

  “I can’t heal their mind,” I yelled to Jaiden. “They might be forced to attack until we’re dead.”

  “Okay, then. Guess we’ll have to knock them out.” Jaiden gave me a quick shrug, and ducked to avoid a punch, then swept one guards’ legs from under him. A huge waterball advanced toward me and I caught it with my air, deflecting it toward another guard. It hit him in the stomach, and he fell back with a whoosh.

  Picking up one of the chairs, I hurled it at the closest man, then used my air to lift the table and fling it across the room. A fireball swished so close to my face that I jerked back. Jaiden was throwing his own fireballs. When the door opened and more men tried to rush in, I turned into air, grabbed Jaiden’s arm, and we zoomed out past the men and into the hallway. Multiple fireballs and waterballs lunged after us, but I avoided them, going so fast that I thought I’d get dizzy.

  A window was right in front of us, but it was closed. Gathering all my strength, I rushed at it, the glass shattering as we hit it. Pain erupted somewhere on my body, but I wasn’t sure where. I carried us up into the sky, and I didn’t stop until I was sure we were far enough from Phil’s men. We landed on a rooftop, and when we became visible again, I realized I had cuts all over me.

  “This is getting insane,” Jaiden said, dusting off his pants. There was a scratch right across his cheek, but it wasn’t bleeding much.

  “Yeah, if there’s an ability out there, he has it.” I ran both hands through my hair, then slumped down onto my knees.

  “Why didn’t he change into other people before?” Jaiden kicked at the empty air, clenching his jaw. “Did we give him that idea or what?”

  “I don’t think so. He might have done it already the first time we tried to lure him out. Maybe he just likes himself too much. I mean, he wants the world to see him as the one responsible for the discovery of the super serum once he finds it, and he wants all the credit.”

  “So just like Sophia, huh. She wanted her face everywhere too.”

  “I don’t know. I guess. Or maybe he just doesn’t want to waste his energy on that when he can do so many things.” I traced my finger over the cut on my arm, wiping away the blood.

  “He was playing with us. He knew from the beginning who we were.” Jaiden’s nostrils flared.

  “Yeah, but hey, at least we all got out of there alive.” I gave him a small smile, and he offered me his hand and I took it. He pulled me up on my feet and wrapped his arms around me, nuzzling my neck.

  “We’ll figure something out. He has to have a weakness. He’s not God of Magic,” he whispered.

  “Yeah, I hope so.” But this time I wasn’t so sure. We’d tried a lot of things and we were still getting nowhere with this. I didn’t like that at all.

  Chapter 23

  “Oh thank God you’re fine.” Ashley threw her arms around me once we got back to our hideout. “We were so worried. Someone mentioned terrorists and shootings, and we didn’t know what to think.”

  When she pulled away, I ran my hand over my face and looked at the worried faces of everyone in the room.

  Lily stepped forward, dark circles under her eyes. “Did you at least get close to him? Find out something more?”

  “No, he could tell what we were doing, and he turned some guy into himself,” I said.

  “How could he have known?” Noah frowned.

  “Um, do we have a spy here?” Sam scratched his head. “Phil knows what we’re going to do every single time! What if he’s recording us somehow? Or if he’s masking as one of us?”

  “He’s not!” Noah shook his head. “Only a few of us knew about this plan and we didn’t even tell it to the scientists who agreed to help us. There’s no way he’s one of us, right, Moira?” His eyes searched mine.

  “Yeah, I can check your minds,” I said. “There must’ve been something that gave us away. He has some sort of force field around him that probably detects everything that enters through it. I have a feeling he might have been able to enter our minds and recognize them as soon as we stepped through that thing.”

  “A force field?” Lily hugged herself. “Is that why he can protect himself from our guns?”

  “Yeah, it seems so,” Jaiden said. “He somehow lets people through, and I guess he can affect technology when it’s in range, but he can probably shut it down at will.”

  “And how are we going to defeat him if he’s so well protected?” Lily started pacing up and down the room. “Are you sure it’s not some kind of a device?”

  “I don’t think so. That device would have to be really sophisticated, and really, really strong to be able to do that, but who knows?” I shrugged. “We were close to him and didn’t see anything. I’m sure we talked to the real him at first, but he switched later with one of the waiters. Besides, wouldn’t our blockers turn off a device?”

  “How about we try to plant a bomb on him?” Nick asked. “We could find a small one, slip it into his pocket, and boom. I don’t think he’d see that coming.”

  “Yeah, and blow up an innocent person with his face on. I don’t think so.” Lily shot him a glare.

  “Hey, it was just a suggestion.” Nick raised his hands up. “Does that mean poisoning him is also excluded? Slipping drugs into his drink?”

  “If he can sense us, then he might be able to sense the things we’re carrying with us too, and he would probably feel it when we poured something into his glass.” I plopped into one of the chairs. “We need a better plan.”

  “And if we just gave up?” Kenna said, her face serious. “The guy’s too good for us, and it looks like he wants to do a semi-good thing. And before you think I was mind-controlled again... I wasn’t. I’m just saying maybe it’s not worth the risk. He’s just going around facilities looking for a serum. Put some protection in places where he hasn’t gone, make sure he doesn’t kill anyone, and done. Maybe he’ll just stop. Or maybe someone finally gets him the serum.”

  “What does he even want with it?” Noah asked.

  “World peace.” I chuckled. “Well, he keeps sayi
ng he wants to help people, and I don’t know if he’s as delusional as Sophia was, but it’s possible he’s telling the truth. Unless whatever he’s saying is just an excuse to get what he really wants. We saw him use one element, but what if he has the others too, and just isn’t using them in front of us? And maybe water is missing, so he needs a strong element that will stay in his system.”

  “If he wants to be the most powerful elemental on the planet, well he succeeded already,” Nick said. “What more does he want? He bested all of us already.”

  “People always want more,” Lily said. “But if he’s really looking for ways to increase his strength, we can’t let that happen.”

  I turned my head toward her. “Can any of your techs come up with a device that could stop him? Maybe create a really, really strong blocker?”

  “Maybe, but it’ll take time.” Lily chewed on her lower lip.

  “I’m going to talk to my mom. Maybe she can figure something out,” I said, getting up, and headed for the door. Lily nodded, and Jaiden followed me into the hallway.

  “Do you think we should try to gather all scientists from all over the world and try to create what he wants and give it to him?” Jaiden asked. “Maybe make a deal with him.”

  “It could work, even though we don’t know why exactly Phil needs that serum. But once he has it, what if he starts kidnapping more elementals and uses the serum on them? We assume all he wants is to take the serum for himself, but what if that’s not his plan?”

  “We could still use the serum to lure him out and get him to come to us,” Jaiden said.

  “Yeah, but only if we can really make sure he won’t screw us over or steal the serum without us even knowing. We’ve tried to trick him with that before, so he’ll be very careful and won’t trust us easily.” I stopped in front of the door of the small lab and knocked. My mom opened the door, her shoulders sagging in relief, her eyes brightening.