Dangerous (Element Preservers Series, Book 1)

by Alycia Linwood

“Do you have the class together?”

  “Yeah, we do, and you know what that means. I can’t talk in that class.” I felt immediately sick when I said it. Magic Studies wasn’t the class I wanted to go to. Not now when we actually got to work with our elements. Oh, crap. I hadn’t thought about it at all! No, that couldn’t be happening! I survived the shitty part and now I couldn’t go to the awesome part! Fuck!

  “Are you sure you want to go to that class?” Michael said cautiously. “You’ve been outside the whole time. You need sleep. I don’t want you to faint or something.”

  “You’re right. I probably shouldn’t go to the class,” I said. “But I still want to talk to Paula about something.”

  “Ok, as you wish.” He smiled and kissed the top of my head. “I’m going now. There are some books waiting for me in the library. See you later. And get some sleep.”

  “Yeah, sure.” I waved him goodbye. When the door closed, I threw myself on the bed, unsure what to do. I had had more than enough sleep, so staying in my room didn’t seem like a good option, even though I had some unfinished homework and lots of stuff to study. But with all of this on my mind I didn’t think I could really concentrate on studying.

  After a little trip to the bathroom, I was feeling fresh and clean again, so I decided to find Paula. Michael was nowhere to be seen, and I tried to figure it out could I find him like Adrian could, but I failed. I really needed to ask Adrian about it.

  Paula was the only person waiting in front of the classroom, but that wasn’t unusual. People usually got to class a minute or two before the beginning, just like me. But Paula wanted to make sure she got there in time, so she always went earlier. She smiled at me as I approached her, then she suddenly frowned.

  “Ria, where are your books?” She raised an eyebrow.

  “I’m not going to the class today,” I said. “I don’t think I can stay concentrated long enough.”

  “But you can’t miss this class! We will be doing some fun thing with our elements!” she said. “You love doing that!”

  “I’m tired,” I said, leaning on the wall next to her. “It’s been a long night. But listen, I wanted to ask you something.”

  “Sure,” she said cheerfully. “What is it?”

  “Well, Michael and I were in one fancy restaurant yesterday, and I heard someone talking about the magic disease,” I said.

  “Oh, you two were out? That’s awesome.” Her blue-green eyes shone with excitement. “Where did he take you? Was it romantic?”

  That wasn’t exactly what I wanted to talk to her about, but as I remembered that part of last night, it seemed like something worth talking about.

  “He actually brought a white horse here, and we were riding together to the restaurant,” I said with a shy smile on my face. I wasn’t sure should I brag about it or be embarrassed because I had let Michael put me on a horse in a dress.

  “That’s so romantic!” Paula said, genuinely happy for me, but I knew she wished it had happened to her. It was her dream that her boyfriend did something romantic for her, but I didn’t think Adrian was the right guy for that.

  “Yeah, it is,” I said. “I’ll tell the details when we have more time, but I was wondering about something I heard in the restaurant. One guy said it might be possible for people with the magic disease to keep their elements. What do you think about it?”

  “Impossible,” she said. “If they kept their element then they wouldn’t have to kill to have it. They wouldn’t have the magic disease then.”

  I frowned. If she was right, then what Adrian and I had wasn’t the magic disease. But why did we have symptoms of the magic disease? And why had I almost choked Michael to death then? Another point against her theory was that Adrian’s parents both had had the disease for sure, and there was no way he hadn’t inherited it, unless Adrian’s mother had cheated on her husband. But even then the chances of not inheriting the disease were very, very low.

  “But let’s just say they could have the disease and keep the element,” I said. “What would happen in that case?”

  “Umm, I’m not a science fiction expert.” She laughed a little. “I don’t know. Maybe they could collect elements when they killed? That could be very dangerous if you ask me. But don’t worry. That guy was probably reading some kind of a novel.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” I said. “Well, I have to go now. Not showing up for the class is much better than running into the professor and then not showing up.”

  “I’m going to bring you my notes after I’m done,” she said.

  “Thanks,” I smiled and headed down the hall, as far away from the classroom as I could. I was glad that going to classes wasn’t obligatory, because I didn’t feel like coming up with some stupid excuse. But, of course, missing a class meant a lot, especially Magic Studies practice class. You could get the notes, but no one could show you exactly how the thing was done. Well, they could show you how they thought it went, but that was never going to be perfect.

  I was getting closer to the lunchroom and suddenly I could feel various elements around me, and yeah, each one seemed different in a way. It was almost overwhelming. Maybe I should just stay away from big crowds for some time. And I really needed coffee. The café where I usually went with Michael felt like the best choice, so I hurried outside.

  I spent the day mostly sitting in the café and reading some of my university books. Sitting was easy, but reading took some effort. I couldn’t concentrate on History or Geography when my thoughts were drifting away. I also decided not to show up for any other class, but I took the risk and went to lunch with Michael. Luckily, no one died.

  In the evening, Paula came to my room to bring me the notes, and we talked about my romantic date with Michael. Paula was just about to show me what was supposed to be done with the element when her mobile phone rang. Her face lit up as she answered, and I knew immediately it was Adrian.

  “Can he come here?” Paula asked, holding her hand over the phone. “I was supposed to meet him half an hour ago, but the time flew by. And I really want to show you this.”

  I wasn’t really sure I wanted to see her use her element in front of me and I didn’t know what to invent to avoid this. I had to learn how to control myself. And somehow having Adrian around when that happened seemed like a good idea. I just had to stall Paula until he came, because I was sure she wouldn’t want to use her element in front of him. If only she knew.

  “Let’s do this,” she said after exchanging a few words with Adrian. From what I gathered, he was on his way here. I just hoped he’d come in time.

  “Wait, can you explain first what this means?” I pointed at the random sentence in the notes.

  “Yeah, but I want to show you this before Adrian comes. I don’t want to use my element in front of him,” she said impatiently.

  “I know. But what’s the point in showing me first if I don’t get it?” I said.

  “Umm, there is a point in showing it. You’ll know what result you’re supposed to get. It’s the same for all elements, so I can show it to you without a problem.” She sighed. “You’ll never get it otherwise. Ah, what are you going to do when we start having separate classes for each element?”

  “I’ll be lost.” I smiled, but she just pressed her lips together in what looked like an angry line.

  “Just let me do this, ok?” she said. “Maybe I’m not perfect at showing it, but it might make things easier for you.”

  I didn’t have time to answer because there was a knock on the door. I immediately jumped to open it and felt relieved to see Adrian. Relieved to see Adrian? Oh yeah, this world was going to end soon. I could feel it.

  “Hello, my ladies,” Adrian said, a sly smile on his face. I frowned at him, but his expression didn’t change. It was almost like I had dreamed everything from the last night.

  “Heey.” Paula threw herself into his arms and they kissed. I rolled my eyes.

  “Have you missed me?” she asked, steppin
g away from him and putting her notes back together.

  “Yes,” he said, looking directly at me, “I missed you.”

  I looked away, suddenly feeling heat coming into my cheeks. I remembered what he had said last night about making me his next target and couldn’t help but feel upset and angry. But why in hell was I blushing then? Keeping secrets from Paula really was a difficult thing.

  “Damn, now I can’t show her the exercise we did in Magic Studies.” She pouted.

  “Sure you can,” he said casually. “I’ll survive. Besides, I’m sure Ria would kill me before I even got to you.”

  “I agree.” I grinned. It was Paula’s time to roll her eyes at us.

  “You two are impossible, you know?” she said. “Alright. But tell me to stop if it bothers you, Adrian.”

  “I’ll leave the room if it bothers me,” he said.

  “Why don’t you leave now? I can meet you…” Paula started to say, but Adrian interrupted her.

  “More standing in the hall? No, thanks,” he said. “You made me do that too much today already.”

  “Sorry.” She smiled apologetically.

  “Stop talking and do it already!” I said, and Paula frowned, but she went through the notes again. While she was checking out some things, Adrian came to stand behind me. I wanted him to assure me that everything was going to be alright, but I got nothing from him.

  “Ok, here it goes,” Paula said. I’d seen her using her element numerous times, but this time it wasn’t just the tingling sensation I was feeling. I could feel the air all around her, and it wasn’t a breeze exactly, more like a tornado. Maybe Paula wouldn’t hurt a fly, but this tornado that was her element was meant to destroy things.

  According to the notes, she was supposed to slowly call her element to life, bring it to full force and then shut it off. I guessed the task was supposed to teach us to shut our element abruptly in a second if necessary. Maybe it seemed easy, but it wasn’t. Shutting all that energy down after the full force wasn’t the same as my usual medium power turned into heat inside of me before dying out completely.

  I could now feel her element completely, and it was suddenly hard to breathe. I wanted to stop her. I wanted to take her out before I suffocated. I blinked. No, that was wrong. I was still breathing, but my chest felt so heavy, and that element would feel sweet in my possession…

  The pressure in my chest intensified as I was struggling for breath. There was no air in my lungs. I had to… I felt Adrian’s hand behind my back, put my own hand behind and he took it. The air was back and I could breathe just fine. I could still feel the power of the air, but I didn’t feel like I wanted it.

  Paula had her eyes closed now, her hair flying around her and the papers rustling as she was trying to stay concentrated and do this as best as she could. I didn’t want to risk a glance at Adrian to find out how he was feeling with me holding his hand. It seemed that we got back in control of ourselves when we touched. Creepy, but might be useful.

  In a blink of an eye, Paula’s element was no more than a gentle pulsation inside of her, which I could feel only because of my condition. I was still in denial actually. Maybe this thing would pass. Adrian let go of my hand, and we both pretended that nothing had happened.

  “Did you see it?” Paula smiled proudly. “I used my element to make that bit of paper twirl and stopped it completely in a second! I can’t wait until we learn how to get rid of other things flying around as well.”

  She said the last sentence while she tried to make her hair look good again. Oops, I hadn’t even noticed the twirling paper. Damn. I knew that in my version of this task there would be something on fire, and I was hoping I could get rid of the temperature rising inside of me when I used my element… if I got to keep my element at all, that is. All my wishes and dreams needed a makeover.

  “Yeah, it was great!” I said, smiling.

  “Why don’t you give it a try?” Paula said, and then her face darkened as her eyes fell on Adrian. “Oh, sorry. Fire bothers you the most. I forgot.”

  “Ria can try that later,” he said. “And you have to come with me. Now.”

  “Ok,” she said and looked at me. “Do you need anything else?”

  “No,” I said. “Thanks.”

  “Well, see you soon,” Paula said from the door. And Adrian, who was standing behind her, mouthed “in my room” to me. I just nodded, and then they were gone. Great, Adrian wanted to see me. I wondered how would Paula feel about it, but I needed to see him. And it wasn’t like I was going to sleep with him or something. Michael was my one and only, and I swore to myself nothing was going to change that. I’d find a way how to keep him. I had to.

  Chapter 14

  I wasn’t exactly sure when Adrian expected to see me, but I’d figured that I could just go to his room, and if Paula was there, I could say I was looking for her. I’d invent something. But from what I had heard from her, they mostly stayed in her room. Adrian apparently told her something about the danger of someone finding her in his room. Maybe he was afraid she’d come and catch him with another girl. But for some reason I didn’t believe he took girls to his room; he stayed in theirs.

  I knocked on his door somewhere around 11 p.m. Paula usually went to sleep at that time because she needed to be well-rested in the morning and ready for classes and research. He opened in a moment, a big grin on his face.

  “It’s so weird not to know when you’re coming,” he said as I stepped inside.

  “Whatever,” I said and sat down on the bed, looking at him expectantly. “You told me to come, so I’m here. What now?”

  “Oh, please. You’ve been dying to see me,” he said, getting two beer bottles out of somewhere and handing me one.

  “You’re an idiot,” I said. “If you’re trying to get me into your bed, it’s not going to happen.”

  “You've already been in my bed.” He laughed and came to sit next to me.

  “That’s not what I meant,” I frowned and took a good swig of the beer.

  “Are you going to tell me how did you get the disease?” he said, a hint of amusement in his gray-blue eyes.

  “No, because I don’t know,” I said. “My parents are not telling me something, but I can’t just ask them directly because I’m not sure. I kind of still hope it’s all going to go away.”

  “You really didn’t…?” he said, surprised.

  “No!” I said before he could finish the sentence. “And I’m not ready to find out that I’m not my parents’ daughter or something equally complicated.”

  “But you’ll have to find out someday,” he said.

  “Yeah, but not today or anytime soon. I’m still dealing with this…whatever it is that I have.” I sighed. “Hey, I wanted to ask you how you could find people by recognizing their element. I tried to figure out where Michael was but didn’t know how to do it.”

  "I don’t think you’ll be able to do that anytime soon,” he said. “It takes time to learn it.”

  “Crap! It would definitely help to avoid trouble,” I said. I certainly wouldn’t have to invent silly excuses because I’d know if Paula or anyone else was here.

  “Yeah, it comes in handy,” he said.

  “What do you think happens if… we get in possession of another element?” I looked at him, wondering would he know the answer.

  “You mean if we kill someone?” He chuckled. I started to say no, but damn, there wasn’t another way.

  “Yeah,” I said reluctantly.

  “I don’t know.” His eyes flashed dangerously. “Wanna try and see?”

  “No!” I yelled, and then put my hand over my mouth. I just hoped no one was outside to hear me. I really had to be more careful.

  “Fine, you don’t have to get upset,” he said. “It was just a thought.”

  Yeah, a thought, right. But I didn’t say anything.

  “Wait, are you thinking someone like us could be collecting elements?” He suddenly looked interested in the topic and
not just because he thought I could be his crime partner.

  “Are there even people like us?” I said.

  “I don’t know, but we can’t be the only ones, can we?” he said. “They must be hiding.”

  “Yeah, no one would admit being a murderer just to let everyone know it’s possible to have more elements,” I said. “What about your parents? Did they have an element like you?”

  “I don’t think so,” he said, his voice strained.

  “So your mother had an affair…” I couldn’t even finish the sentence because he turned to me completely furious, his face only inches from mine.

  “Don’t you ever say something like that!” he said through his teeth. “Or we might find out do I get to keep your element or not.”

  He moved away from me and took a swig of his beer. For a moment, I just sat there, trying hard not to shake and show him my fear. But he had scared me. He had really, truly scared me. Mentioning his parents in a bad context obviously wasn’t a smart thing to do; even I should have known that.

  “Sorry,” I said, trying to change the subject. “So you can’t feel my element when I’m using it, and touching helps when others are using their elements?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “Touching and being together with another person who has the magic disease helps you to stay in control and be able to stay longer around people with elements. Of course, having an element helps you even more, so you can actually live without killing someone… at least for some years.”

  “Why? And if that’s true, how did you go all these years without another person with the disease?” I raised an eyebrow at him. Maybe I shouldn’t take everything he said as the truth. He could as well be trying to manipulate me into something.

  “Because you’re always surrounded by people who have elements, and their elements are using up your energy. Imagine them like bees buzzing around your head and tempting you. Sooner or later you’re going to snap,” he said. “And once the disease gets stronger, you will be able to feel people’s elements almost a mile away from you. It’s almost impossible to stay completely away unless you go to an abandoned island in the middle of nowhere.”