Dangerous (Element Preservers Series, Book 1)

by Alycia Linwood

  I started walking upstairs, and he followed me, no doubt staring at my behind. Good, I didn’t need him concentrated on security anyway. Maybe he’d lose his job if Adrian and I managed to pull this off. Somehow, I didn’t really care.

  As we neared the ballroom the chatter became louder, but that wasn’t the only indicator that the party was there. There were around fifty people of all elements inside as far as I could count. And, thankfully, no one was out of control, but that didn’t mean I could stay long around them.

  There were two more guards at the door and they looked startled when they saw us approaching. The one on the left had earth and the other one had air. And it was the air guy who eyed us suspiciously.

  “What’s up?” He looked at me and then at the guard following me.

  “Nothing,” the fire guy replied. “I brought this lady here to see the ballroom.”

  “Are you insane?” the air guy said. Oh, so apparently they weren’t all stupid. The fire guy said something, and both the air and earth guy turned on him. I used their quarrel as an opportunity to slip past them and walk into the ballroom. The damn room was much bigger than I’d thought it would be, and people were chatting and dancing, dressed in expensive suits and dresses. No one even glanced at me as I made my way through the room.

  I really hoped Adrian was in his position because I was about to start a little bit of chaos. The guards must have realized where I’d gone; there was a bit of commotion behind my back. But I didn’t have time to think about it. I grabbed a glass of red wine from the tray and bumped into an important looking guy on purpose, spilling the red liquid all over his suit. He swore, and I noticed the guards moving from their positions towards us.

  I spun around and hurried to the area where the waiters were coming from. There was a lot of shouting behind me, and the guards had their attention on the guy who was still completely outraged because of the red stains on his shirt. But, of course, I could feel the elements in the room getting stronger because not everyone could see it was only wine from their position, so people were afraid and trying to find a guard.

  I entered the ‘waiters only’ area despite the protests of one elderly waiter. I looked around and found the door I’d been looking for. Adrian had actually shown me a map of the building so I could escape easier. The door I was just about to open were emergency doors, which were under the alarm. But if everything had gone alright, it shouldn’t go off.

  I opened the door before anyone could notice and disappeared down the stairs. I didn’t hear the sound of the alarm, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t gone off in some security office. The guards were probably not far behind me, but I hoped that panicked crowd managed to slow them. I could feel their elements still pulsing rather strongly. My shoes were a bit uncomfortable for running down the stairs, but I managed. Just like I managed not to look up in case there was a camera somewhere.

  The stairs led me to one of the side exits of the building, but the damn door was locked. I had to take another door and ended up in the lobby, where the guards were trying to evacuate people who came to the exposition. I merged into the crowd and hurried outside before the guards from the ballroom could give my description to the others.

  I felt a wave of relief wash over me as I found myself in the dark outside the building. But it wasn’t over yet, so I hurried in the direction opposite from where Adrian’s car was. Luckily, no one was following me and there were only a few cars passing by on the street. I found the abandoned warehouse where we were supposed to meet and got inside through a half-collapsed door. Not so long ago, I would have been scared to enter such a place, but now I was sure there weren’t other humans inside… unless they had the magic disease and I couldn’t sense them. That almost made me hesitate, but I couldn’t see anyone.

  I hastily got a plastic bag out of the backpack we’d brought there before going into action and took off the wig, stuffing it into the bag. I was glad no one had come here in the meantime and found our things. We’d been careful not to leave anything personal, but it would have been a bit of a problem if someone had stolen it. I removed the contacts from my eyes after the fourth or fifth attempt. Damn, those things were irritating. Removing the make-up was another difficult thing, and I had to wipe my face a few times before it was more or less clean.

  The dress and all I’d worn ended up in plastic bags, and I was dressed in plain jeans and a black T-shirt with a picture of a bird on it. I was really grateful when I got rid of my high heels and put on a pair of comfortable black sneakers. The door rattled a bit and I froze, my heart beating like crazy. Then I heard footsteps, but couldn’t feel anything.

  I let out a sigh of relief when Adrian came into view. He took off his heavy black coat and the hat, tossing it to me. I immediately started to put his things into another plastic bag because the speed was what mattered now. He removed the mask and changed into blue jeans and a blue T-shirt. It was all nicely packed in white plastic bags, and we were almost ready to get out of there when I looked at his dark eyes.

  “The contacts,” I said.

  “Shit!” He handed me a leather journal, which was probably the thing he’d been looking for, and hurried to get the contacts out. We checked the place for any possible traces and when we were sure there weren’t any, we headed outside.

  As we neared the Council's building I felt more and more nervous, but we didn’t start walking faster. We didn’t want to draw attention to us, so we just tried to act like a couple coming from a grocery store. That was why we’d taken the plastic bags of a nearby supermarket. And I really hoped no one could sense the rapid beating of my heart. There were police lights flashing in front of the building, and I was wondering what they were thinking about everything that had happened.

  It seemed like an eternity until we reached our parking spot. We put the bags in the trunk, which, to my surprise, was in the front, and just stared at each other for a moment before getting into the car. Adrian laughed as I closed the door, but it was a nervous laugh.

  “Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he said, starting the engine. I couldn’t agree more. This had to be the riskiest and stupidest thing I’d ever done.

  Adrian stopped the car in the dark part of the woods, some twenty-five minutes away from the university. We got out and took the plastic bags, placing them on the ground in the middle of a small meadow we’d found, which was completely surrounded by trees, and therefore out of view. I took a deep breath and found my element deep inside of me. In a few moments, the bags burst into fire, turning everything inside into ashes. The smell of melting plastic was horrible, but the fire actually warmed up the cold night air a bit.

  I was staring at the flames when Adrian came closer and put his arm around me.

  “Thank you,” he said, kissing my cheek. I didn’t really think he was used to thanking people, so I guess I should have felt honored. But I was too tired to feel anything anymore.

  When our things were no more, Adrian used the ice, which turned into water when it touched the heat, to get it all wet and make it scatter a little. We hoped no one would come there soon and find the remnants, but by wetting it we were trying to make it look older than it was. It would be crazy if someone connected a random fire in the woods to the theft miles away, but you never knew.

  As we were driving to the university, something came to my mind.

  “The car!” I said, and Adrian glanced at me in surprise, mostly because we hadn’t talked at all during our trip.

  “What?”

  “The car was clean,” I said. “And that path we took to the woods was dusty. Someone’s going to notice you used it.”

  He swore and steered the car in the opposite direction from the university.

  “Do you think Alan knows you’ve been away for all this time?” I asked as we neared a self-service car wash. It was a good thing that these things were open 24/7. I just hoped Adrian had enough coins.

  “No, I don’t think so,” he said. “He would have call
ed me if he suspected I wasn’t somewhere at the university.

  "I still don't know how they let you to just walk around unsupervised. You could totally leave and they would never find you. Or you could kill someone during the night miles away and pretend nothing happened." I said.

  "Yeah, but if I left, they would look all over for me. I wouldn't be able to use any of my money and they would kill me on sight. Actually, anyone who recognized me would be allowed to kill me and earn a large sum of money for it." He sighed. "As for the killings, it would be hard since they actually check with Alan where I was at that time for every suspicious murder in this area."

  "But that way someone can frame you for a murder if Alan can't account for you." I frowned.

  "Yeah, well. I hope I won't be in the wrong place at the wrong time." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. I had always thought he had it all, but maybe it wasn't like that. However, it was one more reason in favor of not telling anyone about me.

  I stayed in the car while Adrian fumbled with the spray wand. He’d probably never washed a car on his own before and this was a whole new experience. But who was I to say anything? I had never washed my car by myself either.

  It was very late when we came to the university, and we used the back door to sneak inside. Even though we weren’t forbidden to go out at any time of the night, there was a guard at the main door and people rarely wanted to be seen. The back door was locked, but Adrian had the key. I knew that a few people at the university had it, mostly boys from the third year. Someone must have stolen it, made a copy, returned the key before anyone noticed and then sold the copies.

  My room was closer and we ended up there. I threw myself on the bed and sighed. Damn, what an insane night! Adrian sat down on the bed near me and stared at the journal in his hands. I almost couldn’t believe we had done all that to get some old notebook. He ran his fingers gently over the leather cover, and then I realized it was more than just an old journal for him.

  “I’m going to take a shower,” I said, leaving him there alone because I thought he wouldn’t want anyone around when he opened that journal. He didn’t say anything, so I just went to the bathroom, carrying my stuff with me.

  My shower took longer than I’d expected, and putting my clothes on my still damp skin was a bit difficult. But I couldn’t come out in a towel when Adrian was there… if he was still there. Maybe he’d gone to his room at some point.

  I slowly got out of the bathroom and immediately saw him lying on the bed, the journal open and cradled in his arms. As I neared the bed, I realized his eyes were closed.

  “Adrian?” I whispered, just in case he was still awake. But he didn’t answer. He really was asleep. I carefully sat on the bed next to him and gently removed the journal from his hands. His arm twitched, but he didn’t wake up. I wasn’t really sure what to do now. He couldn’t stay in my room, but I didn’t want to wake him.

  I studied his face and couldn’t help but think he looked so harmless when he was asleep. And he had such beautiful thick eyelashes, which were as dark as his hair. I found myself wanting to touch the smooth skin of his face, touch his lips… I blinked. What the hell was wrong with me? Just because the guy had good looks didn’t mean I could forget everything else.

  I let my hand drop on the pillow next to his face and was completely startled when something vibrated on my nightstand. It was my mobile phone, and I went to grab it before the noise woke up Adrian. Luckily, the sound was off because I couldn’t have afforded it ringing during my mission. Later I'd simply forgotten to turn it back on.

  Michael’s number flashed on the screen and the message symbol appeared above it. I pressed the right button and opened the message. Michael said he was sorry because he forgot to call me this evening but that he’d been studying and hadn’t even realized what time it was. Which meant he hadn’t gone to dinner either and I wouldn’t have so much explaining to do. But it scared me a bit that he’d spent all this time studying and hadn’t even noticed the time. I would have gone mad.

  I didn’t reply because I didn’t want him to come here to see me. It was better if he thought I was already asleep. It was late anyway and I should have been in bed, but I couldn’t, even though I felt more tired than ever. I turned off my mobile phone and placed it back on the nightstand. My eyes fell on the journal and I picked it up, opening a random page.

  The handwriting was careful and beautiful, and it seemed like the person who wrote it had spent a lot of time on it. I hesitated for a moment, unsure how Adrian would feel about me reading his father’s personal journal. But he was asleep, and I was curious.

  I read a few pages and they all mostly talked about what Adrian’s father had been doing that day… only the date was missing and there was absolutely no indication when it had happened. I didn’t know why, but I always assumed a journal should at least have a date or year written, because how would you remember it if you didn’t know when exactly it happened?

  There was only one small number in the right corner of each page, but it seemed weird. Many pages in a row had number zero, and then a good deal of them had one and so on until six. I wasn’t sure what that meant, if it meant anything at all. Maybe the guy had been writing in chapters. Who knew?

  After flipping through a few more pages, I still didn’t find anything interesting. It seemed to be just an ordinary, boring journal. The guy talked about his day at work, how he watched something on TV or read a book… but nothing about the magic disease. Was it possible that Adrian had tricked me and that the journal had only emotional value for him? Yeah, it was. But he’d have done it a long time ago, unless… unless he hadn’t known before where the journal was or how to breach the security.

  I closed the journal and went to put it down on my desk. Adrian better have an answer in the morning. Talking about the morning, it was really time for me to go to sleep too. But Adrian was still sleeping on my bed, and I couldn’t decide between waking him and simply lying down next to him. Waking him seemed rude since he’d let me sleep in his room once. Sleeping in the same bed with him somehow seemed much scarier than everything we’d done when we were awake.

  I wasn’t really sure what I was exactly afraid of. Maybe I was just uncomfortable to sleep next to a guy who wasn’t my boyfriend but in fact my best friend’s boyfriend. Would he use the opportunity to touch me inappropriately if he woke up? Would he somehow lose it and try to kill me? Ok, my mind was definitely too tired because I was jumping to insane conclusions. But I was still a little bit suspicious because he had actually stayed awake that night I slept in his room, and I wasn’t sure it had been just because I might have felt uncomfortable. Why would he care how I felt?

  Finally I gave up because I could barely keep my eyes open. And my double bed was more than big enough. I pulled the covers over both of us and was asleep in a second.

  Chapter 18

  Something like a whimper woke me up, and I opened my eyes in surprise. Then I realized Adrian was still in the bed with me. But what I didn’t expect was that the sound came from him. He was murmuring something incoherent in his sleep and clutching the sheets like they were the only thing that kept him alive. I reached out and touched his arm.

  “Adrian?” I said, shaking him a little. His eyes fluttered open and he nearly jumped off the bed when he saw me.

  “You had a nightmare, I think,” I said, pulling back my hand. He got up from the bed, his breathing ragged, and turned his back to me. It took him a moment to calm down, and when he turned around to look at me, I thought he would kill me. I’d never seen him that furious before. There was something deadly in his gray-blue eyes, which now seemed colder than ice.

  “Don’t you ever do that again,” he said. I slowly slid off the bed and took a step towards him.

  “Do what?” I said calmly. “Wake you up? Sorry, but I didn’t want my sheets to get destroyed.”

  “I have to go,” he said, taking the journal, pushing me out of his way and going for the door, o
nly to realize it was locked and I had the key.

  “No,” I said,” you’re not going anywhere while you’re upset.”

  “I’m not upset!” he yelled, and I crossed my arms, giving him a quizzical look. If he wasn’t upset, then I had no idea what he was. But I couldn’t let him go and take out his anger on someone with an element, like Paula for example. I was almost sure she’d be waiting for him near his room. Just I wasn’t sure why exactly he was angry.

  “I have no idea what is going on,” I said. “But please stop for a moment.”

  “I could have hurt you, Ria.”

  “Oh, please,” I said. “You’re not that dangerous. Did you dream of killing someone?”

  “That’s none of your business,” he said, but I could see he suddenly seemed relieved.

  “You thought you’d said something in your sleep, didn’t you?” I said. “Well, you did, but I couldn’t understand a thing, so I guess whatever you’re hiding is safe.”

  “Just unlock the door,” he said. I went for the key and then realized I had one more question.

  “Did you lie to me about the journal?” I asked, looking for a sign on his face to see if I was right.

  “No,” he said, his face expressionless.

  “And I’m supposed to believe that?” I raised an eyebrow. “I checked the journal last night and there’s nothing about the magic disease there.”

  “I told you it wasn’t that obvious.” He smirked.

  “Well, you better tell me what it is then.” I frowned. If he had tricked me, he was going to be in trouble.

  “Do you really think my father was so stupid to have proofs that he had the magic disease in his house?” He glared at me.

  “I guess not,” I said. “But it’s hard to believe there is anything important in that journal.”