Runaway

by Alycia Linwood

  "Damn right it is." I tried not to squirm as his hand slipped under my shirt, caressing my navel.

  "You're hot when..."

  "Shut up!"

  "Fine, but give me a kiss first," he said, pulling his hand back. I was almost disappointed at that. God, I really was messed up in the head.

  "So it's a bet or what?" I lifted myself up so I ended up straddling him. My hair fell down on his face, and he reached out to tuck a few strands behind my ear.

  "Yes," he breathed, his gray-blue eyes wide.

  "And if I win, what do I get?" I playfully bit my lip, watching his mouth part slightly.

  "Whatever you want."

  "Really?" I raised an eyebrow at him. "How about your car?"

  "What?" He gaped at me, and I could barely stifle laughter.

  "Well, you said I could get whatever I wanted." I pouted. "And I want your car. No car, no deal."

  "Alright," he said through his teeth. "Don't touch any magic disease carrier for a month and it's yours."

  "How are you going to know if I touch someone with the disease?" I highly doubted he could sense it like he could do with elements. If he could, then I needed to get away from him as soon as possible and never look back.

  "I trust you to tell me the truth." The corners of his lips twitched, but he didn't smile.

  "Really? Wow." I certainly hadn't expected him to trust me with anything, but he must have assumed I had no one else to go to except to him. My brother was the only other magic disease carrier I knew, and he certainly wasn't staying anywhere near me for fear of being discovered. "And what do you get if you win?"

  "You," he whispered. I opened my mouth to say something, but instead decided to lower my head and brush my lips against his.

  "Alright." Hmm, maybe it wouldn't even be a bad idea to lose this bet. I kissed him once again, trying to memorize the feel of his soft lips on mine, the shine of his gray-blue eyes, the gentleness of his touch. Why couldn't he be like this all the time?

  I pulled away and snuggled next to him, listening to the steady beat of his heart as I laid my head on his chest. All the tension and stress I'd been feeling over the last couple of days seemed to drain out of my body, and I closed my eyes.

  "I hope you win," I think I heard Adrian say quietly a moment before I drifted off to sleep.

  Someone was shouting somewhere far away from me, and there was some weird thumping sound coming from the same direction. I slowly opened my heavy eyelids, wondering what was going on. If I wasn't still dreaming, someone was actually banging on the door.

  "Ria! Open the door!" It was definitely my father's voice, but I wasn't sure why he would be yelling at... What time was it? Oh, God. I threw the covers away from me, sitting up and grabbing my phone from the nightstand. 8 a.m.? Seriously? This better be something important.

  "Give me a sec," I yelled back, hoping he could hear me. But as I got up from the bed, I sensed movement behind me. Adrian shifted on the bed, his eyes meeting mine, and I nearly burst out laughing. Wasn't this ironic? If I chose to simply open the door like he'd done that morning after the night we'd spent together, my father's guards would take him to some laboratory and I would never have to deal with him again or worry about becoming dependent on him. It would be a perfect solution to all my problems. I could even come up with a story to explain to my father how Adrian had gotten to my room. Wouldn't that be an awesome payback?

  The banging stopped, leaving Adrian and me in a deafening silence. He must have sensed what was going through my head because he got up and stared at me. Why wasn't he trying to hide somewhere? Was he waiting for me to decide his fate? I bit my lip, knowing that we didn't have much time.

  "Go to the bathroom!" I whispered, waving my hands to show him that I wanted him to hurry. He nodded shortly, grabbed his suit jacket from the chair and ran for the bathroom. When he closed the door behind him, I made my way across the room, hoping my father wasn't in the mood to search my room.

  "What?" I glared at my father as I cracked open the door. His face was serious and there were two mean-looking guards standing behind his back.

  "May I come in?" My father tried to see past me, but I blocked his way. Had someone seen Adrian last night or suspected there was an intruder here?

  "Why?" I leaned on the door, yawning. Ugh, I wished those guards would stop glancing my way because my hair was probably a mess. I just couldn't help but feel extremely self-conscious.

  "We need to talk," he said, the wrinkles on his forehead getting more prominent.

  "Okay." I stepped aside, letting him pass, but I basically slammed the door into the guards' faces. "Did they really want to come in here? Dad, I know you're famous now and need protection, but in my room? Really?"

  "Sorry about that. We just wanted to make sure you're safe." He walked over to the window, looking at the white curtains like he expected someone to jump out with a knife or a gun.

  "Well, I'm not exactly sure how I could be in danger with all those armed men around." I put my hands on my hips, blocking my father's view of the bathroom. He looked me up and down, his lips pressed together in disapproval.

  "I've been notified that there might be an intruder somewhere in the building. The security counted more guests at the party yesterday than there should have been."

  "Ah, so you figured the intruder must be hiding in my room." I ran my hand, or better, tried to run my hand through my hair and nearly yanked out a few strands. Falling asleep with a wet hair and letting it dry without combing it first had been a huge mistake. Now I was going to spend the whole morning trying to untangle the damn thing!

  "Honey.... It's not like that. I'm just worried about you." He went to the bed, straightening the covers and sitting down. There was a frown on his face as he looked at the state of the bed. If he even came to suspect that someone else had been in my bed... Ah, wait, I was still Michael's girlfriend, even though he wasn't really happy to be around me. Would he cover for me if I needed it? Err, probably not.

  "I know." I smiled. "But you don't have to be. I can take care of myself."

  "True." He sighed, suddenly looking uncertain. "Actually, I wanted to ask you something." His green eyes bored into mine, making me realize that whatever he was going to say was very important. "Have you thought about your future?"

  I flinched. What future? I wasn't even sure I had one. "Umm, a little."

  "I would like you to work with me. It's extremely hard to find someone I can trust and who has a pure element."

  I gaped at him like a fish. "Wait, you're offering me a job? But what could I possibly do? I don't have any experience, I can't even properly use my element since I haven't finished university yet, and wouldn't people get super pissed off if you gave your daughter a job just like that?"

  "I'm making all the decisions now, honey. I can hire whoever I want. You can join me after you finish university. You could either participate in the promotional part of our cause or try something more important, like supervising the work of scientists in laboratories."

  I wondered if any of that would include working with magic disease carriers. What if he was asking this of me just to check whether I'd told him lies about Adrian? "Umm, I'll think about it."

  "Sure. Take your time." My father got up, a broad smile on his face. I wanted to ask him more about his plans and the things he had mentioned in the press conference, but I couldn't let him stay any longer and find Adrian in my bathroom.

  "Oh, your mother is upset that you aren't answering her calls." He gave me what was supposed to be a warning look. "She'll be here soon." Patting me on the shoulder, he walked to the door. I nearly crumpled to the ground as the door clicked shut. This had been way too close.

  "Must be great to have a powerful daddy," Adrian said, startling me.

  "Hey, I nearly had a heart attack! He could have discovered you!"

  "But he didn't." Adrian grinned. "Why didn't you ask him more about his plans?"

  "Umm, maybe because I was busy tr
ying to hide the bathroom door from the view?" I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, I think I'm starting to like the idea of finding out what my father is planning. Something weird is going on."

  "I can take you there as soon as Oliver tells me where it is." He pulled his phone out of his jeans' pocket.

  "You're not coming with me."

  "Oh, but I am."

  "No, you're not. Then we'd have to sneak around, break in or do something equally complicated! It would be better if I went there with Paula and Michael. No one would suspect anything if I just wanted to show my friend and boyfriend around." Adrian's eyes darkened as I said the word boyfriend, which almost made me laugh.

  "Those two? Oh, please. They'll screw up everything. You and I are the best for this kind of thing." He glanced down at his phone, his fingers going swiftly over the keyboard.

  "Adrian... I really want them to come with me. I don't want to keep anything from them anymore." I frowned as he slipped the phone back into his pocket like he hadn't been doing anything. "Do you know the location?"

  "Yes." The huge grin on his face told me he didn't plan on telling me.

  "Oliver is my brother," I said, shaking my head. "He'll tell me where I have to go."

  "Fine. Do whatever you want. I'm out of here." He confidently walked over to the door, his gray-blue eyes cold and unreachable. "I'll be expecting your call."

  The door closed behind him with a soft click, and I closed my eyes for a moment, concentrating on the feel of elements in the whole building. How could Adrian know where people were all the time and I could only vaguely feel the presence of the elements? Of course, I could feel everything more clearly when I was losing control, but that was hardly useful. Letting out a sigh of exasperation, I walked out of the room in hopes of finding Michael and Paula.

  Chapter 08

  When I was about to give up on my search, I felt two elements just around the corner. Somehow I'd gotten to an abandoned-looking hall, which was two floors below the ground level and probably leading to a garage or something. The voice I could hear was definitely Paula's, but I couldn't quite catch what she was saying. Why would she and Michael be here unless they didn't want someone to overhear them? I flattened my back against the wall, taking a quick peek around the corner. Yep, there they were.

  "I'm sure he's..." Michael said, lifting his head in my direction. I pressed myself back against the wall, hoping he hadn't seen me.

  "What's wrong?" Paula asked.

  "Nothing. I thought I heard someone coming."

  "Maybe we should go someplace else. I don't feel safe around here." Paula's voice was hurried and shaky. "Ria's father or some of the guards might find us and ask us what we are doing here."

  "And we'll say we got lost. Don't worry about it," Michael said reassuringly. I tried to slow down my breathing because the pounding of my heart resonating in my head certainly didn't help me hear any better.

  "Are you sure Adrian is here?"

  "Yes, positive," Michael said. "Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if he's with her right now. You should have seen her face when she ran after him; all lit up and happy."

  Ok, I was getting pissed off. What Michael was saying had nothing to do with the truth. He was definitely exaggerating, or was he?

  "Michael, please don't judge her. It's very easy for a girl to fall under Adrian's charm. He can be extremely persuasive." Paula sighed. "Are you sure he didn't threaten her somehow? Maybe he told her he'd expose her if she didn't do what he wanted. Or he threatened he'd hurt us?"

  "No. I thought that before, but I was wrong." Michael's voice was full of venom. "She did what she did because she wanted to. There are no excuses."

  "You're still angry with her because of the whole break-up thing. And I understand that, but we have to do something to help her!"

  "She doesn't want our help!" Michael raised his voice, but then he probably realized someone could overhear him, so I had to strain my ears to hear his next words. "You know what's the worst of all? I still love her. I want to believe that everything she's done to me was because Adrian forced her to, but I don't want to delude myself."

  "I only know that she won't listen no matter what we say to her. I've been in her position and I know how that feels. It's easy to see the truth when you're not involved, but it's totally different when you actually experience it. Every good thing he did for me or every nice word he said to me seemed like a whole world. It might sound stupid and silly to you now, but I truly believed he liked me and that he started to change for me. He's doing the same thing to Ria now."

  "She'll come round... eventually." Michael couldn't hide the sadness in his voice. "I'm only afraid it will be too late then."

  "So this is where you're hiding." I came from around the corner, smiling at the startled expressions on their faces.

  "Ria. How did you find us?" Suspicion flashed in Michael's eyes.

  "Oh, don't worry. I didn't track you down with my new stalking ability." I wanted to pretend that I hadn't heard anything, but the angry edge in my voice gave me away. How could they know what was going on between Adrian and me? Except the way I was thinking right now kind of confirmed Paula's theory. Ugh.

  "Is Adrian here?" Paula's cheeks were red with embarrassment.

  "Maybe." I crossed my arms in front of me. "I just came to inform you that I'm going to visit one place to discover what my father plans to do. I thought you'd like to come with me, but I guess I was wrong." I turned to leave when Michael's voice stopped me.

  "Ria... Don't do this, please. You're putting yourself in danger for nothing."

  "And what should I be doing? Analyzing some stupid stories?" I still wasn't sure why they'd come up with such a weird and idiotic idea. It really didn't make any sense. Unless... "You made that up!"

  "What are you talking about?" Michael said.

  "The whole thing about the stories! You wanted to distract me, so you came up with that ridiculous idea in hopes that I will fall for it and spend the next few weeks reading some crappy old stories. Maybe I like history, but I prefer actual facts over someone's ramblings."

  Paula was staring at the ground and Michael rolled his eyes. "Have you ever thought that Paula and I came up with that because it was something we wanted to do? It seems like a great idea to investigate our history from all possible sources on our own before we actually study it at university. We need to form our own opinions and not listen blindly to what they say to us. And reading those stories is a good start. If you don't like it, you can go risk your life with a guy who won't even blink if something happens to you."

  "Fine." I gave them a smile and stormed off down the hall. It was better for them if they stayed away from this anyway... and away from me.

  "Where are you?" I said as Adrian finally answered his phone on the fifth or sixth ring.

  "Ah, she calls." Adrian laughed. "Do your little puppy dogs disagree with your awesome plan, Ice Queen?"

  "Stop it. Just tell me where the fuck you are." I rubbed my temple, feeling the beginning of a headache.

  "No, you tell me where you are. I'll come to pick you up."

  "You stole someone's car?"

  "Borrowed. Just tell me where to come."

  "Umm, do you know how to find Arnauth's Street?" I had walked a little bit away from my father's place so I wouldn't run into him. Some of his guards had seen me though, but they weren't following me, so there was no way for them to know where I'd gone.

  "I don't, but GPS does. I'll be there in a few." He hung up on me. Great. Now I only had to hope no one would see me getting into a suspicious, and probably stolen, car. Only four minutes had passed when I noticed a black Sedan turning around the corner. I couldn't really see the driver, so I pretended to check something on my phone. The car stopped right in front of me, and I was greeted by Adrian's broad smile.

  "That was so conspicuous," he said as I got in the car.

  "Just drive." I put on my seat belt and turned off the radio, earning myself a disapproving gla
re from Adrian. "So, what's the plan?"

  "You'll go inside and pretend you want to look around. If someone decides to be your guide, get rid of him. Then Oliver will disable the alarm system and cameras, and I'll meet you somewhere inside."

  "And we trust my brother?" I said incredulously. "I hope he doesn't plan to tag along."

  "Do we have a better option?" He turned left, and I thought I saw something shimmering at the top of one building.

  "No." I squinted at the building, but nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. Maybe all these pristine white buildings started to unnerve me. "But everyone will notice the cameras went off and they'll blame me for it. If we're hoping to snoop around during the chaos, we probably won't have enough time to even break into the right office, let alone find the damn papers."

  "It's not that simple. Once inside, you're going to call your father and tell him you think someone was following you, so you went inside the building. Your father will then order the staff to look for anything suspicious, and when that happens, they'll lead you to his office because it's the only safe place in the building."

  "And while they're off looking for a threat, I'll stay in the office, let you in, and we'll see what we can find there. A perfect plan." My voice was dripping with sarcasm. "You do know there's a chance they take me somewhere else? Or that I can't even open the damn office? Or that someone stays with me? You can't just go around and expect no one will figure it out you're inside! I get it you can feel when someone is near, but I don't think that will be enough."

  "We'll see what happens. Oliver thinks your father won't want to wait for someone to come, so he'll just tell you to get into the office. According to some security files, there's a lock enhanced with an element, which you should be able to open, but there's also a password, which we couldn't figure out. Your father needs to give it to you. That's why we hope he won't send someone to open it for you. It would mean he'd have to give up on the password." Adrian's face was serious, his fingers gripping the steering wheel tightly. I started to wonder if this town actually had police. It wouldn't be fun if we got pulled over.