I have no idea how long I'd been staring at the thin spray of water that was steadily coming out of the faucet, but I had a strange urge to touch it. My hand was just an inch away from reaching it when a terrible shattering sound coming from the room brought me back to reality. Had Adrian broken something in his rage? Before I could open the door, I heard various voices shouting something I couldn't understand. Fuck!
I ran out of the bathroom just in time to see Adrian crumpling to the ground as a dozen of men dressed in black with black masks over their faces surrounded him, pointing their weapons at his head. Not even a bit of their skin was exposed. My father stood near the door, watching what was going on and looking bored. I screamed, drawing his attention.
"Ria!" My father ran over to me, pulling me into a tight hug. "Thank God you're ok!"
"What... " I wasn't sure what to say. How did they know Adrian was here? I needed to come up with a good reason why he was in my room or there was no chance for me to save him since I'd probably be going to some laboratory too. But my father was still holding on to me, his lips gently touching the top of my head.
"It's ok, honey. Everything will be fine. We've got him." My father clearly thought I was in shock or something. I noticed one man pulled some tiny needle out of Adrian's arm, which he had used to bring him down. At least that hadn't hurt him, or worse, killed him.
"I had no idea... How did he come in here?" If I was going to make my father believe me, I had to put the best unsuspecting and upset face ever. Unfortunately, my father's element was too close and I was suddenly so cold that I shivered.
"He must have broken in somehow. I've no doubt he came to harm you. You're lucky one of the agents noticed there was an intruder." My father slowly let go of me, but kept me behind him, as if I were in danger. I wasn't sure how Adrian could hurt me if he was unconscious, but I was glad my father believed I wasn't involved with the monster. What worried me the most was the fact that someone had seen Adrian coming here, even though no one was supposed to be watching. Besides, Adrian would know if someone was near the windows and he'd certainly feel this group coming upstairs, so why hadn't he run away?
The agents tied Adrian's hands together with glowing blue handcuffs, which I had never seen before. Was that some sort of protection against stealing an element? Talking about elements, why couldn't I feel any other element beside my father's? Something strange was going on, but I couldn't ask my father anything.
Could they all be magic disease carriers? But my father would never work with them and they certainly wouldn't want to capture other people like them so the scientists could do their evil experiments. I looked away as the agents dragged Adrian's limp body through the door. Just a moment later, Michael and Paula came running into the room, surprise written all over their faces.
I realized one of the agents was still in the room and was taking off the mask, revealing big green eyes and long black hair that fell around her shoulders. The girl was probably around my age, and the grin on her face was enormous, her perfectly white teeth showing. She was beautiful, and definitely not an agent material. How had she gotten here?
"Amaya!" I heard Michael gasp. His eyes were glued to her tall and slim form, his mouth hanging open. Her smile faltered a little, and I could feel her element, water, very clearly. Could those ninja-like suits block the feel of elements? It looked like that was the case. Oh, shit. The scientists had somehow managed to develop the perfect magic disease carrier hunting kit.
"Michael." Her voice was like a whisper, then she seemed to shake herself from whatever she was thinking and turned her attention from Michael to my father. "Your daughter is safe now, sir."
"Thank you so much," my father said, extending his arm toward the door. "Let's go talk somewhere private."
"Sir." She nodded and followed him out of the room. Michael was looking after her like he'd been struck with lightning. I sat down on the bed, resting my elbows on my knees. How the fuck was I supposed to get Adrian back? Paula sat next to me, reaching out for me, but she pulled back at the last second, probably afraid it would awaken my disease.
"I can't believe she's here," Michael said. "She's changed so much."
"Is that your friend Amaya?" Paula asked hesitantly. Michael nodded. I tried remembering if he had mentioned her sometime, but I just couldn't...
"Wait," I said, frowning. "You mean that depressed girl whose parents took her far away? Adrian's ex?"
"Yes." Michael looked down at his shoes, his brown hair falling into his eyes.
"Well, she doesn't look depressed to me." I smiled at him for a second, remembering the picture of her I'd seen in the files. "Wasn't her hair blond or light brown?"
"Yeah, it was." Michael rubbed his face, trying to hide how her reappearance affected him.
"I'm not sure how she got to be one of the agents, but I'm worried about one thing." I got up because I was way too nervous to stay unmoving. "They have special suits which somehow block the feel of elements."
"What? But how is that possible?" Paula said incredulously.
"I wish I knew." I started pacing up and down the room, feeling a mix of water and wind pushing at me, but it wasn't anything unbearable. "What worries me the most is how did they find out he was here!"
Paula and Michael didn't say anything. I chewed on my lip, trying to think of every possibility. "It was you, wasn't it?" I turned to Michael, the warmth of my element spreading all over my body. "You got upset when I told you I couldn't come. You knew I was with him and you told them!"
"Are you crazy?" Michael's green eyes flashed with anger. "Would I be here with you now if I had done that? I'd love to see him suffer, but he's fallen for you. That's enough of suffering. Actually, he might be better off in that laboratory." He actually smiled at me.
I gritted my teeth together, getting closer to him. He didn't step back, clearly unaware of the danger. I could almost taste his element in my mouth and my lips were so incredibly dry. If only I could take all that water inside of me, bathe in its freshness...
"Ria, no!" I didn't even see Paula when she rushed at me, but I felt the impact as her body slammed into me and we both ended up on the floor. It was hard to breathe and not because Paula was pinning me to the floor. Her face blurred completely and all I could think of was getting all that air inside my lungs before I choked. I fought against whatever that was holding me in place and felt more pressure on my wrists and legs.
"Ria! Just breathe! Calm down," I heard someone saying and my throat was so dry that I thought I was either going to throw up or choke to death.
"Michael, do something!"
"I don't know what!"
"Can you hold her?"
"No, I don't think so."
I thrashed as hard as I could, kicking and probably screaming. I wasn't even sure if I was really making all that noise or it was all in my head, but I couldn't do anything to free myself and get some air and water. Suddenly the world went black.
Chapter 11
"You didn't have to do that, you know." I heard Paula's reproaching voice.
"Should I have let her kill us both?" Michael replied calmly. I pried my eyelids open, feeling a sharp pain in the left side of my head. What the hell had happened? I slowly began to remember my father and all those agents in my room as they led Adrian away.
"Adrian," I whispered, slowly sitting up in my bed, but the room was spinning around me.
"Ah, great." Michael rolled his eyes. "She only thinks about him. I'm out of here." He got up and went for the door, while Paula observed me with a worried expression on her face.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, not moving from her chair in the corner of the room. She looked like she was ready to get up and run for the door at any moment, her hands gripping the armrests.
"Sick." I touched the side of my head and felt a slight, painful lump under my hair. "What the fuck happened?"
"Sorry. You... umm, wanted to attack Michael, and it was really bad, so he... I mean, we d
idn't know what to do and Michael... he... " She looked down at her lap, blushing. "He hit you in the head with a vase."
"Oh, shit." I remembered being incredibly thirsty and breathless, and this time I had to get up and hurry to the bathroom to throw up. This stupid disease was really going to get me killed one day. Maybe even sooner than I thought. I tried to push the horrible thoughts of choking by swallowing a mouthful of water from the faucet. It felt so refreshing and soothing that I kept drinking. Oh, God, this was the best thing that had ever happened to me. I let the water flow faster, getting lost in the sensation. Images started forming in my mind. Images of immense seas, clear streams, long rivers,...
"Ria!" Paula grabbed me by the shoulders, breaking the spell I was under. I wiped my mouth, staring in shock at the water that was still running in the sink.
"What is that?" I said, noticing some kind of shimmering around it. A few seconds later it was gone and I wasn't sure whether I had imagined it all or it had been real. The good thing was that I didn't try to go for Paula's element, even though she was still standing next to me.
"What?" Paula cautiously went to the sink and turned off the water.
"I swear it tasted like I was drinking up an element."
"I knew I shouldn't have let Michael hit you with that thing." She sighed, taking me by the arm and leading me back to the bed.
"I would have hurt you or drew everyone's attention, so I'm glad he did it." Maybe I wasn't sure what was in the water, but something definitely was. "How long have I been unconscious?"
"Not long. Half an hour, I guess." Paula shrugged.
"I have to find out where is Adrian." I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and texted my brother.
"Ria, he's not worth it." Paula shook her head at me in disapproval. "You should get far away from here and learn how to get in control of the disease. How many times do I have to tell you that he treats all the girls like queens from time to time and then rips their hearts to shreds? You know, in between all the 'I love yous' and 'you're the most beautiful girl in the world' type of compliments, he actually told me I should just leave him and never look back because he was going to break my heart eventually."
"Paula..."
"No." She glared at me, her blue-green eyes as serious as they could get. "It's all he knows how to do. I shouldn't have deluded myself and I'm glad I got my eyes opened in time. Don't get me wrong. I'm still bitter over the fact that it was you. You were supposed to be my best friend. But we've been friends almost since the time we were born and I would never let some stupid boy completely ruin that. I won't give him what he wanted all along. I won't let him ruin us. And yeah, one part of me did see him only as an experiment and a chance to discover something about the disease, but I managed to convince myself that it wasn't just that."
"I'm sorry. I really am." There was a part of me that refused to believe Adrian would go through all that trouble just to mess up our lives forever. But hadn't he promised me he'd estrange Paula and me? God, how was I ever supposed to figure out what was real about him and what not? I guess I could only trust my instinct, no matter how stupid that sounded.
"This isn't about him, Ria. It's about you. If you stay here, you risk exposure or worse. You're crazy if you think I'll let you end up in some laboratory because of that jerk." She crossed her arms, her eyes shining with anger and determination.
"Has he ever told you what usually happens in those laboratories?"
"No, but... I know it's not nice."
"Well, he told me. I can't just leave him and forget about everything." The only thing I knew was that I couldn't simply walk away from him, even if he'd been lying to me all the time.
"You should," she said. "Think about yourself first. You always did."
I laughed, licking my lips. "Yeah, I always think about myself first and everything else later, don't I? But I can't let him go. I can't."
"Fine." She turned away from me, her blond hair hiding most of her face, so I couldn't see how she was feeling. "I won't bring up this matter again, but remember I tried to warn you."
My phone vibrated, and I prayed my brother had an idea what to do. I was immediately disappointed when he told me to take care of myself and that he'd keep an eye on the discoveries for our safety. Great, I was on my own.
"Bad news?" Paula arched an eyebrow.
"No." I looked up at her, my lips spreading into a smile. "I think I'm getting a summer job." It was too late to go ask my father today, but I decided to talk to him tomorrow morning.
"Dad, do you have a minute?" I shyly looked at my father from the door of the conference room. He was sitting at the long black table, reading some files, and there was no one else with him, not even his assistant.
"Sure. What is it?" He didn't even look up. I approached the table, taking a seat nearest to him and glancing down at the charts he was studying.
"I thought about what you said about my future." I bit down on my lip, feigning nervousness. My father actually looked up at me, his dark eyes regarding me curiously.
"Yes? And?" he said, clasping his hands.
"I think you should give me a summer job too." At this point, I was grinning like an idiot, hoping he'd at least be proud of me. Yeah, proud. I probably wouldn't live long enough to see that. He cocked his head to the side, and I could see he was thinking hard how he could use me again for whatever he planned to do.
"I assume you don't want to be a scientist like your friend." Even though his face was expressionless, I was sure he doubted my motives. It was still my word against Alan's when it came to my association with Adrian. Somehow I didn't believe my father was ready to dismiss the option that I'd been lying to him.
"No, I don't think I'm that smart." I was incredibly lucky that the weird water I'd drunk calmed down my disease, but I didn't know how long it would last. It took all of my willpower not to show my father how nervous I was.
"Then what would you like to do?" His eyes met mine with so much intensity that I had to fight not to look away.
"I don't know yet. Do you have time to show me a few places and job positions so I can decide easier?" My voice was incredibly sweet, and I nearly batted my eyelashes at him like I used to do when I was younger and really wanted something.
"Actually, I think I know a perfect place for you." The corners of his lips went up for a moment. I couldn't help it; I tensed, waiting for him to continue, only he didn't. We stared at each other a bit longer, each second seemed to drag forever. What if he knew? What if Adrian had told them something and they were going to take me to the laboratory to investigate?
"Oh, really?" I said cheerfully, my face feeling like a tight mask. Something was probably showing in my eyes, but I hoped he'd just think it was the anticipation.
"Yes. I'll take you to the lab with me tomorrow." He reached for my hand on the table, squeezing gently. "You could interrogate that magic disease carrier we caught in your room."
I swallowed, feeling the dryness in my throat, but this had nothing to do with the disease. Oh, God. He knew something, or at least suspected it even more since they had caught Adrian exactly in my room.
"Interrogate?" I said, fully aware that I looked unhappy. My father withdrew his hand and took his phone out of his pocket, his attention switching from me to the phone.
"Yes. You hate that monster as much as I do. I'm sure you want to find out what he was doing in your room." He rapidly typed something on the phone and I wiped away the beads of sweat that appeared on my forehead. I wanted to run out of the conference room and never find out what exactly my father wanted me to do with Adrian.
"Yeah, I do. I just don't think he'll tell me. He's such a liar." I dropped my hands into my lap, cracking my knuckles to distract myself. No matter how much I wanted to see Adrian and save him, I wasn't sure I could do any of that when everyone would be watching me to see just how close I was with him.
"Oh, but that's where your interrogation skills come out." My father had obviously sent the m
essage to someone because he put away his phone and focused on me. "You said he had fallen for you. I'm sure you can find a way to get out of him whatever you want, the easy way... or the hard way."
Wait, he wanted me to torture Adrian with my element? Did that mean someone else would do it if I refused? But my element didn't bother Adrian, so if I could just tell him to pretend it was bothering him, maybe we could both survive the interrogation and no one else would have to ask him anything. The main problem was that I didn't know who would go in with me and how would I tell Adrian what I had in mind. However, I had to admit to myself that no matter how scared I was, this would be the best opportunity to check out the lab and find a way to get Adrian out of there as soon as possible.
"Of course." I nodded. "I'll do whatever is necessary."
"That's my girl." He smirked. "Be ready tomorrow at ten."
"Sure." I got up a little bit too fast, nearly toppling the chair. Could he see that my hands were shaking? Straightening the chair, I gave him a quick smile and walked out of the room, the warmth spreading inside of me. I couldn't even properly control my element and my father wanted me to use it as a torture method. Yeah, right. This wasn't going to be Adrian's interrogation; this was going to be a test for me.
I drank a glass of faucet water, hoping it still had that element-alike taste, but this time I couldn't feel anything unusual about it. The shimmering was gone too, so I wondered if everything had been my imagination fueled by my desperate wish to placate the disease. But what really mattered was that I didn't feel out of control, and that was exactly what I needed for my visit to the lab where they were holding Adrian. Collecting my cherry red lip gloss, phone and a compact mirror, I stuffed them into my black purse and glanced at myself in the mirror.
Runaway Page 10
