My father licked his lips, contemplating me for a moment. It was really a perfect plan for me. Adrian would have enough energy for an escape and I'd learn some tricks to do with my element. The only problem was that I had to figure it out how to get Adrian out of here in such a short time, but I couldn't make plans forever while his life was in danger.
"That's not a bad idea." My father started to laugh, startling me. "That's not a bad idea at all. We'll do it your way. Go back to our residency and find your mother. She'll teach you a few things. That will certainly make things easier for you when you get back to the university."
"Thanks, Daddy!" I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and headed for the door.
"Anything for my little princess," he said, grinning at me. I was nearly shaking from anger when I closed the door behind me. Of course I was his little princess when I wanted something that could come in handy for him. He'd buy me cars and stuff, probably not because I wanted it, but because it made him look good in the public.
It was funny that now he didn't see a problem with me learning more about my element, and every time I'd asked before he'd said I'd learn it at the university. I doubted he realized my university sucked at teaching us anything smart. When I was younger, it hadn't bothered me at all, but now he'd managed to piss me off. But did it matter whether I was angry with him or not when I would no longer be his daughter after I got Adrian out? I decided it didn't.
As I walked down the hall, someone called my name. I turned around, surprised, and met Amaya's big green eyes.
"What?" I snapped. This bitch who was smiling in my face was responsible for Adrian getting caught. Her smile faltered as she saw the murderous glare I was giving her.
"I'm sorry. Didn't mean to upset you." She raised her hands up defensively. "I only wanted to ask you a few questions, but if you're busy, we can do it some other time."
"Ok, ask." I did my best to control the expression on my face. Maybe I should even try to be friendly to her to get some information about how she managed to locate Adrian. Did she know Adrian had been in my room more often? "Sorry, I just... Someone else made me really angry. I guess I haven't gotten it out of my system."
"Oh, don't worry." She glanced down the hall like she was afraid someone might come and interrupt us. "I heard you interrogated Adrian Liandre."
"Yeah, I did." I was getting more and more curious about what she could possibly ask me. Surely my father or someone would tell her everything if she asked them. I didn't think they'd have a reason to hide anything from the agent who had helped them capture Adrian.
"Did he tell you anything useful?" Her green eyes shone with hope.
"No." I shook my head.
"Damn." She looked disappointed, and maybe even a bit angry. I'd give anything to find out what she was thinking right now and what she wanted. "I think I could get him to confess he was out there to harm you, but your father doesn't want me anywhere near Adrian because of the disease and everything."
"Disease?" I must have looked as confused as I sounded.
"Oh, sorry, I thought your father had told you." She cast her eyes down as if she were embarrassed. "I have magic disease. Adrian and I... We were together."
"What?" I took a step back, shocked. What the fuck was she talking about? I could feel her element without a problem, so how could she possibly have the disease? It didn't make any sense. "You don't have an element?"
"No, but don't worry. I can control myself." She smiled shyly. Ah, awesome. Of course she could control herself when the bitch was lying. My father must have been pretty desperate to let her become an agent if he believed she had the disease, or maybe he knew she was lying. Was there a way to discover a magic disease carrier without forcing him or her to show their magic ability? If there was, then I was still in danger.
I couldn't exactly remember had someone ever tried to pretend he had the disease. It would be a suicide to do such a thing, but that didn't mean there hadn't been some psycho who killed people under the pretext that he had the disease. The government wouldn't even bother to check because they benefited from the bad publicity magic disease carriers got. However, if they found out some of us could keep an element for a long time, they'd certainly try to develop a new way of discovering us.
"No wonder my father won't let you near Adrian." As my father's daughter, it was expected of me to show contempt for magic disease carriers, but I still wasn't sure how much she knew about Adrian and me. "How did you find him? I would think my father's men would do their job better."
"I thought I saw him the other day in the town. We used to be very close, so I could recognize him anywhere. He disappeared from view then, and I wanted to follow him, but other agents didn't trust me." She took a deep breath. "So I decided to go by myself, and I noticed him near the entrance. He couldn't see me because I was on the terrace of another building and I tried to track him down by following his body heat through my binoculars, but there were too many people in the building. That was why I started closely monitoring every window, because I know Adrian likes windows, and I finally caught him. He wasn't even wearing a wig! Then I called reinforcement and saved your life."
"Do you know why he likes windows?" I asked, amused at the surprised look she gave me. She was most likely expecting me to thank her or tell her how awesome she was. God, how could have Adrian been so stupid to look through the window when he had known someone might be watching? Besides, couldn't he recognize her element? He was much better at that than me. I'd have to ask him once I got him out of this damned place.
"Umm, no. He never told me."
Ha! And the bitch thought she knew him. "I suppose you want me to talk to my father and grant you permission to see Adrian." It was my best guess. What else could she possibly want from me?
"It's not like that," she said, but she looked like I had caught her with her hand in the cookie jar. "I just hate being useless when I could do something."
"Don't you think you're too emotionally involved? You said you two had been close..."
"He ruined my life." Her beautiful face was full of fury. "I loved him so much, but now I only want him to pay for what he did to me and stop him from ruining someone else's life." She gave me a meaningful look. Did she really think we'd bond over our hatred for Adrian? Well, it wasn't such a bad idea, but it would have worked only if I actually hated Adrian.
"Oh, I'll take care of that." I intended to ask my father why was this bitch still walking around freely. She'd found Adrian, which meant she was no longer useful. Did my father plan to use her to track down other magic disease carriers?
"I have no doubt about that, but I would be glad to help." Something flashed in her green eyes, and I realized what it was: fear. She had to be afraid of ending up like Adrian, like a lab rat. Well, she could have thought about that before she decided to lie about the disease.
"I don't need your help." I turned to walk away, tired of talking to her because I was sure I couldn't really count on her or anything. Besides, she didn't know Adrian and I had been together in my room. There wasn't anything she could... I felt her fingers dig into the skin of my arm.
"Wait!" Her element created an image of a beautiful waterfall in my mind.
"Let go of me!" I glared at her. If she didn't let go soon, she'd see what a magic disease carrier could do. The grip she had on me loosened, and I pulled back my arm. "Don't you ever touch me again!"
She took a step forward, getting in my face and forcing me to step away until my back hit the wall. The gleam in her eyes told me she thought she had managed to frighten me, but I was so close to jumping into the waterfall that I was barely holding back.
"I will do anything to get a few minutes with him," she said coldly, her eyes boring into mine. "Do you hear me? Anything." Was that supposed to be a threat? Wow, she really did hate him.
It took me a moment to locate the camera in the far corner of the hall. I nodded toward it and Amaya followed my gaze. She actually had the grace to back off,
but continued to give me her best deadly stare. I could still taste water on the tip of my tongue, and I knew I had to get out of this place before I snapped.
"And I will do anything to make sure you don't see him again," I said through my teeth and started walking away, hoping she wouldn't follow me or try to stop me again.
"Oh, God, you fell for his nice act too, didn't you?" She sounded sympathetic.
"I'm not that stupid." I snorted, still walking.
"He does that to every girl, you know. Tells them something special about himself. Something only that girl will know. He never tells the same thing twice, so he makes you think you're the one," she said solemnly. I stopped dead in my tracks. One part of me wanted to walk away and deal with this whole 'Adrian is a liar' thing after I saved him, the other part of me wanted to question what she just told me.
"I don't care," I heard myself saying.
"I don't like you," she said, her voice resonating through the hall.
"Does it say in your job description that you have to like me?" I looked back at her, raising my eyebrow.
"Of course not!"
"Then I don't see the problem." I winked at her and went for the door. She was probably going to run to my father and tell him I shouldn't be in charge because of my 'feelings' for Adrian, but luckily for me, the camera had caught her threatening my life. Besides, my father would still take my word over word of some magic disease carrier. As I walked out of the building, I remembered I'd come with my father's car. Great, how was I supposed to go back now?
"Miss Milanez!" A guard called my name as I paced in the parking lot. "Your father said you could take one of his cars if you wanted."
"Really?" A slow smile spread over my lips. "That's great. Do you have the key?"
"Yes. Do you want me to drive? I can take you wherever you want, Miss."
I considered his offer for a moment. "No, that won't be necessary. Just give me the key." Even though his element was fire, I didn't trust myself to sit in the same car with him. Seeing Adrian, finding out what my father planned to do to him and my encounter with Amaya had made me weary and nervous. I had to get away from elements for a while, clear my head and come up with a perfect plan to save Adrian from my father's clutches.
"Here." The guard dropped the key into my hand and pointed toward a black Audi. "The car is over there. When you no longer need it, just leave the key to any of your father's guards and someone will return it here."
"Thank you." Sometimes it was good to have a rich daddy, even if he was using me for his twisted causes. Oh wait, I was still pissed off about that. A slight burning started in my chest, goose bumps rising on my skin as I shivered from the cold. Stupid elements. I got in the car and sped away before someone tried to stop me.
Chapter 13
I felt much better as I reached the highway, leaving Rosentown behind me. The car probably had a tracker in it, but I didn't want to worry about that. I wasn't running away anyway, although I had thought about it for a moment. Life had been so much easier when I only cared how I looked and what I was wearing. Magic disease and Adrian had turned everything upside down and now I couldn't even trust myself.
Opening the window, I stepped on the gas and let the cool air clear my thoughts and play with my hair. My phone vibrated somewhere in my pocket, making me jump, but I couldn't answer it while I was driving, so I hoped that whoever it was wouldn't try calling me again. I found myself singing along the song that was playing on the radio and I felt instantly guilty that I could be happy and carefree while Adrian was trapped in his worst nightmare. As I moved my hand from the steering wheel to turn off the radio, I heard a screeching noise of the tires and something like an explosion.
I stepped on the brakes, almost crashing into the car in front of me. The sudden stop threw my body forward, but the seat belt saved me from getting hurt. I let out a breath of relief, taking in the scene in front of me. Dark smoke was rising from a gray car which had turned around on the road and crashed into the low wall on the side of the highway. Its front was completely totaled. The car in front of me had been hit from the side, its front door lying on the pavement. Oh, God. I switched on the blinkers as a warning to anyone who might come behind me, but the highway looked empty.
Taking the phone out of my pocket, I managed to get out of the car and started calling the emergency for car accidents. As I reached the first car, I noticed a middle-aged man slumped in the seat, his cheek resting on the air bag, blood glistening on the side of his head. My phone beeped, announcing that the emergency had been notified and tracking my phone location to send someone. I had no idea who had come up with different numbers for various types of emergencies so you didn't have to lose time explaining anything, but I loved that person right now.
Very carefully, I touched the man's neck, looking for a pulse. It was weak, but it was there. I considered moving him, but I didn't have any kind of medical training, and it was highly possible I'd make things worse. Then I looked at the other car and noticed a woman lying on the ground in a pool of blood. My heart raced as I ran over to her, praying that she was still alive. Her eyes were closed, her body and face covered with cuts and bruises, her short blond hair smeared with blood. It looked like she had hit her head on the pavement when she fell out of the car.
I felt bile rise in my throat. I was too afraid to touch her and check her pulse because she seemed dead. Maybe I should just wait for the ambulance, but what if she was alive and needed my help? What if they came too late? Swallowing my fear, I touched her neck, looking for a pulsation under my fingertips. Beads of sweat appeared on my forehead, and I was just about to pull back when I felt the weak beating of her heart. The gash on the back of her head looked horrible and I grabbed the jacket that was hanging from the car's now missing window.
"Don't die, please," I kept repeating quietly as I lifted her head a bit and pressed the jacket to the wound. Why wasn't anyone coming? The woman's eyelashes fluttered, but she didn't open her eyes. "Hey, stay with me. Come on. You can do it."
I could hear the wail of the sirens somewhere far away and I ran my fingers over the woman's forehead. She was way too young to die, maybe only a couple of years older than me. I flinched as something like a current shot up my arm and started spreading all over me. The woman's whole body shimmered as I tried to pry my fingers off her skin, but I couldn't move. My hands were glued to her, energy flowing through me. I felt lightheaded as fresh air filled my lungs. It was so pure, so sweet, so wonderful... Something wet touched my cheek and I realized I was crying. Air. There was so much air. One moment I was floating, and the next I was back on the pavement, my hands smeared with blood.
I blinked and looked at the woman, unsure what had just happened, but the little voice in my mind was telling me she was dead and her element was in me. Too stunned to move, I heard the sirens and rushing footsteps, and someone pushed me to my feet, but it all seemed to be happening to someone else. It felt like I was no longer in my body, but merely watching what was going on around it. I couldn't even feel anyone's element, which made me grin stupidly at myself.
"She's in shock!" Someone yelled and hands grabbed me and led me to the ambulance vehicle. A nurse examined me and probably asked me various questions, but I sat there completely numb and oblivious to the world. My new element pulsed with life inside of me, almost begging to be used. I had never felt so good in my whole life, not even when I first used my element. Ignoring the nurse who gave me some kind of a shot, I curled up on the bed, pressing my hands to my chest.
That element was mine and only mine. No one was going to take it from me. My eyelids felt heavy and I found myself slipping into the darkness. Life was beautiful. I had no idea how I could have ever thought otherwise. My two elements were with me... and it was only... the beginning.
I woke up from a horrible dream, feeling like I'd been run over by a truck. A huge truck full of elephants. Turning over on my side, I kicked something hard with my leg. When had my bed gotten so sma
ll? As I burrowed my nose into the pillow, I realized I could smell the sharp odor of the disinfectant, like the one in the lab. Oh, God. I jolted up in the bed, nearly falling down, but I wasn't in the lab. I was... in a hospital? My throat constricted, making it hard to breathe. It hadn't been a dream. I had watched that woman die and her element was in me. Shit!
"She'll be fine. It was only shock." A nurse came in, followed by my mother. I groaned and threw myself back on the bed. My mother was the last person I needed to see right now. As the nurse went to check some charts, my mother sat on the bed next to me and pulled me - or at least tried to pull me - into a tight hug.
"Oh, honey. Thank to God of Magic that you're ok." She glanced quickly at the nurse, annoyance flashing across her features before she turned back to her worried look.
"I'm fine, Mom." Had my father told her already she would have to teach me how to use my element? Would she do it now that this had happened? Could I even do it now that I had two elements?
"The nice doctor said you can go home." My mother tucked a few strands of my hair behind my ear, making the nurse smile as she left the room. I swatted her hand away and rolled my eyes.
"Good." I got up, looking for my shoes. Thank God they hadn't tried to change me into one of their silly gowns.
"What were you thinking?" My mother turned on me, barely keeping her voice low. "Didn't we always teach you not to get involved in things that don't concern you? The press is waiting outside the hospital because they think you've had a car crash!"
"Mom! That woman died in my arms," my voice broke as I said it, and I had to push back tears.
Runaway Page 12
