"Oh, we are going to find out." I felt myself smile. "Because I'm not going."
"Then I'm staying too." Paula lifted her head up in determination.
"No, you're going. You're all going." I glanced at Adrian, who was giving me one of his best poker faces, so I couldn't even begin to guess how he was feeling about that. "I can take care of myself."
"But you can't stay here all alone!" Paula contemplated. "You're going to go mad from boredom. And what if you get trapped here in the fire? Who's going to call for help?"
"Install the alarms which will alert you guys." I would never stay alone in the house with Paula without someone to stop me from going for her element. Hell, I'd never stay alone with anyone with an element. "We can chat all the time through that video link. You can carry the camera around on your coat or something."
"You've made your decision, haven't you?" Paula sighed in resignation. "Oh, I can be your spy. You know, get a brooch in the form of a flower or something and have a camera inside of it."
"Sure." I grinned at her. "No, wait, get that flower with water inside like clowns have. That way you can spray my brother in the face if he notices the camera."
"Are those little cameras waterproof?" Paula tilted her head as if she were seriously thinking about it.
"We can test them," I said, glad that everyone was chuckling or smiling. It was far better than seeing sour faces.
"Ok, so what do we tell to your brother?" Michael asked.
"We'll tell him that all of you are coming except me," I said. "But we won't tell him now. We'll tell him in two days. Let him wait and sweat a bit. I need to see his face when he hears that I don't want to be a part of his little scheme."
"That sounds good," Paula said. "But we need to make plans. Like, what do we do if this and that happens?"
"Yeah, we can do that later." I went over to the fridge and took out a box of frozen pizza. "Does anyone know how to make this? Let's have a party. I'm bored to death and I'm starving."
"Really, Ria? You can't even prepare a meal with the instructions written on the box?" Adrian took the box out of my hands. Actually, I did know what to do with it, but the last time I tried to make something to eat, my meal hadn't turned up eatable. Those instructions couldn't help you if you forgot you were cooking and left the whole thing to burn.
"Well, it says I should heat it, and I have enough of fire in me to do that," I teased.
"There's no need to use your precious fire. See?" Adrian opened the box, placed the pizza on a big plate and put it in the stove.
"Wait, you know how to do that?" I blurted out before I could think about it. He hadn't really had time to learn how to cook in the lab, unless Alan had taught him that too.
"Yeah," Adrian said quietly, pressing a few buttons on the stove like an expert. "My mom taught me how to prepare a few frozen meals."
"But you were only... what? Five, six years old?" My mother had never bothered to show me how to cook and I wasn't even sure she knew it. All the food in our house was prepared by our personal cook, who had actually showed me how to do a few things, but my mother had freaked out when she found out and forbidden me to talk to the staff unless it was to give them an order.
"Yes." He turned his back to me, pretending to be busy washing some plates that were already clean. "She was afraid something would happen to her and my father, so she taught me some things so I could survive on my own until I found one of their friends. I think she knew people would come for them eventually."
"I'm sorry about your parents." I put my arms around him, resting my head on his shoulder. He nearly dropped one of the plates, so I let go of him.
"I failed them," he said, turning around and biting his lip. For a second he looked like a lost boy, but then his eyes hardened. "I didn't run when they told me to. It was stupid of me not to want to leave them."
"They were your parents and you were just a child," I said. "Alan and the others would have found you anyway. You couldn't have survived on your own. Where would you have gone?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "Well, doesn't matter now, does it?"
"Do you have any other family?" I realized Michael and Paula had already left the kitchen, probably because they wanted to give us some privacy.
"Not that I know of." He shrugged. "My mother said my grandparents were all dead. And my parents didn't have any brothers or sisters."
"Is that pizza going to be ready soon?" I smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
"Sure," he said, grinning. "But you'll have to pay for it."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah." He cupped my face and pulled me in for a long kiss. Did I want him to go to some unknown place without me? No, I didn't, but I couldn't convince him to stay if he wanted to go. Life was so messed up sometimes.
Chapter 22
"What do you mean you're not coming?" My brother scowled as I told him the final decision.
"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be involved in anything weird," I said. "Not when I could hurt someone."
"We can ensure your safety," he said, anger showing in his voice despite his efforts to mask it. I'd give everything to know what game he was playing because there was obviously something more to the whole thing, and I wasn't just being delusional.
"Maybe my friends will convince me to come later, so make sure they like it there." I still hadn't completely thrown away the idea of visiting the lab, but my brother didn't have to know that.
"Of course." Oliver smiled bitterly, but the gleam in his eyes told me he still expected me to come. Ugh. He probably thought I'd come because I wouldn't be able to live without Adrian, and not only because of my unruly elements.
"Good. I'd never forgive you if something happened to them," I said coldly. "Now if you excuse me, I have better things to do." I got up from my chair. "Bye, brother."
"See you soon," he said, and something about the way he said it unnerved me. I walked out of the room, leaving Michael, Paula and Adrian to deal with the details about their trip to the lab or whatever underground facility Oliver's group had. Would my brother send someone to bring me to them against my will, or was he simply sure I wouldn't be able to live long on my own? Well, he could be right about the latter.
"I still don't think this is a good idea," Paula said as she was packing her clothes into a big suitcase. "I can't even imagine leaving you alone here."
"I know, but don't worry about me." I had a feeling that no matter how many times I repeated this to her, she'd never accept it.
"You'll come to see us if you get bored, right? Or if anything happens?" She looked up at me, her blue-green eyes filled with worry.
"Yeah." I picked up one of her shirts and folded it. "Everything will be fine. You try to find out what my brother is planning, and if it isn't anything freaky, I'll come."
"Do you think he's dangerous for us?" She frowned, taking the shirt from me.
"No, not when he has the whole group with him. I'm not sure if he's their leader. I think he contacted us only because he's my brother."
"But what are you afraid of then?"
"If my brother isn't the leader, then I don't know the person who is. And if that person trusts my brother, he or she will go along with my brother's plan." I wondered if the leader was female. My brother could be quite charming, especially because his good looks couldn't be ignored. Oh, God, was that how he'd gotten into the group?
"We'll check that out." Paula smiled. "Oh, and I'll tell you as soon as I know something."
"Thanks." I went for the door. "We can talk later when you finish packing."
"Sure," she said, opening another drawer. I closed the door behind me, almost afraid to return to my room because I knew Adrian would be there. How could I part with him when it would split my heart in two? Being a total coward, I went downstairs and walked outside into the sunshine.
"Are you going to avoid me forever?" Adrian's lips brushed my ear as he put his arms around me. I hadn't even heard him approach because I was lost in my thoughts,
gazing at the sunset.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I whispered, watching the big yellow ball surrounded by red and purple as it started to descend behind the fields. Sometimes the sun reminded me so much of my fire that I wanted to reach for it and wrap myself in its warmth.
"No," Adrian laughed, pushing my hair aside and nuzzling my neck. "You are."
"Don't you want to stay with me?" I closed my eyes for a moment.
"I wish I could," he said. "But we are magic disease carriers. Our lives are too limited, and I don't want to hear a chance to change things was missed because there weren't enough people to support the cause. On the other hand, if you could come with me..."
"Right." I didn't want to get into the argument about the same thing over and over again. Not now when we didn't have much time. "You can visit me or I can visit you. Maybe you won't be there for a long time."
"I don't know. We'll see." He slowly traced a finger down my arm.
"It seems like I'm losing you every five seconds." I laughed nervously.
"You're not losing me," he said, the air around us getting colder. "This time we're making our own decisions."
"I hope our decisions are the right ones." Even though I tried really hard not to think about it, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if Adrian met interesting and pretty girls at the lab. Would he completely forget about me?
"You're probably going to come running after me a few hours after I leave," he said playfully. I turned around and glared at him.
"No, I won't." I hit him lightly on the shoulder and he made an exaggerated grimace.
"Ok, you're right. You'll kidnap me before I can even leave."
"That sounds like a good idea." I looked at him through my eyelashes. "I could trap you in the garage and surround it by fire so no one can come save you."
"Do you really want to become a polar bear?" He smirked.
"What?" I frowned, completely puzzled.
"I can break free from the garage no matter what you do, extinguish your fire and turn the whole house into a frozen palace," he said, caressing my cheek. "Then you'd have to live like a polar bear."
"Uh huh," I said. "That doesn't sound comfortable."
"Nope." He bent his head, our lips only a few inches from touching.
"But what if my fire is too strong for you?" My eyes bored into his.
A smile stretched his lips. "Oh, Ria, Ria... You should know that I'm the only one who can extinguish your fire."
"And I'm the only one who can melt your ice," I said, and then I was kissing him for all he was worth, trying to drink him in and memorize the feel of his lips on mine. Maybe one day we wouldn't have to think about how each kiss and little touch was weakening our self-control. God, I hoped that day would come soon. Unless this whole thing we had was a beautiful lie... Now wasn't the time to think about that.
"You know, Paula told me once you hated fire." A smile tugged at my lips.
"That happens when people assume things without really asking you how you feel." He chuckled and planted another kiss on my lips.
I watched the black Mercedes with tinted windows until it disappeared from view, taking Michael, Paula and Adrian to God knows where. The driver was a middle-aged man with a kind face, and his element was earth. He'd said his name was Martin, but hadn't really talked much about anything else. Walking back to the house, I thought about what I should do now. Paula had promised to call me as soon as they arrived, but it would probably take hours until then.
Closing myself in the lab, I turned on the computer. If my brother had the direct link from this house to whatever place he was hiding in, then he could probably see what I was doing on the computer. Ugh, I had to find a way around that. As I opened the web browser, I thanked God for all the technology because I at least had something to do to pass the time. Besides, I was really looking forward to video chats with Adrian. I didn't know whether a proxy server would help to hide my online activity from Oliver, but I had to try.
The news page showed me nothing of interest, so I went to FireView to watch videos of people all over the world doing tricks with fire. It wasn't the best way to learn how to use your element, but a few great tutorials appeared once in a while. I checked out a few ebooks about element usage, but most of them contained only basics and explained that people shouldn't be trying anything more complicated than that on their own. So the only way to learn something was either going to university or experimenting by yourself and possibly getting in trouble.
And yet my father thought that if he could ensure that children were born only with the genes for one element, there would be more people with pure elements. But not everyone was afraid of the disease. Besides, why would people take a risk and mess with their child's genetics just so the baby would be born with a pure element? Sure, having an element was the best feeling ever, but if elements grew weaker or completely disappeared, people wouldn't even know about them. It wasn't like they were essential for our lives, even if they did come in handy from time to time. Of course, no one would be sadder than me to see elements gone since they were the only thing that tied us to our ancestors from thousands of years ago.
If only my father was willing to listen to my ideas, then he'd stop the whole genetics planning thing and introduced education about elements in high school. Most of the people developed their elements by the age of sixteen, so everyone could start basic classes that we had in the first year of university much earlier. That would give us at least one or two extra years to learn something fun and no one would have to worry about inexperienced teenagers getting hurt. Ok, there would probably be idiots who would try something dangerous, but accidents would happen less and people might be more interested in keeping their element.
I opened the homepage of the Element Preservers Organization and was nearly blinded by all the ads that claimed the organization and my father would bring a better future. My father smiled almost on every picture, looking like the perfect leader who was proud of his achievements. But what caught my attention was a whole page with a list of influential people and their opinions about the organization. Some of the people on the list were my father's friends, and I remembered most of them from extravagant dinners my father usually organized in our home almost every month. Of course, they'd agree with my father's opinions, but there were other people who were against the abuse of magic disease carriers.
Did those people know what was happening in the labs all over the country? They had to know if my father had taken them on a tour to show them what sort of resources he had. No one would agree to support him without doing a detailed check-up on everything. Unless my father had found a way to blackmail them.
He knew that a carefully written article or an essay with quotes from a respected person could sway people's opinions in two seconds. Most of them would believe the article only expressed what they were already thinking. My father wasn't stupid, but he wasn't the most powerful person in the country. I doubted any of the people on the list would allow him to blackmail them. No, there had to be something else, but what?
I was never really good in politics, but I could still remember some important deals that had been struck between two opposing sides. And most of the times, they'd joined forces to beat a common enemy. What could my father have offered to his adversaries? If I could only find out...
I clicked a few more links, searching for the names written on the list. One woman had spoken pretty harshly against my father before the election, but now she was saying that while she didn't agree with everything, she thought my father's plan for genetic manipulation was clever and intriguing. Did she think it was a good idea to support him because she'd get a better position or because she didn't believe he'd succeed, so it didn't really matter?
The money could also play a role in the whole thing. Maybe my father didn't blackmail anyone, but bribed them instead. But it wasn't like he had any influence in the government, only in the departments that dealt with elements, and I bet those people
had more than enough money. Did that woman genuinely support the idea? Only a few months before her statement, she'd claimed people should abandon their elements altogether. Why had she changed her mind all of sudden? And she wasn't the only one to do that. My father was persuasive, but... I could think about it all I wanted, but there were too many possibilities.
The time seemed to fly as I decided to abandon my research for a while and check the new trends for fall. Apparently, I should be buying green dresses that exposed one shoulder and one leg, usually right leg and left shoulder. Oh, God, what idiocy. However, the heels that matched the color of your eyes looked quite good and I nearly clicked the buy option next to the picture before I remembered someone could track me if I ordered something online. Fuck everything. I really, really wanted those shoes!
My phone rang and startled me so much that I jumped, sent the keyboard flying to the ground and nearly fell off my chair. What idiot had put a ringtone that sounded like aliens were attacking me? I should have changed it, but the phone was the last thing on my mind lately. Grabbing the phone, I answered the call.
"What?" I snapped. This better be good.
"You don't miss me at all, do you?" Adrian said, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Why would I miss you? It's been..." I looked at the time in the corner of the computer screen. "Eight hours?!" No, come on, I hadn't been surfing the Net for eight hours! Right? Oh, God.
"Let me guess," he said. "You were browsing the web and drooled over all the outfits you wanted to buy but couldn't."
"Shut up!" I hissed. "It wasn't only that."
"Aaah, really?"
"Are you there yet?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.
"Of course not." Adrian snorted. "Why would we go directly when we can circle around the whole country? Following us would certainly tire every tracker."
"Shh. Don't say that. Someone might overhear us," I whispered, playing with the crystal necklace that I'd decided to wear all the time from now on. It wasn't like someone could see me with it.
Runaway Page 21
