Chapter 20
I didn’t know how long I’d been sitting on the floor, holding onto myself, but my air was starting to throw things around, and when a bottle of some strange liquid spilled over, I knew that if I stayed in the lab, something even worse could happen. There could be an explosion if the wrong liquids mixed.
Slowly pushing myself to my feet, I tried once again to shove my element back inside of me, but none of it worked. I hoped whoever had tried to come near the lab had gone away when they saw what had happened to those unfortunate enough to meet my element. If they were smart, they’d seal off the whole hallway.
Cracking the door open, I peered outside. My element rushed down the hallway, but all it could do was bounce off the walls and carry papers and dust through the air. If I could get myself into one of those glass cells, maybe everything would be fine. Maybe I wouldn’t hurt anyone ever again. But I didn’t know if those rooms had been destroyed.
Bodies lay scattered on the floor as I neared the burned glass door, and I looked away, focusing on the rooms nearest to me. The glass of the cell that had been filled with people was broken, but the other one next to it was empty, the glass door intact and open. Entering the cell, I shut the door behind me. My element kept rushing around me, and cracks started showing on my skin, my fire pouring out of them.
I sat down on the floor, closing my eyes for a moment, and released my fire at the glass. Luckily for me, the protection on the glass still worked, and a thin layer of protection made my fire jump up and down the glass. Some of the fire flew back at me, hitting me in the face, but it only melted back inside of me. Not even my clothes or hair got burned. My elements knew me and I knew them, but something was very wrong. Why wouldn’t they just go back where they belonged?
My whole body was heavy with exhaustion, but my elements didn’t show any sign of letting up. One part of me wondered if I’d died and this was the hell the old books had been talking about. I banged my head against the wall lightly, wondering if maybe I should increase the strength of the elements rather than try to calm them down.
Pouring all of my energy into my elements, I pushed it all out, closing my eyes as the wind tore at my clothes and heat surrounded my whole body. A smell of something burning made me look at the floor, and I realized the cell hadn’t been completely empty. A piece of cloth was devoured by my fire in a second, not even the ashes remaining.
The more I thought about it, the more I began to realize there was no way for me to stop what was happening to me. I knew elements could be spent if I used them too much, but mine didn’t show any signs of slowing down. What if it took days, or even weeks, for my elements to completely drain? Maybe I couldn’t even use them up completely because this space was too small for them. Maybe some of the energy just circled around and got back into me. But I couldn’t risk going outside and hurting someone.
A strange beeping sound pierced the air, and I looked up in panic. The door of my cell was open and Jaiden stood in the doorway.
“No!” I yelled, getting to my feet and trying to push the door closed with my element, but my air didn’t even dream about obeying me. Instead, it rushed straight for Jaiden’s mind, and he immediately put up a shield of his own. My element hammered at it, trying to get inside. “You have to go. Please! I can’t control this! I can’t!”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Jaiden said. “You have to relax.”
“I’m trying, but it’s not working. My elements... they’re not mine anymore.” I backed away as far as I could from him. Not that it seemed to make much difference for my elements. “I don’t know what’s wrong.”
“They’re still your elements, but you’re not in control of them,” Jaiden said, stepping inside. His face was strained, his shoulders tense. I could see it took him a lot of strength to make a single move and keep the shield up. I didn’t want to think about what could happen if his shield dropped. If my elements proved stronger than his, I could kill him. I didn’t want to find out if the elements I was born with were stronger than the ones created in a lab.
“I just want it to stop,” I said, tears blurring my vision. “But I don’t know what to do.”
“Don’t do anything. Just sit down and breathe.”
“How is that going to help? And what are you doing here? You should get out before...” I let myself slide down the wall, taking deep breaths.
“Trust me. Everything is going to be okay. You have to think positively.” He tried to take another step when one of my fireballs hit him straight into the stomach, sending him flying across the room. I covered my mouth with my hands, my heart thudding in my chest. Jaiden sat up, raising his hand as if he were trying to tame a wild animal.
“I’m fine. It’s all fine.” But his shield of air wavered, and my element intensified its assault, trying to wear down the shield where it was thinnest. Jaiden’s arm turned into fire as he slammed his fist into my air, forcing it to back away.
“Jaiden, please. I don’t want to hurt you. I’ll never forgive myself if...”
“Hey, you’re not going to hurt me,” he said, getting to his feet and fighting to come closer. “What you’re experiencing is just a chemical reaction. Your emotions and elements are heightened and I know you can’t help it, but try thinking about something else. Anything else.”
“All I can think about is that I killed all those people.” I ran my hand over my face.
“No. Think about something that makes you happy.”
My thoughts seemed to have scattered, and I couldn’t recall a single happy memory. “It’s not working. What did you say this was? A chemical reaction? To what?”
“When your bracelet was enhanced a few days ago, did you feel something like a prick on your skin? Maybe?” Jaiden was halfway to me, his shield shimmering so much that I was afraid it would burst. But I knew there was nothing I could say or do to make him leave.
“I don’t know. Maybe. I can’t remember...”
“Close your eyes. Try to remember. I know your mind must be hazy, but try to break through it.”
“Okay.” I did as told, blocking out everything that was happening around me until I could see the moment I was sitting on a mat in the training room.
A guard came to see me, carrying that black device that was used to tinker with my bracelet.
“I’ll just adjust your bracelet a bit before you start training the recruits,” he said. “The boss wants to make sure your elements can be blocked immediately in case you use them too much or lose control.”
“But I’ll be using my elements for the training. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble with my control.” I gave him a hard look, unwilling to let him further strengthen my bracelet. “And if I’m so bad with my elements, why are you allowing me to train the recruits? I could train by myself.” I crossed my arms.
The guard looked apologetic, his blue eyes softening. “Look, I have my orders. There’s nothing I can do about this, unless you want to speak to the boss first. But I don’t think it would be wise to contradict him. It’s just a small adjustment. You won’t even feel it.”
“Okay, whatever.” I rolled my eyes, extending my arm to him. He grasped my wrist with a tight grip, pressing the beeping device to my bracelet, a tiny prick of pain going through my wrist. Thinking how inept he was at this that he couldn’t even use the device properly and was pressing the device too hard into the bracelet, I waited for him to be done.
“See? That wasn’t so bad, was it?” He offered me a smile, relief flashing across his face. I pulled my hand back, rubbing my wrist, but there was nothing around the bracelet or at the spot where I’d felt the prick.
I opened my eyes and saw Jaiden only a few steps away from me. “I think something pricked me, but I couldn’t see anything on my arm. Did they do something to me? Do you know why this is happening?” The look I gave him was so intense that my element got even stronger, trying to find a hole in his shield so it could reach his mind.
“Yeah, I kn
ow, because the same thing happened to me a long time ago.” He gritted his teeth, reinforcing his shield. “My father tried to enhance your element, so he gave you a combination of some drugs to do it.”
“But how?” I tried to direct my elements so they’d avoid Jaiden, but they still wouldn’t listen to me.
“That prick you felt was a tiny needle. You couldn’t have felt much or have any visible spots, but that thing did pierce your skin and released a tiny amount of a powerful drug.”
“What kind of drug?”
“I’m not sure.” He frowned. “I just know it’s used to enhance elements. Since my father hadn’t realized you already had the ability to kill like I did, I guess he tried to get you to develop that ability. He’d seen your energy levels go up, but he couldn’t have known you were holding back, so he thought you needed a little push.”
“Shit.” Of course the crazy bastard would try to do something like that. “I think my mind is clearer right now. Do you think the drug will get out of my system?”
Jaiden pushed away my air again, crouching in front of me, but not touching me. Our elements collided between us, like two stone walls trying to push and destroy each other, without success. “You’ll be fine. Just talk to me.”
That wasn’t exactly an answer to my question, but maybe talking to him was helping. At least I wasn’t trying to murder anyone or trying to find someone to murder. “So this drug or whatever it is... your father used it on you?”
“Yeah, when I was younger. Thanks to his experiments, I had my elements much sooner than normal elementals or even tainted elementals. He tried this on me to enhance the strength of my elements. It looked like it hadn’t worked, but a couple of days later, my elements burst out of me, and... I destroyed some things, but my elements weren’t really enhanced because I didn’t gain any new abilities. I don’t know why. Maybe because I was too young, or maybe because my elements aren’t as good as the elements of those who were born with them. But my father concluded the whole experiment was a failure, so I’m not sure if he changed the formula since then or if he tried it on someone else. I don’t know why he’d even risk this with you.”
“Maybe he thought that, since I was still in the building, he could control any weird outbursts.” I looked at my elements that were still raging around the room and melting back through my skin. “Maybe he thought I was much less powerful than this. Maybe none of this would have happened if I hadn’t decided to fight and use my elements today.”
“He underestimated you. That’s for sure.” Jaiden’s fingers hovered over mine, and I pulled back.
“I assume you didn’t react like this to the drug. Maybe I’m allergic.” I managed a small laugh.
“No, it wasn’t like this, but it was scary. I was seven and I couldn’t even control my elements properly, so...” He shook his head, the shield around him still holding on.
“You seem strong too. I mean, you’re successfully fighting off this mess.” I waved my hand, and fire rushed around my fingers.
“I managed to snatch another vial from father’s secret stash of serum.” He smiled. “I figured I’d need it.”
“Thank God you did. So what am I supposed to do? Just wait this out?”
“Yeah. And you have to regain control of your mind and your elements, because they’re not really alive. It’s your subconscious controlling them.”
“Ah, wonderful. My subconscious is a bitch.” The fire surging from my left hand died out, and I lifted my hand up, looking at my fingers. “It looks like...”
Jaiden grabbed my hand, his shield wavering and finally dissolving. I gasped, trying to pull away from him, but I didn’t have anywhere to go. My air shot for his head, but he fought it off with his own air, breaking through my shimmering thread every time it tried to jump at him. His fingers still warm in mine, he recreated a shield around himself, but this one was more elaborate and it followed every contour of his body rather than just looking like a protective bubble.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my eyes wide.
“Just relax.” He pulled me into his arms so my head rested on his chest. “You never hurt me before and you’re not going to hurt me now. Trust me and trust yourself.”
I let myself relax against his strong body, even as my right hand kept turning into fire. My legs briefly went invisible and started to shimmer. My pulse sped up, and I looked up at Jaiden’s dark eyes. “How did you even know I was here? Did you hear Lily’s team yelling a warning? I wanted to...”
“Don’t think about that. Not now. Just look at me.”
I swallowed, hoping my mind wouldn’t go back to a memory I didn’t want to revisit. Voices could be heard from somewhere far, shouting something I couldn’t understand. Bile rose in my throat. “Jaiden! They’re coming back! If they get near here, I’ll hurt them!”
“No, you won’t.” he said, his eyes alert, his whole body tense. Shit. He knew as well as I did that if those people came within the reach of my elements, I would attack them.
Jaiden’s hand was on my cheek, his gaze intent. “No one is coming. Do you hear me? It’s only two of us here. No one else.”
I knew he was trying to distract me, but it wasn’t working. “You have to warn them. You have to...”
Jaiden bent his head and pressed his mouth against mine, his tongue parting my lips. I leaned into him, savoring his taste. Something sharp bit into my arm, warm liquid trickling down my skin, but Jaiden was still kissing me, holding me tightly to him. I felt like I was floating, my eyelids heavy. I pulled back from him but all I could do was fall down. He was stroking my hair, and right before my eyes closed, I could see blood pooling on the floor under my arm.
Chapter 21
Bright light greeted me as I cracked my eyes open, which only increased the pain in my head. I was in a small room with white walls, and when I raised my arm, I saw it was wrapped in a bandage. Something rustled to my right, and I turned my head. My mom was getting up from a chair, her long curly blonde hair splayed around her shoulders, dark circles under her eyes. She was at my side in a second, her hand covering mine.
“Welcome back, honey,” she said. “Your dad will be here in a second. He’s just gone to get me some snacks.”
“Oh. I guess we’re not in Elemontera anymore, are we?” The last thing I remembered was me passing out... I looked down my body, realizing my elements were no longer all over the place, but they weren’t being blocked either, as far as I could tell. In fact, they were inside of me just like they should be.
“You’re okay. Lily’s men found you on the floor, bleeding.” She clenched and unclenched her hands, the lines around her eyes more prominent. “We transported you here, to another one of Lily’s safe houses. The one that is closest to Elemontera’s headquarters.”
“Is Elemontera...?” With all the trouble with my elements, I hadn’t even had the chance to think about how the others were doing, or if Lily’s team and the cops had managed to subdue Elemontera’s agents and guards.
“Elemontera no longer exists.” A smile touched her lips. “It was a tough fight, yes. We lost some of our men, but in the end Lily’s team took control of the building. All the world knows about this is that Elemontera was involved in illegal experiments.”
“That’s great.” I swallowed, remembering I was responsible for the deaths of some members of Lily’s team. “Um, did I hurt anyone else? When they found me... Were my elements... all over the place?”
“No, your elements were fine,” she said. “They told me you’d lost control briefly, but I’m sure it was just temporary.”
“I was drugged with something to enhance my elements, I guess. My elements went crazy. Did they tell you what I...?”
“Honey.” My mom placed her hand on my cheek. “Whatever you did, it was the drug’s fault, not yours. You know that, right?”
“Yeah.” I wished the drug had made me forget what I’d done, but I still remembered my rage and my joy as I unleashed my elements on pe
ople, destroying everything in my path. “Where’s Jaiden?”
“How should I know?” She curled her lip. “He and his father disappeared into thin air. Special forces are looking for them, and I hope they find them, because what they did...”
“No, Mom. Jaiden helped me. He was there with me. He...”
“He cut your arm, Moira. You could have bled to death!” She raised her voice, her eyes getting teary.
I was sure there was a good explanation for that. “Maybe he knew the drug wouldn’t come out of my system otherwise.”
“Honey.” My mom licked her lips. “You’re tired and confused. We’ll talk about this once you’re better.”
“So what now? Elemontera is down? Did the building get destroyed?” If talking about Jaiden upset her, then I wouldn’t talk about him.
“Most of the building is not functional anymore because it couldn’t withstand all the fighting with elements and guns. But it’s going to be renovated and turned into a safe place for tainted elementals. It will become an organization that will help them, not hunt them.”
“Wait.” I slowly pushed myself up, ignoring the pain. “A safe place for elementals like me? You’re kidding, right?”
My mom looked away. “Lily made a deal with the government. They still don’t want the public to know about tainted elementals. Well, let’s just say they want rumors to stay rumors. And they want to know that they’re safe from such elementals, so they’ll let Lily run a new organization. She’ll have to find tainted elementals and keep track of them to make sure no one does anything that could harm other people. If some of the elementals want to train or need a place to stay, she’ll welcome them into the new headquarters.”
“What?” I gaped at her. “They want to track us all down? And what? Put a chip in us like in some stray dogs so they can come pick us up if we make a wrong move? Or will the chip be able to kill us immediately? And who will get to decide this? Lily? And who will work for her to help her find those like me? Is it regular elementals, carriers, and element preservers? If yes, then I see a big problem in this nice new idea. How is that going to be different from Elemontera?”
Monster (Tainted Elements Book 3) Page 13
