A video of Sophia and Terry being led into a silver truck appeared on the screen.
“Is that an element-blocking truck?” Kenna asked.
“Yeah, I guess the cops don’t want to risk Sophia escaping.”
“Do you think she could?”
“Even if she does, she won’t be able to continue her campaign.” Well, not unless she became someone else.
The reporter reappeared on the screen. “There have been multiple reports about tainted elementals who helped stop the tornado. We’ve obtained some footage that seems to confirm that rumor.”
As soon as I saw Jaiden turn into Sophia, I realized the video was from my camera. A slow smile appeared on my lips. There was no way she could pretend that she wasn’t one of us. And if we wanted to, we could even pin our crimes on her, since there was absolutely no way to prove that she hadn’t pretended to be one of us before. I knew she had to familiarize herself with the person whose appearance she wanted to steal, but how would she demonstrate that? Still, I was glad she had been caught, and I wasn’t about to let her answer for what I’d done.
A soft moan turned my attention to Jaiden, who mumbled something.
“Jaiden?” I was immediately next to him.
His eyes slowly opened, and he blinked at me. Then he sat up so fast that I had to step back. He stared at me, breathing hard. “Is it really you?” he asked.
“Yeah. Sophia and Terry have been caught.” I moved away so he could see the TV screen behind my back.
His shoulders slumped and he sighed in relief.
“Are you feeling okay?” I asked tentatively, my pulse racing.
“I... yeah.” He settled back on the pillows, and I couldn’t hold myself back anymore. I hurled myself into his arms, tears welling up in my eyes. Every emotion I’d kept buried deep inside me came out all at once, and I crushed Jaiden’s mouth with mine. He kissed me back with all the passion in the world.
As I pulled back and wiped away my tears, Jaiden smiled at me and reached out for my hand, then glanced at Noah and Nick. “They’re still out?”
“Yeah. Do you know what she gave you? How did she even get to you?”
“I don’t know. A sedative, I guess.” He scratched his eyebrow. “In that mansion... I was preparing myself to fight those devices when something stabbed me in the neck and everything went black.”
Noah stirred too, and Nick groaned. Someone must have been giving them the sedatives at the same hour, and now that Nick and Noah hadn’t gotten the next dose, they were waking up too. Kenna’s face lit up as she pulled her brother into a hug.
“How did you do that?” Jaiden was frowning at the TV screen. “There was a tornado?”
“Yeah, I’ll tell you all about it.” I grinned, and let go of him so I could go check on Noah.
“Hey,” I said softly.
“Moira?” His brow furrowed. “Where am I...?”
“Back at the lab. Sophia has been caught.”
“Oh?” He blinked. “Where’s Tiffany?”
“Who’s Tiffany?” I couldn’t remember anyone with that name.
“My friend from high school. She picked me up when I was...” He bit down on his lip.
I grimaced. “That wasn’t your friend. It turned out Sophia and Terry can change into other people.”
“What?” Jaiden and Noah said at the same time, and Nick just stared at me as if I had grown another head.
“Long story. We’ll explain.” I waved my hand and faced Nick. “How did they take you?”
“Noah came for me.” He frowned.
“No, I didn’t,” Noah said.
“Oh, great.” Nick ran his hand over his face. “So I fell for fake Noah.”
“If Moira hadn’t realized a fake Jaiden was with us, we wouldn’t have...” Kenna started to say and Jaiden’s head snapped toward me.
“Excuse me?” he said. “A fake Jaiden? What did...”
I raised my finger. “Let’s start from the beginning...” And I launched myself into a difficult explanation of what they had all missed.
Chapter 26
I leaned my head on Jaiden’s shoulder as I watched the TV screen. After a long and difficult trial, Sophia and Terry were sentenced to life in prison, not just for starting a dangerous tornado that could’ve killed many and destroyed the city, but also for rousing the public against tainteds, kidnapping and imprisonment, and manipulation of others with her elements.
The judge also decided to put Jaiden and me on some kind of probation because our crimes had been committed under difficult circumstances and because we’d done so much to help everyone. We could still go wherever we wanted and do whatever we wanted, but if we made a wrong move, we’d be sent to a special, well-protected prison too.
“It’s finally over,” Marissa sighed. We were all sitting around a big table at our new place. Now that we no longer had to run from Sophia or the cops, we could easily start our group to help tainteds. In fact, I’d used my grandfather’s money to buy an old hotel and turned it into a safe haven for tainted elementals, who, for whatever reason, needed a place to stay.
“Yeah, it’s over,” Noah said. “But that’s not the most important news today.”
“It’s not?” Ashley leaned forward.
“No. Since I’m officially the leader of this organization,” Noah straightened his back and lifted his chin up, “I’ve been contacted by the government about their latest decision.”
“And that is?” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“The government decided that tainteds will have equal rights as any other person on this planet.” His lips spread into a smile. “Nobody can hunt us down or discriminate against us. Of course, the bad guys will be dealt with and treated like any other criminal.”
“Why hasn’t there been an official statement yet?” Jaiden asked.
“There is. Look!” Sam pointed at the TV screen and we all focused on the president as he said exactly what Noah had told us.
“But that’s not all,” the president said. “We will continue genetic manipulation because we think tainted elementals are our future, but any experiments on adults in an attempt to give them similar abilities are strictly forbidden.”
“Wow,” Marissa said. “Now we’re important.”
“Shh,” Kenna hissed.
The reporter appeared on the screen, a smile on her face. “Wonderful news for the country and the whole world. I’m sure other governments will make a similar decision, although they don’t have as many tainteds as we do. The president asked the representative of tainteds, Noah Boine, if the term tainted should be changed, but Mr. Boine said that it wouldn’t be necessary because tainteds are very proud of who they are.”
“Damn straight we are,” Nick said, lifting his glass.
“But there’s also some good news for the minority who didn’t welcome this decision about tainteds’ rights. Mr. Zali here has a very interesting project.” The reporter stepped aside and a tall man with short light brown hair and blue eyes came into view. “Can you tell our viewers more about your project?”
“Sure. I’m developing a device that will be able to block mind control or any attempt of an elemental attack on a person’s mind,” Zali said proudly. “The beta testing should begin in two months.”
“Wow, that sounds like a very useful device,” the reporter said.
“It will be, but that’s not all. We’re also going to build sophisticated trackers and detectors,” he said. “We’ll ensure everyone feels safe in their homes or anywhere else... including tainted elementals, of course.”
“That’s wonderful news, Mr. Zali. We’re looking forward to more of your inventions.”
Jaiden’s body stiffened, so I looked up at him.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Are you worried someone might come after us? Now we can actually call the cops or anyone we want for help.”
“No, it’s not that. I know that guy. He used to work for my father,” Jaiden said.
&nb
sp; “Jack is going to be pissed.” I had to stifle laughter. After Sophia’s trial and ours, Jack had become the most wanted person in the country, mostly because he had experimented on adults and turned them into twisted versions of tainted elementals, and also because he was behind the murders Jaiden had committed for him. Still, Jack was very good at escaping and no one had found him. Yet.
Not that I cared much if he got caught, because a few days after Sophia had been arrested, Jaiden and I had gone to Jack’s secret lab and found it empty, but there was one dose of Jaiden’s serum and a note in which Jack commended us for good work with Sophia. I’d handed the serum over to my mom, and I was hoping she’d find a way to recreate it or find someone who could. It would be really annoying if we had to track down Jack to get the rest of it. But Jaiden was still fine, so I assumed we had some time.
“So did they ever find out what Sophia’s big plan was?” Marissa asked. “I mean, she wouldn’t have gone through all that trouble just to become the mayor or something.”
“We don’t know,” I said. “She didn’t want to say anything about that.”
“What about her supporters?” Nick asked. “Are they still out there?”
“Probably.” There was no way the cops had found all of them, and most claimed they had been mind-controlled, although I wasn’t sure how much truth there was to that. “We should always be careful and watch out for crazy people.”
“So everything stays the same?” Nick laughed. “I was actually attacked once when no one knew I was a tainted elemental.”
“Really? Why?” Marissa asked.
Nick shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess they thought I had an expensive phone they could steal and sell somewhere.”
A bell rang, making me jump.
“That’s our pizza.” Ashley clapped her hands.
On the small screen of the intercom, I could see the delivery guy waiting in front of the door with a stack of boxes.
“Where’s that button to open the main door?” Noah tapped his jacket for the device. “Oh, here.”
Suddenly the boxes and the guy vanished, and we all gasped, except Noah, who grinned.
“Close your mouths, guys. It’s the Tainted Delivery,” he said. A shimmering cloud whooshed into the room and spread over the table. A couple of moments later, the guy materialized next to the table, and the boxes were neatly placed in front of us.
“That was quick,” Noah said as he handed the money to the guy. “Keep the change.”
“Thank you.” The guy turned into a shimmering cloud and flew out.
“I hope the pizza isn’t invisible,” Nick said, reaching for one of the boxes. But as he opened it, he closed his eyes and breathed in the delicious scent of cheese and tomato. “Mmm, it’s so damn real.”
I opened the box nearest to me and grabbed a slice.
“I think people will start to like us real soon,” Nick said as he chewed. “Who wouldn’t want faster delivery? And we can carry more things with us if we turn them into air.”
Kenna rolled her eyes. “Yeah, we get it, Nick. Stop eating like a pig and close your mouth.”
He pouted and grabbed another slice of pizza.
“Wait, if everything is being taken care of and Noah is the leader, does that mean we can go on a vacation?” Jaiden’s eyes met mine.
“A vacation?” I grinned. “Sounds like a good idea. Where would we go?”
“I don’t know. Anywhere.” He shrugged. “I haven’t really done that before, so...”
“Oh, I have a whole list of places I want to visit.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, don’t you?” I frowned.
“I haven’t thought about it at all.”
“Well, you can make one.” I punched him lightly on the shoulder. “Or we can just choose from my list, but we might have to get a map or something, because I’ve probably included every single country on the planet.”
His eyes widened and he lifted his hands up. “Whoa, slow down. We’re not going on a tour around the world.”
“Why not?” I pouted. “We could go on a cruise and visit awesome places...” I looked up at him. “Do you like ships? If that bothers you, we can figure something else out.”
“We’ll think about it.” He flashed me a smile.
“Good.” I focused back on my food. I could use a vacation. A really long one.
Chapter 27
“I told you we should’ve gotten a map and just randomly pointed at a place,” I said as Jaiden and I crossed the street. We’d been trying to find a good place to visit for days, but we still hadn’t made up our minds. I wanted to go to another continent, and Jaiden preferred to go to another city across the country.
“We can still do that,” he said, snaking his arm around my waist and pulling me to a stop in front of a restaurant. Bending his head, he lowered his lips to mine. “Actually, I don’t care where I go, as long as I’m with you.”
“Does that mean I get to choose?” I grinned.
“Yeah.” He pressed his mouth against mine, his tongue parting my lips. I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“We should probably go inside.” I glanced at the restaurant and stepped back from him. “We don’t want to leave people waiting.”
“We should’ve sent Noah to meet them.”
“Totally, but they wanted us, so...” I tapped his nose with my finger. “We’re going in.”
“Fine.” He pressed his lips together, but amusement flashed in his eyes. Two days ago, some tainted elementals had called me and requested for Jaiden and me to meet with them. They said they didn’t want to talk to Noah because they believed we could be of more help. When I asked what they needed us for, they refused to say over the phone.
Jaiden thought it could be those tainteds who had escaped from Elemontera and were in hiding, so maybe they wanted to talk to us because we had experience with the cops about the whole Elemontera thing. I’d been suspicious, but they agreed to meet us in a public place, so I figured there wouldn’t be any trouble.
Jaiden pushed the door open for me, and I stepped inside. A couple was sitting at one of the tables, eating and chatting. Only one more table was occupied, and I could see four figures with their backs turned to us.
“Are you sure we’ve got the right place?” Jaiden asked.
“I guess.” I started toward the door that was leading to the kitchen, hoping to find a waiter who could tell me if someone was waiting for us, but as I made my way across the room, the lights went out.
I stopped, waiting for the lights to come back on. People stopped talking, and I heard the scraping of chairs and clinks of plates, but I didn’t hear anyone complaining or asking what was going on.
“Jaiden?” I whispered, just as the lights returned, brighter than before, and I had to squint to be able to see. The whole room was glowing with yellowish light and I stumbled back, bumping into Jaiden. The people who’d been sitting were now on their feet, their faces serious and turned toward us.
“Let’s go,” I said softly, tugging at Jaiden’s jacket, but a pressure in my chest made me pause. My limbs were suddenly heavy, my head spinning. What was going on? I tried to move, but I couldn’t. As I searched for my elements inside of me, I realized I couldn’t even feel them.
“You can stop trying,” a dark-haired woman stepped forward, her red lips pulling into a smile. “You can’t move or escape from here.”
I gritted my teeth and moved my head toward the door, but I could see through the glass that something metallic had been pulled over it. No one would be able to see us if we tried to signal for help. “Who are you? What do you want?”
“How rude of me. I’m Tamara,” the woman said. “As for what I want... well, just your energy.”
“What?” I stared at her.
“Now that we’ve got the two of you, Sophia’s sacrifice won’t be for nothing.”
“Sophia’s sacrifice?” So these people were working with Sophia, but what did they want with
us? Revenge?
“Yes, she went to prison and didn’t reveal anything about our plan.” Tamara came closer, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t move or get my elements to work.
“What plan?” Jaiden said, his body twitching, but he couldn’t do anything either.
“I doubt people like you pay attention to real issues in our world,” she said. “But we’re running out of water and energy. That’s why the government wants to continue breeding elementals like you, but by the time you all grow up, it’ll be too late. You have way too much elemental energy that you don’t really need, so we came up with a powerful collector that will harness that energy and turn it into what our world really needs.”
“What’s wrong with you?” I said. “You could just adjust element collectors...”
“No, you don’t understand. Taking such little amount of energy won’t do. We need it all. Every last bit of it.” Tamara’s eyes flashed dangerously. “The only reason the government hasn’t gone forward with this is because they consider it cruel and inhumane, but we have no such concerns. It’s such a shame Sophia’s plan was progressing too slowly, because now we can’t use her abilities when we present our project to the government, but we’ll find a way...”
“You’re monsters,” I spat.
“Call us whatever you want,” Tamara said. “But I have your group to thank for being able to test our wonderful inventions.” She spread her arms and pointed at the yellowish light.
“That mansion...” I started to say.
“Yeah, yeah. We were testing your energy and our systems. As you can see, we’ve made this one perfect and this time you won’t be able to escape, no matter what you do. Our system recognizes your elements.”
I swallowed hard. So they were planning to drain us of our elements or perhaps milk our elements until there was nothing left and turn them into electricity? Since neither Jaiden nor I had a water element, she couldn’t really turn it into water... or maybe she could.
Hunted (Tainted Elements, #5) Page 16
