I frowned. “I don’t know, Holden. He always has been in the picture.”
“Yes, but what if he never talked to you? He wasn’t supposed to anyway. Would you have chosen me instead?”
“Maybe…” I said, hesitantly. I wasn’t sure where this was going. “But who knows how different life would be right now if he hadn’t? Maybe if he never talked to me, I’d have gotten hit by a car that day…or if he never talked to me, maybe I wouldn’t have talked to you the next day. It’s impossible to say.”
The butterfly effect was nothing to mess around with.
Holden chewed the inside of his lip. “I just need to know if the time we spent together was real.”
“Of course it was real!” I said, brows knitting together. “It just…didn’t last, and I’m sorry.”
He swallowed and nodded.
I sighed, hoping the uncomfortable questions were over.
“So how is Cade, anyway?”
Ugh. Guess not.
I wasn’t sure why, but I really didn’t want to tell him the truth. I hoped it wasn’t becoming a habit. Lying was right up there next to murder on my list of serious offenses. How ironic that I’d recently developed a taste for both.
“He’s good,” I said. All things considered, he really was doing quite well that day, so maybe it wasn’t a flat-out lie.
My phone rang.
Thank God.
“Hey Dad,” I said, smiling brightly.
“Hey sweetie. Could you tell Holden that his presence is better utilized at the courthouse than the park?”
My smile faded into a frown. “How’d you know I was with him? Or that he was at the park?”
He sighed. “Because it’s all over the news.”
I lowered the phone and glanced around. A photographer was sitting in a parked car along the curb. When he saw me looking, he lowered his camera and drove away like nothing ever happened.
I held my breath to keep from hyperventilating. With a shaky hand, I brought the phone back up to my ear.
“You still there Dad?”
“Yeah sweetie, are you okay?”
I took a deep breath. “I think so.”
“Listen, why don’t you come to the courthouse, too? This press conference is an important one; you should probably be there for it. Besides, it’ll get you out of the camera’s lens for a while. No paparazzi are allowed in government buildings.”
I swallowed hard, trying to shove down the anxiety over being watched.
“Okay. We’ll be there soon.”
I hung up and started power walking. Holden jogged to catch up.
“What’s going on, Val?” he asked, more concerned than curious.
I shook my head. “More reporters.”
He looked confused.
I kept my eyes on my white sneakers as they speedily carried me down the sidewalk.
“Photographers,” I said. “They’ve been following us.”
Holden’s brown eyes darted around cautiously before his gaze dropped down to his own shoes—polished black leather, not my favorite, by any means. I was more into work boots than dress shoes. Odd, I knew, since I personally wouldn’t have been caught dead in a pair.
“What are they reporting?” he asked.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d set it all up, that he’d wanted them to see us together.
“I don’t know. Dad just said we should get to the courthouse.”
Luckily, we hadn’t gone far. We were through the doors and into the lobby in less than two minutes.
At the back of the room, Curwen and Boone were exiting the elevator.
A smile lit up the older Michaels’ face as he stepped out.
“Ah, Holden! There you are! We were just heading to the conference room. Boone, cross off item number five.” He then smiled at me. “Valerie, wonderful to see you again. Come! Your father is waiting on us.”
I glanced at Boone, who was scribbling away, before following them all down a long hallway. A floor-to-ceiling window at the end of the hall provided most of the light reflecting off the shiny floors. We passed a number of doors before entering one on the right.
The conference room reminded me of an auditorium or an amphitheater. Each row of seats rested just a bit higher than the last, and they arched around the stage in a semicircle. A podium stood front and center, and camera crews for stations specifically devoted to political news were being set up at different locations.
My dad was seated in the front row, flipping through papers, when Curwen tapped him on the shoulder, as well as the two women sitting beside him.
“Meeting in side room B,” Curwen said. Then he smiled at me. “Please make yourself comfortable. We’ll be back in just a moment.”
I raised a brow but sat down and watched them disappear into a hallway on the left side of the stage. Before they could get too far, though, I jumped up and followed them. Peering around a corner, I caught the tail end of Holden’s back as he entered a room and shut the door.
I tiptoed closer.
One vertical window allowed me to see inside. Maps decorated the walls and a big circular table took up most of the space in the middle, with a dozen or so chairs surrounding it.
I would have to be careful to remain unseen.
Curwen threw a folder onto the table, loosened his tie, and took a seat at the front. Everyone else followed suit.
Curwen looked around, eyeing each of them with a mischievous smile.
“Boone,” he said. “Off record.”
His voice was muffled, but not terribly unclear.
Boone glanced up then turned off his tablet and pushed it away.
Curwen nodded. “The press conference begins in fifteen minutes, but we’ve received some new information. Nicholai contacted us a few moments ago. He’s called for a temporary ceasefire.”
“Why?” my dad asked right away.
“He’d like to discuss a possible compromise.”
“Bullshit,” Holden blurted out.
Curwen’s smile darkened roguishly. “I agree, son. The question then becomes, why? Why would he request a meeting—with us, specifically—this afternoon at the courthouse in Northland?”
This afternoon? I wondered in astonishment. That seemed like incredibly short notice.
Curwen stood and paced around the table.
“As the Modernist leader, I was obviously invited, as were my closest advisors, hence the presence of Jameson, Lira, and Mirabella. Boone goes everywhere I go. Holden is my protégé. Even if he hadn’t been invited, I’d have brought him anyway. He needs to learn how these things work.”
Curwen then looked around the room, and I carefully slid away from the window.
“Jameson,” he said abruptly. “Give me some strategic advice.”
I risked another glance through the glass.
Dad pursed his lips and drummed his fingertips on the table. “Nicholai wants something. This meeting will benefit him in some way, or he wouldn’t have initiated it. Maybe he wants information? Maybe he wants to threaten or taunt us? Maybe he wants a specialized weapon? I don’t know, but we need to find out.”
“So we go,” Curwen decided.
“If we’re going,” Dad said, speaking up before anyone else could, “then we should go packing heat. It’s possible that this meeting is nothing more than a trap. We are the enemies’ strongest players. It would be extremely beneficial for him to take us out, and the earlier in the game, the better. When we go, we should be prepared for a fight, just in case.” Dad looked from Curwen to Holden. “Which is why I suggest that Holden remain behind.”
“What?” Holden shouted at once.
Dad put his hands up against the verbal attack.
“You’re the future of our organization,” he said. “The hope for upcoming generations of Elementals. We can’t risk losing you.”
Curwen sighed. “Jameson is right.”
“But Dad—” Holden protested.
“Not another word,” C
urwen said, cutting him off. “You are officially excluded from Nicholai’s invitation.”
Holden crossed his arms and turned away like a bratty little boy.
“So what am I supposed to say at the press conference, then?” he asked.
Curwen dusted the comment away with a brush of his hand. “Simple things. They want an explanation for the bombing, so give it to them—the Modernist explanation.”
I wondered what that was supposed to mean, but I didn’t have time to contemplate it.
Curwen retightened his tie. “Meeting adjourned. Boone, put us back on record, please.”
“Yes sir,” Boone said, turning the tablet back on.
I ducked away from the window and sprinted down the hall. When I reached the auditorium, I noticed it had filled up considerably. Rushing to my seat, I had barely lowered my butt to the cushion when Curwen led the group around the corner.
I let out a relieved sigh, my heart still hammering in my chest. I hadn’t gotten caught.
Holden took the stage, his usual charismatic smile replaced by a worrisome frown.
“Good afternoon. Let’s get right to the point.” Cameras clicked as he spoke. “The events of last night were both devastating as well as disappointing. We believe the bombings to be the work of the same radical group of humans who burned down Billy’s Bar & Burgers. Their violence has escalated, but I assure you, Elementals still hold no ill will. We sincerely believe peaceable relations are possible, and we feel that the vast majority of humans agree. Mere words, however, are no longer enough. We must prove our unity. We must join together and take a stand against these terrorists.”
As I sat there, dumbfounded by the blatant lie he was spinning, I was suddenly struck by the truth—Elementals were framing humans for their own misdeeds. Elitists had staged the attack on Sol and Lune to look like humans had done it because they wanted the false accusation to fuel Elemental aggression toward them. Modernists wanted it to look like humans, too, so they could hide the fact that an Elemental tyrant might be right around the corner from ultimate power.
I got up and left the room. I didn’t need to stay—I’d already heard enough.
What I really needed was to call Elise and hope to God she hadn’t gotten very far away. I had a feeling I’d need her help if I wanted to get into Nicholai’s meeting.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Elise answered the phone on the first ring, but much to my dismay, she flat-out refused to help me.
“Exis has made it perfectly clear that you are to stay far, far away from Nicholai,” she said. “We don’t know what his intentions are, but it’s likely you could end up dead. We can’t risk that. You’re too important to the cause.”
I hung up, feeling completely frustrated. Then she called back a few minutes later to deliver even more bad news—she had been temporarily reassigned. For the time being, she would essentially be my babysitter, presumably to keep me from doing anything stupid.
Great.
I was right back to square one, but with even less time to come up with a game plan than before. I needed to get to that meeting before she got to me.
As far as I could see, I had three options. Number one, Holden—he seemed pretty pissed off about being uninvited. Number two, Jay—he was a levelheaded thinker, and I didn’t doubt that he could come up with a solid plan to get us in. Number three, Sienna and Xavier—they were probably the least capable of the four, but they were the ones I’d rather have with me.
I called Sienna.
“Hey Val,” she said, answering in a slightly blue tone.
It caught me off guard. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. What’s up?”
I didn’t want to drop the issue—not in the slightest—but I was short on time.
“You feel up to doing something stupid?”
“Yes,” she said, instantly perking up. “That’s exactly what I want to do. Where should I meet you?”
“Are you still with Xavier?”
“No, I’m at home.”
“Okay, I’ll pick you up in five.”
I hung up and drove off, my mind whirring with countless thoughts and ideas.
How would we get into the meeting? I wasn’t even sure where Northland’s courthouse was located. At least cellphones had GPS. When we got there, though, would we just waltz in and demand to be present? Should we sneak in and spy somehow?
Would there be guards? It seemed likely. If so, could we get past them without a fight? I’d never fought alongside Sienna before. Would she be strong enough? Would the conference even be worth fighting our way into?
I pulled into Sienna’s driveway and beeped. While I waited on her to come out, I looked up the courthouse’s address and plugged it into the GPS. We would be there in a half hour. It was just a few blocks down from Northland High School.
Sienna hopped into the passenger seat and slammed the door. She wore a leather jacket and aviator sunglasses, and she smelled faintly of alcohol.
Had she been drinking?
“Did you have a good night with Xavier?” I asked as I backed out of the driveway.
She ruffled her straight black hair. “Yeah. We had a great time. Got him in the sack, just like I planned.”
I grinned. “Well that’s good, then.”
I glanced at her. She wasn’t smiling.
“Was it that awful?”
A small grin tugged at the corners of her lips.
“No, it was fantastic. It just won’t be happening again, so…”
“Why not?”
I put the car in drive and headed north—according to the GPS. I wouldn’t have known what direction we were traveling if there was moss on every tree.
“Because I broke it off with him,” she said, shrugging like it wasn’t important.
It was important, though. Sienna had a bad habit of blowing through boyfriends at the speed of light. I hadn’t ever considered it with any seriousness before, but I suddenly found myself wondering if she didn’t have some sort of relationship issue, some scarred memory that affected her ability to actually commit.
“Are you all right?” I asked quietly.
“Perfect,” she said, plastering on an overly fake smile. “I thought you said we were doing something stupid? Why are we talking about my depressing love life?”
“Because there’s no reason for it to be depressing. You’re doing it to yourself, and I don’t understand why. Is there something going on that you want to talk about?”
She shook her head and turned to look out the window. Tears welled in her eyes; I couldn’t see them, but I could feel the water threatening to spill.
“Sienna….please talk to me. Tell me what’s going on.”
She wiped her hands across her cheeks. “Nothing is going on, Val. I got what I wanted from Xavier, and now it’s time to move on, end of story.”
I frowned slightly. “Then why are you crying?”
“Because my world is falling apart!” she shouted, ripping the sunglasses from her face. “My mother and father are both dead! I can’t even begin to explain how much it hurts that they’re not around, how it affects me, every single day of my life. I miss my mother’s loving eyes and my father’s witty jokes. I want to hear them laughing again, or hell, even yelling at me! I’m about to do something stupid, and I have no one there to yell at me, no one who cares.” She quickly put a hand up in defense and reapplied her shades. “Not that you don’t care, Val, or Holden, or our friends. It’s just…not the same.”
It felt like all the light in the car had shriveled up and died, leaving us both in ironclad darkness. No amount of flowery words would heal her broken heart. No amount of dwelling on memories would bring them back. I knew—I’d been there—yet the obligation to say something consoling still consumed me.
“I know it’s not the same,” I said. Pain branched out from my heart and into every limb. “I am so sorry, Sienna. I didn’t realize you were hurting so badly, but I should have.”
&n
bsp; “It’s not your fault, Val. I’ll be okay.”
An awful thought popped into my mind and wouldn’t leave me alone. I went rounds with it, weighing the pros and cons. I tried to push it away because I knew it wouldn’t bring about anything good, but it still wouldn’t leave.
It was something Chase had said: that you could call the dead.
Of course, he had also added that you’d have to travel down the path of darkness to achieve it.
I wouldn’t have felt right arming Sienna with that kind of information; it’d be like handing a gun to a depressive, and I didn’t trust her to go dark and come back from it.
Me, on the other hand…I was strong enough, right? I could handle a little darkness for the sake of my best friend’s peace. Perhaps if she was able to talk to her parents one last time, she could find some closure?
I looked at the GPS. It was a pretty straight shot to Northland. Of course, there were plenty of twists and turns—we were in the forested hills and valleys of the Allegheny Mountains, after all—but there were no actual road changes until we got downtown.
My eyes slid back onto Sienna.
I’d have to do some research first. I didn’t want to bring it up until I knew for sure what I was talking about. I wasn’t even sure where to look or who to ask. My mother and grandfather were the most evil people I knew, but I didn’t want to talk to either of them about it.
“So…” I said, awkwardly changing the subject. “The stupid thing we’re doing? It’s breaking into a secret meeting with Nicholai.”
“Ooo!” Sienna said, straightening up and turning my way. “Finding out some of his dirty little secrets?”
I shrugged with both hands on the wheel. “Maybe. Curwen tried to keep the information a secret, but I eavesdropped. Obviously that made me even more determined to get there.”
“Obviously,” she said, smirking. “So who else will be there?”
“Curwen, my dad, Boone—”
“Boone?” Sienna asked, groaning. “As in, Boone Crawford? My ex-boyfriend?”
My initial reaction was to make a joke, something like, Who isn’t your ex-boyfriend? Then I realized how rude that would’ve been, especially in light of recent events. She didn’t need any sarcasm from me; she had enough to deal with.
The Essential Elements: Boxed Set Page 55
