I cocked my head. Okay… We were basically living in a sci-fi movie at this point, so I figured we might as well cover all the stereotypical bases. I scanned his neck, poking and prodding. I even checked his temples.
“Nothing,” I said, flipping him over and searching his back.
“Wrists,” Paxton suggested.
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
Suddenly, more scientists entered the hall. The sound of their racing footsteps echoed like the clip-clop of galloping horses.
I was almost out of time.
Hefting the scientist up, I dragged him over to the bars, thinking maybe if I was touching him when he passed through, I’d be able to sneak through, too.
But no. I slammed into the bars, losing my hold on him, and he fell to the floor, half in and half out of my cell.
Three scientists stopped in front of me, glaring. Two of them picked up their fallen comrade, and one of them stabbed me with yet another needle.
“Damn you!” I slurred as my grip on the bars slackened.
The next second, I slumped to the floor, my face dragging down the glassy surface.
Chapter Twenty-Two
When I woke, my lungs burned with the sharp tang of bleach. My room had been scrubbed bare. No sign of my fight with the scientist remained.
“I have a theory,” Paxton whispered.
I rubbed my eyes with weakened hands. My face was still sore from crashing into the cell bars. “And what’s that?”
He licked his lips and looked both ways. “I think you should drink his blood next time.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not a vampire, Pax.”
“I know it sounds crazy,” he pressed, “but maybe that’s where the secret’s hiding?”
“I think he’s right,” Lilly said from down the hall.
I raised a brow. “Oh, you’re being social now?”
She glared at me. “Put yourself in my place. I’ve been trapped here for hundreds of years. No one who enters ever escapes. Do you know how many loud-mouthed prisoners I’ve had to listen to, day in and day out, until they finally lost all hope and stopped screaming for help?”
I looked at the brightened floor, ashamed of my attitude. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” she said, sighing. “I’m sorry, too, for being such a dick earlier.”
A smile tugged at my lips. “So, you think Pax is right about the blood?”
She nodded. “I saw you searching the scientist. He didn’t seem to have any physical object outside of his person. The next logical assumption is that it must be inside his body.”
“And what do you think ‘it’ is?” I asked, glancing between the two of them.
“A serum, most likely,” Lilly suggested. “A potion they drink to counteract the restrictive properties of these light boxes.”
I nodded, wishing I knew what the secret ingredient was. If I could get my hands on that knowledge, I could shut the Sect down forever once I escaped.
“So how much blood are we talking about?” I asked.
It turned my stomach to think about drinking any amount of blood, but these were desperate times.
Lilly grasped the bars and thought for a moment. “I have no idea how much serum is necessary to ingest in order to pass through the barrier. The more the better, I would assume.”
Son of a bitch.
I scrunched my nose and tried to convince myself it’d be okay. Surely, I wouldn’t puke, at least long enough to get the hell out of the cage and get everyone else out too.
“What if they send even more people down next time?” Paxton asked nervously. “First they sent one, then they sent three. What are the odds they’ll send five or more next time?”
“Or worse,” Lilly said. “What if they start sending Sect soldiers down with the scientists?”
“I thought the soldiers only operated on the outside.”
Lilly raised a brow. “You really think they wouldn’t move inside if necessary?”
I was silent for a moment. Of course they would.
“I’ve fought the soldiers before,” I said quietly. “I can do it again.”
I didn’t want to admit how difficult it had been even with my powers, how impossible it’d be without them, especially with how weak I felt.
From the look in her eye, Lilly seemed to understand. “Just make sure you get the blood before it comes to a fight with soldiers.”
I nodded, and we all dissipated to our respective corners.
Dropping to the floor, I began doing sit-ups. My abdominals quivered, threatening to give out at any moment, but I only squeezed them harder. One. The more I did, the stronger I became. The quivering lessened, and my pace picked up. When I reached a hundred, I stopped and wondered where the hell the scientists were. They had to hate seeing me regain my strength. Why were they not being all needle-happy this time?
Frowning, I started on squats. My quads and hamstrings burned as the sedative mixture made its way out of my body, and like with the sit-ups, the more I worked, the better I felt. Again stopping at a hundred, I narrowed my eyes and walked to the glass bars of my cell.
Exercise apparently wasn’t drawing them in this time. So, I resorted to obnoxious shouting.
“Hello?” I called, and my voice echoed down the hall. No footsteps answered. “Someone let me out of here!”
I pounded on the glass with my fists. A dull ache spread through my hands, but still no one came.
Suspicion welled up inside of me, followed quickly by numbing despair. They’d heard us talking; they must have. They knew how I was planning on gaining my power back, and they were avoiding me to ensure it didn’t happen.
I gritted my teeth as I fought the urge to cry.
How would I ever escape this place?
///
Days passed, maybe weeks. Distinguishing between morning and evening was impossible. My room always glowed that annoying shade of fluorescence, and still no scientists came.
Pax and Lilly had given up talking. He’d curled up in his usual corner, and while I couldn’t see Lilly if she wasn’t at her bars, I had a feeling she was in a similar position. It seemed to be the way the helpless sat.
I’d taken to daydreaming. I thought about Cade most of all, remembering the feel of his sun-kissed skin, the taste of his lips, the scent of his natural cologne. I imagined what it’d feel like to have his arms wrapped around me, and I even half-convinced my nerve receptors I’d actually felt it. I would lean my head into my own shoulder and pray for it to be real, only to open my eyes and realize it was a dream that may never come true again.
I thought of Sienna and Xavier, imagining them the way I wanted them to be: a happy couple who laughed and held hands and loved without fear.
I thought of my father, hoping my disappearance hadn’t caused him too many sleepless nights, or worse, sent him spiraling into some sort of depression.
I wondered how Kendrick was doing, and I often pictured him laughing as he ran through fields of wildflowers, even though I’d never seen him in one. I supposed it was just my mind’s way of idealizing everything.
It was easy to curl up in a corner and get lost in your imaginings. They were certainly better than the reality of the situation, but every day, I forced myself to not get complacent. As soon as I started feeling exceptionally hopeless, I would rise from my fetal position and do a workout. No one had come to inject me lately, so my muscles didn’t seem to be withering anymore. If anything, I was becoming as fit and agile as I had been before capture.
I’d started practicing parkour like we did back at Revolutionist Headquarters. I didn’t really have much room to run freely or any obstacles to scale, but I did have four walls, and I practiced jumping off them. There was a subtle art to how you positioned your feet and how much muscle you used to power your launch. If you timed it just right, you could land with minimal impact and keep moving on to the next wall. Once, I even leapt from wall to wall, skipping the floor altogether.
>
It made me feel powerful and free…for all of fifteen minutes. Then I’d sink to the floor and crawl to my corner, willing myself to get lost in the memories that kept me going.
This day was different, though. As I buried my face and squeezed my eyes shut, I couldn’t silence the unrest I felt. There had to be something else I could do, some other way to grab the Sect scientists’ attention. I couldn’t give up, no matter how mentally taxing it was to pinball between hopeless and hopeful.
I racked my brain, trying to uncover anything I could have missed.
They could ignore my growing physical strength if I remained cut off from my Elemental powers. They could ignore my screams for help. So, what was something they couldn’t ignore?
They’d overheard our repulsive plan to drink their blood. They were probably watching and listening to us at that very moment. Was there anything I could say or do that would tip the scales of fate in my favor?
Fate.
I wondered if Ida was watching right now, seeing my helplessness.
I’m sorry, Ida, I thought mentally. I’m trying.
What exactly did the scientists care about, anyway? Knowledge, I supposed, but what sort of information did I have that could possibly be of interest to them?
I glanced over at Paxton as he slept on the floor. “Pax.”
He didn’t flinch, but I could see his chest rising and falling with each breath.
“Pax!”
Suddenly, he jerked awake with wide eyes.
“Were you ever interrogated?”
His nostrils flared. “Seriously? This, right now?”
I threw him an exaggerated shrug. “Is there supposed to be a better time?”
“I suppose not,” he muttered, crawling closer on his hands and knees.
I met him at the bars. “So, were you?”
“Yeah, a couple of times. Why?”
“What sort of questions did they ask you?”
He scratched his head and scrunched his nose. “I don’t know. It’s been a really long time.”
I chewed on my lip, trying to figure out how to attack this problem. “What were you doing when they captured you?”
“Nothing. Just hanging out on the beach of a deserted island.”
My brow quirked. “Did you do anything suspicious prior to hiding away on a deserted island?”
“No.”
I thought for a moment. “Are you a Water?”
“Yes—or at least I think I was, a long time ago.”
The wheels in my head started spinning. “So, you were on an island, completely surrounded by your element, when they found you?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe you were accidentally affecting the ocean?”
He shook his head. “I mean, maybe? But is that really an offense worthy of life in prison?”
I sighed and tried to explain. “The Sect doesn’t really think of things in terms of good or bad. They only care about what they call ‘the balance.’ If something or someone is tipping the scales too far in one direction, their job is to level things out. You know what I mean?”
He frowned and anger swirled in his eyes. “So, I wasn’t even doing anything wrong? I just had more power than they preferred?”
“That’s my guess. Meanwhile, my grandfather is running around with more power than any Elemental before him, and no one can seem to stop him.”
Suddenly…I had another idea.
I looked all around me, at the walls, ceiling, and floor, and tried to find one of the hidden cameras.
“I need to talk to Exis,” I said firmly to whoever was listening.
No hint of hysteria tainted my tone; no crazed panic buzzed in my eyes. They must’ve finally taken me seriously. One scientist and three soldiers carrying large guns strolled down the hallway and stopped in front of my cage.
Passing through the bars as if they were invisible, two soldiers secured my arms while the other went around behind me and cuffed my wrists. No doubt they were Element-proof, not that it mattered.
“What are you doing?” Pax whisper-shouted. “You’re missing your chance!”
But I wasn’t after their blood anymore. I shook my head as a warning. Hopefully he didn’t try anything stupid while I was gone.
The scientist jabbed a needle into my neck, but it didn’t weaken me or knock me out like before. It was apparently full of that magical serum, because I was hauled through the bars and was met with zero resistance.
The scientist led us back up the hall, through a set of vacuum-sealed doors, up about half a million flights of stairs, and around more corners than I could possibly memorize. If they were trying to confuse me, it didn’t matter. I wasn’t trying to deceive them anymore; I really did need to talk to Exis.
We eventually came to a white room with a plastic desk and a single plastic chair. I assumed the choice of material was intentional. As far as I could guess, plastic was manmade and therefore beyond the control of an Earth. A Fire could melt it easily enough, though that wouldn’t help much.
A projector in the ceiling cast a giant image of Exis’s silken face on the wall. Her dark skin contrasted fiercely against the white paint.
She smiled coldly. “Valerie, a pleasure. To what do I owe the honor?”
“I have an idea,” I said, sounding like the amateur I was.
She merely nodded.
“Instead of trying to capture Nicholai to reestablish balance, why not let these Elemental prisoners free?”
Her smile grew and spread to reveal perfect, pearly teeth. She chuckled at first then laughed heartily.
“This is what you so desperately needed to talk to me about? Freeing yourself and your friends? I thought you knew better. No one ever escapes the Shadow Sect, little one.”
“I don’t want to escape,” I said, pressing on despite how foolish I sounded. “I want you to let us go. Think about it—it’s one of the easiest possible ways to balance out the power. It’s obviously too difficult to harness Nicholai alone, so why not allow us to join forces and add power to the opposite side of the equation?”
Her brows lowered, but her eyes moved as if she were thinking.
Eventually, she shook her head. “It’s too risky. If we did that, there would be far more power in play than we could ever control. It could destroy the entire world.”
“And if we continue to fail at stopping Nicholai and he keeps gaining more and more power, he’ll destroy the world anyway.”
She considered my words again. I could tell she wasn’t pleased with her options.
“It’s a gamble, any way you look at it,” I continued. “But this might be the only chance we have.”
Long seconds passed, minutes maybe, and still she said nothing.
I sighed. “Listen, I had a pretty awesome plan for busting out of here—”
“I heard.”
“But I abandoned that plan in favor of talking to you. You know why?”
She raised a brow and crossed her arms. “Because you believe so strongly that this new plan will work that you’re willing to sacrifice your freedom to achieve it?”
I blinked. She’d basically hit the nail on the head. “Yeah, pretty much.”
She stared at me, eyes completely devoid of whatever was churning within her skull. “How will I know I have your complete cooperation? You had the chance to help us before and you refused.”
I sighed. “I suppose you’ll just have to take my word for it. You can always capture me again if it doesn’t work out.”
She shook her head. “No. I want absolute assurance. I want the boy.”
It was my turn to fall silent. Which boy was she referring to? Kendrick? Cade? Either way, I would never be okay with it.
“My little brother?” I asked, scarcely able to believe she’d stoop so low.
She nodded, a calculating smile just barely turning her lips up at the corners.
“I can’t do that,” I said, voice barely a whisper.
She shrugged sli
ghtly. “Then I cannot release you. You have twenty-four hours to change your mind.”
The wall screen went blank as she ended our video call.
My mind flashed back to a time when I was being interrogated by Cade’s parents. Back then, I was weak. Was I seriously any stronger now? When the heat was on and the stakes had been raised, I’d given up information—names—I swore to myself I wouldn’t. I’d put Cade and Holden in danger, as well as a whole host of others.
Twenty-four hours…and another choice would have to be made.
Would I let them hold Kendrick just long enough to save the world? Or would I stay strong and watch the world crumble while I rotted in a cell?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Within the last twenty-four hours, I’d cranked out an endless stream of workouts. Stress and anxiety whirled through my veins. The harder I worked, the better I felt, but the nagging fear of the choice before me wouldn’t leave.
Stay strong, be weak…or was trying to stay strong my new weakness? Maybe in this case being ‘weak’ was the stronger choice?
Over and over, these thoughts tumbled through my brain, rattling me senseless.
Growling, I jumped from wall to wall, slowly perfecting my parkour while desperately trying to purge the tension from my system. By the third wall, I lost momentum and hopped to the ground, running across the glowing floor before climbing up the next wall. Arching my back, I flipped over and landed in a crouch. When I raised my eyes, I saw a group of Sect scientists and soldiers outside of my cell. Beyond them, Paxton and Lilly watched with bated breath.
The time had come, and suddenly, I knew exactly what I had to do.
Standing, I nodded to my new friends, a tiny motion the Sect members hopefully didn’t notice.
The scientist from before—the short one with the severe haircut—approached my glass bars.
“Have you reconsidered?” she asked in a nasally voice.
I nodded, bigger this time. “I have.”
Quickly, I assessed my obstacles. One scientist, by the looks of her white lab coat. Two…alchemists? I wasn’t sure, but they were dressed in plain robes rather than modern hospital attire. Three soldiers, each with a machine gun aimed diagonally at the ground.
The Essential Elements: Boxed Set Page 73
