Indestructible (13 page)

“Come on, Ria. I know you have it in you. Element preservers don’t lose their elements.”

Yeah, right. He should have asked me how not having elements felt, because I knew all about it. Obviously element preservers weren’t what he imagined they’d be. Still, I needed him to knock me out and send me back to my land of ice. If I was right, the doctors conducted their experiments at roughly the same time, which meant Sara would be looking for someone to connect to.

The darkness took me in, ending the pain. But instead of a kingdom of ice, I found myself standing knee-deep in a river. The water was dark and cool, the grass around it dead and yellow. Even the sky was a cross between light and dark gray. My mind was indeed a dark place.

“Sara!” I yelled, spinning around, but I couldn’t see her anywhere. “Sara! If you can hear me, please come. I need your help!”

I was beginning to lose hope when a shadow caught my eye. Wading through the water, I tried to get closer to the black shape. “Sara?”

“Ria?” the shadow whispered. “How...?”

“Thank God you’re here.” I noticed that the vision of Sara was darker and thinner than the last time. Her hair was wet and tangled, her nose bloody. What had they done to her? “Sara, are you okay?”

“I’m not supposed to be here,” she said.

“I know, but you have to help me. Can you get in the head of your doctor and get him to tell you the code for the door in the hall? Can you read his mind?” I didn’t know if such thing was possible, but if Sara could jump into someone’s head with her element, then anything was possible.

“I...” Sara frowned. “I don’t know.”

“Can you try? I could get us both out of here if you can get the code.” I wasn’t sure how I’d do that, but once I had the code, I could start planning.

Sara nodded, but she was fading. A strong white light lit up the sky, forcing me to close my eyes. When I opened them again, I was back in the room with the doctor.

“I suppose you really don’t have any elements,” he said. “Or you have a death wish.” Sighing, he leaned on the door. “Maybe we should try giving you a new element. Or maybe... We should infect you with the disease all over again. You don’t act like a carrier.”

I froze, my mind feeling like a sponge. The doctor must have given me a bunch of drugs while I was out. Could they infect me with the disease again? Would that even work? I was afraid to even consider it. There was no way of telling what that would do to me.

“You look terrified, my dear.” A smile quirked the doctor’s lips. “I think I know what we’re going to try.”

I did my best to keep my face free of any emotion, but I doubted I was successful. My blood was pumping through my veins so fast that it must have sped up the effect of the drugs, because the next thing I knew, I was dreaming of Adrian’s gray-blue eyes.

Chapter 19

Someone slapped my shoulder, rousing me from sleep. Still groggy from the drugs, I pried my eyelids open, only to see the dark-haired nurse crouching above me.

“Hey, wake up!” She nudged me in the ribs. “Come on.”

“What? What are you doing?” I blinked at her.

“Getting you out of here,” she said. “Quick. We don’t have much time.”

I stared at her as if she’d sprouted a second head. “What are you talking about?”

“Lily sent me. I don’t have time to explain.” She reached for my cuffs and unlocked them.

“Lily sent you?” I narrowed my eyes at her. “But you were here all this time and you didn’t do anything to help me.”

“I couldn’t help you, but now I can. The cameras and alarms are down temporarily. You must go.”

I got to my feet, unsure what to do. The woman was pointing at the open door. Was this a trick? But Lily should have found me by now. There wasn’t time to question the woman to find out whether she was really working for Lily or pretending to be working for her. I ran for the door, wondering how the woman had managed to turn off the alarms and cameras. Or maybe it wasn’t her. Maybe she knew about some routine maintenance.

As I hurried down the hall and noticed the open door, I became even more suspicious. If Lily knew I was being held here, wouldn’t she have just stormed the place? She wouldn’t pass the opportunity to free the others. I slowed my pace as I found myself in another hall. Had Lily sent someone else to open the other rooms? Something strange was going on. Not a single guard came into view.

The woman hadn’t even bothered to tell me what I should do after I left the room. Shouldn’t she have given me a code for the door or told me where to expect the guards? I glanced to my right and realized that instead of a door, there was a big glass on the wall, almost as long as the hall itself. As I took a peek through it, a gasp escaped my lips. The world stopped spinning, my heart skipping a beat. No. It couldn’t be.

“Surprise!” Sebastian yelled, jumping out from around the corner.

I placed my hand on the glass. “You son of a bitch!”

“Oh, come on, Ria. It was a nice trick. I loved seeing your face so hopeful!” He was coming toward me, but I was numb to every sensation. “I’ve been thinking. They told me you were selfish and would do anything to save yourself, but you didn’t really fight anyone who tried to kill you here. So I figured you might care about someone more than you care about yourself.”

“You sick son of a bitch!” I breathed, turning toward Sebastian, my blood boiling.

“Oh, don’t worry. He’s alive. Barely.” Sebastian smirked. I would have wiped the smile off his face if the guards hadn’t come and grabbed me from behind.

“Let him go! You don’t need him!” Tears clouded my vision, but when I looked through the glass again, all I could see was Adrian slumped against the wall, his hair caked in blood, his face bruised and bloody.

“It turns out I do need him,” Sebastian said. “I quite like your reaction. Maybe you’ll finally use my cousin’s element.”

“Don’t you get it?” I screamed. “I don’t have Ethan’s fucking element! It’s gone! If I had it, I would have burned you and this place to the ground already.”

“Don’t be dramatic,” Sebastian cooed. “Get her inside. Let’s reunite the lovers.”

The guards dragged me through the glass door that I hadn’t even noticed. Adrian lifted his head. His left eye was swollen shut, his good eye staring at me in disbelief. I ripped myself out of the guards’ tight grip and ran over to him. His hands were tied above his head, his knees barely touching the ground. Kneeling in front of him, I placed my hand on his bruised cheek, tears stinging my eyes.

“Adrian...” My mouth could only form his name over and over again.

“Ria.” He attempted to smile, but ended up grimacing in pain.

“Are you alright?” I pressed my forehead against his.

“Don’t worry about me,” he whispered. “Been through all of this already. If you find an opportunity, run and don’t look back.”

I shook my head. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

His good eye glared at me. “Promise me. Promise me you’ll get out of here.”

Before I could say anything, one of the guards took hold of my arm and pulled me back. I was kicking and screaming, but he was too strong for me. Sebastian lounged in the corner across from us, an amused look on his face. This whole thing was just entertainment for him.

“What is wrong with you? Adrian had nothing to do with the death of your cousin!” I yelled as the guards held me down. “I’m the one who wrapped my fingers around Ethan’s throat and took his life and his element. Me! It was all me! It’s me you want. Not him.”

“Do you want to save your boyfriend?” Sebastian said, his eyes sparkling with an unknown emotion. “All you have to do is bring back my cousin’s element.”

“Are you deaf? I can’t do that. I drained my elements when I used them to create a tornado.” My hands were trembling from anger.

“Well, I’m sorry, but my scientists determined that you’re lying. The element is somewhere inside you. All you have to do is find it and activate it.” Sebastian’s face distorted into a furious grimace.

“Why? What happens if I get the element back?” I pushed back my tears. “Don’t you think the first thing I’m going to do with it is burn you to a crisp?”

“None of your concern, darling,” Sebastian said dismissively. The doctor came in, and behind him, the little girl I’d seen in my mind stared at me with her big, frightened eyes.

“Sara?” I said.

“Shut her up,” Sebastian said and one of the guards kicked me in the side.

“Sir, I don’t think this will work out the way you planned,” the doctor said quietly.

“It has to,” Sebastian said. “Can the girl sense the elements?”

“No, she can’t. She could only get into Ria’s mind, but no traces of elements or the disease were found.” The doctor’s forehead was creased with worry. I just couldn’t tell whether he was concerned about Sara, me or something entirely else.

“Ria is an element preserver or she wouldn’t have created a tornado of three elements. When did an element preserver lose an element?” Sebastian asked.

“Never.” The doctor licked his lips as if he wanted to argue, but didn’t do it. I’d bet anything that Ethan’s family either owned or was funding this place.

“Exactly.” Sebastian crossed his arms. “Now all we have to do is figure out how to trigger the element. Then I’ll extract it from her and melt it with mine.”

I gaped at him. What the hell was he talking about? No one could simply extract an element and melt it with a normal one. Was he mad? Even if it was somehow possible, maybe with Sara’s help, he would get the disease either from me or from the carrier who helped him with the transfer of the element. It just couldn’t be done. He wasn’t a magic disease carrier. That much I was sure of because Adrian could feel his element.

“We should test this first with someone else. Many things could go wrong...” the doctor said.

“We can’t!” Sebastian yelled, the vein in his neck sticking out. “No one else has an enhanced element like my cousin and I have! We are the only ones who went through the experiment without getting the disease! There’s no one else who can do this.”

I blinked. What was he talking about? Enhanced elements? Why did I have a feeling Ethan and Sebastian had both been experimented on in the past? Was that what Sebastian was saying? My mind was reeling from this piece of info. What if Ethan’s father hadn’t gotten the disease from a lover, but instead had gotten it as a result of some failed experiment? Ethan could have easily lied to me. Or had they started the experiments because Ethan’s father had gotten the disease and they were trying to find a cure?

“I will be unstoppable once I have both elements.” Sebastian’s eyes got a distant look. I wouldn’t be surprised that instead of giving them the disease, the experiments had damaged Ethan’s and Sebastian’s brains. When Sebastian’s eyes focused again, he was glaring at me. “We don’t have much time. You need to find my cousin’s element and bring it back to life or I’ll kill everyone dear to you.”

“This is madness! You can’t take something that no longer exists. You don’t even need Ethan’s element when you have your own.” I knew there was nothing I could say that would dissuade Sebastian from his idea of becoming a very powerful elemental, but having two elements and not having the disease was impossible. “You don’t want to live with magic disease. If Ethan’s element was so special, don’t you think it would have stayed or cured my disease as soon as I got it?” It was questionable whether my disease was gone too, but I hadn’t felt anything different about Ethan’s fire except its strength and the burning sensation in my body.

“Don’t talk about something you don’t understand.” Sebastian pulled the doctor aside and pointed at Sara. “Margaret told me you woke up from a coma during her attack and not a second earlier. You thought your boyfriend was in danger, didn’t you? Maybe shocking you is the best way to get something useful out of you. I believe you met Sara.”

“Leave the girl alone. None of this is her fault.” I held my hand over my chest, glad that no one attempted to tie me up. Now all I had to do was get rid of the gorillas who were holding me down.

“Do you know that Sara is unique? The scientists created her to have special abilities, but, you see, we no longer have use for her. We studied her and saw all there was to see. She’s too dangerous to be released into the world.” The sly smile on Sebastian’s face was creeping me out.

“Whatever you are planning to do to her, don’t. She’s just a child. Please.” I tensed as Sebastian’s hand moved. A wave of fire flew out of his hand, enveloping Sara into flames. I shot up to my feet, but the guards stopped me. Sara’s screams pierced my ears and I looked away. My tears were threatening to choke me.

“Funny. Looks like that serum you injected her with blocked her from using her element,” Sebastian said to the doctor.

The doctor nodded, his lips pressed tightly together, his face pale.

Sebastian’s whole hand turned into fire as he turned to me. “The next wave goes for your boyfriend. He’s wearing element-blocking cuffs, so he’s pretty much helpless. Are you going to watch him burn too or are you going to find that element?”

My heart thudded loudly in my chest, beads of sweat trickling down my back. Sebastian was insane. He’d kill Adrian and not even blink. I had to do something.

“Ten seconds, darling,” Sebastian said, admiring his fiery hand and aiming it at Adrian. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. How should I find in me something that wasn’t there anymore? I reached into the emptiness, feeling for anything that I could tap into. The smell of singed hair and flesh threatened to turn my stomach upside down. My anger and despair built and built, and I shoved it into the emptiness.

“Two more seconds,” Sebastian said. Something inside of me snapped. A rush of energy filled my whole body. Everything slowed around me, my fingers curling into fists. The emptiness twisted, became something entirely else. I could feel it on my tongue, taste it.

“I’ve got it,” I said, my voice low.

Sebastian’s head snapped in my direction, his eyes hopeful. “Put the cuff on her!”

One of the guards snapped a piece of metal around my arm, but I didn’t care about that. Sebastian was getting closer... No, my target was getting closer, and I waited.