Surviving ELE (ELE Series #4) (17 page)

“No,” I whisper as I walk towards them. My whole body is shaking and Tony instinctively wraps a protective arm around me.
No... My dad, Sabby.
Something is wrong, I feel it, I know it. Why else would they be looking at me that way?

“Willow,” Lee says to me in a sad voice.

“What happened?” I ask, not dancing around the bush. I try to stand up taller. If I can fake that I’m strong enough to hear what he has to tell me, then maybe I won’t crumble. Maybe I’ll survive this just like every other time I’ve received awful, life-changing news.

“They’ve been taken,” Lee tells me. I’ve never seen him so broken and
hurt. It makes me weak in my knees.

My shakes turn into all out trembling. I thought they were safe with Lee. I shouldn’t have left them. It’s my fault; I should have protected my family. My brain runs a million miles a minute. A red haze starts overtaking my vision as I think about the unfairness of this horror show that has become my life. Will I
always be destined to lose the ones I care about, to have my heart broken into a thousand pieces? When will this vicious cycle end? Just when I pick up a few pieces off the ground, they are blown to smithereens again! I close my eyes so they don’t see them turning red.

I hear Tony telling them about Alec, Marya, Connor, and Claire being taken. I lose myself and can’t hear him talking anymore.

“It’s not working,” Erik says from far, far away. I feel him grab my hand in his.

A gentle wave of calm rolls over me. The red disappears from behind my eyelids. I breathe in and open my eyes. “Thank you,” I tell him. If I have any hope of helping them, I have to remain calm and levelheaded. I turn to Lee with the newfound calmness that Erik has lent me. “Did you see who took them? Where they went?”

He shakes his head. “We don’t know where they went, but we do know how they were taken. There were witnesses who saw it.” His face still looks sad. “Well, actually, in a way they helped the kidnappers.”

My hands are still trembling so I clasp them together, impatient to hear the story so I can get on with saving my family. “Somebody helped them take my dad and brother? Who?”

“Well, one of them was the boy you saved, John,” Lee says.

My mind starts processing through everyone I’ve met recently. “A thirteen-year-old boy aided the kidnapping?” I ask in complete shock. I remember his gold eyes and all of the cuts he had from falling into the thorn bushes.

He nods his head. “Yes, but he was being controlled by Zack. When he came to, he told us everything he knew,” Lee says.

“And the other person?” Tony asks for me.

“Peter,” Lee says.

“I don’t remember anyone named Peter,” I say. The frustration is starting to triumph again within me.

“That’s because you haven’t met him yet.” He catches my glare so he continues. “We found him recently, when we went back to the prison to try to find a way to communicate with the other shelters. We didn’t see him come up on us until after we had the radio working and we finally made contact with the D.O.D. While invisible, he snuck in right in front of us and cut the lines. When our guys finally realized what happened, they grabbed him. After Peter became visible again, we saw his eyes change from red to purple.”

“And what? You brought him home to live with you?” I ask, trying to keep my anger at bay.

“It’s not like that, Willow. We couldn’t leave him outside, just like we couldn’t leave John alone. They are both good people. You know just as well as me that they had no choice in doing what Zack made them do.” He turns to Tony and says, “Right?”

“Leave Tony out of this!” I yell. My face is on fire, despite the icy air that stings my cheeks.

Lee does a good job of masking the hurt expression on his face. “Look, I know you’re upset, but we did what we thought was right. We controlled them as best as we could, and basically kept them locked up the entire time. We did everything we could.”

“You didn’t do enough!” I yell. Tony puts his hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me down, but I brush it off. I don’t want to be coddled right now. I want my family and friends.

“Look, we aren’t getting anywhere arguing. You need to know that all that John and Peter did was find a way to get Zack’s men inside our safe house undetected. Even if they weren’t there, Zack would have found a way to get to them anyway,” Lee tells me, trying to keep his cool.

He has a point. Zack found a way to take my friends right out from under my nose. I can’t blame John or this Peter guy for that. I clench my fists. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Erik moving in closer to me. My anger begins subsiding. “Okay, so did John and Peter tell you where they took my family?”

“No, they don’t know where Zack was taking them.” He pulls something out of his pocket. An envelope. “We came to look for you as soon as we could. They left this envelope with John.” He hands it to me.

My heart is sinking as I reach for it. I half expect it to bite me or burn my fingers, but it doesn’t. It’s a simple white envelope. My name is scrawled across it in dark letters. Beneath it a cautionary note states: If you want them back safe, then this is for Willow’s eyes only.

I look up at Tony, who looks like he wants to punch something. I can feel that his anger isn’t from my brush off. It’s all directed at Zack.

“Let’s go inside,” Erik says to us. He leads Tony and me inside. Lee follows us, but everyone else remains outside in the cold.

Erik lets me go into the small conference room. “We’ll give you a minute,” he says.

Tony doesn’t part from my side as I enter the room. “Do you want me to leave?” he asks me hesitantly.

I gently shake my head. “No, you can stay.” We both take a seat at the table. Erik gives us some privacy and leaves the room.

Tony pulls a knife out of his back pocket. He hands it to me, but my hands are shaking too badly.

Making sure the wall in my mind is still up so Zack can’t see me, I hand the envelope to Tony. “You open it, please,” I say, disregarding the cautionary note on the front. I watch him insert the blade between the folded tab. He slices it quickly and puts his blade away. Pulling out a letter out from within the envelope, he hands it to me.

I slowly unfold it. This feather-light paper feels like a million pounds in my hands. The note is short and written in bolded ink.

Dear Willow,

My, my, you really are quite a handful, sugar. I should have known better than to think I could contain such a powerful creature. Thank goodness, you still have a weakness, my dear...

I hold some mighty powerful cards in my hand. Your family and friends are safe with me for now... As you know, the stakes are much higher in this game. I tire of our usual round of hide and seek. This time you will come to me. In addition, you WILL tell me how you came upon your powers. I’m sorry, did I say tell? I meant that you will show me how you came upon your powers.

Don’t get any clever ideas about lying to me either, darling. I’ve heard through the grapevine that you wiped your boy toy’s slate clean. Bring him with you and we will test out our little experiment on him first.

Tick, Tock. Time is of the essence since we still need the light of day to test our experiment. Meet me in my father’s old lab before 2 p.m.

Oh, and if you don’t want your loved ones to become a Reaper snack, then I suggest you and Tony come alone. My men will be keeping a close eye on the area. If they see anything fishy, your little brother will be the first to go.

PS: Sabby has your same curls.

Love Always,

Zack

XXXXX

My stomach is twisted in sick knots. I hold the paper out to Tony without looking at him. He takes it and reads it quickly, then he crumples it in his hand and slams his fist on the table. “Bastard!” he yells. I may have taken the power out of Tony but his willpower is still intact.

“You don’t have to come.” This isn’t his family or his friends really. He has no reason to risk his life for them. “You shouldn’t come,” I clarify before I look up at him. I could never ask something like that out of anyone, not even Tony.

His eyes are on fire. “That’s crap and you know it! Do you really think that I’d leave you at a time like this? That I’d just let Zack hurt the people you care about?”

“No, I know that you wouldn’t, Tony. You’ve been through enough for me already. You aren’t becoming the next lab rat,” I say boldly, even if I feel less than strong right now.

“Willow, you are a part of me
now. How long will it take you to understand this? I will go to the ends of the world for you and if that includes turning into a science experiment, then that’s a price I’m willing to pay. I
am
going with you. I
will
kill Zack and we
will
get your family back.” There is rage in his tone as he insinuates the verbs. I know it’s not directed at me but I can feel the strength of it circling through the room. Like smoke before it erupts into fire.

There’s a knock on the door and before I can say anything, it opens. Morgan and Audrey walk into the room, holding hands. Both of them look beyond tired. They take a seat across from Tony and me.

Audrey looks at me with sadness in her copper eyes. She grabs a thin, black box out from her jacket pocket and slides it across the table to me. “It was my sister’s. She didn’t survive long enough to use it.”

Both Tony and I recognize what it is immediately. Tony grabs ahold of the box first and flips it open. Inside are two needles. One contains a neon-yellow liquid and the other, a bright red liquid.

Tony grabs for the yellow shot and I immediately grab his hand to stop him. “No.”

Tony looks at me. “If we are going in there, I’m going to need my strength back,” he says fiercely.

“She’s right,” Audrey says. We both look up at her as she continues. “You need to remain a clean slate. You can work with this if you do it right. The only needle you need to take with you is the red one.” She reaches for the box and Tony lets her take it. “I didn’t see far enough along to know if it will work or not, but it’s your only hope right now,” she says as she pulls the red shot out of the box and hands it to Morgan.

“You will have to find a way to switch it out with the one Zack will have. In Audrey’s vision, the only person with the opportunity to switch it will be Tony. Willow, you will have to distract Zack.” He flicks the liquid vial with his finger. I notice that no bubbles float to the top like usual. It looks different than what I’d seen before, yet, familiar.

“I had a vision about this,” I say, remembering the moment that I noticed the liquid was different before I injected it into Tony.

Morgan nods his head and pushes his shades up further on his nose before continuing. “This is only a fraction of the immunization. The remainder is corn syrup and red food coloring. I saw your memories about how you suspect this is the way you got your gifts. I guess we will find out soon enough.”

I scrunch my eyebrows. “I don’t understand the corn syrup though. Why wouldn’t I just inject Tony with a small amount?” My eyes widen as it dawns on me. I know Zack is going to want to use a syringe identical to Tony’s to make sure I’m not trying to trick him. Having the corn syrup guarantees it will look as if his shot contains the full amount of red serum. Which means, when Zack gets his dose… “We are going to kill Zack,” I say my conclusion aloud. The thought makes me ill, to the point of wanting to vomit. But why? I hate Zack; I can say that with absolute certainty. But kill him? I’m not so sure.

Morgan nods his head. “This may be your only chance and he has to be stopped.”

Tony grabs my hand as I nod solemnly. I don’t like the idea of taking another life but he is threatening my family. Any monster who would throw a four-year-old out to a den of Reapers, doesn’t deserve to continue on this earth. But is it my place to take his life?

I hadn’t realized that Erik and Lee walked in until Erik answers for me. “It
is
necessary,” he tells me after having sensed my torn emotions.

I ask in desperation, “Are we sure that the entire shot will kill him? What if he becomes a Reaper?”

“Then I’ll take him out myself,” Tony tells me. Then he looks at Audrey and Morgan. “I don’t understand though, why we would need to go through such an elaborate scheme to get rid of Hastings? Why can’t I just shoot him?”

Audrey answers. “He is controlling many people.”

“Like he controlled me?” Tony asks.

Audrey shakes her head. “No, he used his compulsion to brainwash them. If you kill him, he has instructed his puppets to kill everyone and then to take their own lives in return. The connection will be severed the instant he is dead but his final instruction will not disappear as easily. He instructed his people to do this only if you kill him. He didn’t say anything to them about what to do if he dies of his own accord. You stand a better chance of surviving this way and also to save the lives of the innocent people he’s taken,” she says. Morgan places the red needle in the case and pushes it back across the table.

“We should leave now,” Tony says as he grabs the box.

I nod my head and stand. “Lee...” I know he’s going to want to be our backup. He doesn’t have to say anything for me to see it.