Blake and Raven were hovering over the clinic, and when they saw me approach, they landed on the rooftop of the building next to it. I materialized and smiled at them. Blake immediately came forward, his arms outstretched.
“Please tell me you forgive me, baby,” he said, but I walked right past him, shaking my head.
“Let’s forget our love life drama for a moment. We’re here to find the Strong.”
“Right.” Blake’s face fell. “Raven, you go find a way into the basement. Moira and I will get our doctor.”
Raven immediately turned into air and whooshed past us.
“Shall we?” Blake asked, and I called to my air.
We flew off the building and landed where no one could see us. When we materialized, Blake offered me his hand, but I didn’t take it. He pressed his lips into a tight line, pushing the door of the clinic open for me. Luckily for us, there were many people in the waiting room, so we could just sit down and not be even a bit suspicious. As the door opened and a patient went out, I spotted a middle-aged woman with red hair and a smile on her face.
She must have been very young when she met with my grandpa. But now that I could see her, I let my element shoot out of me and go for her mind. I didn’t find any resistance. Blake watched me carefully, and I was glad he didn’t try to stop me and do the whole thing by himself. A couple of moments later, the woman came out and handed me an envelope. Blake raised his eyebrows, but I just flashed him a smile. I thanked the doctor and got to my feet.
“What did you do?” Blake asked.
“Let’s go.” I nodded toward the door, and he followed me, his brow wrinkling. When we were outside, I opened the envelope. “She’ll come to meet us in an hour when she has a break.”
“We could have just told her to come out and cancel her appointments.” Blake rolled his eyes. “And you just forced her to agree to come to us when she can?”
“Don’t sound so disappointed. Do you want someone to notice and report her strange behavior? She doesn’t look like a woman who’d change her schedule just like that. We’ve been patient for so long. We can wait. Actually, why don’t you buy me a drink?”
Blake clenched his jaw, but then forced himself to smile. “Yeah, sure.”
Raven appeared a few minutes later, a pinched expression on her face. “There’s nothing in the lab. She’s researching something about normal elementals. Boring stuff.”
“Not everyone is interested only in us.” I laughed. “And it’s not like we expected to find the Strong trapped in a lab. We came for information and we’re going to get it.”
“Fine. I’ll go keep watch in case someone comes.” Raven turned invisible again.
“Will Zavina ever come out?” Blake put his hands behind his head. “We should have just...”
“Stop whining.” I leaned on the wall.
“I’m not...”
“Shh. There she is.” I nodded toward Zavina, who was walking toward us, her brows drawn together in confusion.
“How can I help you?” she asked, and Blake immediately used his air on her, making sure she would tell us the truth and wouldn’t freak out.
“You used to work with Anton Marlau,” I said. “How did you meet him?”
“Oh, that was a long time ago. I was young and just starting my career. He approached me after my presentation on element enhancement. It was my college thesis. Then he offered me a job and I accepted.”
“But there are no records of you ever working with him. Why is that?” I gave her a questioning look.
She stared down at her hands. It was funny, actually. She was acting completely normal, as if she weren’t being mind-controlled at all. “When I heard what kind of experiments Marlau was conducting, I... Well, let’s just say I didn’t want to have anything on my resume that could ruin my whole career before it even started. Marlau agreed there would be no records of any of our meetings.”
“What exactly were you doing for him?” Blake asked, his intent gaze trained on her.
“Analyzing the progress of his experiments, coming up with theories...”
“Do you know if any of the elementals who were experimented on are still alive?” I asked and held my breath.
She licked her lips. “Maybe. I didn’t really keep a record, but three of them were rescued from the lab after Marlau was arrested.”
“Do you know their names?” Blake asked.
“Um, Tori Rivas, Daniel Welsh, Vanda Helsy.”
“Do you know anything about tainted elementals?” I asked as Blake got out his phone and typed down the names.
She frowned. “Tainted? No, I don’t.”
“Have you ever seen or heard of elementals who can have more than one element and who can do great things with their elements, like turn invisible?”
“I... I think I read about it somewhere, but I don’t believe in it. We were all born with one element, but we have yet to unlock its full potential.” Her green eyes got a strange glint in them.
I looked at Blake. “Let her go. She told us everything she knows.”
“Fine. I sent the names to Helena. She’ll check if any of these people are still alive,” Blake said and focused on Zavina. As he guided her back to the clinic, I wondered what Helena would find. She was one of the weakest in our group, and her elements were earth and mist, but she was very good with computers and finding things.
Just as Blake was coming back, Raven appeared in front of me, her face flustered. “Someone’s coming! We have to go! Now!”
We all turned into air and surged up. I couldn’t see any shimmering anywhere.
“Where are they?” Blake asked.
“I don’t know. I swear there were at least three of them!” Raven said. “They couldn’t have just...”
Something like an electric shock went through me, and I tumbled to the ground, my body flashing from visible to invisible in a second. Blake and Raven fell down too, and we barely managed to stop ourselves from hitting the asphalt. I got to my feet, dusting off my pants, and tried to call back to my element, but it wasn’t working.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked as Blake clambered to his feet, his eyes wide. Raven was lying on the ground and whimpering, her hand draped over her stomach. She must have turned corporeal just before hitting the ground.
“I can’t use my elements.” Blake swore, looking down at his hands. Sirens pierced the air, and I knew we’d be surrounded very soon, but we were in the middle of the street and there was nowhere to go unless we could fly away.
“Is it Lily’s team?” I asked.
Blake scratched his head. “I don’t know! We have to get out of here before...”
It was too late. Black SUVs came to a screeching stop not far from us, blocking the whole street.
“I can still feel my elements, but I can’t use them yet,” Blake said, taking out a gun from his jacket. I didn’t even know he carried one. Still, one gun wasn’t going to help us now. Raven pulled herself up, and we backed away against the wall. I tried to find any windows or doors we could break, but there were none. The only window was across the street and it was too high to reach. Lily’s team had us exactly where they wanted us.
“Don’t move! Put your hands up!” someone yelled, and a team of men dressed in black pointed their weapons at us. My throat constricted, beads of sweat breaking out on my forehead. I could see shimmering farther down the street. Lily must have told her agents who could fly to land somewhere safe so she could blast us, but now they had probably turned off the device so the agents could fight us. The only problem was that I still couldn’t use my elements, and judging by the worried expressions on their faces, neither could Blake nor Raven.
“What do we do?” Raven’s voice was quivering. I looked down my body to see if I could use something as a weapon, although without our elements, against that many men, we were screwed no matter what. As my back bumped against the wall, I felt a lump under my jacket and remembered I had the Sacred Book. That was it! The book! I reached under my jacket until my fingers collided with the book, its power surging through me. I used my other hand to grab Blake’s shoulder and he shuddered. If we were really the chosen ones, the book would help us survive this. I fully believed in it.
“Put your hands up!” Lily came into view, dressed in black gear, her gun pointed at us. My elements stirred inside of me, and I sent a blast of air at the agents to my left. Blake was already facing the other side and creating a wall of ice in front of them. The agents scattered, yelling things I couldn’t hear. I let my fire surge out too, and sent it straight at Lily.
She dodged it, and the others broke into a run. Someone used their water element to put out the fire that was getting closer to one of the SUVs. A shimmering cloud descended from the sky on Raven, and I sent a fireball at it. Raven was cowering behind Blake, still unable to use her elements. Lily’s team was about to regroup, and we couldn’t let that happen. Not when we were so greatly outnumbered.
“Blake, take Raven somewhere safe!” I yelled, raising a shield of fire in front of me as bullets hit it. But as they fell to the ground at my feet, I realized they weren’t real bullets. They were tranquilizers. Shit. They wanted to capture us.
“I’d do that, but they’ll come after us.” Blake threw various fireballs, but it was hard to keep our eyes on every side, and our enemies were coming closer.
“Go get Raven. I’ll distract them. I’ll find you when I shake them off, okay?” I had to roll to the ground to avoid being swept by a wave of water. The pain in my side told me something had hit me, but I wasn’t sure what.
“Are you sure? Maybe you should...” Blake’s words were cut off by a wave of sand that blinded us all for a moment until he swept it away with his air.
“No, you’re the Hero. You save her.” I gave him a reassuring look. “Go!”
He nodded, grabbing Raven’s hand, and they both turned invisible. I sent one blast of air at the men behind me, and then faced the rest of Lily’s team in front of me. Calling to my fire, I waited until it turned blue and sent it toward them, raising a wall high enough to block their path completely. The book was still feeding me energy, and the wall held on even as it was assaulted by various elements.
Each hit against the wall felt like a punch in the gut, but I didn’t stop. Blake rose up with Raven, and at least two agents were flying toward him, trying to stop him, but he managed to unbalance one and send him to the ground. I let the firewall drop and quickly rose into the air, hovering in the middle of the street. Unfortunately, the remaining agent didn’t pay attention to me but was intent on following Blake and Raven. I slammed into him, bringing us both down. Before we could do anything, we plummeted to the ground in the middle of the street, but we were still invisible.
“There they are!” someone yelled, and agents advanced in our direction, strange dark goggles covering their eyes. They were probably using detectors of elemental energy levels so they could see us, but that meant they weren’t able to immediately tell who was one of their own and who wasn’t, or at least that was what I hoped. The agent turned visible and pushed himself up, pointing a gun at me.
“Moira, please, stop this,” he said, taking off his mask with his free hand. He had blue eyes and black hair. “This isn’t you. Let me help you.”
I turned visible and kicked out with my leg, bringing him to the ground. He yelped, his grip on the gun wavering. I immediately grabbed his hand, pulling him up to his feet so I could use him as a shield. Placing the gun against his head, I kept my back against the wall as agents came closer.
“Moira, please let him go. You don’t have to do this,” Lily said, her hands at her sides.
“Don’t come closer or I’ll blow his brains out!” I hoped Blake was far away from here by now. He could handle a few agents, but it was better if I could distract the others.
“Listen to me. They mind-controlled you!” the agent started to say. “I’m your friend. Noah. Don’t you remember me? You met me at Roivenna. You know I’d never hurt you.”
What on earth was he babbling about? I’d never been to Roivenna. Why would I? It was an island for magic disease carriers who needed to stay away from people with elements. I didn’t know anyone there. “Shut up.” I lifted my arm so it was around his neck. If someone tried to shoot me, they’d have to risk killing their friend.
“Honey!” A blonde woman broke through the row of agents, running toward me.
“Paula, no! Stay back!” Lily yelled, her face going pale, but Paula didn’t listen. She treaded closer, and I had no clue what an unarmed woman was doing here. She was wearing light blue jeans and a white shirt, her long curly hair spilling around her shoulders. Her blue eyes were glistening with tears.
“Honey, please, let the boy go,” she said. “Your dad and I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Please just... put the gun down and let’s talk. I promise no one will try to hurt you.”
“My father is dead.” I couldn’t tell if I was more shocked by what she said or because she didn’t know that fact.
“Your biological father, yes, but Ryan isn’t. Do you remember him? Do you remember me, your mom?” Her voice was filled with so much emotion that my hold on the gun faltered. What kind of a game were they all playing?
“My mother is dead,” I bit out. Who was this woman to claim she was my mother? And how was I supposed to remember her if I’d never seen her before in my life? Besides, my mother wasn’t blonde. She’d been beautiful and her hair had been blacker than the night.
“I know you don’t remember me, but please just let us explain,” Paula said, reaching for something in her pocket. I pointed the gun at her and she gasped, her eyes going wide.
“Paula get back! Now!” Lily yelled, but the woman just stood there staring at me. It was unnerving.
“I don’t have a weapon,” she said. “I just want to show you something, okay?”
The agent started to fidget, so I pressed the gun against his temple again. They were all trying to confuse me and maybe get me to believe them. They couldn’t use real mind control on me, but they could sure as hell try to mess with my mind with words. All the agents had their weapons trained on Noah and me. A little distraction or faltering on my part, and the agents would try to shoot me or overpower me.
Movement among the agents caught my attention, and I saw one of the agents whispering something into another agent’s ear. Would they use that electronic blast or whatever it was to block my elements? I couldn’t stay here a minute longer. I let my air slip out of me and go for the agent I was holding in front of me. But as I tried to dive into his mind, my element slammed into a barrier. Shit, he really was protected against me. Or maybe I’d lost some of my energy and the book hadn’t restored it fully.
I tried to go for the woman’s mind, but it was too hard to focus, and I failed. Taking a deep breath, I quickly turned into air and shoved Noah so hard that he knocked the woman down. Gaining speed, I rushed in between the agents, hoping I was fast and strong enough not to get caught. Shots were fired at me, but I dodged them, slipping around the corner and flying down the street. Three shimmering clouds went after me, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to shake them off so easily. Still, I had to try.