Indestructible (20 page)

“Alright. We’ll try it without kissing, but you have to open your mind to me.” He came over to me, reaching for my hand.

“I’ll try.” And we better succeed at this, because I wanted to go back to the civilization as soon as possible.

The things didn’t turn out to be as easy as we wanted them to be. Adrian had trouble connecting to me and, once we established our connection, it chose the weirdest moments to break. Still, we could be apart for five minutes without me losing my control, and that was good enough for us.

“Where would you like to go?” Adrian asked as we got in the car. I put my hand on his leg because I didn’t think it was smart to use his elemental energy while he was driving. It wouldn’t do us any good if he was too tired to protect me when we got to a populated area.

“I don’t know. To the closest town.” I dug around the glove compartment and found a map. It was complicated to open it with only one hand, but I managed to spread it. “Eollion?”

Adrian glanced at the spot on the map that I was indicating. “As you wish.”

My phone rang, making me jump. The map fell off my lap, but I didn’t bother picking it up. Paula’s number flashed on the screen. “Paula! What’s up? Have you gotten my report?” I’d written a whole report about the experiment Adrian and I had done so she could study it.

“Yeah.” Her voice was somber. “Listen, I know that you’re happy because you can do this, but I’ve spoken to some people who have done it and it’s a really bad idea.”

“Why?” My stomach tightened in anticipation.

“Two carriers in Lily’s group were part of an experiment in one lab. They were trying to do the same thing as you and they succeeded,” she said. “But they couldn’t do it for a long time and at a great distance.”

“We know all of that,” I said. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll figure it out. My control might improve over time. My disease is back, so it’s not unusual that my self-control is bad.”

“It’s not just that. If you continue to do this, you will weaken each other. Adrian’s control could be seriously affected and he might even lose his element. None of the carriers went that far, but we saw it happen to you. He could drain his element as well, especially since his element is not pure.”

I bit down on my lip, glancing at Adrian. His eyes were on the road, his face expressionless.

“How long do we have before that happens?” he said. “You said the carriers had done it before. Did both of them have elements? Did they lose them?”

“I don’t know. Each case is different. You know that,” Paula said. “One of the carriers has an element and the other doesn’t, kind of like the two of you. The one with the element didn’t lose it, but they did the experiment only for three weeks and the carrier doesn’t have a sub-element. I can’t predict how a sub-element will react.”

“Thanks for telling us,” Adrian said.

“Great,” I muttered. “As if touching didn’t weaken us enough already.”

“I’m sorry, Ria. Of course, touching Adrian to get in control weakens you, even though your disease is unpredictable. But if you do this with Adrian, you’ll weaken him too.”

I looked through the window, my eyes pooling with tears. The last thing I wanted was to make Adrian as unstable as I was. I didn’t want him to lose his element because of me, especially when I knew how it felt not to have an element anymore. “Paula, do you have any news about that safe place for carriers?”

“I’m afraid not. Lily is still negotiating.”

“So, how are you doing?” I was sick of talking about my disease, experiments and elements. “Did you come up with a name for your baby?”

“I’m great. Little bit busy and all. Ryan and I haven’t picked a name yet, but we have a couple of ideas.” Her voice was tinged with excitement. “My parents invited Ryan and me over for dinner and I’m freaking out. They’ve met Ryan already, but now that they know I’m pregnant, they want to dissect him. Err, I mean, they’ll ask him a thousand of questions until all of their doubts are gone and he runs out through the door because he can’t take it anymore.”

“Sounds fun.” Finding out that their daughter was pregnant must have been a shock to Paula’s parents. “How did they take it when you told them? Do they know the whole truth or…?”

“No. They think Ryan is the father, so they support my decision to alter the baby’s genes. My mom freaked out because Ryan is a carrier and I don’t think she believes me entirely. Good thing I used to date your boyfriend because now she thinks I’m hopelessly attracted to magic disease carriers and would never find a normal guy anyway.” She laughed. “Things got rough at first, but once I told her what I planned to do with my life and after my grandma expressed her support, I think my mom is starting to accept me and my choices.”

“Does your mom think the baby will have the disease?” I asked.

“I don’t know what she thinks, but she knows that the baby doesn’t have to inherit the disease from its parent, especially if the other parent is healthy and the baby’s genes are manipulated,” Paula said. “Some of the scientists believe that the disease develops later than an element, and that’s the reason why mothers who didn’t get the disease during sex don’t get the disease from the baby if the baby inherits the disease. But it doesn’t matter since I know Ryan is not the father.”

I wasn’t entirely sure I understood what she meant, but she was right about the last part; it didn’t matter. “Does Ryan have any family?”

“No. His parents were carriers too, but they died a long time ago. He never mentioned any other family, but he’s excited about the baby and…” Paula’s voice cracked. “I’m so happy to have him. I don’t know what I would have done without him. He’s looking for a house where we could all live together once the baby is born.”

“I’m glad to hear that, but he’s a carrier. Are you sure it’s a good idea for him to be around the baby?” Ryan had a good control over his element as a result of the training he’d received at a lab, but spending a lot of time around elementals could be exhausting even for him.

“I wear the element-blocking jewelry all the time and I don’t see why my son or daughter wouldn’t wear it too. I know we can make this work.”

I didn’t want to ruin Paula’s happiness, so I decided to keep my mouth shut. Many things could go wrong, but there were some carriers who could live normal lives. I hoped Ryan would be one of the lucky ones.

“Oh, my friend says the results of one testing are done. I need to go check that out. I’m now officially working for Lily, so I can’t slack off. Talk to you soon. Bye!” Paula ended the call and I slid my phone into my pocket.

“What now?” I asked. “I don’t want to weaken you.”

“You were happy about having some fun in the town. Let’s do it. Nothing will happen if we do this for a day or two,” he said confidently.

“Haven’t we done enough of stupid and reckless things already?” I picked up the map and stuffed it back into the glove compartment.

“Nah. We can do two or three more.” He grinned at me.

I would probably have to go to a lab or to a safe place for carriers. A little bit of fun couldn’t hurt, right? “Yeah, why not?”

Chapter 30

I’d never been to Eollion before, but it was a nice town. It took me only twenty minutes to convince Adrian to raid the biggest mall the town had. He wasn’t thrilled about it, but finally he agreed. I was starting to think there was nothing he wouldn’t do for me.

“You don’t need another dress.” Adrian shook his head at me. “Didn’t we buy, like, five already?”

“Six.” I grinned from ear to ear. There was nothing better than shopping to cure my depressing thoughts and chase away my sadness.

Adrian lifted the shopping bags and frowned. “Really?”

“Yeah, but I want this one too.” I threw the dress at Adrian, who barely had time to catch it.

“Why do you need so many dresses?” He inspected the dress, tilting his head. “This one in particular?”

“Aren’t you taking me to a party?” I innocently batted my eyelashes at him.

“What party?”

My poor, clueless boyfriend. “Haven’t you seen any of the ads that are all over the town?”

His eyebrows shot up. “What ads? I haven’t seen anything.”

I pouted. “There’s a party in one of the clubs. Actually, it might be the only club in the town, but who cares? We’re going, right?”

He came closer to me and bent his head so he could whisper into my ear. “Do you intend to kill hundreds of people?”

“Of course not.” I gave him a deadpan look. “At least in the club we can hold each other all the time.”

“I was just checking.” The corners of his lips quirked up. “Sure, we can go.”

“Awesome.” I whooped. “Now let’s find you a shirt. Maybe even a new jacket.”

“I don’t need a new jacket.”

I put my hand on my hip and gave him a disapproving glare.

“Maybe I do,” he said with a grimace, which made me smile all over again.

I swayed on my high heels as we entered the club. Bright, colorful lights flashed above the dance floor, the music loud enough to make talking nearly impossible. I was glad that there weren’t many people, even though I couldn’t feel any of their elements since Adrian held my hand in a firm grip.

“Care for a dance?” he yelled over the music, and I nodded. He twirled me around and pressed himself against my back. “The dress looks much better on you than it did in the store.”

I laughed, moving my hips in the rhythm with his. My knee-length, tight black dress had an open back while the sleeves were made entirely out of lace. I felt Adrian’s kiss on my shoulder, his hands roaming up and down my stomach. Why couldn’t we do this forever? Why did the disease have to ruin our lives over and over again?

I turned around in Adrian’s arms and pulled him to me, burying my fingers into his hair. He kissed me until we were both breathless.

“How about we get a drink?” he said, his lips brushing against my ear. I let him take me to the bar, my hand resting on his back. The bartender set two tall glasses in front of us just as a scream pierced the air. Everyone looked around in surprise, including Adrian and me.

I couldn’t see who had screamed, but I grabbed Adrian’s hand just in case people started panicking. If someone knocked into me or Adrian, I didn’t want to be separated from him. The glass next to me exploded into millions of pieces. A hot shock of pain shot up through my shoulder. I was thrown against Adrian. Around us, people screamed and shouted. The music stopped and was substituted by the gunfire.

Adrian and I dropped to the ground, and I tried to ignore the painful throbbing in my shoulder. Adrian’s eyes were wide, his finger pressed to his lips. He wanted me to stay quiet. One glance at my shoulder made me realize I was bleeding. Either the exploding glass had cut me or a bullet grazed me.

People cowered on the ground, covering their heads. Three masked and armed men walked through the crowd, looking at people. My heartbeat pounded in my head as I tugged on Adrian’s shirt.

“They are looking for someone,” I mouthed to him. He nodded and squeezed my hand. Before I realized what he was about to do, he sent ice shards toward the men. Getting to his feet, he pulled me with him. The men fired their guns at us, but Adrian was faster. A wall of ice formed between us and the men as we ran. Someone else must have realized they could simply use their elements against the attackers, so Adrian and I managed to slip through the back door.

“I didn’t want to risk letting go of you, but I think they might be carriers,” he said, his fingers tightly wrapped around mine.

“Why? Because they didn’t use their elements to attack? Come on, normal people don’t even think about using their elements for most of the time. Did you see the crowd? It took them a full minute to realize they could actually defend themselves.” Granted, they must have been in shock because they’d been having fun or drinking, but still, no one’s instinct reaction was to use their element first. It was impossible that all of them had weak elements.

“No, the assassins were clearly looking for someone. They used guns so they wouldn’t hurt anyone else. Elements are too unpredictable for that. But they would have used their elements when I created a wall of ice or they would have defended themselves against elemental attacks from the crowd. This leads me to think they don’t have elements.”

“They could be people with weak elements.” I shrugged and winced as the pain laced my shoulder.

Adrian stopped in the middle of the street to look at my shoulder. “Ria, you’re bleeding!”

“I know.” I pressed my hand over the wound. “It’s nothing serious. Let’s go back to the hotel so I can clean it up.” The room we’d rented when we got to the town wasn’t far away from the club.

“Did they aim for us?” A frown appeared on Adrian’s forehead as we hurried down the street.

“Well, they definitely did after you threw ice shards at them.”

“Something’s wrong,” he said. “Even if this was some mob thing we know nothing about, why would they aim at you? We were the only ones at that side of the bar.”

“Maybe they missed? They did hit the glass. I’m not sure whether the glass grazed me or a bullet.” In any case, I was lucky I hadn’t been hurt worse. “Actually, I think I might have moved slightly at the last moment.” I tried to replay the scene in my mind, but I wasn’t sure whether what I saw had actually happened or my mind was filling gaps.

“We should get out of here.” Adrian pushed the hotel door open and we practically ran through the lobby. The elevator took us to our floor, but as we came closer to the door of our room, Adrian pulled me to a stop. The door was hanging off its hinges.

“Shit. They were after us, weren’t they?” he said as we took a quick look inside. The whole room had been ransacked, our things thrown everywhere. It was a good thing we’d left most of the important stuff in the car.

I gritted my teeth together. Could we not have a moment of peace? “It’s the assassin. She’s still after me! I can’t believe she found us again.”

“We don’t have time to go inside to see if she left us a note,” Adrian said, tugging on my arm. “Let’s get out of here before they return.”