No One (Element Preservers, #3.5) (7 page)

"Anything." Alan clapped me on the shoulder. "I'm glad you made the right decision, but remember what I told you. No one can know about our agreement."

I nodded, chewing on my lip and wondering whether my chances to succeed were good or horrible. Maybe Alan wanted me to die or maybe he didn't. What difference did it make? I had a chance to escape the lab and prolong my life. I could prove Thea wrong. I could do anything.

Chapter 19

Now

Four guards came around the corner, their guns pointed in my direction. Amazing. It took them long enough. Alan placed a hand on my shoulder and stepped in front of me. The faint sound of footsteps behind us indicated that more guards were coming and that they were wearing those special suits that blocked the feel of their elements. I could feel the elements of the guards in front of us just fine, which meant they were the ones who might use their elements.

"Is there a problem?" Alan asked, his face showing no signs of uneasiness. I glanced at the guards and the guns they were carrying. One of the guns was lighter in color, but it was too far for me to see if the gun was a tranq gun or a normal one. Alan was still shielding me with his body, but he was starting to turn slightly. Oh, fuck!

It took me a couple of seconds to create a thick wall of ice to prevent the guards from advancing. Luckily for me, none of them was a fire user. Concentrating on the other end of the hall, I formed blocks of ice that nearly came to the ceiling. That should slow down whoever that was coming. The feel of Alan's element intensified, and I turned on him before he could come at me. I was certain that he had planned the whole ambush thing and was in league with the guards.

"What the fuck are you trying to do?" I grabbed him by the arm, twisted it behind his back and pushed him against the wall. He clearly hadn't expected it because in all these years I had never truly attacked him or tried to fight back.

"Adrian, calm down. I have no idea what is going on," he spat, and I was suddenly feeling lightheaded.

"Do not lie to me!" I closed my eyes just in time, or the bits and pieces of earth would have blinded me. "Stop it before I decide to freeze a part of your body. You know I can do it." I intensified the pressure I had on Alan's neck, and the energy of the element became weaker. Opening my eyes, I eased back and let him turn around and face me.

"Did you really think it would be so easy to capture me?" I didn't have much time because the ice on both sides of the hall was melting. Someone with a fire element must have come to help.

"And do you really think you can go through all these men alone and unarmed? Your sub-element is impressive, but you won't stand a chance against the guards." The color was returning to Alan's face, and he seemed to have regained his composure.

"If I go down, I'll take you with me." The invisible clock was ticking and I knew I had maybe half a minute until the guards broke through the ice.

"Give me the vice presidency and I'll say everything was a misunderstanding." His eyes shone with some emotion I couldn't quite identify.

"No. If this is how I die, then so be it. Ria will avenge my death." The ice started to crack, but I was strangely calm.

Alan glanced at the ice, anxiety filling his eyes. "I heard Ria has to go back to the university." He licked his lips.

"Glad to know you care," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. Since Alan didn't know about Ria's disease, his spies weren't close to Lily or us. Practically anyone could have told him that Ria had to be a student again because the information came from the government.

"If you want to see her again, maybe we should strike a different kind of deal." Alan had that familiar, calculated look in his eyes. I didn't like it a bit.

"A deal?" I had to use ice again or the guards would have gone through, but that action was draining my energy. If the guards brought in reinforcements, I wouldn't be able to hold them off. The only good thing was that the guards weren't trained to use their elements.

"I want to keep my paycheck and keep an eye on you and your girlfriend. Is there any better way to do that than you going to the same university as Ria? I'm your guardian and I can sign the application for any university you want to go to, as long as I go with you. I'm sure I can arrange for the university to need a new counselor. What do you say?" He looked at me expectantly.

I chewed on the insides of my mouth. This was what I wanted, right? To be with Ria. I couldn't go to the university with her unless Alan went with me. Faking my identity would be too hard since the whole world had seen me demonstrate my element. I could always stay nearby, but all eyes would be on Ria, and we couldn't let anyone suspect we were together. She wouldn't have time to meet me in secret if she had to be at the university and at her job. Did it even matter if I couldn't touch her? Yes, yes it did, but I couldn't give Alan what he wanted.

The ice barrier fell apart and the guards came through, pointing their guns at me. Even after they had used their elements on ice, they still trusted their weapons more. I didn't have any weapons, so I wasn't conflicted when I sent ice shards their way. Rolling on the ground, I barely managed to avoid a ball of fire that someone made to destroy my ice.

"Stop!" Alan yelled, and the guards watched him dispassionately, their fingers on the triggers. I pressed my back against the wall so I could see everyone, but there were too many guards, and paying attention to all of them was tricky.

"We have orders to capture the carrier, sir," one of the guards said. I used the distraction to freeze the guns and the guards dropped them, cursing.

"Adrian! That's enough!" Alan shot me a dark look, then his features softened as he faced the guards. "I have the carrier under control. We'll be taking our leave shortly."

"I'm sorry, sir, but Mr. Quinn said..."

"Call Mr. Quinn if you must." Alan tapped his foot, looking bored. The guard glanced at me and whispered something to his friend, who then ran down the hall.

"I need your answer now," Alan said, his dark eyes meeting mine.

"Ok, fine. We're both going to the university." If I thought I had a chance of getting out of here on my own, I'd have refused. I did want to be with Ria, but I didn't want Alan near her. But I figured I could come up with a good plan once Alan and I were out of the lab.

Alan's lips quirked up and he nodded, clearly satisfied.

"What is going on?" Quinn was surrounded by four guards, and I could swear there was a bulletproof vest underneath his white coat.

"I believe there has been a misunderstanding. The carrier won't be staying here. I have business elsewhere," Alan stated.

"You are the one who misunderstood me. I don't plan to let you go." Quinn smiled lazily like a cat waking up from a good nap.

"Excuse me?" Alan's face paled. "I can leave whenever I want. You can't stop me. The government will hear about this." A quiver in Alan's voice told me that he wasn't so sure about it. Awesome.

"The government won't even know where you are." Quinn not only didn't want to let me go, he didn't want to let Alan go either. So much about their friendship, favors and whatnot. A second later, bits and pieces of earth and dust started flying around us, blinding us all. The wind blew in my face and it was almost impossible to breathe. I had to use my element or I would have tried to steal someone else's. Gunshots rang through the hall, but I couldn't see who was firing. It had to be someone who came later to help. I couldn't see anything because there was too much dust.

The energy of Alan's element enveloped me, and the world seemed to tilt and turn upside down. Squeezing my eyes shut, I concentrated on my breathing and tried to find an opening between the guards. Hopefully, no one was wearing an element-blocking suit now that elements were being used right and left. Cameras must have stopped working too. Someone grabbed me by the arm and I stumbled.

"Go," Alan yelled into my ear, and I forced myself to put one foot in front of the other. After all they had done to me, I had pretty good control of my disease, but I had never been around so many elements while they were all being used. My mouth went dry when a current shot up my arm. Alan was using his element while still holding on to me.

I reached for something solid and somehow I knew that if I squeezed long enough, my energy would be restored. I only needed to apply a bit more of pressure and I could... Pain spread through the back of my head and the world went black.

Chapter 20

Now

Bright light tried to pierce through my eyelids and I slowly pried my eyes open. My head felt like someone had split it in two. I sat up and rubbed the wet spot at the back of my head. Blood coated my fingers. Great. I squinted around me and realized I was sitting in the middle of the parking lot, surrounded by cars. My head throbbed viciously when I tried to remember what had happened or how had I gotten here. I couldn't feel any elements nearby, which was weird. My knees buckled when I tried to get up, and someone placed a steadying hand on my shoulder. I jumped, hitting myself on one of the cars.

"Easy," Alan said, a silver bracelet shining on his wrist. "It's only me. I can't have you going for my element, can I?"

"How did we get here?" I frowned when I realized we were still near the lab.

"I had to drag you out in the commotion. Luckily, everyone was too busy with their elements that they had no clue who they were attacking. But we must go. They could find us any minute." He tugged on my arm and I followed him to the car, which was only a couple of rows away. The idiots in the lab were truly idiots if they couldn't figure it out they were attacking their own people. Surely someone must have realized by now that the earth that had attacked them wasn't the same as the one their friend had. But they couldn't differentiate elements like I could, and they certainly couldn't see in the hall full of dust and earth.

"Did you really had to hit me that hard?" I was still bleeding, no matter how hard I pressed my sleeve against the wound. Hell, I most likely had a concussion.

"Yes." Alan continued weaving through the maze of cars. I rolled my eyes. We had to get out of here as soon as possible. Just as we reached Alan's car, a loud crash sounded from behind us. Guards spilled out of the lab's main door and swarmed the parking lot. Thank God the parking lot was huge. It took Alan a couple of seconds to gun the engine and then we were practically flying through the narrow streets.

"Well, that was fun," Alan said, his eyes wide.

"As fun as going back to the university." I sighed. My first two months at the University of Magic had been a disaster. Since everyone knew I had the disease, they either avoided me, watched me with contempt, talked behind my back or tried to provoke me. The professors weren't any better, so it didn't take long until I started hating everyone and was plotting how to get back at them.

"You have a girlfriend now, but I can still pull some strings and persuade students to become more friendly with you." Alan slowed down as we came onto the highway, unconcerned about the chance that someone might be following us.

"Don't." If Alan hadn't done what he had, God knew where I'd be now, but I refused to feel grateful that he had forced Vanessa to be with me. "Although Ria might not forgive me for bringing you with me."

"I'll figure out your relationship one day. Actually, that will be my priority."

I rolled my eyes. "You should find yourself a girlfriend. Or buy one. I have the disease and I had more real girlfriends than you."

"Very funny." He glared at me, but he didn't seem too annoyed. I could only hope a hot teacher would occupy his mind.

Chapter 21

Now

"Are you out of your mind?" Ria yelled, her dark brown eyes narrowed at me. She stopped only a couple of inches away from me, squeezing her fists at her sides. I could tell that she wanted to hit me.

"Did I tell you that you're irresistible when you're angry?" I liked the way her lips curled into a pout, the way her chest rose and fell with each breath, the intensity of her stare. Fucking disease! Why couldn't I for once have what I wanted without any obstacles?

"Stop trying to distract me from the problem." She ran both of her hands through her hair and shook her head. "You went to Alan, visited a place from your nightmares, nearly got caught and killed, and made a fucking deal with Alan!"

"But I came back. Alive. That's what matters."

"And we'll have to deal with Alan at the university! He'll find out you lied to him about Paula. I can't believe you dragged her into it after all we've done to her!" She took a deep breath and briefly closed her eyes.

"Are you all right?" I didn't want her to fall apart and give in to the elements. Not because of me.

"Yeah, I'm just tired of everything." She sat down on the bed, chewing on her lip.

"Paula will be fine. No one can prove that she has the disease, and no one can prove she doesn't have it. Besides, now I can go with you. We'll have to be careful because of Alan, but we'll have to be careful anyway since no one at the university can know the truth about you." I sat next to her, but didn't touch her. "I found out something else."

"What?" She looked at me under her eyelashes.

"Are you perfectly calm?" I slightly leaned forward. "Are elements bothering you at all?"

"They aren't bothering me. Why?" Curiosity flashed in her eyes. "What did you find out?"

"Let me show you," I breathed, closing the space between us. Her eyebrows shot upward, but she didn't pull away nor flinch. I hesitated for a moment, our lips nearly touching. She seemed calm enough, so I pressed my lips against hers, parting them with my tongue. An instant later, her hand was in my hair, but she managed to avoid the spot with the bandage. I closed my eyes, letting her warmth seep into me, my hand ending up on her thigh. She was my fire. My Ice Queen. She was the only thing I needed, my girl full of contradictions. There was no one else like her. No one.