Surviving ELE (ELE Series #4) (11 page)

I nod my head, understanding what he’s saying.
He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he hurt me…even if it’s not really him doing it. I lift up on my toes for one last kiss, never believing that it could be our last. I don’t open my eyes even though I can sense that he’s gone. Instead, I imagine that he’s still right here with me. Still running his hands through my hair and telling me that everything’s going to be okay.

“
I’ll never leave you, Willow,”
I hear him say softly in my mind.

“
And for that I’m grateful,”
I say in response. I open my eyes and his absence is more than apparent. I feel so naked and vulnerable standing out here in the forest alone. With Tony around, I feel invincible and powerful, like nothing could harm me. I sigh from his absence. “
I miss you,”
I tell him, not sure if he can still hear me.

Several seconds go by before I hear a response. “
I miss you too. More than you’ll ever know.”

I sit back down on the soft, forest floor and curl my knees up to my chest. Leaning my head against the tree trunk, I close my eyes. If I imagine hard enough, I can still feel him with me; not standing at a safe distance, but right next to me. But, knowing that he’s okay and that he’s near is more than I could have asked for. A leaf falls on my lap. I open my eyes and stare at the intricate lines drawn into it by nature.

“
Stay with me a while?”
I ask, hoping he agrees.

“
Of course. Willow, even when Zack forces me to leave, the second I come back to myself I go in search of you. You give me something to live for, something to fight for. When you feel like you’re alone, just know that I’m not far off. That I’m going to always come back to you, no matter how long it takes.”

I inwardly sigh at his words.
So poetic that it makes my heart soar. “
Is that what you tell all the girls?”
I ask, trying to lighten the mood.

I can feel him laughing in my mind.
Closing my eyes, I imagine his smile. I hear a rustle in the bushes and open them. A single rose lay in front of me, the thorns having been picked off. I smile, take the rose in my hand, and rub the velvety petals in between my fingers. “
It’s beautiful,”
I say
. “Thank you.”

I hear a faint, “
I love you,”
in my head before I feel Tony’s presence disappear altogether. It’s as if he’s hollowed out a space in my head and heart that only he can occupy. I sigh and place the rose against my nose, relishing the sweet smell.

I hear another rustling in the bushes like before.
I smile, thinking it’s Tony, and stand up. “Should I close my eyes again?” I ask aloud, wondering if he has another flower or some other random something from the woods. Or maybe he decided against leaving me.

I don’t hear a response, just a footstep, then two, approaching.
Startled, I look behind me and nearly choke on my next breath. Three men stand just a few feet from me… The man in the lead stares at me with cold, hard, red eyes. Reaper!

Backing up, I wildly look around for a way out. I can’t think or breathe.
All I can do is wait, paralyzed by fear and shock. Then, as if hit by a brick, all my training comes barreling back into my mind. All the things Tony taught me, and more that I learned on my own, kick in. I scurry back to put some more distance between these three men and me, but as soon as I do, I bump into another tree. I try to side step the tree but two of the men come around to my sides, blocking me in. Terror runs through my veins now that I realize I’m cornered.

“
Tony
,”
I whisper desperately. I can’t believe I allowed myself to get into this mess. I should never have left the camp.

“You shouldn’t be out here all alone, sugar,” says the man with red eyes who has taken the lead. My heart crystalizes, frozen in fear when I hear Zack’s pet name for me come from this man’s lips. This isn’t a Reaper; it’s one of Zack’s men. He’s controlling him!

My eyes dart all around me, looking for an escape route even though there isn’t one. Panicked, I start pulling up the large Oak tree behind the three men.

The man being controlled by Zack clucks his tongue at me.
“Willow, Willow, Willow. When will you ever learn? I know all the tricks in your book. You can’t fool me anymore. I have you right where I need you and now you’re coming with me.” Zack’s trademark smile etches across this nameless man’s face, which creeps me out even more!

“You will NEVER take me alive!” I spit vehemently at him. I focus my powers and step backwards, straight through the tree behind me. I do it so fast that I barely notice the lead guy’s eyes change color or the disoriented look cross over his features. I turn to run only to be scooped into someone’s arms. The smell of earth and soap tickles my senses before I feel the needle being shoved into my neck.
I wince as I try to get away, but a dizzying sensation immediately overtakes me. The world begins spinning out of control. My knees weaken and I’m scooped back up into his arms. I look up to see Tony staring down at me. I want to reach my hand up to touch his cheek but he looks completely distorted…and has red eyes…and…my world goes black.

Cold and shaking, I wake up.
My hands are bound behind my back and my cheek is on a cold, concrete floor. I’ve been gagged and my mouth feels dry like sandpaper. I try to run my tongue around it but the gag keeps me from doing much. When I open my eyes, I find that a blindfold prevents me from seeing.

I concentrate on Connor’s gift, trying to wiggle out of the chains that bind me, but to no avail.
What is happening to me?
I shake my arms again and feel the IV that is stuck into my arm.

“Well, well, well.
Look who’s finally awake,” a strangely familiar voice calls to me.

I try to speak, but my words come out muffled.
My head is still swimming from the drug I was given earlier.

“There are some people here who’ve been
dying
to meet you.”

I try to use my strength to break the binding on my arms but it doesn’t work. I grit my teeth against the gag giving up, realizing my powers have been stripped from me.
The cold blade of a knife touches the side of my cheek. I wince but don’t move. The knife moves up my cheek and I shiver in fright. My heart starts racing; any second this person could end my life. The knife catches underneath the fabric that binds my eyes and rips it clean apart.

The brightness of the room floods into my eyes, making them burn.
I wince at the sudden change and recoil back into myself. “Now, be a good girl and everything will work out okay.”

I catch my first, blurry glimpse of the person standing before me. He looks vaguely familiar but I can’t place him. He’s older than the men in the woods, probably pushing his upper forties or so. He comes closer to me and I can see the myriad of colors he possesses in his eyes
. I catch a glimpse of red, neon yellow, blue, purple, and brown.

I take in a sharp breath
. How did he manage this?

He lets off an evil laugh. “What, do you think you’re the only special one out there?”

Blinking a few times, I try to get my eyes to adjust. I mumble through the gag but it does no good.

He leans in and brings the knife to my face again. My heart stops and I close my eyes. A frustrated tear falls down my cheek. He slowly cuts one side of the gag. I feel him pull it out of my mouth before I open my eyes again.

“You don’t recognize me, do you?” His face is only inches from mine. I can smell a hint of alcohol on his breath and it makes me want to gag.

I blink a few times as my eyes begin to focus better. My heart starts racing as the realization sets in. “Mr. Blake,” I say with my hoarse voice.
Alec’s dad!

He smiles and stands up. “How’s my boy doing?”

I stare at him in horror, but I don’t answer his question. “Why are you doing this?”

He raises an eyebrow at me. Ignoring the question, he instead changes the IV bag. He pulls out a syringe filled with an opaque liquid
. He flicks it with his finger, making sure the bubbles float to the top. I gulp as he slowly injects it directly into my IV.

A warming sensation runs through my veins. “What was that?” I ask, my voice sounding strange, foreign.

“Just a little something to help you with your powers. Don’t you worry; you won’t have enough control of your abilities to do any damage or escape, but just enough to be able to show them off a little.” He steps on the pedal of the stainless-steel trash bin to open the lid. Chucking the needle and the empty IV bag inside it, he lets the lid fall with a heavy thud.

My stomach is filled with knots as I think about Alec. What would this do to him? Does he know his dad’s a psycho?

“I’m hardly crazy, Willow.” He laughs.

I notice his eye color is focused more on the dark green aspect of his gift. My brain starts clearing a little more as whatever he gave me clears the other
drugs from my system. “Hasn’t anyone told you yet that it’s an invasion of privacy to read minds or that it’s plain old rude?” I ask, annoyed.

He looks at me with an arched brow. “Ha! Do you think I care about being rude to a lab rat?” He rolls his eyes when I glare at him. “Anyhow, you are merely a variable in a wide-range experiment.”

“What are you talking about, Blake?” I spit at him.

He looks unaffected by my tone or my informal use of his name. “I am saying that you aren’t nearly as special as you think you are.” He points his finger towards his eyes. “It’s obvious that you aren’t the only one with multiple abilities. Our only question is how
you
managed to acquire yours. I checked your charts and you weren’t given anything special other than an immunization that would allow you to read minds.”

The wheels in my brain start churning as he speaks. Why would it still matter to him how I got my gift if they already know how to replicate it? I see his eyes turning a deeper shade of green. He’s trying to dig around in my thoughts! “Figure it out yourself,” I tell him as I throw my shield up. I don’t know if it worked because none of my abilities worked earlier, but I cross my fingers.

A look of outrage scrunches his reddened face. “How dare you, you little twit!” He grabs my shoulders and starts shaking me.

I feel the IV loosen from all of the jostling. I try to rip my arms free but the constraints are too tight. I don’t have enough strength to use more than one gift at a time.

“You think I can’t see your silver eyes? You aren’t even supposed to have that gift!” He gives me a look of indignation.

Not sure what he means by that statement, I focus on hearing his thoughts. It’s hard because I have to keep my shield up at the same time. Sweat accumulates on my brow as I try to focus on the little power that these drugs are letting through. Finally, I hear, “
We didn’t even create such an immunization. It must have mutated from something else. why can’t I do it? He said I’d get all of her gifts!
“He looks at my eyes. “What the?” He slaps me in the face.

The searing heat snaps me out of his mind and sends tears to my eyes. I stretch my jaw, happy it’s not broken, as I stare up at him.

“I said don’t hurt her!” Tony calls with an angry voice. My eyes find Tony walking furiously towards Mr. Blake. Tony’s eyes are crimson red as he grabs the front of Blake’s shirt. He pulls him to where he’s only inches from his face. “You idiot!”

Blake cringes as Tony roars at him. “She tried to play me! Look at her eyes; she’s trying to read my thoughts!” He points his finger at me in a jabbing motion.

I lie there staring in stunned silence at Tony going head to head with my kidnapper.
Except he’s not your Tony, Willow, his eyes are red.

Looking from me to Blake, he yells a final order. “Go get the connection started.” He lets go of his shirt collar.

Blake doesn’t waste a moment before he hurriedly exits the room. When did Tony become in charge?

Tony comes to my side. The first thing he does is adjusts the connection on my IV. I instantly begin feeling what little powers I had control of lessen.

Then he kneels down on the floor, moves closer to me, and examines my reddened cheek. He seems angry or is it concern that I see etched in his expression? He reaches his fingertips to the whelp on my face. I close my eyes and pray that Tony has found a way to get out of Zack’s control. That he will remove my bindings, take out that needle, and swoop me to safety.

Opening my eyes, I find Tony gone. I look around the room for him but he’s not there. Tears spring to my eyes. I have no idea what in the world is happening. Then, just as quickly as he left, he appears again with something white in his hand.

He strides over to me, sits back down next to me, places the ice pack on my cheek, and says, “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

I lean my cheek into his hand and stare at him with hopeful eyes.

Then he grins and my stomach clenches. “You think I care that the idiot slapped you, don’t you, sugar?” He pushes my hair back behind my ears in such a contrastingly affectionate manner that makes no sense when coupled with his horrible words. “No, what I care about is that you are worth a lot of money to me and he messed up your pretty little face right before I can introduce you to the bidders.”

My mind doesn’t wrap around what he’s saying. “Bidders?” I ask. All hope for Tony overcoming Zack’s control is lost in this moment.

“Yes, bidders. Your blood is worth a lot of money, sugar. Just look what it did for old man Blake. I can market your powers with endless possibilities. Best part is, they will have to keep coming back to get the goods. I told my dad that I wanted power and, sure enough, I will be the most powerful man in the world because of you.” He smiles proudly.

Seeing that look on Tony sickens me even more. “So you are going to sell my blood?” I ask directly.

“Yes,” he says bluntly.

“Why aren’t you here, Zack? You finally got me! So stop using Tony to do your dirty work and show yourself.
Only a coward would do what you’re doing,” I yell.

“I would if I were nearby, but I have a few business transactions to complete first. I had no idea our Tony would have actually led me to you so easily. He did so well at staying away from you for weeks. I started thinking that I’d have to find another way to entice you to turn yourself in. Turns out all I had to do was let him be himself for a bit and have my men follow him,” he says.

My blood turns to ice as I think of my dad, Sabby, and all of the other people that I love. He has so many pawns that he could easily use against me.

He leans in closer to me, his familiar face only inches from mine. My pulse quickens. “You really do love me, don’t you?” he whispers.

I shake my head. “I don’t love you, Zack. I love Tony. Now let him go!”

He gives me a half smile. “I’m not stupid enough to throw down all of my cards when the game is getting so good, sugar.” He puts his hand behind the back of my neck and pulls my head up off the concrete floor, to where only an inch separates us. He looks at me with a twisted expression that doesn’t belong
to my Tony, and then he presses his lips to mine. His lips may belong to Tony, but this kiss isn’t his. As I struggle to move my head out of his grip, he pushes me tighter against him, crushing my lips further into his. All thoughts of Tony kissing me are completely out the window. This is Zack, and knowing that his lips are on mine, that he is experiencing this kiss, makes me want to puke. I try to struggle to get my hands free but once again, I have no luck. Thankfully, he releases me and my head thumps back on the hard ground, which sends stars sprawling across my vision.

I spit at him but he moves quickly out of the away, avoiding my insult. “Don’t ever do that again!” I hate that there are tears in my eyes when I say it but I can’t help it. My stomach rolls with nausea as I think of that sick, twisted kiss.

He just laughs. “I’ll send the guys in to get you in a few, sugar. Please try to use some of that healing power to get rid of that bruise on your pretty little face.”

“I wish I had the power to forget everything you just did!” I yell.

He flippantly tosses a coin in the air, catching it, he places it in his pocket. He laughs as he walks out of the room.

I sit up in the darkened room, my mind wandering, not being able to connect the dots.
My blood is about to be sold on the black market, to the highest bidders... Then what? Am I going to be kept prisoner forever just so my blood can be dripped slowly from my veins? I lean my head, the only extremity I’m able to control, against the wall.

I scream in frustration and toss my head from side to side.
It’s the only thing I can think to do in a time like this. I hear the door open and a light shines in the room.

Old man Blake sticks his head in and shows me a large syringe.
Waving it at me, he says, “If you can’t keep quiet, I can make you. Gives you something to think about, huh?”

I quiet down at his threats. He closes the door and I’m flooded back into darkness.

I slouch against the wall and allow the time to pass. Every now and again, someone comes in and injects another dose of the medicine into my IV.I allow myself to shut down because if I think, I hurt. I lie in the darkness, waiting for the bidding.

Time passes, how long I’m not sure. I feel a foot jabbing my ribs and wake immediately.
I sit up awkwardly and look up at the person in the room. Blake and Tony stand before me. They each grab a hold under my arms and hoist me to my feet. Since I’m still bound, it makes it near impossible to stand on my own. They drag me over to a wheelchair and stuff me in it. My hands get rebound onto the chair itself, making escape of any sort an impossibility, at least while my powers remain dulled.

I’m wheeled down a long empty hall.
There are doors on either side intermittently, but they remain closed. From the level I sit on, I can’t see inside the small, glass windows on top of the doors. My mind wanders as I’m pushed along. I wonder who knows I’m here. Have my friends started looking for me?

We turn down yet another hallway and come to a random red door.
Although I’m sure it’s not random in their eyes. Tony opens the door and Blake wheels me inside. I can feel Tony staring holes into the back of my head. I don’t turn around and look in his direction. I can’t hide my feelings right now and I don’t want Zack to get his kicks from the betrayal that I’m feeling.