Chapter ten

[Derrek’s POV]

The screaming grew louder with every hesitant step we took and I couldn’t help the chill that settled in my bones at some of the tortured shrieks. It was like stepping into a bad horror movie and I was just waiting for something to pop up and attack. I wasn’t sure why we hadn’t bumped into any more guards and the lack of security was putting me on edge. Where was everyone? Where exactly were we heading?

The corridor turned into a flight of stairs and we quietly crept down the stone steps. At the bottom of the stairs the corridor stretched down into a long maze of corridors full of rooms, or cells, that branched off so that we had no idea how many there truly was. Not all the cells were the same. Some had glassed off cells, while others were simple metal bars and the same went for the people... or things... inside them; they were all different as well. In the metal barred off cells sat people who looked completely normal, had it not been for the broken look on their faces when they weren’t screaming in pain and fear. Others looked physically strong and normal, yet their eyes were dull, grey and unmoving... like statues and that seemed even worse.

None of them seemed to notice us as we walked down the many paths between them. Behind me I could hear Helena rapidly breathing and when I looked back to check on her I was surprised to see Chimera and Evanesce looking stoically ahead in their normal appearances and not as a shadow. Both their jaws were clenched and I could see the pain clear as day in their eyes. “Are you guys alright?” I asked.

“We don’t want to be here...” Evanesce murmured.

“It reminds both of us too much of when we were prisoners ourselves... it’s difficult to see it from the outside” Chimera finished, wincing when the person next to her screamed.

I nodded and looked over to Cameron who was ahead of me and could see how tense he was. I’d put it down to him trying to find Cara but I realised it was also because of the torture he’d gone through as well, then I glanced back at Blake and noticed he was the same too. I’d never liked the Elementals before... Cameron was the only one I could really tolerate, but seeing how much this affected them physically, emotionally and mentally... it definitely boosted my respect for them. Even if I still couldn’t tolerate Blake.

It felt like we’d been walking in circles, walking down the different aisles and corners and yet we couldn’t find Val or Cara. My hope was beginning to drop dramatically. She couldn’t be dead could she? We walked and searched in silence, only the screaming breaking the quiet among us, and just as we ended up in the main pathway again and I was about to give up, someone small walked around the corner from the other end of the aisle.  Immediately I clenched my hands into fists before quickly snapping them open like claws while swirling flames stood ready to be fired at the unknown person blocking our way.

“Cara!!!” Cameron sprinted forward while my flames died out instantly.

Cara! Cara was alive! That had to mean that Val was alive too, right? Relief washed over me as we followed after Cameron. It was only when Cameron was about to hug her that I realised something was wrong. Something was definitely not right and my eyes darted to Cara’s eyes.

Dead.

Dull.

Empty.

Oh no... “Cameron!” I shouted out in warning. My warning had momentarily distracted him as he half turned to look behind at me just when a violet flash flew past his face. I turned and dived forward, shoving Evanesce and Chimera out of the way, while Blake pushed Helena to the side... barely managing to avoid being hit himself.

All at once our heads turned to Cara, while Cameron’s eyes were wide and he stayed flattened against the wall with a horrified expression. “No...” His whispered, his voice breaking. “Cara, no! Fight it! Fight him!”

Cameron had tears flowing freely from his eyes as he grabbed Cara’s upper arms and stared straight into her eyes, but as her eyes turned to his there was no recognition in them. She didn’t recognise him at all and instead of the happy reunion we all thought they’d have once we found Cara, she tried to kill him and could look directly at Cameron’s face without an ounce of care at all. Cameron dropped his hands and clutched at his hair with pain etched clearly on his face – not physically pain, but the kind of pain that tore at the insides. I could empathise with him... I’d gone through the same thing with Val last year and it felt like your heart was being used as a punching bag.

“Cara... please... Don’t you remember me?” Cameron whispered. Cara tilted her head slightly and I leaned forward, did she remember? Was she fighting Malum? All our hope was dashed when she blinked and turned to run off down the entrance she came from.

Cameron looked torn in half. I was surprised myself and by the looks of Blake, Helena, Evanesce and Chimera no one had expected this to happen either. It seemed as though an eerie silence fell over us, like a thick blanket that disconnected us from our surroundings while it covered us. Cara was under the control of Malum... she may not be dead but this situation wasn’t good either. I swallowed, was Val under his control as well? I shook my head. Just because Cara was Malum’s puppet at the moment, that didn’t mean Val was too! Val was strong! She was determined!

But she was still missing...

I snapped out of the haze I was in and shouted over to everyone. “Look guys, don’t lose heart! We’ve gone this far...!” I looked at Cameron. He was too broken to be helpful for me at the moment. “Cameron and Helena... I want you two to start releasing these Elementals. Malum is a coward, he hides behind his army of experiments and we’re going to get rid of them from right under his nose. The less Elementals under his control he has the better!”

“What about the girls and Blake?” Helena asked worriedly.

“We still need to find Val... and Malum... but Val is our priority” I answered.

“And what about Cara, huh?!” Cameron shouted angrily with fisted hands. “We’ll just leave her here and forget her, is that it?!”

“No! We know she’s alive, Cameron... she may not be herself, but she’s alive! We know that! But Val could be dying or dead and I’d rather die than leave her dead body here if it comes to the worst! We need to make Malum weak, take him out of him comfort zone – which is to have other people fight for him, before he can take him down!”

Cameron’s breathing was shallow and angry and I tripped over backwards against the wall when she let out a cry of rage and punched open the bars of the closest cell. “We will save Cara” He warned me.

“Of course we will!” I shouted back, exasperated. “No matter what... Cara will not die in the hands of Malum”

With one piercing look he turned back to the cells and began punching cells one at a time, leaving giant holes. Helena turned once the shouting finished and closed her eyes in concentration as she held her hands tensely above the stone ground. One by one, the heavy stones lifted into the air, leaving holes in the ground where they flew out of, and Helena threw her hands forward causing every heavy stone to fly forward and bang or crash at the cell bars or doors. She repeated it over and over and over again until the bars and glass broke before moving onto another one.

“I thought you only manipulated plants?” I asked curiously.

“I’m Earth-abled, Derrek. I’m more focused on plants, they’re my forte, but I can manipulate other earth subjects” She answered as another large stone crashed the glass cell door open.

I nodded and turned to Blake, “Frosty, you’re with me. Let’s go. Evanesce, Chimera... you two follow us, but stay behind. Keep a watch out” They nodded and swirled back into a shadow and lingered behind.

“So, why me?” Blake asked suspiciously. I sighed.

“Cameron’s no use to us in this situation at the moment. He’s too unstable and emotional at the moment, plus I’d rather you get kidnapped than one of the girls...” I replied as we followed down the exit Cara ran off into. Blake shrugged and nodded before following after me.

[Val’s POV]

Max...!

What was Max doing here?

Why was Max here?!

“You’re dead...” I whispered as tremors wracked my body. “I saw you, you were dead!”

“I’m dead? Am I dead, Val? Did I die because you were the one who threw that spiked ice spear into my chest?” I couldn’t choke back the sobs as his words filtered through my head. Memories of last year and how I was under the control Malum came rushing back with deadly force and I cried out at the images he was painting with his words. “I did nothing but be there for you Val. I was your friend, I could’ve been more. Instead, I was killed by your hand!”

“Stop...” I whimpered. “Pl-please st-“

“Want me to let you in on a secret Val? Even though I was already bleeding out, my body didn’t go numb. I could still feel everything, everything, that happened. The coldness of each ice spike just as it touched my skin and the piercing pain it caused as every single one tore into me before finally tearing everything it touched inside my chest”

As Max spoke he walked slowly closer. Every word he spoke was slow and calculated, as though he savoured every second and word he was saying. He began to circle around me like a vulture, every word he spoke was like a brush stroke to that horrific picture he was painting. I could practically feel the pain he suffered as he described it. I shut my eyes tightly, trying to shut out the words by shutting my eyes but all it did was enhance my hearing as he began talking again.

“Did you even think of me afterwards?” He whispered menacingly, his mouth hovering close to my ear. “Have you even visited my grave? What kind of friend are you Val...? Obviously one who doesn’t care if she killed one of her best friends or not...”

“I’m sorry! Max, please I never meant to! It was Malum-“

“He didn’t throw the spear at me Val” He interrupted me, his pacing stopped as while his voice grew softer, barely loud enough for me to hear. “You’re the reason I died, Val... you killed me. You should’ve been the one to die. You should just lie back and die... just like I did, for you!”

With that last sentence the dam of tears broke from behind my eyes and I screamed. I screamed in defiance, in sadness, in confusion and then in surrender. I wriggled and tore and strained against the restraints holding me down and then screamed some more, but I just didn’t have the strength. After a while, I fell limp on the bench. I didn’t have the will anymore... Max was right.

I killed him.

Max didn’t deserve to die. He was a good guy... me on the other hand... I sniffed as rivers of tears ran down my face. Maybe I should just die. It was then that I realised that I was crying. I focused on every tear drop that leaked from my eyes and even though I didn’t have enough energy to manipulate them into anything bigger I shaped and formed them into tiny blades.

Well... here goes nothing.

[Derrek’s POV]

Blake and I had been running along the corridors with no sign of another Elemental or Cara. Honestly, where was this ‘army’ of Elementals the girls from the ghost town had mentioned? There were plenty of Elementals, and possible future Elementals, in the cells but not enough to have been considered an ‘army’. The shadow had vanished into a shadowy corner almost as soon as we started running and I was hoping the silence from them meant that we were safe, for now. Both of us were puffing but never broke our stride.

Suddenly, the sound of a woman’s screams echoed loudly down the corridor and Blake and I shared a look before picking up the pace and skidding around the corner. “I’m sorry!” The woman screamed and my eyes widened.

“Val...”

She was alive! Val was alive! My pulse raced at the thought that I had been right in hoping that both Cara and Val were alive! The screams grew louder and panic and anger gripped me. We were coming up to the last room but the screaming had stopped. My panic grew and I ran into the last room before freezing in my spot.

“Max?!” I gasped. “But... what the hell?”

Max stood side ways, covering Val behind him, and slowly turned around to face me. His eyes bore into mine before his entire body rippled, like ripples over the glassy surface of a lake, and all of a sudden he had changed into a different person. A person who was so familiar, only because of the photo I had fawned over as a child.

My mother.

“Derrek” She whispered while walking closer to me. “You killed me Derrek. My own baby killed me! I loved you the moment I knew I was pregnant... I was a strong woman, I cared for you with every heart beat but you... you killed me! You’re a murderer, Derrek!”  I stepped back, shaking my head in defiance.

“No... no, mom, I didn’t kill you!” She walked closer, slow step by slow step. I gripped my head and growled in pain, it felt as though her voice was scratching the inside my head with claws. She continued feeding the guilt and pain into me the closer she walked to me.

“Derrek...-“

Out from beside me, Blake stepped in front of me quickly and white-blue flames erupted from his shoulders down through his palms towards her. The flames hit her like an angry blast and the force of it threw her backwards while thick layers of ice swirled around her as she screamed.

“NO!” I shouted at Blake, pulling his arm back but he tore it out of my grip and finished freezing my mother. Soon her screams were finally silenced, then he turned to face me.

“It’s another Elemental!”He shouted. “Malum must’ve done some twisted experimented with a Stinger’s ability and changed it around somehow!”

I clenched my jaws and swallowed the lump in my throat. Before I could even look to Val, who had remained quiet the whole time, the shadow came howling into the room from the shadows under the bench and shifted so that Evanesce and Chimera stood in front of us.

“We’ve got to go!” They huffed at the same time. “Cara signalled Malum about us and he’s sent guards down to stop Cameron and Helena, and others to find the rest of us!”

I nodded once and looked over to Val. She was unconscious and was bleeding from above the inside of her elbows. “I’ll grab Val... you guys go ahead and help Cameron and Helena if they need it! GO!”

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A/N

Yay for two uploads!

I’m really tired... so I can’t think of what I needed to write here, ha! I actually don’t remember writing half of this chapter (-_-“)

Just to clarify – ‘Max’ and ‘Derrek’s mother’ was an Elemental who would change into people who someone would hold close to their heart and would get into their head, guilting them and hurting them until they were driven insane... kinda thing.

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