Chapter thirteen

“Aw crap”

The words slipped out from Derrek’s mouth as soon as we stopped gaping; and I agreed with him entirely. ‘Aw crap’ seemed quite appropriate. Just when we decided to stop searching for Mr Obsidian and wait with Helena and Blake, we end up running into him... and The Control. Mr Obsidian’s eyebrows shot up and his gaze slid over all of us covered in sweat, dirt, mud and blood.

Silence followed afterwards as we all stared at each other. It seemed as though we just didn’t know what to make of the situation, especially Mr Obsidian and The Control. “Uh... Mr Obsidian, we have to tell you something” Derrek finally spoke up.

This seemed to snap the others back to reality. Sicilianna pushed forward and glared at Derrek, sparing a glare for Cameron and a confused look at the Chimera and Evanesce. “Damn straight you have something to say. I daresay you have plenty of explaining to do, you insolent-“

“Sicilianna” Mr Obsidian interrupted her abruptly, “I appreciate if you did not speak to my students that way”

It was strange to see Sicilianna, a member of The Control, put into her place by a dean of a university, but I was thankful for it. “Mr Obsidian...” I said quietly.

He turned to me and lightly grasped my upper arms staring intently at my eyes, or into my eyes would seem more appropriate, it felt as though he was making sure I was still... well, me. “Valerie, I’m so relieved that Malum was not able to change you. Your friends here have caused quite a stir with their disappearance and fanatical desire to go after you”

I blushed red, “Thank you, sir...”

“Enough of this pleasant chit chat!” Sicilianna erupted. “There is a matter of the Elementals we need to attend to!”

“Sicillianna!” This time it wasn’t the dean who cut her off, instead it was Marco and it seemed that he was losing his patience with her as well. “We are all aware that the Elementals are something that we need to further discuss but the well being of these young men and women are first and foremost our priority... whether they are Abled or Elemental. Do not forget what The Control stands for”

We all looked from Marco to Sicilianna, and once again she was silenced. Behind the two I could see Tatiana and Gabriel relax their stance and I was felt somewhat confused. The three of them seem to be open to thinking of everyone’s well-being and yet it was three votes to one that they considered the Elementals to be dangerous.

Sicilianna was seething. I could feel, and see, the heatwaves emanating from her from where I stood and it was unbelievably uncomfortable. I’d already been locked up in a cell that had been designed solely to dehydrate me and the feeling was coming back since I stood close to her. I shuffled backwards a little way and turned to face Mr Obsidian once more.

“Mr Obsidian... we need to talk to you-“

“I believe this is a matter worth speaking to all of us, Valerie” Gabriel smiled. Oh... the mind reading. Damn. His smile widened at my thoughts and I half wondered why he didn’t just tell the others instead of having us explain everything. “But I think it would be best to do so while we checked up on Helena”

Mr Obsidian frowned slightly but didn’t question Gabriel or myself. “Where is Helena, Valerie?”

“The infirmary... with Blake” He nodded and stood back to let us lead the way and followed after us, with The Control following after him.

[Derrek’s POV]

We all walked down to the infirmary in silence and I wished that we had taken a different route back to the infirmary earlier. While we needed to tell Mr Obsidian about Malum and the other Elementals I, at least, wanted some time between him knowing and The Control... or at the very least not be there when they found out. There was also the unknown factor of what they wanted to do with Cameron, Blake, Sophia and Bree. Cara was out of the picture for now, though not any safer at all. I heaved a sigh and felt the heavy weight on my shoulders gain slump with even more weight from all these unknown answers and I stumbled as I tried to regain my composure.

We turned into the infirmary and were greeted by a grumpy Nurse Oakley. “-woken up in the middle of the night to a student missing an arm! Honestly, what in the world were you doing?!”

“We would like to know the same thing” Marco spoke up behind us.

Nurse Oakley jumped and stuttered as she turned around to see the whole group behind her. Her eyes fell onto Val, Cameron, the shadow girls and me, obviously putting one and one together to figure out we were with Blake and Helena tonight. “Mr Obsidian, Control... how may I help you all so late at night?”

“We’ll be fine. We would just like to have all the students together to talk... alone if you please” The dean answered and with one last glimpse at everyone Nurse Oakley nodded and scuttled away. The infirmary was empty besides the end bed, which had the curtains closed all around. The curtain was suddenly pulled back and Blake cleared his throat before giving an awkward nod in our direction.

“How is she?” Val immediately asked quickly stepping up to him. “Was it bad?”

Blake turned to her and gave her a muted dull look. “Her arm was cut off... it was pretty bad, Val. But Nurse Oakley was able to heal her. Luckily she still had her arm with her, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to be healed”

“I think it’s time for you all to explain to us what exactly happened” Tatiana spoke up for the first time tonight and when I l turned back to them I figured it was most likely because it looked as though Sicilianna was about to erupt once again. Tatiana gave a heart warming smile and it helped to ease the tension tightening around my throat.

I looked at the others and slowly breathed in. “I guess we should start from the beginning...”

***

It took hours to explain everything. Val added what she knew and remembered ever since being kidnapped and also what happened while she was locked away in Malum’s hideout. We explained of how Cara was still captured, but omitted a few details of her being under the influence of Malum and the abilities of the shadow girls – though I’m sure Gabriel would have picked up that bit of information. Cameron stayed rock still and silent, the only movement came from his fists as he clenched them tightly while we were talking about Cara.

They all wanted a detailed version from every single one of us and it felt less like us informing them of the dangers that lie ahead and more of the interrogation that they seemed so fond of doing. Finally they came to Evanesce and Chimera and Tatiana tilted her head. “Forgive my rudeness, but what exactly is your part in this story?”

I readied myself for their reaction, I was sure it wasn’t going to be pleasant. Chimera turned to Evanesce and shrugged. “We are Elementals as well... we are a combined Elemental and our abilities only work when we transform together”

“What do you mean ‘transform together?” Marco asked curiously. “Would you mind showing us?”

“Here we go...” Blake mumbled under his breath and for once I was siding with him, readying myself for their reaction.

The girls stood up and their bodies instantly swirled, rippled and darkened before twisting together into a translucent dark shadow. Sicilianna shot straight up and shrieked. “They are the shadow we chased after! The one that attacked us and tried to hide the Ice Elemental in the hidden room!”

I wasn’t too surprised by her screaming at them, but I was surprised when I felt the air thicken with heat before her hand shot out and she aimed a swirling mass of fire directly at their chest. Everyone moved at once. Blake covered Helena (who had been unconscious the whole time). Cameron and I shoved a screaming Val back while Mr Obsidian moved in front of us, the rest of The Control moved forward and grabbed Sicilianna, demanding she calm herself down.

The shadow, however, was too quick. They managed to fly to the side, and the fire flew right past them... luckily. “What the hell are you doing?!” Val shouted directly at Sicilianna. “You had no right to try to harm them! No right at all! And without any warning or attack from them!”

Sicilianna’s emotions were burning at a high temperature and I mentally shook my head at her. I had never met another Fire-abled whose angry emotions ran so staggeringly high. It was as though she was an unstable, active volcano that was ready to erupt at any given moment. She turned her burning glare towards Val and I pushed Val back behind me as I matched Sicilianna’s glare with my own. “How dare you tell me what to do, child! I am a member of The Control, the leader of the Fire-ableds and you have no right at all to spit such words at me!”

“Sicilianna!” The rest of the other leaders shouted her name. Tatiana was surprisingly louder than the others and her rock hard stare brought Sicilianna’s temper back at bay.

“Valerie is right, Sicilianna. You may be a leader, but you do not have the right to harm others who have not harmed you or instigate an attack without so much of a warning... especially to someone who poses no threat!” Tatiana’s down to earth demeanour was gone and now she looked like an unmoveable force – like that of a boulder. Sicilianna’s heated glare was overruled by Tatiana’s solid one and once again, for the third or fourth time tonight, the leader of the Fire-ableds was put in her place.

“We apologise for our fellow member’s actions, Obsidian” Marco apologised on Sicilianna’s behalf.

“No harm done, Marco, except maybe for the infirmary wall” Mr Obsidian replied motioning to the burned wall on the opposite side of the room. “Luckily, Evanesce and Chimera are very quick”

Sicilianna snorted and something that sounded like ‘luckily’ was mumbled under her breath.

“So what it seems to be, is that Malum is planning on creating an army of these Elementals-“

“Deviants” Gabriel interrupted Marco. “Marco, I don’t believe that Malum’s army of experiments are anything close to the ones standing in front of us. These Elementals have proven that they are not a danger to the Abled society, for now at the very least, and I don’t believe that they should be lumped together with the Deviants that are under the influence of Malum”

Silence followed Gabriel’s input and in the corner of my eye I saw a look of disbelief colour Sicilianna’s face. Marco and Tatiana nodded. “I agree, Gabriel. As I was saying... It seems to be that Malum is planning on creating an army of Deviants and I believe that his plan is to attack Abled University first. This is solely an assumption, considering how he simply entered the grounds to kidnap Valerie and Cara. He seems to have a wicked agenda ” He turned to Mr Obsidian. “Obsidian... I believe that the study format here must be altered slightly for the time being”

Mr Obsidian nodded. “Yes... it does seem that way. More focused on combat, a few different and altered classes... I’ll have to speak with the other teachers-“

“What about Sophia and Bree?” Val pushed me aside slightly so she could see everyone clearly. Her eyes were solid and I knew she was going to fight for their rights as well. “You yourselves just said that these Elementals don’t pose a threat, even if it’s just for now, I don’t see why they still need to be detained-”

“Are you all insane?” Once again Sicilianna’s emotions were running high. “These Elementals, and Deviants that you insist on calling them, are as dangerous to the Abled society as an unbalanced chemical mixture! They should all be imprisoned and these three Abled students ought to be locked away considering their closeness to the disaster at hand!”

“What-!”

“Lock us up-?!”

“You can’t be serious-?”

“Enough!!!” Marco’s sapphire blue eyes were blazing, “I think it is safe to say that your proposal is denied, Sicilianna”

“Agreed, Marco” Gabriel and Tatiana murmured angrily alongside the Water-abled leader.

“So, I daresay that it is enough of your ridiculous and cruel ideas. You are a leader, and are supposed to be a role model for all Fire-abled. Just remember, Sicilianna, the last leader who had such a different outlook on life is now insane and building an army of Deviants!”

Sicilianna’s angry emotions disappeared instantly and her face paled, making the orange streaks of her blonde hair stand out considerably. She stuttered and glanced around at the people in the room. “I-I am sorry. I apologise for my unjust suggestions and outbursts”

Marco clenched his jaw. He and other two leaders simply nodded and the rest of us nodded along with them. The last thing we needed was a fight with someone who was supposed to be on our side as well. Gabriel cleared his throat and spoke gravely. “Due to the circumstances, we believe that Malum and his Deviants are a danger to the Abled society, as well as the human society, and therefore they must be destroyed”

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A/N

I do believe I’m getting better and faster at uploading lol.

For all of you who have stuck with me so far --- you all rock! I am hi-5ing the laptop screen so I would appreciate if you didn’t leave me hanging and hi-5ed the screen back ;) haha.

So to clear up any confusion, they have now split the Elementals into two groups:
Elementals – the ones who were experimented on therefore have different abilities than the Abled BUT are NOT a danger to them
Deviants – the ones who are under the influence of Malum and ARE a danger to them.

All good?

On another note, I’ve entered my romance story Every Beauty Deserves A Beast into the Watty Awards (a little late) and would looovvveeee and appreciate your support by reading, voting and commenting on it :) You know, if romance is your thing.

Anyhoo, show me love! I LOVE love!

Dedicated to @GraceWhitford  :) Hope your week has brightened a little more <3

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