Chapter two

Staring at the ceiling in the dark, Same old empty feeling in your heart
'Cause love comes slow and it goes so fast, Well you see her when you fall asleep
But never to touch and never to keep, 'Cause you loved her too much and you dive too deep

Well you only need the light when it's burning low, Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go
Only know you've been high when you're feeling low, Only hate the road when you're missing home
Only know you love her when you let her go
And you let her go

Passenger – Let Her Go

[Derrek’s POV]

I felt like the remnants of a dying camp fire as the rain drizzled down on me. I don’t know how long I stood staring down at Max’s grave stone, and I had no idea why I was here... again. The past fortnight had been torture. Not knowing where the hell Val and Cara was, yet knowing Val, at the very least, was alive. For the past week I had begun to make the forty-five minute drive to the cemetery where Max was buried and would talk to him about any new information or thoughts I had on the search for Val.

I don’t know why I felt indebted to do so, but in the back of my mind thoughts of Max sacrificing himself so that I could love and take care of Val would haunt me. I felt like I had failed him and his death was all for nothing... I sighed and tightened my coat while pulling my hood lower over my face. I hated rain.

“Mr Obsidian still won’t let me search for Val and Cara” I grumbled at the dirty white gravestone. “I’m so close to burning half the campus down again just as a distraction so I can start the search while they’re busy” I kicked at the soggy weeds.

The day Val and Cara went missing I immediately searched for Helena and the other Elementals in case I was, by some chance, wrong. They were just as horrified as I was and Cameron knocked an entire wall down in anger. We ran straight for Mr Obsidian, I wasn’t sure if we did it for his help or to tell him we were leaving to look for Val and Cara. He completely denied us leaving.

“Derrek, the Elementals are barely able to stay here as it is. The Control is searching for the shadow and as soon as it’s located they will be returning for them too. If you leave and they return to find that you have all gone missing... I can’t even imagine the consequences of those actions. Besides, we have no idea what Malum has up his sleeve... if he was able to walk into the campus and take both Cara and Valerie then he must be surrounded by very powerful Elementals for him not to be afraid of getting caught. I’m sorry, I truly am, but until The Control has gathered the Elementals no one is going anywhere” I remembered Mr Obsidian state apologetically, yet firmly.

It was after that, that I went on a slightly too big of a burning spree. Half the campus went up in flames within half an hour and it took three Water-abled teachers to freeze me long enough for me to gather some sense. I clenched my jaw and shut my eyes tightly. It was all these Elementals’ fault. First the ones with Malum, then the shadow and even the four remaining good ones here. Val could be on the edge of being dead. My Stinger abilities were practically useless and I was beginning to think that my knowledge of the two girls being alive was a gut instinct instead.

“I’ve gone through the history books over and over again until I felt as though my eyeballs might drop out and even though I’ve managed to nullify the majority of possible Stinger hide outs I have no idea where they could be” I shoved my fingers through my hair, successfully knocking my hood back and messing up my hair as the rain soaked into it quickly. “I’m stuck! I feel useless and I have no idea what the hell I’m even doing!”

It occurred to me that I was shouting at a grave stone and I growled in frustration. Trails of rain were running my face and I scowled, pulling my hood back up again and standing straight up. “Help me out, man” I whispered, “You were so good at doing that... I’m not good at helping. I’ve only ever looked out for myself and now there are two lives that seem to be hanging on my shoulders”

No answer.

Of course there wasn’t.

I sighed once more and turned to trudge down the slippery pebble pathway back to my car. The drive back was the same as always. Bleak and unwelcome. Forty-five minutes later and I was back at the campus, I grunted at the scorch marks that still marred parts of the outside walls and wondered why I was still here and not expelled. It would’ve made searching for Val much easier.

I clenched my jaw as I tried to ignore Blake and Helena’s stares at my back. As usual, after returning from visiting Max I hit the books hard and researched the same things over and over until something else managed to either fit in or make sense. I had been at it for two hours already and I wasn’t going to stop until I managed to work it out.

“Derrek...” Helena whispered softly. I ignored her. “Derrek”

This time she touched my shoulder and I spun around so quickly she jumped back with wide eyes. Blood red flames danced over my shoulders and forearms before turning blue and finally disappearing. “Helena, stop. I know what you’re going to say and I’m saying ‘no’. I’m not going to take a break; I’m not going to stop, so you might as well drop it!”

Blake clenched his jaw but didn’t say anything, instead opting to wrap an arm around her shoulders in support as Helena spoke again. “Derrek, I just don’t understand what else we can find. You’re not the only one who’s scared for them, who’s worried about them. I was friends with Val before you and know her just as well. We’ve gone through all the history books and stared at the maps long enough to dry out our eyes... what else is there?!”

“I don’t know’ I murmured dropping my eyes back down to the textbook, “But I will find it, eventually. Now leave me alone if you’re going to be useless”

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. Helena had been staying over with Bree and Sophia in their apartment instead of staying in hers because she felt frightened of being alone in her own apartment with everything going on. However, whenever she wasn’t sleeping she was almost always in my apartment. I didn’t have anything against her, but the lack of solitude was beginning to irk me.

I sighed in frustration. What the hell was I missing?! What the hell am I not doing? Pushing my chair backwards, I leaned forward to rest my elbows on my knees and rubbed my knuckles over my eyes. Something wasn’t right and it was something big; I had no idea what ‘it’ could be, but somehow I knew it was the missing puzzle piece of this entire Stinger business. On the corner of the table I spied Helena’s keys and stared at it. Without a second thought I grabbed them and sauntered out of the apartment and strode straight to Helena and Val’s apartment.

With a metallic click I unlocked the door and pushed it open. The room smelled stale and unlived in and I walked in quietly looking around at the apartment that held mementos of Val everywhere. No one had been in the apartment since Helena packed some of her things before staying with the Elemental girls; it just seemed wrong to enter it. I was hoping that whatever I was missing could be kick started by something in this room. My eyes darted around the empty room, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Slowly, I walked to the bedroom and my eyes fell onto the corner of a book peeking out from under Val’s bed. I walked closer to inspect it and noticed there were several battered books underneath her bed and pulled them out.

Realisation hit me as flicked through them that these were the books that were found in the hidden Stinger room. I mentally fist pumped the air as I grabbed them and absorbed any and all information inside. This could be it, the missing link that I needed. I still wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but I adamant these would steer me in the right direction and I ignored the irritation in myself for waiting this long to bother looking Val’s apartment.

***

It was a bittersweet moment when it came time to put down Val’s dad’s books to go to History. My eyes felt like they were burning and it hurt to even blink. My head pounded with an overload of somewhat useless information and I just wanted to sleep, not to go a class where I was supposed to contain more information. I tossed the Stinger Skills book down onto my bed and stretched out my limbs hearing the dull clicks in my back before standing up and grabbing my History book. Might as well go to class, I thought as I yawned, these books weren’t as useful as I thought they would be.

I sat by myself in the back corner of the lecture theatre, my feet resting on the seat in front of me as Mr Arbit droned on about Abled royalties from centuries ago. I shut my eyes and crossed my arms across my chest, I’d read through this chapter countless times already and could practically teach this class. I was just about to fall asleep when Mr Arbit cleared his throat loudly.

“Maybe Mr Calor would like to enlighten us about the Abled royals from the 1600’s?”

I sighed and sat up, dropping my feet to the ground but slouched down on my seat. “The royal Abled lived centuries ago back before The Control. They ruled the Abled community as ‘kingdoms’ so to speak” I yawned, “Just like The Control, there were Abled royalty for every ability. The Control only assembled when the ‘royal blood’ died out and from then on The Control was selected by voting rather than a bloodline so it wouldn’t die out like the royals”

The lecture theatre was eerily silent as they all faced me with raised brows. I sniffed and slouched back down with my feet up and shut my eyes again.

“Well...uh... yes. Well done, Mr Calor” Mr Arbit cleared his throat and turned back to the class, “Uh... well as you heard, the royals did indeed die out. This was around the early 1800’s and worldwide panic settled in when there was no one to govern the Abled society. You see, a society without rules and regulations is not a society at all, but a cluster of dangerous and scared people. In fact, the Abled community nearly wiped themselves out.

“Had it not been for the first leaders of The Control to come together and begin governing the people I’m almost positive the majority of you sitting here would be half human and the abilities of everyone would have been diluted immensely. Coincidently, it was during this time that the Stingers, or Body-abled as they were then called, began to create hundreds of ‘safe houses’ around the country. Even up to today there are still Body-abled safe houses, however almost ninety percent of them had been destroyed during the Stinger Eradication, while others collapsed”

My ears pricked at this new onslaught of information. This hadn’t been in the History text book. I sat straight and listened intently to what else Mr Arbit had to say. He pressed a button and the white board behind him lifted up to present a map identical to the map I’d been studying for the past fortnight appeared. “What the hell...”

Mr Arbit used a laser pointer to circle different areas of the map. “During the Stinger Eradication the majority of Stingers used these safe houses and therefore all safe houses down south, where The Control is based, were collapsed first...”

Mr Arbit then continued to point out where the biggest hits were and explained how all safe houses were presumed to be collapsed. I, however, noticed a blank area where I had been studying the map in my own time and I grinned.

It seemed as though coming to History class was worth its weight in gold and Mr Arbit was more helpful than he had ever anticipated. Thanks to History, I had just narrowed Malum’s location to two possible Stinger hide outs.

After class ended I shot out of my seat and practically ran back to the apartment. I wasn’t going to any other class and I needed to do some serious contemplating. I slammed the door shut and fell onto my bed. As I stared at the ceiling I let my mind race with all the new information I’d just learnt. Body-abled safe houses. How did I let that slide past me in the books?! I had two ‘safe houses’ that I would swear on my life that Malum was hiding in and now that I knew that... I couldn’t just stay here anymore, just waiting.

It was late afternoon when Blake and Helena walked through the door and spotted me. “Derrek are you okay?” Helena asked.

“...not that we actually care” Blake added.

I ignored Blake. “I think I might know where Malum and the other Elementals are hiding” I blurted out immediately while sitting up in bed. The shocked looks on their faces was the second best thing in my day and in a matter of seconds they were shooting questions at me.

“How did you find out?”

“Where are they?”

“What do we do?”

“Should we tell Mr Obsidian?”

I cut my hand through the air to stop them from talking. “It was in History when it all clicked together. I’ve narrowed it down to two possible hideouts and... I don’t think we should tell the dean. He wouldn’t ‘give us permission’ before and I doubt he’d change his mind. No, this stays among us”

“...so what do we do now?”

I stayed silent and sighed. “The Control hasn’t returned for the other Elementals yet, that means that they haven’t been able to find the shadow, but the shadow always seems to find us”

Blake frowned and asked slowly, “So... where are you going with this?”

I looked up at the both of them and smirked. “I say, we grab the other Elementals fill them in on what I’ve found out and at dawn, when we have a little more advantage, we go shadow fishing”

“Shadow fishing?” Helena asked looking confused.

I nodded, “Yep... we’re going to trap ourselves a shadow. We may need it’s help if we’re going to rescue Val and Cara”

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A/N

Hi there, I apologise for my long absence. I’d gone through a bit of a rough patch and couldn’t even sit in front of my laptop for 5 seconds without pushing it off my lap. But I’m back now and have the entire story planned out to the end (not that it’ll stick to it exactly... does it ever?)

I just want to thank all of you who have stuck by me and waited patiently. Especially those who’ve liked my Facebook page and would send messages to me :) You’re all gems <3

Did I forget to mention that I absolutely love you all? Well, I do... and I’m done babbling :)

Nix <3

PS. This chapter is dedicated to @jt_giles1. If you have the time, head on over to his profile and read his elemental stories :D And fan him if you’re feeling generous ;)