Chapter four

One by one, families and packs of animals and insects had begun to emerge from their hide outs. Chirps, scampering and shrill insect noises slowly filled the air when they realised that the shadow presence was gone. The atmosphere surrounding us seemed to mellow and somehow even the sun that was now beaming down felt warmer. Helena, the Elementals and I stood in a loose circle around Evanesce and Chimera while we waited for them to start speaking.

The minutes were ticking away and with every lost and wasted second I felt my pulse quicken. “Did you not hear me the first time?” I asked quietly.

The women’s heads turned towards me with a look of confusion. “What do you mean?” Chimera asked.

I unfolded my crossed arms and stuffed them into my leather jacket pockets. “I said, ‘We haven’t got all day’” I reiterated slowly.

“Do not talk to us as though we are children, Derrek” Evanesce snapped angrily at me. I was about to demand how she knew my name but figured after stalking us for who knows how long, her knowing my name shouldn’t have been a surprise.

“Well, then talk!” I growled angrily back at her.

Helena stepped forward and kneeled down in front of them a she looked carefully between the two before speaking, “Please. We need to know as much as you can tell us. Anything you know could really help us find our friends and we can’t waste any more time. What happened, and why were you following us?”

It must’ve been the Earth-abled calmness that seemed to exude from Helena because the two women relaxed again and Evanesce began talking. “We shared a cell together with Chaos” She began, using Cara’s name given by Malum, “I can’t even remember certain things before we were experimented on, like what Chao’s real name was. Luckily I was able to remember what our name’s were... Chimera had forgotten until I told her”

“We don’t go by the names Malum called us anymore” Bree hastily added. “We don’t want anything to do with him and what he made us into... So we decided on new names. Chaos is now Cara, I’m Bree, Pseudo is Sophia, Blizzard is Blake and Chameleon is Cameron”

“We know... we overheard while we were following you. It just takes some getting used to, I suppose...” Evanesce replied.

“Time is ticking” I murmured angrily, tapping my foot against the dirt beneath.

The two girls threw me a look before Evanesce began again, “Anyway, as I was saying... We shared a cell with Cara and we were panicking. I remember us screaming to be freed and Cara would just sit there like she had lost hope entirely. She told us that she’d been trapped down there for weeks and had no idea what they were doing to everyone. The only clue we had were the other prisoners being dragged away, kicking and screaming, and then sometimes they’d return... sometimes they wouldn’t. If they returned back to the cells they wouldn’t be the same. Then one day he started taking people in by twos... friends, siblings and even couples. That’s when he took away Cara”

I looked over at Cameron and saw the suppressed rage that blazed in his eyes. The other Elementals leaned in closer to listen, as though Evanesce was whispering a secret to us even though she wasn’t.

“I tried to fight them off” Cameron suddenly interrupted, as though he wanted to fill in the blanks that Evanesce wasn’t able to. “Cara was too in shock. She was absolutely petrified of what was going to happen to us, to her. So I fought them and I yelled for her to run... But she refused to. She was scared but wouldn’t escape because I suddenly had four guards on me. They captured her... and- and Malum decided that our ‘wits and strength’ needed to be refined. He made her powerful – ability wise, laughing that he had made her a better being. He ‘refined’ me, as he puts it, by making me physically stronger. The invisibility seemed to have been a bonus.”

“But you two never came back” Chimera now spoke. “We never saw Cara again and it made us frightened. Had Malum changed you two like he had with so many others or had you two died? Cara had become so close to us and we... we wanted to fight. It was days after when we were pulled from our cell and dragged down to him. He found us amusing... he found our tenacity ‘intriguing’! That was when he decided to do something different with us, a-and I remember being in so much pain. So much pain”

Chimera whispered the end as she shivered. Both of the girls shuddered but then Chimera continued, though much softer than before. “We tried to fight him. But there wasn’t anything we could do! The more we fought, the more painful everything seemed to become and then... and then the next thing we knew we were somewhat fused together – like two minds in one. It took a while before we could understand our new abilities but it was though we couldn’t control ourselves. Malum’s voice filtered into our head and whatever he said we had to do... we couldn’t not follow instructions.

“He wanted us to follow you all. He hadn’t expected that the rest of you would survive. He hadn’t intended on your survival and that was another reason why we had to follow you. We had to pursue all of you, then report back to him. He lost a fair few Elementals when the caves collapsed last year... but he’s been rebuilding his army ever since. He’s been on the move constantly since leaving the caves but he wanted to find a permanent area to reside in-“

“Where?!” I suddenly interrupted Chimera. “Where is he now?!”

She shook her head the same time that Evanesce spoke, “We broke free of his control before we could find out”

“You broke free?” I asked sceptically. “How can we be sure we can trust your information? You only seem somewhat normal-ish just now”

“We broke free of his mind link a while ago. It was only now that we can control ourselves. The fire seemed to have been the trick”

“How do you know it’s permanent and you won’t turn back into the shadow?” I rebutted again.

“We have no idea if it’ll be permanent... but we will have to turn back into a shadow. It’s the only time both our abilities will work – teleportation and cloning, as well as the characteristics of well... a shadow”

It had turned into a tennis match of questions and answers between me and the two girls, while the others stayed silent and finally, I asked the question that burned in my mind. “How do we know we can trust you two. Malum could all of a sudden take back control and you could lead us into a trap for all we know”

Chimera and Evanesce were now the silent ones but a look of concentration was etched onto both their faces. “We don’t know... but it seems as though we’re one of your best chances of helping find Malum, Val and Cara” And I knew that... I knew that was the case before I had even started interrogating them. We didn’t know if we could trust them... yet they were one of our best hopes that I could see right now. I stared off, seemingly into nothing, and thought of what Val and Cara could have been submitted to by now. Are they alive? Are they okay? I sighed heavily and gave in.

“Alright. Here’s the thing, I have an idea of two different places Malum could be out west and with your abilities, considering you don’t turn on us, would be helpful” I turned to look at everyone who was watching me carefully, “I say we act quick. Today, pack whatever you need and we leave to search the closest hideout tonight when there’s less of a chance anyone will see us. Same meeting place”

“By the lake?” Sophia asked.

I nodded and this time no one questioned me. They all nodded and started to leave but I turned to Evanesce and Chimera before they disappeared. “Uh... will you two be alright out here?” I asked awkwardly. Caring for Elementals still brushed against the grain a little.

“We managed fine so far” Evanesce answered.

“Okay...” An awkward silence fell over the three of us, “Do you have any idea why Malum wants Val and Cara?” It seemed like such an important question. Why would he be so eager for Val in particular? I could understand why he’d want Cara, she had such immense power that, if he managed to control, was absolutely deadly. But Val? Why was she so important to him?

“He never told anyone his intentions. The Elementals are solely to do his bidding. Puppets to their master. All we know is that Malum is insane... he wants to flush out all singular abilitied Abled. He’s simply a madman”

I nodded taking it all in, but something still didn’t make sense. I pushed the black hole of uncertainty to the back of my mind for the moment and asked them one last question. “But why get rid of Cara in the first place? Why get rid of the rest of the Elementals that are staying here in the first place?”

Chimera sighed. “They were just too humane. While their abilities were unique and wonderful Malum didn’t have a stable mind link with them. They cared too much, their own wills were too strong-“

“But so are yours?” I interrupted her.

Evanesce took over speaking, “It is now. But he was able to control us before. They broke free of him much quicker and why would Malum want Elementals whom he couldn’t control? Creating Elementals is all about control with him”

“Control is power, Derrek” Chimera finished. The two girls spoke as though, even though they were separated from being a singular shadow, that their mind was still linked to one another; like a twin connection. “He made a mistake getting rid of Cara. He’s improved his experiments and he thinks he would be able to re-establish the mind link”

There was so much information to soak in and every new bit of information seemed as daunting as the last. Important though it was; it was definitely daunting. Malum was rejected off from The Control years ago for his desire to oppress the Abled, and yet now he was creating his own army of special abilitied beings to force his control onto everyone.

They were right. Malum was a madman.

The day passed much too quickly and heavy, dark grey rain clouds smothered the sky. Darkness fell much quicker this way and I couldn’t have asked for a better coverage for our getaway. We’d all skipped classes, instead choosing to force ourselves to sleep for a few hours. My few hours of sleep were filled with nightmares. Visions of not reaching Val in time, of Cara being in complete control by Malum, of me in the position of Malum cackling haughtily as I tortured more and more people.

I woke up covered in sweat. My pillow and sheets were drenched and outside it was already pitch black. I glanced over at the wall and saw it was ten o’clock. Outside in the lounge Blake and Helena were whispering. “Please let me do it! I’ll wake him up!”

“You’ll start this whole journey with Derrek shooting daggers, or fireballs I should say, at everyone?!”

“I haven’t played any pranks on him all day... that’s a damn record already!”

“Blake...”

I scoffed and rolled out of bed, rubbing my face heavily before changing quickly and grabbing my packed bag. “Wow... someone’s whipped” I taunted, before making whipping sounds and cracking an invisible whip in the air. “Would you like a leash and collar while you’re at it, Frosty?”

I could practically hear his teeth grinding and before Helena could stop him he threw miniature icicles towards me. Lazily, I swiped my hand in front of me and a thin wall of fire materialized before me, easily melting the daggers like butter on a hot saucepan. “Looks, like you’re losing your touch” I laughed before walking outside.

By the time I reached the side of the lake, Evanesce and Chimera came strolling out from the forest, shortly followed by Blake and Helena from the campus. “Alright, we only have Cameron, Bree and Sophia to wait for now... I told them not to be late”

Thudding, heavy footsteps caught my ears but I couldn’t see anything. Immediately I knew something was wrong and glanced around everywhere. Suddenly my breath was knocked out of me as I was bowled over by some invisible solid wall, it seemed, and the next thing I knew Cameron was apologising profusely while I tried to gasp for breath.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I couldn’t stop fast enough!”

“What the hell man!” I gasped, taking his offered hand.

“They’re back!” He shouted in a panic.

“Who’s back?” Helena and Blake asked worriedly.

“The Control! They came back, saying something about not being able to find the shadow and they decided to come back for us. They have Bree and Sophia!”

Dread washed over me like icy buckets of water. The Control was back and taking the Elementals away. While it mightn’t seem like such a big deal to Abled like me and Helena, the fact was that I needed all the Elementals’ help if we were going to save Val and Cara. Everyone had started to panic, except for Evanesce and Chimera who looked only worried.

I looked back at the campus, decisions flying through my mind like angry, screeching bats and I gritted my teeth before shouting over everyone, “We have to leave them”

“What! We can’t!” Blake shouted at me.

Before he could shout anything else I held my hand up and spoke again, “Look, we need as many of you Elementals as we can to get Cara and Val. If we stay here to try, and the key word here is ‘try’, to get Sophia and Bree The Control has the bigger chance of capturing the rest of you, including the shadow – uh, Chimera and Evanesce. If The Control captures you all then we’ll never be able to save them, Helena and I can’t do it on our own and even if we tried we’d either end up captured of dead.

“We have to leave. We have to leave the girls behind because as far as I’m concerned The Control only wants to keep an eye on all of your abilities, not kill you. With Malum it’s a completely different story. He’s unstable. He’s a madman! You all know this better than I do and if we go running back inside to find Sophia and Bree we might never be able Malum. Val and Cara mightn’t be able to survive that long...”

A blanket of silence hovered among us and the happy chirping of the hidden crickets seemed horribly timed. With heavy hearts, Blake, Cameron and Helena agreed. The shadow girls stayed quiet. I looked over at our group that had become much smaller with the absence of our missing friends and I looked at everyone in the eye before speaking.

“I promise we’ll come back for them. The Control only wants to supervise them...” I hope.

********************************************************************************

A/N

For those who have me on my facebook page, you will all know that I hadn’t updated in over a week because I had the random urge to reread all of my Harry Potter books again and finished them in the last 6 days haha. I have a horrible book hangover now (T,T)  lol So I’m making do with watching the movies now (#^,^#)

Anyhoo, there was a lot of talking in this chapter but it was needed.

For those who messaged me saying you couldn’t find my facebook page, here is the link for it : à https://www.facebook.com/WattpadVovNix

And those who want a sneak peeky into my daily life, my instagram is: à vovnix

Yes, I do have twitter... but I don’t know how to use it... so I don’t LOL.

Nix <3