Elemental

Chapter 16

My mind is still flooding with questions about the earlier events with Agag. What happened to him? Is he okay? Will it happen again?

Just as I am lost in my thoughts, Agag shows up breathless and throws himself against the cell.

"Glace? We need to get out of here now," he whispers, fidgeting around his keys looking for the right one. Once he finds it, he tries to unlock my door.

"Why? What's going on?" I ask.

"I can't explain now, but we need to leave before your uncle can get to us," Agag says and the door unlocks. He gestures me to follow him and I do.

We run down the halls and through twists and turns all the way until we see the exit. Except, my uncle is in our way with a gun in hand.

"Well, this feels like deja vu," I say out loud, getting the attention of my uncle.

It wouldn't take me two seconds to guess he is mad. But, he is mad at me. He looks straight at me and points the gun, but I dodge the bullet quickly. I have to keep dodging until I'm not quick enough and a bullet hits my arm.

Oh Lord help me! I pray as the man walks closer to me. He almost reaches me, but Agag scoops me up in his arms before he can reach me.

More shots fire behind us, but Agag quickly helps me get away. Before I knew it, we were in the forest.

"Agag!" I call to him but he keeps running.

"Agag! I can walk! It was my arm he hit, not my leg," I yell and he finally stops running and puts me down.

He leans on his knees and tries to catch his breath. "Thank the Lord we made it out," he praises.

"Amen to that! But why did we need to leave?" I ask.

I go to move my left arm, but I had forgotten about the bullet and I groan in pain. Agag snaps out of his thoughts and looks over to me, worried.

He inspects where the bullet hit me and asks me,"Can you stop the bleeding for now?"

I nod and cover the hole in ice and then look at him. "Come on, let's keep moving. Twi and Ligero are probably worried sick by now," he says and I follow him, walking through the woods.

After a while, I look at Agag to find him staring at me. He turns away and I blush. Do I like him? Does he like me? I don't know.
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We have been walking through the woods for what seems like hours now and Agag still hasn't spoken a word about what happened.

"Agag," I start and he meets my eyes,"What happened back there? Why did we need to leave?"

He is silent, as if he is replaying the times in his head. "While I was in the archives, looking for that person's file you wanted, I found another one that I felt convicted by the Holy Spirit to look at. So, I did. Do you know what was in it?"he asks me and I shake my head no. He hesitates before speaking again. "It was a file on every piece of hidden information on shape-shifters. I managed to snatch it before we left." He pulls out a blue file and hands it to me, which I cautiously hold as if it is Baby Jesus.

I look at Agag briefly, whose eyes are watching my every move, and open the file. I nearly drop it from what I see inside. Pictures. Of me, Twi and I, even more recent ones when we found Agag in Rorath. They were all neatly stacked up inside a plastic bag that was stuck to the file. My hands are shaking now, and my breathing is uneven.

Agag notices and says,"Hey, calm down. We have answers. It's okay." He says and rubs my right shoulder in consolation. My breathing steadies and my hands slowly stop shaking. I flip the pictures over and find a paper labeled "Hidden Abilities".

What's that supposed to mean? I ask myself in my head and begin reading. Every now and then, I glance at Agag, looking to see how he is doing. He still looks worried, but other than that he's fine.

I continue reading a bunch of stuff that must have been written by scientists so I have no idea what it means. I am about to say something to Agag, but then one sentence catches my eye.

There, in black in white, it reads "Lose control and aim for the strongest person nearby when overcome with emotion to the point of breaking."

I sob and fall to collapse on the ground, but Agag catches me and lowers me to it. "Shhh, it's okay. Calm down, Jesus is with us. It's okay," he tries to soothe me as he gives me a hug, but it's not helping much.

"Agag? What if I- What if I'm the reason...that he lost his wife?" I sob. Agag doesn't reply.

"Glace? You need to listen to me. If what you're saying is true, then there is a reason they wanted you and Twi. You may be the only two shape-shifters that can bend two elements and that makes you twice as strong. That's why they wanted you two," Agag says as he pieces everything together.

My sight begins to blur away and I notice my pale skin is getting darker, like how Agag's dark skin had begun getting pale back in the base.

I know what's happening. I spring up off of the ground and start running. I hear Agag calling behind me, but I pay no attention. I just focus on getting as far away from anyone as I can. Lord help us all.