Elements

Chapter 43

Anita and I sat at the lunch table, me with a salad and her with a roast beef sandwich. We were chatting about a test we had taken in Mad Science.

"I can't believe you thought it was that hard. I mean, we went over all of it in class!" Anita reprimanded. The test had been incredibly difficult- most of the information had seemed completely foreign to me, and what hadn't I had only remembered our teacher mentioning in passing.

"And by went over, you mean briefly mentioned? In one sentence? After class?" I stressed. "You're honestly the only one who didn't have a hard time with it."

"Ugh, please tell me you're not talking about the Mad Science test." Ben groaned from behind us. "What's really mad about it is that they expected us to know it all."

"I take it you didn't do well either?" Anita asked archly. Ben simply gave her a flat look. "You two both need to study more. I did a good job on the test because I take the time to make flash cards- and use them." Anita brandished a thick stack of index cards.

"Yeah, well I'm going to go talk to the teacher and see if he'll let me retake it. It's a long shot, but it's better then having that bad grade staining my grades." Ben gave a half smile. "Besides, I need to know the information. Leaving it up to chance just makes things too out of control."

Something nagged at the back of my mind, but I dismissed it. "Well before you go, I just wanted to remind you that the music room's closed. Should we pick a place to meet up, or-"

"Don't worry," Ben interrupted. "I'll always find you." He gave me a peck on the cheek, then headed back to the hallway. Something tugged again at my thoughts.

"You guys are too cute." Anita said, grinning at me.

"Yeah, and you are a filthy liar! You just make those index cards because you can't sleep at night and you get board!" I accused, brandishing my fork at her.

"Okay, fine, so I twisted the truth a little. He's right about one thing though: not knowing the information does make me feel out of control."

Then it hit me like lightening, taking me back to a hospital room, to a man's speech which I had thought was a dream.

"The world needs control- a puppeteer, if you would."

"I will always find you."

It struck me dumb for a moment, and the silver elephant I always wore at my neck suddenly felt a lot heavier.

I shook myself. Ben was not the Puppeteer. The Puppeteer was in Iowa. And besides, the voice in that one sided conversation had been much older. I even had my memories of Ben back to prove his innocence! I was kidding myself.

And yet doubt still crept into my mind. What were the odds that the Puppeteer would say the exact words engraved on my necklace? And the obsession with control... Maybe it was still there, barely concealed beneath the surface. It was easy to disguise your voice- there were apps all over the place. Also, there was no saying for certain that Ben wasn't lying about his powers. After all, his powers weren't that easy to display- they could easily be faked...

"Ella, are you okay?" I realized I had been staring at my salad. My head shot up, and my panic filled eyes met Anita's. "Ella, what's wrong?"

I felt like all the air had left my body in one, giant whoosh. "Anita," I started, but didn't continue. I couldn't find the words to voice my fear. And suddenly that was what it was: the doubt had taken root and morphed, evolved into suffocating, surrounding fear.

Recognition painted Anita's face, and without another word, she stood, grabbing her food and my wrist and began to drag me outside. I was barely able to grab my salad before I was stumbling my way after her, still recovering from the sudden realization that was now all around me.