The Elementalists

JAMAL

   As soon as the words leave my mouth, Robin's on her feet. She walks over to me and asks, "What do you mean, Peter's gone?!"

"He's gone," I reply. "Peter left. He was here one minute, and then you arrived and everyone went to see you. John ran off to tell Peter that you were here, but when he opened the door to Peter's room, it was empty and the window was open."

"Why would Peter leave?" Robin asks, as if asking herself the question instead of one of us. "It doesn't make any..." She trails off and her eyes widen, and then I hear her moan, "No...it couldn't be...Peter wouldn't..."

"What?" I ask. "Peter wouldn't what?"

I feel a hand on my shoulder, and turn around to see John, Emma, Cooper, and Liz gathered behind me. My eyes are drawn to Cooper and Liz, whose fingers are entwined with one another's, and I can't help but smile. So maybe he's not gay after all.

John, whose hand is on my shoulder, points at Robin and says, "I know what you're thinking, Robin, and Peter wouldn't—"

"The controller of Time, returning at last; the end is coming, and the traitor is the cause. The Light's aren't always good, and the Dark's aren't always bad; for in the coming War, they will need each other," Mark recites, interrupting John's words. Mark looks over at Robin and asks, "It's Peter, isn't it? He's the traitor mentioned in the Prophecy."

Robin hesitates before looking down at the floor. She takes a deep breath, as if she's deep in thought, and finally says, "I believe so, yes."

"Thought so," Mark mumbles. "He's been acting weird lately." His eyes suddenly widen and he blurts, "Wait, how did Peter betray us? Yes, he left, but he left to do what exactly? Robin—"

"It had to have been Peter," Robin interrupts, "who put the government tracker in you, Mark. And the fact that the government wasn't swarming to stop you, even though they must've had cameras... Peter must've told them our plan somehow. That's why they thought that they could just capture the 'rescuers' in the hallway..." I see an expression of mixed anger and sadness cross Robin's face, and I know that she's thinking the same thing I am.

Why did Angel have to die? Is Angel's death due to Peter? Did Peter want John, Angel, and me...did he want all three of us dead?

"We...should go look for him," Robin says slowly, as if she's unsure what to do herself. "He has some way of communicating with the government, and if he's told them where we are, then we could be trapped up in this tree forever."

"I thought they couldn't see this tree?" Emma asks. "But even then, I understand what you're saying. If he tells them the exact location, and they just wait down there, we'd have no way to escape. We'd be like raccoons treed by a hound..."

"I just don't understand why Peter would betray us," John mumbles, more to himself than to us. "It doesn't make any sense..."

"Nothing makes sense anymore," Cooper says with a sigh. "Everything we've learned in school about what's possible and what's impossible... We've managed to prove all of that wrong in one week."

"I don't know what to believe anymore," Mark admits. "Angel's death changed everything I believed about the kid, and now Peter..."

"We have to find him," Robin says, "and find out the truth." Her expression grows serious as she adds, "If we don't find him before he reaches his goal, the government could know our whereabouts and come for us."

"We should split up," I suggest. "Robin with Emma, Mark with me, and John with Cooper and Liz."

Robin nods. "We're going with what Jamal suggested," she announces. "Get into your group, and then we'll head out from there." She's quiet for a few minutes as we get into our groups, and—when we're finished—she explains, "Emma and I will go to the left of the tree house, which will lead us deeper into the forest, just in case the government men are hiding out in this woods. I want John's group to head out towards the town; Jamal, you and Mark go towards the meadow. You should meet up with Daemon there, and I want you to explain the current situation to him. He'll know what else to do."