The Elementals

Chapter 17: Trouble Arising

After finishing her breakfast, Paris saw Jake sitting by himself. She walked over to him and asked,
"Everything okay?" Jake turned around and gave her a weak smile.
"I am going to take that as a no," she said taking a seat beside him, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," Jake responded shortly.
"Are you sure?" Paris asked using a very convincing voice.
"That does not work on me," Jake replied with a smirk.
"Only because I haven't become more powerful in it," she replied. After a few seconds of silence, Paris said,
"I challenge you to a race. If I win, you tell me what is going on. If you win, I will leave you alone. Deal?"
"Deal," said Jake. For once he was looking forward to something. This would be one interesting challenge.
"Good," Paris said with a smirk, "Two laps around the Headquarter. First one who completes the two laps wins." They walked up to the Headquarter. They made themselves ready at the steps.
"What are you two doing," came a voice.
"Having a race," replied Paris, "Will you count us down?"
"Sure," said the voice. They looked to see Wayne standing a few feet away from them. Jake gave Paris a smirk and said,
"Prepare to eat my dust."
"Oh no I think you will be eating mine," Paris replied to him. Wayne then began the countdown,
"On your mark.....Get set.....Go!" Like a bullet, Jake and Paris shot off. Paris immediately took the lead, but Jake wasn't going to give up. He soon caught up with her.
"Haha. You thought you were going to win," he called out to her. Paris got a few feet ahead of him and said,
"Funny thing is this is the last lap and guess what, you just lost." Paris then stopped. Jake shortly stopped after her.
"That's not fair. I call for a rematch. Two laps were too short," complained Jake
"Okay, I am fine with that," replied Paris, "I will just win again."
"Not if you have to run 10 laps," replied Jake in a competitive voice. Paris just rolled her eyes and took her mark a few feet away from Wayne. Jake joined her. Wayne counted down again. Then off they went. Once again, Paris beat Jake.
"Still think it's unfair?" Paris said with sass, "Now that I have won, you owe me an explanation."
"I will meet you at your house in a few minutes. I am hungry," replied Jake.
"Here. I was going to take the leftovers from breakfast to Kristopher, but you can have them and just eat at Paris's house," said Wayne handing Jake a bucket of food. Jake accepted the bucket and then headed with Paris to her house.

They entered Paris's house and sat down.
"Now tell me what's going on," Paris said.
"I got rejected by Mercy and Calvin," replied Jake.
"Mercy and Calvin?" Paris said with a confused looked.
"Yes, I tried to convince Mercy I was better than Calvin by kissing her. Well that back fired then Calvin came over and said things to make me mad and embarrassing." Jake replied.
"I see, but you do realize that you had no chance with Mercy. Her and Calvin are like two peas in a pod," Paris replied.
"I know. I just thought I might be able to get her to like me. I don't know what I was thinking," Jake said shaking his head.
"Well you know you don't have to get in a relationship right away. Enjoy your time being alone and having fun time," Paris said trying to cheer him up. Then a knock came on the door. Paris opened the door to see Tarah standing there.
"A emergency meeting is being held at the Headquarter," Tarah explained. Paris and Jake then left for the Headquarter.

When they arrived, they saw two people standing in the middle of the room. Paris recognized them. They were the people who helped Ethan and Rachelle get out of the Government's Headquarter. Jake recognized them as well. They were his aunt and uncle. He hugged them and said,
"Calvin and Leann have been looking for you everywhere." As everyone came in, they took their sits. When Leann and Calvin came in, they stopped and asked,
"Mom. Dad. Is that you?"
"Leann. Calvin. We have missed you so much," replied their parents.
"We have been looking for you guys everywhere," said Leann hugging them. Calvin hugged them as well. Erinn came in and saw them. She too hugged them and told them how much she has missed them. Wayne walked into the middle of the room and said,
"Everyone take a seat, I have something very important to talk to you about." Everyone took their seats and gave their attention to Wayne.

"If you haven't notice, Randolph is not here and here is why," Wayne said as he took a deep breath before he would explain, "Randolph give himself up to the government so myself, Paris, Ethan, and Rachelle could escape." Everyone began to look at each other with concerned looks.
"I know you want to do something right away for him. But the Government warned us that if we came back for him, he would be killed. So, for now, we must come up with ways to retrieve him with getting him killed," Wayne explained.

Randolph watched Paris and Wayne leave. He felt relieved to know that they had a good chance of making it back to the Headquarter without getting caught. He was then tackled by a man. The man was strong. He didn't fight back because he knew that it was a bad idea. The man restrained his hands and pulled him to his feet. Randolph saw the man standing in front of him. He was about his age, maybe a year older. Randolph's parents walked up to him a said,
"This is Adam."
"Such a shame you give yourself up for what you call your friends. We will find them and kill them. Oh, and guess what, you will get to watch them die," Adam said with a smirk.
"And what makes you so sure that you will find them?" Randolph asked trying to hold back his angry towards him.
"You will tell me," replied Adam.
"And if I don't," Randolph said.
"Then you will be tortured until you tell us," Adam said with a laugh.Randolph lunged forward and tried to free but it was useless.
"Oh that was a bad idea," Adam said. He then punched Randolph in the gut. Randolph fell to his knees in pain.
"Take him to his ceil," Adam said to Randolph's parents.