The Last Elementalist

Chapter 16

The ruins were covered in dust and moss with random walls of stone shooting up through the ground. Bri, Cassidy and Lielle wandered around looking for any clue as to where the entrance might be. Lielle left the darkness of the van despite the others' protests, longing for fresh air and sun, though dark clouds blocked it out.

Rain began to lightly sprinkle across her face and she tipped her chin upward, inhaling and exhaling deep, meaningful breathes. The moist, sticky air clung to her skin and wet her eyelashes.

Cassidy startled her by calling, "Hey, look over here."

She looked over at her and Bri climbed over a short wall and abruptly stopped by a small stone in the middle of the area. Cassidy attempted to lift the stone with a small carving of a snake on it. She watched as Cassidy lifted it and ran back to the van as a door opened up under Bri's feet. She yelped as she slipped downward and Lielle slammed the door behind her, turning on her camera.

They watched her slide down a ramp and stop at the bottom of a large chamber. Two men with rifles walked up to her and took her under the arms. She struggled until one of the men got annoyed enough to knock her out cold. Staring at the limp girl the two men held, she switched off the video and laid across some blankets until she drifted off, only to be woken minutes later by shattering glass slicing her face, arms and legs.

As she spat glass shards out of her mouth, someone grabbed her under the arms and heaved her to her feet. They ran away from the wreckage of the van and staggered over to a brick library. Inside, Connor and her ran until they were lost in a maze of books. Panting and spitting blood, they sat and leaned against books only an inch away from each other.

"Connor," Lielle panted. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this. You should go home and be with your parents and siblings."

"No, Lielle," he protested. "I want to be a part of this. You're a target of this and so am I. We need to work together."

Lielle laid against his shoulder and sighed. "Where are the others?"

"I saw them all run in groups of two or three. Maybe they got away. Hopefully they got away."

They sat staring at the pile of books in front of them for a long while until they were sure enough time had passed for them to be able to leave. They walked through streets until they ended up back at the van. Lielle tugged at Connor's sleeve, trying to drag him away, but then she saw what he was staring at.

A girl lay on the ground, blood pooling around her. Her blond hair covered her face, but her unmistakable blue eyes stared lifelessly at the sky.

"Jean," he sobbed, dropping to his knees and bending over, shaking and spitting random words that made no sense to her.

Lielle dropped next to him and wrapped her arms around him. They sat there while he mourned his sister whom had been there for him whenever he needed her. The Agents now would obviously know whom she had come with and knew that they were near. She pulled Connor's stubborn body off the ground and steered him back the way they came.

They walked until they could not go any longer and then plopped down, popping off the caps of some Coke bottles. As she drank, Lielle watched Connor who only stared at his bottle. The loss of his sister had shaken him enough to prevent them from finding the others, so they sat on a hill in the moonlight, dead silent.

Finally, when Lielle could take no more silence, she walked over to him and said, "I know you will miss her, Connor. We all will, but you can't be like this now, not when we are this close to the people who killed her, where we are in the most danger. We need to find the others and get out of Boston and I need you to be alert to do it. You aren't going to be any help if you become a mourner, a mess of a man. You will have time to mourn with your family."

He remained silent for a while, then muttered, "I know. I'll take the first watch so you can get some sleep. We can look for the others at first light."

She turned to him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "I'm sorry, Connor. I know it means nothing, but I'm sorry."

He smiled and stood up to find wood for a fire in the cooler weather. Lielle settled down on the grass and drifted off.

* * * * *

"Lielle, let's go."

She flipped onto her side to find herself nose to nose with Connor. He blushed and sat up quickly, grabbing his head as his eyes unfocused themselves from dizziness.

She laughed and pulled herself up next to him. "Let's go somewhere we can get a good view of the city."

They walked in the direction of the tallest structure in sight while Lielle looked for public places the others might be hiding. Once they got to an old and destroyed building, Lielle boosted Connor up and they began to climb. As they approached the top, Lielle crawled around Connor and laughed at his slowness.

"Why couldn't you fly us up there?" he complained.

"So people don't see two flying kids in the center of Boston."

He groaned and pulled himself up onto the uneven ledge next to her and let out a puff of air. "You didn't have a problem with it when we jumped off the Washington Monument."

Lielle chose to ignore him and flipped open her watch to show Connor the feed from Bri.

"... kicked me and my mother out," she explained. "I want to get back at them for leaving my family homeless. Do you know what that did to my family's good name?"

"She is not lying, sir," a man confirmed from behind her.

"Very well, Brielle. You may join our training Thunderthrillers," a man in an army jacket said. "I will have a few of them help you settle in, but you should know, we are very strict about how you use your powers. One wrong move and you do not want to know where you might end up."

They met eyes and Connor took in a breath. "She is really convincing," he marveled.

Lielle only worried that she may not be lying. These people were after the people whom ruined her mother and herself. It would make sense if she were to turn on them and join the Agents for good. She nodded at Connor and looked over the streets of Boston. All the people and cars looked as small as ants from their height. The insignificance of all these people seemed to stand out from their vantage point, showing how many people did not matter to the world, how many people just wandered around aimlessly with dreams of being famous and having the life of a star. Those dreams were pointless, just fantasies that would come true for only about two percent of people whom afterward lived lives in solidity and worked until they dropped for one reason or another.

"Lielle, can't we communicate with them on the watches?" Connor inquired.

"Well, not communicate in case someone is listening in," she sighed annoyed. "But, we can track their devices. Connor, you're a genius."

He smiled sheepishly and she pulled up her device tracker. A red dot showed two of them walking in Franklin Park, and a purple dot indicated the other three across the river from Cambridge.

They called over a cab who hastily deposited them at the park. Green stretched in all directions for miles until they finally approached a playground, and behind that, a zoo.

The dot showed them in the zoo section which was packed with people, despite the early hour. They plunged into the crowd, searching for any sign of their friends, a flash of a glowing hand or the colored tattoos that now laid embedded on their necks.

Birds chirped and lions growled as they walked past. No one who even slightly resembled anyone they knew seemed to be there. As they walked by the food court, a hand found Lielle's arm. She nearly jumped out of her skin as a young child hugged her leg.

"Man, we thought we would never find you," Layla squeaked. After clearing her throat, she continued to explain how she had carried Callie away from the attack, but she had no clue where the others were.

Lielle showed her the tracker and they immediately set off to find them, praying that Agents did not manage to find them first.