The Last Elementalist

Chapter 21

Forehead laid against the cool wooden table, Connor thought over the day's startling events. How could Evie, his best friend, agree with Cassidy to send him home? It hurt him more than she realized and he couldn't see why, even if he, like all the others, was injured. Maybe more injured, but his brother got shot and he was not being bullied into calling home and leaving their task, the fight for their kind behind him. And then there was Lielle. They had become close throughout their journey and now she was gone, lost in an endless pit of Agents. Only one person in there might help her if she got the chance, and only if that might happen, though it probably would not.

He let loose a groan through clenched teeth as a nurse set his hand. Tears blurred his vision for multiple reasons and he began to feel dizzy. He squeezed his eyes shut and moaned. Another yelp escaped him, echoing slightly in the presidential aircraft. The plane made its way through a tiny spot of turbulence and then began to descend.

"Sir," a medic interrupted, "For the pain."

Connor raised his head and spotted two small pills and a glass of water. He drank and then leaned back into the couch, staring past his secret service agents into space, lost in thought once more. How could he be sure that these men were not traitors and secretly working with Callahan Agencies? There have been plenty of movies and stories of where the secret service sided with the enemy.

Doubt, fear and uneasiness made him feel queasy as the plane bumped onto the ground. He clutched his throbbing arm, grabbing it out of the hand of the nurse and stalking to the front of the aircraft. One of his agents came up to him and spoke, "Sir, I have been asked to tell you that your sister went missing only a few days after you and has yet to be found."

Connor walked on, phased only by what he knew and what he had to tell. Many young souls had been lost in their journey for freedom for Thunderthrillers and now Connor would be obliged to inform his father and Senator Hallman of their losses.

The presidential limo awaited him once he exited the plane and it took him straight home, though the White House never really felt like a home to him. Upon rounding the fountain, a woman in jeans and a t-shirt came into sight. He had only seen his mother dressed like this twice before; once when she gave birth to Jean and nothing else fit her, and second when she was mourning the loss of her mother. He had a feeling now this was for the later.

It had only been three days since he last saw her, but she acted as though it was a lifetime. She gave her motherly concerns and ushered him inside. Maids and butlers gave them room and rushed to prepare a meal and ready a suit. Many smiled at him and he was immediately brought back into his life of boredom and unwanted fame, though his worries would not leave him until they were resolved.

Upon entering his large room with its king size bed and large silk curtain, maids rushed out leaving a pressed suit on his bed. He headed nearer to get it, but his mother held him back and steered him to the infirmary, insisting that he get his arm put through surgery, into a cast and his cuts cleaned out immediately.

* * * * *

A few long hours later, he stood in the Oval Office with a scratchy cast making a shell on his arm and back in his neatly pressed suit. He had showered and combed his hair for the first time in days, but he could not seem to get the smell of underground and blood off of him, or maybe it was only his imagination.

His father held him close and looked him over, sending a message to call off the search for his son. He dismissed the agents from the room and they all sat around his desk silently.

"How are your siblings and friends?" his father asked, concerned.

All at once the emotions he had been holding in for days seemed to turn into sorrow, loss and anger. "Mostly okay, though no one had slept in days. We left the base after Lielle got suspicious and uncovered more about Callahan Agencies. The twins are alright, though Finn lost an ear, Layla Hallman was shot twice and died of blood loss, Jean," he spat remorsefully, then whispered, "Jean was killed, and my best friend and our best chance at winning the upcoming battle was taken by Callahan Agencies. She was the last living descendant of Thunder and Crow."