The Last Elementalist

Chapter 22

Furious energy bubbled inside him and he growled at the insult, at the way they were mocking her. Those hundreds of people had no right to make anyone suffer like that. If anything they should be the ones suffering. Daniel pulled the screen up on his laptop and forwarded the feed to the computer room to keep an eye on her situation, but their protection would not help her while she was in that dreadful heap of rock and metal.

His strong belief was this girl deserved to suffer no more. He had never felt loss until he had lost his sister, this girl had lost her entire family and her boyfriend. She had been fighting for her life much longer than he had and she had survived so long and found the time to teach and protect him and Evie as well. She was what kept them alive in their time together and she deserved to live a long happy life and thrive. She had earned his respect and the respect of so many others that no one would easily give up on her.

Keeping that thought in the front of his mind, he kept scrounging through their information for anything on a battle against them. Nothing appeared for a while other than the maps and they had nearly given up hope of finding anything until something similar to a calendar or a planner popped up, only instead of dates it had pictures and labels; placement for their army. Not too many were on it and surely the highest ranking was nowhere to be seen, but many soldiers were rather young and marked with a symbol for an ability. Few were without the ability symbol and only serpents, but this could not be their army, it was just too small.

What bothered him is that Lielle was in the battle lines. A small picture of her marked her as a Crow with a lightning bolt for her Thunder ancestry. How did they plan to make her fight on their side when she was clearly against them? She would never willingly turn on them. But what if they were able to force her or threaten her in some way? Would she really do it if she had to?

Connor confessed his concerns to Daniel and he admitted that they may very well be able to force her. Whether it was a threat or sheer hope that she would obey, he did not know, but whatever they were planning had to be and thwarted before it was too late for their leader, their hope. He sent for Zena and Ray, asked for some of the other Thrillers whom were friends with Lielle and some others whom were stealthy, some of their smartest.

A group no larger than fifteen stampeded into the room and Daniel barked out orders. "Zena and Ray, go form ranks and battle plans, but don't use everyone. Caleb, Samantha and the rest of you go do research on the Agencies and I'll enable the code for the hack on your screens, but don't use too many. Kayla and Kyle, take your stealthy bunch and spy on them. I'll send coordinates. Mary Elle, Lei and Cory, you stay here."

Everyone but the four of them filed out and bounded down the halls following the heads of their groups. Once the door was tightly shut, Daniel had them sit and spill anything Lielle would fight for, ways she would receive and understand coded messages and how far she would go for the Thrillers. They discussed tactics to defeat the Agents and guard the compound while smuggling Lielle from their grasps.

As the day flew by, they mapped out which Thrillers were scattered in nearby areas that could help them and how they would get to them, most of which involved Connor going places and claiming to be there for "official business".

It should not have surprised him how many had made lives for themselves right outside the base, but he soon realized that half of the population of Washington DC was made up of Thrillers, not to mention the few hundred that were scattered worldwide, or in the clutches of the Agents.

When the Agents who had escorted him beckoned for them to leave, they decided to take action the next day and meet up that night for final preparations. His guard allowed him to see his friends who had arrived earlier that day and explain the situation. They begged to help and he sent them to Daniel for if he spent any longer there, reporters would get suspicious, though they surely already were.

Cassidy jogged down the hall and Evie and the twins stayed back. "I'm sorry, Connor. I didn't want you to get anymore hurt and Cassidy's idea was the best at the time and I didn't think it through."

Connor smiled. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. You were only trying to help."

She beamed and ran off after Cassidy, leaving the twins with him. "Can we go home?" Callie sniffed.

Connor nodded and grabbed their hands, leading them back to the limo without so much as a glance of question.

* * * * *

People screamed questions as they pulled up the driveway, trying to film into the shaded windows. His secret service pulled open the doors and helped the three of them out. This made even more questions and rumors rain down on them as they walked unfazed through the big white columns. Once inside, the noise lowered a significant amount and he led his siblings to the Oval Office.

Upon their arrival, the agents stationed on the outside announced that their father was preoccupied and shooed them down the hall with questioning looks at the twins whom were playing Rock Paper Scissors beside him and giving wacky reasons why they should win. He rounded the corner and went to the ballroom in hopes of finding his mother, but it remained empty, giving the twins plenty of running space to release their energy from sitting in the car for so long. He slid onto the floor and sat with his head between his knees, not noticing how he was drifting off until he had awoken with the twins nowhere in sight.

* * * * *

He found them surrounded by guards and news reporters in the front yard, talking as if they were the most experienced in the world. Father ran out behind him and yelled at Connor, "What happened?"

"I tried to get to you to ask what to do with them," he cried. "I didn't know that they would confess to the press. I only just got out here."

They walked purposefully up to the children and lifted them off their feet while they waved and blew kisses and giggled at being on live TV. They were escorted inside with their father's sincerest apologies and they made their way to the conference room. The door was shut behind them and their father began at once.

"What were you thinking bringing them here, Connor? How do we explain this!"

His father rarely screamed at him for he would not have the time, but the scolding made Connor feel as if he could shrink into himself as he shyly answered, "They live here too. Tell the press that they are your children and you managed to keep them to yourself for three years or so because you had a friend to send them to or something. You can't take back what has already been done and trust me, it was not my idea for them to reveal themselves to the press."

"I assume," he agreed, softening his tone. He hugged the twins and asked longingly, "How are you two?"

They hugged him back and started up on their first talk with their father. He left them in peace and made his way upstairs to turn in for the night. After a few moments staring at the photo of his family, tears stained his face from the sight of his sister, the one whom he loved so dearly, whom he used to be so close to, he buried himself in the thick covers and gave in to sleep.