The Last Elementalist

Chapter 24

Quick to tire of his work, Connor spent much time outside, sitting on the turf reading books while he waited for something interesting to happen. Day in and day out his brother and sister came out and begged him to play, but after he started them with doing something he often left the two alone and swapped it for the peace and quiet of the back of the grand old house. His only comfort was Evie and Cassidy's daily visits which brightened his mood greatly, but his father unbiasedly forbade him to leave his watchful eye and return to the compound to dwell. When he first said no, Connor tried to sneak out, but it seemed as if the craftier he got, the secret service was more.

Days passed and nothing happened now that the news teams had backed off and given them some peace and quiet, but Connor oddly craved for them to return and pester them with question after question until he grew tired of it once again. When swimming in the late summer heat, Connor flipped on the television, but every channel still seemed to have his speech to his sister engraved in them. He knew that soon it would wear off, but he felt somewhat grateful to the people which he normally hated dearly for allowing his sister the life she deserved, even if America would never know how she actually died.

One of the days about week after the service, someone brought news from the Thrillers whom had been keeping an eye on Lielle and reported that they began to fill the room she was in with some sort of purple gas that they were attempting to search, but unfortunately the Agents had discovered their presence and upgraded their firewall, stripping them of access to the security feed. Connor, who had been used to living on a need-to-know basis, did not take the news well, being that Lielle was alone with those horrible people other than their non-responding spies whom have not contacted them at all in the past week and would not answer the many messages they had sent.

As he grew more aggravated with their many failed attempts, his temper grew short and he tended to snap at everyone, which led to his fight with his dearest friend, Evie.

* * * * *

The days became cooler as September neared and Evie lay next to Connor in the midday breeze. Cassidy had been detained back at the base to try to hack back into the system as one of their most successful computests and apologized for not being there, but it gave the two friends quality time that was much needed for both.

"It's actually pretty boring there," she assured him.

"Nothing can be more boring than being here," he contradicted sadly.

She laughed. "You couldn't be more wrong. All they do there is try to track the spies and get in touch, make curfews and obsess over Lielle. I'm not saying I don't worry about her, but I do think they should be spending a bit more time preparing for the battle."

"Well whichever side has her extra power will have the upper hand."

She shrugged and looked at her feet as she said, "Ya. But there is more to war than just that and that doesn't mean they'll win. I expect you of all people to know that, Connor. I see you giving your speech every day on the news and wish that we still had that odd life in the safety of our homes. When you spoke about her you sounded really sincere."

"Well, why shouldn't I? She was my sister."

She shook her head and barely whispered, "Not her."

Connor massaged his forehead and scolded, "She saved our lives, Evie. Of course I admire her. Besides, she's my friend and she's your friend too. Don't tell me you aren't afraid of what they might do to her."

"Of course I'm afraid, but-"

"But what?" the boy interrupted, hurt on her behalf. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous. What do you have against us being friends-"

"You're more than friends, Connor. I see the way you look at her. Your eyes sparkle and there's always that smile-"

"That smile? So you think I'm romantically involved, do you?" he growled.

As he got up, Evie pleaded, "I just don't want to lose you."

As he stormed away, he mumbled under his breath, "Romantically involved. Ya right."

* * * * *

Hours ticked by and Connor could only sit in his room watching the news or listening to music. Time no longer existed now that he had lost his first and best friend over something so stupid as a misunderstanding. She was four years younger than him. Did she really expect a romance between them? She did only seem jealous that he had been spending so much time with Lielle throughout their journey. He never wanted to lose Evie over anyone else, but now he sat, unsure if what she said might be true.

His brain filled with thoughts that he could not rid it of and he allowed them to carry him into an uneasy sleep, only to be woken up the next minute by Callie shaking his leg, a braid flying in his face.

"Connor, come play," she begged.

He knew it was a silly thought, but he had to try, even if she was one, she was a girl and would probably understand this drama better than him. He sat up, pulling her onto his bed and sullenly asked, "Let's say, hypothetically speaking, a girl got mad at a boy because she thinks he likes a girl, but, hypothetically, this boy is unsure if he does like the girl or not."

She stared at him blankly for a moment before saying, "If "hypothetical" Evie got mad at "hypothetical" you, and "hypothetical" you is not sure if "hypothetical" you likes "hypothetical" Lielle then you need to tell "hypothetical" Evie the truth, 'cause "hypothetical" you obviously has a crush on her."

"Um, you know that the whole point of hypothetical is that there's no names?"

"Well I knew who you were talking about so I still used 'hypothetical,'" she reassured him with air quotes around the word.

"Is it that obvious?" he worried.

"If a one-year-old can spot it then I think it is. Look, just tell Evie the truth and give her some time to get used to it, because she would only ask you if she was worried about something or has a crush on you and I'm going to go with the latter. When you see Lielle you also need to tell her, and if you are to love stricken to talk, actions speak louder than words. Trust me. I'm a genius in this category."

He bit his lip before allowing a quick, "Thanks, Callie. Now what did you need?"

"I saw your old skateboard and wanted you to teach me."

She stared up at him with the same look of determination as when Jean wanted to ride a bike for the first time making it impossible to say no. "Of course," he agreed, escorting her out of the room.

They spent the rest of the afternoon getting her going by herself and after that he threw in a trick or two, only to pass the time. With a promise for more tomorrow, he headed back upstairs to change for dinner with the governor of New York who happened to be in town for the day.

After a quick shower, he walked into his room wearing only his underwear and nearly jumped out of his skin. In front of him stood Evie looking stern. "You asked me here?"

One look at his confused face hinted that he had no idea what was happening. He straightened his face and slipped behind the divider to change, telling her what Callie had told him to say.

At the end of this statement she stood silently for a minute while he fixed his hair. Only when he finished, she said, "Ya I know. And you have the right to like whoever you want to. I'm sorry for flipping out on you, I was just jealous."

He walked closer and gave her a hug. "I know."