Exposing ELE (ELE Series #3) (2 page)

Another soldier walks up behind Tony. I want to call out to him but it happens so fast. All too soon, I watch as Tony becomes the newest victim and falls slowly to the ground next to my parents.

A scream wells up inside my throat as I watch two of the ‘soldiers’ drag their lifeless bodies into the back of an SUV.
No! Everything that I love is being ripped away from me. I want to move – I want to go after them – but I couldn't even if I had the energy to do so. The lives of fifteen other people depend on me.

About ten more minutes go by before all the victims and soldiers have been piled into the trucks. The doors securely close them inside.
The helicopters lift away as the SUV’s peel off down a dirt path, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust in their wake. I feel myself falling though a dark tunnel, Tony’s name whispered on my lips as I lose consciousness.

Run! It's all I can think to do at a time like this. My mind can't comprehend why he would be chasing me or why he has murder in his eyes. I run behind an alley that lines a steel graveyard of refineries and old buildings. The sound of his feet hitting the pavement behind me propels me forward. My eyes must be glowing neon yellow with how hard I'm pushing this ability.

“Don't worry, Willow! I'm not going to hurt you.” His breath doesn't even sound winded. I don't dare glance behind me, not even when he adds an evil, “much,” to the end of that sentence a second later.

A few yards ahead, there is a fork in the road. I debate whether I should take it or stay on this straight path. At the last possible second I decide to go for it. I push the limits of my power, running so ridiculously fast that I can only imagine there's a smoke trail under my sneakers. I take the turn and the pit in my stomach bottoms out. Wrong freaking move!

He laughs from behind me as I come to a standstill in front of a brick wall.
My hands meet it and grip into the grooves of the grout holding the bricks together. There was a time that his laugh would have comforted me. Not today. No, that laugh has an edge to it that tells me he no longer is in control of his actions. He's the marionette for a powerful puppet master. I should have killed that jerk when I had the chance! I turn around slowly with my head to the ground. I don't know if my heart can take seeing him.

“Please,” I say, before I lift my head up to meet his glare. My breath catches as I take him in and my heart betrays me by perking up at the sight of him. So many emotions run through me and no words can express the way I feel. Something incomprehensible tells me that even if I die at his hand, I will not hate him. There is no such fortune for me to be able to hate the man who haunts my dreams and hunts me in the night. His copper hair shines under the moonlight and his eyes glow an eerie burgundy red, swirling together with hints of yellow. There is evil in those eyes. Not an internal evil, but one that has been forced upon him. I don't mean for my plea to come out in a throaty whisper, one that begs him to see me, but it does. I need him to see through everything that has been done to him, to us, and to break away from the one who pulls his strings. It comes out as I plead, “Please, Tony.”

***

As if adrenaline has been pumped into my veins, I shoot up from the bed, gasping for air. I look around the room and expect to see him in front of me. I have no idea where I am. I push my fingers through my sweaty hair as my eyes try to focus in the minimal light. What was that? A dream? A premonition?

A door opens and candlelight filters in through its crack. “Willow?” The door opens wider and I watch Alec step into the room.

“Alec?” I blink a few times not sure what's going on. “Where am I?” I ask.

“You’re in the new safe house; everything’s going to be okay. We managed to get everyone here and situated while you were out. What you did back at the mountain took a great deal out of you, but you saved a lot of people. They are all calling you a hero.” He steps closer to the bed. Something in his expression seems torn, but I'm not sure if it’s just my imagination.

“Oh,” is all I can think to say as I focus on withdrawing my memories from the far recesses of my mind. As if hitting me like a bullet, it all comes back to me. The mountain, the shooting, Zack and his dad, the soldiers, my parents and then Tony. The last two thoughts feel more like a landmine blew up in my heart than a bullet. Tony sacrificed himself for me, trying to save my parent’s lives, even though they had already been lost.

“Are you feeling okay?” Alec asks me. I can see clearly now that there is a hesitancy about him that I can't quite explain. He seems hurt and conflicted. His hands keep clenching and unclenching as if he wants to reach out and touch me but he has to hold back. Something is definitely wrong.

I move my legs to the side of the bed, intending to stand up. I still feel weak so I lean back against the headboard. “Yes, I think so.” I look up to Alec. “I need to find Tony and my parents,” I tell him strongly. Even if they are all dead, I need to see them.
It’s as if I am trying to comprehend what happened at the mountain… it doesn’t feel real.

Alec takes a step back; a hurt look overcomes his expression. “You were calling for him in your sleep you know.”

I remember the dream I had right before waking up. It seemed so real. Those feelings I felt were vivid and unexplainable. I open my mouth but don't really know what to say. I try to divert his previous statement. “My parents. I think they’re dead.” The moment I say it aloud, it becomes a reality. I try to stifle a sob. “And Tony… I think he’s dead too.” I put my face in my hands, squeezing tight, trying to make the pain go away.

Alec comes to my side and crouches down beside me.
“Willow, please stop crying and listen to me.”

I can’t for the life of me figure out why he is acting so blasé about the death of three people that I care so deeply about.
He takes my chin in his hand and lifts my face so I can see him. I am instantly lost in his beautifully haunting, dark blue eyes, and a sense of peace moves over me. “They’re not dead, Willow. The guns the ‘soldiers’ were carrying were loaded with special bullets that contained tranquilizers. It apparently knocks them out just long enough to get them transported to wherever they are going.”

My heart begins hammering in my chest.
My parents, Tony, they’re alive? I think it to myself over and over again. It’s as if grief and elation are fighting an internal battle inside me. I can’t grasp my mind around it.

As if to reassure me that I heard him correctly Tony states, “Willow, Tony and your parents are alive.
One of our soldiers who escaped came and told us what happened. He was able to tell us that, along with information about where they are keeping them locked up.”

I take a moment to wrap my mind around everything Alec just said.
I’m sure my mother and father are going to be okay, especially if they're together. For goodness sakes, my mother has been leading one of the largest militias around for the past several months. She can handle her own. Tony, however, I can’t be sure. He’s strong and smart but my heart is tugging at my feet to move and find him immediately. I have an uneasy feeling about his fate.

I voice this to Alec, “I need to find Tony.”

Alec looks flustered the moment I say it aloud. “Look, Willow.” Alec runs his hand through his hair.

Worried about what he's going to express, I cut him off, “He saved us! We can't leave him. I have to help him. And I have to help my parents too.”

My words seem to wound Alec even more and that ricochets back onto me. I don't want to hurt Alec. Can't he just see that I have to help Tony and my parents? He seems to be at a loss for words, so I muster my strength and stand up. I start to walk past him towards the door. “I have to help them.”

Alec grabs my arm and prevents me from reaching the door. I turn to face him.

“I have to go, Alec.” I plead with him to understand. I have no idea how long I've been out, but I know that any amount of time is too long. I need to find the person who knows where they’re being kept.
God only knows what they’re going through right now.

Alec's eyes heat with a fire I haven't seen before. “You have to go? Just like you had to go in the middle of the night? You left me with your little brother. You left without saying a word!” His hand on my arm seems to squeeze a little harder.
“We have sent a search team to retrieve all of our people, Willow. There’s no need for you to go on a suicide mission!”

I take a deep breath, knowing he's right to be upset. “I know, Alec. I'm sorry, I am. I feel like it’s my responsibility to rescue them though. I felt like I had to do it back then too.”

“You didn't trust me to tell me your plans or to have me go with you the first time. But you trusted him?” Alec spits out the last word. He looks royally pissed.

“It's not about trust!” I yank my arm free from his and tuck my hair behind my ears. “Look, I don't have time for this right now. I have to go.”

“You don't have time for me?” he asks.

I huff, not sure what else to do. I have to mentally make myself not stomp my foot. “It's not that I don't have time for you. I have a duty to help them. Tony saved me and I at least owe him the same respect in return.”

“Who are you trying to kid, Willow?
It’s more obvious than the nose on your face. You have more than a duty to help Tony! I see the way you look at him and the way he looks at you.” His voice grows quiet as he takes a deep breath, holding my stare with his.

My face falls as the realization of what he’s saying dawns on my heart.
I want to say that I have no idea what he's talking about, but the turmoil I've been feeling around Tony, and the memories of my feelings in that dream, can't be denied. I look back up at Alec, torn, not sure what to say.

“Willow, I can't handle this. You obviously don't trust me enough to confide in me and...”

I cut him off. “I do trust you!” A helpless feeling settles in as I feel something starting to slip away that I so desperately want to hold onto.

“I honestly don't think you do, at least not completely. Look, you will always hold a special place in my heart, but I can’t keep competing for a battle that’s already won.”

I furrow my brow at him. “What battle, Alec?” The frustration has my heart speeding up.

“The battle for your heart, Willow.”
The emotion in his eyes is like a kick to my gut.

My stomach drops. “What?” I reach out to grab his hand and he yanks it away from me. The hurt from that simple action stings like a bee and my eyes instinctively tear up. “I don't know what you're talking about, Alec.”

“I think you do, Willow, you just haven't admitted it to yourself yet. Tell me that everything I'm saying or thinking is wrong. Tell me that I must be insane and losing my mind. Tell me that, please,” he whispers as he looks away from me.

“I...” I don't know what to say. What can I say that wouldn't be a lie? I have no idea what I feel. I open my mouth but no more words come out. How can I sit here and not declare that he is so far from the truth? Why can't I just say two simple words? You're wrong.
Those two words can stop what's about to happen from happening. Nothing comes to my lips though, and I dread what’s coming next.

“See, you can't even deny it. I can't do this.” His voice is choked with emotion.

I close my eyes in that moment and swallow hard. I drop my head again, unable to look him in the eye. A tear slips down my cheek as I realize what’s about to come. “So, this is it?” I ask Alec. I look up at him and my emotions are threatening to burst like a dam that’s too full of water.

Alec runs his fingers through his hair and then he looks into my eyes one last time before nodding in affirmation. He takes the three steps to the door, leaves, and closes it behind him without ever looking back.

I don't have it in me to think about what just occurred, but it only takes a few moments before the dam breaks and my eyes flood with tears. They spill down my cheeks and onto the bed. I hold my head in my hands, rocking back and forth. I feel so unattached from the world, like what I’m living right now isn’t even real. I can’t distinguish truth from reality. All that I ever knew has been ripped from me… it’s as if this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I grab the pillow next to me and place it over my face.
I sob into it loudly, hoping not to draw attention to myself, but also desperately trying to release these foreign emotions. I scream and sob into the pillow, desperate for some sort of relief.

I hear the door click back open and I peek over the pillow to see Claire standing in the doorway.
She wastes no time in coming to my side. “Alec said you might need me.” She wraps her arms around my middle and draws me close to her small frame. I cry on her shoulder as she strokes my hair. It reminds me of something my mother would do.

“It hurts,” I tell her, as I clutch at my heart that feels as if it's breaking into a million sad little pieces.

“I know. It will be okay, I promise.” She strokes my hair some more. “It will all be okay.”

As my sobs turn into a softer cry, she places her hands on each of my arms and lifts me from her embrace.
She wipes the tears from my cheeks and hands me a tissue. I gladly accept it and dab at my nose.

“I know you may not believe me now,” Claire begins.
“But this heartache you’re experiencing will soon be but a memory… one that won’t hurt near as bad as it currently does.”

I’m tempted to ask her how she could possibly know that, when I remember what Claire’s life has been like.
She lost both of her parents very young in life. If anything, her loss is far worse than mine is.

I wrap my arms back around her, hoping that she isn’t reliving the pain of her past for my expense.
“Thank you,” I whisper into her ear. I don’t need to say anything more to her. I can tell she already knows how thankful I am to have her as a friend. She’s always there in my time of need and goodness knows I will always be there for her.

“Why don't you go get washed up? You are probably starving!” Claire pats my leg.