Hunted (Tainted Elements, #5) Read online




  Tainted Elements Series

  Book Five

  HUNTED

  Alycia Linwood

  Copyright © 2015 Alycia Linwood

  Cover Stock Images Copyright: ©Canstockphoto.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this novel may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior permission in writing from the author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  alycialinwood.weebly.com

  1st edition

  Dedication

  As usual, this book is dedicated to my readers. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Special thanks to my beta readers and editors! This book wouldn’t be the same without you. Thank you for your support!

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 1

  I paced up and down the room, running a hand through my hair. Just before Lily was supposed to make an announcement and nicely explain the existence of tainted elementals to the public, a woman named Sophia Mornell cut into the transmission, presented tainted elementals as a threat, and told people to fight against us.

  “What now?” I looked at Jaiden, who was sitting on the bed, his face serious.

  “I don’t know.” He sighed. “I guess we’ll find out soon.”

  I glanced at the TV screen but immediately had to look away because the news channel was still showing images of Jaiden and me. Jaiden had muted it when he could no longer stand to hear the reporters refer to us as a threat to mankind. “Who is she? What does she want?”

  Jaiden just shook his head. “Someone who doesn’t like tainted elementals.”

  “How did she even get all that footage?” I could understand that Sophia found videos of me going after Blake because that had happened in the middle of the street. It had been impossible to control the observers and passersby, which was one of the reasons Lily had decided to reveal our secret.

  But that didn’t explain where Sophia had obtained the footage from Elemontera, the images of Jaiden killing people with his mind for his father, or the clips of me fighting in Elemontera. I couldn’t imagine how Sophia could have gotten her hands on any of that.

  “She has to be working with someone. Do you think your father has anything to do with it?” I asked.

  A frown line creased Jaiden’s brow. “My father?”

  “Yeah. He escaped from that place where you kept him just in time. What if it was Sophia who freed him? If he or one of his scientists finally figured out how to turn regular adult elementals into tainted elementals, then maybe this is how they both planned to earn lots of money.”

  “I think I would know if he was working with her,” Jaiden said. “She would have shown up somewhere or visited him, but I’ve never seen her before.”

  “Are you sure? You’ve been on Roivenna for a long time. Your father could have met with whoever he wanted and make God knows what kind of deals with them. And maybe Sophia finally completed his big plan and came for him.” I put my hand on my hip, unsure how we were supposed to deal with this.

  When I first found out about Jaiden’s ability to mind-control people, I wasn’t really thrilled about it. And after Blake successfully changed my whole life and made me believe things that weren’t true, I convinced myself of how dangerous our abilities truly were. And for regular elementals who didn’t even have the slightest chance of defending themselves against mind control, the news would be much harder to take in.

  “Shit. You’re right.” Jaiden ran a hand across his face. “It’s possible the two of them are working together, but why didn’t they immediately announce their discovery?”

  “Sophia doesn’t seem like a stupid woman. If she immediately said she wanted to sell something, people would be suspicious of her intentions and maybe even blame her for creating such elementals. The news has to sink in first, and when the government and everyone confirms we were born like this because of genetic manipulation... then she can make her announcement or try to sell whatever product she wants.” I didn’t know if any other elementals had been turned into tainted after being born, like Jaiden. But it didn’t really matter, because the majority were born like that.

  “If my father is really working with her, then they could also be trying to sell the blockers. Maybe someone figured out how to configure them to defend people against most tainted elementals and not just against specific ones.”

  “We can drive ourselves crazy with theories.” I stopped pacing and looked at him. “We should go find her.”

  He pressed his lips into a tight line, then his eyes fell onto the TV screen. “Every single cop is looking for us. We’ll have to make ourselves invisible, and if they bring energy detectors...”

  “Doesn’t matter. We’ll keep a low profile. Small spikes of energy can’t be tracked.” If Jaiden didn’t want to use much of his energy because his elements were expiring and his father had run off with the serum that could restore them, then I could help him and keep him invisible with me. As long as he kept touching me, I was sure there wouldn’t be any problems. Except that might cause a bigger spike of my energy, but wouldn’t two tainted elementals flying together have a similar effect anyway?

  The pocket of my jeans vibrated and I realized it was my phone. “Yeah?” I said tentatively, hoping no one from the press or the cops had gotten my number.

  “Moira? Are you okay?” Noah’s voice filled the line and my shoulders slumped in relief.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Did you...” I assumed there was no need to ask because probably everyone had seen the news. You’d have to live under a rock not to see it or hear about it from someone.

  “Yeah, that was just... Did you talk to the cops to clear things up? Or ask Lily for advice?” he said, barely taking a breath.

  “No. I don’t want to go anywhere near the cops. They’d arrest us immediately, and who knows what would happen then?” We weren’t in the times when threats like magic disease carriers were hunted down like animals or killed on the spot because someone suspected them of having committed a murder, but I wasn’t about to risk it and find out. “And I couldn’t reach Lily. She’s probably overwhelmed by all the people who want to talk to her.”

  “But you were helping to save them from a psychopath, and all you did was either as an Elemontera agent or while you were trying to help others. They can’t treat you like a criminal.”

  I noticed that he avoided mentioning Jaiden, but I wasn’t about to bring him up. Noah and Jaiden’s relationship was still too tense. And I didn’t even want to think about how seeing Jaiden actually kill all those people affected Noah. I doubted it mattered to him that Jaiden hadn’t had a choice.

  “Yeah, and we might be able to p
rove that, but not now. Not while everyone is upset and scared...”

  “So what are you going to do? Wait until things calm down?”

  “No, Jaiden and I are going after Sophia.”

  “What?” Noah’s voice was full of incredulity. “How do you even plan to find her? She might not even be in this city.”

  “She has to be somewhere around here.” Why else would she say she cared about the city if she wasn’t here to back up her claim? She probably knew the world would be in chaos and was waiting for an opportunity to come out with whatever she wanted to reveal next. “We think she might be working with Jaiden’s father, especially since he’s gone too and she has footage she shouldn’t have.”

  “Um, have you considered the possibility that she’s not working for anyone? She could be someone who lost a family member or someone she cared about because of tainted elementals,” Noah said.

  I thought about it for a moment. “Yeah, it could be that too.” How could I not have considered that option? People who worked for Elemontera had families too. “Forget it. There are too many possibilities, but hacking into Lily’s system and getting her hands on such information isn’t the work of some random, grieving person.”

  “Yeah, someone is probably helping her.” Noah sighed. “So... do you need some help?”

  I didn’t want Noah to risk his life. People would be looking for us and maybe he should stay in hiding until things calmed down, but tracking down Sophia on our own might take too much time. “Are you sure? We could always use some help, but... it’s not safe.”

  Noah snorted. “Oh please. We’ve been in plenty of dangerous situations before. I can help.”

  “Okay, then come meet us at Harrlowe Factory. On the roof. Make sure no one sees you.”

  “I’ll be there.” The line went dead, and I slid the phone back into my pocket.

  “Noah is coming to help us,” I said.

  “You shouldn’t have told him where to meet us.” Jaiden got to his feet, crossing his arms. “Someone might be listening in.”

  “It’s been what? A couple of hours? The cops and everyone is busy dealing with the news. I don’t think they managed to find my number and immediately bugged the line.” At least I hoped they couldn’t. Briefly closing my eyes, I sighed. “But we should probably get rid of our phones and buy burners.”

  “Yeah.” He stepped forward and pulled me into his arms, nuzzling my neck. “We’ll need more help for this. Everyone will be looking for the two of us now that they’ve seen our faces, and I don’t mean just the cops.”

  I placed my hands on his chest and looked up into his dark eyes. “Who else can we contact? I don’t want to put anyone’s life in danger.”

  “Their lives will be in danger if we don’t find Sophia. If she has more footage from Elemontera and she shows it or twists it somehow to support her theory to prove that we’re all dangerous...” He cleared his throat. “We could end up with angry masses after us, or even people who would want to use our abilities for their own benefit.”

  “Don’t remind me.” I let go of him and turned toward the window. One glance at the street didn’t show signs that anything had changed, but I knew it had. There were fewer people outside, and those who were on the street were hurrying and kept glancing at passersby, probably wondering if an elemental with a mind-controlling ability was somewhere around them. Hell, maybe some of them even thought we could read minds. Not that I knew for sure none of us could do that. “Let’s meet with Noah first and then we’ll see what we can do. Maybe he can contact the others.”

  Jaiden nodded, and I turned myself into air, flying for the window that was slightly ajar.

  Chapter 2

  I rubbed my arms, suddenly feeling cold in the chilly twilight.

  “Want my jacket?” Jaiden asked, but I shook my head.

  A shimmering caught my attention and I pointed my finger toward it. “It’s too big to be Noah.”

  “Looks like he brought company.” Jaiden’s brows were drawn together in concentration. “I recognize them. It’s everyone from the hideout.”

  “But weren’t they supposed to go home or wherever to live a happy life far from this drama?” One part of me was glad that I’d get to see everyone again, but by coming here they were putting their lives at risk.

  “Um, they probably had to change their plans once the news leaked.”

  “Right.” As we waited for our friends to land, I looked around to make sure nobody uninvited was coming. A gathering such as this must have caused a big energy spike and I hoped no one was monitoring us, or at least that people all over the city were upset enough to lose control of their elements and confuse the detectors.

  Noah materialized first, his lips spreading into a smile when he saw me, his blue eyes kind and warm. “Hey, Moira.” His gaze raked over Jaiden.

  “So nice to see you all again,” Marissa said as she appeared next to him, letting go of his hand. “I was hoping it would be under better circumstances, but whatever. I called Noah as soon as I could and he came for me and brought me here.”

  Nick became visible with Ashley and Sam, and Kenna landed not far from them, a scowl on her beautiful face.

  “I didn’t expect to see you all here.” Especially not Kenna.

  “We know elementals with stronger abilities would be more useful to you,” Sam said. “But we came to help. Just because we can’t fly or control people’s minds doesn’t mean we’re useless.”

  “I’m really glad you’re here.” I pulled them all into hug, one by one, and waved at Kenna, who was keeping her distance.

  “Let’s go somewhere more private,” Jaiden said, glancing nervously at the sky. “Someone could spot us here.”

  Everyone’s heads turned toward me, and I realized they weren’t really ready to follow Jaiden’s orders again. “Good idea. Come on. There’s an empty apartment in the building across from here with a nice fire escape that we can use in case we need it.”

  Noah shrugged. “Sounds good to me. But can’t we just grab everyone and fly out? Our abilities are even better now. Isn’t that right, Nick?”

  Nick bobbed his head. “Yep.”

  “So you basically just came to show off.” A grin formed on my lips.

  “Nah.” Nick waved his hand, but his blue eyes were filled with amusement. “Well, maybe a little.”

  “Then let’s hope that if someone comes to try and capture us, they don’t have any blocking devices,” I said, then turned to Ashley and Marissa, who were walking next to me as we made our way to the roof door. “So what do you think about Sophia’s announcement?”

  “Do you have any idea who she could be?” Marissa’s gray eyes narrowed. “I swear she couldn’t have picked a worse moment. How did she even know Lily was planning to make an announcement?”

  “We don’t really know anything about her,” I said. “But we’ll find out.”

  “I still don’t get why she’d wage a war on us. We’re more powerful. We’d win,” Nick said confidently.

  “Are you sure about that?” Sam asked. “There’s more of them and not that many of us. Besides, some of us are only as powerful as element preservers.”

  “Do you think preservers could side with regulars?” Ashley’s green eyes went wide. “But they were in our situation once! All magic disease carriers were persecuted. Do you really think they’d just decide we should all be killed or something because some of us are more powerful?”

  “I hope not.” Marissa said. “I don’t want to think our world could regress.”

  “We could just hand over the mind controllers,” Kenna said, flipping her dark brown hair over her shoulder, and everyone’s gazes snapped toward her. “What? Oh come on. Don’t look at me like that. Sophia used the two of them for a reason.” She bobbed her head toward Jaiden and me. “What people are truly afraid of is mind control and killing with a single thought. Stronger elements, flying, and invisibility... bah, who cares about that? It’s not that different fr
om regular elements, but mind control...”

  “Kenna...” Nick said, a pinched expression on his face. “Didn’t we agree that if you came here, you’d behave?”

  “I’m just telling the truth, brother.” She gave him a nonchalant look. “If it weren’t for mind abilities, we wouldn’t have any trouble. I was stuck in that underground rat-infested place because of that bastard.” She pointed at Jaiden. “And now we’re most likely going to be hunted down because he and his girlfriend killed people with their minds. Can’t you see? It’s all because of them.”

  “Don’t forget who helped you get off the island.” Nick groaned. “Maybe I should’ve left you there.”

  “Hey!” Kenna’s mouth twisted. “I wouldn’t have needed help if it hadn’t been for...”

  “Yeah, yeah, let’s not talk about that right now,” Noah said, flailing his hands.

  We descended through a dark, empty stairway, and I was glad the building was an abandoned factory because we were way too loud. “What we need to focus on is finding Sophia. Who knows what else she’s planning to do? Now that’s she got everyone’s attention I’m sure she’ll resurface and try to convince people that elementals like us all pose a threat.”

  “Great. Just what we needed.” Kenna huffed.

  “You don’t have to be here,” Nick said, folding his arms across his chest. “I shouldn’t have told you anything.”

  “Nuh uh. I’m staying,” Kenna said. “I won’t leave you alone with them. Who knows what stupid idea they’ll put you up to?”

  “I don’t need protection.” Nick frowned.

  “Doesn’t mean I won’t have to keep an eye on you,” she replied.

  We emerged into an alley full of trash, and I almost stepped into a puddle of some disgusting orange liquid. Dodging the cans and papers, I dashed to the door of an old apartment building.

  “Shh.” I raised my finger in front of my lips and waited until I was sure everyone was quiet. “Some older people still live here, so let’s not draw their attention, okay?”