Chapter 3

I felt like I stared at that door for hours until Lara finally entered. She started a bath with something she called seat salts set aside for me to add as needed. We never had the luxury of taking baths regularly, maybe once or twice a week almost, and those are usually timed.

I was just getting out of the tub when Lara returned with clothes for me. “I’ll set this down on the bed for you miss.” She moved some of her black hair out of her face that fell out of her bun. “Alright,” I felt puzzled, I didn’t know what I was expected to do or say, I was practically kidnapped and taken here. It's much better than the Compounds I was in, but still, I don’t even know where I am. “Do you need anything else to miss?” I adjusted the towel I put on and walked out of the bathroom, eyeing the clothes that she just laid on the bed. “No. Thank you for this.” I wanted to say ‘Where am I? Who are you? Where’s my sister?’ But I’m sure she wouldn’t answer me. When she told me Mr. Leger would be here shortly and left me alone, I gathered the clothes from the bed and changed quickly into too-loose black pants and a fitted blue top. My eyes searched the room again, I should have checked for cameras or bugs of some sort, who knows who these people are- a knock sounds at the door followed by the door swinging open and Carson entering. “I see you're finally ready.” He says motioning for me to follow him, but I don’t stay put. “Where am I?” I ask ignoring his glare “your safe, that’s what matters.” “That’s not an answer” He starts to move towards me but I quickly back up into one of the canopy’s pillars. He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, I stare at it for a moment, it looks so soft, I’m so tempted to reach and and touch it, but I quickly push that down and refocus my mind as he finally responds. “You at Oralans compound.” I stared at him, I knew that word. Oralans, it sounded so- “This is a justice group?” I breathe out watching his body movements as he stops in front of me. I don’t know much about the outside world, but I do know about the justice groups. Since the private complex I was put in is quite popular with these groups, we are hit rapidly by them, I took it upon myself to learn more about these groups over the years. They are built to resist against the new society trying to be established by the government. They usually attempt to invade complexes to show they are a threat, not to take people.

He doesn’t respond he just stares at me. “Why am I here, and how do you know who I am?” A corner of his mouth tugs up as he continues to not respond. I lock my jaw and grit out, “Are you going to respond or not?” Crossing my arms, I stare at his handsome face. God, how can a man be so intimidating but look so good at the same time? I could stare into his gorgeous blue eyes forever, I would drown in them if he would let me- Oh. My. Gosh. Snap out of it. You can’t be ogoling this man, he freaking kidnapped you!

I quickly avert my eyes looking down at the plush carpet. “I’ll give you the answers, Mrs. Blackwood, soon enough.” He smirked then walked back to the door, motioning for me to follow him. I obeyed and we walked out into a vast hallway, lined with gold trim and white walls covered in empty frames. I frowned why have frames but no photos? We didn’t have frames other than photos to put in them, but It’s obvious that frames are paired with a sort of photo or painting. I stepped completely out of the room and he let go of the door he held for me as it shut behind me with a click. “Where are we going?” My eyes still roamed around the hallway, and my legs moved to catch up with his long strides. He approached a set of stairs at the end of the hallway when he finally answered “I want you to meet someone.” He didn’t look at me as he ascended the stairs, taking two at a time. I hurried after him, and by the time we reached the designated floor, I was out of breath. “Who?” I gasped out, trying to control my breathing. “Do you always ask so many questions?” He raised an eyebrow turning around to face me. I knew I looked like a mess, I could feel a layer of sweat on my forehead as my hair stuck to it. “I’m sorry, I'll try my best to not annoy you with my questions about where I am and why you kidnapped me.” He smirked and turned around walking again, “Good, thanks, red.” I gritted my teeth and moved my legs to follow him. We finally reached a set of wooden doors at the end of the hall, it was double the height of him, and could probably fit a few horses through it. Opening the door, he gestured for me to go in, and reluctantly I did. Voices were coming from inside and my eyes searched the room as I stepped in, looking for the owners. Stopping, I spotted two men seated on a red sofa in the middle of the room, one with a can of beer in their hand, the other gesturing to a paper in his. A woman is positioned on the other side of them on a worn armchair, sipping a glass of wine, as she nods at something the second man says. The door shut behind me in a loud thump making me jump and all three eyes landed on me. There was a long silence until Carter stepped out from behind me and broke it, “This is Cherub, the girl I was talking about.” He says blandly as all three of them stand up in unison, and walk towards us, they are all dressed nicely, both men in suits but no tie, and the woman in a dark blue dress. I felt out of place, but honestly, I had no choice in my clothing. “Brad Floris.” The first man greets me, holding out a hand for me, I stare at it, then look back at his face, suspiciously. He’s almost as tall as Carter so I have to rein my neck back to look at him, but he is the complete opposite looks-wise. He has dark brown hair that curls around his face and a light stubble around his sharp jawline. He looks young, maybe 17? His boyish smile gives that away, and he waits for me to take his hand, but I don’t. “You're gonna scare her away with that hideous face of yours, Brad.” The second man says shoving him, then stepping in front of him to greet me. “ I’m Lance, it’s good to meet you cherub.” He smiles at me, his green eyes dancing over my body. I take him In also, but not in the way he’s taking me in, he’s looking at me like I’m a meal prepared, I’m watching him like a cat does to a mouse. He has the same features as the first man, Brad, but he looks much older. “uh-“ I look between the two men as the woman pushes past them “stop hogging her!” She wines as she finally faces me, moving her bouncy blonde hair over her shoulder “Oh my goodness aren’t you a sight! When he said you were pretty I thought he meant Martha pretty, not this.” She hugged me, “It’s so good to finally meet you Cherub, I’m Andera.” I stood stiffly my hands at my sides as she gave me one last squeeze before she let me go and stepped back. Who is this woman? How much does she know about me? She must have seen the questions in my eyes as she answered “I was a friend of your mother's. I’m so sorry about what happened by the way, it must have been terrible.” I flinch at her words, and she looks like she’s about to say more when Carson cuts her off. “I would love to continue this, but we have work to do.” They all seem to nod, and then Carter motions towards the seating area in the center of the room they just occupied. Taking a seat on the red sofa, I shift my boy into the corner as Andera sits next to me, with Brad on her other side. Lance places papers I haven’t noticed he was carrying on the table, then disappears with the glass of wine and bottles of beer into a small alcove of the room. Carter stands in front of us, and I feel uneasy as he lifts a paper from the pile. I finally speak up, “Am I going to be told why I’m here?” I say shifting my position on the sofa. Lance renters the room with a laptop in his arms, then sits in the empty armchair across from us. “I think you know.” That is all Carter says, not looking up from the paper. I look at him confused, is it because of the elements? I could barely control them, and nobody but my parents knew they existed, not even my sister, how did they know?

I watch Lance as he types something into his computer, then move them to Carter watching his brow scrunch as he reads something on the paper. I stared at him for a second longer until I turned them on Brad and Andrea, they watched me with curious eyes, and I quickly looked away. “How did you all know Angela,” I spoke again, breaking the unsettling silence. “We didn’t.” Brad spoke, “Only Andera did, and when she says she was friends with her, it doesn't mean she was that close to her.” Lance added and went back to his computer “Okay..” I look down into my lap and pull at an invisible thread on my shirt. “So I’m here because?” I restate my first question, hoping for an answer and Carter signs putting down the paper. “Do you ever shut up?” “Carter! That’s rude- and it’s right for her to have questions, we are strangers.” Andera faces me “You’re here because we need you.” Is all she says as she settles back into the couch. Brad snorts “yeah, we need her.” I didn’t get it I stared at him, why did they need me? “Listen guys, just tell her already, I’m getting bored,” Lance says from across the room and he shuts his laptop, his elbows resting on top of it as he leans in. Carter shakes his head annoyed, and looks back up at me, I raise my eyebrows, waiting for him to explain. “I guess you know of nothing that is happening right now?” “You mean you giving me half-assed answers?” I stare at Andera and Brad confused, as they laugh, but Carter silences them with a stare, and Lance just looks bored. “You already know we are part of a justice group” It wasn’t a question but I nodded anyway. “We as many others are, have been trying to take down these complexes, like the one you were situated in.” I look down at my hands that are folded on my lap. “But it’s been difficult to, the Darlyns is one of the smaller ones, but it’s significantly guarded, and It’s obvious why.” I look up at him, creasing my brow. “They didn’t know about my elements.” I shook my head “No one did, I don’t know how you even knew.” He stared at me for a second, then smiled “Are you sure?” I stared at him then Brad spoke up “Everyone in the government knew about Angela, what she did, and who she was”. He paused and Lance chimed in “And they knew about you.” He was staring at me like he was earlier, and I looked away quickly. “While we broke into these facilities, we have also been looking for more of us.” “And when we heard that Angela’s child didn’t die in that fire, we had to get our hands on you,” Lance smirked, I glared at him, and he froze, seeing the same thing everyone sees in my eyes, death. He quickly adverted his eyes and I did too focusing back on Carter when Andera spoke up. “Not like that- we just, well.” She lights softly “A friend of ours, was captured months ago, and you're the only one who can help us retrieve her.” Turning towards her, I watched her expression soften. “Retrieve her? Why do You think I can help you?” “Because you can do more than all of us combined.” I shift and look around the room at the new faces “You all are…?” I get nods from all of them, and I breathe in a harsh breath, and shake my head. “I didn’t know there was more,” I say, my voice low. “There are plenty more than just us too just wait until you meet the rest of them.” Andera winked and Brad smiled. Shaking my head I took this all in, for starters I’m not the only one with these burden elements, and second they want me to use them to save their friend? “You all understand I can barely control them? And I’ve had them locked away for the past ten years until you all walked into my life?” Carter shook his head “You just had them dormant, you can use them we just-“ I shook my head “Cherub, please just think about it.” “I’ll think about it when you tell me where my sister is.” Andera looks confused and so does Brad and Lance. “You don’t have a sister,” “Yes I do, she wants to put it in the records, for a reason.” I glared at him, “does she possess the elements too?” Andera piped up, I shook my head, still

Keeping my eyes trained on Carson as I waited for him to answer my question, he looked, and he shook her head frustrated. “We left the complex as soon as we had you, we couldn’t take anyone else, more troops were on their way, and it would have been worse for them if we tried to save anymore.” My eyes wandered back to my hands, I knew what that meant, but I had to be sure before I started to break down. “D-did they order the kill strike?” I breathe out, my gut twisting “Cherub no- they didn’t.” Brad spoke I let out a harsh breath, Ryan and Sera were okay, they will be okay. “I must find them, I can’t, be here, I have to find them, I just- I have to.” I was rambling I knew it, but I didn’t care, I was worried. Even if they didn’t call the kill strike, they could still use methods of harm to figure out information. A soft hand was placed on my shoulder “Don't worry, if it’s someone you need to find I’m sure we can do it together.” She smiled and looked at Carter for reassurance, he shook her head but then looked back up at me “We will help you if you help us. Your ‘sister’ will be found, if you agree to help us find Tina.” I bite my lip looking away, then back to him. Of course, it’s a negotiation. “What do you need me to do?” He smiles “First we need you to train with your elements, we are going to need them.” I watched him closely as he stood “Andera will walk you back to your room, I’ll send Lara to grab you something to eat.” Andera stood, and Lance and Brad walked off approaching another door on the opposite wall I hadn’t seen when I walked in. They both smiled, except Brad was more welcoming than Lance's long stare.

I finally stood and followed Andera to the door. She just opened the door when Carter spoke again, “I am looking forward to our training sessions, red.” The door snapped shut behind me.

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