collided with something solid. She whimpered and the water stopped its assault. I was mildly disturbed that I couldn’t feel her element. She clearly wasn’t wearing an element-blocking bracelet.
“What are you really doing here, Amaya?” I pushed the wet strands of my hair out of my face. “Who sent you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You must have hit your head pretty bad three months ago.” A smile curved Amaya’s lips.
“Oh, I think you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Adrian came closer, so we had her trapped. There was no way she could get out. Unless she used her element, of course. I couldn’t fight her water with mine or make it evaporate. I didn’t know how much Michael had told her about me – if he’d told her anything at all – but I couldn’t let her go without knowing what she really wanted.
“Amaya.” Adrian’s voice was thick with warning. “Why are you here?”
“Wait, you actually believe your delusional girlfriend?” she said. “I came here to talk to you! I didn’t even know she’d be here.”
“Who told you I was here?” Adrian didn’t seem to fall for the innocent look she was trying to pull off.
“Michael. He asked Lily and she told him. As simple as that.” She pursed her lips together. “Why are you so jumpy? Is something wrong?”
“Yes, there is something wrong.” I smiled. “You’re here. That’s what’s wrong. And you are still lying. Michael must have told you about the attack on this building. He wouldn’t have let you come here if he thought it was dangerous.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “I bet if I called him right now, he’d tell me the truth.”
“Don’t bother. He’d never answer to you.” She grinned. “I convinced him to block your number.”
“I probably don’t even have that number anymore.” Some of my phones had gotten destroyed and Lily had given me new numbers so that no one could track me. “Doesn’t matter. Quit stalling and tell us what we want to know.”
“You’re both crazy.” Her face grew serious. “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but you’re not bringing me into it.” She tried to push past us, but Adrian placed his hand on her shoulder and slammed her none too gently into the wall, making her gasp. Ice started to form on the sleeve of her black jacket and her eyes widened.
“Adrian...” I said, but I wasn’t really sure I wanted to stop him. He knew what he was doing.
“I’m done being nice. Look, Amaya, I never wanted to hurt you and I don’t want to hurt you now, but I swear to God of Magic if you don’t tell me right now what you’re up to, I will cover you with ice from head to toe and there will be nothing you can do about it. Got it?” His tone never faltered, his eyes never leaving hers.
“You can’t...” She squirmed as the ice found its way up her arm. Her water wasn’t going to help her and she must have been thinking the same thing because her shoulders slumped. “Fine. Stop the ice. I came here to deliver something.” She glared at me. “To you.”
Both Adrian and I stepped back, and I frowned. “You have something for me, but you came to talk to my boyfriend and you didn’t want to tell me about it. Honestly, I don’t get it.”
She put her hand into the pocket of her jacket and took out a crumpled piece of paper. “I was supposed to leave this in your room. Of course, I couldn’t exactly walk into this place without a reason, so I said I was looking for Adrian.”
“Leave in my room? You mean I wasn’t supposed to know about it. Great.” I snatched the paper out of her hand. “Who gave you this, anyway?”
“Some creepy woman. I’ve never seen her before. Didn’t tell her name either. Said I didn’t need to know.” Amaya shrugged.
I spread out the paper and saw a symbol of some kind drawn in red ink. After I flipped the paper, I realized there was nothing on the other side, so I showed the symbol to Adrian. Maybe he
Missy Tippens, Jean C. Gordon, Patricia Johns