Elemental Power

Chapter 2

2

Ridley turned away from the stairs and inhaled deeply as white-hot anger flashed through her once more. She shut her eyes and tried to beat it down with every step Archer climbed toward the apartment. But he was yet another person who had known exactly what she was and chosen to keep her in the dark, and this knowledge filled her with an odd mixture of embarrassment and hurt that she could only hide with anger.

“Hey,” he said as he reached the top of the stairs. Hey. As if it were just an average evening. As if he showed up at her home late at night all the time.

Ridley whipped around to face him. “Why are you here?”

He hesitated for only a second before answering. “I came to see you.”

“In the middle of the night?”

Archer walked forward, his dark eyes never leaving Ridley’s face. He must have been home since they’d parted earlier this evening. The blood was gone from his face, and he’d changed his clothes. “I figured you would have read your letter by now.”

Ridley pressed her lips together to hide her intake of breath. Archer wasn’t supposed to know the envelope of letters had survived the flames on the Brex Tower balcony. She crossed her arms, tilted her chin upward, and tried to look as superior as one could look while wearing pajamas. “And why do you think that?”

“Because the more I thought about it, the more I realized you would never have let that envelope burn. You wanted answers, and you knew some of them were probably inside that envelope. I figured you must have lied when you said—”

“I lied? I lied?” Ridley’s arms tightened around her middle as she shouted, “You lied to me, Archer!”

“That’s why I’m here. I wanted to explain—”

“I asked you if Serena was like me, and you looked me in the eyes and flat-out lied to me.”

Archer swallowed. He appeared far less sure of himself than he usually did, but he managed to hold Ridley’s gaze as he said, “I told you there’s no one else like you. I meant it.”

“You know I didn’t mean it that way!”

He nodded. “Yes. I know. But I chose to interpret it that way so I wouldn’t have to lie to you.”

“You didn’t have to lie to me! You have no idea what it’s been like, thinking I’ve always been alone. That no one else could ever understand what a freak I am. You had the answer—the truth about who I am—and you decided not to give it to me. Did you think it was funny? Were you laughing inside about how completely clueless I was?”

“No, of course I wasn’t laughing.” Archer glanced over his shoulder to where Dad was now leaning in the doorway, watching this unpleasant exchange with concern etched onto his face. “I wanted to tell you,” Archer said, turning back to Ridley. “I thought you should know the truth. But—”

“Right, there’s always a ‘but,’ isn’t there.”

“I made a promise, okay?” Archer said. “I promised not to tell you.”

“Oh, wonderful. That’s right. You promised this mysterious person who wants to keep me safe,” Ridley scoffed. “Someone who probably doesn’t even exist. Just a convenient excuse for you to use whenever you don’t feel like telling me—”

“It was me,” Dad said. He uncrossed his arms and walked forward. “I made him promise.”

Ridley’s gaze swung toward her father. Her mouth formed a silent ‘O’ as the rest of her response to Archer died on her tongue. “You?” she asked. Her eyes moved back and forth between the two men in front of her. “Wait, you guys know each other? As in … more than just the handful of times you met when Lilah and I were friends?”

“He helped me recently,” Archer said. “I owed him big time. He made me swear not to get you involved in any of this.”

“A promise you weren’t very good at keeping,” Dad reminded him.

“I tried.” Archer turned toward Dad again. “Believe me, I did. And I never once mentioned the elementals. But she wanted answers, and there was nothing you or I could do to keep her from getting them.” His eyes met Ridley’s. “Which is why you didn’t let that envelope burn. You took it while we were all fighting on the balcony, didn’t you?”

Ridley ignored Archer’s question and focused on her father. “What help?” she asked, barely able to keep her voice from shaking. “What help did you give him?”

“He needed somewhere to hide.”

“It was the last time I returned to the city,” Archer added. “A few months ago. I had hidden the flash drive, and people were after me. They didn’t know exactly who they were chasing, thank goodness, but they knew it was someone with information on the elementals. I needed to hide somewhere. There was an accident near Jasmine Heights, and the roads were all blocked off that way. I couldn’t get back down to the bunker. I was running, and I was desperate. I knew by then that your father was someone I could trust, that he knew about the elementals. So I came here.”

“Where was I?” Ridley asked.

“You were here,” Dad said. “But it was late. I think you were already asleep.”

Ridley shook her head and turned away from them. The confusing mix of emotions rising inside her was almost overwhelming. But there was no way in hell she was about to cry in front of Archer, so she blinked back her tears. “So the two of you—and the Lins—get to run around and have secret meetings and pass information back and forth about me and other people just like me, all while letting me remain totally, stupidly unaware.”

“Riddles, there’s nothing stupid about—”

“Of course there is!” She swung back around to face them. “I had no clue any of this was going on. And some of it was happening inside my own home. While I was here!” She sucked in a breath and blurted out, “I’m a thief.”

Dad hesitated, his mouth half open, before saying, “Excuse me?”

Ridley couldn’t say why she picked that exact moment to finally reveal her own secret—perhaps it was because, selfishly, she didn’t want to be the only confused person in the room—but if she could have taken the words back, she would have. Explaining her illegal activities while in such a confused and angry state was not ideal. Neither was having Archer present while she did it. “I steal,” she said, pushing her shoulders back and trying to sound as calm as possible. “I steal from disgustingly wealthy people like Archer. Then I sell the things I steal. And then I give the money to people who need it.”

“I … you …” Dad screwed his face up. “You what?”

“And I use my magic to help me. I’ve been doing this for years. Ever since Shen got so sick and almost died because his parents couldn’t afford the treatment.”

“I … I don’t even know what to say right now.”

“Good. You don’t need to say anything. It’s Archer’s turn.”

Archer raised his eyebrows. “My turn?”

“Dad explained his secrets before you got here, I’ve explained mine, so now it’s your turn. Are you part of the Shadow Society?”

Archer’s mouth dropped open. “Am I—Why would you think that?”

“Shen’s mother just told us why Shen was so convinced you were part of the Shadow Society. She said Shen saw a video call between you and Lawrence that convinced him you’re one of them.”

“Yes, he probably did,” Archer said without missing a beat. “If he’s been following Lawrence around, then I wouldn’t be surprised if he witnessed multiple calls between us. I’ve been trying to infiltrate the group for months, but they don’t exactly trust people who haven’t been part of their society for generations.”

Ridley narrowed her eyes at him. “When you were talking with Lawrence at his house that night I was hiding there, you mentioned a meeting. You said something about taking that envelope of letters to the next meeting. What was that?”

“The next meeting of the society. I’ve been trying to get him to invite me, but you can probably tell we’re not—we weren’t—the best of friends, so it hasn’t exactly worked out.”

Ridley’s gaze flicked to her father before moving back to Archer. “How are we supposed to know if this story you’re telling is true?”

“Ridley, I—” Archer pushed his hand through his hair. “I don’t know what else to say. I’ve been trying to keep you safe—trying to keep everyone like you safe—for months now. Since before I returned to the city. You’ve seen what’s happened in the past few days. I almost got myself killed trying to get that flash drive back.”

“So you could give it to the society?” Ridley asked.

Dad shook his head. “He destroyed it as soon as we got away from Brex Tower, remember?”

“Exactly,” Archer said. “Ridley, just think. Why would I have gone to so much trouble to get it back from Lawrence if we were both part of the society and he already had it?”

“Okay, okay.” She placed her hands on her hips and looked into his eyes. “So … you’re not one of them? That’s the truth?”

Without blinking, he said, “That is the absolute truth.”

Ridley pursed her lips, then said, “Okay. Sorry. It’s just that you’ve lied about other things, so it was possible you might have been lying about this too.”

“Okay, I get that. But since I’m not, does that mean we’re good now?” Archer asked, his eyebrows raised in question.

Ridley sighed and rubbed both hands over her face. Her heightened emotions had kept her going, but as they receded, exhaustion crept in to take their place. “Here’s the thing I was trying to explain to my dad,” she said as she lowered her hands. “Even if I can understand why you lied, it still hurts that you did. So no. We’re not good. Because part of me is still mad at you.”

Archer opened his mouth, but it seemed he had no plan for what to say next, because no sound came out.

“While we’re on the subject of lying,” Dad said. “Can we go back to the part where you’ve been stealing from people?”

Ridley groaned, took a few steps back, and dropped onto the couch. “I knew you wouldn’t understand.”

“What were you thinking?” Dad demanded. “Aside from how dangerous that is, it’s just downright wrong! I thought I raised you better than that.”

“You did,” Ridley said, “but my best friend was about to die, and that rich woman who was so rude to you didn’t need all that cash in her purse. So I chose to do the wrong thing for the right reason. And after I’d done it once, it was easier to do it again. And yes, I know I’ve been breaking the law, but I’m not sorry I helped people.”

“Ridley … that’s … just …” Dad lowered himself onto the couch beside her as he struggled to put whatever he was thinking into words. His eyes traveled across her face, confused, as if he didn’t understand what he was seeing there.

“What?” she asked. “Are you looking at me and thinking you don’t even know me? ’Cause that’s kind of how I’ve been feeling since the moment you showed up at Brex Tower in a masquerade mask and fought off Lawrence’s bodyguards. You’re shocked by the things I’ve done, but I’m just as shocked by the things you’ve done. Dad, you’ve … you’ve killed people.”

His eyelids slid shut for a moment as he exhaled. “Ridley, that was—”

“Different? Please don’t say that was different.”

He looked at her. “Your life was at stake.”

“Well, guess what? Most of the times I’ve stolen, it’s because someone’s life was at stake. So don’t tell me that your kind of wrong and my kind of wrong are different.”

Dad’s expression softened slightly. “Okay. You’re right. We’ve both done terrible things that, apparently, neither of us regret. And we’ve both kept secrets. A lot has been revealed tonight. We’ll probably be able to talk about everything more rationally in the morning.”

“You mean like how we’re going to contact the other elementals and get out of Lumina City?”

“No. We’ve been over that already.”

“We haven’t. You told me your opinion and didn’t give me a chance to give mine.”

“Because I’m still your father, and that means I get the final say.”

“Uh, maybe I should go now,” Archer said.

“I don’t understand,” Ridley said to her father, sitting straighter and pushing herself to the edge of the couch. “You keep talking about protecting me. That’s what you’ve spent my whole life doing, right? But now when a real threat shows up, you don’t want to do anything about it?”

“Ridley, the threat has been taken care of. We destroyed the flash drive. And any other threat that letter is referring to—” he pointed to the crate “—is the same threat you’ve been living with your whole life. You just didn’t know about it before. Yes, there are people who discovered what you are within the past few days, but none of them are alive now to tell the tale. The society doesn’t know any more than they did before. But if we suddenly disappear? That’s suspicious. They’ll catch us before we get too far into the wastelands, or they’ll track us from a distance and only make their move once we eventually find the elementals hiding out there. And neither of those paths is an option, okay? You need to go back to school and act as if nothing has changed, and that is what will keep you alive.”

“Act as if nothing has changed,” Ridley repeated. She let out a humorless laugh. “Do you know how hard that’s going to be?”

“Yes. I do. Fortunately, I also know that you’re entirely capable of mastering difficult things, so this shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

“Uh, so sorry to interrupt you guys again,” Archer said, “but are you aware there’s a magic-mutated cat inside your home?”

“What?” Dad said immediately. He looked around, then jerked back against the cushions as the cat in question rubbed itself against his shins. “Where’d that come from?”

“The wastelands, I’m guessing,” Ridley said, leaning forward and reaching her hand toward the four-eared cat with eyes that glowed magic blue. Entirely black aside from one white paw, the cat was slim but without the mangy look of a street cat. Perhaps magic kept it looking healthy, Ridley thought. “I’ve seen it here twice in the past few days,” she said. “It doesn’t seem to want to leave.” The cat sniffed her knuckles, then rubbed its head against her hand.

“Don’t get attached,” Dad said, but even as the words left his mouth, he extended one hand and ran it along the length of the cat’s back. “I mean, you know I don’t have anything against pets, but we’ll only wind up in trouble for not handing over a magic-mutated animal. We don’t need that kind of attention.”

“Yeah,” Ridley said quietly as the cat purred.

“Where are the other letters?” Dad asked, sitting back.

Ridley pushed herself to her feet and walked to her bedroom. After taking a quick look at the other letters to confirm they were the same as hers, she folded them all and slid them back into the envelope. “They’re all in here,” she said as she returned to the living room. She held the envelope out toward Dad and noted that the cat had curled up on the cushion next to him.

“Thanks,” Dad said as he rose from the couch and took it. “I’ll be keeping these. Just in case you find yourself tempted to go looking for these people.”

“Oh, darn,” Ridley deadpanned. “If only I hadn’t memorized all the names already.’

“This isn’t a joke, Ridley. I don’t want you looking for them. The society might be tracking one or two of them already, and you certainly don’t need to get caught up in that. You’ll get yourself killed.”

Ridley swallowed. “Yeah. Okay.”

“Okay? Seriously?” Dad looked like he didn’t believe her.

“Yes, seriously. I could have been killed earlier tonight. I don’t want that to happen again.”

Dad’s shoulders lowered as he relaxed. “Good. I’m glad you’re finally being sensible about this.”

“But maybe you should ask Mrs. Lin if she recognizes those names,” Ridley added. “If she or Mr. Lin know who those people are, maybe they can pass on the letters. Unless they think it’s too dangerous, of course.”

Dad nodded. “I’ll talk to her about it.”

“Thanks.” She looked at Archer and found him watching her with a doubtful expression. “What, you don’t believe me?” she asked. “You think I’m still planning to go looking for them?”

“Well—”

“I am actually telling the truth, Archer, whether you want to believe me or not. And anyway, I think it’s probably time for you to leave.”

“Yes, it is very late,” Dad said. Ridley remembered Grandpa’s comment about it being a school night, and the realization that her grandfather was alive—alive!—jolted through her once more. She almost told Archer before remembering it was still supposed to be a huge secret. Then again, Archer seemed to know so much about her life that she wouldn’t be surprised if he knew about Grandpa too. But Dad didn’t say a word about him, so Ridley remained quiet.

“Thanks for letting me come by so late, Mr. Kayne,” Archer said. “I know it was unexpected. It’s just that …” He looked at Ridley. “Once I figured out you probably knew about everything, I didn’t want to wait any longer to explain my side of things. I knew the longer I waited, the angrier you’d be when you did eventually see me again.”

She nodded. “Yeah. Probably.”

“Try not to be so mad at me?” he suggested with a small smile.

“Uh huh,” she said noncommittally as she gestured toward the stairs. “Dad can let you out. I’m sure you two have a few more secrets to whisper about.”

Dad let out a weary sigh. “Ridley.”

“Sorry. That was a joke. Sort of.” She turned toward her bedroom, and when the cat leaped off the couch and followed her, she didn’t shoo it away.