Embers & Ice (Rouge) (8 page)

“That’s
awful,” said Hunter for what felt like the billionth time.
Note to self:
expect many more horrible things and try not to get squeamish over them.

“Uh-huh.
He’s been here longer than all these kids. When I was little and afraid growing
up in this place, Will helped me get through it. Sometimes I returned the
favor. He’s like my big brother. He keeps to himself mostly and doesn’t like to
get into trouble.”

Suddenly
Hunter remembered what Zac said yesterday and felt her heart shrink in fear for
the poor doe-eyed boy across the room.
There’s no adults because no one gets
to live past their twenties. Their bodies start to die.
Was that what was
happening to Will?

With
her appetite suddenly missing, Hunter pushed away her plate and tried to look
everywhere but at him. She focused on a grimy stain on the table and listened
to Fearne.

“…Eventually
your body gets used to all the surgical procedures and what-not, sort of like
someone who has cancer and has to battle through years in hospital, only… well
we’re here for a lot longer. And the kids aren’t so bad. At least–”

Fearne
stopped speaking, her face forming a blank stare. The expression left Hunter
speechless.

“Even
in death,” Fearne whispered hoarsely, “it never leaves you.”

“What?”

“It
never leaves you.”

Hunter
glanced around to see if anyone – besides Will – was watching, and clicked her
fingers in front of Fearne’s eyes. She didn’t blink.

Back
to crazy mode.
Hunter released the girl’s wrist and pretended
to eat her lunch, but the odd feeling in her stomach wouldn’t go away, and
neither would those words that played over and over in her mind like a haunting
melody.

It
never leaves you.

FIFTEEN

There
was something very terrifying about the sounds coming from the room outside the
lab. Jenny and Eli stood frozen in fear, listening to the thumps and the
footsteps and the muffled voices and wondered what to do. Joshua had been gone
only an hour, and there was no way to tell when he’d be back.

“Jenny-”

“Shh!”
she hissed and Eli shut his mouth with a snap. Her eyes roamed the lab, praying
they were safe and the room was protected. The door had a code, and she was
sure there was something hiding it from plain sight. Whoever was out there must
have no idea there was a laboratory behind the wall.

Then
suddenly, there came a familiar creak and the voices were louder.

They
found the entrance.

“We
have to hide!” she mouthed to Eli, whose face was paling quickly.

“Who
is it?” he replied, staring at the door. “Is it the Agents?”

Jenny
hoped to God it wasn’t, because Joshua said the Agents only hunted people with
powers. What would they do if a couple of regular people got in their way?

It
wasn’t long before Jenny found out. Those behind the door had some sort of
machine that roared to life, and in seconds Jenny and Eli were scrambling to
the back of the laboratory and hiding under the desks; the only place they
could find that would conceal them, if only a little. Jenny’s heart shivered in
her chest as the door broke, scattering sawdust and stone across the floor.

She
closed her eyes and covered herself, hearing footsteps and male voices. A hand
grabbed her elbow and dragged her out from under the desk. Eli shouted at them
to let go. Dust was everywhere, clouding her vision, making her cough and
splutter as she was hauled to her feet.

“Find
it,” someone directly in front of her ordered. His voice was low and calm.
Jenny looked up into a face she would easily forget if she had passed him on
the street. But the situation was different. His eyes were big and blue,
brighter than the ocean. His hair was gelled back and his lips were abnormally
large and red.

“What
do you want?” she asked.

“Where
is Joshua Harrison?”

Jenny
glanced at Eli who struggled in the grip of two other men of Asian origin. They
all wore black suits. They looked like smart business men. How did they find
them?

“He’s
not here,” said Eli.

The
man turned slowly to face him. “Thank you for pointing that out,” he spat and
clicked his finger. “Keep looking.”

One
of the men standing by the glass tank where Joshua kept the Ravenadium made to
open it. If the Agents got their hands on it, Joshua’s life would be over. Her
life, too, might be over.

“Wait!”
she shouted and they turned to her. “I’ll tell you where he is.”

The
blue-eyed man smiled, showing perfect teeth. “Go on.”

“He
just left, I think he was going to the… store. But he mentioned something about
stopping off at his apartment upstairs first.”

Jenny
thought she’d actually sounded quite confident in her lie, until the blue-eyed
man smiled wider and stepped closer to her. She felt the need to hurl.

“I
have always been very good at picking out the liars,” he whispered. “But it’s
okay, because the both of you are not my priority. Joshua is. You’re worthless
until you provide me with the correct information. Since you failed on that
part, this conversation is over, and so is your life.”

It
all happened so quickly. Two of the men drew their weapons. Jenny had never
seen a gun before. It felt just like a James Bond movie as the men aimed the
guns at her head and Eli started to panic. Jenny, however, found herself
frozen. She didn’t understand why she had been given a second chance at life
after the fire, only to die so soon. How was that fair?

Just
as she was sure her question would never be answered, there was a bang that did
not come from a gun. One of the Agents collapsed, and Jenny looked down at her
feet where a man lay on his back with a foot-long icicle stake sticking out of
his chest, coated in blood.

This
time, Jenny screamed. There was a blur of action; shots were fired and she was
released only to fall to the floor and pray it would be over soon. Amidst it
all, she looked up and saw Joshua. Ice sprayed from his hands as he twirled and
kicked and dodged every move the Agents threw at him. One of them tripped and
fell a few feet from her. He locked gazes with her and an idea formed in his
mind. Jenny scrambled backwards, but the Agent was already closing in on her,
his hands reaching for her throat, dragging her to her feet. She screamed out
Joshua’s name as he pulled her in front of him as a shield. Joshua stopped
fighting.

“I’ll
snap her neck if you make one more move,” said the man against her ear. Jenny’s
entire body seized up in fear. She gazed at Joshua.

He
slowly raised his hands. There were no men left conscious – or alive, she
didn’t know – and Eli was still on the floor.

“What
do you want?” asked Joshua calmly. “You want me? Then let her go.”

The
Agent’s grip tightened. “Not likely. I want the formula.”

“I
don’t have it,” he replied.

“I
don’t believe you. You have ten seconds to give it to me, then you’re going to
come with me quietly, or I will shoot her.”

A
cold metal barrel was placed against Jenny’s upper back and she sucked in a
breath, clenching her fists and gazing at Joshua in fear. A part of her wanted
to tell him to run, to not give in. And in a split second, she wondered why she
was suddenly so willing to risk her life for a man she hardly knew. A man who
once intended to kill her himself.

“Ten,”
said the Agent. “Nine.”

Joshua
moved swiftly to the glass tank and opened the compressor lid. Liquid nitrogen
seeped out with a hiss.

“Eight.”

He
reached in carefully and pulled out a spherical rock the color of charcoal,
perfectly shaped. He held the rock out for the Agent.

“Is
this what you want?”

“That’s
the formula?”

Jenny
couldn’t see his face, but she could hear the confusion in his tone. 

“Yes.
It’s a special stone containing a supernatural element that, when applied with
the correct substance, creates a formula for my powers. But,” he took a step
towards them and the Agent flinched. “It can be very temperamental. And if it
breaks, this entire room will go up in flames.”

“Put
it in the briefcase,” ordered the Agent. His hand around her neck was becoming
very clammy. “Now, or I
will
shoot her!”

“Okay,
okay,” said Joshua. He turned slowly towards the steel table where his
briefcase lay. The tension in the room thickened.

Then,
quicker than the Agent could react, Joshua spun back, yelled “Catch!” and threw
the stone at Jenny’s head.

Any
normal person would have reacted in the exact same way. It’s instinct. The
Agent knew that his job was at stake if he did not catch the stone. His fellow
Agents were all dead, and his life depended on safely securing the formula. He
released Jenny, reached out and caught the rock as it soared towards them. The
gun clattered on the ground.

That
was his mistake, and as soon as he knew it, there was an icicle through his
heart too. He collapsed on the floor with a clang. The rock rolled out from his
grip towards Joshua, but he wasn’t concerned for it. He was rushing to her
side, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her.

“Are
you alright Jenny?” he asked.

She
couldn’t move.

“Jenny?”
His voice bordered on hysteria. “Answer me!”

“I’m
alright. I’m fine.”

Joshua’s
pale blue eyes were so full of fear that Jenny wished she could capture his
expression and hold it forever. He released her, breathing heavily, glanced at
Eli and then at the rock and got to his feet.

“I
can’t believe they found me.” He paced back and forth, going through things
that weren’t damaged and stuffing them in a bag. “We need to leave, there could
be more coming.”

“Leave?”
said Eli. “And go where?”

“I’ll
figure that out once we’re away from this building, but we don’t have a
choice.”

“But
I can’t-”

“You
must,” Joshua snapped. “Jenny, could you help me with this?”

Nodding,
Jenny assisted him with removing the other rocks of Ravenadium and placing them
very gently in an airtight container which then fit into a briefcase. She had
no thoughts at all in her head, only buzzing, and was all too happy to follow
Joshua wherever he wanted to go. She tried her hardest not to look at the
bodies on the ground that were bleeding out across the floor.

Oh
God.
Her breathing increased and her hands fumbled with the papers in her arms.
Oh
God, there’s death everywhere. So much death.

“Jenny?”
Joshua was snapping his fingers in front of her eyes. “Stay with me.”

“Hmm?
Oh, I’m f-fine,” she muttered. “Yes, completely fine.”

Joshua
didn’t look at all convinced. “Please just breathe. You can freak out later
once we’re in the car.”

“Okay.”

“Uh,
I’m fine too by the way,” said Eli as he stood idly by. “Almost got shot, but
no biggy.”

Joshua
grabbed the last of his items and handed Eli a bag to carry. “Make yourself
useful and take this bag.”

“Sure,”
said Eli lightly, nodding as though everything in the world was fine. “And uh,
what do you propose we do about the five dead assassins?”

“Leave
them.”

He
handed Jenny a bag and ushered them out. She didn’t even think about the fact
that this was the first time she’d be leaving the lab in what felt like
forever. It was enough just to get away from the heavy smell of death and the
cold.

“Joshua,
I-”

He
stopped at the door and turned back to her. “What?”

“Thank
you. For saving us.”

Joshua
looked at Eli, who shrugged, then back to her. There was just a little bit of
light in his eyes as he turned the handle and gave her a nod. “Of course,” he
said.

Then
they ran.

SIXTEEN

In
the days that followed, Hunter climbed out of her grief and depression and fell
deeper into the cold fear that swarmed the institution like angry bees. Though
she eventually became used to the routine and the testing and the morbid
atmosphere, she still felt it clinging to her soul. At night, when the lights
were off and silence danced around her and her blanket didn’t warm her enough,
she felt it the most.

The
fire became like a dog deprived of taking walks: it grew lazy and hid away.
Often she felt so empty of warmth that she feared the fire had diminished
completely. She practiced circling the flames through her skin, from her toes
right up to her scalp. After that, she felt better. And then she would become
cold again.

Things
about the outside world she took for granted were now in her thoughts
constantly. Things like sunlight. It would be coming into winter soon in New
York, but even to see the sky would be glorious. She missed take-out, movies,
even school. She missed her freedom.

One
other thing she felt ashamed to miss was Joshua. Yes, she hated him with every
fiber of her being, and whenever her thoughts strayed to his despicable acts,
the fire raged. Perhaps it was the familiarity of a guardian that she missed
more than Joshua himself. But then she remembered the small things. Like his
snow globe obsession, or checking to make sure he hadn’t left the ripped tissue
on his face after he cut himself shaving. And despite all he did, Hunter
regretted taking him for granted, disrespecting him at times, and especially
not realizing just how much he sacrificed for her.

And
it took the death of a loved one and an abduction by scientists for her to
grasp that.

Every
now and then, she wondered about Jack and if he was safe, or if Joshua had
killed him too. But the one person she yearned for and would never see again
was Eli. It didn’t pack quite a punch as it did the first few weeks after his
death when he never left her thoughts, because now she was far more distracted.
But the ache still remained and it would until she found something to be happy
about. Sometimes, in spite of the awful and nauseating feeling in her stomach,
Hunter tried to remember things about Eli. She remembered never feeling so
happy than to be with him, a normal girl if only for a little while.

Until
Joshua ripped him away from her.

Hunter
tried not to let her anger cloud her mind and stop her from keeping focused on
her present. Not much happened after her first couple of days in ICE, but she
preferred to stay sane for as long as she could. And wallowing in either grief
or anger didn’t help.

She
spent most of her time in the breakfast hall and common room with the others
she’d ‘made friends’ with. That included Zac, who was consistently cracking
jokes or speaking sarcastically or asking annoying questions that Hunter always
ignored. Chantal often grilled her about fashion in the outside world –
something Hunter couldn’t care two hoots about. But she felt bad for the girl,
so she made it up. Benji and Ryo were just happy to sit around and listen to
the conversation, and Fearne was there from time to time. Hunter had no idea
where she went otherwise. As for Jet and Mikayla; they kept to themselves after
Hunter’s falling out. She wondered if Dr. Wolfe really scared Jet after he was
sentenced to Solitary for provoking her, because there were no more suggestive
smiles or winks in her direction.

The
other kids waved at her sometimes, or otherwise left her alone and stopped
staring. Once she was no longer ‘the new girl’, they treated her like one of
them. It felt nice to be in a place – however horrible it was – in which Hunter
truly belonged.

It
was around the four week mark, and she decided to hit the showers before
dinner. Grabbing a towel and fresh clothes from her cell – where the Men in
White left them each day – she ran to the girl’s bathroom and was relieved to
find it empty.

She
took her time, scrubbing herself and rinsing out her hair, pausing every now
and then to glance at her withered reflection in the grimy tiles. After a
while, she couldn’t handle the cold any longer. She switched off the tap and
patted herself down. The bathroom felt eerie and in the back corner, a tube
light twitched like a scene from a horror movie. Hunter, however, had seen too
many horrors there to be afraid of anything.

She
was just dipping her toes into her jumpsuit when the bathroom door creaked open
and shut tightly.

Hunter
was used to other girls seeing her naked in the showers by then, and so she
didn’t even bother to shy away when she heard someone enter. But a moment
later, there came a sense of heated male testosterone in the air and Hunter
looked up to see not a female striding towards her but a guard, fierce
determination and a crazy gleam in his roaming blue eyes.

Jamison.

Hunter’s
heart dropped. She started backing away as he came closer. His shoes splashed
in the fresh puddles. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes screamed desperately
at her. She knew that look. She’d seen it in the hungry and wanting stares of
two men in an alleyway.

“What
are you-”

Jamison
lunged for her. She stumbled backwards and slipped on the wet floor, nothing
but her cotton underwear to cushion her fall. Her bones cracked painfully
against the tiles. She was just about to usher out a scream when he fell down
upon her and pressed his hand over her mouth. It smelled of sweat and metal.

“Don’t
speak,” he growled. His blue eyes were glittering with a desire she’d seen
countless times in many of the guards. He pinned her down hard on the cold
floor, keeping one hand over her mouth as the other reached down for the zipper
on his pants.

Hunter’s
heart was pounding in her chest, desperate to be free. She was lost in a spiral
of memories of that snowy night in New York, the night she found out about her
past and her powers, the night she was so out of control that she killed a man.
Back then it felt like she deserved to die, that her powers were demonic and
she was out of control. But they had saved her. And there, beneath the strong
and vicious man, she was weaker than she’d ever been.

What’s
worse; she didn’t have her powers to protect her.

For
the first time in forever, Hunter felt truly helpless. She had absolutely no
strength to pry him off. Punching bags did nothing when it came to having a two
hundred and twenty pound muscled man pressed down upon her. She wriggled
furiously, but it did no good. She screamed as loud as she could, but no one
came. And even if they were stumbled upon, would anyone care? She knew Dr.
Wolfe certainly wouldn’t.

“Ever
since I saw you Fire Girl,” he hissed, his face buried into her chest, “I
wanted to get my hands on-”

Hunter
bit down on his palm and he cried out, releasing her mouth from his grasp.
Hunter let out a shriek before he threw his hand across her face. The slap was
so hard that her jaw rattled and tears blurred her eyes.

“You
little bitch,” he growled. His grip was so tight that it bruised her skin
instantly. “Oh you’ll pay for
that.
”

Hunter
struggled to keep his hands from pinning her down again. Jamison only laughed
and forced her down harder.

And
then a miracle occurred. Two large hands wrapped around Jamison’s throat and
yanked him backwards with so much force, his neck nearly snapped. Hunter choked
on a gasp and pushed herself up in time to see Will standing over the man, his
entire body rippling with rage, hunched but still huge and menacing. He thrust
his foot into the guard’s chest, causing him to cough harshly and double over
on the floor.

“Will-”

“Get
out,” he growled at her. “Go!”

Hunter
scrambled to her feet and snatched her towel and clothes. Her instincts begged
her to do as he asked and run, but another part of her longed to join Will
standing over the guard and kick his teeth down his throat. Will turned to her,
his doe eyes urgent, pleading her to leave or they’d both be in trouble. The
grit and torture had vanished from his expression and his brow was creased with
worry. “Hunter, leave!”

She
couldn’t.

And
as Will turned his back, Jamison clenched his teeth and crawled to his feet.

“Look
out!” Hunter screamed, but Will was too slow.

Jamison
rammed into Will and knocked him to the ground. Will’s head smacked against the
tiles and he blinked and gasped for air. The guard sat on top of him with his
knees pressing into Will’s stomach. Pinning Will’s free arm, he raised his fist
and threw it across his jaw. Once, then again, then again. Blood spurted out of
his nose and a gash opened on his cheek. Will wasn’t strong enough to fight
back – the punches alone would have knocked him out. Instead, he turned his
head and vomited blood.

When
her body finally decided to act, Hunter dropped her belongings and ran to
Jamison. She couldn’t do much else but throw herself on him, wrapping her arms
around his neck as Will had done, only this time she squeezed. He actually
laughed, tossing her against the wall like a rag doll. Hunter’s head hit the
tiles and the world started to tip.

Get
up,
she
ordered herself. Tears falling from her eyes, Hunter forced herself shakily to
her knees, but she was so frail that she couldn’t make it any further. Words
could not describe the frustration she felt at the fact that her withered body
could not fight her own battles, that she couldn’t so much as damage Jamison.
She had lived so long in ICE that even her hair had begun to lose its color.

Get
up!
the
fire shrieked inside her, blazing and swirling, desperate to fight, to be
released, to burn.
GET UP!

I
can’t.

Her
vision blurred and she swallowed to try and stay conscious, but her eyes were
closing. The last thing she saw was the guard beating down upon Will, smashing
his bones into broken pieces, a pool of blood dribbling through the cracks in
the tiles to the drain next to her hand. The door of the bathroom was blown
open and voices were yelling, but that was all she remembered before she fell
under.

The
noise was gone. The cold, wet bathroom floor was gone. The flicking fluorescent
light was gone, replaced instead by a blinding white light everywhere around
her. She was definitely lying on a hard surface. It was a moment before Hunter
could actually move, much less turn over, stand up and see where Dr. Wolfe had
put her.

Hunter
could hear nothing but silence. Her eyes were burning from the glare. Honestly,
she didn’t think that the institution could get any brighter than it was, but
apparently she was wrong. The space around her went on forever.

She
wobbled to her feet. Someone had dressed her in a jumpsuit. The throbbing ache
of a bump on her head reminded her of being thrown against the wall.
What
happened to Will? Is he alright? Did they bring him here too?

Those
questions would be answered as soon as she knew where she was.
Solitary
?
But she wasn’t wearing a strait jacket. Before Hunter could even consider the
second option, she noticed a figure standing in the distance, maybe ten meters
away. Despite her thumping headache, dizzy vision and wobbly legs, Hunter
started running towards the figure. He was familiar, his back to her. Six foot
something. Strong shoulders. Long, brown hair. Blood-stained white jumpsuit.

Somewhere
between them, Hunter ran straight into a solid surface and went tumbling
backwards on the white concrete floor. Her head thumped and she brought a hand
up to touch her skull when she noticed something that flattened her stomach
like a pancake.

Her
bracelet was no longer blue and tight against her skin. It hung like a regular
band of silver slipping up and down her arm. For a moment Hunter almost smiled,
the fire dancing excitedly beneath the surface, but then it dawned on her.
About that same time, the figure turned and Will met her gaze behind the giant
glass wall that separated them, disappearing high above their heads. His
expression voiced her own fears. His eyes were sad and almost whispered to her
words of regret. He looked around them at the sphere-shaped stadium.

Hunter
found that if she stared long enough at the impending wall, she could just make
out around the edges of the glass little faces peering in at them. Kids,
scientists, Men in White. Everyone had come to see the show.

A
single spark of fire burst from her fingers like a firecracker and suddenly,
she knew exactly where she was.

The
Orb.

And
Will, her knight in a white jumpsuit, was sentenced there to fight her.