Restless (Element Preservers, #4) (9 page)

"Right," I said, annoyed. We
were
careful, but we were still powerless to do something.

Lily was about to leave, but then she stopped with one hand on the door handle. "I almost forgot to tell you that we didn't find anything about Ethan's father being ill. You should investigate that since you're the one closest to Ethan."

"Yeah, about that... I'm not really sure I want to go anywhere near that guy." I didn't trust Ethan and I definitely didn't trust myself around him. What if I babbled something wrong during our conversations? If he was a spy, the government could use against me anything I say to him.

"Look, Ria." Lily sighed. "I get it that you don't like to pretend to be in a relationship with someone you don't even know, but if you don't hang out with Ethan, someone might investigate and find a proof that you and Adrian are together. That would destroy everything we have planned and worked on. Besides, you can't touch Adrian, so it's better for you two to stay apart. I suppose Ethan is a decent distraction."

I gritted my teeth together. "Thanks for the tip, but you make me regret not killing Ethan when I had the chance."

"His death would be even a bigger problem, so be careful." A smile quirked Lily's lips and she walked out. I was glad that someone found my romantic life amusing, but I was getting tired of everyone using me for their projects and agendas. I wished no one would care who I dated.

"I think I'll have to contact some scientists who work for the government and try to find out if they discovered something," Paula said, her phone in her hand. I raised my finger to shush her because I could sense a fire element approaching. We didn't want to be overheard, no matter how irrelevant our conversation might be. Paula gave me a wide-eyed look, slipping her phone back into her bag. We stood in silence, not moving a muscle. The element was familiar, but there were too many elements in the building, so I was afraid to let myself feel the fire completely. Whoever it was, he or she probably came to see me since my room was the only occupied one in the hall. Many students lived at home rather than at the university, so the dean allowed me to have a whole hall for myself.

A firm knock sounded on the door and I opened it, finding myself face to face with Ethan. I almost slammed the door shut, but that would be rude.

"Can I come in?" he asked, a few strands of his dark brown hair falling into his eyes. "I need to talk to you. In private."

I opened the door wider so he could see Paula behind my back.

"I can come later if you wish," he quickly added.

"Actually, I need to go." Paula squeezed past me, giving me a wink, and rushed out of the door. Ugh. If I talked to Ethan, I wouldn't have time to go see Adrian before class.

"Sorry, now's not the time," I said, blocking the door so Ethan wouldn't get an idea to get inside.

"Fine, maybe another time." Annoyance flashed across his face, but he quickly masked it, his element spiking a bit. I guessed I pissed him off. Great. I waited until I could no longer feel his element in the hall and slipped outside. My guards stood at each side of the door, ready to follow me.

"You stay here. Don't let anyone into my room. If someone comes, tell them I'm busy. No one can know I'm not in my room, understood?"

The guards nodded in unison, and I hurried down the hall, relying on my disease to tell me where everyone was. I hoped Adrian was awake.

Chapter 12

I was lucky enough to find Adrian's hall empty. All the elements I could feel were at least a couple of feet away from the door, probably belonging to students who were still asleep. The only problem was that I didn't have the tiniest idea if Adrian was in his room. Making sure no one was around to see me, I tried the knob and realized Adrian's door was unlocked. I quickly stepped inside, closing the door behind me and turning the key.

Adrian looked up at me, his shoulders tense, his eyes wide, but he relaxed when he saw it was only me. As usual, he was sitting on the windowsill, one leg dangling over the edge. His black hair was tousled, but he looked fine, without even a sign of a hangover. His eyes looked more gray than blue and I could tell that something was bothering him.

I awkwardly stood in the middle of the room, unsure what to do with myself. In normal circumstances I would have gone to him, but we couldn't touch, so that was out of the question.

Adrian turned his head toward the window, gazing into the distance. "I should have waited for you yesterday and talked to you before I went to that club. Someone could have seen us. I was stupid. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too." I came closer so I could see the cars and people hurrying down the street, trying to get to work, school or wherever they had to be this early in the morning. "I shouldn't have let the president manipulate me. If I had refused to continue with the show..."

"If you had done that, we'd be dealing with even a bigger scandal," he said, meeting my eyes.

I sighed. "I know this whole thing with Ethan is difficult for you. Trust me, I couldn't stand to see you with that girl. I don't care that you didn't feel anything and that you weren't interested. It still hurt like hell. I'll have to do something about Ethan. Get rid of him somehow."

"Yeah, you have to do that. I don't know what I'll do if I see him touch you when I know I can't do it." Anger clouded his eyes, making him look dangerous and lethal.

"That's... nice." I smiled. "But you'll have to come up with an alibi because there was a murder nearby and the victim's element is conveniently missing."

"Awesome." Adrian rolled his eyes. "I'll be the main suspect again. Typical."

"The girl at the club could testify that you were there at the time of the murder." And if I found out who she was, I might set a part of her on fire just to make sure she never comes near Adrian again.

"She was drunk." He shrugged. "I bet she wouldn't even remember me. I have more chances to talk Alan into helping me out and lying for me."

"Yeah, but Alan is your guardian. The police would expect him to lie." I frowned.

"Sure, but Alan has to stay here and he needs me if he hopes to have any influence over you. He still hopes he'll get a proof of our relationship, so he could persuade some people to say they were with me."

"I'm surprised he didn't record your conversations. Wouldn't your word be enough proof?" Alan was sneaky, but his plans usually lacked in execution. Yet I wasn't looking forward to the day he figured out I had the disease. For keeping that piece of information to himself I'd have to give him the vice presidency.

"Nope. Don't you get it that no one trusts a magic disease carrier's word?" He gave me a deadpan look. "Everyone treats you like a normal person, so you have no clue what it feels like to be a known carrier."

"Whatever. At least your carrier status got you a room at the end of the hall. Thank God there isn't anyone who could overhear us behind the wall." There were two empty rooms on each side of Adrian's room because the dean was paranoid. "Did you hear about the new law, by the way?"

He shook his head.

"You might want to look for the obscure article about it on the net, but I warn you, you'll be pissed off." I glanced at the alarm clock on Adrian's nightstand. "Shit, we're going to be late for class."

"I'm not going," he said, hopping off the windowsill and grabbing his phone.

"Why the hell not?" I cocked an eyebrow at him. "It would be suspicious if you didn't show up in class exactly the day after that guy was murdered."

"Not for me." Amusement flickered in his eyes. "At least my reputation would be intact in that aspect."

"Oh, come on!" I groaned, wishing I could grab his hand and take him with me. "If you get kicked out of here, we'll never be able to see each other."

That got his attention because he grimaced. "But I have to find out what that new law is all about."

"Umm, we have the net in class. You can be there and still do whatever you want. I don't think the professor will notice." A good portion of the students were playing online games or visiting social pages during class, so I didn't think Adrian would get in trouble. This university was much different from the University of Magic, but then again, the latter was much more renown.

"Fine. I'll browse the net while you listen to one of the most boring lectures ever." He grinned.

"It's not boring at all!" I said, aware that he was teasing me. "You just never pay attention."

"Of course not. You'll help me to pass the exam, so I don't need to take notes or anything." He came closer, stopping a couple of inches away from me, a playful smile on his lips.

"Whatever you say.” I liked the idea, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to spend enough time with him. "I'll leave first so no one suspects anything. See you in class."

"I'm looking forward to it." He winked at me before I closed the door.

My good mood was ruined when I saw Ethan taking a seat in one of the front rows. Lowering my head, I hurried past him and settled myself at the back, near the window. A girl who was sitting in front of me turned around and gave me a knowing smile. I smiled back, even though I wasn't sure what she wanted, but I'd bet her behavior had something to do with Ethan and me. Speaking about Ethan, he waved at me when I looked up, and nearly everyone in the classroom stared at him. I had a bad feeling Ethan was trying to make this whole thing harder for me, but what would he get out of our relationship?

Adrian entered the room and glared at Ethan, but thankfully Ethan wasn't aware of it. Adrian found an empty seat at the back, but on the opposite side of the room from me. His eyes briefly met mine, then I had to look away so no one would get any ideas. I couldn't exactly ogle another guy when my supposed boyfriend was sitting a couple of seats away.

In the corner of my eye I could see that Adrian had taken out his phone under the desk and was typing something, glancing up from time to time. The sudden silence brought my attention to the professor who started explaining something about the old prophecies. But no matter how interesting the subject might be, my mind kept wandering.

A couple of seconds later my phone lit up in my open bag. Making sure the professor wasn't looking at me, I snatched the phone out of the bag and placed it on my lap. A message from Adrian flashed on the screen.

Ppl will be mad when they find out, but it will be too late to do sth.

Glancing at the professor, I typed up a quick message.

I'll try 2 do what I can & find those who r unhappy w the law.

I covered my phone with my hand to hide it from curious looks of the students sitting nearby. A new message came from Adrian.

Pix of Ethan & u r all over the net.

Don't look. Or u can manipulate
them & add ur face instead of E's.
I nearly giggled out loud at my suggestion.

4get it. E's not handsome.

True.
Just as I was typing, I felt someone's eyes on me and looked up. Ethan was gazing at me over his shoulder, his lips spreading into a smile. I quickly lowered my eyes and pretended I was checking out something in the textbook. The message symbol appeared on my phone again.

E is staring at u. I'll freeze him.

Go ahead.
I didn't really believe Adrian would use his ice in the class, especially since everyone knew it was his sub-element. A yelp came from the front of the class, and a book thudded to the floor.

"Is everything alright, Mr. Marlau?" the professor asked, his brow furrowing.

"Yeah, sorry," Ethan said, picking up his book. When the professor went on with the lecture, Ethan turned his head in Adrian's direction. Adrian shrugged, a smile hovering on his lips. I stifled a laugh. Adrian was playing a dangerous game, but I couldn't help but be amused. Taking hold of my phone again, I typed another message.

What did u do?

Nothing. Prevented E's brain from overheating.

I chuckled and dropped my phone to the ground. The professor's stormy eyes turned toward me. "Miss Milanez, is there something you find more interesting and entertaining than my class?"

"Everything is more interesting than you class," Adrian said before I could open my mouth. Since I was still trying to hold back the wave of laughter, I ended up snickering.

"Out, both of you," the professor said. I got up and gathered my stuff, followed by amused and irritated looks of the other students. When Adrian and I came outside, I made sure no one was around to see us and hit him lightly in the shoulder with my book.

"That was so immature and childish!" I said, wiping the tears out of the corners of my eyes. So much about
my
maturity.

"Then why did you have to laugh?" Adrian grinned.

"I couldn't help myself." I took a deep breath. "Let's hope the professor will forget about it."

"Don't worry. At least we showed up." Adrian didn't look concerned. "Besides, it's safer for Ethan that he's out of my reach."

I checked the time on my phone and realized I still had plenty of extra time before my official working hours. "I think I could go to the office early." Adrian's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What?" I said defensively. "I don't have anything on my schedule and this is the time when my guards switch shifts because I'm supposed to be safely in class. That means you could come to my office without anyone knowing, not even Lily."