Finding ELE (ELE Series #2) Written By: Rebecca Gober and Courtney Nuckels (6 page)

My mom narrows her eyes looking from Tony to
me and back to Tony again. She relents. "Okay then, let’s get a
move on. We don't want to be caught out here past dark." She turns
on her heel and marches back to the front.

The fearsome four gather around me again
enclosing Tony and I in the middle. I bite my lower lip. "You know,
you didn't have to do that." I say, and I really mean it. He
doesn't owe me anything.

"I know I didn't have to," he says. "But, I
wanted to. Just don't do it again." He turns his head back forward
and continues his march.

"I won't. Thank you. I owe you one." I
say.

He shoots me an intense look. "Just stay out
of trouble and that will be enough."

My cheeks flush as I nod my head. I look
away quickly, embarrassed. I'm sure my joke made me look like an
immature child to Tony. Not that I care what Tony thinks...Well,
maybe I do, just a little. But, really I do want to be taken
seriously, especially if I want my mom to allow me to fight by her
side. I make a mental note to be on my best behavior from now
on.

My stomach starts feeling unsettled as we
walk back. I don't know if it's the forest's eerie quietness or the
long shadows cast by the slowly setting sun. I find myself inching
closer to Tony. He must have a sense of unease because his back is
rigid and his jaw is clenched tightly.

A piercing scream erupts from somewhere to
the East. A clattering of startled birds disperses into the air not
far from us. Everyone brings their weapons to attention and the
group seems to form a blockade surrounding me. My heart launches
into my throat. I try to look over the throng of protectors that
surround me to see what's happening. The scream was high pitched
and it sounded female. I pray that it doesn't belong to Claire.

I catch sight of an injured girl breaking
through the trees to my left. She's limping so badly that she falls
every few feet. My mom and several other soldiers jump out, not to
grab her but to fight the figure who steps out after her. A man
about six feet in height with crimson red eyes stands there staring
at us. At first he seems shocked to see such a large group waiting
for him. I can almost see his mental wheels turning, trying to make
the decision between fight or flight. He decides on the former and
turns back into the woods. My mom, along with eight other soldiers,
runs after him. Worry for her consumes me and I immediately try to
take a step forward but Tony stops me by putting his hand on my
shoulder.

"She will be fine. Your mom can take that
Reaper out by herself. With her backup, they are more than
capable." He says. In confirmation, I hear two gunshots. "They got
him."

I nod and then look down at the hand that's
on my shoulder.

He follows my gaze and then pulls his hand
back down to his side. He clears his throat. "Where do you think
the girl went?" He scans the area around us.

The group seems to relax a bit knowing the
Reaper situation was handled so they give me a little breathing
room, which allows me to look for her. I catch sight of her long
flowing black hair first. She's lying on the ground cradling her
leg. "There!" I point to her. "She must be injured." I start moving
her way but Tony stops me again.

"Where? I don't see her." He asks.

She's out there in the open, clear as day.
How could he not see her? "She's right there!" I say pointing to
her, irritated he's playing games. She looks like she's in pain. I
shrug Tony's hand off my shoulder and speedily walk towards
her.

Tony runs up to my side. "Willow, are you
okay?" He pulls me by my arm and turns me around so I will look at
him.

"Yes, but she's not!" Annoyed now, I yank my
arm from his grasp and jog the rest of the way to the girl.

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask the girl,
kneeling down next to her.

When she looks up at me, I gasp. Her tear
filled eyes are the same shade of purple as Claire's. She barely
shakes her head.

I look down at her leg and see a gash
running down her thigh. Examining it, I find that it's so deep that
I can see the muscle tissue. My stomach rolls with nausea as I try
and get ahold of my bearings. I move my hand over her leg and focus
my healing ability on her.

"What are you doing?" Tony squats down and
looks at me like I'm certifiably insane.

"Shut up Tony. I need to focus!" I tell
him.

The girl groans and Tony straightens up. He
looks in the girl's direction but doesn't seem to see her.

"She's invisible." I say realizing the same
thing myself. I look back down at the gash to see it's healed
nicely. All that's left is a light pink scar.

The girl sits up and looks at me with sad,
purple eyes. "Thank you."

Tony reaches out towards her and touches her
head on accident. The girl cringes and moves away.

"It's okay, he's not going to hurt you." I
say to her, though she still looks scared.

"How are you able to see her?" Tony asks
me.

I'm not entirely sure. I can't even see
myself when I go invisible. "I have no idea." I answer him. Then I
look to the girl. "Can you make yourself visible?"

She shakes her head, her eyes still look
frightened.

"You're safe now. Nobody here is going to
hurt you." I say earnestly.

Catching on to what's going on Tony adds,
"We killed the Reaper. He won't hurt you. We need to get out of the
woods though before dark. It's not safe."

"Please." I ask her.

Still looking intimidated she takes a deep
breath and I don't realize that she's visible again until Tony
tells her thank you. I didn't notice the difference since I could
see her in her invisible form already.

"Will you come with us?" I ask her.

She shakes her head. "I have to go
home."

I look around the woods. "Where is home?"
She can't possibly live out here with those monsters lurking
about.

She shakes her head and tenses up.

"It's okay, you don't have to tell us." I
say realizing she's scared, possibly even in shock.

"We do need to get out of here now though.
You can come with us and tomorrow during the day we can take you
home." Tony tells her.

She shakes her head again and tears start
flowing from her eyes.

"You have to come with us. I promise, I will
make sure you get home tomorrow but for now we have to leave. More
of them may come." I am focusing so hard on getting her to come
with me that I didn't even realize that I am using my compulsion.
She stands up abruptly and reaches her hand out to me. I take her
hand and lead her back to the group.

Having seen what just happened my mom
doesn't ask any questions. Instead she just says, "Head out."

We all start walking. I continue to hold the
girl's hand. Every once in a while I look over at her to make sure
she's still breathing and okay. She seems so delicate and young.
She can't be more than thirteen or fourteen. Other than her age and
the dark hair, she reminds me a lot of Claire. Perhaps it's her
small stature or the purple eyes that resembles my best friend. A
pang of longing hits my heart. I pray my friends make it out of
this safely.

I hate using compulsion but when we step out
of the tree line and onto the gravel road, I feel confident that I
made the only decision I could under the circumstance. We make our
way to the Holiday Inn just as the final rays of sun vanish behind
the mountains.

We wind up getting back to the hotel just
before sundown. We didn't find my friends and the only thing we
brought back from our mission is sore feet, hungry stomachs and a
random girl with purple eyes. On the way back I managed to find out
her name is Molly and she's fourteen. Apparently there is another
group of survivors like us beyond the valley. Molly still hasn't
told us how she managed to get here. I'm guessing she's still too
shaken up to talk about it. She did briefly mention that the boy
she was with, ran away from the Reapers and left her there in the
woods. She started shaking when she talked about it so I didn't
press it. All I know is that the guy who left her in the woods
deserves to turn in his man card. That is true cowardice at its
worst.

We enter our 'compound' as others have been
calling it, to find clamoring and ample activity going on in the
dining area. Everyone is seated around tables relaxing and talking.
Steaming piles of food await us buffet style in the corner. Tony
cues me in that the people that stay here during the day cook
dinner and always wait for the ones that went to 'the outside' to
get back before eating. Apparently it shows a kind of respect.

After we all wash our hands and faces, my
mom takes Molly to eat with her at an isolated table away from
everyone else. I guess she wants to ask her a few questions. I pray
she has more success getting her to open up than I did. Deep down,
I'm hoping that Molly has seen my friends. I know it's a long shot
but I have to hold on to something.

"Well it looks like this place is full. Do
you want to sit over there with me?" Tony asks.

I follow his pointer finger with my eyes and
find an empty table for two pushed up against a window in the
corner of the dining hall. I shrug my shoulders, "Sure."

On our way to claim the table I pass
Sebastian. I stop and give him a big hug and a tickle, which makes
him squirm with delight. "Wuv you Wello." He says with a smile.

"Love you too." I ruffle his curly hair. I
briefly catch Tony staring at me with an interesting expression out
of my peripheral vision.

Feeling the heat of his gaze I head over to
the table and take a seat. Not caring what Tony thinks, I
immediately take off my shoes. I know it's not the best table
manners but my feet are killing me! I thought being on my feet
doing errands all day was killer...come to find out it's a walk in
the park compared to the hiking we did today.

Tony doesn't judge me. Instead he lets out a
light laugh, shrugs his shoulders and removes his shoes too.

A burly man busts through the swinging doors
carrying an enormous bin filled with plates and silverware. No
normal human could ever pick this thing up, let alone carry it with
such ease and finesse. No one gives him a second thought as he
trots through the dining hall balancing the large container on his
shoulder. Tony must see me gawking because he begins to smirk.

I give him a look, "What?" I question, like
I don't know what he's smiling about.

He just shakes his head. "Remember? Yellow
eyes equals strength and speed." He points to his eyes.

I nod my head. "Yeah, I know. It's just
bizarre and inhuman to see it in action." A line begins to form by
the buffet and Tony and I waste no time hopping into it. At this
point I notice that the table where Sebastian is sitting at is
where all the kids are seated. I'm guessing that most of their
parents work outside during the day. Several of the people go over
and serve the kids, getting them situated and eating; then the line
starts to move for us. It doesn't take long until I'm piling things
on my plate that I can’t identify for the life of me. But I don't
care; I'm starving! I hadn't realized how hungry I was, but the
smell of the food makes my stomach roar loudly. In response, the
second I sit down at the table with Tony I begin shoveling food in
my mouth. I don't even bother tasting it as I shove more in.

"Hey," Tony interrupts. "Chill on stuffing
your face. I'm gonna have to give you the Heimlich if you keep
eating at that pace...or hold your hair back when you vomit."

My face blushes. "Sorry," I say in
embarrassment. "I'm just so hungry!"

Tony shakes his head and laughs under his
breath. He seems to be doing a lot of that around me lately.

I look away and keep stuffing my face.
Although this seating arrangement isn't ideal it does allow me to
take inventory of all the people staying here. I find Sebastian in
the crowd again. He's throwing what looks like peas at another
little girl beside him. Then I watch as he gets scolded for
throwing his food. I laugh; it's so good to see him again and to
see him happy.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Tony says
breaking my wandering thoughts.

I nearly answer that I will sell them for a
dollar but my heart squelches remembering Alec using that same
expression. I let my head drop, trying to hold it together. I miss
him more than words can say. But it's not like I can tell Tony
this. He's a guy; he couldn't relate. "I was just thinking how nice
it was to see my brother happy again." I give him a semi believable
smile since this is a partially true statement.

He nods and goes back to eating his chow, or
whatever the hell this mush is.

"So," I say between mouthfuls. "What happens
after dinner?"

Tony wipes his mouth with a napkin. He does
it in such a well mannered way that it's hard for me to hold onto
the bad boy persona image I originally had of him. "Well," he
begins. "After dinner, we usually like to have a little fun.
Tonight we're having a bon fire in the inner courtyard. I heard
rumors about smores being served. They must have found some
marshmallows and such down at the boarded up corner store."

I raise my eyebrows. That really does sound
like fun.

"What? Do you think that just because there
is a war out there we can't have fun?" He smiles and it's one of
the most genuine smiles I've seen him give. "Our motto is, 'you
work hard, you play hard.' Well, not too hard.” He points to some
guys at a nearby table. "You see those guys over there?" I nod my
head so he continues. "Jack and Will were good friends before this
all went down and they were in a band together. We were able to
scrounge some guitars and small drums on one of our outings. So on
nights when the weather is cool we like to have a bonfire and they
play some music while we dance, sing or just chill out. It's very
relaxing. Takes your mind off things if you know what I mean."