No One (Element Preservers, #3.5) by Alycia Linwood Page A

was sitting on the floor, her face streaked with tears, her hands covered in blood. My dad was lying next to her, his white shirt soaked with blood, his eyes open and staring into nothingness. A man stepped forward, his gun aimed at my mom's head as she begged him not to shoot her. I wanted to run to her, but my legs were rooted to the spot.
    A broad smile appeared on the man's lips as he pressed the gun against my mom's forehead. He was laughing as he pulled the trigger, and she crumpled down, her empty eyes staring straight through me. The time seemed to stop, my heartbeat ringing like shots in my ears and filling my head. My mom's eyes were still looking at me, and I knew she wanted me to do something, but I was too numb to remember what it was.
    "Get him!" Someone yelled, and the men's faces turned toward me. It was then that I realized the tears were streaming down my face. A man dressed in black roughly grabbed my arm, the cold barrel of his gun digging into my temple.
    The man who had shot my mom kicked her body with his boot, and started toward me. "Do we kill him too?"
    "We have a situation," another man said. "People are pissed off and they are coming here. We should get out before they break inside."
    The man who was holding me dragged me out of the room and into the cold winter air. People with torches stood around the house, shouting something that I couldn't understand. A group of men in suits gathered in a circle and started discussing something, glancing or pointing at me from time to time. Suddenly, the crowd broke through the police's barriers and threw their torches at my home. A couple of seconds later, the whole house was burning, reddish flames enveloping it completely. Someone must have had a fire element and helped the fire to spread. The crowd cheered as my house started to crumble. No one made an attempt to get my parents out.
    After what seemed as an eternity, a man with short dark brown hair and brown eyes came over and towered over me. "I'm Alan, and I'm your guardian from now on. If you do exactly what I tell you to, maybe you'll get to live a couple of years."
    I didn't know what Alan meant, but I didn't really care either. My parents were dead. I failed them because I hadn't done what they wanted me to. I should have run, but I hadn't. Alan nodded at the man who was holding me, and the man let go. I stumbled forward, and Alan caught me, cuffing my hands in front of me. "Stop crying. Now."
    I had no idea I was still crying, and I made no attempt to stop either. The world around me seemed to have taken on a dreamlike quality, and I stood there as if I was no longer part of it. My cheek stung as Alan struck me, and I looked up at him, my lips slightly parted.
    "I told you to stop crying," Alan said, his fingers closing around my arm as he dragged me toward a black car. "Come on. We have to go before someone sees you."
    The enraged crowd was still shouting insults and fighting the police. I couldn't imagine why all those people would want to kill me. What had I ever done to them? I choked back a sob as Alan pushed me into the backseat of his car, my eyes glued to the fire devouring the rests of my home and my parents. I had no one in this world. No one. Sometime along the way, my tears had dried, and even though I was too young to fully understand it then, a part of me died that night.
     

Chapter 03
    Now
    "Hey, I was looking for you." Ria appeared from around the corner, a smile stretching her lips. She stopped at a safe distance from me, looking uncertain.
    "How are you feeling?" I leaned on the wall. It was ridiculous how much I wanted to touch her now that I knew I couldn't. Or had touching her become so natural that it was hard to break from the habit?
    "I think I'm fine. Lily is overreacting. She doesn't have a clue about us." Ria scoffed.
    "We need to talk to someone who knows more about what is happening to you." I lowered my eyes, agonizing whether to tell her what I planned to do or keep