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

it a secret.
    "You know someone." The certainty in her voice made me look up.
    "Maybe, but I can't simply walk over there and ask." Even if Ria was the president of the Element Preservers now, I couldn't pay a visit to one of the labs that I'd been in and force the scientists to tell me things. "I'd need Alan's help..."
    "And Alan will only help us if he becomes the vice president." She rolled her eyes.
    "Yeah, but now I know he won't kill me." I wasn't looking forward to meeting with Alan again, but if it was the only way to help Ria, I'd do it.
    She gave me an are-you-insane look. "Don't do this, please. He'll play you or capture you, and then I'll have to give him whatever he wants to get you back. He might not kill you, but that doesn't mean he won't change his mind or imprison you in some lab. Besides, how could he possibly know anything? He knew about sub-elements before any of us, but that doesn't mean a thing. Didn't you tell me once that when you were in the lab, you were the first carrier they had? How could any of them know anything? It's unlikely they found out something in the last year or two without Lily's scientists' knowledge."
    I sighed. "I lied to you."
    Her mouth formed a little O, then she raised an eyebrow at me. "What do you mean?"
    "I didn't want to scare you further. You were too upset about having the disease already. I couldn't tell you I wasn't the only carrier they had."
    "Why not?" She frowned.
    "You'd be out of your mind if you thought they could capture you." I didn't want to discuss my past with anyone.
    "Ok, I suppose one of those carriers who was in the lab with you is Ryan." She chewed on her lip, glancing up and down the hall and trying to look subtle about it. Elements must be bothering her again. I couldn't watch her fall apart in front of me. I couldn't.
    "Yeah, but he wasn't in the lab I was telling you about." Ryan was a completely another story, but I intended to ask him a couple of questions too. It had been a surprise for me to see him still alive. "And they didn't exactly let any of us hang out together. We only saw each other from afar." I'd overheard one of the scientists once when he said staying with another carrier and touching him could help with the disease, so they must have allowed some carriers to touch one another, but not me.
    "What happened to the other carriers? Have you seen them?" she asked, her brown eyes full of curiosity.
    "Most of them are dead." I pushed myself off the wall, feeling a water element approaching. It wasn't anyone Ria or I knew personally, but I was sure Lily had sent someone to spy on us so we wouldn't disregard her orders.
    "I'm sorry." Ria's face paled, and she audibly swallowed, looking in the direction from where the water element was coming.
    "I'll talk to Ryan. He somehow survived on his own, so he might know something."
    She nodded and licked her lips. God, I wanted to kiss her, crush her to my chest and never let her go. Before I could do any of that, I stormed down the hall.
     

Chapter 04
    Now
    "Hey, Adrian, haven't seen you in a while," Ryan said, a forced smile stretching his lips.
    "I didn't come here to have pleasant conversations with you." Even during our rare encounters, Ryan and I hadn't gotten along. He had an uncanny ability to ask all the wrong questions.
    "Ooh, why are you so on edge? Did Ria kick you out of her room or something?" His wide grin was infuriating.
    "How did you survive without an element for so long?" I stepped closer, invading his personal space. Ryan would never volunteer any information, but maybe I could convince him to tell me something.
    "Umm, I have awesome control of myself."
    "How? And don't tell me it's because you're awesome." I let a little bit of the coldness seep through me and around him. He hadn't enjoyed it when I used ice on him last time. Maybe, just maybe, there was a working brain somewhere in that big head of his.
    "Because I'm... " His grin melted away from his face, and he looked into