Inferno : Elements Series Book One

Derek

Her living room is just as I remember it. Clean and tidy with a few small stacks of books, DVDs and games around the television and on a table beside her couch. It seems quiet and undisturbed, just as we left it. Just one thing is different.

“Recruiters have been in here,” says Jillian. “I can feel them.”

“Me too,” I agree. “I’m sensing at least eight different energies but we’ll probably isolate more the longer we’re here.”

“Agreed,” she says as she sits down on the couch. She closes her eyes and there is a soft, barely noticeable glow at her temples as she concentrates.

“Oliver, stay with Jill. Anya, with me,” I order as I walk further into Gwen’s house. So far I haven’t sensed anything strong enough to suggest that someone is still in the house but I remain vigilant. You never know what might jump out at you. We move up the hallway to her bedroom. If they were hoping to find any decent information about Gwen then they would have spent majority of their time in here. Again I’m surprised by how normal it all looks. I don’t know what I was expecting but it’s almost like the Recruiters just wanted to take a tour of the house. It doesn’t appear that they’ve touched anything. Her room is the largest in the house. There is a queen bed in the centre made up with brightly coloured floral sheets. Large windows look out onto a small, vibrant garden that leads further out into an entertainment area and the back yard. There are two book shelves in here, one on either side of her bed, but most of her books are in the lounge room. She must have moved her room around a bit since we left because those shelves used to block her window. I remember the night she lit her room on fire and couldn’t get out because they were in the way. These shelves are stocked with her favourite books and her sketch pads. There is a walk in robe and an okay sized bathroom coming off the right wall and a comfortable arm chair and foot stool in the corner. Her laptop sits on a small desk against the wall in front of her bed. It’s neat and organised and bright in here.

“She has a nice place,” admires Jill as she walks in behind us.

“Yeah, she loves it here,” I say.

“Her lounge room is kind of like her personal library, movie theatre and arcade all rolled into one,” Oliver says. “No wonder she loves it here.”

“There have been more people in her room,” I observe. “There are different energies in here than the lounge room. Don’t take notice of the human energies. They’re her friends Alice and Carmen. They must have come looking for her and have keys. My mentalism must have worn off.”

“No, they’re energy is stressed, scared. I think they were brought here by the Recruiters. Maybe they were looking for Gwen and decided to get information out of her friends,” says Jill. I really hope she’s wrong. Gwen wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if her friends got hurt because someone was searching for her. I close my eyes and concentrate, back tracking the auras and forming an image in my mind of how the person the auras belong to move through the house. It’s like watching a movie composed of negative images. To my horror I discover that Jillian is correct. Carmen and Alice were brought through here, only a few days ago by the strength of the energy left behind. It looks like they were questioned and the Recruiters took them away when they left. Now they have prisoners. Leverage against Gwen and a pretty powerful way to draw her out.

“Shit!” I accidentally shout aloud.

“Indeed,” Jill agrees. She was in my head while I analysed the auras and has seen it too.

“What?” asks Oliver.

“They have Gwen’s friends,” Jill explains.

I count 14 auras that I’ve analysed and could recognise again. It’s time to head back. There isn’t anything left to sort through here and the time has passed without me even knowing. It’s 1:00pm and we’ve already spent four hours here.

“Do you have what you need Jill?” I ask.

“Yes, I’ll be able to recognise these people should we come across them at any time in the future,” she says.

I’m about to leave when a memory hits me like a ton of bricks.

“Wait, we can’t go yet. We have to search for an Elemental aura,” I’m met with confused expressions. “Remember what Andrew said? The traitor isn’t controlled by Recruiters and therefore doesn’t have the tainted aura of a Recruiter. They’ll present as Elemental.”

Jillian looks surprised; I forgot that she wasn’t with us when Andrew told us all of this.

“Oh yeah, good thing you remembered because it didn’t cross my mind at all,” says Anya.

I close my eyes and concentrate again, trying to isolate anyone who isn’t Anya, Oliver, Jill, Gwen or I. I feel like it takes forever, and I’m getting a headache, before I finally manage to find something. I open my mind to Jill who has located it but there is so much interference from the 14 Recruiters, five other Elementals and two Humans that it’s difficult to get a clear read on it. It feels familiar though.

“It’s familiar to me too,” says Jill, answering my thought out loud. “There’s just too much clouding it to get an accurate reading. It might help narrow down the suspects but I think it’s going to be a near match to more than one person.”

She’s right. It’s still helpful but it’s not iron clad and that’s infuriating. Its 2:15pm by the time both Jillian and I have a headache and decide that we’ve gotten all that we can from the traces of the Elemental aura left behind.

“We have to head back,” interrupts Oliver, pulling me out of my own head. “Hank said to be back by the afternoon and technically that was two hours ago.”

“It’s okay, I’ve gotten all I can out of this anyway,” I reply as I put my hand out once more and, once they’ve taken of it, take us back.

We land in Hank’s office, causing him to jump a little bit in his chair. I usually love it when I surprise Hank like that but I’m not feeling in much of a laughing mood right now. He is looking at us expectantly, waiting for us to report back.

“No luck on an identification but we do have a rough reading of who it is,” I say.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that we weren’t able to get a clear reading but we were both able to tell that the aura was familiar. There were 14 Recruiter auras, two Human auras and five Elemental auras in the house, plus the traitor’s aura, so there was a lot in the way of a clear reading. It should be enough to match it, well roughly match it, to people you bring into interrogation,” explains Jillian.

“Tell me about the other auras. You said there were five Elemental auras? How do you know it isn’t one of them?”

“Those Auras belong to Oliver, Anya, Jillian, Gwen and I. The only aura it could possibly be is the one that Jill and I couldn’t get a clear read on. That, unfortunately, is not the bad news,” this is going to throw a spanner in the works. “The two Human auras belong to Gwen’s friends Carmen and Alice. They’ve been taken by the group of Recruiters who have been watching Gwen’s place.”

Hanks eyes widen as he takes in just how bad that is.

“Did you get an idea of what they plan to do with them?”

“No, the only good news I can give is that they weren’t in pain. They were just scared so I don’t think torture is on the cards for them. The worse news is that that means they probably plan on using them as bait to lure Gwen out into the open,” I explain quickly.

I don’t want to give myself time to think about what will happen if they manage to use Gwen’s friends to get to her.

“We need to tell Gwen,” says Anya.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Oliver says, more to himself than anything.

“What do you mean?” Anya asks. “If her friends are in danger then Gwen needs to know about it.”

“Unfortunately, I think Oliver is right,” says Hank.

“I know Gwen, and I know how much she loves her friends. If she knew they were in danger she’d rush out of here and just immediately give herself over to them in exchange for her friend’s safety,” I explain. “She wouldn’t even hesitate.”

Everyone’s silent for a moment, realising that I’m right.

“Not that it matters anyway,” says Hank, breaking the silence. “We have no idea where she is. No one’s seen her since this morning.”

For some strange reason this doesn’t worry me. She’s probably curled up somewhere she feels safe, not worrying about anyone else, just trying to piece all of this together.

“We don’t have to worry about Gwen, at least not right now. We have to set up more interrogations, as many a day as possible and Jill or I have to be there for each one. Preferably Jill, she’s better at this than me and she also got a better read on the aura,” I tell them.

“We should sort it all out then, figure out who the most likely suspects are and start with them,” suggests Jill.

“Sounds like a plan, I think it’s safe to say we can eliminate all the children and people who haven’t got their powers yet.”

“Okay then, Jill you stay here. I’ll call Jasper in and the three of us will start making a list for tomorrow. Meet here at 8:00am,” says Hank.

I know a dismissal when I hear one. I get up and move toward the door, eager to go back to the gym.

“Hey,” Anya pulls me back to reality. “I know that look. Let’s hit Gwen’s arena, let off some steam.”

“I am so in,” says Oliver.

“Alright, as long as you know that I’m going to kick your arse.”

I hear Anya and Oliver laugh for the first time in two days as they race one another to the arena. I’d like nothing more than to laugh with them, but I can’t help wondering where Gwen is. It’s going to bug me until I figure it out.