The Energy Room (The Elementum Trilogy) Read online

  “Why did you stay?” I asked suddenly, not even expecting the words to come out of my own mouth.

  Al took a moment to dissect the question, and answered accordingly.

  “It seems like a great opportunity,” Al replied simply, making sure not to meet my eyes. Lie.

  “There are all sorts of great opportunities that don’t involve cutting your family out of your life,” I said somberly.

  “That is true… But I don’t really have much family left,” Al said, a bit of emotion seeping into his voice.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered sincerely as we reached the elevator.

  Al said nothing, but threw an appreciative smile in my direction as we stepped into the large, white box. The small button that read ‘11’ lit up under my finger, the doors closing us in. We held our places in the quiet as the elevator shot upward, opening to a level that looked not unlike my own. White walls, white linoleum flooring, sickening fluorescent lights, and doors that led to apartments even smaller than the one I would be retreating to. Al stepped through the doorway, and took out a small piece of paper with ‘22’ scribbled on it, presumably his apartment number. As he turned around, I expected a handshake, perhaps an ‘It was nice to meet you,’ or an ‘I’ll see you in the morning, to reveal I’m actually one of the evil shrinks you hate so much,’ but the words he spoke, and the tone in which he spoke them, surpassed any expectation I could have ever had.

  “Sweet dreams, Angela Dawson,” Al said with a wink. His eyes glimmered with a type of knowledge that was dying to escape their ocean-colored prison, as the doors divided us once again.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Butterflies and Cockroaches

  I welcomed sleep to drift me off into the familiar whiteness. I was relieved to see all of the seats occupied by friendly faces. Sitting directly across from me, in the orange chair, was Lakin. My entire body immediately relaxed at the sight of him. His eyes were an alarming gray-green, like a marvelous rain forest that had been blanketed with smoke, and they gazed adoringly at me from behind tufts of coffee-colored hair, transforming my stomach into a roller coaster of butterflies and cockroaches. His face was shaped in childlike innocence, with casual glints of harmless mischief in his lopsided smile. If I had believed in perfection, it would have been staring me in the face at that exact moment. Though all of us were extremely close to each other, we had inevitably paired off into even closer duos. I was connected to Lakin more than anyone else in the room, and he to me. It was never questioned, only accepted.

  Lakin, like Al, was from Maine. He lived in a small town called Freedom, and worked at a little convenience store; basically the only place in town that wasn’t a school or a house. He had been fostered by a family that cared very little about his well-being, and more about the extra income they received from having him around. As his eighteenth birthday neared, they pressured him to ‘make his own way in the world’. He willingly obliged, working as much as he could to save up for whatever he’d be able to afford, as soon as he could afford it. On this particular day, his left eye was highlighted by a shadowy bruise. My heart sank as he walked over to me.

  “Nadia told me about your ice-capades of the day.” Lakin smiled warmly with his statement, before greeting me with a hug.

  “What happened to your eye, Lakin?” I asked, tenderly pushing a lock of hair back from his forehead to get a better look at the injury.

  “Nothing, it’s fine,” he said, closing his eyes as he pushed his face further into my palm.

  “Don’t lie to me, mister,” I said in a mockingly strict tone. “Can I see?”

  Lakin conceded, taking my hand in his. My vision clouded over as I was swept into a dimly lit room, the sounds of violent shouts piercing my ears. It felt as if I was part of an old movie, everything slightly hued with age. A stocky, grungy man with a shiny bald spot and a stained t-shirt was roaring at me, eyes aflame with rage.

  “I have taken care of you ungrateful piece of trash for eighteen years! While you are living under my roof, you will do as I say!” the man screamed, arms flapping furiously.

  I felt emotions that did not belong to me; anger, pain, an overwhelming desire to leave.

  “You think I want to live in this place? You think I’m not trying to get out of here? I work all day, every day, to get away from this dump!” I felt the words leave my mouth, but I was speaking in Lakin’s voice.

  “Dump? DUMP?! Your mother and I work hard to keep this roof over your head, and to keep food on the table for your greedy little mouth!” the disgusting man boomed, spraying droplets of saliva across the room.

  “She is not my mother. You are not my father. And neither of you have ever worked a day in your lives, unless you count milking the government as a career,” I said, again in Lakin’s voice.

  The man was silent, but his face was growing a deepening shade of red. Out of nowhere, a beefy hand swung through the air, making direct contact with my face. Pain emanated all across my head as I grasped at my eye. The initial urge I felt was to strike back, but I quickly rationalized that I would be able to do little damage to the building of a man standing across from me. The next thought that ran across my mind was to start a tornado in the middle of the small apartment, burn the place down, then flood the remainders of the building into Freedom Pond. This impulse swiftly deteriorated, as my stomach went into somersaults caused by the smiling face of a girl with messy, blonde hair; my face.

  I sprinted silently to a small bedroom off of the hallway, ignoring the sounds of more shouts coming from behind me. I grabbed a crumpled duffel bag from under the bed, shoving random pieces of clothing into it as fast as my trembling hands would allow. I caught a glance of Lakin’s red and swollen face in the mirror, left eye watery with pain.

  “Where do you think you’re going?!” the man bellowed as I shoved past him, reaching for the front door.

  “Anywhere that isn’t here,” I said with finality, not looking back as I slammed the door.

  I could still feel the phantom of pain in my face as I returned to my own body. Lakin stared back at me, keeping a firm, but sweet, grip on my hand, as if he was afraid I might try to run away.

  “What stopped you from using your abilities?” I asked, returning my hand to his face.

  “I made you a promise. That is more important than revenge.” Lakin smiled, leaning his chin on the arm of my chair.

  I had been seven years old when I realized it wasn’t normal to always go to a white room filled with five other people when you dream. Up until that point, I thought the other kids in my dreams were just that—dreams. One day, William had asked me if I thought there was anyone else like me in the world. Even at seven years old, I had been able to tell that there was an underlying intention in William’s words. Gears had turned and grinded in my mind, until I understood why there were five other apartments on my floor. He wasn’t interested in whether or not I thought I was alone; he knew there were others like me, and he wanted to know who they were. He wanted to find them. That was the night everyone promised me they would not use their powers, for fear of being caught and put into The Facility. Most of them still manipulated an element now and then, Lyla more often than the rest, but Lakin hadn’t used his abilities since the day he made his promise. I adored him for that.

  I tapped the free arm of my chair, willing it to expand to the size of a sofa. The Room allowed the chair to creep out in a sideways direction, giving enough space for Lakin to take a seat next to me. Nobody was taken aback; that kind of thing was a normal occurrence. No one had really been surprised by anything in the Room since Nadia willed an entire pirate ship into existence.

  “So tell me about your new psychologist,” Lakin said in a cutesy tone, playfully nudging me in the side with his elbow.

  I snorted a bit in laughter, shaking my head. He questioningly took my hand.

  “Go on,” I permitted, watching nervously as his eyes fogged over.

  I scanned the room, as Lakin relived my day. Lyla,
a slight girl, was sitting in the red chair, her pixie-like hair matching the cushions beneath her. She was the most eccentric of our lot, and was notorious for using her abilities as often as she could. She grew up in a foster home, and was sent to a juvenile detention center at fourteen years old for hacking into the government database, unsuccessfully attempting to find information on The Facility. Her captivating, almond eyes flashed brilliantly as she rolled a set of dice onto the small table that was separating her from a muscular boy, who had scooted his green chair across from hers.

  Joseph, a striking fellow, could have easily been confused with a body-builder, as well as with Nadia’s brother. He shared the same flawless skin and coppery eyes, but his upper arms were about the size of bowling balls. He was raised in a normal, loving home, and lived a pretty ideal life. He was captain of his football team, and both of his dads were lawyers. His strong hands cradled his face, as Lyla danced victoriously in her seat.

  Nadia rested her legs across the lap of a slender, fair-haired boy, both of their faces buried in books as they lounged on her extended, yellow sofa. Bryant, like Nadia, was a genius when it came to most things. I had never seen him in the Room without a book in his hand. His sandy hair was short and unkempt, matching the shabby facial hair he seemed to think was appealing. He grew up in a home not so different from Lakin’s. Though his foster parents had never physically abused him, he considered himself lucky if they even remembered that he was alive. Aside from Lakin, I felt a stronger connection to Bryant than the rest. It was completely different from what I shared with Lakin, but if I had believed in reincarnation, I would have thought we had known each other in a previous life.

  I directed my attention back to Lakin as he overzealously retrieved his hand. I was surprised to see a very upset look spread across his face, pupils narrowing with anger. Confusion overtook me for a brief moment, but my eyes widened as I remembered that Al had not been the only significant part of my day.

  “Eric?” Lakin whispered fiercely, ensuring the others couldn’t hear his discontent.

  “You felt what I felt. You know it’s not like that,” I said in a pleading tone.

  “I have a feeling he would disagree,” Lakin huffed, crossing his arms.

  “I’m sure he probably would, but in all fairness… I never specified who I was talking about when I said I already loved someone.” I frowned.

  “…Exactly.” Lakin’s eyes were blazing, burning straight through to my soul.

  My feeling of gloom was quickly replaced by one of irritation. I already had to deal with Eric acting ridiculous while I was conscious, I wasn’t about to take the same attitude while I was asleep. Though I knew I had been wrong for letting Eric assume I had deeper feelings for him than those of friendship or family, I thought Lakin would have been more understanding.

  “Look here, mister. I love you more than I have ever loved anything else in this world… and you know how much I loved my hamsters before they ate each other! You know it’s the truth, and nothing can ever change that. I did what I thought I had to do at the time. I know it was a mistake, but I make those sometimes, you know! And so do you. Everybody does. Now, you can either accept that I screwed up, and talk to me about the more important event of the day, or you can be mad at me until you wake up, but you know anger gives you indigestion,” I exclaimed, forgetting to keep my voice hushed.

  I was very aware that there were four other sets of eyes staring curiously in our direction, but I didn’t care. Lakin turned back to face me, considering my words. My heart dropped as a sly, crooked smile spread across his face.

  “You are adorable when you’re angry,” he grinned in defeat.

  “I try,” I said simply, crossing my arms to appear as if I was still disgruntled.

  Lakin saw right through my charade, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and kissing me on the forehead.

  “Let’s make it clear that I’m still not fond of this situation,” Lakin divulged in a slightly worried tone.

  “I know, I’m sorry. I will take care of it in the morning,” I promised, as the others’ eyes shifted away from us.

  “Don’t do anything to make waves. Just don’t, you know… don’t get too close to him,” Lakin requested tolerantly.

  “I patted him on the head today. I patted him on the head like a dog. How close do you really think I would be able to get?” I said, half joking.

  “Fair enough,” he laughed, drawing my head onto his shoulder. “So this Al guy…”

  “Don’t tell me you are worried about him, now?!” I sat up in my seat.

  “What? No. Isn’t he who you wanted to talk about?” Lakin laughed.

  “Oh, yeah. Sorry.” I shook my head at my own absurdity, returning my cheek to Lakin’s welcoming shoulder.

  “You think he knows something about us? About our kind?” Lakin asked inquisitively.

  “I don’t know. There is just something odd about him, isn’t there? Having him in the lab seemed to make my powers stronger. You felt it. As soon as I locked eyes with him, it was like my abilities were amplified by a hundred,” I explained. “And the way he said ‘sweet dreams,’ it was like he knew what happens when I go to sleep.”

  Lakin was silent, thinking over my words. I could sense him recapping the feelings that I had experienced during the day.

  “Maybe he just, you know… wanted you to have sweet dreams?” Lakin offered, raising his eyebrows at me.

  “Well, if you’re going to be a jerk about it…” I began.

  “Are you talking about your new therapist?” Nadia questioned from across the room.

  “He told her to have sweet dreams, so she thinks he knows about the Room,” Lakin said, a hint of mockery in his voice.

  “Can I see?” Nadia asked, lifting her feet from Bryant’s lap.

  “I want to see, too!” Lyla exclaimed, nearly knocking over the table between herself and Joseph as she jumped to her feet.

  Before I knew it, everyone in the room had their hands on different parts of my body, cloudy eyes reliving my evening. I shook my head at the thought of how strange the scene would have looked to a normal person; surely, it would have given me an undesirable reputation.

  “Oh, he’s very attractive,” Lyla said sheepishly, resulting in a forceful nudge on the shoulder from Joseph. “What? I’m just saying.”

  “I don’t trust him,” Bryant said with a sense of finality, returning to the yellow sofa to suggest he had nothing else to offer.

  Nadia remained silently pensive, tapping her chin as she immersed herself in deep thought. I could tell that she was hopeful, more than anything, that Al was somehow connected to us. She had the most to gain, if he was. Maybe he would have some idea how to release her from the containment of the Room. Even though her coma was medical, perhaps he would have some sort of miracle idea for a cure.

  “There isn’t any way you can talk to him about it? Or get into his mind?” Nadia asked, already knowing the answer.

  “All of The Facility is bugged. If he is connected, and anyone found out… I don’t even know what they would do to him, but it would probably hurt a lot. And my cuffs would kill me if I clouded over long enough to see anything useful,” I explained hopelessly.

  “There has got to be some way,” Nadia said exhaustedly, flopping back onto her sofa, nearly whacking Bryant in the face in doing so.

  “I am with Bryant on this. I don’t trust him. I think you should keep as much a distance from him as possible,” Joseph added thoughtfully.

  “He’s my new therapist, it’s not like I can really avoid seeing him. What do you think?” I asked, turning to face Lakin.

  “I think you’re looking too much into it, like you do with most things. Remember when you were convinced that the Helmsworth guy was an alien, and it turned out he just had eczema? I think you should just let things be,” Lakin said honestly.

  I nodded in false agreement. Meeting eyes with Nadia, I tried to silently assure her that I wouldn’t ‘just let
things be’. Either she understood, or she thought I was constipated. I was absolutely certain something fishy was going on, and not just because the next day was Fish Fingers and Custard day in Caf 1. There was something strange about Al, and I was determined to figure out what that ‘something’ was.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Jealous Little Hamster

  I awoke to the sound of loud knocking at my door, feeling far less rested than usual. The discussion in the Energy Room had not gone at all like I’d imagined. Lakin had suggested I was just being paranoid, and that I ought to let things be. Maybe I was being paranoid, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from getting to the bottom of things; if there was even a thing to get to the bottom of.

  I dragged myself groggily out of bed, not bothering to check my appearance in the mirror. I pulled my face up to the peephole to find Eric fidgeting nervously, a bouquet of blue flowers in his sweaty palms. I swung the door open with a yawn, to be greeted by a look of surprise.

  “Were you still sleeping?” Eric prodded, shutting the door behind him before following me into the minuscule living room.

  I glanced at the microwave clock, emitting a small snort of laughter.

  “It’s only eleven, Eric. Have you forgotten who you’re talking to?” I asked, collapsing onto the soft, white sofa.

  “Er, I stopped by the greenhouse and got these for you. I know blue is your favorite,” Eric said timidly, jutting out his hand with the flowers.

  I suppressed the impulse to laugh, projecting a sweet smile instead.

  “That’s, uh… nice. Thanks,” I said, taking the flowers to the kitchen.

  I had never been given flowers before, and wasn’t entirely sure that I possessed anything to designate as their home. I opened and slammed cupboards until, lo and behold, I found a single dusty, glass vase with a small chip missing from the upper rim. I had no idea where it came from, but it would certainly do. I filled the vase to the brim, water sloshing over the sides as I dropped in the unnamed flora. I had no knowledge whatsoever of flowers, except that they needed water, but they really were quite lovely. I stared at the vase for a moment, watching the water carve small streams through the dust. Flowers. This boy brought me flowers because he cared about me, and thought I cared about him in the same way. My heart sank a little as I decided I would have to tell Eric that I wouldn’t be able to see him the way he wanted me to. Of all the things that crowded my mind in The Facility, I never thought a boy would be one of them.