Chapter 18

     "Where are we?" I whisper to Aaron.

     I look around and see a bunch of guys scaling a wall. Next to that they're crawling in the mud, which is just nasty. Others are doing what looks like hand to hand combat. There are no girls here just guys in brown shirts and shorts.

     Aaron laughs at me. "It's like a boot-camp for delinquents."

     I gulp. I don't think I could handle a mob of delinquents. I'm just glad Chris is here. If anything goes wrong he can just blast their brains with his power. The thought put a smile to my face, and caused Chris to burst out laughing. Aaron sent him a glare and I sent him a tiny genuine smile.

     "Okay, I understand where we are. The next question is why is it only Chris, you, and me here? And what exactly are we here for?"

     "Did you not listen to anything we were talking about?" Chris asks with a smile.

     "I was listening, and then Aidan wanted to teach me how to put a mental wall up. You didn't tell me the twins knew how to block out you and Eli."

     "Why would I tell you? I like being in your head. Did it work?"

     "You tell me." Then mentally I say, 'You're an idiot'

     "Hey!" he says looking offended.

     "Snap, guess it didn't."

     "Okay, okay. Stop flirting with my girlfriend we have a guy to find, and then we get out of here," Aaron says obviously aggravated.

     We walk towards what looks like a shack. Inside, there are multiple males sitting at tables dissembling and reassembling machine guns. I unconsciously scoot closer to Chris, not liking the fact that about twenty guys are holding guns right in front of me.

     "Excuse me, Sir," Aaron says and the guys standing turns and looks at us.

     "What do you want?" he snaps at us.

     "Um, we're looking for Clay?"

     He grunts. "What do you want with Clay?"

     "We just need to talk to him."

     "Fine he's in that building over there with one of our workers, Drew."

     "Thank you, Sir."

     He just grunts again before giving his supervision back to the crazy army of male gun builders.

     Once again, I find myself walking to a building. The only difference was that this one was made out of brick and not wood. It is just a brick box with a door. They really need to get someone to redecorate the place.

     Chris opens the door for me, and I smile gratefully. I can hear Aaron grumble under his breath, but choose to ignore it. We step in and there is only one guy standing in the whole room.

     He has blonde shaggy hair and blue-green eyes. I scan him and realize that he is pretty built, but I was expecting someone like The Thing from Fantastic Four. Chris laughs again causing the boy to snap his head in our direction. 

     Smirking, he walks towards us. The entire time he is walking, the knife is steadily being flipped into the air before it arches down and stops in his hand once more.  Her repeats the cycle over and over trying to intimidate me.  'I am not about to let him freak me out' I thought determined to stay confident.  That's when I remember that he is a delinquent. I can't help the tiny feeling of fear that goes through my body.

     Chris throws his arm over my shoulder trying to comfort me. I begin to lean into his warmth when I'm yanked away. I just sigh already knowing who did the yanking. I look up at his glaring face, and decide he needs some type of reassurance.

     "Only you," I whisper in his ear then turn back to the guy with the knife.

     He is just standing there with his head tilted to the side and a curious expression on his face.

     "Who are you?" his voice is gruff, but somehow I can hear the warmth in it. I relax slightly.

     "Um, hi. I'm Ivy, that's Aaron, and this is Chris," I tell him pointing at Aaron then Chris.

     He nods his head. "Okay, the names Clay. Now, next question. Why are you here?"

     "We wanted to talk to you about something."

     "Hmm, really? Are you part of the Guild?"

     "Oh, no. Definitely not. We have nothing to do with them."

     "Well, I guess I'll have to rid of you then," he says before he throws the knife straight towards my chest.

     I let out a screech and close my eyes. After about thirty seconds, I open my eyes realizing that the knife didn't make contact. I look at everyone, and they are all standing still. As if they are in some silent show-down. I glance around briefly and notice that the knife is embedded into the wall on the left of me.

     "Why aren't you hurting him?" I ask Chris.

     "He's an elemental. We can't do mind tricks on elementals."

     "Um, Eli did it to Aaron."

     He snaps his head towards me giving Clay a perfect time to attack.

     'Let me in,' says the same voice that helped me out in the field. I mentally shrug before letting whatever it is in.

     Clay stops in his tracks and stares at me. He begins sweating. Biting his lip, tears begin to stream down his cheeks. "I give. Please stop. God, please stop. I promise I won't disobey again. Just stop," he pleads.

     The problem is, I don't know how to stop. He slides to the floor in agony and rolls into the fetal position.

     'Please stop. We need him," I mentally say hoping that it will work.

     I hear a sigh in my head. "Fine," It says pouting.

     "What did you do to him?" Aaron whispers.

     I glance at both him and Chris. "I have no idea."

     Aaron looks curious, while Chris's expression holds one of fear. Could he hear the conversation I had with It? Did he know what is happening to me?

     Clay suddenly stops his pleading and I glance at him. He unsteadily makes his way to his feet, looking slightly pale.

     "Um, thanks," he croaks out. "But you will have to kill me before I work for the wrong side."

    "What do you mean the wrong side? You would rather work for the bad guys than us?" I ask him slightly mad.

     Confusion flashes in his eyes before they harden.  "Drew told me about you guys. There is no way I'm going to give into your lies."

     "What lies? We work for the good guys. The bad guys have the girl who controls water brain washed. I need her to take a spell off me."

     His eyes flash again. "You don't have her?"

     "No? The Guild does. Quite frankly I'm surprised they haven't killed her yet. But, they are probably using her as bait to get to you," I tell him honestly.

     "You're not lying are you? They told me that you had her, but you're not one to kill. You proved that to me just now. You could have ended my life, but you didn't. You controlled It, you told It no."

     My eyes widen, he knows? He knows about It? I put that to the back of my brain. I could deal with that later, right now I need to get Clay and get out of here. This place creeps me out.

     "I'm not lying. We wouldn't kidnap someone," I tell him hoping I was being honest.

     He nods his head. His eyes flicker behind me and an expression of anger comes across his face. "Hey, Drew."

     I turn and gasp.  "Ethan?"