The Elements Trilogy: The Secondaries

Chapter 16: Wood

As soon as the words left Diamond's mouth, Skylar was up and out the door.

"Does she even know where she's going?" I asked.

Evalynn let out a huge sigh. "No. Should somebody go after her?"

"We could get Chester." Diamond suggested.

"Send out her new boyfriend to stop her from hunting down her ex boyfriend's clone? Not one of your best ideas, Diamond." Evie stood up. "I'll go."

Evalynn stood up. "Me too."

"Uh, no." Evie pointed to the seat. "You and Diamond are staying here and sorting out whatever you two have got stuck up your butts from last night." She slammed the door shut behind her.

Diamond turned red and Evalynn scowled, but she sat back down.

"Come on guys, let's leave them to sort this out." David walked over to the door, and I reluctantly followed. But Tony didn't get up from his spot next to Diamond.

"Tony, come on." I said.

He gave Diamond a small kiss on the cheek, and then turned to Evalynn as he stood up. "Just...be nice."

I closed the door behind me, and everyone stood there awkwardly. Tony stuck his hands in his pockets. "What do you guys wanna do?" He asked.

David looked around. "I'm gonna help look for Skylar." He headed off down the hallway.

"We could help..." I said to Tony.

He shrugged. "I don't know her very well. I wouldn't know what to say if we found her."

I sighed. "Yeah, that's true." I glanced at my watch. 1:10. "Wanna go play in the massive arcade?"

He shrugged again. "Yeah, why not?" We started walking down the hallway, and then he glanced at me. "What are we supposed to do if we run into Bryner?"

"Well Skylar told Chester about her, and apparently The Anti-Forces is keeping an eye on her. Not much else we can do, just lay low and act normal, I guess. But what about that Calvin dude? We have no idea what he looks like."

Tony swept his curls to one side. "Evie said something about pale skin and thick hair. And," he waved his hands about his face. "Attractive cheekbones."

"Yeah, but Tony, I have pale skin and thick hair. And who knows, maybe MY cheekbones are attractive."

"Hey, don't get snide with me, that's all Evie said."

Tony and I stopped walking. "Where the hell are we?"

He glanced around. "Que me aspen si lo sé."

"What?"

"Nothing," he murmured.

"Hey, you guys lost?" A voice called out. We both turned to face a guy with short blonde hair and blue eyes.

"He has pale skin and thick hair!" Tony hissed in my ear.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Just relax!" I whispered back. "Uh, yeah. Just a bit." I nodded, speaking to the stranger now. "We're looking for the arcade."

"Arcade? Oh yeah, just keep heading down this hall, skip past the first turn, take a right, two lefts and then it should be the first door on the right."

Tony and I stared at him. "Qué?" Tony asked.

"Speak English, Tony." I rolled my eyes.

The blonde laughed. "I'll just show you the way. I could use some fun myself, if it's alright with you guys."

Tony shrugged. "Yeah, why not? I'm Tony, and this is Derek. We're new here."

"I'm Stacy." The guy nodded. "Been here a while."

Tony's face split into a huge grin, and I could tell he was going to make a snarky remark about the girlish name, but Stacy beat him to it. "Yeah, I know. I have a girls name." Stacy grinned, his smile just as wide as Tony's. "Lets not make a big deal of it, alright?"

"Okay. Alright, Stacy." Tony kept smiling, but my curiosity got the better of me.

"So, uh, Stacy, you've been here a while, huh?"

"Couple months." Stacy shrugged.

"What program?"

"Special cloning program."

"Ever hear of the physical combat wing?"

"Sure. It started up around the same time I got here."

"Why would a science lab need a psychical combat wing?"

"I don't know." He shrugged.

"Is it true that they're clones? From America?" Tony cut in.

Stacy shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Not even the doctors know if that's true. Can we go the arcade now?"

"Is there someone in that wing named Jamie?" I asked quickly.

Stacy went stiff. "What?"

Tony cut in again, whispering in my ear. "Gavin and Calvin didn't have the same names, Jamie and his clone probably don't either." He turned to Stacy again. "A John, perhaps? A James even?"

"Where did you hear that name?" Stacy said quietly.

"What name? John? Jamie?"

"Jamie. Where did you hear of him?"

"A, uh, friend. Why? Is he here?" I asked eagerly.

"No." Stacy spat out bitterly. "No, he isn't here. He died. Last fall."

"Did you know him?"

Stacy set his jaw and crossed his arms. "He was my best friend." Then he turned, and stalked away.