The Elements Trilogy: The Secondaries

Chapter 20: Wood

I was ashamed to admit that when things got tense, I went and hid in a Jurassic Park interactive game. I heard the door slam, and a few seconds later Evalynn poked her head in the game.

"Hi," she said quietly.

I stared at the screen, which was urging me to insert two credits and outrun the dinosaurs. "Hi."

"I was a bitch back there, wasn't I?"

I didn't look away from the screen, which was now showing a T-Rex running after a jeep. "Yup."

"Do you think it might be a tiny bit true?"

"Yup."

"Should I have kept my nose out of it?"

"Yup."

"Are you gonna say anything else?"

"Nope."

"Funny." she sat down next to me. "I wish I could take it back."

"She still out there?" I resisted the urge to look at her.

"Yup." she mimicked me.

"Go apologize."

I felt her gaze on me. "She'll kill me."

I finally looked at her. "You don't regret it, do you?"

"Yes, I do."

"You're a terrible liar, Evalynn."

She sighed. "Yeah."

I looked away. "Maybe it is true. I've thought about it myself. But you should've kept it to yourself. He was happy. And you don't know that it wasn't true."

"She doesn't love him." She said hotly.

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

"I'm not accepting that as an answer!" I snapped. "How do you know?!"

"Because she treats him like Troy treated me!"

The words shocked me to my core. "And what's that like?"

"Fake love. Cheap love. The way he looks at her was like the way Jamie looked Skylar. But the way she looks at him... it's attraction, yeah. But not love. I saw it everyday last summer and fall. It's not love, but I mistook it for love. And he is too. He was my best friend for years now. I couldn't let it go."

I opened my mouth to talk, what I was going to say however, I had no idea. But then Diamond screamed. Evalynn and I bolted out of the game to see an angry Tony headed straight towards Evalynn, growling like a feral animal.

Diamond had been thrown into a pinball machine, glass everywhere and the lights blinking weakly. I was torn between checking on her and helping Evalynn, but I quickly headed over to Diamond when Evalynn threw Tony backwards with a blast of air.

"Diamond, are you okay?" I asked, frantically.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she dug out her cell phone, and I had a feeling I knew who she was calling.

My assumption was confirmed when she begged Skylar to get to the arcade room as quickly as she could.

I turned back around to see Evalynn frantically dodging pieces of flying shrapnel from the ruined pinball machine. "Eva!" I shouted.

But then I realized at this moment, I was probably no use. Tony was like a wild animal, relentlessly attacking Evalynn.

"Come on, Tony! Stop this!" she shouted, as she ducked behind a claw machine. "You're my best friend, I was trying to help you!"

"Tell him she loves him!" I shouted at her.

"What?! No! I won't lie!"

"It may not be a lie! Tell him!"

But she refused too. I cursed, then sighed with relief when Evie and Skylar came running through the doors.

Skylar came right over. "Battle mode?" she asked Diamond.

Diamond nodded. "But he seems more lucid than we ever were,"

"Hmm. Probably not as strong for the secondaries. They might have better control than we did."

"Can you stop him?" Evie interrupted.

Skylar shrugged. "I don't know. Troy always did that. What started it?"

Diamond glared at Evalynn with pure hatred. "Her,"

"Yikes," Skylar shuddered. How?"

"She told him that I don't love him."

"What?!"

"It's true!" Evalynn shouted from her position on the arcade floor. "Now stop gossiping AND HELP ME."

A piece of metal flew dangerously close to her head, and she yelped.

"It's love that he wants?" Skylar asked.

I nodded.

"So give him love!"

"Tony!" Diamond shouted. "I love you!"

He didn't stop.

"That won't be enough." Evie said quietly. "You gotta show him...go kiss him!"

"What?" Diamond shrieked. "I'll get myself killed!"

"Oy, Sparkplug!" Evie waltzed out into the midst of the battle.

Tony slowly turned to face her, eyes coal black.

"What's she doing?" Diamond asked, fury in her voice.

"Showing him some love," Skylar said, shocked.

We all watched, dumbfounded as Evie Parker planted a huge kiss on her best friends lips.