Elementary

Chapter Nineteen

"Dad?" I say.

"It's been a long time, princess." He says, holding his arms out. I run to his arms, and hug him tightly, sobbing. 

"Where did you go?" I say, choked up. "All of those years, why did you go?"

"I had to, honey. I can't say why." He says in a calming voice. "But I need to do something with you really quickly. Do you trust me?" He asks. I nod.

"Okay. Come over here." He says. He guides me to a metal chair, where he has me sit down. "Here. Relax." He says as he reaches into a drawer next to the chair. He pulls out a rope. He walks behind me, and starts to wrap the rope around my arms and torso, attaching me to the chair.

"What are you doing?" I say quietly.

"Well, it just so happens that the last element I need is in you."

Suddenly, the name rings through my brain.

"You're Tempus?" I yell.

"Shh.." He says. "The audience might hear you."

I scream louder, trying to get someone to hear me. He reaches into the drawer and takes out a roll of duct tape. It's almost out. He rips a long piece off and presses it onto my mouth. I scream through the tape, but hardly any sound comes out. 

"Now, London, honey. All I'm going to do is take out some blood. Then, you won't have to be a fire elementeer. Isn't that what you want?"

I stare at him- the green eyes, the slick brown sandy hair that used to be free while he swam in the ocean.

I shake my head.

"Or,  I could turn you into an air elementeer. Or an earth elementeer. Or a water elementeer." He says. "All you have to do is go on stage, and choose." He says.

Slowly, I nod, and he rips the tape off of my mouth.

"I knew you had it in you." He says, stabbing my arm with a needle. He pulls the top of the needle, and blood flows into the compartment. "Now go on out there." 

I feel a sudden weakness in me, and suddenly, I have to force my eyes to stay open.

Rubbing my arm, I start walking on stage, butterflies swarming from being in front of an audience. The lights blare in my eyes.

The man on stage smiles as I walk on.

"Welcome back! Now, would you tell the audience your name?" He says. I lean into the microphone slowly.

"London." I say. 

"Everybody say 'Hi London!'" He says. The crowd answers.

"Now, London, you had a talk with our friend backstage. I heard you have quite the relationship with him. Is that right?"

"Yeah, he's my dad." I answer. I hear excited murmurs and whispers.

"Calm down, everyone. Calm down." He laughs. "Now, for our show, what are you going to change your element to?" 

"Water." I say quietly into the microphone.

There is another uproar of excited whispers.

"All right, London." He looks behind him. "Can we take out the tank?" He calls backstage. 

Out comes the large aquarium. People wearing black push it on the stage, directly in the middle. Then, they leave.

"Okay, London. Here's the stitch: You can become a water elementeer, if you can hold your breath in this water tank for one minute." 

I nod, and start to walk toward it, but I feel hands on my shoulder blades push me headfirst in the tank before I can take a breath. The water flows around me, burning my skin, and every part of it. I hear a loud 'clank!' and I look above me to see a metal roof above the pool. I'm already running out of air. I'm burning. 

I swim up, and bang my fist against the roof of the pool. No one comes to my aid. I swim to the side, and I see a sign with red letters counting down.

00:50

I turn and look to the audience. I see four people running toward me, full speed, and one of them looks in the tank at me. 

Meliza. She stares at me, her eyebrows furrowed. Her nostrils flare, and she walks away. 

I'm going to die in here.

Condemned by my own father. In a place I thought I loved. Being watched by a careless audience. Killed for entertainment.

The clock reads 00:37.

I can't stay alive that long. I didn't even take a breath before I was pushed in.

I'm burning. I look at my arms, and they have become red, like a sunburn.

The clock reads 00:28

I'm not going to make it.