Different (Tainted Elements Book 1) Read online

  Tainted Elements Series

  Book One

  DIFFERENT

  Alycia Linwood

  Copyright © 2014 Alycia Linwood

  Cover Stock Images Copyright: ©Bigstock.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this novel may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior permission in writing from the author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  alycialinwood.weebly.com

  1st edition

  Dedication

  I dedicate this book to my awesome readers. Thank you for your support! A big thanks to my beta readers and editors. I don’t know what I would do without you all!

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 1

  My textbook clattered to the ground, drawing the attention of my friends who were bent over their own books. “Sorry,” I muttered as I reached for the book, glad that we were the only ones in the university’s library. If there were someone else, they’d have kicked me out already. My textbook was just out of my reach, so I focused on the spark of energy inside of me and called my element. A gust of air sent the book flying up and threw it onto the table with so much force that papers fluttered away.

  “Moira!” Cassandra threw her hands up, her brown eyes giving me a deathly glare. “If you’re bored, there’s your way out.” She made a show of pointing in the direction of the glass door.

  “Cass, come on.” Isabel shook her blonde head. “We need a break anyway.”

  “She doesn’t have to show off with her element,” Cassandra grumbled. “Some of us aren’t so lucky to have a pure element and get good grades in Magic Studies, so we need to ace the rest of our exams.”

  Isabel spread her lips into a little O and raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, we definitely need a break.”

  “Sorry. I’m just... nervous.” Cassandra rubbed her hand over her face, letting her long curly brown hair shield her eyes.

  “Here.” Isabel handed her a bag of chocolate cookies. “This should help.”

  “Thanks.” Cassandra’s face immediately brightened up as she grabbed the bag and popped one cookie into her mouth.

  “You shouldn’t worry,” Isabel laughed and nudged Cassandra on the arm. “You pass every exam!”

  I weighed the book in my hand, chewing on my lip.

  “What’s wrong with you today?” Isabel turned to me, her green eyes narrowed.

  “Nothing,” I said, but Isabel’s eyebrows shot upward. “Okay. I’ve been thinking about something and... I just...”

  “Thinking about what?” Isabel snatched the cookie bag out of Cassandra’s hand, who huffed in indignation and tried to get it back.

  “What if people could have more than one element?” I held my breath as they both stared at me. “I mean, healthy elementals like us.”

  Isabel was the first to burst out laughing. “What have you been smoking? Umm, I mean, reading? Books are your drug of choice.”

  The truth was I hadn’t been reading anything. Well, yeah, I might have read a couple of fiction books about that topic some time ago, but something inexplicable had happened to me today and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. “Does it matter? Don’t you think it would be cool to have more than one element?”

  “Umm, how about no?” Cassandra rolled her eyes. “The only reason I don’t completely despise element preservers is because they have that nasty disease that turns them into murderers and messes up their whole lives.”

  “But what if you could have another element too?” I wasn’t about to let go so easily, even though I understood Cassandra’s dislike of the idea. Our university no longer accepted only those who had a pure element, but there still weren’t many students who had a weak element or a sub-element like Cassandra’s.

  “And what would I do with two weak elements?” she bit out.

  “Are you kidding me? There’s nothing weak about your whirlwind. Trust me.” I slammed the book on the table, making everyone jump. “So what if it’s classified as a weaker air?”

  “Easy for you to say. I can do stuff with my whirlwind, but I’ll never be able to do half of what you guys can do,” Cassandra pouted.

  Isabel leaned forward, twirling a blonde strand of her hair around her finger. “Honestly, I don’t want any elementals to have more than one element. It just complicates things. If mixing of elements created magic disease, just imagine what mixing of more elements would do. Besides, it’s not like we can suddenly develop another element out of nowhere. How would that even work?” She frowned, then shrugged. “Who cares? My family has a pure element, so it’s not like I can develop another one. If I can’t have it, no one can.”

  “You’re right.” I forced myself to smile, clenching my hands in my lap so no one would see that I was shaking. “But if our world were different and we all had more elements...”

  “And what if we didn’t have any elements? Like, not a single person on the planet with an element or even a very weak element?” Isabel lowered her voice, giving us all a look under her eyelashes. “Now that’s a horror story.”

  I gave them a weak smile as they burst out laughing. Pressing my finger to my temple, I tried to fight off a sudden wave of heat that seemed to envelop me. There was no point in telling my friends what I’d seen. They’d call me crazy or delusional. Only one person could help me with my problem. Stuffing the book in my black leather bag, I sprang to my feet.

  “I have to go,” I said, meeting the surprised looks of my friends. “I need to help my mom with something. See you around.”

  “Sure.” Isabel eyed me suspiciously.

  I waved them goodbye and hurried to the door before anyone could ask me anything. My mind kept replaying the events of this morning. I could see myself sitting up in the bed, but when I looked down, blue fire erupted from my fingertips, spreading around my arm all the way to the elbow. I panicked and jumped up, trying to shake off the fire, even though I couldn’t feel it. The sensation of using my element was there, but fire wasn’t my element and this wasn’t something I could do with my air. The fire disappeared a moment later, leaving me dumbfounded.

  For all I knew, what I’d seen was only a dream. No matter how much I found the idea of having another element intriguing, I knew blue fire didn’t exist. Regular fire, yes, but blue? No way. Another terrible thought gripped my insides and wouldn’t let go. What if I was developing magic disease? What if this wasn’t about getting another element, but losing my own instead? I had to talk to my mom as soon as possible. Luckily, my parents and I lived in a house that was only five minutes away from the university. I wouldn’t
have to wait for long to get my answers.

  Chapter 2

  “I can’t help but think there is something seriously wrong with me,” I said, glad to be back to the safety of my own room.

  My mother sighed, running her hand through her long blonde curls. “There’s nothing wrong with you, honey. It was just a dream. You were half-awake and thought it was real. That’s all.”

  I shook my head, pacing up and down the room. “I wasn’t dreaming. I was fully awake and my hand was glowing with blue fire.” I met her blue eyes, which had a streak of green in them. “You have to believe me.”

  She looked away, licking her lips. “I believe you saw something, but I’m not sure what.” Crossing her legs, she leaned back in one of my fluffy blue chairs. “What can you tell me about the fire? There has to be an explanation for what you saw.” My mom is a scientist at one of the most renowned research facilities that deals with elemental magic and magic disease. If anyone knew what was wrong with me, it would be her.

  I stopped in the middle of the room and focused on the blue wall in front of me, trying to recall all the details of this morning’s bizarre event. “I told you already. My fingers were glowing and a blue fire spread across my arm. Then it went away,” I frowned. “My arm was tingling, but I didn’t feel warm or cold. It just... I don’t know. It was as if I were using my element.”

  I looked at my mom, realizing her slender form had gone completely still. If it weren’t for the movement of her chest, I’d have thought she’d stopped breathing. “Mom? Are you okay?” I knelt in front of her, my heart thudding loudly in my chest. “Have you heard of this happening before? Please tell me you know something.”

  “No, I...” She rubbed her eyes. “I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

  I chewed on the inside of my cheek. My mom would never lie to me, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t anyone who knew what was happening to me. “What if this is some new symptom of magic disease? I mean, Dad is a carrier. I could have inher...”

  “No,” my mom said, her eyes narrowing. “I oversaw the process of manipulating your genes before you were born so you wouldn’t inherit the disease.” Her hand found mine and squeezed. “I assure you nothing went wrong with the process. You are a normal, healthy elemental.”

  “But...” I trusted my mom, but I also knew how much she hated failures. She’d dedicated her life to finding a cure for magic disease, but despite all the good things she’d helped to discover, the cure was still out of everyone’s reach. If she found out something had gone wrong with my genetic manipulation, she’d freak out. “Mom, that was eighteen years ago. The process was still in testing and...”

  “Honey.” Her eyes softened. “I know this is a stressful period for you, but you’ll do great.”

  “This is not about university.” Having my first exams at university was a scary experience and I did worry about it, but why would any of it trigger a dream or a hallucination about blue fire?

  “It’s okay to be afraid,” she said, a smile breaking out on her face. “When I was your age, we didn’t even know how to use our elements, so learning everything in only four or five years of university was pretty difficult. We had less course options too.”

  I sat back on my heels, hoping I wasn’t in for another history lesson. When my mom was my age, things had been very different. No one was allowed to use their element in public until they finished university, although that rule, as my mom liked to point out, was usually ignored. But still, learning how to use elemental magic hadn’t been possible in high school, like it was nowadays. “I know, Mom, but I’m good at controlling my air. I don’t think I’ll be failing Magic Studies.”

  She raised an eyebrow at me, an amused look in her eyes. “Oh, really?”

  “Yeah.” I grinned at her, calling to my element and creating a light breeze to ruffle my long brown hair for a dramatic effect. A knock sounded on the door and I glanced over my shoulder in its direction. “Come in.”

  My father’s blond head poked through the open door. “Am I interrupting something?”

  I got to my feet and found a silver bracelet on my nightstand. Slipping the bracelet on my wrist, I faced my dad. The tension left his shoulders as soon as the bracelet was in place. My dad was a magic disease carrier which meant that he could feel my, or any other healthy elemental’s, element unless the said elemental wore an element-blocking bracelet. Feeling other people’s elements wasn’t the only symptom of magic disease, though. Magic disease carriers craved elements so much that they could turn into mindless killers who stole elements from people’s dying bodies. Luckily for my mom and me, my dad was in good control of his disease.

  “Moira, are you alright? I could swear you looked terrified for a second.” My dad’s blue eyes looked me up and down.

  “Yeah, I just realized that I can’t have magic disease because you can feel my element, and carriers can’t feel each other’s elements.” Most magic disease carriers didn’t have an element, but some could keep their own or taken elements for a long, long time. Still, a carrier couldn’t sense an element that wasn’t in a body of a healthy elemental.

  “What’s going on here?” A puzzled look crossed my dad’s face. “Why are you talking about magic disease? You know your mom did everything to...”

  “Yeah, yeah, but something happened to me when I woke up this morning and I can’t stop thinking about it.” Seriously, having a blue fire on your arm wasn’t something that could easily be forgotten.

  “Our daughter thinks she saw a blue fire on her arm,” my mom chuckled. “Sounds like a dream to me. What do you think?”

  My dad tilted his head and scratched his chin. “Hmm, that’s a tough one. Let me see. We have four main elements, but neither air, fire, water nor earth lets you use blue fire. Mist, ice, whirlwind, and dust are sub-elements so definitely not strong enough. Dreams, on the other hand... Yep, anything possible there.”

  I shot an annoyed glare to my parents. “So you think I’m delusional? Great.”

  “Not at all, sweetie,” my dad said, patting me on the shoulder. “You just had a lucid dream. It happens.”

  “But what if I have some new element no one ever heard about? Stranger things have happened.” I gave him a hopeful look. So far, the only ones who could have more than one element were element preservers, but they also had magic disease and had to take someone else’s element first. Healthy elementals could never have more than one element.

  “Prove it,” my dad laughed. “Show us this new element, so we can see for ourselves.”

  I bit down on my lip. “I...” I’d only tried to bring back the blue fire about a hundred times and it hadn’t worked. Why would it work now? I raised my eyebrows at my dad, worried that my element would bother him too much.

  “I’ll be fine.” He gave me an encouraging smile.

  I took off the bracelet and focused on my arm. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Reaching inside me for elemental energy, all I could find was a familiar sensation of my air. My arm didn’t change at all, let alone get enveloped in blue fire. I swore under my breath.

  “Honey, it’s okay,” my mom said, getting up. “You don’t need another element.”

  “I know I don’t need it, but...” I shook my head, unsure of what to think. Maybe what I’d seen was just a dream after all.

  “Paula, how about we order some pizza?” My dad snaked his arm around my mom’s waist.

  “Sure.” She looked at me. “What do you think? Would some pizza cheer you up?”

  Pizza could cheer me up anytime. “Yeah, why not?”

  “You should get some rest,” my mom said, following my dad to the door. “I can teach you a couple of new tricks that you can do with your element. Something they don’t teach you at schools and universities.” She winked at me.

  I grinned from ear to ear as I put my bracelet back onto my wrist. “Thanks!” I wondered if there was a way to have awkward dreams just so my mom would show me more awesome
stuff I could do with my element. Warmth spread through my body in a wave, sweat beading my forehead. I swayed on my feet and had to grasp the edge of the bed to steady myself. My vision blurred as the warmth tried to push itself out of my skin. I bit back a scream as something hot grazed my fingers.

  “Get her bracelet off!” a voice yelled. “Now!”

  Hands grabbed me, but I couldn’t fight against the warmth that was threatening to tear me apart.

  “Moira, look at me! Moira!”

  Something thudded to the ground and the warmth left my body in a whoosh. I blinked back the tears, staring at a giant black spot on the wall. My hand flew to my mouth. “Oh my God, Mom!” I looked up at her in panic.

  “It’s okay, sweetie. Just breathe.” She helped me sit down on the bed, her hand caressing mine. Dad was nowhere in sight, but that was not surprising. Whatever had happened to me, it was of elemental nature. He couldn’t have stayed, or he might have attacked me because of his disease. I spotted my silver bracelet on the floor, or at least I thought it was my bracelet because its shape was distorted as if I’d melted it.

  “Mom?” I searched her eyes. “What happened to me?”

  Sadness and anger flashed across her face, but she quickly hid any emotion. “The bracelet was blocking your element from surging out, so I had to take it off. After I did that, you sent a fireball at the wall.”

  “What? But how? A moment ago I couldn’t even... Was the fire blue?” I hadn’t even seen it because my whole body had felt like it was about to explode.

  “No, it was ordinary fire.”

  My eyebrows shot upward. “Ordinary fire? But...” I shook my head. “That can’t be. Mom, how can I have fire?” Blue fire would have made more sense to me because it was something new. Something I hadn’t seen before. Ordinary fire was... well, ordinary.

  “I must have done something wrong.” She looked at her hands, her voice cracking only a little, but it was enough for me to notice. “The genetic manipulation was... all new to us, and I guess you somehow inherited your father’s element.”