Air: Elementalist Book 1 by Rebecca Wolf (christmas read aloud .TXT) 📗

“Umm... where are you going?” I asked him.

“I go where you go.”

“You stay outside my personal space.”

“Ok,” he said, moving to enter the  room.

“The bedroom is my personal space.”

He gave me a glare. I glared right back, hands on my hips, until he looked away and sighed. “I’ll be right outside the door. If your going to do something stupid, tell me first.”

“Not likely,” I muttered as I shut the door firmly behind us. Penny moved to sit on my bed, and I pulled out a notepad and began to write.

"They might have placed bugs when they did the house sweep so we’re going to have to write everything out."

"This all seems a little paranoid, Zephy."

"It’s not paranoid if my theory turns out to be correct."

"So how do we figure this out? We need a game plan."

"Ok… step one- "

We stared blankly at each other for several minutes, at a loss of where to start.

“Jerry.” I wrote finally "Jonathan used him against me. If we lean on him, he might know something."

"Ok, how do we track him down?"

"We use his credit card info from when he bought drinks."

Penny gave me a devious grin. “Sometimes you’re a little genius, you know that?”

“Only sometimes?” I grinned back, relieved we had the beginnings of a plan.

Four-thirty pm rolled around, and Penny and I started getting ready to head out.

“Where are you going?” one of the guards asked us suspiciously.

“To work, duh.” said Penny, as she got the car keys and headed for the door. I moved to follow, and the guard blocked my path. I put my hands on my hips. “Excuse me.”

“Boss says no going back to work.”

“You had no idea we were going back to work until this second. How could he have possibly told you that?” I challenged.

“He debriefed us last night.”

“About what, exactly?” I asked, my anger flaring.

“About appropriate protocols to secure your house upon arrival, as well as the status of your work as an insecure location.”

That bastard. He had already planned for me to come home.

I pulled out my phone and dialed.

“Zephyr.” He answered on the second ring.

“Controlling where I go was not part of this agreement,” I steamed.

“You don’t need to work anymore anyway. Your about to marry me, and I am filthy rich.”

“That is NOT THE POINT.”

“What exactly is the point?” he asked calmly.

I swear the calm voice he used was going to make me combust in fury if he used it anymore.

“My unemployment was not in the contract, you can’t make me give up my job!”

“Your worksite is not safe. Anyone can go in or come out. It’s impossible to secure.”

I had a sudden realization. I didn’t have to put up with this. “Aiden, my job is very important to me. I am going to work. Your guards are welcome to come with me, but if they try to stop me from leaving my home, it is legally considered kidnapping and I will be forced to call the authorities.” I got ready to hang up feeling very self-satisfied.

“I’m afraid you can’t do that as per our contract.”

“Ummm what?”

“Yes, in our contract it states that we cannot bring incriminating evidence against each other to authorities. By bringing this to their attention you would violate that clause.”

I banged my head against the doorframe in frustration. Penny raised her eyebrows at me. The guard looked at me as though he was concerned for my sanity. I took a deep breath and tried a different approach.

“Ok, Aiden, I understand your concerns, but wrapping me in bubble wrap, and placing me under house arrest is not practical. I’m sure we can think of a better solution that still allows me to live life normally.”

“I will think about it,” he replied.

Ok, I had had enough of this. I hung up. I’d let him think about it while I handled things the way I should have initially, I was an air elemental, God dammit! There was no reason that I should be cowed by norms just because they were physically intimidating.

“Ok guys, you win. I’m going back to my room.”

They looked at me suspiciously, but let me go. I went back down the hall, locked my door behind me, and tried to open my window. It wasn’t just locked, it had been nailed shut. As if THAT would stop me. I pressed my right hand against the windowpane and emoted air out. The glass shattered. I kicked out the rest of the glass and peeked over the side. The guard outside was shielding his head from the raining glass. Oops, I had forgotten about that guard. He looked up at me, and he did not look happy. He reached to start the engine on some sort of jet pack that had been strapped to his back. Seriously? Apparently Aiden had covered a lot in his debriefing. Footsteps pounded down the hall. It sounded like the cavalry had been notified of my jailbreak. I dashed over to my desk and grabbed the first thing I found, an ugly paperweight. I leaned out my window. The guard was already halfway up the side of the house. I aimed for the jet pack, adding some extra force with my element. It got one of the propellers and the guard went down with a shout. I hoped that jet pack was expensive, it would serve them right. The guards were banging against the door, but the lock held. I crouched on the sill and leapt into the sky. I spotted Penny’s car from above, as it rounded the corner of our block. Landing a few yards ahead, I got in when she stopped the car.

“I was waiting for you to think of flying out,” she said. “For someone so smart, you can be super slow sometimes.”

“Hey, I’m recovering from a bullet wound, cut me some slack.”

“Did the bullet hit your head? No? Then I fail to