"Come on, Car. Just hear her out." I shook my head at Will, stubbornly.

"Don't tell her this, but she's never usually wrong and we need to be a team about this anyway. You can't let anyone you know influence the case." He continued.

"Okay then, I'm coming back in. Just give me a second first." Will nodded and walked back into the room, leaving me.

As he walked away I noticed blood staining the left side of the back of his shirt. Ugh, that meant he hadn't changed his shirt after he got pushed into the wall of blood while we were discussing Evangeline Prontes' escape.

I was still sitting on the floor, with my back leaning against the wall.

I refused to believe it Letti can't be responsible for the murders. She's a Proletarian. How would I even explain it to Nadia, that her best friend is the enemy.

And Reece. Reece would be heartbroken if he knew, that he could never see Letti again. Because no matter how much he denies it, he really likes the girl.

I pushed myself off the ground and dusted myself, before going back into the room.

"Are you done with your hissy fit now, Carter." Ellie asked clearly mocking me. I ignored her and laid down on my bed.

She threw a picture down next to me and it was Letti smiling, with her hair down and there was a small silhouette on the wall. That was probably Nadia.

"This girl-" She started.

"Damn, Ellie! Why didn't you show us the picture before?! I'd gladly go and interrogate her." Will said, looking excited at the picture.

Ellie took an empty plastic bottle off my bedside table and hit Will over the head with it.

"Because this isn't a booty call for you. This is a new lead." Ellie said, putting the bottle down, while Will rubbed his head, grumbling.

Ellie began talking again, but by now it was probably only Aidan who was actually listening.

I watched as Will raised his fingers slightly and a bit of dirt (so small you could only see it if you were paying close attention) rose up near Ellie's nose. She began to sneeze midway through sentence. Once. Twice. Thrice.

"Will! You dick, stop that!"

"You shouldn't have hit me with the bottle." Will said, sticking his tongue out and refusing to put his finger down.

While still sneezing, Ellie lifted up a hand.

"What did you just do?!" Demanded Will, angrily.

"You'll have to stop what you're doing now, if you want to find out. But I can promise you that your room won't look pretty, if you don't stop." Ellie said smugly.

"Bitch." Will said and instead of lowering his finger, he lifted his entire arm and started chanting.

Dirt started to pour out of Ellie's mouth, as she chocked but still Will continued.

"Guys! This is my room you're messing up!" I exclaimed, in horror at the pile of dirt forming on my floor.

"Will! Will! Will, stop it. You're hurting her. Will!" Aidan shouted at him hut Will ignored him and satisfaction took over his face.

Aidan raised his arm and gathered dirt into a hard mound which he threw at Will, knocking him out.

Aidan and I both rushed towards Ellie, who was now unconscious like Will, but at least no dirt was coming out her mouth.

"We need to get her to the Salutem now." Aidan said and I nodded.

"What should we do about him?" I asked, gesturing my head at the unconscious Will.

"Leave him. He's done enough damage as it is."

+++

The Salutem was basically just the medical rooms. Like the laboratories, there's one for each wing.

The Salutem is the worst place to be. You can't do anything there and you're only holding your team back, being in their for a prolonged period of time can risk your team being taken off a case.

The reliability of your team is scored and so if how efficiently and quickly you can finish your case. There isn't a prize at the end for any of this but it's your pride. Elemental family names go down in history and if you screw up your family's name, well let me tell you, they won't be happy.

For someone like Ellie with a successful little sister, she is often overlooked and feels like she has something to prove, despite being better than most Elementals here.

Once I had made sure that Ellie had gotten to the Salutem safely and Aidan was watching over her, I decided to leave and sort Will out. I can't stand to be there for too long.

I walked back to my room slowly and concentrated on my breathing. I pushed back some of my hair with my trembling hand. I really do hate the Salutem.

I opened my room door, expecting to see Will still lying there unconscious. He wasn't.

Instead Benedict and Kai were both in there muttering to one another.

"What's going on? Benedict, why are you in this wing?" Both men looked up at me and Kai breathed a sigh of relief.

"There you are Car." Kai said.

"The emergency line was called twenty minutes ago and muffled sounds could be heard before the person hung up. You know it's only used in emergencies or needs for backup. Which is why we were surprised when it came from your room. So we came to check it out." Benedict answered in a monotone voice. Yet, that still wasn't any reason for him to be in any wing except his own.

"I haven't been in here, I was with Aidan and Ellie in the Salutem and no one called the emergency line either." Kai looked puzzled at my response and he turned to Benedict.

"Have you seen Will, anywhere? I'm looking for him." I asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, we saw him leave the Pelagus on the way here."

"What?!" I furrowed my eyebrows in disbelief. He shouldn't have woken up for another half an hour and even then, he wouldn't be strong enough to walk properly. "I need to go now, can we discuss this matter later."

I shrugged on a coat, hurriedly and texted Aidan about the events.

"Car, we didn't just come here because of the emergency line. The superiors have decided to take you off the case after hearing what had happened with Ellie and Will and along with the fact that you've gotten nowhere after so much time. Your team can't be trusted with it, not when the divisions are at each others' throats." Kai, said with a sympathetic look on his face.

"What?" I turned to them, with a serious look on my face waiting for them to tell me it was all a joke. The Salutem staff must have told them what had happened, when the two of them found out what had happened to Ellie.

"That's the only reason I'm in the earth wing, to tell you personally, that my team will be taking over." Added Benedict.

"I thought you were working on the Lycanthrope disputes." I said, still in disbelief.

"Car, they finished that in a matter of two weeks." Kai said.

Benedict held out a hand for me to shake. An Elemental way of saying, "you tried your best but it wasn't good enough", in these types of situations.

"I need to go." I said, ignoring Benedict's hand.

"And both of you get the fuck out of my room." I shouted at them, before walking out the door.

+++

Looking for an Elemental is at an average level of difficulty. Looking for an Elemental that doesn't want to be found, is at the highest level of difficulty when you're not an Elementalist.

I downloaded the security tapes from when Will was said to have left the Pelagus, as I left myself. I kept replaying them over to myself, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

It was Will leaving the Pelagus as any normal Elemental has the right to. He had no signs of tiredness or drowsiness. As soon as Will was outside the Pelagus compound, there were no more tapes of him or any evidence of where he could've gone.

Every time I've rang him, it has sent me straight to voicemail.

I had yet to tell Aidan, that our team has been taken off the case, not wanting to give him anymore stress. According to the updates he's given me, Ellie shows no signs of waking up soon, but is still alive and well.

+++

By the time I had got back to the Pelagus, my fingers were numb from being outside in the cold and my throat was hoarse from calling for Will. I had searched everywhere for him and in the end decided to go back to the Pelagus, in case he came back on his own.

I walked into the earth common room to see Aidan by himself, lying on the sofa, staring at the ceiling in silence.

"Benedict told me what happened." Aidan said in a monotone voice, not even bothering to look at me.

"Ellie's condition is still the same and I'm presuming you didn't find Will."

"No." I said, taking a seat on one of the armchairs.

"I don't even know if I want Ellie to wake up anymore because I know how sad she'll be when she finds out." Aidan mumbled.

He then sat up suddenly.

"When I find Will, he's gonna get it. He ruined all of our chances. Do you know how great it would look if we did solve it?! Now Benedict's team will get the praise. I wish he would just piss off for a bit."

"I don't even know what was going on with Will. He's never overreacted about something so stupid. Hell, he's never even overreacted even in the worst of situations." I said in response.

"Well, I don't like the new Will." Aidan mumbled again.

"I know I shouldn't but I hope Benedict's team fail at the case too. That'll show the cocky little-"

"I doubt they'll get very far." I said interrupting Aidan and his colourful vocabulary. "After all Evangeline Prontes is no walk in the- no walk in the-"

"Get up now!" I shouted at Aidan, causing him to jump.

"What is it now, Car? I'm so tired."

"Well, I'm never one to care for tiredness when there's a chance at ya getting our case back."

+++

I dragged Aidan's ass down to the cells, which have pretty much been abandoned by the clean up crew. They had been waiting for a trustworthy Warlock to give a safety check to make sure nothing's spelled.

They hadn't checked to make sure nothing's spelled. Which meant they hadn't checked anyone to make sure they weren't spelled either.

Witches or Warlocks and Vampires were evidently evolved in Evangeline Prontes' escape. It would've been simple to add a small spell onto something in the room.

Like an object, except there were none in the room. You would have to use something else. Like a puddle for someone to fall into or... blood.

Flashbacks of my own memories came to surface in my mind. Will accidentally got pushed into the wall, coated in blood, by Kai.

Will came into contact with the blood and ran out to look for Ellie before being checked.

It wasn't Will's fault for his attitude and actions  today. It was all a facade. A spell.

"Car, care to enlighten me on your thoughts because I can't read minds and you're creepily staring into space." Aidan said, poking my arm.

"All you need to know is that we're getting our case back."

a/n: 700 mark✔️

Slightly longer chapter than usual (not by much). You're welcome.

chapter release date = 18/06/19