CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Christian let out sigh of satisfaction as he lowered his beer bottle back to the table top. Shifting his weight backwards, he balanced his chair on the back two legs and crossed his arms over his chest. Letting out a wistful sigh, he turned his gaze over the streets surrounding the small restaurant, almost in a paranoid manner.

He couldn't help it. Ever since they had seen what they had seen during their graduation a few months prior, he knew there was a chance it would all come back to haunt them. If what had taken over Trethaway had been real, there was no chance they had to have a completely normal life. There was no way a…thing with that sort of power would leave them alone, not after the way it had attacked them.

"So where are you guys headed now?" He asked, turning to his best friends. "Where did the company place you?"

"I'm going back to Australia," Reed explained. "There's a company out there, AEA, that's offered me a job." He shrugged. "It's an entry-level, but I think they were impressed with the work and internships I managed to do in the field and offered me one." He crossed his legs, resting his hands on his chest in a pose that showcased his laid-back personality. His body language easily contradicted the somewhat tense one that Christian held. "What about you, mate?"

"Like you, I'm going back to Canada," Christian explained. "There's a company out there that's interested in my work in chemistry that I'm interested to try out. Not only that, but, from what I've seen, it's one of the better places for me to continue our other work…" he trailed off and regarded their third companion, Nathan, who sat quietly, watching the two. "I agree with what you said…we have to figure out what it is that caused that…portal to open. What caused that thing to get through to our world?"

Nathan looked amused as he rested his cheek on his upraised finger tips. "You think there are different worlds out there?" He asked. Christian nodded silently as Nathan lifted his head completely. He twisted his mouth to the side and thought for a long moment. "Not to say that it isn't possible. There are many theories out there about parallel universes." He laughed lightly. "Not that I'm saying you'll be able to make some sort of a time machine out of a phone booth that can take you to another universe, but I'm not saying it's not possible either.

Lowering his voice, Nathan sat up straight and looked around before leaning in towards Christian and Reed. "I managed to get deeper into some of the government files and I think I've found a few that will accompany your claim."

Reed's face slackened before his blue eyes darkened in anger. "You went back into it? Mate, they have those files under a complete lockdown now. There have been loads of people who saw something weird that day…our graduation. There've been loads of people that have tried to call in what they saw, and no one believes them. But next thing you know, some of them are dead in cases that are 'mysterious',"—he used air quotes around the words—"and there doesn't seem to be any explanation for them."

"What if they were elementals, too?"

Christian's question caused Nathan and Reed to turn towards him. He thought for a long moment before scratching the back of his head. "Sorry, I'm trying to work this out, eh? With all of the files we've found through the government and what we've managed to keep hidden on our own…we've managed to conclude that there are a lot more elementals than we originally thought there'd be. Right?"

"Right."

"So what if the ones that had seen what happened that day, they're elementals. Or have the ability to become them?"

"Like…the only way they can tap into that power is if they see it happen in front of them?" Reed asked. "Mate, that makes sense, but what if the person isn't an elemental? Can they see it? And if not, are they completely unaware of what goes on around them until they end up dead?"

There was a brief silence that surrounded the three young men. So many questions they had, but so many answers they couldn't get to. They had managed to answer a lot of things they had been confused about simply due to their 'research' while in class. It was that research they were going to continue while they were at their jobs, having had agreed upon it. They knew it was dangerous, knew it was something that could be traced and potentially found and arrested for the work they would continue to do.

Bu this time we won't be using the government's files, Christian thought. We're going to be using all of our own research and continue to further our research to prove there is something else out there.

"What about Akito?" Nathan reminded them. "Has he said anything else about the information that we've sent him?"

"Renee says that she and Kris are going to visit him within the next few months," Reed replied. "They're going to continue to get as much information from him as they can, that we hadn't gotten when we visited him in Japan in the first place." He thought for a moment. "If anyone knows about this, it's Akito. And the more we can get from him, the easier our work will be."

"Speaking of, how's the wedding planning going?" Christian changed the subject, causing Reed to grin, almost like a shy school boy. "It's in a couple of months, isn't it?"

"Yeah, in a couple of months," Reed agreed. "The ceremony is being held in Melbourne, where I'm from. But her family is coming in from Japan and the US to come see it. And of course you guys are in it as well." He raised a hand. "Which reminds me, Renee says don't get anything off of the registry because there's going to be enough that she'll receive from her family when the day comes."

"And she has no problem moving all the way across the world, from her home in New York, to live in Australia, for your job?" Christian asked.

"Excuse me, but Kristin is moving to Canada with you."

"But that's a few hundred miles north, not all the way across the world." Christian grinned as he picked up his beer bottle again. "I'm just saying that it probably won't take long for us to get a call with her crying on the phone saying 'I made a mistake, I need your help'." He and Nathan laughed.

"Cheers, mate." Reed rolled his eyes before finishing off his own beer. He set it down in the middle of the table. "What about you, man?" He asked Nathan. "Where are you going with your job?"

"Can't tell you."

Christian's eyebrows rose as he exchanged a glance with Reed. It wasn't particularly that surprising, Nathan had always been secretive, and kept a lot of things to himself. There was something about him that always managed to creep him out a little and Christian couldn't quite place his finger on it. There was nothing wrong with being a loner, but before they had stumbled upon the elementals, he had never noticed him. No, instead he had continued to hang around with his own friends, had met and become best friends with Reed after they had their dorms assignments down the hall from each other for years since they had first arrived at University. Thinking about it now, Christian wasn't sure he had ever seen Nathan on campus, and yet, there he had been that fateful day in class.

Would they even be friends if this hadn't had gone on?

If they hadn't had been in that class that day?

If Nathan hadn't had asked the professor that one question that would set everything in motion. Then again, he did believe that everything happened for a reason and if it didn't work out the way it had, then it would've come around in another way.

"You're not going into the witness protection program are you, mate?" Reed joked.

Finally Nathan laughed, his eyes lighting up. "No, nothing like that," he said. "I can't tell you where I'm going because we don't have a final place set up yet. However, once I do get that information, I'll let you know. Besides,"—he waved a hand, trying to change the subject—"it's all classified information. I couldn't tell you a lot about it anyway."

Reed and Christian exchanged another glance and the two came to the same conclusion. "You're working for the government aren't you?"

Nathan shrugged and smiled, neither confirming nor denying the accusation, then looked at his watch. "I have to get going," he said. "So much stuff to do and I need to start packing. Someone told me that the Australian weather is unpredictable and a bitch to deal with if you're not ready."

Reed rolled his eyes. "It's not that bloody bad, boofhead," he said. "Don't believe the hype. And the wedding it's for another few months, you don't need to pack that early."

He shrugged once more. But this time, his shrug had an eerie tone to it. Nothing weird about moving shoulders up and down, bringing shoulder blades and back muscles together. But there was still something off about Nathan. He wasn't acting like himself, wasn't as talkative as usual, and wasn't showing off his intellectual prowess as he had done before, didn't have that slight sense of arrogance to him. It was like it was only a fraction of Nathan still inside him; something had changed with him since graduation day.

"It pays to be prepared."