Free Renegade by Antony John

the same element and I could feel him pushing back against me. But he was weak. He was swimming against a riptide, and the current favored me.
    There was a flash of blinding fire. I choked on the hot air and collapsed to the deck. Ananias towered over me, tears welling in his eyes. “I can’t let you hurt him, Thomas.”
    Father was on the deck too. Wheezing, he clasped his hand to his chest. With the anger shocked out of me, I couldn’t believe what I’d done to him.
    Ananias crouched down between us. “Tell Thomas what’s going on, Father.”
    â€œYou already know as much as me,” Father said.
    â€œHe took over our elements, don’t you get that? He
possessed
us.” Ananias was fuming again. “Why didn’t you warn him about it? Why didn’t you warn
us
?”
    Alice emerged at the top of the stairs, a cloth pressed against the left side of her face. She stomped over and glared at us. “Why do you think?” she snarled. “With his element, Thomas doesn’t just control machines and instruments. He controls
us
.” She let the words sink in. “He can take over any element he likes. And there’s nothing we can do to stop him.”

CHAPTER 12
    F ather led me to an empty cabin and closed the door behind us. He rested his forehead against the door, his fingers around the handle. “I didn’t know,” he said.
    â€œSure you didn’t.”
    â€œI’m telling the truth.”
    â€œSo what? If you hadn’t lied to me about my element, hadn’t kept it from me all these years, I would’ve found out what I can do.
All
of it.”
    â€œAnd if we’d told you the truth, you’d have faced this moment even sooner. Do you really believe everyone would have treated you better when they didn’t even need you around? Or is it possible they’d have stayed away from you completely?”
    He had a point, but I didn’t want to admit it. He didn’t deserve a moral victory, especially one he hadn’t earned.
    â€œCan
you
do it too?” I asked. “Take over other people’s elements?”
    â€œI used to be able to, a little—if they were tired, or didn’t know what was happening. But not like you. Sounds like you can take whatever element you want, and no one can stop you.”
    â€œI don’t want to
take
anything. Don’t you get it? I’m not trying to frighten people off. This element has controlled my life. Even before I knew about it, it kept people away from me. Now I want to get control of it. I want to practice combining, so that we can work together.”
    He barked an angry laugh. “Who’s going to combine with you? Not me—you can repel me without breaking a sweat. You could destroy me with a touch, if you wanted.”
    â€œStop it! You’re not the victim here.”
    â€œWe’re
all
victims, Thomas. Some of us are just more deserving of sympathy than others.” He ran a hand through his straggly hair. He had the face of an old man—wrinkled and tired and worn. It wasn’t the image of my father I remembered from a few weeks ago. I wondered how I appeared to him now. “I just discovered that your mother might still be alive, remember?” he continued softly. “You’re not the only person who has been lied to.”
    Back to the wall, he slumped down to the floor and folded his arms across his knees. “I used to imagine she was still with me, your mother. I’d talk to her every day. Ask her what I should say to you. You were so full of questions when you were young. Would’ve stayed that way, I think, but we wore you down with silence.”
    I sat across from him. “What did Mother tell you? When you talked to her, I mean.”
    He closed his eyes. “Nothing. I felt like she was leaving me to decide. And look how that turned out—I couldn’t have been more wrong about how I handled