Elixer 2
by Hilary Duff
Clea rides a horse to the memorial she made for her dad, Grant. As she is getting ready to leave, the horse throws her off. Four people have appeared. Two tell her to give up on Sage. A little girl, Amelia, seems to be trying to tell her something without the others knowing what. They leave and Clea takes pictures thinking they might show up in them. Back at the house, Clea deals with her mom’s increased staff. Ben flirts with the new assistant and asks her out to dinner. Clea hears the voice of Amelia’s mother, Petra, saying that Ben would be good for her. Clea goes to her room to be alone and asks about Sage. The woman says she will show Clea soon.
Amelia thinks that what her parents and grandfather are doing will destroy the world. She remembers her grandfather telling her the story of how he found the Elixir in Ethiopia and brought some back. Amelia was a curious child and drank it. Her family returned to the spring that held the Elixir and drank the rest of it, promising to use their immortality for good. Amelia comes back to the present when her mom’s consciousness approaches hers (their bodies are far off somewhere). Petra is suspicious of her daughter.
Clea goes through the pictures she took that day. She finds Sage, but not Amelia or her family. She goes to sleep and Petra filters her view of Sage to Clea in her dreams. For a second, Sage is able to see Clea. Lila comes in to clean Sages’s wounds. She says they will stop hurting him if he gives up on Clea. He says he can’t because he loves her. Lila points out that if he loves her, he should do what he can to end her suffering. Petra ends the connection saying that Sage will fall for Lila.
After 2,500 years, Petra’s body started to fail. Her father realized their bodies couldn’t handle how long they had been alive and they would eventually fail, leaving the conscious minds trapped in their useless bodies. They began to work on using their consciousness to leave their bodies and built up a secure place to leave their physical selves. Petra was angry at Amelia about their situation until they were all in the same position. She apologized and they continue working on a way to fix their bodies while they continue to develop skills (Amelia’s consciousness can be in two places at once). They have become so desperate to get their bodies working that they are willing to sacrifice someone innocent and release monsters in the world. They have a plan to use Lila (an actress) as a wedge between Clea and Sage. Amelia tried to talk her family out of it, which is when she found out Petra can hurt her. She plans to stop them, hoping Clea will understand her subtle messages.
Clea goes to her dad’s studio to try to figure out how to find Sage. When she emerges, Suzanne asks if she can date Ben. Clea gives the Okay before returning to her room. She smells burning sage and goes to ask their superstitious house keeper, Piri, about it. When she has no idea what Clea is talking about, Clea returns to her room for more clues from Amelia. She finds her screen saver telling her to “Find Charlie Victor...beneath the flying pig... time is short.” She realizes she will need Ben’s help to solve the clues.
When Clea gets to her dad’s office, it is mostly cleaned out and Ben isn’t there. She calls him and asks him to meet her. He says that he had a late night with Suzanne and needs some time. He shows up late to the diner and is cold towards Clea until she mentions her recent visitors. His interest is peaked.
They return to the house so that Ben can check a few facts. Charlie Victor was meant to indicate Cursed Vengeance, and he figures out the location as well. Clea is bothered by Ben and Suzanne’s flirting, but Rayna (who is manipulating Nico, the stable boy) says she just doesn’t want anyone else to have him. Ben has the information they need, but won’t tell Clea so that she doesn’t leave without him. Clea hopes he is over her so that he doesn’t mess up again.
Amelia’s grandfather comes up with the solution to their problem. People that drink the Elixir have mutated mitochondria, normal people live off of the vibrations from others like them. What they need is more people to drink the Elixir and become mutated like them. Their vibration would bring their bodies back. The Saviors of Eternal Life already had Sage and a way to kill him, but it would also destroy the Elixir. The grandfather found a way to save the Elixir for a short period of time. Amelia didn’t feel right about sacrificing someone’s life. She has sent Clea to the Saviors’s enemy, Cursed Vengeance, to get their help in saving Sage. Amelia has to be careful though as certain words seem to trigger her mom’s attention.
Ben knows where they need to go to find CV: Cincinnati, Ohio. As they get onto a plane, he explains Amelia’s clues to Clea. They discuss what Petra showed Clea and whether or not they can trust her. Clea falls asleep and Amelia brings her and Sage’s consciousness together. Amelia has some trouble getting their attention, but when she does, she tells them not to trust Petra. She can’t keep them there and Clea wakes up.
Amelia’s family help the saviors with the ritual to get the Elixir from Sage. However, when they went to perform it, the blade was glowing red, indicating that Sage’s worldly ties were not severed. Amelia tried to point out that the saviors are not good people and they shouldn’t kill an innocent person to give them eternal life. Petra gets so angry that she attacked and was able to hurt Amelia, who blacked out for a long time. When she returned to her family, they were not happy to see her. She apologizes and promises to help them. She knows that her family must be stopped and wonders if she can perform the ritual on herself. She is hoping that her mother’s tricks to make Sage denounce Clea by loving Lila won’t succeed. She brought them together while her family was distracted to keep their hope alive
Clea wakes up just as they are landing in Cincinnati. They get a cab that Ben has stop at Walmart for supplies. On the way, he explains that the city has unused subway tunnels below it. stories of the Cincinnati Symphony ORchestra Music Hall being haunted makes him thing the CV is in the tunnels under the hall. They prepare their new gear and Ben ventures forth first.
After hacking through thorny brush and finding a hole into the abandoned subway tunnels, Clea and Ben start following the tracks. They walk for a while before they hear a woman’s laughter. They turn off their flashlights and are attacked. Clea hears a gunshot and someone grabs and ties her up. The man that attacked her in Brazil ties her up. Head lights illuminate the tunnel and she sees several members of CV. She asks about Ben, but the woman replies with her own question: why shouldn’t they kill Clea?
Sloan, the woman in charge of the CV, shows them around their headquarters. Ben asks why it looks like the are training for war, and she explains that their curse is that they live horrible lives and die before turning thirty. They can break the curse by killing Sage and returning the Elixir to the earth. She wants to help Clea free Sage from the Saviors. If they can then escape the CV, they can live together on the run.
Clea eventually accepts Sloan’s deal. She shows Clea and ben out and they wonder around until they get on a plane to go home. Ben wants a chance to redeem himself and his past lives, but Clea doesn’t know if she can trust him not to mess up. She falls asleep on the plane. Petra takes her to look in on Sage and Lila playing with baby goats in a field. They seem more than friendly, but he tells her he loves Clea, who can’t understand why he is trusting a member of the Saviors. When she tries to follow them, she is ripped from the dream and wakes up screaming.
Petra suspects that Amelia brought Sage and Clea together in their dreams. Amelia lies, but Petra is not fully convinced because Sage should not be dreaming of Clea on his own, but mentions that he has. Petra thinks they will have broken the bond between the lovers by the next full moon.
After assuring the other passengers on the plane that Clea is fine, Ben tries to talk to her. She doesn’t respond and he storms off. When the plane lands, she takes a cab home alone and goes to visit Rayna. She fills her in on what happened. They get to talking about Rayna’s relationship with Nico. When Rayna talks about his family, Clea realizes that he is the one from CV that has been watching her. She confronts him alone and he admits it. He explains that he really does have feelings for Rayna and promises he’s not going to be the one to kill Sage. Clea rides out to her dad’s memorial and sees that her necklace is missing from the site.
Clea calls out to Petra, knowing she can’t call out to Amelia. Petra finally appears and Clea demands to know where Sage is. Petra says she has many things to show her. Clea goes home and waits for Petra to show up in her dreams. It takes a few days, so while waiting, Clea uses her photography connections to research where Sage might be. When Petra comes to her, Clea sees Sage has fallen in love with Lila. She wants him to give up on Clea, but he refuses. He still stays with Lila.
In a flurry of rage, Clea prepares herself and goes to Ben’s house. She drags him out of bed and to the beach where she tries to seduce him to get back at Sage. Ben turns her down and tells her to leave him. She does. When she falls asleep back at home, Petra shows her that Sage is ready to give up their bond. Lila does the Ceremony and Clea wakes up. She feels different, still in love, but Sage is gone from her pictures.
Amelia comes back to learn that Sage cut his link to Clea. The full moon is that night.
Clea tells Rayna and Nico everything. Nico tells Rayna the truth.
Suspecting that Petra can also split her consciousness, Amelia sends half of herself to their bodies. When half of Petra follows, expecting Amelia to be doing something against their family, Amelia asks her mother to stay with her to watch them wake up. Amelia uses this opportunity to download necessary information into Ben’s head, hoping he can help. Ben agrees that he must help Sage.
Rayne knows that Nico loves her and they will do their best to appreciate what they have while they can. As they try to cheer up Clea, Ben comes over saying he knows where Sage is.
Amelia waits for the ceremony. Sage is off all of the drugs that Lila had him on and is starting to realize what he has done.
Bend drives Clea and Nico with CV members following them. On the way, he tells them what he learned from Amelia.
After Amelia has some time to recover, she splits herself into three again to take out the guards. Petra has been waiting for her, split into three for some time. She shoots her consciousness through Amelia like a bullet before disappearing.
Clea’s group arrives at the Savior’s headquarters in Vermont. CV takes the lead to take out the guards. Petra’s family makes a whirlwind of debris to slow them down. Clea makes it to Sage, but is tasered before she can help him. Nico ends up with the knife, but Ben knocks him down onto it. Nico thanks Ben (for allowing him to keep his promise to Clea). Sloan gets a hold of the knife and stabs Sage. She is about to drink the Elixir, but Clea attacks to stop her. Clea tries to pour it out, but Petra stops her and takes it to the remaining Saviors.
Amelia fights through the pain because she knows she is needed. She throws everything she has at her family, bidding them a silent goodbye.
Petra starts screaming and drops the bowl. The remaining Saviors and CV are furious with Clea and Ben for ruining their chance at eternal life. Amelia starts an earthquake to protect them. Once they are safe, Nico wakes up. Sage’s soul jumped into his body when he was stabbed.