Remember

Chapter Eight (edited)

Colette knocked on the door of Madeline's house, needing to know that the darkness had not killed her friend.

Instead of Madeline answering the door like normal, her mother opened it. She looked so much older than Colette remembered. There were wrinkles littering her skin and her eyes were a bit droopy. "Colette" he started, her voice cheery and not matching her weary features. "I'm surprised to see you here."

Colette scrunched her eyebrows together. "I was just here yesterday.." Her voice trailed off. Maybe she just meant that she had not seen her in a while, which would not be anything odd. Colette's visits with Madie may have been scarce, but seeing her mother was even more scarce. Madie's mother worked in Upper Numquid doing who knows what. Upper Numquid jobs top secret and nobody really knew what they did. Colette assumed they kept Paradisium working properly just like the leaders did. It was rumored that people who worked in Upper Numquid worked with the leaders as their leeway people, reporting how Paradisium was functioning. No one ever saw the leaders nor did Colette know of anyone who had spoken to one. They were practically ghosts.

Colette cleared her throat. "Is Madie here?" She just needed to make sure she was alive and well.

Marilyn, Madeline's mother, stared at her. The tension that hung in the air made the few seconds feel like an hour. Surprise and a bit of something else, longing is what it looked like, crossed her features. "Colette, are you feeling well?" She raised her arm to press it to her forehead, something people used to do to check for fevers. Muscle memory that lingered over the years. "You must be tired. You know Madeline has been... gone for some years now." Gone? But people didn't die at a young age here.

"What do you mean gone? I just talked to her yesterday."

"The leaders came and recruited her for some top secret work in Elementum. They wouldn't even tell me what it was." She paused and cocked her head to the side. "But you've known this for years now. Madeline was special. You were there when she left." There was still confusion on her features as she gave Colette a small, concerned smile.

Bits and pieces of images flashed across Colette's mind. She had been hanging out with Madie the day a leader knocked on the Serento's house and asked numerous question about Madie's grades. They said she was some sort of prodigy and they wanted to take her under their wing. They were convinced she could change the world one day. They were right about that part, it seemed. The leaders must be who Madie was so scared of in the prairie. A wave of dizziness hit Colette. Madie was in danger and she was the only one who knew.

"Right, you're right. I guess I was just missing her so much that it slipped my mindt." Colette faked a smile and took a step backwards. "I'm sorry for bothering you Mrs.Serento." She merely nodded as she turned and shut the door behind her.

The world was beginning to make less and less sense and Colette was beginning to get more and more frustrated. Not only did Colette have to break the mind barrier, but she had to do it alone because her best friend had been whisked away by the leaders.

A sigh left Colette's lips as she turned around and walked back down the porch steps and towards the skyway. There was no reason to think on the subject anymore. Colette knew she was not going to save her friend, or the rest of the world for that matter, that way. She needed to focus on what new information she found out yesterday and hope more answers came up that way. Finding Madeline would just have to wait. She would not let Madie risking her life go to waste.

You are the wind.

Colette Blair Degorne, the wind. What was that supposed to mean? The wind had been there every single time she was in trouble. It saved her in her dream when the darkness tried to turn her, when the man tried to kill her in the alley, and again below Earth's End. Had she somehow summoned it? Instead of the wind protecting her, was she protecting herself? In her desperate cries of help had she used the wind?

There was only one way to figure it out and that was trying to summon it intentionally.

When Colette got back home it was beginning to turn dusk. She sat on her porch as a slight breeze blew around her. Hopefully, the breeze would make it easier to wield the wind or whatever she was supposed to do.

Her eyes fluttered shut as she tried to concentrate and imagine the speed of the wind picking up. The trees would start to sway, bits of leaves flying off as the wind wrapped around them and carried them off with it. When she opened her eyes the wind was the same, only a strong enough breeze to move around the loose strands of her hair.

Colette tried a few more times, each time becoming more and more frustrated as the wind refused to obey her.

"You know you could make this easier." She shouted to no one in particular. "Just, move." She huffed and then came up with a brilliant and insane idea. "Wind, I command you to pick up speed." Colette threw her hands out in front of her and stared at the tree. It did not as much as ruffle a leaf. She shouted once more, adjusting her position on the porch and staring at the tree harder. "This is pathetic." She mumbled to herself as the wind still did not move.

"I rather thought it was a clever attempt. Though, you're just going to get a headache if you keep at it." Colette jumped at the sound of the unfamiliar voice and her instincts caused her to immediately jump up and face the voice.

In front of her stood a boy about her age. Not much taller than her, though she was quite tall for a girl. His hair was blonde and shaggy and his eyes so light blue they almost looked white. It was like his eyes reflected the cloud riddled sky above.

"Who in the hell are you?" She picked up the broom beside her, positioning it as if she was going to strike him down at any moment, because a broom was definitely going to take down the well toned boy in front of her. As if she was ever going to be able to strike down the nibble yet broad boy with her rather below average strength. Colette tried to look confident to hide her obvious weakness.

The boy ripped the broom out of her hand and cast it to the side before giving her a look of disapproval. So much for the confidence. "Chill, I'm not going to hurt you. The only person who is going to hurt you is yourself if you keep straining your brain like that." He chuckled, offering a hand to shake. "I'm Kaden." He flashed her a charming, boyish smile that would have made her swoon if he had not snuck up on her like that. She was just angry and flustered and wanted him off her porch.

Colette merely stared at his hand, not bothering to shake it, before turning her attention to his face. His perfect, tanned face. "I'm not telling you who I am until you explain to me why you thought it would be a good idea to sneak up on someone."

Instead of Kaden explaining anything to her, he flicked his wrist out in front of him. The wind picked up, spiraling towards her and twisting around her body. Colette's eyes widened, her jaw dropping as tried to find words. "But Madie said-"

He cut her off. "Madeline said the wind was the key. She didn't specify who or how."He flashed another charming smile at her before waving her towards him.

"Actually she said I w-"

He cut her off once again. "I have a lot to explain to you. But we need to make it quick. We don't have much time. Come with me." Kaden turned around, looking over his shoulder before walking off. Colette didn't know if she could trust him. What if he was like the man in the alley? What if he wanted to hurt her? She did not get much time to think before the wind started nudging her forward.