Uncontrollable

Chapter Twenty-Four

Vanessa and I left our hands intertwined as we walked through the silent woods towards the Base. Neither of us said a word, but the silence was comforting.

The moonlight shone through the trees, irradiating Vanessa's blonde hair and her pained eyes. I nearly asked her what was so troubling to her, but I refrained; my gut was telling me it wasn't the time to talk about nuances in life such as that.

"Sometimes, I wish I could just freeze life and never have to leave that moment," Vanessa said eventually, breaking the silence.

I nodded, muttering my agreement to her.

"What a shame we have to keep going in life," she said as she sped up her feet. I matched her pace. The withered, dead leaves crunched beneath us as we went.

As we entered into the clearing with the base hidden, a feeling of dread slowly seeped through me; I didn't want to go back there and continue the crazy life I'd been living. I wanted to stay here with Vanessa in the calm of the night.

With a shaking arm, Vanessa attempted to move the leaves out of the way, but the attempt was feeble; only a few leaves moved.

"What's wrong?" I asked, releasing her left hand and facing her. My appearance felt unnaturally and unnecessarily cold.

"Nothing."

"No. What is it? You can't hide that there's something wrong," I said, my expression softening and a sympathetic smile playing at my lips.

"It's nothing you'd understand or know how to deal with," she said, looking down.

"Hey," I began, placing a finger under her chin and raising her face to look at me. "I'll always be here if you need to talk."

She nodded and I pulled her into a tight embrace. And it was in that moment that I realized I'd had feelings for Vanessa since the moment I talked to her; her playful attitude with a darker side. Like an angel covered in a cloak of mystery.

"We have work to do," she said, pulling her body away from me and walking away. I followed, my body enveloped in warmth from the hug.

"Can you move the leaves?" she asked. I nodded, realizing that her emotional state must be causing her magic to be weaker; I made a mental note to myself to ask someone about that later. Preferably Bruno because when I spoke with Grey it wouldn't be about the technicalities of magic. I also noted that she was once again using her phony accent.

I didn't have the energy to use wind magic, so I just imagined the leaves blowing away as my hand swiped across the air, and then I outstretched my right hand and moved it in a steady line.

The leaves blew quickly away in a wave of crunches. The soil was overturned because of the leaf movement.

Vanessa and I went up to the Base and yanked the hatch open, descending into the depths. I hadn't ever really walked the way to the room where Grey and his helpers seemed to always be, so I couldn't place exactly where we were going.

When we arrived at two large, oak doors looking older than Grey, I knew I'd never been brought to this section before.

With a few tugs on the iron handles, the door creaks open. Vanessa and I enter into the room, pulling the door closed behind us.

There is no light to illuminate the area surrounding me. With the flourish of her hand, Vanessa casted a ball of light zooming around the room and then settling at the ceiling. It expanded on its own will, but brightens the room effectively.

Surrounding me were ancient shelves, made with the same wood as the door we just entered. Filling the shelves were books. An endless supply of books, all faded. Dust floated around the air. The bookshelves made a circular formation around groups of tables. Despite the simplicity, the room seemed endless with its high arching ceilings and the sheer size of it. We were standing at the beginning of one bookshelf.