Uncontrollable

Chapter Forty-Five

My heart pounded as I sprinted after Bruno, determined to catch up with him. Outside of the library, he turned right.

I followed immediately, the smell of sweat rising up from my own body as I ran.

As we went further, his destination grew apparent; he was leaving the Base.

I took my anger at him for betraying me and for lying to me and for being aware my family was being tortured and sent it toward my fingers, my body churning it into magic as it traveled through my veins.

Bruno was running fast, but without magic he wouldn't be able to make it out before I could hit him with my magic. Speaking of which, why wasn't he using his magic to transport himself out of the Base? In the back of my mind, I wondered if something happened to him that rendered him unable to use it.

When the magic was buzzing at my fingertips, fresh and begging me to use it, I thought of fire and released the magic out of my right index finger.

Pillars of flame shot through my skin although not affecting it, chasing Bruno as he tried to escape me.

They slammed into his body and a scream of pain resonated through the hall as his clothes burned. Bruno fell to the ground, sweat falling down his skin as yanked off his shirt to prevent the fire from spreading.

I caught up to him while he laid on the ground, panting and fighting the fire desperately. His face was filled with pain but he stopped screaming, as if refusing to give me the satisfaction of hearing my magic affect him.

With the flourish of my finger, the fire disappeared, leaving his clothes in tatters, his exposed skin filled with char and burn marks.

He stared at me, breathing heavily and clearly angry. His face was flushed red and beads of sweat dripped down his cheek and left marks on the bits of fabric left on his body. Fortunately for him, his pants didn't get hit by the fire.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he asked, swallowing. His eyes glazed over with an uncalled for anger.

"I'm stopping you from leaving. We still need to talk," I said, not offering him help standing up. Slowly, he stumbled to the feet, using the bland wall next to him as support. As I watched him, I noticed parts of his hair was burned off.

"What do you need to talk about that is this important?" he asked, anger glinting through his voice. I didn't understand why he was so angry about this; sure, it's annoying but he could've used magic if it was really necessary.

"If you hadn't been running, I wouldn't have had to burn you," I said, trying to conceal a laugh at how idiotic the sentence sounded.

"What is it that you need to talk to me about? You're lucky I'm not using my own magic on you right now," Bruno said, a threatening edge to his voice, but not sharp enough to be concerning, as if there truly was something wrong with his powers or magic.

"I need more of a reason as to why you didn't help my mother, father, and brother," I said, struggling to add in my father to that sentence. Of course I wanted my father to be rescued and stable, but it's hard to ever think of a man in the way he used to be when he's such a monster now.

"You're having daddy problems, aren't you?" Bruno asked, looking at me with a sadistic smile. How could I not have seen this side of him for so long? Why was everyone in this world of wizards so cruel and deceiving?

My throat burned just at the mention of my father. Of course, he probably didn't know the details of the event that just occurred, but somehow Bruno was able to tell something was wrong.

I focused on my breaths as I picked the right words to say.

"This isn't about me or any issues I may or may not be having. This is about what you did. At least tell me the truth; you have nothing riding on keeping the reason a secret," I said, trying desperately to push the feelings that rose up in me when my father wrapped his hands around my neck.

Behind me, Vanessa came running up, panting. She glared at Bruno but said nothing.

"In all honesty, it's no intricate secret. I just knew about them being held there and decided not to tell you," Bruno said simply. How could he speak of something so serious and heartbreaking as if it was choosing between telling someone whether or not you ate a burger for lunch?

"Why would you ever make such an idiotic decision?" I asked, not able to keep the shock or anger out of my voice. Why did he think to do that? Even if I was working against someone, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to keep a secret of these measures from them. Suddenly, faces of all the men or women I'd murdered flashed across my head and shifted uncomfortably. Could I really say I wouldn't keep this from someone myself?

"Because I was torturing them myself!" Bruno screamed in a sudden surge of anger, his hands clenching into fists and his face leaning closer toward me. "If I told you what I was doing, you wouldn't have trusted me; you would've tried to kill me! I couldn't have that, so I didn't tell you. I never planned for you to go down that corridor but maybe you took a wrong turn. It doesn't matter anymore; you've already torn this place apart and ruined any plans we had."

"Maybe if the Base wasn't a god damn web of lies, secrets and betrayal then there wouldn't have been any drastic plans to ruin. Next time you want to do something like that, don't attempt to manipulate someone who you can't control," I whispered, pulling from Vanessa's explanation about how I was uncontrollable. It was the first time I'd every accepted or acknowledge the truth of that statement. I'd crushed so many dreams and plans, all the while leaving a path of destruction behind me as I went all because I couldn't be controlled.

Bruno's curled fist began to swing toward my face but I wasn't ready to let him cause me any physical pain; the emotional one was already too great.

I imagined him flying backward and outstretched my palm. Immediately a surge of energy whirled out of my palm and threw him back, sending him flying through the hallway toward the stairs where he was originally planning to go.

Bruno slammed into the ground, grunting. A small, crumpled up piece of paper fluttered out of his coat pocket as he turned and sprinted toward the next hallway to exit the Base.

"That son of a bitch!" Vanessa exclaimed suddenly, speaking for the first time. She sprinted forward, nearly running over the note he dropped.

"Vanessa, wait, we don't need to chase him!" I screamed after her, jogging up to get the note. I bent down and snatched up the paper.

"Why not?" she asked, faltering for a moment yet still not coming to a complete halt.

"He dropped something," I answered simply, unfolding the paper. I wasn't sure why, but something about that paper seemed like it was important, as if he was giving off invisible clues that I could feel.

"What is it?" Vanessa questioned again, turning around and walking back toward me, glaring at where we'd allowed Bruno to slip through our fingers like sand.

Written in scrawled writing was five simple words: Celia Atwood is the key.

"Who is Celia Atwood?" I asked, looking up from the paper, and toward Vanessa. Her face whitened and she seemed to stiffen slightly.

"Why?" she asked as if she didn't want to speak of who it was or get involved with her at all.

"What's your issue with that name?" I shot back, tilting my head. Behind us, my mother tottered down the hallway, reminding me of a confused old woman.

"Could you just tell me why?" Vanessa asked, closing her eyes and letting out a long breath as if to prevent herself from getting angry. What was it that she was hiding? Why was she avoiding it so much? Could the name really hold that much power?

"Because this note says, 'Celia Atwood is the key'. If you know who she is then maybe she's the key to stopping Grey," I said, explaining my thoughts slightly.

Vanessa's answer was quick after I gave my reasons for wanting to know the name.

"Celia Atwood is the invisible woman locked in the cell."

~+ Uncontrollable +~

And here we are, with only one chapter and an epilogue left after this. I can't believe we're so close to the end.

The next chapter will be somewhat long so don't but me about updating please!

Thanks for reading.