Weather Control

Chapter 2

As we walked along on the clouds, it be came clear that Mr. Sunshine walking next to me, despite his rather muscular build, was incredibly smart. He kept going on and on about how it shouldn't be possible to walk on clouds because it was made of moisture, and even if the top part of the cloud was solid ice, there updraft wouldn't be strong enough to support the ice as well as humans so we should be falling. The thought wasn't particularly pleasant. "Shut up," I muttered after about five minutes of listening to him talk. 

"Sorry," he said, smiling. "I'm told I talk too much." 

So we walked and Sunshine limped along beside me and didn't say a word. The buildings ahead of us were steadily growing bigger by the minute, and they were huge. It was clearly the main city for miles around. Homes circled around the the tall buildings. 

"This place is huge," Sunshine said. It really was. We didn't enter the city at first. Instead, we walked around the perimeter to a large building that looked like a fancy school that all of the rich kids went to down on the earth. 

The commander turned on us. "Welcome to The City of the Clouds. Since you're new, You are allowed to take a look at the city, but you have to return here to the Training Center before the sun sinks below the clouds. Tomorrow we start training, so you'll want to get all of the rest you can."

Before he was even finished, I bolted off into the streets. I had been here before. I had places to be. 

"Hey wait up," Sunshine called after me. 

I ignored him and disappeared behind a building. I took in the streets around me and smiled at the soft thud of my feet hitting the clouds. I rounded another corner and almost ran into a mother and her child. I skidded to a halt.  "Oh, sorry about that," I managed to get out before continuing my running. The woman said something about kids not being brought up correctly these days. I couldn't agree more. I was almost to my destination.  The rows of houses in this part of the city were very even and easy to navigate. 

I hadn't been here for over three years, but I remembered the streets.

I stopped in front of a restaurant. I looked up at the big wooden building. "Home," I breathed out. I opened the door and walked inside.

I couldn't stop the smile from my face. The person at the front counter was a familiar face. "Gust," I said reaching over the counter to give him a hug. He was the oldest of the Chase family. He was almost a brother to me.

"Thorne?" he asked. "Is it really you?"

I let go of him and nodded. 

"You've grown since I last saw you"

I grinned. "Well I would hope so. Three years and me not growing at all would be just depressing."

"Well then," he said, pulling me into a hug again, "go back and see the others."

I walked through the doorway in the back of the restaurant to the kitchen. The lunch rush was over so now there was only prep work to do. "It is great to see you again Mrs. Chase," I said.

Mrs. Chase turned around from what she was doing and crossed her arms. "Thorne, sweetie what are you doing here? You're going to get your self killed." 

I grimaced slightly at the statement. My brothers were taking notice of me. 

"Hey, little sis," Matthew said, picking me up in a huge hug. He was a year younger than Gust, but he stood at least a few inches taller than him.

I squirmed out of his grasp. Drew was leaning against the cabinets. He was happy, but it may not've been me that made him so. 

"Hello Drew," I said.