"Don't be scared.  Don't let them see."

-Alexandra Bracken

Seven years later

It was still strange to Marina. For two months, she had no one to yell at. No one to complain to. No one to throw a plate at when they ran their mouth too much. Ryder was gone. Her brother was going to stay gone.

Marina shifted on the couch, unable to sit still, her eyes continuously falling back on the front door. If Ryder were there, he would be saying that she was making him nervous. Marina shook her head, a small smile tugging at her lips.

After the authorities captured Ryder, Marina thought they would come to take her in for questioning - if they didn't arrest her first. They never came. She watched the door and the windows, searching for signs that they were coming for her. But everything remained quiet for weeks in and weeks out.

Marina went out when she needed to, only using cash at grocery stores. She envisioned the Authorities sitting in front of screens, watching every movement she made. She felt their eyes on her, making her skin crawl.

Things didn't always used to be so bad.

Marina remembered when she used to play on the block with Ryder and their friends.  She relished in her memories of laughter and happiness as she tried to make it through the dark days.

A shiver shot down Marina's back as the memory of the news seven years ago filled her mind. One group of rogue Wielders had massacred close to fifty civilians in a grocery store, and the island of Acadia had never been the same. Three of the victims were Wielders themselves, but that didn't matter to anyone. Marina still remembered the girl on camera—the one screaming her head off before running towards the nearest exit. She was never found. She escaped without leaving a whisper as to where she went or whom she was.

The Council of Acadia had had enough after that. Kraenite, a smooth black stone, was found to have the ability to snuff out any magical power when in proximity of a Wielder. Walls made of the stone were built and the purging of Wielders began. Marina had a theory that the Council had kraenite in their possession the whole time.  They were just waiting for an excuse to whip it out.  The Council acted too quickly, too calculated.

When Ryder exposed his powers, he wasn't trying to take over the world like the Council assumed.  He didn't mean to hurt anyone. He was trying to save someone.

Marina glanced down through the window to the streets below where the accident had  happened. The bus had been driving too fast, the streets had been too wet after the fresh rain, and the little girl had walked out too far.

Ryder didn't think, he acted. He slapped the air with his hand, throwing the bus to its side, giving minor injuries to half of the people inside. The little girl was able to get up and run away without a scratch on her body. Instead of praising him, everyone shrunk away like he was a disease. His telekinesis made him a monster. Authorities were on him before he could even turn to run. The last view she saw of him before she disappeared into the crowd was him with kraenite cuffs.

Marina turned her gaze back to the door. Maybe they weren't coming, maybe they were. Either way, she could not sit on the couch, stuffed up in their apartment, worrying about what was happening to him. Her nails couldn't withstand any more biting.

She went to her room, refusing to glance into Ryder's empty one, and grabbed the last pair of clean clothes she had. She pulled on the tight brown pants riddled with holes, then slipped on her wool charcoal sweater as she walked back to the living room. Trying not to look at the empty pair of men's boots by the door, she slid her feet in her own boots.

Smoothing stray blonde hairs away from her face, she brushed her long ponytail over her shoulder. She grabbed the apartment key and made her way over to the place she had been avoiding even more than the damn laundromat.

Ryder would be furious if he knew that she had waited so long to go see his friend. 'Their friend,' he always said. No, just Ryder's friend. She'd learned that many years ago when he stopped coming to see her.

His apartment was just a few blocks down the street from their own. Marina had not gone past the mart and laundromat around the corner in two months. She ducked her head against the cool autumn wind, the chill stinging her eyes. Once she passed the intersection nearing the plaza, her stomach twisted into knots. She really didn't want to hear what he had to say. Knowing he would much rather her twin at his door than her only made the sickening knots in her stomach tighter.

He could comfort her, or he could be a complete ass.  It was always up in the air with him. Either way, he was all she knew besides Ryder.

☆

The apartment building was musty. Marina stared at the curling wallpaper as she waited. The door opened and there was Colson Gage.

"Well, if it isn't the better looking Blair twin." Colson grinned as he spoke, his voice echoing into the apartment building's hallway. He pushed open the door and leaned against the frame.

Marina tore her eyes away from his gaze, shoving his shoulder so she could get by him. She pulled him in quickly and slammed the door before pushing him to the wall, making him rattle the photos hanging on the wall behind him.

"What the hell, Marina?" Colson spat out, spinning to check the frames and angling them back the right way.

"What do you mean, what the hell?" Marina said, throwing her arms into the air as if it was obvious. "They have Ryder and you have the nerve to say our last name in the hallway?"

"No one was—"

"How do you know?" She could strangle him. "What if they have this building wired and are listening? You idiot!" She crossed her arms over her chest, trying to hold herself back before she ripped his tongue out. Let him try to talk his way out of it without one.

"Come on, Marina." Colson soothed. Marina rolled her eyes. "If they wired the building, then I'd be gone too. Go sit down. Breathe."

Marina growled in frustration, hating being told what to do, even if she agreed with the orders. She walked into his living room and threw herself onto the couch, letting her body sink into the cushions. Relief ran over her for the small moment.

She closed her eyes and breathed in and out through her nose, trying to blow away the tension that kept her wound tight for two months. She felt his presence fall into the chair across from her.

Colson cleared his throat, making Marina's eyes pop open. Her gaze fell on the photo collection on the table next to Colson. She always dismissed his photography, but staring back at her was a picture of Ryder. His blonde hair was shorter back then, his smile childish. His arms and neck were tiny compared to the muscle he was now.

"Why did you keep that picture?" Marina asked, pointing to the table.

Colson turned. He noticed the picture she was talking about, a sly grin spreading across his lips.

"You know I always have to remind Ryder of the times when I could kick his ass," he said, leaning back in his chair, a laugh leaving his lips. "I don't think there are many who could today."

"Is that why you're not upset they took him?" Marina sneered. "Because you know that he can handle himself in the Pits?"

Colson narrowed his brows, all humor leaving his eyes. "No," he said carefully, as if he were afraid she was about to combust. "You know that."

"Then what is this? How can you smile and pretend he's okay?" Marina had spent months terrorizing herself. A small part of her had hoped that he had been just as miserable as she had been.

"Because, he is okay. He can handle himself. There are things you don't know yet."

"Things I don't know? Do you know that he is sleeping in a cell? That his power is drained while he sits underground? That he has to fight other Wielders like he's an animal, for science? Obviously, you don't know. If you did, you wouldn't be sitting here, calling me pretty and making jokes when I show up at your door." Her fingertips grew cold as she gripped the cushions next to her, ice frosting the material. Letting her anger get the best of her, she allowed her ice power take control.

Colson looked as if she had slapped him. She might as well have. Maybe that would have knocked more sense into him. She could practically hear his teeth grinding as he clenched his jaw. Colson looked away from her, then looked back, fire blazing in his eyes.

"You know what I do know, Marina?" he asked her, his voice low. Marina's lack of self-control made the temperature in the room drop. Colson's breath fogged in front of him as he spoke. "I know that I wouldn't have left Ryder to be taken by them. I wouldn't have shriveled back into the crowd like a coward."

Marina shot to her feet, leaving frosted handprints on the couch behind her. Flurries of snow fell between the two of them, their gazes locked in battle.

"I am not a coward," Marina seethed, snowflakes falling into her hair.

"Then why did you leave him?" Colson raised his eyebrows, waiting for a logical answer.

"What was I supposed to do, Colson? Start a war in the middle of the street? Let innocent people get killed in the crossfire?"

"Most of those people are not innocent," he snarled, trying to brush the snowflakes out of his hair.

"Most of them are! They are scared and feel helpless against us. I didn't come here to argue politics or be blamed. He is gone, Colson! And I...I don't know what to do."

Colson sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Will you at least stop making it snow in my living room?"

Marina breathed deep, pulling the cold back inside of her, so it became one with her again. The snow that had collected in their hair and on the floor evaporated, leaving no trace.

"Thanks," Colson said, watching her closely. "Now if you'll quit being such a pain in the ass, I can tell you that I have a plan."

Quicker than a blink, Marina threw out her arm, sending a shard of thin ice hurtling at Colson. Nothing to hurt him, just to piss him off. She didn't think he was quick enough, but he proved her wrong.

A sliver of fire pierced through the ice, letting off a faint sizzle before evaporating. Marina glared at Colson. He'd gotten faster--much faster.

"While you've been hiding for two months, Marina, I have been training. Now compose yourself.  We have some important people to go see."

A/N:  Thanks for reading CH 2!  I hope you enjoyed it.

Playlist ~ Blackbird Song by Lee DeWyze

Visual: Marina

Is Marina being too paranoid, or should she be worried?  Who is right, Marina or Colson?