Caleb lead me into his mother's bedroom and then through to his own room. "Look, I know that my clothes are boys clothes but I don't think it matters so much as we are only going riding," he was saying. I only nodded and smiled. "You know, you don't talk a lot."

"I don't really feel like talking when I just left my brother behind in hell," I mumbled, not meaning for him to hear it.

"No, I understand. From what mother told me, you have every reason not to talk. I was just trying to be nice," Caleb said as he shuffled through his gigantic wardrobe. He looked slightly crestfallen.

"I'm sorry Caleb. You are being so kind to me...its just...well, I've had a rough couple of days. But I would love to go out riding with you," I apologised. Caleb brightened up immediately. He chucked across to me some brown riding trousers, a white top and a warm jacket with some boots. "You can get changed in my bathroom," Caleb said. "I'll wait out here then we can head down to the stables."

I quickly got changed. The clothes fitted me quite well actually and felt comfortable. "Ready?" Caleb asked. He led me through the main room again where the Commander and Nick sat talking in hushed whispers. I strained to hear what they were saying but I couldn't hear.

"Don't go too far, Caleb. Only up to the end of the valley," the Commander called after us as we reached the door.

"We won't, mother. I'll see you after dinner," Caleb shouted back and bounded out of the door. I had to sprint to catch up with him, my long black hair flowing behind me. When I caught up with him I was out of breath and shaking. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I forgot you are still weak from those horrible experiments they did on you. Please forgive me," Caleb cried. I looked into his sapphire blue eyes and realised he really did care for me even though he had known me for a matter of minutes.

"No, its fine," I gasped. "I got a bit over excited too."

"Well, we'll go a bit slower from now on." We walk down the corridors of the Changed headquarters. It seemed so much more friendlier than the government's. Every corridor was a different colour from the last one; rose red, sea green, royal purple and a bunch of others. The floor was metal grating and you could see people walking on the hundreds of floors going downwards. The grating didn't really go with the colours but I guess it was easier than concrete and plus they had to build this base quickly.

We stumbled down some stairs and arrived at a door with a man leaning on it. "Hey Caleb, you going out again?" He grumbled. "Who's the girl?"

"This is Tess, we rescued her today from the Government," Caleb replied. The man nodded gruffly and opened the door. "Be back soon. I don't think you wanna miss tonight's announcements," he said.

The first thing that hit me was the smell of the stables. The hay was all over the floor along with...well, use your imagination. There were ten horses in all with about two stable hands looking after them. The horses coats were all magnificently groomed and gleaming and I could feel waves of happiness rolling off them.

Caleb walked straight up to a white mare. "This is Flake. She is my favourite out of all the horses here but I'll let you ride her today," Caleb said as he stoked Flake's neck. I wanted to stroke her but I held myself back, a tiny bit nervous.  "It's OK." Caleb took my hand and placed it on Flake's neck. She pressed her head against me. "She likes you," Caleb said, smiling.

He set up the saddle and reigns for me, handed me a helmet and helped me up onto the horse. "Don't worry, she is very gentle and I promise you won't fall off," Caleb soothed my fears. "Now, take the reigns like this...yep good...and use your boots to tell her when to go. Don't worry about steering, you never have to with Flake. You're in good hands."

"Well...hooves," I giggled. Caleb laughed.

"Alright then, madam. Hooves then. See I knew there was a bit more to you." He quickly left my side to saddle his own horse, a chocolate brown stallion named Jimmy.

Someone opened the big wooden doors on the other side of the stables and Caleb gently guided me out and up a concrete ramp. When we emerged into the valley he let go of my reigns. "Now you can try. Just press your boots into her flanks. She won't go fast and I'll be there to help you anyway," he said. I took the reigns and did what I was told. Flake slowly started trotting down the valley.

"That's it, Tess!" Caleb exclaimed from behind me. I smiled as got more used to steering. Finally I could gallop and soon I was zipping through the golden hills with the sun setting behind me. The fresh wind was whipping my face. I hadn't felt this free since before my parents died.

"Hey Tess, wait up!" Caleb called. I didn't realise that I had been going so fast that I left him behind. I let him catch up. "You're a natural horse rider! You left me in the dust!" Caleb exclaimed. I smiled happily.

***

"So, what's your story?" I asked a bit later. We had tied up the horses to a near by tree and had sat down in the lush grass to rest.

"What do you mean?" Caleb said with an uncertain smile.

"You obviously haven't been in the Changed your whole life. Who were you before then?" I said. Caleb opened his hand and dozens of golden lights appeared, filling the air like fireflies. I stared at the beautiful sight.

 "Me and my mother," he finally said. "We were quite poor. My father had died in a car accident when I was five and mother was struggling to make enough money to support both of us, with the government taking all the money for the bomb and all. She decided to go and live with my uncle so it would be easier but he...he's not a nice person. He yelled at me and didn't exactly do much to help my mother. He worked for the government so he wasn't home a lot but didn't try to support us in any way. It was when I was eleven when they dropped the bomb and blamed a meteorite. When I got my powers, mother was scared of what my uncle may do so she ran away with me, gathered as many people that would help us as we could find and started the Changed. Mother got voted as Commander and we started fighting back against the government, rescuing people who were turned in by their friends. When we heard about you and your brother we knew you must be powerful because no normal person turned you in, you were taken off the streets. We had sent in Nick two months before just so we could keep an eye on you but then they started their experiments. They have never done that before so you must be special."

"That is an incredible story, Caleb. And such a sad one too," I whispered.

"Yeah but the ending's happier. I'm safe here now and so are you," he said, taking my hand.

"So your mother doesn't have a power?" I asked.

"No. There are lots of normal people on the base. Families that have relatives that are Changed. She is the Commander because she helped everyone," Caleb said. He was silent for a bit. The he said: "Just out of curiosity, what is your power?" I looked down.

"I can barely control it. I don't want anything to go wrong," I murmured.

"Look, I know it seems impossible but you have to think of your powers as a gift. The only times you have used your powers before is in self defence or you were forced to. Now, you can use them for beauty and how you want to without worrying. Please just try," Caleb pleaded. I sighed. I guess I had to give it a go.

I stood up and closed my hands into fists. I felt a tingling in my palms and felt them heating up. Then suddenly I opened my hands and a ball of fire was in each, yellow and orange flames flickering around my fingertips.

 "That's it Tess! Keep going!" Caleb encouraged. I knew I was on the edge of loosing control but I held on. Then I had an idea. I spun around and around on the spot, making the flames spiral. Then I stepped out of my creation but kept it spinning like a mini fire tornado. I launched it into the air and it burst into orange flowers, stars and spirals like fireworks. They disappeared and I fell to my knees. "That was amazing!" Caleb said as he helped me up. My legs were shaking violently but I managed to stand. "You see? You created some beautiful things there and no destruction. You can control it." I laughed. I could. He was right.

"Thank you Caleb...for showing me these things," I whispered.

"Come on, I think we should go now. We can get some food when we get back."

"Caleb?" I asked as I clambered onto Flake. "Who is your uncle?" Caleb's face darkened.

"You know him. His name is Steven Frost."

**********************************************************************************************

Hey guys,

Ahh... Frost is Caleb's uncle!!! I'm not really sure why I wrote that. I wasn't really focusing then I looked at the screen and saw that I wrote that. In the end I decided to keep it because...I don't know, it gave the story an interesting twist.

I made this chapter about 300 words longer because I thought we needed to get to know Caleb a bit more (and also I was reading through my chapters the other day and I realised they were a bit short. I think I've been a bit mean to you guys...)

Anyway, what do you think of Caleb? He is going to be a new main character so I might do a chapter in his perspective from time to time like I'll do with Nick. Also there will be no chapters on Edward for a while just so I can keep the story more focused on the Changed. Being the lover of cliffhangers I am...I kind of have to leave this massive one about what is going on with Edward...sorry!!!

So, I think this is the longest author's note I have ever written so I'm going to stop it now.

Thanks for keeping on reading!!!!

CricketCat