I don't see Aiden for the rest of the day, but sometimes I hear him snap a branch, he's being good about keeping his distance. When evening comes I find a place to sleep, I eat cold can of beans and small bag of chips, and then I roll over and close my eyes. Aiden finds me, he doesn't try to talk to me, or ask me anything. He simply exists, and a part of me hates him for it, even though he's doing exactly as I told him to.

Just go to sleep, you're acting insane, one minute you want Aiden to talk to you the next you want to strangle him. Just make up your mind and stop being so emotional.

Shut up.

And then I bit my cheek because I'm arguing with myself. I push the world away and I sleep.

"I want you to know something." The woman whispers softly. "I want you to know this because I'm afraid that I won't have the chance to tell you. And I'm afraid that if I do have the chance, I won't be able to tell you, that you'll hate me. You have to know this little one, we've made this decision for you, and I'm sorry. We've never given you the chance to choose your own life. It's unfair, but I know and believe that you're strong enough for the task."

She's sad, I can hear it in her voice, I feel like crying to but I can't cry. I don't have that ability yet, but know what crying is. How strange.

"We knew that if we continued on our path, you would be placed in danger, and that your life would never be the same. That you'd never have the opportunity or the choice to live in bliss, or find a peaceful love. We knew we were pregnant when we started this journey, and I'm sorry there we weren't selfish enough to offer you a better life. I'm so sorry."

She takes a deep breath, very voice low and shaky, "If this actually works, if this memory comes to you then I am most likely dead, and that means you don't know the truth. And the truth is this my little love, your father and I started the war.

"We saw what the government was doing and we knew, we knew we had the power to stop it. But we weren't strong enough to rally the others together, we tried, but we failed. We underestimated the power of fear and now we hide and run. My sweet little love, they will not have mercy on you, because of what we've done, because of who we are. But perhaps you will find the strength. Perhaps you will be the one to do what we couldn't. Perhaps you will be the one to show the world what it means to be afraid and to face that fear despite it. Perhaps my little love, you will be the one to have courage."

"Adie wake up." Hands shake my shoulders and pull me awake. "Adie."

I focus on Aiden's face, "What?" It's still dark out. I sit up, pushing his hands away, "What happened?"

"You were dreaming...actually you were dreaming and you were calling out to the water." He points to where I sit and I see that there is a puddle of water soaking through my pants. I curse and stand up, pushing the water away and pulling it out of my pants until I'm sure that I'm dry again. "So what happened? What were you dreaming about?" He asks.

I rub my forehead, "I don't remember."

"You're doing it again."

I sigh, too exhausted to be angry, "Doing what?" My eyes are heavy and I just want to curl up and go back to sleep. I sit back down.

"Rubbing your head, you keep doing it when I ask you questions that cause you to try to remember things." He moves closer and kneels next to me. "And you were mumbling in your sleep and then I saw the water drawing to you, which means that somehow whatever dreams you were having were connected to that part of your brain."

"So?"

"So, I think you should try to remember."

I drop my head onto my knees, "Aiden, it was a dream, no big deal, maybe I was dreaming about the compound or my old life. Maybe I was having a nightmare and I was trying to fight with water."

"But I think there might be something to this. Listen, you woke up the other day and you suddenly wanted to go north because of a dream. What if this is all connected? What if there are memories locked in that part of your brain?"

I close my eyes, "Is that even possible?"

"I'm not sure, but don't you want to find out?"

"Will you finally leave me alone?"

"Yes."

"Fine." I drop my knees, "So what do we do?"

Aiden pulls moisture out of nowhere until there is a small amount pooled in his open palm.

"How did you do that?" I demand.

He shakes his head, "That's another lesson, now first make the connection to the water in my hand." I take a deep breath and shake myself awake. I flip my vision and the water ripples. "Good, now lie down and put your head on my knees." I raise an eyebrow but do as he asks. "This is going to feel a little strange, but I need you to close your eyes and simply relax, can you do that?"

"I think so." I close my eyes and I focus on breathing evenly. Water fills my eyes and drowns out sound and it slips further and further. I try not to think about it, but I can feel it making its way deeper and deeper.

Stay calm and breathe. It's Aiden's voice, in my head. I remember this before. In the dark cell I remember a voice filling my head.

I hear you.

It's the connection to water that also connects our brains, but we'll talk about that later. I need you to relax. Empty your mind and recall the feelings that make you seem lost, recall the urge to go north.

I focus on the desire for safe haven, the scent of pine trees and wood smoke, the feeling of sadness from the dream that I just had. Something tugs on my mind, pulling me down. Darkness and warmth fill my body.

I remember my dreams, the voices in my head, showing me the way to a cabin in the woods to the north. A voice singing to me, a voice telling me that they were responsible for starting the war. It all comes rushing back and I remember. I remember that these voices are the voices of my parents.

I sit up, tears running down my face, heart pounding, and lung heaving. "Did you-? How did-?" I scramble to my feet and take great gulping breaths of air. "Did you see that?" I finally ask.

"Yes." He says, his voice is tight, like he's holding back tears. But when I look at his face, it's collected, thoughtful, but collected. "That was..." He shakes his head, "Adie do you know what this means?"

"No." I say, because I'm not sure that I do. I feel as though I stand on the edge of a great ocean, about to be swallowed.

"These dreams, they are actually memories stored into your brain where you're parents knew your power would lie. It means that they took the risk, if you weren't actually a Misfit, if you never actually developed your power, these memories wouldn't have come to you. They would have been lost and locked away inside your head. But it also means they risked discovery, if the Handlers ever found out about it...they would have been able to get it out of you. This is information your parents didn't want anyone else seeing. This safe haven, whatever it is, it's a secret. Even your father said so in your memory, if we are to find this place, we must be careful."

I push my hair away from my forehead, letting out a deep breath. "This is crazy. This is absolutely insane."

"I agree." He says.

"So why didn't I remember them? These memories came to me in a dream, so why didn't they stick? Why did I remember it when I woke up?"

"I can't be sure, but if I had to guess, I'd say it's because you're still not focused enough. You've discovered your power, and you've consciously made the connection and accepted it, but you haven't refined it. When you're asleep you're in a raw state of mind, there is nothing to get in the way of you and your power, no emotions, no thoughts, no distractions, so you are simply catching glimpses of an iceberg."

"So how did you access them? How did you get them to come fully into my mind so I could remember?"

"I helped you focus by allowing both our minds to connect through the water. You must remember, I've been trained and my mind is disciplined. The memories were there, I simply helped you along with pulling them back to the surface."

I nod. "Can you do it again? There must be more that my parents left me to find."

"No." He shakes his head, "I can help you focus, but only you can access your power and hence the memories. I can hinder or help you, but only you can make the connection." I kick the trunk of the tree and curse when it jams my toe. "Do you know where the cabin is located?" Aiden asks, "I did not recognize the terrain."

I shake my head, "I've never been north."

He sighs, "Well, we'll just have to keep reliving the memory. There must be something more specific that we're missing."

I shrug, beginning to feel the exhaustion again. "Maybe it will come when we need it to?"

Aiden shrugs back, "It's possible, your father did say something about burying it deep, so that it would only be found when you needed it most."

I lie down and look into the branches of the tree. "Why can't I see their faces?"

Silence.

"Aiden?"

He sighs, "I think it's because they gave you these memories while you were still in your mothers' stomach."

I sit up, my eyes wide. "Is that even possible?"

"It seems your parents had doubt that it was, but obviously, you're proof that it worked." He lays back and lets out a deep breath, "They must have known that they didn't have much time, they must have been very desperate indeed."

Minutes pass.

Silence.

"Aiden?"

"Hmmm?" He mumbles.

"Do you...do you think I ever got to meet my parents?"

Silence.

"I don't know."

The next day Aiden and I find an old gravel logging road that heads north. We both agree it's worth the risk, and if we stay quiet we'll be able to hear cars coming from a long way off. So we use the road and make good time. Our food supply is running low, so while I think about the cabin, Aiden uses the water and the map to try and figure out where some form of civilization resides.

I didn't sleep well. Every time I shut my eyes I dreamed that I was trapped in my mother's womb forever cursed to simply hear her voice and never see her face. No new memories come, I know because I don't feel as though I've forgotten anything. I simply replay what I already have, my mother signing to me, my father's worried tone. I both cherish them, and curse them.

Perhaps my little love, you will be the one to have courage.

The courage for what? Why couldn't they just have run far away and told me this themselves? Why couldn't they have left it all alone? I wipe angry tears off my face. I didn't even realize I wanted to cry for them. But now that I've started I can't stop. I remember Steven's crinkled photo, I want to remember my parents like he remembered. I want to have memories and pictures.

"Adie?"

"I'm fine." I say, wiping my nose on the sleeve of my jacket. The tears feel frozen against my cheeks in the cold air. "Did you find anything?"

He nods, "I think so."

"Good, I'm starving."

"You're sure you're-"

"I'm fine."

He sighs, "OK."

It's a hunter's cabin, or so Aiden says. To me it just looks like an ordinary cabin. But he points out the places to hang deer and stretch furs. So I trust that he knows what he's talking about. "I don't think stealing from a man with a gun is a smart idea." I say.

He shrugs, "We're in the middle of nowhere and he won't even see us coming. There's nothing to worry about."

"Fine, then you can do the stealing and I'll wait back here." I cross my arms.

"Fine."

"Good."

"OK."

"Great."

He drops his bag and sprints across the small yard and presses his back against the house. Two seconds later the door opens and a man with a brown beard and red cap steps onto the porch with a rifle cradled in his hands. "Who's there?" He shouts, "I don't like people sneaking around my private property! 'specially idiots who don't take care to speak softly!"

"Shit." I drop to the ground, hoping the underbrush conceals me from view. From here I can see Aiden hugging the house. This isn't good. If the man knows we're here, even if we knock him out and he finds something missing he'll know, he'll report us.

I need water, I need to get a message to Aiden, but there's nothing here to help me. So I do the only thing I can think to do."If I come out do you promise not to shoot me?" I yell as loud as I can.

I see Aiden stiffen and look towards my direction but he doesn't move. The man on the porch narrows his eyes in my direction, but he doesn't lift the gun. "I promise." He shouts back.

I swallow and stand, slowly walking from the forest with my hands in the air. "Come closer." The man says, Aiden doesn't move, but he's shaking his head, trying to tell me to back off. But I know this is the best way.

I stop when I'm in front of the porch. The man looks me up and down and rests the butt of the rifle on the ground next to his foot. "You're just a girl." He says.

I nod.

He sighs. "What are you doing out here on my property sneaking about? And where's the other one?"

I swallow. "Other one?"

"I heard you arguing, louder than crows you were. And put your hands down, I'm not going to shoot you lad." I lower my hands.

"We didn't know this was private property, not until we saw your cabin."

He grunts, "Likely story."

"I swear." I say.

"So what are you doing out here anyway? Huh? You a runaway or something?"

I nod. "Well you best come in before you catch cold, tell your friend he can join you and stop hugging my cabin." He walks inside, leaving the door open. Aiden slips around the corner of the cabin, glaring at me.

I shrug, "He seems nice."

"What do you think you're doing?" He walks over, "This is dangerous, we're exiles. This man is not our friend."

I look around the woods and his cabin and think about how lonely it must be to live here all alone. "Looks to me like he's an exile of sorts too, maybe you shouldn't be so quick to judge." I walk up the porch, "Stay out here if you'd like."

I leave Aiden to stand in the cold, glaring at me with fierce blue eyes.