Our Ice Queen

Chapter 9 (Optional): A Family

"It seems your powers protected you from the blast—preserved your survival by rejecting the blast's outer components." She explains it like a scientist; very intrigued like she was ready for another experiment to be conducted.

"Don't say it like it's anything different from all the other Conduits in here that became empowered after the blast." I sarcastically suggest, sitting on the edge of a platform in the arena.

"Are you genuinely modest? Or are you denying the fact that your powers are something extraordinary, Miss Amoré?"

"I'm genuinely saying that what happened to me is nothing different than what happened with the other Conduits." I murmur, not sure if I believed it myself. It was like she had some mind controlling powers, something that just made people talk with just a few words.

"You've always been a Conduit, Miss Amoré. And I think that's what you're about to discuss with me next will prove just that. After all, I'm sure after you became one of us, Blade guided you through the unknown and told you everything you needed to know about your powers, including your real family." Slowly wandering my eyes around the arena, I take in a configured breath—just preparing myself for the state in which I am about to put myself in.

"Can you promise me one thing?" I ask her innocently, like she owed me anything. She was the Director of a large organization that specialized in capturing Conduits, why the hell am I consulting with her like she's my therapist?

She had angled her eyes in my path, not turning her body, "What is it that you require, Miss Amoré? If it's escaping I'm not-"

"No, no...I want you to promise that after I tell you my story, you'll allow me to be with other Conduits. I want...I want to get to know my people."

"Hm," She paces back and forth in her study for a few seconds, before she finally faces her head my way, "We'll see how you handle my proposition after your story, Miss Amoré. But at the rate we are going, I think you'll make the right decision. In other words, it's quite a large possibility I will let you be around other Conduits."

I nod my head observantly, curious as to what proposition she had to make. "Okay, then get ready to let me out soon bruja, because this is where it all ties together."

Flashback, Arlington, Virginia, 2011, Two Weeks After the Blast

It took two weeks to have the world turn upside-down, two weeks that we were not only victimized, but demonized as monsters, killers, murderers. The Department of Unified Protection had already been formed, and Conduits across populated cities have started to become captured. The first week, there were seventy-five Conduits that were captured, and so far in this year, one-hundred and fifteen have been captured.

Our faction was split in half, as the ten Conduit friends that we had were killed in the devastating blast. The only Conduits who remained were Blade, Asia, and Donovan. And I...I became a Conduit, for reasons I couldn't understand.

That first week was hard, as old friends in our community left our cause due to fear, and because they didn't want to be arrested for harboring fugitives—which Conduits were considered.

It became fifteen of us, then ten of us, then finally, it came down to the five of us. For our own protection, Blade had us driven out of the city, into another more populated city so the chances of us being identified as a Conduit were slimmed.

Arlington wasn't our first choice, but Washington D.C was too risky, especially if something were to happen, we'd have the President's guards coming after us.