THE FIRE WITHIN

Tylee Winter keyed in the password for the security door and then stepped in silently. Something felt odd. The base was supposed to be deserted after her parents had left on a mission and weren't supposed to be back until the end of the week. She had been alone for the past three months and was pretty sure there was no way they would come back without alerting her. It was someone else.Soundlessly, she retrieved her tracking stone, a device that detected both human and supernatural activities, identifying them based on their nature, strength, speed, and distance from where she was. The arrow whirled and rotated speedily then came to a stop on a blue section. "Human!" she muttered under her breath and frowned as she looked up. How could anyone have gotten past the security front from the gate to the house without alerting her? The gates could only be opened by her family, anyone with the Winter blood. Since her parents weren't supposed to be back and there was no other relative she could think of, she retrieved her gun and stepped forward confidently, her senses heightened.A clatter in the kitchen alerted her and she swiftly covered the remaining distance, cocking the gun in the invader's back ready to pull the trigger. "You chose the wrong house to rob today man. Turn around!" she commanded in a chilling voice. The guy froze and raised his hands in the air before he slowly turned around. The face that met her eyes was none she had even thought about. The eyes that stared back at her were not strange even though it had been close to seven years since she last saw him. "Cameron!" she exclaimed in shock. "Hi little sis!" he smiled. "You doofus!" she dropped her arms to her sides and exhaled deeply. "I could have shot you had I not hesitated. What are you doing here?" "Don't I get a hug first before the interrogation?" He opened his arms wide for her. She stood her ground for several seconds as thoughts competed against each other in her head. He had left home when she was just fourteen and no one had warned her. She had felt betrayed because Cameron had been her best friend, her only friend but she had woken up one day to find him gone. "Come on, you know you missed me," he added with a grin. "You didn't even call," she responded as the pain of the first weeks after he had left started getting back to her. "Not even to say hi or happy birthday." He dropped his hands and stepped towards her. "Mom and Dad wouldn't talk about you even when I tried."He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Ty," he stated. "I tried to but I couldn't." "Why? All it takes is just one push of the button to get in touch!" she stated as her voice changed, emotions taking over her. That hadn't happened in years but she wasn't bothered. "Our communication devices work even in the most remote places so don't try to b*llsh*t me!" she warned as he was about to speak. "I wasn't on a mission Tylee. I also had no access to any of our communication devices." "What?" "Yeah," he nodded. "Our parents..." He hesitated and looked away for a minute as if he was trying to hide something or looking for words to replace what he had wanted to say initially. "They sent me away." "For what?" she asked, growing impatient. "It was a punishment for his past mistakes." A male voice interrupted from behind them. She turned quickly taken by surprise as her parents joined them in the kitchen. "Dad? Mom?" "But he is here to make things right, right Cameron?" Her brother nodded and looked away in shame. She studied them in turns not getting what was going on around her. "Come on kids, we need to talk." He added before she could ask anything else and then turned, heading to the lounge.She looked at her brother for answers but he just shrugged and left. She had no option but to follow. The lounge was packed with heavy metallic boxes she had never seen before and five other people whom she had seen around in some of their missions. The Logo, ‘The Mortal Justice’ was edged on all of them in bold. The people in the room were the bold members of the human organization that her family had started years ago to fight against anything that was considered a threat to human existence. It hadn't come to full functioning until four years ago when the country had started experiencing high levels of supernatural activities and they had stepped up. She had spent the past four years being groomed into the organization as a member by blood but the missions she had been given before weren't as serious as this one seemed to be. "What's this?" she asked as she joined them. "Sit down Tylee," her mother instructed and she did so obediently. "It's now time for you to take on a bigger role in the family." "Okay," she stated. She had been waiting for this moment her whole life and the moment she realized she was finally getting it, she couldn't help but be excited. "What is it about?" "You are going to college." "What?" she asked in disbelief and stood up quickly. "Mom, we talked about this. College isn't for me. I want to be invested in the family business fully." "And that is what you will be doing," her father stated with a smile. She stared at each of them in turns wondering what they meant. "You are going undercover as a student because our next target is a student in this college." He handed her a form. "Well, will be a student there in two days, same as you." "Okay, what's her back story?" He handed her another file with the picture of the target and more information about her. "Alright," she looked up with a smile. "I guess I'm going to college." "One more thing," he went on. "This is probably the most dangerous mission you will ever be on so you are not going alone." "Dad, I don't need babysitting." She looked at the file again. "She looks harmless and young. I can handle her." "Tylee," he exhaled sharply. "The first mistake you will ever make in our line of work is undermining something just from looking at it. She harbors a dangerous power that is capable of destroying the whole state with just one mistake." He went on, "She also has a whole community of powerful nonhumans behind her who we want to get to through her." She sighed, "Okay, what do you want me to do?" "Just infiltrate, get her to trust you gradually, and deliver her to us. My team and your brother will be a short distance away from you." He added in a serious tone, "Get to know her powers, her weakness, and everything we need to know about her but no matter what you do, do not engage your fighting skills. You are going to meet the team each day for updates and never let her see you meeting them. Am I clear?" "Yes sir!"He sighed, "Be careful in everything you do." He squeezed her arm gently. "Come back to us in one piece." She nodded firmly, "I will." She looked at her brother who stood patiently awaiting his instructions. She wanted to ask what had happened to him but with one look at her father, she knew that she was not going to get the answer. Maybe Cameron would tell her himself once they were out of there so she dismissed the question. "I need to talk to your brother. Go start getting ready. I want you to be there during orientation so that you won't miss anything." She hesitated for a minute feeling like she was being pushed away but she knew better than to disobey orders. The man in front of her at that moment was more of her commanding officer than her father and even without being told, her brother must have done something serious enough to get himself secluded. There was no telling she wouldn't face the same if she made a mistake. She nodded and exited the room to get ready.

The sun was already high in the sky when Kelsey O'Brien finally left her bed. She had woken up several times before but had ended up falling back to sleep each time. She was exhausted after arriving home late from a year-long tour around the world with her father. It felt great being back in her bed without having to check out early in the morning as it had been for the last twelve months in hotel rooms. It had been a great tour overall and she would miss it especially because she was leaving for college.She wasn't overall excited about having to wake up early for lectures but she was happy that she would be around her peers for the first time in close to four years. She hadn't asked to be born different and especially not to learn about her powers when she was just sixteen without any warning. She still recalled every part of her experiences and some of the memories were still chilling even long after she had learned how to control them. She had to be secluded f