Contest: The Keeper Exams

Host: ShatteredSparrow

I went to see Kate in my pajamas, I didn't even bother to brush my hair. I just walked down the hall in my pjs and without shoes to see my mother. Disrespecting something she believed in was the ultimate equivalent to spitting in her face. And I was really enjoying it.

I knock on her office door but don't bother to wait to be invited in, I mean, she and Thomas didn't wait to be invited into my life so why should I give them that courtesy? Kate was in the middle of talking with an apprentices when I walked in, she scowls and looks up, ready to screw the person who interuppted her out. Well, until she saw me.

"Excuse-" Kate stops, gasping in a breath of air. The apprentice she was with turns and stares too.

"Are you busy? Because I'm ready to get this over with." I snap, Kate closes her mouth and glances down at the sheet and then at the apprentice sitting before her.

"You're all set, you can go." The kid leaves and I take a seat as the door closes with a click. Kate just sits behind her big desk and stares, unsure of what to do with me sitting in her big office.

"Hi." She says, I cross my arms over my chest and raise an eyebrow. Kate opens and closes her mouth, still at a loss for words. Moments later, the door opens again and in walks Thomas, of course. I laugh and roll my eyes.

"I haven't done anything to her yet, you don't have to be here." I bite, Thomas scowls and walks past me to stand behind Kate, setting his hand on her shoulder. She visibly relaxes with his touch and I tilt my head at them. I'd never seen them together, how they were together. They looked like a couple and I hated it, because I didn't know that and it was something a daughter should have known.

"Kate, questions." Thomas urges, picking up a sheet of paper and setting it before Kate. She blinks, shakes her head, and clears her throat, nodding as she picks up her pen.

"Right, so Gwen, how do you feel about being an apprentice in the Keeper Exams?" She recites, I shrug and cross my left leg over my right knee.

"I hate it."

"Do you think you have what it takes to be the Keeper?" Kate wonders, her eyes staring at the paper instead of me.

"Yes, I do. But I don't want it. I want to my son's mother and marry the HUMAN that I love. But I can't do those things, can I? But to answer your question, yes, I think I have what it takes to become the Keeper but I don't to be so I'm not going to try." Kate's head jerks up.

"You have a son?" Thomas sighs and places his other hand on Kate's other shoulder.

"Yes, she does and his name is Connor. Kalina's bringing him to the Banquet. Keep asking."

"What is your greatest weakness and strength?"

"My greatest strength is my resentment for you guys, it forced me to learn how to use my power because the anger threatened to consume me. My greatest weakness is the people I love and just so we're perfectly clear, you two are not on that list." Kate jerks, her hand shaking slightly as she writes that answer down. Thomas bites his lip and looks down, breathing in heavily.

"How far are you willing to go to become Keeper?"

"Not that far."

"On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your abilities at controlling your Gift?"

"Eleven." Kate glances up and then back down at the paper.

"Care to share why?"

"Because anger is the best motivator and I have been angry for eleven years now. One point for each year I got angrier and stronger."

"Do you resent spending your childhood training for the Keeper Exams?"

"No, I resent the fact that I'm even apart of the Hybrid race, especially since I'm a Latimer."

"Do you feel like you're prepared for the Keeper Exams after training in our facilities with our trainers?" I frown, giving them both a weird look.

"Do you not remember how much it hurt to have my fist in your face? I didn't train." Kate nods.

"I know, it's a required question." She answers back quietly. "Does the chance to become Keeper or part of the Guarde excite or terrify you?"

"It disgusts and infuriates me."

"What would your first order be as Keeper?"

"I'd find my son and raise him with me, knowing who I am. I wouldn't leave him."

"That's not an order." Thomas snaps, I level a glare at him.

"Fine, I'd kill them all. Every damn Hybrid in existance! I'd wipe them off the face of the earth! You know why? Because I hate you for everything you've ever done to me and I hate who I am!" I jump to my feet in anger. "I don't want this and I don't want you and I don't want to be a Hybrid and I don't want this Gift! I want to be normal and if I can't be then I damn sure make sure everyone is safe from Hybrids! I'll kill them all!" I screech at the top of my lungs, my anger finally overriding my ability to function like a sane person.

Kate jumps to her feet as Thomas circles around her desk and grasps ahold of my arms. I fight him, tears streaming down my face as I continue to scream hateful words at the two of them. "Gwen, stop!" Thomas shouts, he glances at Kate and then back at me.

"No! I hate you!"

"Calm." Thomas snaps and I'm suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of serenity. Thomas and Kate watch me carefully. The spell would only last for thirty seconds, we all knew it.

"Thirty seconds so listen to me Gwen." Kate urges, taking my face in her hands. "We didn't abondon you, we didn't leave you, we didn't just walk out of your life. You unlocked your Gift because someone tried to kill you to get to us. Someone tried to kill Nathan when he was a child, he was growing up here. He lived here and he was killed, a Mortalist brought him back but he was never the same."

"Kalina stayed here until she was five when Nathan came and took her somewhere safe, but she was still tracked down and almost killed. We sent you into the foster system because we were trying to protect you, if you kept jumping between families we thought you would be safe from the people who wanted to hurt you. We were wrong and that's why we had Kalina track you down, we've been protecting you!" She snaps, her hands shaking with so much pent up emotion.

The spell ends and I wrench myself free of her grasp, confusion running rampant through me. "What?" I whisper, Thomas steps forward, putting himself between Kate and I. Either worried that I'd attack her or that she, in her unstable state, might lunge at me.

"We were protecting you, that's all we've ever done. So stop acting like you know everything, sit down, and finish the questions. Then go make some allies and try to survive, you have a legacy to live up to and frankly, all you've doing now is disgracing it." He snaps, I blink and numbly sink back into my seat.

Thomas sighs and turns away from me, grasping ahold of Kate's shoulders and shaking her from her trance. She blinks and glances at me and then at Thomas. The two have a silent conversation before Kate runs her hand through her hair and walks around the desk, plopping down in her seat.

"The last question is what qualities do you think it takes to be Keeper?" She asks coolly. I look up at Thomas who was leaning on the front of Kate's desk with his arms crossed.

"Sacrifice." Thomas looks away from my gaze, glancing down at Kate's paper.

"Anything else?" He asks

"Strength." Kate looks at me while Thomas continues to stare elsewhere.

"Thank you, now you can leave." I get to my feet shakily, my mind having been rattled to the core. Thomas pushes away from the desk and puts his arm around my shoulder, leading me from the room.