16: The Brotherhood: Meredith: Talking to Conrad

[k_a_webb]

Meredith climbed in the window, the same way she did almost every night of the week, and found herself face to face with a man. The training she’d been given before she escaped the Brotherhood meant she knew exactly who he was, but she couldn’t believe that he really was alive. As one of the first born he should have been dead, not stood in front of her smiling, even though she’d heard stories that he was one of the leaders of Unity. Believing in Unity and its three first born leaders was like believing in fairy tales, so she’d chosen not to. It appeared she was wrong.

“Hi,” he said, “I’m Conrad.”

“I know who you are and I’m absolutely positive you should not be standing in front of me.”

“No, I shouldn’t, but I know a very good necromancer.”

“They exist too?”

Conrad nodded. “Necromancers are rare though. At Unity we have six and as far as I know the Brotherhood doesn’t have any.”

“Why are you here?”

“This is somewhere I check regularly because I know that runaways from the Brotherhood use this place as a safe house. I’m guessing that’s what you are.”

She nodded before realising she probably shouldn’t be telling him too much, in case he was someone wearing Conrad’s face rather than Conrad himself. “You want me to join Unity?”

“Yes and no,” he replied, after a short silence. “I want you to be somewhere safe and I believe Unity is that place, but I would never force anyone to join us simply because of my beliefs. I’d like you to visit us and see what you think. If you decide it’s not for you then you’re free to leave.”

“I…” Meredith trailed off, trying to work out what she wanted to do. It had been months since she’d slept for more than a couple of hours anywhere, so going somewhere she knew was safe might mean she could sleep, and she’d hadn’t showered since the night she left the Brotherhood. “I don’t know what I want to do.”

“When did you leave the Brotherhood?”

“About a year ago.” That night Meredith had been climbing out of a window and running as fast as she could, because she didn’t want to be there any longer. “I was a relatively late arrival because my powers had been under control. Then I made a mistake one afternoon at college and they were called to take me in. My parents tried to argue against it, but no one wants a Millennium child outside of the Brotherhood’s control.”

“Their fear is understandable. We are dangerous, especially if we aren’t properly trained, and I can’t hate them, because our powers can be hard to understand for anyone who doesn’t have them.”

“Until I realised how many different powers there were I couldn’t understand why people were scared of Millennium children. My powers are relatively safe in comparison to the powers of some people I met at the Brotherhood house. There were people there who terrified me, because they had powers I deemed as dangerous, so I understand now.”

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

Comments

Feedback

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>>As one of the first born he should have been dead, not stood in front of her smiling<<

That should say "not standing" above.