The Exclusive One

Prologue

I was 12 years old when Thomas and Emma adopted me and brought me into their mixed-up family. There was a total of 9 of us: Thomas and Emma were like our parents, Jasper is Tom’s twin brother and he and his wife Ava were like the cool aunt and uncle you always wants to be around, Ashton has been here the longest and he quickly became my best friend, Ryan and Nikki were siblings and Ryan was the older one, then I joined the group, and shortly after me Travis joined our family.

I was the only one that was legally adopted, and I was the only normal human in the group. The only reason I was adopted was because I was in the system and I accidentally saw Nikki using her powers and Thomas thought adopting me would be easier than trying to convince some stranger to keep quiet.

Everyone else are Originals- so they had super abilities. Everyone else were foster kids in a unique system because they had powers, but we all knew that even though they weren’t officially adopted the chances of anyone ever leaving our group was slim to none.

I was 14 when Hunter entered our lives. He was dating Nikki who was one of the most powerful Originals I had ever seen, and she was also my best girlfriend we were so close it was like we were sisters.

When she began dating Hunter, we grew very distant to the point it was like we were strangers. I couldn’t help it though, I felt very uncomfortable by his presence because he had a very dominating aura.

One day shortly after I turned 16… things began to get violent between the two. I wasn’t supposed to see, but I saw the majority of the fight with the two of them screaming at each other. He kept asking her over and over, “Just tell me! Are you it? Are you the Exclusive! Come on, Nikki! If you are do you know the things that we could accomplish?”

I had never heard of the term “exclusive” before so I was confused by what he was wanting for her.

I heard something crash and I jumped in surprise then I heard her yell, “Get out, Hunter! I don’t want to join you on your freaking power trip!”

I hear the sound of Hunter’s footsteps approaching and I quickly hide and I watch as he walks away from her, but first he turns around and looks at her and says, “You will regret this, Nikki.”

She huffs and shakes her head as he slams the door shut.

She ran her hands through her hair looking distressed then she noticed me. Her eyes widen with her mouth slightly open and she asks, “How long have you been here?”

“I heard him asking if you were ‘the exclusive’ and that if you were the two of you could accomplish something.”

I glance down at the ground feeling uncomfortable as Nikki watches me. She sighs heavily and says, “Come on, we need to talk.”

I follow her into her room and she closes the door and locks it. I see her doing some type of movements with her hands, but I’m not quite sure what she is doing. Something with her powers I’m sure.

She turns around and sighs before asking, “So, what do you want to know?”

“What power trip were you talking about?”

Her jaw clenches shut and she scoffs before answers, “Hunter is not a very good man… he works for the Aberrations who are people like us… they have powers, but they believe that we should reign over those who don’t have powers.”

“Like me?”

She nods in confirmation, “Because you don’t have powers they pretty much believe you should be a slave willing to do anything for them. They believe as a group we have all been oppressed because the world isn’t aware that there are people like us. They pretty much think it’s time for the oppressed to become the oppressors.”

I nod in understanding and ask, “What did he mean about the ‘Exclusive’?”

She answers, “The Exclusive is someone who has multiple powers that are not related to one another. Like if I have the power to manipulate water and I can also freeze it I just have a water ability, but if I have that plus the power to teleport those are two completely different things.”

“So, the Exclusive has multiple powers? Are you it?”

She smiles at me, “It’s more complicated than that, Par. Although it’s rare to have more than one power it is possible. The Exclusive is someone that’s more powerful than anyone else.”

She sighs heavily and seems lost in thought and say in a dejected tone, “If Hunter is able to fulfill his task and get the Exclusive on his side, we are all doomed.”

“So, it’s not you then?”

Nikki smiles softly at me and then changes the subject, “Hey, would you want to train with me? You’ve always wanted to be like us if I could get you to be a little more skilled I bet Thomas would allow you to come on our normal patrol.”

I smile brightly and follow her as she leads me out of the room.

I don’t know why she won’t tell me if she’s the Exclusive or not.

But I know in my gut this won’t be the last time I see Hunter.

With Nikki’s help though, I know that I will become strong enough that I won’t need to be scared of him.