Chapter 1

Fourteen years ago

I sat on the couch, my blanket wrapped tightly around me as I held my stuffed dog tightly in my grasp. Dad had left to go to talk to the council about me. Earlier this week the color of my blood had slipped to the other citizens of the Ark when I had gotten injured playing around with Bellamy, and Clarke.

Mom came over to me and sat down next to me and she pulled me into her arms. "Everything will be alright Kassie. Your father is going to fix this and everything will be fine." She hugged me tightly and I felt tears run down my face.

"I'm scared Mom, I don't want to be floated! I don't want to die!" I yelled raising my voice and she looked at me and took my face in her hands. She wiped the tears away from my eyes with her thumbs that were soft and strong just like she was.

"You're not going to get floated Kassandra, you hear me?" I will not let you die. You are my daughter and it is my job to protect you from harm." she said and I started to cry even harder and I wrapped my arms around her, not wanting to let go, afraid that if I did I would lose her.

The door opened and that's when I knew that it was over. I was going to die. I wouldn't be able to grow up and live my life, have my own family, but because of the rules up here up on the ark, I would die because of the color of my blood.

Mom quickly got up and headed over to Dad who walked in with guards behind him.

"Marcus, what's going on?" Mom asked Dad and I huddled up in a ball even more scared of the worried look that Dad had on his face. I had seen that look more than once over the last few years from both Mom and Dad when we had a few close calls that had almost revealed the secret of my blood. He had been working on trying to get a seat on the council for the last few years now and he had been getting close to Chancellor Sydney letting him on the table when one of the councillor's stepped down. But that councillor was planning on being at the table for a few more months till they stepped down.

"The council has give us two options, we ether have her injected with a poison that will cause her to fall asleep and die peacefully, or..." he trailed off and looked over to me sadly.

"What Marcus, what is the other option! And I swear, if it has something to do with our daughter dying, I will kill you where you stand. I don't care if I get floated for it." Mom yelled and Dad got very quiet and the both of them looked over to me. Them arguing over my safety was a common thing, especially in the last few years because it had been getting harder and harder for them to help hide my blood from everyone else.

"Kassandra, will you please go to your room while your father and I talk please." Mom said not looking to me and keeping eye contact with Dad who had motioned for the guards to leave the room without looking back to them. There had been a lot of tension between the two of them in the last few months. I couldn't exactly see the look that well that Mom had been giving Dad but I could tell she was angry with him, her shoulders were all tensed up.

After a moment of looking back and forth between the both of them I quickly got up with my blanket and stuffed animal and ran into my room and shut the door behind me loudly and I hopped onto the bed and I backed up into the pillows at the head of my bed.

I heard Mom and Dad talking in hushed voices, I wish I could make out what they were saying but I couldn't. I wanted to know what the second option was that Mom and Dad had me leave the room because of. What could be worse than being floated or killed "peacefully".

Mom and Dad swore me to me when I was old enough to understand that they and Doctor Griffin would do everything in their power to keep me safe and make sure that this day would never come, and of course I was the one to ruin my own safety stupidly. I would be the reason that I would die, it was all my fault, It was no one else's but mine.

I laid down burying my face in the pillow, my body shook in fear. I wonder what Bellamy was thinking of me right now. Having kept a secret like that for as long as I did he was probably thinking that I was some sort of freak like Clarke also probably did, unless her mother explained what was going on. But she was too young to understand and would probably follow with whatever she heard from someone else aboard the Ark, she and Bellamy were my only really good friends on the Ark, and now I would lose them both. If they did allow me to live, it would be likely than my parents and Abby would be the only ones that would be there for me.

The door opened and I stayed where I was, not lifting my head up, but I still wasn't able to control the shaking that wracked my body. "Kassandra, honey can you please sit up for a moment." Mom said rubbing my back and after I turned and looked up to her with my puffy red eyes.

Dad walked into the room also and sat down on the other side of me. I sat up, the blanket I still had wrapped around me tightly and my stuffed animal sat in my lap.

I looked to Mom who had started crying, "What's going to happen to me Mom?" I asked her and she looked to Dad.

"You heard one thing that the council offered me Kassie but you didn't hear the other." He sighed and he reached into his jacket pocket for some type of bracelet and handed it to me to look at. "This bracelet was designed by the people in engineering and in medical to monitor vital signs a few years ago for something like this."

"What is it Dad, what does the council want to do to me?" I asked him and he sighed.

"They say ether they will float you or the other option is to send you down to Earth and hope you'd survive. If you do, that means everyone on the Ark would come down not long after you and we'd be together again." Dad explained and I looked at him shocked. The Council had given him the option to send me, a 7 year old girl down to Earth alone to see if the Earth was actually survivable. Were they insane, I'd die surely from the radiation exposu

"Dad, you and Mom have both told me for the last few years that Earth would not be survivable for over 100 years, the ground is soaked in radiation from the bombs still 83 years ago." I frantically said and he shushed me.

"I know what I said Kassandra, this is the best chance you'll get. I tried to convince the council to place you in the SkyBox, have you live there but they wouldn't budge. But I got the option to give you a chance at survivable. Your mother and I both agreed that we'd keep you safe and we both agree this is the best way to keep you safe." He said and I shook my head.

"I don't want to die on Earth alone, I want to stay here with you guys!" I yelled and I looked over to Mom and she looked at me sadly and she pulled me into her embrace.

I felt a sharp pain in my neck, I started to feel my entire body become heavy and I turned around to look at Dad who was setting the needle down on the table next to the bed. My eyes started to close and I fell down on the bed unable to lift myself back up. Dad took me into his arms and I could his strong arms squeeze me slightly.

"I'm so sorry Kassie, both your mother and I want to give you your best chance at survivable and if you stay up here you'll be floated. We're sending you to Earth. Survive for us, please." I heard Dad say before darkness claimed me.