Emma Frost: Queen of Diamonds
By Nate Yoshida

PART 5



The sky was pitch black.

Esme and Quentin stood before Henry and myself on the balcony of the master bedroom, above the front entrance of the New Massachusetts Academy's main building. Five long hours had passed since my emotional torment began. Through the entire experience, I stubbornly refused to leave my organic-diamond form, effectively preventing my two former students from extracting the White Knight chemical that they and Kristal Chase conspired to attain. The agony of being on the receiving end of their telepathic brutality, however, could not be softened even by my virtually indestructible state.

Henry, on the other hand, wasn't given the same psychological treatment. Instead, he simply crouched next to me with his arm over my shoulder, watching helplessly as I suffered. In fact, his facial expression alone probably convinced Esme and Quentin that it was unnecessary to inflict pain on him directly.

"What do you two expect to accomplish?" Henry questioned the two young telepaths. "This is not the way to convince us to pay your blackmail."

"Shut up, Doctor McCoy," Esme responded. "We're not the ones with a time limit, so don't tell us how to go about doing our business."

"The longer you stay in diamond form, the closer the other students are to becoming deep fried telepaths, Miss Frost," Quentin added with a grin.

After an extended period of time, even the most brutal physical torture can eventually become a tolerable experience given the proper training and background. Emotional pain, on the other hand, can never be tuned out. In the hands of well-trained telepaths who know how to use it as a weapon, it is a kind of pain that exploits the very core of one's consciousness. In this case, Esme and Quentin forced me to face the realities and possibilities that I hid from the world as well as myself. It was a kind of torture that leaves scars which cannot be surgically removed.

After what seemed an eternity of the self-reflective emotional purgatory, it all stopped as suddenly as the end of a violent storm. I fell limp to the ground with a feeling of helplessness and internal loneliness. The dried tears and sweat on my face betrayed the image I habitually maintained for those around me. More importantly, my every thought betrayed the shield of cold confidence and independence that I have grown to live behind for protection.

When I finally managed to look up, I saw none other than Sophie, standing over my two tormentors. She had locked a couple of Matilda Brant's telepathy-suppressing collars onto Esme and Quentin, and was in the process of restraining them with hand cuffs.

"Sophie?" I struggled to regain some strength and speak normally to her. "Are you--"

"I'm okay, Miss Frost," she responded to my inevitable questions before I managed to ask them verbally, "I just needed some time alone so I thought I'd take a trip back to Connecticut. But then I felt a sharp feeling a few hours ago. I immediately knew something was very wrong here at the school."

"So you weren't with the other students?" Henry inquired.

"No, Doctor McCoy," Sophie answered. "But when I came in, I knew Esme was up to something. I felt it. Besides, the rec room was never this empty at night around here, and no one was in their dorms. I went down to your lab and found a couple of those collars that you kept for the tests." She finished locking the cuffs on Esme and Quentin's wrists. "Oh, and I hope you don't mind, Miss Frost. I found these hand cuffs among your... toys."

"Esme and Quentin were conspiring with that Kristal Chase woman," I recapped to Sophie. "They infected the other students with A.P.T.S., including your sisters."

"We have about two days to find them now," Henry added. "And we can't let Kristal Chase know what's going on. She has to believe we're going along with this blackmail scheme if we want to have a hope of finding out where the students are being kept."

"Oh bloody hell," I motioned toward a man and a woman as I looked down at the front gates of the New Massachusetts Academy. "What could they want, Henry?"

"Who are they?" Sophie asked, squinting at the gate.

"Detective Lucas Bishop and his partner, Tessa," I answered. "They were colleagues of ours back in New York. Tessa was also once a slave in the Hellfire Club when Sebastian and I ran that organization. She's not a very powerful telepath by our standards, Sophie, but her odd ability to jump-start is the reason Henry looks the way he does now."

"She saved my life," Henry added.

"We all ended up in cooperating factions," I continued, "but I don't think either of them are too fond of me."

"I'll talk to them," Henry volunteered.

"We can't just leave Esme and Quentin locked in collars and hand cuffs on the balcony here," Sophie remarked.

"Bishop and Tessa are friends, Sophie," Henry responded, "we can trust them."

"No, Sophie's right," I interjected. "If we want Chase to believe their scheme is running smoothly, we can't go around advertising our situation, Henry. She has to think everything is going smoothly, and if we get lucky, she might check on the students and lead us right to them. Otherwise, all she has to do is leave them where they are and there's nothing we could do about it."

"Okay, you two take care of Esme and Quentin," Henry told us as he proceeded downstairs. "I'll welcome our guests."

"We'll put them in the guest room closet, Miss Frost," Sophie suggested in an effort to impress me with her ability to take charge of the situation. "Ian won't mind. And I can move them myself, you look like you need some rest."

"I'm fine, Sophie," I told her. I knew my denial was rooted in my habit of trying to set a strong example for Sophie, because in truth, I felt utterly helpless after the trauma I had endured. Under better circumstances, I would've given the location more thought, but my mind was not in its best shape and the sudden arrival of Bishop and Tessa caught me off guard.

We dragged the collared and cuffed Esme and Quentin into the second-floor guest room closet, locking them in the small space together with Ian Kendall's luggage.



At 5:30AM, I guided Sophie into my master bedroom's large walk-in closet. It was filled with my racks of designer clothing, which were systemically organized like a corporate storage facility. I proceeded to the shoes in the back of the area and pointed out a specific pair.

"I kept these old shoes from my days at the Hellfire Club," I told Sophie. "That slave girl, Tessa, re-soled it. It's a long story, but that's how you can recognize them."

"I don't mean to be rude, Miss Frost," Sophie began, "but don't we have more important things to worry about right now?"

"I'm going to show you something, dear," I replied.

I moved the re-soled shoes aside and accessed a hidden security keypad on the wall behind it. After pressing a sequence of keys, the back wall of the walk-in closet opened to reveal a large room with my own custom-designed electronic equipment.

Bringing Sophie from an area filled with my expensive wardrobe into a room with my hidden high-tech creation, I felt like I was giving her a closer look at who I am as an individual, and very few people knew me well enough to have seen all the facets of my personality. In fact, no other telepath had earned my trust enough for me to share this particular facility with them since I had started work on it.

"This is my Psionic Amplifier, or Psi-Amp for short," I told Sophie as we entered the hidden room. "I've been working on it for a few years now. It works perfectly well as it is, but I'm always working on enhancements for it in my spare time. You're the first student I've brought inside."

The Psi-Amp was lit with pure white fluorescent tubes, emphasizing the clean white walls and reflective metal floor. On the side directly across from the entrance, a large 53-inch plasma screen hung from the ceiling, surrounded by two 47-inch screens to either side of it. In front of the three screens was a glass desk with an elegant and compact silver-and-white headset resting on top of it. A luxurious silver-colored executive chair sat on a small green area rug before the desk. At the back corners of the room were stacks of equipment protected by industrial computer cases.

"How does it work?" Sophie asked with a look of curiosity and fascination.

"When this headset is worn by a telepath," I explained as I sat on the chair and placed the headset on myself, "the equipment in this room amplifies the psionic energies and converts them into a digital video stream. It makes thoughts into pictures, so people like us can use it for surveillance footage."

"But what do we need that for? We can already see it in our heads."

"I could let a non-telepath like Doctor McCoy see the fun stuff, darling," I told her. "And those computers in the corner also record the images, so we can play them back like security tapes."

Sophie watched with fascination as three different perspectives of the school's front gate appeared on the Psi-Amp's large screens in perfect clarity.



"We're only here to investigate the White Queen, Henry," Lucas Bishop told the doctor through the front gate. "I know how close you are with her, but there are millions of lives at stake. Don't let your feelings get in the way. Just let us in."

"What are you talking about, Lucas?" Henry asked. "Heinrich Van Helden used us as a scapegoat, but we already cleared our names. Emma and I were innocent. The whole country knows that now."

"We're not talking about the Washington assassination," Tessa interrupted. "We believe someone here is supplying the chemicals that they're using to kill innocent civilians in Nevada. We believe Emma Frost is linked to this operation. You know we can be fair about this investigation."

"I trust you, Tessa, but--"

"You owe me, Henry."

Hesitantly, Henry opened the gates for Bishop and Tessa, and led them into the lobby of the main building. Kristal Chase greeted them with an aura of professionalism.

"Where are all the students?" Tessa asked suspiciously.

"On a field trip," Chase answered quickly.

"And Emma Frost?" Bishop followed up.

"She has important business to attend to at the moment," Chase handled the investigators' questions without hesitation. "The orientation weeks are coming up, she has a lot of preparation work to do." It was clear to Henry, as well as Sophie and myself in the Psi-Amp, that she believed her scheme was running exactly as planned.

"Make our guests feel at home," Henry told Chase as though she were a trusted colleague. "I have some work to do upstairs."

Chase guided Bishop and Tessa to the library on the main floor and left them alone. I kept the Psi-Amp's left screen on the two investigators like a hovering security camera.

"I already knew Emma Frost was behind it all, but now my suspicions are confirmed," Tessa said to her partner. "I'm not the strongest telepath in the world, but I should be able to read someone like that Chase woman. For some reason, Frost seems to be shielding Chase's mind from me. She's hiding something."

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Bishop replied. "But I do agree something is very wrong with this place. I've known Henry for a long time, and I'd trust him with my life, but it just doesn't add up. Their orientation weeks begin in a few days and the entire school goes on a field trip?"

"It does add up, Lucas," Tessa said flatly. "It adds up to yet another scheme of manipulation by the White Queen. She hasn't changed one bit, and now she has Henry on a leash."



Meanwhile, I kept a view on Kristal Chase using the center screen. Henry made his way back upstairs and soon found Sophie and myself watching the events unfold from the Psi-Amp.

"I knew I'd find you watching in here," Henry smiled as he looked at the images I had on my screens. He then glanced at Sophie for a second, surprised that I let her come inside with me.

"Tessa would really enjoy it if they found me guilty, wouldn't she, Henry?" I asked rhetorically.

"She's just doing her job, Emma," Henry responded. "She's a good person if you get to know her."

"I'm beginning to think Esme and Quentin were right." I paused and looked at the visual image of Bishop and Tessa assuming my guilt. "I never let people get close enough to become anything more than a business associate. I've known Tessa longer than you have but she saved your life, and she probably would've just let me die if I was in your place."

"That's Esme and Quentin talking," Henry put his paw on my shoulder. "Don't let them get to you, that's exactly what they want. Don't do this to yourself now."

"But it's true, Henry," I turned my chair around to face him. "I always keep people at a safe distance because whenever I let them get any closer, I always end up getting hurt, or worse, they do. Subconsciously, I started shielding myself from people because it made me feel safe. It always let me avoid the pain that comes with taking emotional risks. Esme and Quentin made me realize that it also renders me a cold and distant figure that's forever impossible to trust."

"Emma--" Henry tried to interrupt.

"I've been on the same side as all these people, with all these old colleagues of yours, for years now," I continued, "but they still don't trust me. It's not because of anything I've done to them, at least not anything serious enough to condemn me for. But to them, I'm still a cold and heartless scheming ice queen. If it were you that they linked to the A.P.T.S. chemical, would they assume you've got something to do with supplying Van Helden? They can't even trust me, Henry. Nobody can trust me because I never even let them."

"I trust you, Emma," Henry stated. "I know you better than they do and I trust you. I'm your proof that Esme and Quentin are wrong about you."

There was a dead silence in the Psi-Amp as I slowly turned my attention back to my telepathic surveillance.

Sophie listened passively to my self-loathing rant. It was as if she saw a whole new side of me that she had never been introduced to before then. It was a version of me that wasn't the strong, assertive business woman that I always tried to be in front of her and my other students. But I only felt more vulnerable when I realized this. It was like my personal armor had been destroyed and I stood naked amidst a chaotic emotional battlefield. The domino effect of Esme and Quentin's telepathic rampage continued to wreak havoc on my mind no matter how hard I tried to think objectively again.



On the left screen, I watched Bishop and Tessa casually make their way up to the second floor of our building with suspicion on their minds. Henry quickly exited the Psi-Amp, ran out through the master bedroom and into the hallway to approach his former colleagues.

"What's in there, Henry?" Bishop pointed at the guest room's closed door.

"That's the second-floor guest room," Henry answered. "Ian Kendall is staying there." He proceeded to open the door for the pair and walked in.

"Who?" Bishop asked as he entered the guest room and looked around.

"He was one of Emma's teachers at the Snow Valley School for Girls. They reunited in Washington and--"

"Snow Valley School for Girls," Tessa repeated and looked at Bishop, "I knew there was something wrong with that place, Lucas. A man was leading a group of sick children into the building."

"They didn't look sick to me," Bishop protested, "it was just a group of kids with a teacher, we had bigger problems to deal with."

"Wait, sick children?" Henry asked with his eyes widened.

"Yeah," Tessa confirmed, "we passed by and noticed a large group of children led by a man. They were all wearing some kind of collars. I couldn't get a clear reading of them, I just felt they were ill and needed help. And something wasn't right about the man leading them. But Lucas insisted that the crisis in Nevada has to take top priority right now, so we didn't stop to see what was going on."

"What's in here?" Bishop pulled on the closet door. "Why is it locked?"

"Nothing," Henry answered quickly. "Look, we have to get to that Snow Valley school. I'll explain on the way, but it's important."

"Don't change the subject, Henry," Bishop insisted, "Protecting Emma Frost won't help anyone right now. I know you mean well, but your nervousness about this room is obvious, so just tell us. What's locked in here?"

"It's all very complicated," Henry tried to explain, "but Emma is innocent, you have to believe me."

"I'm sorry, Henry," Bishop drew his firearm and fired a shot at the lock on the closet door. He opened the door, revealing Esme and Quentin in hand cuffs and wearing the same collars they had seen on the children in Snow Valley. "What the--"



"Look, Miss Frost! Kristal Chase is leaving with Mister Kendall," Sophie pointed at the center screen of the Psi-Amp. Chase was starting a company van in the school garage, with Ian in her passenger seat.

"Okay, come with me," I grabbed Sophie by the hand. We rushed out of the Psi-Amp together as mentor and pupil. On our way out through my walk-in closet, I grabbed one of my white coats off the rack and put it on without stopping for a single moment's pause.

"Why can't I just stay and watch on the Psi-Amp?" Sophie asked. "I thought you trusted me now, Miss Frost." We stopped at the door of my closet. I fitted another one of my coats on her and placed my hands on her shoulders.

"Look, Sophie darling," I spoke to her eye-to-eye, "I do trust you. That's why I'm bringing you along. Whatever is going on with Kristal Chase and Ian won't be easy to deal with alone, and two minds will be stronger than one. You and your sisters have all come a long way, but you're the one I would honestly be able to trust with my life right now. I can't even describe the feeling of relief when I saw your face this morning, the way you took charge of the situation with Quentin Quire and your sister. We're together in this, okay?"

"Okay," Sophie nodded.

Sophie and I, both wearing white coats and with our blonde hair waving in the air, ran past the open door of the guest room where Henry continued to speak with Bishop and Tessa. We headed toward the high-speed elevators down the hallway, without so much as pausing to look in their direction.

"Emma Frost is getting away!" Tessa yelled when she saw me running past the door.

"Go after her," Bishop responded, "I'll take Henry to the Snow Valley school."

Still holding Sophie's hand tightly with my right hand, I pressed the down button for the elevators with my left index finger. Luckily, one of the elevators were already on the second level, but the speed at which it opened seemed like a slow crawl to me, seeing Tessa run toward us.

As soon as the door opened wide enough for me to fit through, I slipped into the elevator and pulled Sophie in with me. I pressed the close-door button as rapidly as I could while Tessa continued to run as fast as she could. She reached her hand out, hoping to stop the elevator door from closing. Just as her hand came within an inch of the door, it closed. Sophie and I let out a sigh of relief, but we knew it was only the beginning.

We exited the elevator on the sub-basement level's underground parking lot.

I jumped into the driver's sear of the first company van that I saw parked near the elevator. Sophie jumped into the passenger's seat, ready for me to start the vehicle, but I paused.

"What's wrong, Miss Frost?" Sophie questioned when she noticed my hesitation.

"I just realized I hardly remember how to drive," I told her. "I've been riding in limousines and personal jets for so long--"

"Here, I'll drive," Sophie suggested, "I just passed my road test two weeks ago."

We quickly switched seats. Sophie pulled out of the garage, going through the gate at a speed that jerked my head back and forced me to lean against the head rest of my seat.

"...You passed your road test?" I asked rhetorically.

"Me and my sisters saw the Snow Valley school the first day we got back from New York," Sophie informed me.

"My sisters and I," I corrected her. She turned and just looked at me blankly. "Sorry, I'm too used to being your teacher, Sophie dear. Watch the road."

"Well Ian brought us to that place," Sophie continued. "He kept telling us about the memories he had of teaching you. Anyway, I remember the route so we won't have to follow them that close."

"Just follow Chase's van. If they moved the students, we can't afford to lose Chase and Ian. I overheard Bishop saying he would take Henry to the Snow Valley school, so if the students are still being kept there, they'll be fine. And turn your headlights off, darling."

"You've done this stuff before, haven't you, Miss Frost?" Sophie grinned.



The sun was beginning to rise. With the glow of the early morning sky lighting the road ahead of us, Sophie and I were no longer cloaked in darkness. Still, we continued to follow Kristal Chase's vehicle despite the risks.

Eventually, Chase and Ian led us to the last place I expected them to go. It was Frost International's private airstrip. They pulled over on the side of the road and made their way into the property on foot.

"Do you think they moved all the students here, Miss Frost?" Sophie asked. "I can never feel telepathic signatures clearly when Kristal Chase is around."

"I have the same problem, Sophie," I responded. "I always thought Esme and Quentin were shielding her mind from me, but even when those two were locked in telepathy-suppressing collars, I still couldn't read Chase's mind. Neither could Tessa at the Academy this morning. The last time I had this problem with anyone was at the party in Washington, when I tried to read Heinrich Van Helden's mind."

We exited the van and followed Chase and Ian onto my company's property. I held Sophie's hand and we walked softly toward the back of hangar.

"We'll go in through the back," I whispered.

As we turned the corner, I felt my left knee crunch on impact with a hard object, and I collapsed helplessly to the ground. An involuntary squirt of tears shot from my eyes. Sophie quickly wrapped herself around me to prevent my attacker from doing any further harm.

Instinctively, I took diamond form as quickly as I could to ease the pain and provide some protection, but the damage to my left knee had already been done. I looked up at my attacker, expecting to see Kristal Chase, but it wasn't her. It was Tessa, standing over me with a grin of satisfaction. Esme and Quentin stood to either side of her, still wearing the telepathy-suppressing collars that Sophie had locked on them.

"That's for running and making me chase you, Emma," Tessa said to me. "I've waited a long time for a chance to do that. Now I have a few million reasons to justify it."

"I have nothing to do with the attacks in Nevada," I stated factually. "My students are dying and they need our help. If we don't get to them in the next forty-eight hours, they'll die just like those innocent civilians. I know we were never the best of friends, Tessa, but please help us."

"Don't try to manipulate me with another one of your schemes. I've known you long enough to have learned never to trust you again. Even I was surprised to see the way you treated these two. They were ready to expose your chemical weapons scheme to the world, to save millions of lives, and you locked them up like animals. I always thought your students were the only people you treated with dignity."

"Is that what they told you? Esme and Quentin are lying, Tessa." I struggled to get up using my right leg.

Tessa nonchalantly pushed me back to the ground with her foot on my clavicle, effectively making it impossible for me to get back up to my feet under the circumstances.

"Stay down, my White Queen," she said as she took her foot away.

"Emma?" Ian's voice echoed from the rear entrance of the hangar. He walked closer, Kristal Chase followed closely behind him. "Look, I can explain--"

"Hey," Tessa interrupted, "who the hell are you?"

I noticed Chase drawing a pistol from her back. In a split second, I sprung myself up with all my strength and lunged at Tessa. I tackled her to the ground with my organic diamond body just as a bullet from Chase's gun came within an inch of her head. Tessa looked at me like she had seen a ghost, utterly surprised at my actions. Neither of us spoke a word.

"Don't bother killing that woman, Kristal," Esme said to Chase. "She doesn't mean anything to Miss Frost. But my sister Sophie does."

Quentin pushed me off of Tessa and tied her wrists behind her back. The situation was probably becoming utterly confusing to Tessa, but knowing her personality, it would be safe to assume she was trying to assess the situation objectively by calculating the best possible course of action.

Chase grabbed Sophie by her coat and held the weapon to the girl's head.

"It's really quite simple now," Chase spoke to Sophie loudly for me to hear, in a tone of mock sincerity. "You see, if Miss Frost continues to be a stubborn bitch and refuses to give me what I want, I'll have to waste a perfectly good bullet on your pretty little blonde head. And I really don't want to do that, my company is on a very tight budget. I think it would be in all of our best interests for your teacher to cooperate with me from now on, don't you agree?" She turned to speak directly to me. "Now return to your skin form, Frost. Then walk to me and I'll release this precious little student of yours."

"Don't listen to them, Miss Frost," Sophie pleaded with me. "They'll use you and kill you when they're finished. I'm not worth it."

I returned to skin form and felt the excruciating pain of my left knee. Slowly, I worked myself up to my feet, struggling to balance my weight onto my right leg. Tears began to moisten my eyes but I made an effort to maintain a look of defiance toward Chase, limping slowly toward her.

Ian had the look of a parent watching his child suffer. He placed his arm around me to help me walk.

"No, let her do it alone!" Chase yelled at Ian.

"Is this really necessary?" Ian questioned. "You'll get what you wanted, she doesn't need to suffer like this."

"Yes it is, Ian Kendall. Now let the bitch walk!"

"I'm alright, Ian," I said softly. Ian shot me an apologetic expression and released his hold. The last few steps felt more like a thousand.

"That's close enough," Chase told me when I came within a foot of her. I stood face-to-face with her and she released her grip on Sophie, shoving the girl to her right side to put some space between them. Without hesitation, Chase fired her gun at Sophie's chest, sending the young telepath to the ground.

"Sophie!" I yelled.

"There, I released her," Chase said to me coldly. "I could afford one more bullet today."

Before I could react to her senseless actions, the back end of her pistol met my jaw like the fist of a heavyweight boxer. The impact pulsated through my skull and exploded with the sensation of a vise closing rapidly on my brain. I fell unconscious, with only the image of Sophie's face remaining in my mind.



I woke on a cold metallic table with my wrists and ankles tied down. A bright light shone onto my face from above the table. A female figure approached the table, but the light made it difficult to identify the person while she stood up straight.

"Good morning, little Miss Emma Frost," the woman's voice sounded familiar. She bent forward, leaving only a few inches between our faces as she inserted a needle into my wrist. It was Matilda Brant. "Don't worry, your body doesn't react to this A.P.T.S. stuff like everyone else's does. It just forces your body to produce the substance your Doctor calls the White Knight, the key to the world's first high quality synthetic diamonds."

"Matilda. How wonderful it is to see you again, darling," I greeted her sarcastically.

"Your student, Esme, impressed me with her tactics in New York," Matilda commented on the incident at Flushing Bay. "Right then, I knew she could become a valuable ally someday. Luckily, your gangster friends were too stupid to take any head shots, so I survived to make it happen. I needed a good swim anyway, so that pool of industrial waste was as good a place as any."

"I don't suppose you reunited with the rotting carcass of your dead fiance in there?" I remarked.

Matilda's calm confidence immediately disappeared. She grabbed my left knee and bent it forcefully. I squeezed my eyes and mouth shut, refusing to give her the pleasure of hearing me scream in pain.

"Every time you open your mouth, I'm reminded of why I spent my life hating you," she said with an unveiled hatred and grabbed my throat. "If it weren't for the value of your unique genetics, I'd snap your neck like a twig right now."

"Business first, Matilda," Kristal Chase's voice interrupted. "This is a joint venture. Your pleasure will have to wait." Chase approached the table while Matilda connected some sort of draining system to the base of my skull.

"Emma, this is my long-time business partner, Kristal Van Helden-Chase," Matilda continued, "but I believe you two have already met."

"Only as Kristal Chase," I said.

"Van Helden is my maiden name," Kristal confirmed with a grin. "Heinrich's my brother, it was a detail I chose to omit for convenience when we first met, of course. Matilda believed in my brother's ideologies from day one, and she just happened to be disturbingly obsessed with you. When my brother needed a high-profile sacrificial lamb as part of his plan to build the New America, you were the perfect candidate."

"Interesting. So stupidity does run in the family," I commented.

"Speaking of genetics," Kristal maintained her composure, "you might've noticed that my brother and I give off an energy that interferes with your telepathy. Now you're also giving our family a chance to return to our roots in the diamond mining business. I guess some people are just meant to be together, one way or another."

"The first batch should be ready in half an hour," Matilda informed her partner, "I'll go prepare the plane for take-off."

Matilda pushed the bright light out of my face. I was finally able to look around the room, and immediately recognized it as the storage area at the Frost International private airstrip. We were surrounded by crates. The door out of the area was about ten feet away from the end of the table I was lying on. As Matilda made her way toward it, Kristal took a seat next to the table.

"It's not personal with me, Miss Frost. It's just business." Kristal spoke calmly. "That little student of yours was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I never leave loose ends untied."

"You will die just the same, dear."

As Matilda opened the door to exit the room, she found Tessa standing on the other side and stopped in her tracks. The two looked at each other for a moment. Matilda was obviously caught off-guard, but she then reached into her coat and drew her short diamond blade. Tessa grabbed it out of her hand and kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying nearly three feet backwards, crashing into a stack of crates before landing hard on the concrete floor.

Before Kristal could draw her gun, Tessa held the diamond blade within an inch of her throat and pulled the firearm from her back. Kristal backed away and leaned up against the wall rigidly.

"Esme?! Quentin?!" Kristal called out to her young accomplices.

"They're a bit tied up right now," Tessa said flatly. She cut me loose and disconnected Matilda's equipment. "Sorry about the knee, Emma."

"People have done worse things to me lately," I replied as I grabbed Kristal's gun from her. "Take Matilda Brant back for questioning. She's a founding member of the Van Helden regime, so you and Bishop can get your answers from her."

Tessa glanced at the gun in my hand and then looked at me eye-to-eye and paused for a moment. Silently, she nodded and picked Matilda Brant up from the ground, taking the prisoner out and shutting the door behind herself without another word spoken. She left me standing alone in the storage room, holding Kristal Van Helden-Chase's gun in my right hand as its original owner looked at me with an undeniable fear in her eyes.

"When you held this gun to Sophie's head, the look in her eyes was not only a fear for her own survival like that look in your eyes right now, Kristal. It was a fear for mine as well," I cocked the gun, but it remained lowered at my side. "It was then that I realized that she had become everything I wished I could be. She became the polar opposite of Esme, who reflects only the things I regret about myself."

"Look... Miss Frost--" Kristal spoke shakily, in a tone that was uncharacteristic of her usually confident attitude.

"In the last twelve hours," I interrupted her, "you and two of my former students tried to tear down all of the walls I had built around myself as a person. You forced me to face my greatest fears and look clearly at the things I never wanted to see. You thought you were destroying me, and up until a few hours ago, so did I. But when Sophie showed me the altruistic side of her nature, I felt like I saw the light inside of myself. Right then, you put that light out. Now there's only one truth about me that will make a difference to your future, Kristal Van Helden-Chase." I raised the gun and aimed it directly at Kristal's head. "Sophie was a better person than I am."

"Wait, wait. Like I said, it wasn't personal, Miss Frost," Kristal pleaded. "Please..."

"And like I said, you will die just the same, dear."



End of Part 5