The Selection: but less competitive, more wholesome

A Comfort to Her

I woke when the door opened, not gently like it usually did, and had my feet on the floor before I'd really registered what was bothering me.

"You're up!" Anne didn't turn on the light, which surprised me, given her tone. "You have to get into a safe room—we're under attack. The basement. Come with us, we'll show you. Come on." She threw my robe over my shoulders, and Mary—holding a crying Lucy tightly by the hand—bent to stuff my feet into shoes.

Speak of the devil.

"Inside already?"

"They haven't yet managed to fix the alarms, miss. Come on, come on."

"Hurry!" Mary insisted.

Lucy wiped her eyes on her shoulders, but continued lacing my shoes with trembling fingers.

"There's a passage in the hall that will take you directly there."

"What about you?"

"We have other rooms. Yours is the best, down in the basement. The royal family will already be there, with some guards."

"Yours aren't as good?"

They managed to push me out into the hall, and Anne worked a section of wall so it rotated easily on some hidden hinge. Tiny flew out of her room and ghosted down the passage like a mouse.

"They're fine, m—Kira!"

I had to sling an arm around Mary's waist and lift her aside to get back into my room. "Lucy, come here! Quick!"

Though baffled, she came. I brushed Mary's and Anne's hands off of where they clutched at my arm and robes, thumping to my knees at the wooden box in the bathroom. Bert peeked nervously at me from behind the tub. "Shit," I muttered, terrified that I'd forgotten about him. "Lucy."

I made her kneel beside me. "Sorry." I tore her sleeve down her arm, then shucked it up to her armpit, then slapped a bulky bandage down on her arm, and wrapped it swiftly with a fresh bandage, tying it hastily. "Sorry again." I used the knife I'd grabbed from my desk to draw just a little blood high on my thigh, where it wouldn't be seen later.

"Kira!"

"You have to go!"

I smeared the blood around the tear in her sleeve. "I'm done. Bert?"

Mary nearly tossed him to me. I stuffed him down my nightgown and wrapped my robe firmly, praying he wouldn't suffocate or make noise. I then grabbed Lucy by her 'good' arm. "Tell them you had an accident while fetching me, or something."

Anne and Mary didn't fight me taking Lucy into the passage, but I had to stretch back to grab them and shove them in, too. I made them go ahead of me, so I could make sure they'd stay with me.

Lucy stumbled. I wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her easily, sweeping down and down the stairs, an impossibly long way it seemed, until it finally opened into a domed-ceilinged, stone cellar. Cots and chairs lined the curved walls, though I couldn't see more than that beyond the narrow doorway.

The guard waiting at the door opened his mouth when he saw my company. I pointed at him with my free hand. "No." I shoved them in, still half-carrying Lucy.

The royal family was indeed already here, along with most of the Selected. The royal family took note of my unexpected company, and I chose a cot out of their direct line of sight. Some of the Selected were crying, some prayed, and some were silent, or fidgeting.

Silvia separated herself from comforting one of those who were crying. "Good, some help. Girls, you will—"

"They'll take care of themselves and of me if they wish," I interrupted, eyes hard. I'd seen the movement of Silvia's hand toward the water in the back of the room. "They can get their own water, if they chose to leave their maids who risked their own safety to help them get down here faster. Anne, Mary, it would probably be a good idea to offer some water to the royal family, though."