The Selection

The Change

(Faded by Beth, song above)

"You were the shadow to my light

Did you feel us?
Another star
You fade away
Afraid our aim is out of sight
Wanna see us
Alight

Where are you now?
Where are you now?
Where are you now?
Was it all in my fantasy?
Where are you now?
Were you only imaginary?" I sing as Avery plays with only a few small hiccups. "Where are you now?
Atlantis
Under the sea
Under the sea". Avery's small voice joins mine."The monster's running wild inside of me

Where are you now?

Atlantis
Under the sea
Under the sea
Where are you now?
Another dream
The monster's running wild inside of me
I'm faded
I'm faded
So lost, I'm faded
I'm faded

So lost, I'm faded". Ending the last note I see Avery brightly smiling up at me as our small audience applauds.

"You've been practicing " I whisper to her impressed.

"Maybe a little" she giggles and looks back over her shoulder to see her family. "Cayden is looking at you. He really likes you, I do too" she says making me blush. Helping her get off of the stool we both turn around to face the royals.

"Am I correct in thinking you didn't put any talents down on your application?" the king unexpectedly asks.

"Yes your highness" I reply, not really knowing where that came from.

"And why was that? It seems obvious that this is a talent" he says gesturing towards the piano.

"well I kind of just picked it up in time and I only ever sing when my sister can't sleep", with that we all went back to desert. Just as we are about to make our way back to our rooms a shrill scream fills the air follow by a booming alarm. All the girls looks at each other with a mixture of fear and confusion. All of a sudden it hits me. I've heard of this happening before.

It's a rebel attack. 

Without anymore time to think I see guards flooding in and taking the royal family away. Trying to stay calm as I see others panic, I take charge.

"Everyone get down!" I shout as girls look at me as if I've gone crazy, but never the less follow my instructions. not following my own instructions I run over to the nearest guard. "What do we do?" I ask in the calmest voice I can muster. 

"You need to get to the royal safe room" he orders. "I'll take you", with that the doors fling open as a ricochet of shots are fired aimlessly around the room. Windows shatter, guards fall and screams fill the tense air. Rushing back over to the girls I tell them to get up and follow. At this point I see nearly all of them breaking down into hysterics either crying or frozen. 

"We need to move" I repeat as they finally acknowledge me. scrambling from under the table and onto their feet we are met with the sight of bodies on the floor, blood splattered across the wall and an endless battlefield. Not having time to stop I usher the girls towards the direction the guard went. Out of the corner of my eye I see a rebel steadily approach Alice. Before I can shout a warning her screams adds to the noise. Running over to her I see a guards take the man down and a small cut down her arm. Seeing we are now far behind the others I push Alice to start running and sprint beside her. 

Reaching the kitchen door I let Alice go in first and follow after. Feeling a pair of rough arms encircle my waist I am pulled back into the Dinning room. Swinging my foot up I plant my heel into the privates of the man behind me. Hearing his grunt I take advantage of his loosened grip and wriggle free. Looking back through the kitchen door I realise I've lost sight of the guard and everyone else. Feeling my panic start to grow, I take in the scene in front of me. Countless amount of guards fighting off the similar number of rebels. All of a sudden realisation hits me. Anne, Gretel and Lucy are still upstairs. Stumbling over bodies and avoiding hits I make my way towards the stairs. Relief fills me as I approach the wide dinning room doors, but is shattered as I feel a sharp pain down my leg. Cursing, I continue to make my way towards the girls. Every step ignites a new burning pain down my leg. Once again feeling arms around my waist, but also now around my legs causes me to scream in pain. Feeling the weight taken away from my feet I hear a calm voice talking to me as my eyes uncontrollably close. 

What is happening?

Realising the person caring me is now running off, I don't even have the energy to care. Within a minute we stop and all I can hear is the distant battle still raging on. After another minute I am put back down on my  own unsteady feet as I am lightly nudged.

"Keep walking down the stairs" I'm ordered and without thinking I do as I'm told as I hear a door close behind me. Slowly making my way down the pitch dark staircase I aimlessly walk for what seems like forever before reaching a door. Opening it I'm assaulted by a bright light and hushed silence. I can hear muffled cries and sniffles but most of all an annoying complaining. 

"It hurts so much!" Alice's shrill voice pierces my ears as I eventually open up my eyes. "Cayden stay with me please" she begs with tears streaming down her cheeks. taking in the room I see beds around the perimeter and a set of thrones at the furthest wall. Counting the girls I sigh in relief when Is see everyone is safe along with the royal family.

"-And then Emily got us up and told us to follow the guard" Grace whimpers to the queen. Wanting to comfort her I take a step forwards, only to let out a loud scream as the burning pain spread. I see everyone's stares lock on me and down to my leg as I try to slow down my erratic breathing. 

"Emily" I hear a husky voice call as I loose all balance and fall into strong arms. Feeling myself being lifted and laid down on a bed I try not to think about the pain. forcing my eyelids open I see Cayden's face etched with concern hovering over mine. "I'm so happy you're here, I thought... I though you-" he's unable to finish as tears flow out of his eyes and I reach up to brush them with my thumb. after a few minute he asks "what happened?' and I start to explain.

"Well after I grabbed Alice and pushed her towards the others some rebel grabbed me and I fought him off. Realising all the girls were gone and I didn't know where they went I tried to find my maids as I was worried something happened to them. When I got the doors my leg started to hurt and someone took me here" looking around I see he's not the only one listening. As I mention my leg his eyes leave my face and down to my exposed leg. I follow his eyes and take in my blood soaked dress. Great. 

"Cayden I need you" Alice coos. 

"Can't you see he's busy" the queen surprisingly counters. This happily shuts Alice up.

Cayden's hands carefully moves my dress up and away from my leg. Inspecting my bare leg he mutters under his breath. Looking back at me with the same amount of concern I know I'm not going to like what I hear. Feeling small hands brush my hair back I look up to Avery.

"Emily you can't die" she cries out as she continues to brush my hair with her fingers. Tears come to eyes as I take in here terrified expression.

"Oh honey I'm not going to die I'm fine" I reassure her by sitting up and hugging her tight. After Avery calms down a bit she sits next to me on the bed as I think about my leg. Seeing a clear bullet wound I reach down and rip my dress, taking the fabric and wrapping it tightly around the gash. Grimacing I look into Cayden's questioning eyes and explain; "It'll stop the bleeding". 

We stay like this for a while; me cuddling Avery as Cayden sits on the floor nervously staring at my leg. Once Avery falls to sleep the queen takes her to get her into bed, leaving me and Cayden alone. 

"You know Alice was crying for a whole hour over her cut before you entered" he laughs and I join in. " She told me a rebel grabbed her and nearly killed her before she pushed him off" he remarks.

"A guard pushed him off and he was hardly going to kill her" I laugh.

"And here you are shot in the leg and hardly complaining" he murmurs looking straight into my eyes with his blue orbs. "I'm sorry about yesterday" he adds looking down. "I know I shouldn't have done that. It's just all the other girls are driving me crazy but you make me feel normal like I'm not the future king" he tries to explain.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have ran off like that, I just panicked. This whole time i've tried to convince myself you're a selfish person and that I could never like you but... I don't know any more and I'm so confused" I finally admit to myself and It freaks me out. And then his lips are on mine again, and I don't mind.