Number 5

Chapter 4

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Perhaps this is all a nightmare.

 I'll wake up in Ana and I's room. She'll be groaning about school and homework and how all she wants at the current moment is to stay in bed. I'll go downstairs, blinking away the fatigue from my eyes and eat breakfast with my family until my appetite is curbed. It will be as if my dreams never happened. Everything will be as it should.

I pinch myself. A searing pain causes me to release my skin as I realise in horror that nothing has changed. I have a bruise on my arm and an approaching 5. My 5.

I don't see him at first. Grayson Knight. But I can feel him...his presence. And I don't like what it is doing to me.

When the crowd parts, the other castes push themselves as far back as possible. Pressing themselves back against the walls of the brand buildings, a wide alleyway splits open as the others scatter. I would have acted similarly in their position.

My heart pulses as the crowd gapes from the front all the way to the back. My fingers fly to my charm as I feel it begin to glow. Then a figure appears and begins walking forward. I gasp as I watch my match approach. He's incredibly tall and broad with hair the colour of coal and an acrid glower. Power emanates from every stride as he marches towards the stage. I can't quite decide whether to fear or be awed by him. However, it's when he walks in front of the stage that I become hysterical.

I grip onto President Mangold's arm, clinging to him like a vine.

"Please sir, don't make me go with him. He's a 5." I cry desperately, shifting my body to use the President as a shield.

"Miss Silver, do not forget your place." The President says sternly, trying to unlatch my arm from his. He shoves me away roughly as though I'm diseased vermin. My feet stumble over themselves and I brace myself for the greeting of cold ground. I'm inches away when a pair of arms catch me.

"I've got her."

The last thing I see before I pass out are a pair of alluring grey eyes.

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My eyes flutter open to meet a slate ceiling. My hands pat my sides as my eyes focus on my surroundings, trying to form some kind of link but alas, I find nothing. The inundating silk sheets feel cool to the touch of my bare legs and are part of a grandiose double bed collection. The dimly room reveals little of where I could be.

"Hello?" I call out. My voice comes out pitchy and echoes around the room as if I am in cave.

"Hello." I repeat but my only answer is my own voice reverberating back to me.

A cave? I couldn't be, could I?

A knock on the door has me clasping at the sheets in terror. What if its him? What should I do? The door opens and light floods in, backlighting the head that pokes around the door. Though the darkness of the room prevents me from seeing who it is, I know it isn't my match.