I woke up and sighed. Today was the day of the Handover. It was the day when the Elven, the higher race that had taken control of the earth, repeated the ritual that our ancestors agreed on a long time ago in exchange for the all the lives of the human race. The elven would come to a town, a different town each hundred years, and take a young beautiful girl from there and take them to their world for two days and marry the air to the elven throne.

The ancestors were tricked though. They didn't know that the air in the elven world was poison, and that after a day and a night that a return back to the human world would be fatal. They watched their own child die in front of them but they couldn't break the pact. All they could do was make the elven swear to treat their other children like queens and let them live their lives in the elven world forever.

For years people feared the pact or curse, the Elf Kings Curse, like nothing else. That is until the rumours spread. Was it true that the girls that get sent are bathed in gold, pearls and diamonds? That they always have enough to eat? That they have power. When the humans invented media and the next girl was taken it was proven true when she posted a picture of herself online looking like a queen, and the crowd went wild. Suddenly being taken to the elven world wasn't a curse but a privilege.

Over the years, the pact became polluted by the media, money, and fame. Parents started cheating and secretly training their kids from the start to try and get them chosen and the once curse become nothing more than a fancy competition where all the rich of the world competed to see whose daughter would be chosen. All in all the elven didn't really chose but took any girl they got. The girls were chosen by the president then handed over to the elven.

This had been going on for a long time and soon the competitors didn't even bother to hide their tricks. Their every move was broadcasted over every news station in the world and a few years ago they even started a voting system. This year a girl called Bria Samsung. Her parents owned Samsung co. had bribed whole nations with their newest phone to vote for their daughter.

This year the elven would take Bria from my town so I got to ensure I had a good view. The elven basically looked like humans but you could pick one out anywhere with their pale skin, white bleached hair and dark, dark charcoal eyes. I had caught glimpses before but this was a once in a life time chance as they only came as out in the open once every one hundred years. I got up, brushed my hair took a shower and quickly brushed my frizzy light hair. It had originally been chestnut but soon turned blond after an incident involving frost. I was about go downstairs when I heard the door open.

"You're not really going to the Handover like that are you?" her little six year old sister Gwen said sassily.

I sighed. "Is there a problem" she replied.

Gwen smiled. "Let me style your hair"

I nodded reluctantly. Any other day I would have said no but the Handover was a big deal and as much as I wanted to refuse she couldn't. I sat down let Gwen straighten out my messy frizz and restyle my hair into flowing locks, tying the top half of it back with red ribbon and leaving little bangs at the side. She even added the tiniest touch lip gloss, but she knew to stop there.

"There perfect" she giggled gleefully.

I glanced at myself in the mirror and smiled.

"Thanks kid, now go get ready yourself and wake up mum and I'll make breakfast"

Gwen stopped giggling and walked out of the room sighing. I swore she could hear her saying 'if there is anything to make' under her breath. That was a fair statement

I sighed again. That really was a fair statement. Ever since our father had died there and been no income of money. Our dad died shortly after I had turned 10. That was 3 years ago and Gwen no longer remembered him. But she did. I shook my head and went downstairs. It was a small two story house with two bedrooms a bathroom and a kitchen. We did get benefit money and rag tag money that their mum, Jackie, got from doing jobs here and there but most of it went to pay the rent and the rest (if there was any left) had to be used for food. I looked in the cupboards, but just as Gwen had predicted, there was nothing there but tonight's dinner, bread and jam. I shut the cupboard and waited for mum and Gwen.

When they came down they didn't bother to ask for breakfast and set off to the Handover, me wearing my favourite midnight blue dress and Gwen in jeans and a yellow shirt. When we arrived Jackie went off to go to the toilet and they were left there, alone.

"This is so exciting the elven are so rich and mysterious and now they're coming here, I mean, here of all places! I mean why would they chose boring Woodbridge when there are so many different places."

"Because there is a mist near here" I said without thinking. Mists were the gateways to the elven world, hidden in the woods.

Gwen nodded.

"I guess."

"Shhhhh, it's starting"

Trumpets blared out and a limo slowly bulled down the road. A teenage elven boy appeared, the messenger.

"I am here to take the young girl who will be Prince Evan's bride, upon the pact you made with the elf king" he said.

The road hushed. As practiced Bria stepped up into the road and stood in front of him.

"I am the girl who shall become the prince's bride, upon the pact you made with our ancestors" she said showing of her whitened smile, tiling her overly made up face, trying to look cute. I was sure I saw the man physically recoil. It was obvious he didn't like the much her much. He looked her straight in the eye and said, "No, a different girl." The whole world's jaws dropped. Bria looked like she had just been slapped.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say" she said upping her charm, in one last effort to look cute.

"I said what I said. You are no fit to be Prince Evans bride" the messenger said, his face unchanging. Bria's eyes bulged, but she still managed keep her smile.

"Why, might I ask" she said, barely hiding her anger.

"Because you do not have anywhere near the standard amount of beauty required for a tribute. You can cover your face in as much paint as you want but that means nothing in our world. Also your inner beauty is nothing to look at either, inner beauty is valued even more than outer and you lack both. So on the laws on the pact I cannot accept you, the pact clearly states that you must be beautiful" he replied.

That broke her.

She tore off her heels and ran away crying.

Everyone was silent, nobody knew what was going to happen. Then he pointed at me.

"You, we'll take you instead" he said

And that was it the next thing I knew I was in a limo being driven off before I could comprehend what was happening. Obviously I couldn't have said no, which would have been a death sentence for the whole human population. But how could I say yes, I wasn't prepared for this in the slightest, so in the end all I could do was nod and step into the car obediently and try to avoid my family's horrified gaze. How could all of this happened so quickly, in the space of one second it was decided that I was to leave this world and never see my family ever again. A million feelings were coursing through me but I couldn't identify any of them. Suddenly the car stopped and a man opened the door. He stood there for a second then sighed,

"Come out of the car please" he said as if he's tired of dealing with spoiled, pampered rich girls and mute, stupid poor girls, which he probably is.

"Sorry," I mumble as I scuffle out of the car. It was only my second time being in a car, and with the added complications I was still in a daze. We were the in a forest near Woodbridge, because the elven liked to put their mist in cold, forested places. Now the only time the forest mists were used was to take the girl of the century to her doom. Humans couldn't get through the mist because the elven had made some kind of passcode, but all who have tried to get through have always ended up coming straight back.

The elven boy looked at me exasperatedly, "Ok, I'm only going to show you this once," he said. I watched intently. The boy made a series of odd steps on the ground as if he were playing a peculiar game o hopscotch. He stopped and looked at me and this time I caught on immediately. I copied his movements exactly, not daring miss out a single twitch as to not get him angry again. I looked up to see him look slightly impressed

"You caught on fast," he said then turned and repeated his funny dance, though this time through the mist. That explained why humans couldn't get across, it was a very precise routine and not many people could just guess the moves. I walked up to the mist then stopped. I turned and had one last look at the world, my world, because this would probably be the last time I see it.