Thanks for the reviews! To answer the questions about Matess/Matessa... well, you'll just have to stick around for a little longer. As for the Aspen/Kriss situation... well, that's another reason for you to stick around too. If you remember in "The Selection: Next Generation," America said Aspen was dead. Ooh... did I reel you in? Love ya!- AcademicGirl
Tess's POV
"What do you mean you don't know who you are?" Marian asks. "Like, how stupid are you?"
"Marian, stop," Aspen scolds.
"What happened before you got here?" Kriss prods gently.
I sit back on the chair and blow a hair out of my face. "I woke up to some kind of fire in the forest. I don't know how I got there."
"So you just lost your memory? Just like that?" Marian says indelicately. I simply shrug and keep eating in small bites.
The rest of the dinner is silent, maybe the occasional "Please pass the bread." They feel sorry for me, I can tell. Remorse is written all over their faces. I silently excuse myself and get ready for bed. My head is pounding and my throat still feels stuffed. There is a lit candle in my room, and I immediately blow it out. Once my head hits the pillow, I fall into a deep sleep.
"Girls, we're going to have to jump," I tell the flight attendants. We're in an airplane and one of the flight attendants just told me the pilots abandoned the plane. Rebels, I think. We all jump off the plane, and I roll on my side. I start to run as fast as I can with my wobbly ankles. I catch sight of a flight attendant with her neck bent at a grotesque angle. Then I keep running.
Suddenly, there is a giant explosion that leaves my ears ringing. The searing pain is everywhere, particularly on my back. The smell of exhaust and smoke fill my nostrils. The explosion takes me airborne and my head hits a nearby tree. The impact leaves my head throbbing and pounding. And then it's dark.
I wake up with sweat on my forehead. I'm breathing heavily from the vivid dream. My thoughts come into high gear after a minute. What if that's what happened to me? Maybe that was a memory, not a dream. I connect the dream to the moment I woke up. It pieces together like a puzzle. Rebels... there are two kinds—Southern and Northern. What I don't understand is why they were targeting me of all people. Am I someone important or was I just some random person to torture?
I look at my ring again. Matthew... I search my brain for a face that might go with the name Matthew. I get another headache and I relax into the bed. Too much thinking. Before I go to sleep, I see a pair of bright blue eyes flash in my mind.
Matthew's POV
Where the hell is Tess? She was supposed to be here an hour ago. It's midnight already. What if the rebels did get to her?! I keep pacing in Dad's office.
"Matthew, please stop. You're agitating your mother," my dad says. I look over to Mom who is just looking at me with concern. Nonetheless, I end my hour-long session of shuffling and sit on the leather seat beside her. She puts her arms around me and I embrace her back.
"Matthew, I assure you she is perfectly fine," Mom says encouragingly. "If she was dead, we would've seen it on the news." The television mounted on the wall is still turned to the weather for tomorrow. It's going to rain. Good. It's exactly how I feel; dark and gloomy.
As if on cue to my Mom's saying, the screen changes to a woman with a stoic expression. "This just in, there was a plane crash in Carolina." My mom's body tenses up, knowing that people she knew from her province could be hurt. Mine stiffens as well. That could be Tess's plane. "This wasn't a natural fire. When firemen arrived at the scene, they claimed that the fire was started by a crashed airplane."
The screen changes to a fireman by his truck. The background is of charred trees and smoke. "When we got here, we could barely see the wing of a plane. We were searching the premises for any bodies. We found a woman but she was already dead. We also found this in the rubble." The fireman holds up a necklace—a chain with an unmistakable infinity symbol, now covered in soot. I know it's Tess's. A tear slips out of my eye.
I am silent in my Mother's arms. It's over. Tess was my whole world. And she's gone just like that. It's the apocalypse.
The news reporter continues speaking. "We have a right to believe the necklace belonged to Princess Teresa Renaldi." They show a picture of Tess smiling bright with the necklace around her neck. "This plane was alleged to be her ride back to Angeles from Italy. Firemen have found two other bodies by the plane, both too disfigured to be recognized. They might be the princess's flight attendants but it could be her as well."
Okay, this reporter is pissing me off. She says it with such an offhanded way that I just yell, "Turn it off!" Dad jumps in his seat and immediately turns off the television.
I take a deep breath and a another tear manages to push out of the corner of my eye. My dad says, "We don't know if Tess is gone. For all we know, she escaped from the plane before it exploded. She's a tough girl, you know."
I just nod and wipe the tear away with the heel of my hand. The phone rings and Dad picks it up. When he puts it back down, he gives me a cryptic expression. "That was just the rebels. The plane crash wasn't an accident. The pilots were rebels and they abandoned the plane while they were above Carolina."
My sadness turns to anger. I've had it with these rebels. Why do they keep going after Tess? It's like they know it's going to kill me if anything happens to her. I stand up and say defiantly, "Dad, meeting in the board room. Now."
He leads the way and calls his advisers. Michael comes rushing in, and Evelyn waits for him outside. Both have a concerned look on their face, for Tess and for me. "Father," I start, "please tell everyone what happened." I sink into my chair.
Dad clears his throat and says, "There was a plane crash in Carolina, and it was Princess Teresa's." Gasps fill the room. "I received a phone call from the rebels. They said that it was no accident and that the pilots were both Southern rebels. They claim that the princess is dead, and that they're coming back to hurt more."
I hear bits and pieces of what everyone says. My attention is pulled back when Dad says, "Matthew, what do you want to do?" No one asks me for my opinion very often, but right now I know it was the right moment to ask for it.
"Send guards and scour every street, every house in Carolina. Knowing Tess, she would have jumped off the plane. She would still be in Carolina." The advisers exchange wary glances like I just said it's possible for men to go on the moon. I stand up to make my point and add, "We're leaving tomorrow at dawn. Meeting adjourned."
The advisers trickle out of the room and I'm left with Michael and Dad. My head is pounding, but not from fatigue. Adrenaline and anger course through my veins. I will find Tess. I know it. When I see her she'll be perfect and smiling and happy. Things will be the way they were. Judge me for my optimism, sure. But I can't lose hope after everything Tess and I have been through.
I exit the room, as well, ready to get back the love of my life.
