I woke up the next morning to the smell of fresh coffee once more. There is no smell in the world that could ever smell better than coffee for my last few hours of freedom. When I go to the kitchen my whole family is sitting around the dining table all talking intently to each other, unaware that I was awake and standing In front of them.

Zoe is the first that notices me a jabs Carly in her side to stop her from talking.

"Morning Sydney, did you sleep well?" My mom asks breaking the small silence that had engrossed the room as I was spotted.

"Not too bad thanks." I say taking a seat at the table facing mom.

"Would you like some coffee Sydney?" Zoe says and then stops rolls her eyes and speaks again before letting me reply. "Of course you do, you'd have it pumping your blood system if you could." She gets up and rushes to the coffee pot and shoves the cup into my hands.

"Thanks Zoe" I say bringing the cup to my mouth

"How are you feeling?" Mom says sensing some of my anxiety.

"I'm okay. But I'm trying not to think about it too much. I just want to enjoy my coffee and my last bit of time with you all." I say bringing the cup to my mouth once more having the most sensational taste wondering my throat.

"You should be terrified Sydney. You're being sent to them as a food bag to that blood sucking vampire. He wouldn't want you when he have the skinny Moroi girls. I don't know why your mother insists that this is a good thing." My father says aggressively, raising his voice in despair.

"Jared be quiet. We all know you hate them. But guess what this isn't about you, this is about Sydney for once and is something she has chosen to do. Something she has chosen to do to help this family out, since you got yourself fired. So you will show your daughter an ounce of respect and compassion today as this is that last time you will see her til god knows when. I will not have you belittle her today." My mom says standing up being bigger than he is showing her authority, something none of us but my father are normally confident enough to do. Her anger penetrating round the room all three girls could feel her aggression and her despair at what my father had just said.

She stood there there for a few minutes calming her self down I could see the change in her face. "Sydney, you should go get yourself ready now we have to leave in an hour." She says prying the cup from my hands wanting me to leave the kitchen.

"I'll get ready in a minute can I have one more cup of coffee first please?" I say giving up my grasp of the cup. She sighs but fills it up anyway giving me more fresh coffee.

"I bought you're clean clothes into your room while you were asleep last night and I moved your bag and put it near the door so we do not forget to take it with us." She says sitting down opposite me again.

"Okay thank you" I say drinking more of my coffee knowing my mom is clock watching worrying we will be late.

She sits and stares at me until I finally go to have a shower and get dressed ready to go. The outfit my mom left was a usual blouse and skirt. I sit on my bed once I was ready just taking in my last moments here."

"It's time to go Sydney, the car is waiting" my mom says standing outside my door.

"Well this is it then." I said quietly to myself, not wanting to be heard by mom.

As we near town square all I can see is mounds of people gathered in front of a stage. My anxiety slowly picks up, there are too many Moroi and Dhampir standing there. I hadn't fully prepared for the velocity of them that I was going to encounter.

The car pulls up at the back of the stage. Almost instantly as we all get out a man comes up to us and tells my parents that they had to go wait at the other end of the stage until we were done. I give them a quick hug incase I didn't get to see them again and then they left me standing there with this strange Moroi.

"Are you ready to give our two local girls the royal send off?" A woman on the stage says, her voice booming out from a microphone making the audience in front of her cheer and whistle so loud it was almost deafening.

Before I had even been aware someone had pushed me forward so I was starting to walk onto the stage. I notice from the opposite side of the stage that Cressida was walking onto the stage too. The audience becoming even more lively as we both reach the centre of the stage standing next to the woman.

"So here they are royal beauty Cressida Badica and the one and only alchemist Sydney Sage" the audience cheers and screams again, enjoying every second of this. I decide to brave it and look Into the audience hoping I could find Eddie. I may not be speaking with him at the moment but if I saw him it would calm me down. I get no luck though I could only find his sisters standing at the back of the crowd. I look away not wanting to look at all these vampires in front of me.

"Sydney, can you tell us what is it like to be the only alchemist that has been chosen in the whole lottery?" She asks turning the microphone in my direction waiting for me to answer. I suddenly feel my palms going incredibly sweaty. I had an answer I was just to scared to reply. She looks at me giving me a sympathetic smile but nods to me still expecting my answer. I take in a big gulp of breath and look only at her.

"I...I feel honored. My whole family is so incredibly honored that I and no others have been selected to participate in this lottery." My voice was so quiet I thought it might not have been heard by anyone. The audience cheers for me so I must have been clear enough to hear.

"Cressida, do you feel that as a royal and one from a very large royal family at that, that you have an advantage over all of the other girls entering?" The woman holds the microphone to her but Cressida takes it out of her grip so she can answer a huge smile creeps over her face as she turns to the audience. "No not at all. Every single one of us girls that enter have an equal chance. Our status" she says pausing to turn to me "will not make a difference, from alchemist to Dhampir to non-royal Moroi to high up royal Moroi we are all equal. We will stay equal through the competition as we are all competing for one thing and one thing only. To win the heart of Lord Ivashkov." She stops staring at the audience basking in the glory of making every single one of them there cheer and whistle all of them going crazy eating up her words.

She hands the microphone back to the woman hosting allowing her to speak once more. "There you have it folks. Aren't these ladies fantastic. Shall we all say goodbye to them now give them the best send off we can?" She asks not needing and answer but waiting for the audience to cheer even louder than they were. The noise and the chaos was crazy, I hadn't ever been around so much of it in my life. The woman walks with us to the end of the stage and down a small flight of stairs until we are down with our families again saying our last goodbyes.

I run up to my mom holding her tightly not wanting to let her go from my arms, like I was a child feeling sick and just wanting my mom to make everything feel better. She eventually pulls me back ending our hug.

"You promise to write to me?" Carly says wanting to make sure even though I'm away that I stay in contact, Zoe shows she agrees and pulls me for a hug.

"I promise, I will write to you as often as I can" I say bringing Carly into the hug aswell. We stand there the three of us just hugging each other not wanting to part at any second.

"Don't let them change you Sydney." My father says making me pull away for the girls so I could see him, he'd only get angry if I didn't. "They are all evil creatures of the night Sydney. Don't you for even one second forget that. You forget that and you will be just as bad as they are. Do you understand me Sydney?" He says using his usual stern aggressive tone with me.

"Yes sir, I understand completely sir. I will not under any circumstance let them change me sir." I say using the tone I use normally to reply to him.

"The car is ready and waiting to go now Miss Sage." A man says coming up towards me and my family. "Thank you" I say quickly to him and grab my mom and sisters In my arms for one last hug. I head toward the car as I look back one last time to my family I spot Eddie running up near my family yelling my name. I stop and turn round completely just staring at him. I could see pain and desperation written all over his face, I just shake my head at him saying no to him and get into the car.

We drive for almost an hour before we reach another destination, neither Cressida or I had bothered to speak to each other. But her glances and stares were not missed. I look out the window able to see from where I was that another girl was on the stage talking directly to the audience. I recognise her as Hana-Grayce Kane, I could easily tell you who each girl was I had studied that much and looked at their profiles many times.

"Hey you" Cressida says snapping my attention to her

"Yeah?" I say quietly still uncomfortable being this close to a Moroi on my own.

"You really think that you're so innocent and shy naive little girl act is gonna work?" She says aggressively to me leaning forward so she was right in front of my face.

"I'm not acting at all." I say not being able to say much being to afraid she was going to bite me as she was so close.

"Yeah okay right. You know I did lots of research Into you. It seemed suspicious to me that an alchemist got chosen. You're allowed to apply but never participate. So I looked into you, to find out how you rigged it. I also found out about your midnight escapades with Em and El's brother." She stops and then smiling to herself being proud of what she found out her fangs being seen now.

"Don't think they didn't tell me everything, they did. You act like you hate all of us Dhampir and Moroi yet go and sleep with one of us on a regular basis. So don't you even think that your act will last." She says the door to the car opening stopping her she moves back to her seat allowing Hana to enter the car.

"Oh my gosh. I knew it I knew it I knew it." Hana says so excitedly staring at me as she said it not even acknowledging Cressida's presence . I push away all my thought from what Cressida had just said to me.

"I kept praying that I would get to talk to you and meet you first. Oh I am so excited. I'm Hana by the way." She says waving her hand in front of me excitedly.

"Nice to meet you Hana." I say unsure how I'm supposed to respond to her, I've never had anyone excited to meet me before and my anxiety from Cressida is still hovering.

"Everyone in my town loves you. You are so pretty and so brave did you know that? Of course you knew that look at you. Oh I'm so so excited. My dad told me that not many other alchemists entered the lottery this year. He thinks they are all too afraid of change and that's sad. You guys have every right to enter too i mean you save our assess from being caught on a daily basis." She finally stops to take a breather one I felt she deserved she talks so quickly and so excitedly I don't even know how she does it.

"So I think that you entering and you also being accepted to participate is the best form of change ever. I know you are all normally against being friends with us and being married to us and everything but really what's the harm? I think it is fantastic and like I said you are so pretty how could they not choose you." She stops and sits there smiling at me waiting for me to respond. My mind is going crazy trying to process everything she had just told me.

"Hana how does your dad know not many alchemists entered?" I ask referring to her statement earlier

"Oh he works high up guard duty in our town hall and so he knew all the entrants from our area that entered as he was there. Then he talked to his friends from the others and they all said that not many alchemists had entered. He even said that most of them didn't even get one alchemist entering." She says her voice sounding normal now not speaking in such a rapid pace.

"It's because we are all evil blood sucking monsters Hana and no alchemist has the guts to talk to us. Well expect this one here" she says pointing at me as she said it "whose been sneaking off with her Dhampir boyfriend for years."

"Just because your kind live off blood as your main food substance doesn't mean we are any different." Hana says directly to Cressida. " Sydney is lucky she got accepted and is very brave for being part of the final twenty-four. So stop with your pathetic lies Cressy, just because she's your biggest competition doesn't mean you get to act like a bitch." Hana says to her giving her a stare indicating not to even mess with me or her.

The car goes quiet after that none of us wanting to say anything anymore. The drive feels really long seeing place after place. I had no idea it would take this long to get to court. The car pulls to a stop and the engine goes dim all three of us look at each other confused.

"What is wrong Jasper?" Cressida says turning to the driver being slightly panicked herself

"Nothing my dears, this is your last car journey of the day and your last stop before the court. You must all be very efficient now you have a massive crowd waiting for you on the run way. You must be polite smiling and waving to them but you do not have the time to stop and talk have you got that?" We all nod to him he nods back "good luck to all three of you." He says and the doors open letting us out. He wasn't wrong about the crowd, it consisted of more people here than it did back home. We all walk through the centre of the run way on a carpet that had been paced there for us. Waving to the people, smiling to them all. It wasn't easy for me I was terrified the barriers that were holding them back would give way; and this huge swarm of vampires would reach out and start eating away at me. But I had to keep going I'd signed up for this no matter how much it scares me.

I get half way down the line and spot a little girl at the front with an outfit on that was just like mine from my photo almost a replica, she had even gotten the golden lily painted on her left cheek. She couldn't have been more than six years old. I decide to break the rules I was just given I wanted to talk to her, so I walk over to her bending down so I'm her height.

"Hi, what's your name?" I say not sure where to start or what to say to her.

"Adelaide" she says her voice so gentle and delicate

"You're even prettier than on TV." She says her face smiling so big like I'd given her the one gift she had always asked for.

She reaches her hand up to my cheek but then pulls her hand back not wanting to get In trouble.

"Thank you Adelaide, you are very pretty too. I like your outfit, it's just like mine." I say smiling at her she looks Into my eyes so deeply like we were suddenly connecting perfectly

"Did you want to touch the lily? I saw you wanted to a minute ago." I ask knowing that she had wanted to.

"Can I really?" She asks I nod to her and her small hand comes to my cheek tracing every little bit of the lily. Memorising the pattern of it.

"I have one too. See?" She says pulling her hand back to her own cheek showing me hers "It's not real though, daddy says not until I'm fourteen" her face turns into a pout being sad that it wasn't real. Adelaide wanting to have a real one at such a young age scared me.

"I can't wait to be an alchemist like you and my daddy. I want to be just like you when I grow up. I hope I can get a chance to marry a handsome lord just like you." She says her smile even bigger now.

"I will be watching the show every day. I want you to win." She says bringing her small arms round my neck

"Thank you Adelaide, that is very kind of you." I look up to my side and notice that the other girls had already boarded the plane. "I have to go now, but it was really lovely to meet you." I says standing back up now.

"Thank you for talking with me." She says with so much excitement in her small delicate voice.

I continue on the walk way as quickly as I could aware that I was now all alone on it. Being the only one everyone is focusing on. I didn't want to be rude to the others and I didn't want to be holding them back.

"It's about time alchemist. You're making us all late now." Cressida says pushing past me as I walked In to the section the other girls were all in.

"Sydney come sit with me and Cailynn." Hana says seeing me for the first time waving her hands to me to catch my attention.

"Just ignore Cressy, she is just jealous of you. You have a better chance at winning than she does that's all. I would just steer away from her the whole competition shes not worth wasting your time over." She gives me a small smile as I take a seat next to her on the plane.

As the plane starts moving I noticed that Cailynn looks like she's going to be sick, holding onto her seat like it's the only thing that will keep her in it.

"Cailynn, are you okay? Have you never been on a plane before?" I ask moving my head round so she could see me. She shakes her head and then takes a breath in.

"It's my first time. I never thought I'd ever be on a plane. I didn't know how scary this was going to be. Is it always this bumpy?" She says quietly her anxiety and nervous on show for all of us.

"It can be but they aren't always like this. You're not alone though you have Hana and I with you. It will be over before you realise it okay?" I sit back in my seat and Hana gives her hand a squeeze to show her she is with us, she replies with a quick nod and just sits there.

The flight ended up consisting of Hana talking to Cailynn and I about the newest movies she has seen. Giving us scene by scene and almost replaying the entire dialogue that went with it. Neither Cailynn or I had seen the movie or as it turned out many movies at all. Hana sounded like she'd watched too many movies in her life going from one to the other.

The whole journey Cressida just sat at the other side of the plane doing her nails and her make-up. The second she spotted any of us looking at her she sent an evil glare our way.

When we land we got met by a woman with wavy brown hair though it was obvious she had been standing in the wind for a while as it had gone all over her face.

"Girls you are late, I was about to send a search party for you all. Did something happen on the way?" She asks looking at each one of us to make sure we looked un-injured.

"We are all fine, it was all the alchemists fault as she stopped to talk to people on the way down the walk way." Cressida said glaring at me yet again as she said it.

"Well thank goodness you are okay. We are on a very tight schedule today and this has most certainly made us all later. Come on we have to get moving." She says walking off in front of us leading us into court.

We get to a huge hall way with rooms all around it she stops out side one room where lost of noise could be heard coming from it.

"This is where I leave you, I have one more group to collect and we will all be here." She says taking a sigh of relief. "This is the make over room, as you will see" she stop letting us walk closer to the room on our direct left. "The first stage is to get your hair and make up done. You will then go to choose the dress you want from your very own racks. It is then best you take a seat and wait to be called for interviews and photos. Once that is over you will get shown around, given your name pins which must be worn at all times and will have a little time in your rooms to get acquainted with the girls working for you." She says this to us nods in satisfaction and walks off ready to get the other set of girls.

I just stand there staring In to the room, watching all the rushed chaos going on. Unable to make myself enter that room. I could sense almost everyone in there were Moroi. All my anxiety and fears coming back again, knowing this was my life I was going to be surrounded by them constantly no matter how I felt. My stomach turned not ready for this.

"Can I get your name?" A young girl no more than my own age says coming out side the room to join me.

"Sydney Sage" I say quietly

"Okay come on in then and we will get you set up at a make-up station" she says placing her hand gently on my back guiding me into the over crowded room. We come to a stop as she looks round all the stations. A girl with bright red hair gets up from a seat and walks away to the clothes section freeing up a seat.

"Here we are one just opened up for you. "Astrid, Laura and Margaux, this is Sydney." She says leaving me alone with the three Moroi women.

"Take a seat right here Sydney. I'm Astrid I'll be doing your hair." She had wavy dark blonde hair that was seemingly running loose over her face.

"So how do you want me to do your hair?" She asks pulling my hair through her fingertips

"I don't know. Do you have any ideas what you'd like to do?" I ask I don't do much with my hair a lot of the time so I didn't what kinds of designs she could do with it.

"Okay so we could color it, cut it, extend it or we could style it. Though if I might I'd like to just keep it simple. What do you think?" She asks still playing with my hair in her fingers.

"Yes sure, do what you think will look okay." I say to her hoping I could trust her with this.

"Okay Sydney I'm Laura and this is Margaux we are going to do your make-up and nails. I want to show off your natural beauty, highlight your tattoo so I will keep the make-up light. And Margaux what color are you thinking?" Laura who had straight jet black hair and glasses says to me and then turning to a curly red head next to her.

"Well I've seen the dresses so I think I might go with a nice simple light yellow shade." She comes close to me for the rest of it "I think you will be pleased with your dress choices when you see them." She says smiling and then winks at me.

All three of them work on my hair, make-up and nails. wWhen they finish they all stop and come behind me looking in the mirror. I really liked what they had done it was simple like they said it would be.

"You look so perfect Sydney, most certainly perfect for Lord Ivashkov." Laura says standing behind me in awe of how I looked. It was strange these three women staring at me.

The dresses on the rack were all so beautiful there were five dresses hanging up on a rail just for me. Each one was so different the detailing on them was amazing. Just by looking you could tell someone had spent hours making them. Once I had chosen my dress I had to go to a small fitting room to ensure that it fitted correctly which it did. The dress fitted me perfectly. It was a yellow dress just like Margaux had spoken about. It came down to me knees and covered up my chest with gorgeous lace at the top.

"You're the alchemist right?" I hear to the side of me as I sit down on the seated section waiting for the photo-shoot and interview.

"Yeah I'm Sydney. You're Zyla right?" I say recalling her from all the names and pictures I had memorised.

"You know it, the one and only." She says happy to have been recognised.

"Next for the interviews. Sydney you can go to the booth on the right, they will set it up when you are there." Pointing in the direction I'm to go in. "Zyla you can go just right behind the screen here for your booth same again they will set it up when you are there" we both get up and go to the booths we were told to go to.

"Welcome Sydney, I'm Gustef, okay this is a really quick piece I will turn the camera on and ask you about your make-over and then we will be done is that okay?" The interviewer says though I felt honestly frightened he had his fangs out on show and was distracting me terrified he was hungry and was going to use me as his personal food.

The camera clicks on he waits a few seconds and then looks directly at me again his fangs being bared "can you tell us about the look you have chosen for your make-over?"

"Well I kept it simple, going for very minimalistic make-up but highlighting my tattoo on my cheek. I got yellow nail varnish that pairs up with the yellow dress that I had chosen from the racks. My hair got put up in a plait down my left side and my right side my hair has been placed carefully over it using pins in the back to hold it In place. It's very simplistic but I like it." I say just saying it as it came into my mind, never having talked fashion like this before I didn't really know what to say.

"Thank you very much Sydney." He says and then turns the camera off again. He directs me to the photographers booth to the left of where I was.

I get there and the man working the camera grabs me gently by my shoulders scaring me a little but he only guides me to the position that he needed me in so I was in line with the camera. "Smile for me" he says I do it though the whole time feeling uncomfortable. I couldn't wait for this to be over. He takes the photos he wants and finally let's me go free.

"Ladies we are all so behind schedule right now, so please follow me as I give you all a really brief tour in the areas you will see and use the most." The woman says as I join a group of five other girls who had all finished their make-overs. We all follow her around seeing the dining rooms to a lounge where The Lord and his friends often stay. But she said to us 'None of you ladies are aloud in that room unless escorted by The Lord himself.' She continued the tour going at a rapid speed not stopping at any rooms just letting us glance at them.

"This is your room my ladies, where you will spend all your down time. You will all become close and we will be having a few etiquette classes as you will be marrying a royal lord." She says as we come to a stop outside a huge ball room that had been converted with sofas and musical instruments and books lining massive book shelves. There was a huge tv in one corner.

"You will all be down here tonight for the broadcast, this is the first of your stay though you will not be participating in this one. You have a little time before you have to come back so you can stay in your rooms. You're belongings are already there waiting for you as are three girls who we have been chosen carefully to help assist you in anything you need." She starts walking again so we each all follow behind her "if you require food before the broadcast do tell them they will help get you provided with what you wish."

She stops again after we had walked up a few flights of stairs turning to look at all of us and looking down at a chart she had in her hands. "This section you are all in has been cleared out and all made brand new and special just for you. We hope that you like it, all rooms may be changed and re-designed if that is what you wish. You will report that to the Moroi reported in your room. You are not permitted out of your room at night without a Dhampir and tonight you are not aloud under any circumstances to see Lord Ivashkov."

She picks up a few pins off her board and hands them to each of us "these must be worn at all times no matter what you are wearing do not show up without it." She says handing the last one out. "Sydney your room is straight ahead and down to the left, you're room is on it's own and has been placed like that due to you being the only alchemist we wanted to give you some space. The rest of you girls come with me as your rooms are farther down the hall." They all go in their direction and I go in the one I was told feeling suddenly exhausted from the day, just wanting to sit down with a book and relax.

I hesitate as I reach the room I'd already been told that the room would have two Dhampirs and one Moroi as every girl here was being given that. Though the thought that a Moroi was going to be around me in my room. While I am having privacy scared me. It takes me ages to be able to open it. The second my courage is found and the door is opened I'm met by three girls standing there all smiling at me, I was thankful the fangs had been hidden away.

"You're here. We are so excited to finally meet you Sydney." One of the girls says she had brown ringlets in her hair, the most beautiful jade eyes I had ever seen though I could figure out right away she was Moroi. She had that tall and amazingly skinny physique that I have always envied.

"I'm Jill, to my left is Angeline and to my right is Olive." Both the two Dhampirs smile and wave at me.

"Can we get you anything?" Angeline says moving forward towards me.

"No. I'm okay I'm just tired I think I'd like some time alone."

"Well we can't actually leave you otherwise we will get in trouble. But you can rest on the bed and we will be quiet." Olive says trying to reassure me. I walk over to the bed sitting on the edge feeling the softness of it and the lovely silk cover bedding that had been placed on it.

"Sydney. Sydney, you have to wake up now." I hear through a haze, coming to look at my surroundings, not sure where exactly I am for a few moments.

"What? Where am I?" I say as I sit back up on the bed I was on, as I look round the room again I realise where I was. "Oh I'm at court aren't i? Sorry I forgot." I say back tracking myself.

"Can I... Can I fix your hair Sydney? Jill says seeing that some of my hair had fallen out the pins from my side.

"Okay" I say not sounding confident about her touching me. As she pulls the pins out and then reach to touch me again I panic, flinch and move away.

"Jill give them here I'll do it. Is that a bit better for you Sydney?" Olive says seeing my fear over Jill touching me. I stand there almost frozen but allow Olive to do it thinking that she is no different to Eddie.

"Okay you are late now, quickly put these heels on and you are good to go." Angeline says placing a pair of golden high heels in front of me. I slip my feet in them and wait for instruction not knowing what I was supposed to be doing.

"Go down to the ladies room now, the broadcast is about to start." When I don't move Jill looks at me thinking about moving closer but back tracks "scoot" she says her arms air pushing me away.

I get down to the ladies room just as royal music starts playing. I run across the room and see a space next to Hana on the bench that had been set up for us. "I thought you weren't coming" Hana whispers to me just as Lucian comes on the screen.

"Welcome all. Today has been a very special day. All of our special ladies have arrived." He pauses briefly. "In just a few moments we have a very special video to show you about our ladies journey getting here. We will be showing more footage and documentation throughout the week more of the journey's, their make-overs plus their first meeting and any date The Lord decides upon. But for now here is a short montage video so you can catch a glimpse at the girls."

The screen goes blank and then all of a sudden a new photo for each one us appears one by one. It pauses for just a few seconds showing each of us and then cuts to snippets of us on the stage bits of each of our answers being mixed together. Then it cuts to us each walking down the run way waving to the crowds that had gathered. It then zooms in on me talking to Adelaide, no sound is heard which I was happy for our conversation was just for us. Music comes on and then it shows different shots of of us getting make-up and hair done, others choosing their dresses some standing for their photo shoots and others sitting at the interview booth. It then shows our photo-shoot pictures again the screen going black and then without any of us being prepared the camera focuses on us all sitting in the room together for a brief moment. And then fades out one last time.

"So ladies and gentlemen, royals and non-royals that is all of our wonderful 24 girls all ready to make our Lord Ivashkov fall in love with them. So shall we ask him of his first impression of these girls?" He walks up towards him the camera now focusing on both of them, at the same time.

"So now that you have seen the ladies what are your thoughts of them?" He says his face eager for his response

"Lucian they are all so beautiful. I am looking forward to meeting each one of them tomorrow and being able to find out more." He says looking at Lucian as he answers

"We also look forward to meeting them tomorrow as you go on your first dates with each girl." The camera zooms back so only Lucian was on show again.

"I'm Lucian Badica reporting all of the latest news and interviews for The Royal Selection. We will see you all again on Friday for our first live broadcast with the girls of the selection." The music comes on and then it fades out once more.

We all part from the seated area knowing we can finally move around again. I finally notice i'd been sitting with all the girls Moroi and Dhampir without thinking about it. But now I noticed the panic starts up. Hana gently touches my hand sensing my anxiety. "It's okay Sydney, you should go to your room if it's too much right now. I know it's your first time with this many of us." She says pulling me forward with her as we are moving toward the end of the room girls scattered everywhere; I get grabbed from the side pulling me away from Hana.

"If you mess this up for me, I will mess this up for you. I want to marry The Lord and I will marry him don't you doubt that for a second. If you do anything to ruin it I won't report you and your little illegal love affair." Cressida said being right In front of me the whole time she said it looking right In to my eyes. She pushes past me getting me out the way.

"You okay there Sydney? I saw Cressy push you outta the way." Zyla says coming to my side

"Yeah I'm fine" I say in a sort of haze I walk away going back to my room past all the other girls who had done the same.

I go to my room for a few hours talking to the girls working in my room. Having taken my dress off and replacing it for a comfortable night gown instead. I tell them briefly of what Cressida said almost as if I were talking to Eddie not really considering who they actually were.

"Can I please be alone now, I need to sleep. There Is no way I can sleep with you here."

The three of them look at each other and nod to each other all somehow having the same thought.

"I can stay outside your room for the night if that is better?" Angeline says offering what she thought was a better compromise.

"Thanks but no you go to your own rooms, I don't want any of you here while I'm sleeping outside or inside. I'm sorry." I say looking at them sympathetically "I will see you in the morning you can come and help me get ready again then." I say getting up and walking to the door opening it up waiting for them to do as I have asked and leave.

"What if we get in trouble though?" Angeline asked looking at the other girls for reassurance

"I will cover for you, tell them that I told you to and that I was very persuasive about it." I said to them they all share a glance one last time and them leave as I have asked. I could hear the murmurs of their voices as they were walking away.

I lay on my bed hoping to get to sleep allowing all my thoughts from the whole day to flow through. I suddenly become panicked unable to breath my heart speed becoming erratic, I get out of my bed moving to the window hoping some air would help me, but get stopped by a barrier not letting me out. I look out at the landscaping seeing a wall around the edge and a huge garden in the grounds.

Before I think about it I'm heading out my room and down the stairs my body taking control of my mind as the pain and the need for air increases I needed to be free I needed to get out of here I reach a door eventually that says garden on it.

"Miss are you lost?" A guardian says seeing me panicking in front of him

"Air, I need air." I say unable to think of enough words to explain myself

"Would you like me to get someone to assist you back to your room?" He says not having listened to me.

I walk up to him not thinking again and touch the door wanting and willing with my mind that it will open. That it will give me the freedom.

"I can't let you out miss, it's not safe alone." He says I collapse on the floor where I am he grabs me but awkwardly so I'm half in his arms and half on the floor.

"Dillon, let the girl out. I shall assist her." I hear a voice I didn't recognise but suddenly the door opens and I'm running out feeling the grass under my bare feet the air around my face. I run until I find I can't any more and stop collapsing myself on the floor. Tears start falling from my eyes before I even realised it.