AN: By the way, what Auriella had said in the last chapter was, Mother Moon, Queen of night, help me win. By the way, lol. Also, I love reviews readers. Drop me a line!!

Part Two: The Audition Process

Chapter Five: Choice—Pandora's Vision

It was decided then that Nikolas would pick Auriella up again on Sunday for their very first band rehearsal. Which meant that she needed to get acquainted with songs real quick, which would be a little difficult, for that night anyway. She had a date with Gavin that night of her audition, so she had to get ready for that while studying the music.

Her mother, Vanessa Saratoga, stood up quickly she walked inside the house, a tight smile on her face. Ella looked around a bit before focusing once again on her mother. "Am I in trouble?"

"No!" Vanessa exclaimed, her voice to high, her eyes too wide. "Why would you think that?"

Auriella blinked at her mom slowly, trying to clear her head as one defined brow perked up in question. She noticed several more glasses on the coffee table that her mother was conveniently trying to hide behind her thin frame. "Was somebody here or something?"

"Of course not. What gave you that idea, honey?"

"Um… Those…" She said, pointing at the still partially filled cups.

"Oh… So aren't you supposed to be on the field with the other cheerleaders?" Vanessa asked, changing the subject with little grace and subtlety. "Rose called here for you."

"I was busy," came the short reply as Auriella tried to look around her mother.

"With what? I thought that you loved cheerleading."

"I just auditioned for a band today, Mom. A rock band, and they want me as their lead singer," Ella revealed, wondering how her near-perfect mother would react to that. Not that she had anything against Vanessa; she loved her mom and her mom's past—not that she knew much about it. It was just out of the norm for Ella to rebel.

"Wow! That's amazing, baby. You know, your father and I were in a band together when we were around your age."

"What? No way!" Ella exclaimed, momentarily forgetting the glasses.

"Yeah. We were great. People loved us."

Ella snickered, imagining her parents on stage in a band. She knew both her parents could sing well; it was where she had inherited her voice. But she always imagined them being straight-laced and in a church choir or something. Imagining them rocking it out was something else entirely. Wait until Torrence heard this one! "How did you guys go from rock stars to now? I mean, come one. Dad is a freakin' dentist, after all."

Vanessa shrugged, smiling softly at her daughter. "We grew up, El. Just like you will. And it's not like we gave up something we loved so much entirely. Your dad still writes songs."

Ella thought about it and shook her head. "What if I chose the metamorphosis, Mom?"

She wasn't really sure why she brought it up. She knew her mother had made that choice somehow, but it wasn't what she had thought for herself. Actually, she hadn't thought about the choice at all. Vanessa seemed sad, hearing her child speak of the second choice all Daughters could make when they turned seventeen. "If that's what your heart tells you at the time, then make that choice."

"You chose it, Mom. Why did you return?"

Vanessa shrugged, obviously uncomfortable with talking about it. She waved her daughter off, pasting on a fake smile so that she wouldn't make Ella feel bad. "Go on. You must have things to do, right?"

Auriella laughed and left her mom alone as she bounded up the stairs to her room.

Now that she thought about it, she really did think about the choices before. A little more than a week ago, she had thought about it. That was when she and the Daughters of the Moon, along with the Pandora Daughters, encountered Pandora herself after a fatal attack by the Follower Erik, Each of them had received a vision of the future, their own futures, but she wasn't exactly sure what anyone else had seen because no one would talk about it. Only Torrence, and that was because she just couldn't see her future.

Auriella's vision haunted her every time she looked at her mother, smiling and laughing with her fakely so Vanessa wouldn't see the pain she carried around with her.

Vanessa Saratoga was going to leave her family, and it would be sometime soon, this year even. One day, she would just disappear because of her choice so many years before. Her purpose for being here on Earth would be over, and Selene was going to take her Daughter back into her arms.

Without Vanessa, her father would become desolate. He would forget Ella even existed. He would lose his job, they would lose the house. Ella would come to rely heavily on the support of the Daughters of the Moon, but she wouldn't leave Michael to fend for himself.

And that was it, her vision from Pandora. It had made her think about her own choices, but then she had pushed those thoughts from her head until today.

What would she choose when the time came?

She put the demo for he band into her stereo system and turned the volume up. She lost herself in the music, picking it apart from the voice of the guy she had just replaced. She pulled the sheet of lyrics for the song out, reading them over and beginning to commit them to memory. The music played over and over as she tried to grasp onto the words in her head before letting them loose wither tongue.

She loved the music and the lyrics, and soon she was singing along, putting her own spice on the song. She prayed she could do justice by the band, out singing the guy she had just replaced. He had a dark, deep voice which she just couldn't replace with her own. She would have to do the songs in her own way, hoping they sounded just as amazing.

What was she going to do? What if she really couldn't pull this off? After all, she was already missing enough cheerleading practice, not to mention would be hounding her for that part of it. How could she do rehearsals, being up to par for the competition?

Reminding her self about Rose, she wondered what she would do about her. The bitch could overthrow her reign with enough votes. And Rose knew how to get people on her side.

Ella sighed, holding tightly onto her moon amulet. Pressure, but she had to try.

Glancing over at her clock, she gasped, her eyes wide at how much time had passed. A half hour before Gavin came to pick her up!

Up Next: Gavin goes way too far for Ella's comfort.