(A/N: I finished the chapter a little earlier. So here my lovelies, enjoy!)
"America!" Jaydyn suddenly surged towards me. Toni, Portia and Marcus followed. I was still kneeling on the floor, tears forming in my eyes, but I didn't let them rain down on my face.
The four knelt beside me. Portia was patting my back. General Ivy had a sympathetic look on her face.
Thoughts began racing through my mind. What will happen to my family? What will happen to my maids? What will happen to the whole Selection?
Another general sitting beside General Ivy had a stern look. "What will we do with her Ivana?"
General Ivy sighed, "I guess there's only one way for you to survive here."
"And what's that?" I ask.
Marcus was the first one to stand up. "You need to become one of us."
I sat down on my bed, quietly recollecting my thoughts.
A white shirt and brown pants were hung on my closet handle. It was my new uniform.
I had to become a trainee.
General Ivy and General Richardson, the man beside her awhile ago, told me that being a foreign trainee was hard. Some Cretans treat other people differently. It might take a month for me to adjust.
Someone suddenly knocked on my door.
"Come in," I blandly say.
Jaydyn practically jumped inside holding horse riding gear. Marcus and Portia were behind her.
"Aww, why the long face," she said. "Come on! We got a horse just for you!"
Her cheery personality made me smile a little. I got up and started walking out with them to the fields.
When we got to the stables, four horses were prepared outside. The three certainly knew what was theirs. By then, only one horse was left. It was a black stallion, a little taller than the other horses.
"That's your horse," Marcus said.
"Thanks a lot. You really had to put up with this. He's a real beauty."
"Marcus picked him," Jaydyn said.
When I turned to look at Marcus he was already on his horse. "It was tough picking a horse for you since I just met you today, but he'll do well. His name's Slay."
"Slay," I said slowly still full of wonder.
"Well," Portia hopped on her mare as well. "Let's ride!"
We rode for about an hour. I felt as light as a feather. No problems in the Selection, no reports to be done, no Silvia to keep on nagging at me, no Celeste maltreating me, no King Clarkson to try to kill me.
No more waiting for Maxon to finally choose me.
"Girl, why are you always deep in thought?" Jaydyn asked.
"Please Jaydyn, if you were a girl who's actually alive but believed to be dead you'd do the same thing," Marcus reasoned out.
"You two better quit it before you start another fight," Portia scolded.
"Oh! America! I wanted to show you something!" Jaydyn suddenly piped up.
"Correction: WE wanted to show you something," Marcus said.
"Let's go! To the butterfly house!"
"Woah!" I said. "Calm down… Calm down Slay…"
Instead of seeing a green house filled with flowers, they led me to huge, thick bushes and vines. We tied our horses near a big tree. We walked all the way.
"Uhh… Are you sure you guys are taking me to a butterfly house?" I asked.
"They're not exactly butterflies but… you'll just see later," Marcus said. We went on.
As we got deeper and deeper through the bushes, I began to hear a faint sound. It sounded like bells ringing in hormony.
"We're getting close," Portia assured.
It became louder and louder. Then, a faint voice of a female could be heard singing.
We sing precious melodies
That no one in the out can hear
With all our voices in harmony
It can't be broken by fear
When the sun goes down, in goes the dark
Our lights flicker in bliss
No evil can touch or break or mark
Not even the darkest abyss
It was repeated again and again. I pushed through a thorny bush and luckily, only had some small scratches. When I looked forward I saw a small tunnel as big as my little brother, Gerard. We lowered our heads and passed through.
"Here we are," Jaydyn said.
I was the last out of the tunnel. I could tell by the look on their faces my expression was priceless.
"Woah," I couldn't help but stare.
The first thing I saw was a tree at the center which was draped in pastel colored flowers. Fireflies were flying around the place. Then I saw homes that looked like birdhouses hanging from every tree. They were decorated differently but they were all cute and pretty.
"Here they come!" Jaydyn exclaimed.
Singing, laughing and dancing in the air were little people with butterfly wings attached to their back. Fairies. I was actually seeing real-life fairies which I only heard in stories. They were about as big as my hand. When they saw us they went closer, waving their arms, telling us to come forward.
The three did what they were told. I only stood there, still in awe of what I was seeing at the moment.
"Come on America," Portia said.
I slowly trudged forward, carefully avoiding wildflowers that grew. We slowly made our way to the big tree at the center. The fairies, who were guiding us, went behind it.
I took a peek behind the tree and gasped.
It was more than what I expected. The place was bigger than I thought. There were more trees which meant more houses, which meant more fairies. This time, the trees were decorated with little lanterns and flowers. Fairies gathered together in the middle.
The biggest fairy, the one standing in the very middle of the circle, saw us and flew to our direction.
"Jaydyn, Marcus and Portia, lovely seeing you here," she said. "And who is this, another friend of yours?"
"Oh, I'm America, America Singer," I said slightly bowing down.
"No need to be formal dear," she said. "I'm Louisita, Queen of the Light Fairies."
Queen Louisita turned to Marcus and Jaydyn, "Have you come to see the show?"
"Yes," Marcus said. "We decided to bring America along, since we found your musical quite impressive the last time we were here..."
"We were here two days ago. Why do you always have to be so formal?" Jaydyn asked.
"I was born with true intellect and poise. Don't blame me."
Jaydyn was going to say something but it was cut off by a loud ear piercing scream.
"Where are my pixies?!" a pink-haired fairy came flying and stayed next to the queen.
"Delilah, stay calm…" a blonde fairy went next to the pink-haired one.
"They're still preparing for the opening act. Don't worry too much," another one came by, this time with purple hair.
"Flora, Trixie, I can't stay calm! I want this light show to be spot on," Delilah said.
"Delilah, what seems to be the problem?" Queen Louisita asked.
"Pixies. Flirts. Bet they're drunk on nectar. Show's about to start. Why me?" Delilah said extremely exhausted.
"America, Jaydyn, Marcus, Portia, this is Delilah. She's the director of the light show. Beside her are Flora and Trixie, respectively."
"Nice to meet you," Trixie, the blonde, said.
"We're so sorry about Delilah," Flora, the purple-head, said.
"Yeah, sorry. I just couldn't control myself," Delilah bashfully pouted.
I smiled and laughed. These three fairies are exactly just like my… I could feel a lump in my throat at thought.
They act exactly like my maids.
"Why don't you girls get another group to open while waiting for the pixies?" the queen suggested.
"The Mariposas?" Trixie asked.
"No," Delilah quickly contradicted. "They're for the closing act. Save the best for the last."
"How about the Monarchs?" Flora suggested.
"Perfect! Thanks Flora! Bye Your Highness! I promise everything will be in perfection!" And as quick as lightning, the three flew away.
"Well," I said. "They're quite extraordinary."
"They are," Queen Louisita smiled. "Why don't you four sit down first?"
We sat down on two large logs, near enough to see the performance. Portia said the show starts exactly on seven. While we were waiting, we saw the sun slowly descending the sky.
"Is it too late to join the party?" a familiar voice said.
I looked behind me and saw General Ivy along with Toni, two of the BETA boys along with three DELTA girls.
"General Ivy," I said.
"Mind if we sit beside you guys?" Toni asked.
"Not at all," Portia said.
"You guys are here to watch, too?" Marcus asked.
"Yeah," James Tesla answered. "It's actually my second time."
James was holding hands with a DELTA. She had chocolate brown eyes and shiny blonde hair. She nudged him in the ribs. He looked down and smiled. She went closer to James and rested her head on his chest. I felt my heart break again into a million pieces. It reminded me of Maxon and me during the rebel attack after my report about deleting the caste system.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Delilah's voice boomed throughout the field without microphones. She was holding a green bud instead. "As director, I am proud to present to you, The Everlest Light Fairies!"