A/N: Guess who's back? Back again! Lol, that was so cheesy, but hello! I am back from hiatus and still might be a little slow on uploading, but at least I'm giving you all something at all. Testing was so stressful, I am so glad to be out of it. There won't be any FS for a bit, I wanna catch us up on how much I've written, first. So, today I am going to post Chapter 3, and tomorrow I will post Chapter 4 (my person favorite, I'm excited to post it.). As for The Palace, that will be up some time next week since my friend has had no ambition to write her part. I'm pretty far into Astrid's, but y'all have to think about Natasha as well. :) Love you all!

All I could feel when I woke up was my damp pillow and my swollen eyes burned more than usual. I sat up to find my Mom and Dad sitting in the corner of my room, having an inaudible conversation that was obviously serious. Dad knit his eyebrows and shook his head. He began to say something more, but Mom noticed me sitting up in bed, staring at them. She smiled at me and stood up.

"Good morning, dove." She said quietly and sat on the bed next to me. I simply nodded at her as she began to gently stroke my hair. I sighed and stared blankly at a wall. I felt like crying again. Mom looked into my eyes, concern rising.

"Honey, some people from the palace are downstairs to ask you a few questions." Dad explained, obviously not too excited about it. He huffed, then said, "They say they need you down as soon as you get out of bed. They seem a little urgent, and it's very obvious to me that they mean business." Mom sighed.

"I didn't know The Selection meant putting our lives out there for everyone to observe." She muttered, bringing a hand to her forehead. I nodded.

"It'll be alright, Mom, Dad." I smiled at them both then got up and went downstairs to answer those questions that I needed to answer.

.~.~.~.

The man that came up to me first introduced himself as Damsel, and he sat down with me in the kitchen, asking me questions like "Why did you enter the Selection?" and "What are you hoping to get out of this once in a lifetime experience?" I was very careful with how I answered, and he seemed rather pleased with the results.

"Now," Damsel began, placing a hand atop mine. "This is going to sound rather strange to you." I nodded, bracing myself for whatever he was about to throw at me. "Are you still a virgin?" He asked. I felt stripped of my privacy, but I nodded anyway.

"I've never even had a boyfriend." I admitted. He nodded.

"Sorry that I had to ask you that," He mumbled, "It's just..it's the law, and if you had broken that we'd have to make you an Eight, or throw you in jail." I ducked my head. I knew a girl who was thrown in jail for that. She was my best friend. Isabel Weatherly. She was the sweetest thing ever, and she was put in jail for 7 years for simply showing someone that she loved them. It made me sick to my stomach.

Damsel asked me other questions like if I'd ever stolen or if I'd ever lied to the government, and with each question came a paper to sign saying that I wasn't lying. It was all pretty dumb, making me sign a paper that I was sure that I wasn't lying about, but at the same time the King needed to know whether we'd been asked the questions we were supposed to have been asked.

Mom and Lee were in the living room, playing with each other while Tya was too busy doing her hair to look good in front of the guards. She was 13, and looked almost exactly like our mother, except with Dad's eyes. She was beautiful to say the least, and her heart was every bit as beautiful. When Damsel finally got done asking me meaningless questions, I got up and ran over to sit with her.

"You look beautiful, T." I told her, giving her a warm smile. I really loved my sister, she was so caring; just like our father.

"Thanks, Ley." Tya murmured, then looked up at me. "Promise me you'll at least try to win?" Her eyes were pleading. I knew she wanted out of this moneyless hole as much as everybody else did.

"I promise." I said with a small nod. She grinned at me and wrapped her thin little arms around me.

"Thanks." I could tell she was trying not to cry. I gently rubbed her back, putting my lips to her ear.

"I'll try to send you some cool stuff from the palace." I promised with a small grin, "You deserve it." Tya's eyes widened.

"Really?! You'd do that?!" She seemed excited, as she had only ever had the worn hand-me-downs from me. I nodded.

"I would. You deserve the best." With that I got up and walked upstairs for some peace and quiet.

.~.~.~.

I woke up from my little nap to the sound of Mom and Dad bickering.

"Well what the hell else can we do?!" Mom yelled. "We're running out of money, dear. We don't have much of a choice but to send them into the workforce."

"They're only children! That would be like taking away their whole damn childhood! I don't want them to grow up like we did!" Dad shot back. Mom huffed loudly.

"Well, I guess we can't give them happiness and rainbows can we? All Tya does anyway is make fun of Lee, and Ley works all day and night to keep us alive. Now, she's going off to the palace for The Selection, and who the hell knows if the Southern Rebels are blood thirsty right now. Maybe you should've just married that girl Regina instead!" I had never heard my mother speak to Dad that way before.

"Maybe I should've. Maybe I should've." Dad grunted and left their room, slamming the door behind him. I sat up in bed and pulled my knees to my chest. Why were they fighting all of a sudden? They never fight, they always seem so happy together. I felt tears welling up in my eyes, for I knew that the reason they were fighting was because I was Selected.

.~.~.~.

I poked my head out of my room at around 1 AM to make sure nobody was awake. Once I was sure of it, I ran downstairs and went into the living room, sitting down on the floor with a big plop. I pulled out a box that was hidden under the TV. I knew exactly what this was. It was old videos that my parents had taken just to remember when my siblings and I were younger. I picked up a tape that was dated December 25th and put it into the VCR.

When the image popped up on the screen I immediately remembered the day like it was yesterday. My three older brothers—Adney, Luca, and Naton—were sitting on the rug in front of our makeshift Christmas tree. Adney was 6, Luca was 5, Naton was 4, and I was 3. The figure of a pregnant woman came into the room. Her voice was soft and warm, and it was obvious that she was very loving. Right then, I realized it was mom. She was eight months pregnant with Tya, and she was holding her belly, standing in a corner, laughing at something Dad had said.

I remember always wanting to find a love as strong as theirs. The video turned off, and I pulled out an old photo album instead. When I opened it, I saw a picture of Mom and Dad on their wedding day. Mom looked absolutely regal. Her light curly hair was up in a bun that had little strands framing her face, and there was a flower in her hair. Her dress was simple, and she looked so happy standing there next to Dad. I turned the page. I saw Mom again, but this time, she was holding a baby. Under the picture was a note that said "Adney Clark. 4:15 AM, Christmas Day."

As I went through the pictures, I started to cry. I wished my family was still this happy. I stopped on a picture. It was of me when I was 6, holding 3 year old Tya. Mom was in the background grimacing as she held her pregnant belly. That was when I realized that Mom had health issues even before Lee was born. I wanted to tell Dad that, because he still blames himself for letting death whisper something in Mom's ear. I closed the book and ran back upstairs, as I just could not think about it anymore.