Banish

CHAPTER 1

I glared at my brother. Sander stared me down until I looked at my hands again.

"Lauren," he said. "It's not that hard. Just write your name. That's all they ask of you."

I reached out, my right hand hovering over the new pencil. But right before I grabbed it, I switched hands and took the pencil with my left hand. I wrote my first and last name out in perfect print in only a few seconds.

Sander sighed.

"Lauren! Other hand!"

I sighed and switched the pencil to my right hand. I tried to write neat, but I couldn't even read my own name when I was finished.

My brother glared at me.

"Lauren, please!" he scolded. "I know you can do better than that! Your life depends on it!"

I sank into the armchair behind the desk and hugged my knees to my chest. I had one week-one week-to learn how to write with my right hand, or I'd have nothing left to live for.

Talk about pressure.

I swiveled around in the armchair and stood up, walking away before my older brother could yell at me more.

"Why do you even care?" I called over my shoulder when I stopped at the front door. "I'm assuming you just don't want to be known as a brother of a Banish?"

"No," Sander snapped defensively. "I just don't want you to end up like Mom and Dad. I want you to have a successful life like Lucia."

I clenched my fists. Why did he have to bring up her right now? I was nothing like my oldest sister. Lucia had been ready to learn, and she had something to fight for. If she got Banished, our family would fall apart. Me? Sander knew I was stubborn, and my first instinct was to defy everyone. And I didn't have a reason to pass the Oral, besides that I didn't want to let down Annalee.

I stormed outside and sat down against our willow tree. There was no one on the streets today, as was tradition. No one was allowed outside starting the week before the Oral and lasting through the week after. But the Luminaries never really enforced that rule at the beginning of the week. I wouldn't be Banished or anything for being outside right now.

I thought about the Oral. What would it be like? Would they only ask you to write your name, like Sander said? I felt like there was more to it. You can't determine if someone's a Banish just from their handwriting!

I picked up a sturdy willow stick and held it in my right hand like a pencil. Then I proceeded to write my name in the dirt, thinking about my future.

The Oral was a test to see if you were eligible for citizenship or if you were a Banish. Only right-handed people got accepted. But if you could become right-handed before the test and make it seem like you'd been right-handed your entire life, you had a chance at being accepted. You took the Oral the year you turned sixteen. It was always on July 2, the exact middle of the year. If you were left-handed and it was obvious, you got Banished. Those who are Banished are literally called Banishes. You didn't know if you were a Banish until a week after the Oral, when they announced the Banishes.

I was left-handed.

And I couldn't get the hang of writing with my right hand.

I was going to fail the Oral.

Just like everyone expected, after what my parents did.

My parents were both Banishes, but they'd changed their appearances and came back to the Rift. They'd learned how to write with their right hands, but one of the Luminaries had caught them after the twins were born and threw them back into the Wander. Lucia was now the leader of the family.

"Lauren!"

Shar-A-Lynn's voice snapped me back into reality.

Me writing my name had subconsciously turned into a drawing of a bird. A mockingbird.

"Yes?" I said to my sister.

"Why are you outside?"

I shrugged.

"Sander was being annoying."

Shar-A-Lynn rolled her eyes.

"Just get inside. It's time for bed."

I dropped the stick and sighed, making sure not to mess up the bird as I walked into my house.

I grabbed a granola bar for a short dinner and ran upstairs to my room.

It took hours for me to fall asleep.

Tomorrow Sander would yell at me more.

Tomorrow Jayce could run away, like he always threatened to.

Tomorrow I could see a mockingbird, the sign of the Wander.

Tomorrow was one day closer to the Oral.

One day closer to my Banishment.