Linked

Chapter 1

Kaileen

"ELIA!" I yelled, craning my neck to get a look at her. She came out of the scanning stall, wearing a gorgeous minidress made of a silky golden material. I hooted. "You look fabulous!" Elia struck a pose. Laughing, she sauntered over to me. 

"So, what about your dress?" I shook my head. 

"I don't know," I said. 

"Come on," Elia pulled me to my feet. She pushed me onto the body scanner and tapped the screen of the designer pad a few times. The familiar tingle of the scanner passed over my body. Elia showed me the screen. It had a beautiful design of a long dress made out of a silvery fabric, and it was clingy in all the right places until the hip, where it fanned out in a loose waterfall. 

"I love it!" I beamed. I watched as Elia tapped the 'confirm' button. A warm glow enveloped me and when it was over, the dress in the design pad was on my body. I came out of the scanner, and a black-haired boy passing by wolf-whistled at me. I blushed and hugged the hoodie I had been wearing to my torso. We went into the dressing room and peeled off our dresses, then paid the woman in the shop. 

"By the Circles, did you see the hair on that woman? It's so... purple!" Elia exclaimed as we walked out of the shop. I didn't answer her, because I was deep in thought about what would happen the next day. Tomorrow was the day of the Linking Ceremony, where all the seventeen-year-olds in the country would meet the person who would be their Link, and were expected to stay with for the rest of their life. It was possible to apply to the Great Leaders who you wanted to be Linked with, but I hadn't really bothered to go through the complicated application. I was wondering who I would be Linked with, when Elia interrupted my train of thought. "Earth to Kaileen." she snapped her fingers in front of my face. I blinked. 

"Yeah?" I turned to look at her. We were standing in front of Elia's giant mansion, the biggest one in the Circle of Thalience, thanks to Elia's parents being part of the Great Leaders. We approached the gate, and I stared off into space as I held out my left wrist with my ID code tattooed on it. The scanner on the gate beeped, and a pleasant computer-programmed voice rang out. 

"Kaileen Tessa Windsworth, Daughter of the Circle of Thalience, Pack 247." The gate opened, and I let myself through, listening to Elia being scanned. "Elia Gemini Kayder, Daughter of the Circle of Thalience, Pack 247." Soon, Elia joined me and we walked into her house. 

"Wait here a sec, okay?" Elia left me behind and went into her room. I hummed to myself as I did a three-sixty, surveying the walls of the hallway that were covered with photos of Elia's happy family. Elia and her twin sister Eria, holding hands, and their parents smiling proudly at their daughters... Suddenly, something slammed into me from behind. I whirled, and came face-to-face with the black-haired boy that I had seen in the dress shop earlier. This close, I could see his grey eyes, flecked with green. 

"Who are you?" I said, confused. The boy didn't answer, but just ran past by me to the door. Before he exited, he looked back and tossed a name in my direction. 

"Jax."