Truly Elected (Book Two of The Next Selection Series)

Chapter 6

This morning, I was startled awake by Cassia. She held a black box in her hand. 

"Get up and get dressed." she said sternly. You've got a big day today." She spun on her heels, walking to the bathroom. My eyes adjusted to the darkness, the curtains had not been pulled back yet. Yawning, I stood up, walking toward the curtains. Rubbing my eye with my knuckles, I went to grab the right curtain and pull it to the side. 

"No!" I heard Juliana yell, jumping in front of me and yanking the curtain out of my hand. I flinched, stepping back and holding my hands up in innocence. 

"Okay, okay. I won't touch it." 

Juliana smiled brightly. "Good. Now, get dressed." I looked at her, confusion evident in my features. 

"Get dressed? In what? There's nothing laid out." I scanned the room for the dress I would be wearing today. "I don't see any dress, which is why I wanted to open the blinds and..." My eyes, having adjusted to the darkness, landed on the black box. I felt myself stiffen as I just stared at it. "Who died?" I asked concernedly. 

Starlet walked through the door and giggled. "It's not who died Lady Sol," she said, her voice quite yet perky. "But who's going to live."

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Having placed on the outfit, I now knew that it consisted of a pair of tight, stretchy pants, the color I was unaware of due to the darkness, and a stretchy spaghetti strap shirt. Tall boots were zipped up my feet and Cassia had put my long hair into a ponytail. If I didn't know any better, I would have said that I was being sent off into battle. 

Juliana kept her eyes over my hands as we left my room and headed to our destination. I had no clue where we were going, so Cassia and Starlet each pulled one of my hands to guide me there. I heard the sound of boots clacking together before the sound of wide doors swinging open sounded, echoing through the halls. Soon we came to a stop, and all was silent for a few moments. 

"Welcome ladies." a stern voice boomed. Chills raced up my spine as Juliana dropped her hands. I first looked down, noticing my legs covered in black leggings; looking as if they were painted onto my legs. Slowly, my eyes trailed up until I found the source of the voice. It took all of my will power to hold in my gasp. 

Standing in front of me was the woman I had noticed on the Report before Fabian had been introduced as Gavril's successor. Her short brown hair was pulled into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. Gone was the gown, replaced by grey cargo pants and a loose black tank. Her arms were folded over her chest, her fingernails short stubs; one had severely chipped black and army green polish on it. Her hazel eyes were hard and distant, her mouth was set firm with determination. She didn't look like the graceful, majestic woman that we were being trained to be here at the Palace. No, she looked like a warrior. 

"My name is Twyla Santos." Immediately, my eyes flew to Silvia, who was standing in the corner of the room with her clipboard clutched to her chest. The other Pre-Elite must've gotten the same idea, for their gazes were all aimed at Silvia. From my spot in the room, it looked as if Silvia was blushing, but I couldn't be too sure. 

"Hey, eyes here ladies." Twyla said, snapping our focuses back to her. "My mother is not the one speaking today. I am. I'm the one in charge here, and I'm the one who's going to teach you what you need to know in order to survive."

 From the corner of my eye, I saw Darling raise her hand, her questioning nature getting the best of her, but Twyla ignored the gesture. 

"To survive in what, you may ask? Well, I'm about to tell you. Ladies, welcome to your first defense class." I heard gasps spread through the room. Looking over my shoulder to see how my maids would react to this, I was surprised to see that they had already departed. In fact, all of the maids had. It was just the twelve of us, Silvia, and Twyla.