The Harvest

Chapter 3: Alien Encounter

           After the startling announcement fourteen girls remained including me and the girl I met, who, I found out later, her name was Emily.
       As soon as he'd finished the announcements we were all led to our rooms. When I walked in I was shocked at how strange the room looked. The bed was floating and oval shaped, and had a decorative overhang. Everything in the room was extremely modern except for a antique, wooden armoire, which surprisingly didn't offset the decor. It had a terrace, and its own bathroom which was a luxury on earth.
        "Can I get you anything?" I jumped at the voice. I turned to see a servant in a black uniform, she had blonde hair and looked quite young.
     "Oh. No thank you." She nodded and walked out of the room. I walked over to the bed to sit down. The bed was so soft I lay down without worrying about pajamas and fell into a deep dreamless sleep. I awoke to someone shaking me. I opened my eyes to see it was the young maid from earlier. I had no idea what time it was because there was no light in space. 
    I looked over at the clock and saw it said 8 A.M.

"Miss, you need to wake up and get ready for breakfast." I sat up in bed but the movement sent a jolt of pain through my spine. I ignored the pain and stood.
    "Are you feeling well?"
    "I'm fine. Lets hurry and get ready."

     She did my hair and makeup and then chose a tight silver dress with beads covering the sleeves. After I was dressed and my hair piled on top of my head in mountains she directed me to the dining hall. When I entered there were already many girls sitting at a long table. The king, queen and prince were at a higher table in front of all of us. I searched the table for a name tag and sat where my name was placed. I almost jumped back up when I realized the chair was floating but, when I didn't go tumbling backwards I decided otherwise.

     "Good morning girls"

Everyone looked up not sure what to say to the Kings remark.

    "I would like to make you aware that big tests will be held every two weeks. Between that time you will train, and have meetings with the prince. We will also soon be arriving on mars where most tests will take place. I would also like to make you aware that any step out of line and the result will be immediate termination."

The room was so deathly silent you could hear a fork drop. Finally girls gained the courage to touch their food. As plates emptied maids guided girls out of the room one by one. I finished quickly and was guided to a large room where all the girls were nervously chattering.

A women stood on a chair and screeched for our attention, nearly bursting my ear drums. We all looked at her wondering what was so important.

      "Ladies, five minutes each. His royal highness prince Calumn!" She moved and a very unimpressive, chair stared back at us. I couldn't say the same about its occupier. Every other time I'd seen him I was too far away to get a good look. He had shiny golden brown hair trimmed short. His skin wasn't tan but it wasn't pale either, but the most extraordinary thing was his eyes were the deepest mix of blue and gold. It just wasn't, natural.

       He surveyed the room looking over all the girls quickly. I could of sworn his eyes lingered when they reached me. All twenty girls shoved and clawed to a spot in line. I ended up somewhere close to the back. An hour of fidgeting later the room was near empty and I was at the front of the line. I stepped onto the small platform and sat in the plain maroon chair next to this boy.
      "Ariana isn't it?" I looked up to meet his eyes but I soon regretted my mistake I couldn't break the stare, luckily he did for me. I stared at my hands as he tried another attempt at conversation.
     "Quite the shy one huh?"
      "Maybe. Or maybe I'm silent because the words that will come out of my mouth are not pleasant ones."
     I glanced up to see him smirking careful not to make eye contact. His expression was far different from the boy I had seen at the party. His eyes were different now.
        "So how do you like it here?"    "Well its surprisingly less strict in some places." I said fully.
        Before I could move away he grabbed my face and pointed my head to his eyes. I was taken aback by the gesture but didn't dare move. My heart was hammering in my chest and I'm sure he could hear it too.

       "Hmm, interesting."
        "It's time for the next lady." A servant said.
        "I think I'm done for the day." He stood and walked out a side door as if nothing had happened. I couldn't figure out what I had done wrong. I lied back in the chair still in shock of everything that had just happened, but my biggest thought is what in the world was he thinking.

    After the short meeting we were all directed towards a classroom. I sat next to Emily at the back of the classroom. An old woman was drawing on a touchscreen and babbling on about the history of the ancient contract, but my mind was still in the clouds.
      It wasn't until Emily tapped me on the shoulder that I was jerked back into reality.
        I looked at her for the first time acknowledging the strange way her hair was done, and the way the seats dug into my back.
     "Hey. Wanna cut class?" My eyes went wide.
     "Won't we get in trouble."
      "Nah, probably not. Unless we're caught." She smiled.
      Before I could say anything more she grabbed my wrist and pulled me out the door with her. We were in a long hallway with rows of doors hiding secrets. 
     "Come on." She whispered. We sneakily moved through the hallways. I heard a door open with a hiss and quickly ducked into an alcove while Emily hid behind a plant.
      "Yes, and I hear that the prettier they are the better chance they have." The voice belonged to an older man.
      "Well if you ask me, those filthy humans never should have been brought here in the first place."
      "I hear the next test is gonna wipe out a lot of people, if we're lucky, they'll all die before test 3"
     "Ha, yeah having a Human queen sounds disgusting." The voices faded down the hallway and I slipped out of my hiding spot. Right then I heard footsteps and ducked back into the alcove but it was too late the person saw me.
        "What are you doing?" The voice wasn't angry simply curious.
       I looked up, my eyes met with the prince and my stomach did a backflip. Oh crap I was gonna be killed.
       "That's not a great hiding spot besides, I saw you jump in there. Are you stalking me or something?" He smirked. I stepped out of my hiding spot.
       "I was just looking for the bathroom and I got a little lost."
       "Right the classic bathroom excuse. Would you like me to show you where it is?" His amused smile chilled me to the bone. Why was he being nice to me. I couldn't pull my gaze away from his eyes, they were an unnatural deep blue and green mixture. Finally I came to my senses and replied.
       "No thank you I'm good, I'll just go back to class."
       "Alright then." He continued down the hallway indifferently and I had the strongest desire to call to him and ask why but before I could he disappeared around the corner.