The Appointed: A Selection Fanfiction

Chapter Eighteen

The palace was in complete mayhem. Guards and maids were running everywhere, ushering girls and people into this little doorway. I saw the Prince carrying Reagan towards a group of guards and decided to follow. If he was going there, it had to be safe.

A guard began to guide me towards a stairwell that led down somewhere. "Go down the stairs and to the left. There you will find a small room with the rest of the Selected." He pointed.

I carefully stepped down the first concrete step, hoping not to slip. I made my way down to a little corridor with two doors. I took the one to the left, per the guard's instructions. I couldn't help but wonder what was in the door to the right.

I was greeted by the girls running up and hugging me. "We were so worried! We couldn't find you anywhere!" Quinn wrapped her cold arms around me. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"I'm alright." I nodded, hugging her back. "Although Reagan hurt her leg."

"What?" Quinn pulled back, feigning confusion.

"She fell from the ladder on her way down the float. It didn't look good." I shook my head.

"Oh, no."

"I hope she's okay."

The door suddenly opened as Ben and Nicholas carried in Reagan, whose leg seemed to be swollen. They set her down as carefully as possible on a small wooden table in the back corner. She groaned in pain as the doctor looked at her leg.

"Attention everyone!" Ben yelled out to all the Selected. "As you know, you have all been asked to stay down here. For what reason? Well, it seems as though our parade was cut short because of a storm. Yes, a storm was brewing and decided to unleash itself right here in Angeles.

"We are going to be staying down for the night at least, maybe longer. We have food, water, and bedding. Please do not be alarmed because we are perfectly safe this far down in the palace. Please, make yourself comfortable." He nodded his head and sat down next to the king and queen, who seemed to be deep in conversation.

So it was all a storm. We never had much bad weather up in Likely, though if you went a little farther north, it rained all the time. I was sure Angeles had never experienced anything of this magnitude.

"What about my maids?" Quinn wondered aloud.

I gasped. I hadn't even thought about my maids. "I hope they're alright. They're so good to me."

Quinn nodded and went back to staring at the drab, stone wall. The room was honestly quite disgusting. I would have thought the palace would have had a better safe room, but no. It was all grey and dark and seemed to attract spiders along with other creepy-crawlies. They had four beds,-one for each member of the Royal Family- one table that was currently occupied by Reagan, and a couple shelves filled with some cans and jars of food.

"Hey, Quinn?" She turned to look at me, her eyebrows raised. "I'm going to sleep. Could you wake me up if anything happens?"

"Sure, thing."

"Thanks." I slowly closed my eyes and drifted into a deep sleep.

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"Hey," Quinn shook my arm softly. "Wake up. The prince wants to speak with you."

I opened my eyes and walked over to where the prince was sitting.

"Oh! Grey, I'm glad you came. Did Quinn send you over?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, she said you needed to speak with me."

Ben shook his head. "Well, I wanted to speak with you. I didn't need to."

"Here I am."

"Is everything all right?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Everything's just dandy."

"I am very glad you're okay. You gave us all quite a scare yesterday."

I scrunched my eyebrows together. "Yesterday?"

Ben nodded. "We've been down here for a day. The storm is still passing through, so we may be down here for a few days."

"Oh... I'm going to go back to my seat. See you later, I guess." I waved.

"See you later, I guess." He waved back, mimicking me.

I gave him a small smirk before taking my seat next to Quinn, who looked incredibly tired.

"I'm so exhausted." She groaned.

"Just sleep, like I did. I'll watch for you."

"You would do that?" She smiled hopefully. "Thank you."

I smiled back at her before turning my head to look at the other girls. Most were fairing pretty well, Paige especially, who seemed to have developed a plan. She was asleep with her head on poor Melani's back.

Some girls were crying everywhere, weeping about their families, hoping they were okay. From what I knew, the storm only hit Angeles, not any other province. Maybe they were just homesick.

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I woke in the night to a shuffling beside me.

"Hello, Grey."

"Ben, what exactly are you doing?"

He shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I think I'm just trying to get away from my parents and brother. They can be so annoying sometimes." He seemed so young when he spoke, almost as though he was a kid again.

"I can see that. Only talking about business policies and other boring stuff. It would be tiring."

"Exactly!" He exclaimed as quietly as possible. "At least someone understands."

I smiled and went back to staring at the wall. It didn't have to worry about anything. It was just a wall.

"Wow. That is just so fascinating. I wonder how it stays so still." Ben joked beside me.

I looked over and playfully slapped him on the shoulder. "Stop. I don't want to think right now."

"I may have the solution to your problem." And before I knew it, he kissed me.

"I better go. Thank you for talking to me." Ben slowly got up and walked away, leaving me absolutely giddy.

He kissed me. In the middle of the night.

I only had one problem. How would I face him tomorrow?

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So... How was the chapter?  I'm not so sure I like it, but, oh well.

Remember, I will be having a short Q&A on chapter 20, so leave your questions.

You finally got to know the what happened! By the way, it's a big storm, like thunder and lightning and maybe some hail. I'm talking big. We are only a few chapters away from the end, so be ready.