The Choosing

Chapter 2

When we got to Polis, I was brought to a room with 15 beds. There was a child my age sitting on every one of them, except one. They all had a sign above them. The sign above empty bed said "Madi - Trikru," and I realized that I was one of the chosen. As I was trying to wrap my head around everything, someone came running up to me crying. It was my twin sister Charlotte. I hadn't seen her this morning, so she must have been taken earlier. Charlotte had never been as independent and grown-up as me, so I hugged her and tried to comfort her. She didn't understand what was happening, other than that we had been taken from our home, so I explained. Knowing what was happening stopped her crying, but she was still shaking with fear.

About an hour later, when everyone had calmed down, Echo came into the room with Luna and two other teachers I didn't recognize. She introduced them as Titus and Indra, then explained why we had been brought there. We would be trained to be Protectors. On our 15th birthday, which was the same for all of us, we would choose the clan we would make our new home clan. Most people had to stay in the clan they were born in, but Protectors got to travel between the clans.

Finally, everything made sense. I understood why my parents had been fighting. They were losing both of their children and risking never seeing them again. They must have been told ahead of time, so they sent me out of the room to keep me from finding out. They probably thought that they could somehow stop them from taking us, but they failed. Now, it was too late.