The Search

Chapter One

I guess the atrium wasn't as small as I would have thought. I tried to ask questions on the way here but the exporters wouldn't budge. All they said was that the promisers would explain everything at the atrium.

"Come along," one of the exporters said. He was in front of me, while the others shuffled behind, and wore a black suit and a bright blue tie. He must be the leader, I thought in my head. The rest of the exporters wore bland red ties. They all looked like they were business men. I looked behind me again and saw that they were all men. Why is that?

We continued through the main corridor and took a left, towards two main rooms, with grand double doors for both rooms. The 'testing room,' they had called it.

As we approached, the leader pulled out a neon blue card, and swiped it on the door knob. The door clicked, and swiftly opened.

If I weren't in such shock, I would have described the room as beautiful. The room was organized like a formal dining room would look like, with delicately carved furniture, and table cloth lined with golden designs. The lighting was dim, and a chandelier hung from the ceiling, several feet above. In the middle of the room stood a huge mahogany table, the kind you would see a royal family eat at.

Sitting at the end of the table was a group of men and women, dressed in suits and dresses. They all sat up straight, looking directly at me.

"Welcome, Noah," The woman in the middle said. She had short and neatly trimmed blond hair, and startling bright green eyes."Take a seat over there." How did she know my name? Was she the same woman who brought me to this place? She had a slight accent that Noah couldn't make out, but it didn't seem familiar. It's not her.

I sat down at the other end of the table, directly across from the woman. There was another chair, empty, beside him.

For the second searcher, I thought.

As if someone had read my mind, the door next to where I had entered clicked open.

I looked across at the group of people. They all looked amused.

"Ahh," the woman looked at the two of us in turn. "No time for introductions

Looking back at the door, I saw a girl, in a similar state that I had been in when I entered: Shocked. The girl had straight, dark hair, and dark eyes. That wasn't the strange part though. Her skin was pale, so pale it looked unnatural.

I looked away as she came and took a seat beside me. Then the woman began to speak.

"My name is Nancy Granter. I am a promiser, just like the rest of these wonderful ladies and gentlemen." She looked around the room, as if giving a speech to loads of people, and not just two teenagers.

The girl besides cleared her throat, looking uncomfortable. She turned to me, and her eyes seemed to speak her mind.

"We are in charge of running the search, and you two," Nancy Granter pointed at the two of us with arching eyebrows, "are in charge of completing the search."

She got out of her seat and waved at us to follow. She led us into the back of the atrium, toward another set of doors. One of them wrote: experiment room. The other said: control room.

"This is the first part of the search. We need to find out a little more about you than your names. The doors will be opening soon, so I suggest you get ready." She gestured towards the experiment room. "Oh, and any questions?"

I put up a finger.

"Yeah, actually," I began. "You've explained so little about this place, and you haven't exactly told us the biggest bit of info."

"Mmhmm. And whats that?"

The girl cut in before I could answer.

"What exactly are we searching for?"

Nancy looked quite amused.

"We are just getting started, Violet."

Violet. I looked back over at her and couldn't get over how well the name suited her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Violet's voice was so sincere, I couldn't tell whether she was being sarcastic or not."

"Looks like you are going to have to find out."

At that moment, the doors to the experiment room slid open, revealing a small room, like an elevator. The elevator was lit up using bright blue lights, making it look super high tech. Nancy took a step back and looked Violet and I in the eyes, as if to determine if we were the ones.

Violet and I looked at each other warily, and took a step inside. The doors were already closing.

Nancy gave us one last meaningful glance, and whispered,"Don't give up."

The doors had closed. The lights were off.

I felt Violet grip my fingers, and I did what my instinct had been telling me to do the entire time, but couldn't because it was paralyzed.

I screamed.