The Awakening: The Beginning

Chapter 3

~Violet

I'm walking down the street to see what activities they have for us today. Yesterday was a concert of a local band, it has a fast beat with drums, guitars, a small piano with the keys and a bunch of buttons. It had an electric sound. The notes of the music jumped from high to low. Then built up really high, then dropped. I've never heard it before but I liked it. It made me want to dance.

It looks like it's a carnival. We held those once a year. The air smells so good with different fried food I look forward to trying. The street is crowded so I have to navigate around the people. I notice a group of children sitting in front of a small puppet shadowbox. I'm curious to what story is being told so I get closer and kneel on the ground, sitting on my heels.

The puppeteer is speaking in russian but I understand. He has two puppets, a girl and a boy. They dance and play together. 

I feel Calypso stir but I ignore her.

The boy gives her a flower. The girl sniff the flower and starts sneezing. The sound the puppeteer makes is a funny high pitch sneezes.

Calypso has been whining trying to get my attention.

The children laugh, I stifle my own.

"Violet! He's here! Mate!" Calypso barks.

I freeze. You've got to be kidding. I look around but there's too many people to narrow down where he is. I know he's the prince but I don't know what he looks like.

I stand up and walk farther down the street. A delicious smell grabs my nose and I follow it. The vendor hands me a bag of popcorn. I eat it as I look what other activities they have.

I see the other girls in the contest, their bright sashes making them stand out.

I begin to contemplate why my family would risk the secret of our pack for the sake of me finding my mate. I know there will be questions they'll have about my pack, that I won't want to answer, of course. I'm thinking there is more to this than my family is letting on.

I casually stride over to two girls sitting on a bench. One has strait blonde hair and blue eyes. I observe her sash, she's from a pack near France. The other girl has scarlett red hair spools of hair hanging just past her shoulders. She has emerald green eyes with long black lashes. Freakles splatter gracefully across each cheek and the bridge of her nose. From her sash I can see she's from Scotland.

I sit next to blondie and cross my legs. The girls next to me looks at each other than to me. I change my body language to be more welcoming and open.

Blondie speaks first in English with a French accent. "Hello, I'm Stacey, " gesturing toward her chest,"and this is Joy." Pointing to freckles.

"Violet." I say smoothly with a smile. I reach out to shake their hands.

"Your eyes are beautiful," says joy shyly. "Does everyone in your pack have purple eyes?"

"Nope, just me." I blush and bite my lip. My hands become fascinating suddenly. I'm not used to complements.

"Oh! and I love your accent, very alluring, no?" Coos Stacey.

"I like yours too. Very nice. This is the first time I left my pack." I reply to both girls. "Are any of you nervous about picking our number today?"

"I just want to get this part over with so I can meet the prince." Pouts Stacey, uncrossing her legs and folds her arms across her chest.

I can still feel his presence around here, but I still can't place him. Calypso's whining is getting on my nerves.

"Did you get a sponsor yet?" I ask.

"Yeah, but I got mine before I even came here." Stacey replies. Joy shakes her head.

"Me either. I didn't know anything about a sponsor until the other day. Maybe after the first round I'll get one." I say winking at Joy.

Then an announcement sounds over the intercom stating we need to go to the stage in the park to draw our numbers. We stand together and talk casually as we made our way to the stage. There are rows of chairs, front row is where the girls sit with our names on them.

I sat down in my chair, Stacey and Joy sat in theirs. In fifteen minutes we are all in our seats and the chairs behind us are full as well.

There's a pulpit in the front center of the stage, a small table next to it, and a black velvet bag on the table. A large white boards behind the pulpit.

Five different rows of boxes were drawn with six boxes in each row put in to tiers. Three boxes over three boxes with a number and a letter. A dark haired man walks gracefully up to the pulpit.

"Welcome everyone! I'm Bata Keith, here to get the numbers drawn to match your opponents. Now, there will be five groups of five girls. Four fights to be the top of their group. There will be a timer set for 10 minutes, if no one submits by then it will be to the death. The maximum is top 10 to get to next round, but they're usually less. Finally match in each group can be tied at the discretion of the prince.

When I call your name come up here draw a number out of this black bag. Then I will write your name in the box that matches the number drawn. And you'll tell us a little bit about yourself. Each row is the day. Tomorrow will be day one.

If you haven't been sponsored yet there's still time. If you make it to the next round you won't have trouble. Ok. Let's get started."