Child Control

Practice Time

A/N: I'm back y'all. I hope you enjoy!

I awoke to Fia shaking me gently.

"Wake up." She said.

"Why?" I rubbed my eyes. "I'm still tired." Fia rolled her eyes and I snuggled deeper into my covers.

"Aren't we all? Get up, you need to get ready for The Room." I closed my eyes and yawned, ready to ignore her and go back to sleep when the words hit me. I sat up in bed and stared at her.

"What!? When??" I asked.

"Not for a little while but you still need to get up." She said and dragged my covers off. I shivered and instinctively curled into a ball. "Get up." She said again, leaving no room for argument. "Follow me to the cafe for dinner. You're having a night test." I got up, dragged clothes on, and followed her out of the room.

"What is the difference between a night test and a test at any other time of the day?"

"Morning tests are usually too early so everyone is either sleeping or working. During afternoon tests the people who were sleeping are working and those who were working are sleeping. Night tests are just before people have to go to work or sleep so there is an audience."

"Why did you have to schedule mine at night then! I don't want an audience!" She shrugged and chuckled.

"You drew the short straw." I fussed and begged her to change the time of the test all the way to the cafe. We sat with our food and Fia listened to me beg while she calmly ate. Once I ran out of steam she spoke again.

"You know, I never said your test was tonight." I stared at her openmouthed and she kept eating.

"You mean it's not?"

"No. You're not fully well yet."

"You bitch!" I said and hit the table with the flat of my hand. "Why are you tricking me?" She stopped chewing, swallowed her food, and paused before bursting out laughing.

"You should have seen your face!" She laughed.

"Who are you? Why are you being so mean to me? I'm injured you know!" I said.

"Alright alright." She said when she caught her breath. "It was actually Yov's idea so you can yell at her. I don't think she meant for me to do it but I did." Yeah, that sounds like Yov. I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind later.

"Ok so what are we doing after this," I asked.

"We're going to keep training. Your actual test is in about two weeks. Annita wanted to give you enough time to recover before stressing you out with a public exam on your manipulation abilities."

"Thank God," I sighed. "At least someone around here is looking out for my stress levels." She only chuckled and finished her food.

Once we were both done eating she got up and led me to the room we usually practiced the art of lying in. "Where is The Room anyway?" I asked.

"It's deeper underground if you can believe it. And it's more of a dome with chairs and a stage than it is a room. The stage part is in the middle and is surrounded by one-way mirrors so the audience can see in but the participant can't see out. The room is also soundproof so the participants can't hear anything going on outside either. To you it will feel like a room, to everyone else, it's a performance."

"I don't know if I like the sound of that."

"Well prepare yourself anyway because that's what you'll be facing."

"What kind of questions do they ask again?"

"They will give you a word, phrase, or scenario and after 5 minutes they will ask you questions about your life in relation to what they provided before. The majority of what you say must be a lie but the judges need to believe you are telling the truth. The Room is also full of distractions like noises, people, things, and not all of it is real. You have to wear goggles that distort your reality."