Trapped | The Trapped Trilogy Book 1

Four (Part 2)

Four (Part 2)

"What is your name, young lady?"

"Shouldn't you know?" I say, and step past him.

Maybe I should have just told him...

Good job, Eenie.

I choose a table in the second row next to a girl in yellow and a girl with a long black braid over her shoulder. A few tables to my left Lease stands proudly in her light blue dress.

Someone would kill for that kind of confidence.

I notice that the tablecloths are laden with panels similar to the ones on the Dome walls, but they're smaller than a pinkie nail, and, thankfully, they don't have any needle-like points on them that could possibly inject you with mystery stuff.

I scratch my right hand absentmindedly and look back up to the center of the room. There, in the middle of the empty, circular wooden dance floor, is the spot where the boys will stand in a around the cylindrical hologram, waiting to see the face of their future bride.

The hologram switches on, and it begins to flicker.

"Finyan Aand," A soft, female voice comes from the hologram. "Please place your index finger on the tablecloth."

A girl in purple in the back row of tables does as she's told, and the cloth springs to life, rising and falling like ripples in water as it reads her fingerprint.

Her face appears on the screen with a bright smile and a background full of yellow flowers and green leaves.

The voice moves from girl to girl in alphabetical order, tablecloths coming to life one by one.

"Eenralla Land," The voice finally coos. "Please place your index finger on your table cloth."

I do, my finger suddenly feeling hot and itchy like when I wore the purple gloves, and a picture of me pops up with food on my face and my two front teeth missing.

That's a picture my mom had taken quite a while back.

Snickers circle the room and my face feels hot.

Has no one taken any pictures since then of me? I'm sure someone has...

I guess not.

"Um, that's an old picture of me," I say loudly, hoping someone can hear me.

I remember that day. My mom said that was the messiest I had ever been, and she just had to take a picture of me before she cleaned me up.

"You don't have any recent pictures of you," The fat man mutters, walking up to me. "Smile."

A bright light flashes, but it's too late to try to smile. A picture of me with a vacant look and red cheeks flashes onto the screen. The girls begin to laugh, and I duck my head.

"Could I take another one?" I croak.

"No," The man walks off, eyeing my dress. "It is done."

He flickers five times.

A tail.

Maybe I'm not crazy.

o0o0o

Every name is finally called.

"Now you may sit down," The voice says.

Each of us do, and the tablecloths begin to ripple again. I stare in awe. I have never seen panels that could do that so quickly.