The Selection Part 14

"P-p-please, miss. I don't-I don't-I...," she tried.

"Hush. No one's turning you in," I told her. I looked to Anne and Mary. "Help me get her on the bed."

With the three of us it should have been easy, but Lucy was writhing so that her arms and legs would slip from our hands. It took quite a bit of effort to get her settled. Once we tucked her under the covers, the comfort of the bed seemed to do more than our words could. Lucy's shudders became slower, and she stared vacantly at the canopy above the bed.

Mary sat on the edge of the bed and started humming a tune, reminding me all too much of the way I would baby May when she was sick. I pulled Anne into a corner, far away from Lucy's ears.

"What happened? Did someone get through?" I asked. I would expect to be told if that were the case.

"No, no," Anne a.s.sured me. "Lucy always gets like this when the rebels come. Just talking about them will send her into a crying fit. She..."

Anne looked down to her polished black shoes, trying to decide if she should tell me something. I didn't want to pry into Lucy's life, but I did want to understand. She took a deep breath and started.

"Some of us were born here. Mary was born in the castle, and her parents are still here. I was an orphan, taken in because the palace needed staff." She straightened her dress, as if she could rub off this piece of her history that seemed to bother her. "Lucy was sold to the palace."

"Sold? How can that be? There aren't slaves here."

"Not technically, no, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Lucy's family needed money for an operation for her mother. They gave their services over to a family of Threes in exchange for the money. Her mother never got better, they never made their way out of the debt, so Lucy and her father had been living with this family for ages. From what I understand, it wasn't much better than living in a barn with the way they were kept.

"The son had taken a liking to Lucy, and I know sometimes it doesn't matter what caste you're in, but Six to Three is quite a jump. When his mother discovered his intentions for Lucy, she sold her and her father to the palace. I remember when she came. Cried for days. They must have been terribly in love."

I looked over at Lucy. At least in my case, one of us got to make the decision. She had no choice when it came to losing the man she loved.

"Lucy's dad works in the stables. He's not very fast or strong, but he's incredibly dedicated. And Lucy is a maid. I know it might seem silly to you, but it's an honor to be a maid in the palace. We are the front line. We are the ones deemed fit enough and smart enough and attractive enough to be seen by anyone who comes to call. We take our positions seriously, and with reason. If you screw up, you're put in the kitchen, where your fingers are working all day, and the clothes are baggy. Or you chop firewood or rake the grounds. It's no small thing to be a maid."

I felt stupid. In my mind, they were all Sixes. But there were rankings even within that, statuses that I didn't understand.

"Two years ago, there was an attack on the palace in the middle of the night. They got the guards' uniforms, and everyone was confused. It was such disarray, no one knew who to attack or defend, and people slipped through holes in the lines ... it was terrifying."

I shuddered just thinking about it. The dark, the confusion, the wide expanse of the palace. Compared to this morning, it sounded like the work of Southerners.

"One of the rebels got ahold of Lucy." Anne ducked her eyes for a minute. She spoke her next lines quietly. "I'm not sure they have very many women with them, if you catch my meaning."

"Oh."

"I didn't see this myself, but Lucy told me that this man was covered in grime. She said he kept licking her face."

Anne cringed away from the thought. My stomach heaved, threatening to bring up my breakfast. It was positively revolting, and I could see how someone who'd already been as scarred as Lucy would break under that kind of attack.

"He was dragging her off somewhere, and she was screaming as loud as she could. In the commotion, it was hard to hear her cries. But another guard came around the corner, a real one. He took aim and fired a bullet right through the man's head. The rebel fell to the ground, pinning Lucy. She was covered in blood."

I covered my mouth. I couldn't imagine delicate little Lucy going through all that. No wonder she reacted this way.

"She was treated for some cuts, but no one ever really saw to her mind. She's a little jittery now but tries to hide it as best she can. And it's not just for her sake, but her father's. He's so proud that his daughter is good enough to be a maid. She doesn't want to let him down. We try to keep her calm, but every time the rebels come, she thinks it's going to be worse. Someone's going to take her this time, hurt her, kill her.

"She's trying, miss, but I'm not sure how much more of this she can stand."

I nodded, looking over to Lucy in the bed. She had closed her eyes and fallen asleep, even though it was still quite early.

I spent the rest of the day reading. Anne and Mary cleaned things that weren't dirty. We all stayed quiet while Lucy recovered.

I promised myself that, if I could help it, Lucy wouldn't have to go through that again.

CHAPTER 14.

AS I PREDICTED, THE GIRLS who had asked to go home changed their minds once everything had settled down. None of us knew exactly who had wanted out, but there were some-Celeste in particular-who were determined to find out. For the time being we remained at twenty-seven girls.

The attack was so inconsequential, according to the king, that it barely warranted notice. However, since camera crews had been making their way in that morning, some of it was aired live. Apparently the king wasn't pleased about that. It made me wonder just how many attacks the palace suffered through that we never heard about. Was it far less safe here than I'd thought?

Silvia explained that if the attack had been much worse, we would have all been able to call our families and tell them we were safe. As it was, we were instructed to write letters home instead.

I wrote that I was well and that the attack probably seemed worse than it was and that the king had us all kept safely tucked away. I urged them not to worry about me and told them that I missed them and handed the letter off to a helpful maid.

The day after the attack pa.s.sed without incident. I had planned on going down to the Women's Room to talk up Maxon to the others, but after seeing Lucy so shaken, I chose to keep to my room.

I didn't know what my three maids busied themselves with while I was away, but when I was in the room, they played card games with me and let pieces of gossip slip into the conversation.

I learned that for every dozen people I saw in the palace, there were a hundred or more behind them. The cooks and laundresses I knew about, but there were also people whose sole job was to keep the windows clean. It took a solid week for the team to get them all done, by the end of which the dust would find its way past the palace walls and cling to the clean gla.s.s, and they'd have to be washed all over again. There were also jewelers hidden away, making pieces for the family and gifts for visitors, and teams of seamstresses and buyers keeping the royal family-and now us-immaculately clothed.

I learned other things, too. The guards they thought were the cutest and the horrid new design of a dress the head maid was making the staff wear for the holiday parties. How some in the palace were taking bets on which Selected girl might win and that I was in the top ten picks. A baby of one of the cooks was sick beyond hope, which made Anne tear up a bit. This girl happened to be a close friend of hers, and the couple had been waiting so long for a child.

Listening to them and joining in when I had something worth saying, I couldn't imagine anything more entertaining happening downstairs and was glad to have such company. The mood in my room was a quiet and happy one.

The day had been so nice, I stayed up there the day after as well. This time, we kept the doors open to both the hallway and the balcony, and the warm air filtered in and wrapped itself around us. It seemed to do particularly wonderful things for Lucy, and I wondered how often she actually got to step outside.

Anne made a comment about how this was all inappropriate-me sitting with them, playing games with the doors open-but let it drop almost immediately. She was quickly getting over trying to make me the lady it seemed I ought to be.

We were in the middle of a game of cards when I noticed a figure out of the corner of my eye. It was Maxon, standing at the open door, looking amused. As our eyes met, I could see that his expression was clearly asking what in the world I was doing. I stood, smiling, and walked over to him.

"Oh, sweet Lord," Anne muttered as she realized the prince was at the door. She immediately swept the cards into a sewing basket and stood, Mary and Lucy following suit.

"Ladies," Maxon said.

"Your Majesty," she said with a curtsy. "Such an honor, sir."

"For me as well," he answered with a smile.

The maids looked back and forth to one another, flattered. We were all silent for a moment, not quite sure what to do.

Mary suddenly piped up. "We were just leaving."

"Yes! That's right," Lucy added. "We were-uh-just..." She looked to Anne for help.

"Going to finish Lady America's dress for Friday," Anne concluded.

"That's right," Mary said. "Only two days left."

They slowly circled us to get out of the room, huge smiles plastered on their faces.

"Wouldn't want to keep you from your work," Maxon said, following them with his eyes, completely fascinated with their behavior.

Once in the hall, they gave awkwardly mistimed curtsies and walked away at a feverish pace. Immediately after they rounded the corner, Lucy's giggles echoed down the corridor, followed by Anne's intense hus.h.i.+ng.

"Quite a group you have," Maxon said, walking into my room, surveying the s.p.a.ce.

"They keep me on my toes," I answered with a smile.

"It's clear they have affection for you. That's hard to find." He stopped looking at my room and faced me. "This isn't what I imagined your room would look like."

I raised an arm and let it fall. "It's not really my room, is it? It belongs to you, and I just happen to be borrowing it."

He made a face. "Surely they told you that changes could be made? A new bed, different paint."

I shrugged. "A coat of paint wouldn't make this mine. Girls like me don't live in houses with marble floors," I joked.

Maxon smiled. "What does your room at home look like?"

"Um, what did you come for exactly?" I hedged.

"Oh! I had an idea."

"About?"

"Well," he started, continuing to walk around the room, "I thought that since you and I don't have the typical relations.h.i.+p that I have with the other girls, maybe we should have ... alternative means of communication." He stopped in front of my mirror and looked at the pictures of my family. "Your little sister looks just like you," he said, amused by this observation.

I walked deeper into my room. "We get that a lot. What was that about alternative communication?"

Maxon finished up with the pictures and moved toward the piano in the back. "Since you are supposed to be helping me, being my friend and all," he continued with a pointed look at me, "perhaps we shouldn't be relying on the traditional notes sent through maids and formal invitations for dates. I was thinking something a little less ceremonial."

He picked up the sheet music on top of the piano. "Did you bring these?"

"No, those were here. Anything I really want to play, I can do from memory."

His eyebrows rose. "Impressive." He moved back in my direction without finis.h.i.+ng his explanation.

"Could you please stop poking around and complete an entire thought?"

Maxon sighed. "Fine. What I was thinking was that you and I could have a sign or something, some way of communicating that we need to speak to each other that no one else would catch onto. Perhaps rubbing our noses?" Maxon ran a finger back and forth just above his lips.

"That looks like your nose is stopped up. Not attractive."

He gave me a slightly perplexed look and nodded. "Very well. Perhaps we could simply run our fingers through our hair?"

I shook my head almost immediately. "My hair is almost always pulled up with pins. It's nearly impossible to get my fingers through it. Besides, what if you happen to be wearing your crown? You'd knock it off your head."

He shook a thoughtful finger at me. "Excellent point. Hmmm." He pa.s.sed me, continuing to think, and stopped near the table by my bed. "What about tugging your ear?"

I considered. "I like it. Simple enough to hide, but not so common we could mistake it for something else. Ear tugging it is."

Maxon's attention was fixated on something, but he turned to smile at me. "I'm glad you approve. The next time you want to see me, simply tug your ear, and I'll come as soon as I'm able. Probably after dinner," he concluded with a shrug.

Before I could ask about me coming to him, Maxon strolled across the room with my jar in his hand. "What in the world is this about?"

I sighed. "That, I'm afraid, is beyond explanation."

Friday arrived, and with that came our debut on the Illea Capital Report. It was something that was required of us, but at least this week all we had to do was sit there. With the time difference, we'd go on at five, sit through the hour, and then go off to dinner.

Anne, Mary, and Lucy took extra care in dressing me. The gown was a deep blue, hovering near purple. It was fitted through my hips, and fanned out in satiny smooth waves behind me. I couldn't believe I was touching something so beautiful. b.u.t.ton after b.u.t.ton was fastened up my back, and my maids put pins bedecked with pearls in my hair. They added tiny pearl earrings and a necklace made of wire so thin and pearls so far apart they looked like they floated on my skin, and I was done.

I looked in the mirror. I still looked like me. It was the prettiest version of myself I'd seen so far, but I knew that face. Ever since my name had been drawn, I'd feared I would become something unrecognizable-covered in layers of makeup and so hung down with jewelry that I'd have to dig out of it for weeks to find myself again. So far, I was still America.

And, exactly like myself, I found that I was covered in a sheen of sweat as I walked down to the room where they recorded messages at the palace. They'd told us to be there ten minutes early. Ten minutes meant fifteen to me. It meant more like three to someone like Celeste. So the arrival of the girls was staggered.

Hordes of people were swarming around, putting the last touches on the set-which now held rows of tiered seating for the Selected. The council members who I recognized from years of watching the Report were there, reading over their scripts and adjusting their ties. The Selected crowd were checking themselves in mirrors and tugging at their extravagant dresses. It was a flurry of activity.

I turned and caught the briefest of moments in Maxon's life. His mother, the beautiful Queen Amberly, pushed some stray hairs back into place. He straightened his jacket and said something to her. She gave a rea.s.suring nod, and Maxon smiled. I would have watched a little longer, but Silvia, in all her glory, came to escort me into place.

"Just head over to the risers, Lady America," she said. "You may sit anywhere you like. So you know, most of the girls have already claimed the front row." She looked sorry for me, as if she were delivering bad news.

"Oh, thank you," I said, and went happily to take a seat in the back.

I didn't like climbing the little steps with a snug dress and such strappy shoes. (Were the shoes really necessary? No one was even going to see my feet.) But I managed. When I saw Marlee come in, she smiled and waved and came to sit right next to me. It meant a great deal to me that she chose a place beside me as opposed to a spot in the second row. She was faithful. She'd make a great queen.

Her dress was a brilliant yellow. With her blond hair and sun-kissed skin, she looked like she was radiating light into the room.

"Marlee, I love that dress. You look fantastic!"

"Oh, thank you." She blushed. "I thought it might be a bit too much."

"Not at all! Trust me, it's perfect on you."

"I've wanted to speak to you, but you've been missing. Do you think we could talk tomorrow?" she asked in a whisper.

"Of course. In the Women's Room, right? It's Sat.u.r.day," I said in a matched tone.

"Okay," she answered excitedly.

Just in front of us, Amy turned around. "I feel like my pins are falling out. Can you guys check them?"

Without a word, Marlee put her slim fingers in the curls of Amy's hair and checked for loose pins. "That feel better?"