Sihir

Dani

Her answer was blurry, something like a chuckled "yes."

I turn away, hoping she would not say another word. And just in time the portal door dissolves, leaving us walking into a large glass dome. I walked into the large line, wondering what was going to happen. I ran through a million scenarios.

"Hey!" I hear a familiar voice yell.

I turn around instinctively and see the platinum haired girl charming her way to the front of the line. I turned back around, hoping she wasn't calling me. Then I feel a tap on my shoulder, better luck next time. She's right next to me.

"I never caught your name," she says.

I looked at her, hesitating. I never give anyone my name, I can not afford it. Yet for some reason, something inside of me told me not to care.

"Dani, my name's Dani. and you?" I finally answer with my head held low.

"Lora," she replied, "The name's Lora."

We spent the long wait together, in awkward silence. I couldn't help but feel comfortable with her, but I could hardly suppress the rising feeling of worry. What if I get invested. What if I gain a friend. She doesn't even feel like a friend. What does that mean? Why am I thinking so far ahead. I shake my head, as if to shake the unsettling thoughts from my head.

We walk down a long hallway, which is torchlit. The torches and dark walls give off an eerie vibe, and it sends shudders down my spine. Next to me, Lora is curiously studying the walls around, as if she was looking at a new phone model. Stop noticing her, I tell myself. Gosh, what if I actually get invested? I let out a deep sigh, and continued marching forward. Lora notices my change in attitude and gives a soft chuckle.

"I am not looking for friends, you know," I tell Lora.

"So what?" she says.

"So nothing." Internally I'm smacking myself. Why did I say that? What was it to Lora, that I'm an introverted broken joke of a person?

Soon the hall lets out into a large arena. We are immediately sent to a row of seats, and unfortunately, I am told to sit in the seat next to Lora. Calm down, she's nothing special.

In the front they are testing teen after teen, going through each selection like clockwork. This isn't how it's supposed to be, I think. From what I have read, it's an important and grand process. Of course, there were much less students when the book was written. But still. It's not what I expected.

Soon I am told to descend down the stairs to the center. Immediately I feel my anxiety take over me. I've had it since I was a young child, and I shuddered at the thought of doing anything in front of anyone.

I look around. There are thousands of expectant faces, though there are thousands of bored faces as well. Somehow the yawns that I saw in the crowd gave me peace, no one is expecting that much from me. It'll be fine, I tell myself.

Slowly, I step in the center. For what seems like minutes nothing happens. I feel myself shrink back in fear. What if I was one of those who didn't have an elementum? No elementum meant I would be an outcast. Nothing I'm not used to, I mean I have been telling myself that this was something to dread for the past 16 years. But I would be thrown from society without a second glance, I wouldn't even be sent to another dimension. I would just be tossed into the garbage like a worn out paper doll. I didn't want that to happen. Not again.

Suddenly, I smell the comfort of the earth and notice that an assortment of dirt, rocks and plants are intertwining themselves in a beautiful braid around me. And all of a sudden I'm aware of the thousands of faces staring at me, mouths gaping and eyes wide. I start feeling an intense pain behind my eyes and find myself sinking into a darkness, an unwelcome, scary darkness. Then everything blacks out.

-

I wake up to an echoing masculine voice, my gut tells me to keep my eyes closed and to stop moving.

"I'm with her right now, ma'am, I think that we should start phase one, we need to make sure that she's-"

I wince as the stabbing in my head starts again, internally I scold myself, I should've kept still, I would've known what he was talking about. I pretend to wake up confused and startled. It isn't that hard, considering that I'm in an unfamiliar room with an unfamiliar man. Seeing me move, he quickly puts his phone away and turns towards me with a friendly smile on his face. A smile I don't trust.

"Ah! You're awake! Daniela is it?" He asks, I nod in response. "Well Daniela, do you remember what happened?"

I don't respond.

"How much... Do you remember?" he asks me again.

"Earth." That is all I manage to croak out.

"Yes, yes, earth, we haven't had someone with an earth elementum in quite a while, say, we haven't had any with the four original in a while" he says, cryptically.

I don't want to respond, but my curiosity takes the best of me.

"The four original? So, there were more today?"

He looks taken aback, as if he has said something he wasn't supposed to, but it's very subtle, something that you can only catch if you spent years practically fending for yourself.

"Well, I have to leave now, but here is the list of things you need for your stay at Sihir." He chokes out and points to the papers on the side table. He smiles at me and opens a portal, then he's gone in a flash. I sit there thinking about yesterday. I think about The Selection and Earth, I think about Lora, I think about the strange phone call the mysterious man made.

I was so lost in my thought I didn't even notice the nurse that was next to my bed, shaking my arm to snap me out of whatever daydream I was in.

"Daniela! Hello? Daniela!" She shook my arm.

"Oh, hello" I managed to reply.

"I gave you a little something to put you back to sleep, you'll feel the side effects soon." she said, she seemed to be in a daze. Like she just woke up.

But just like that I could feel myself slipping into my nightmares and dreams, flashes of the waiter, Lora, the mysterious man, and then it was black.