The Sorting

19 - A Sorting Gone Wrong

Tasha didn't show up to breakfast, lunch or dinner in the next day. Lena, who had a slightly green bruise around her neck, and I were sitting downstairs at breakfast and were ready to leave for the sorting which would take place in a forest area near Mountain Springs in about two hours. Merek was worried about his cousin and made sure to check on her multiple times a day, bringing up food or just sitting with her and talking.

I could say now that I was a little jealous because it meant I couldn't spend as much time with him as I wished to, but I myself knew the importance of family. Even if that family member was kind of a bitch.

"Are you ready to head out?", Lena asked while she packed a sandwich into a small bag and slid it inside her purse. "I think we will have some trouble parking if we leave later."

I quickly shoved the rest of my own sandwich into my mouth and nodded. My male was upstairs with Tasha, so I didn't bother saying goodbye to him. I had already done that this morning and he had made sure I would miss him the day I was gone.

"Ready!", I announced and grabbed my own purse. "Let's go!"

We were on our way to the door and just as we opened it a voice made us stop. "Wait! Can you take me with you?"

I turned around and was faced with a panting Zara. Her pixie like build was clad in a pair of white military style pants, light combat boots, and a white parker. Together with the white hat under which she had pushed her hair she looked like an absolute badass. I hadn't even noticed that her A-Gene had been activated. She wasn't overly strong, but not nearly as weak as Lena. In numbers I'd give Zara around a 40.

"Of course." Lena smiled at her and got out a pair of keys from her purse. "Are you going to watch too?"

Zara shook her head and followed us to one of the black cars that had brought my family back. "I am going to participate! Everyone here smells like trash."

I couldn't stop the snort escaping my mouth. "Like trash?"

Zara nodded with a serious look on her delicate face. "Yes. I don't know what you all use to clean yourselves, but it smells like you bathed in trash."

Lena couldn't hold back her laughter either as Zara was so serious about it. "It's normal, Zara", she explained. "Every male or female you don't match with smells awful until you're bonded."

Zara seemed to consider it. "Then I need to bond."

"Okay", I laughed, and we all got inside the car. Lena was in the driver's seat and Zara in the back.

The drive to the forest area was amusing, as Zara couldn't stop talking about how excited she was, and Lena couldn't believe I had never driven a car before.

As we reached the already quite full parking lot Lena made me get out and drive around the lot once. I managed to not kill all of us by rolling around corners and Zara had a blast commenting on my snail-like pace.

After Lena had parked the car securely, we got out and split up near the entrance. Zara had to go through a registration process, while we could just walk through and up to a pair of very high bleachers.

There were already quite a lot of people there, males and females of all ages, who all looked as excited as Zara had been. We decided to take seats at the very top where we had a spectacular view over the whole forest. We could see through the treetops, as they were mostly bare due to the harsh winter, and the snow covered most of the ground. The whole area was huge and the arena at home was nothing compared to this.

"So, what is going to happen?", I asked as I pulled my jacket tighter around my shoulders.

Lena, who was wrapped in a coat twice her own size, sighed. "The females will be allowed in the area first. They will either hide, climb the trees or lay in ambush, depends on what they want to do."