The Selection (Where the King is Nice)

Chapter 17

I'm going to be updating a lot this weekend! :)

(America's POV)
I was still shocked by the events of the day. First, Maxon told me he loves me. I was happy and overwhelmed at the same time. I was happy because, well, obviously he said he loves me! I was overwhelmed because I was still trying to get rid of my previous feelings for Aspen. I love Maxon now, but it was so hard to admit it for some reason. And then, secondly, he decided to trust me with this huge secret that practically nobody knew about. Now, the rest of the day was going to be so boring compared to earlier because I have to work on my project with Kriss. I can't find her anywhere, so as a last resort I go to her room. When I knock, I hear,
"Come in!" I step in and Kriss smiles at me.
"Hi America."
"Hi," I respond.
"Do you want to work on the project?"
"Yes. I think we should ask Silvia what day the English are coming because I heard that the French are coming over in two days." Kriss's eyes widen and she says,
"Let's go then!" We walk around the hallways as fast as possible, but eventually we just end up running. We pass a stunned Maxon along the way. Finally, we reach the Ladies' Room. And Silvia is nowhere in sight.
"Really?" Kriss says,
"Just really? Isn't Silvia always here?" She asks.
"Yeah she's here like 24/7 for us."
"Does this mean we have to search the castle?"
"Probably," I reply. We go around the castle, looking for Silvia everywhere. The library, the pool, the dining room, even the theater. It's like she just dropped off the face of the Earth or something. We eventually find the chef who says that she last saw Silvia in her room. Seriously? That's the one place we don't know where it is.
"It's right across the hall from the king and queen's room. It's like one hall down from theirs." The chef told us. We thank her graciously and start to go where we think Silvia's room is. Of course, neither Kriss nor I know where the king and queen's room is. If only we would run into Maxon again. That's when I hear it. Rebel alarms. Kriss starts to panic. I do too, but I try to appear calm to try to make Kriss serene, too.
"I don't know where the Safe Rooms are!" She wails. That's when it hits me. Neither do I. We run through the corridors looking for some sort of safe place when somebody grabs Kriss from behind. I shriek as loud as possible but then stop when I see that Maxon has her.
"Come with me!" He tells me. I start to run along with him and Kriss but then somebody grabs me by the wrists and drags me back to the previous hallway so Maxon or Kriss can't see me. I start to scream but my attacker covers my mouth.
"Make noise and you die." Fear rips through my whole body. He gets onto a walkie- talkie like thing and says,
"We have the favorite." What?! He grabs me and throws me on my feet.
"Walk," he growls at me. I try to resist him but he's too strong. Pain sears through my veins. I hear yelling but I can't really concentrate on anything. My attacker takes out a needle and jabs into my skin. I recognize it right away. It's the stuff the hospital uses to knock someone out when they are doing a surgery or something painful. I start to see black spots in my vision and soon my limbs go numb. I fall to the ground and my attacker laughs. The last thing I hear is someone grumble,
"Weakling."

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(1 Day Later)
I wake up to someone yelling,
"Come on! Can you get up already??" I groan and open my eyes.
"Finally!" The person yells. I look around the room. It's definitely not the hospital or anywhere in the palace, for that matter. The TV is on and when the girl sees me watching it, she jabs the off button.
"Listen." She says harshly.
"MOVE!" Someone behind her yells.
"Hi, favorite," the guy spits at me like I'm poison. He then turns to the girl and says,
"Leave. Now. Don't object or you're a goner." I cringe slightly at his words. She leaves and the guy says,
"Listen. You better do EVERYTHING we tell you to do or you're dead.
"We are the Southerners. The only reason you are here is so we can put you through a lot of pain to torture the beloved Prince Maxon." He says the word beloved so sarcastically it makes me want to vomit.
"Starting with this!" He slaps me so hard and then punches me in the stomach. I can't move since I'm tied to a chair, so I instantly black out.

Next update is later today or early tomorrow!