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  "Shall we vote?"

  "She doesn't get any points for obedience." This from an unfamiliar who, a moment later said, "No."

  "Yes." The Kald smiled at me. "She's clever. That much is obvious from her quick comebacks. Pretty for a human. Pale skin, hair of snow, and gunmetal eyes. So, I say yes."

  I turned surprised eyes his way, morphing them into a glare and clenching my teeth as he touched my cheek. "Oh, she didn't like that," the Majele snorted.

  "I'm a yes,” one of the other silent observers piped in. "I'd like to see her broken. Who better for the task than the unruly lot at Godsvail?"

  "The lot of you are insane. My answer is no." The Byta shot me an angry glare, but I wanted to thank him for his vote.

  My eyes went to the Majele, the only remaining God who'd yet to vote. "Do you want more spineless Sylfes waiting for you in Sylfeshire? I'd like to try something a little different for once." He grinned at me, wrapping a metal wire around my wrist and hand.

  Revulsion slithered through me as his words penetrated, unease a tangible thing in the face of blatant discussion of me as a sexual conquest. My eyes went to the wire at my wrist. Only the strength of a God could unwind it without injury, and the way the pricks of the end of the wire dug into the flesh of my palm was a reminder of just how trapped I was to become. My wild eyes met his, boring in and demanding he retract his decision.

  "Mireyah Bolstad, welcome to the Collected," he said instead. "May you find the Descendants at Godsvail as tolerant of your attitude as we have been."

  I blinked as he and the Kald strolled up the steps, abandoning me like they hadn't just turned my life on its head. Like they hadn't stripped away everything that mattered to me.

  "You can't do this!" I shouted, staring fury in the face when the blue-haired poisons God spun back to face me.

  "It is already done. You will report to Godsvail in 48 hours to begin your service."

  "There's an entire room of girls out there! Begging you to choose them! They would do anything-"

  "Enough!" he shouted. "Juniper!" he called, and the human attendant pulled the doors open and stepped into the space again. She stood there wordlessly, eyes cast down to the floor, my coat still in her hand.

  "Get her out of here and inform the females still waiting that we’ve chosen the Northerner."

  "Come along," she said, taking my hand in hers. The moment her fingers touched the wire wound around my wrist; she froze in place. Staring down at it in fascination for a moment, she looked every bit as confused as I felt. Then she ushered me out, my heart thudding against my ribs like an echo.

  I couldn't go to Godsvail.

  I wouldn't.

  "The Northern girl has been chosen," she said as she stepped into the waiting room. A young girl sitting in the corner bolted to her feet, racing out of the room. Undoubtedly to alert the female Gods that Northerners were ineligible. With only six regions, the male Gods chose from three and the female Gods chose from three. What three they chose from depended entirely on who found someone worth choosing first. I felt eyes on me, staring at my wrist. I tried to tuck the wire into my sleeve, failing when it snagged the fabric. "The rest of you are dismissed until next year," Juniper said. The faces staring back at me morphed into expressions of shock - outrage - as they vaulted to their feet and protested the ridiculousness of the situation.

  And really, who could blame them?

  ✽✽✽

  My eyes were closed. I'd kept them closed since we'd gotten into the car and throughout the ride from the train station - short and bitter. I was exhausted, not just physically but mentally and emotionally. It had been a tiring and grueling day that had started bad and had ended even worse.

  "Mireyah, you okay?" Ledger's voice sounded as I felt the car grind to a halt. His voice was soft, concerned - the unwelcome sensation raining over me. He'd said the exact same words outside the big metal building in Srieburgh where I'd sat waiting for him.

  I knew that he'd seen it - the thin metal wire wrapped around my wrist that signified where my path headed.

  "I'm fine," I lied just as I'd lied to him over five hours ago on that hardwood bench where I'd been waiting. Thinking of the ways my life was about to change. "Thanks for the ride, Ledge."

  I opened my eyes and stared at the silhouette of the sturdy one-story stone bungalow that was my childhood home.

  This was the last time I would see it at night - the lights my parents kept open for me a welcoming beacon. I closed my eyes once more, to burn the image to my memories. Instead, I felt the burn of tears.

  "You gonna be okay?" Ledge asked again.

  I pushed the door to his car open just as I heard him open his. "I will. No need to walk me to the door. I really appreciate the ride."

  I turned around to see his face - helpless and lost on how to help me. "I'd say 'see you around' but we know I won’t, so I guess this is a farewell."

  “I hope we do. I have years yet to join the Collection.”

  “Don’t. I wouldn’t wish this fate on my enemy.” I swung my legs out into the cold. I jumped out quickly, slamming the door behind me as I did.

  I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my large, warm coat, not looking back as I practically ran towards our front door, slipping on the way. I unlocked it as quietly as I could. I went in, closing the door behind me and stopping there, just inside to look at the hallway with its worn linoleum floors, the peeling wallpaper and the warm scent of home.

  Tears gathered in my eyes and I rested my head against the inside of the front door, letting them finally fall. They'd waited half the day to fall but in the comfort of the place I felt most safe, I let them come.

  The emotions welled in my chest, threatening to overwhelm me, swallow me whole.

  "Humbling experience, Collection Day. Isn't it, Yah?" My eyes snapped open at the voice and through the blurry vision that my tears caused, I could see Talisha standing at the foot of the stairs.

  "What are you doing here, Tali?" I sighed out, pissed that she disturbed my private moment. I'd been scared to say goodbye, but it looked like the time to do so had finally arrived.

  "Did you think I wouldn't want to see how you fared after your first taste of the Collection?" She gave me a sad smile, a tinge of bitterness in her tone.

  In my pocket, my hand - the hand whose wrist had a constricting wire wrapped around it - tightened into a fist but I made no move to reveal it.

  "You would." I shivered as I remembered what had happened just that morning. "You knew. You didn't think to warn me."

  Her lips tightened at my words. "And would you have gone?"

  I strode forward, anger in every step I took. "More prepared, yes, I would have gone. I would not have doomed my family to shame and the anger of the Gods by not going. I'd have spat in their faces, but it would not have blindsided me."

  She slapped a hand across my cheek. "And you think showing disrespect would not doom your family?"

  "Fuck you, Tali. Just because all you wanted was to leave this place, don't think I share those aspirations!" I shouted even as I held a hand towards my stinging cheek.

  "Watch your language in this house, young lady." I swiveled and saw my father standing by the door to the living room. His hair, as pale a color as mine was mussed as though he'd run his fingers through it. He still wore the same thick flannel he wore to work but his feet were bare inside the house.

  "I'm sorry, daddy, for saying the word but I'm not sorry for the intention in it. Tali knows how I feel about the Gods, how I feel about going through the Collection. To deliberately withhold information that would prepare me just struck me as unnecessarily cruel."

  "I assumed your friend would tell you," she remarked no doubt referring to Serenity. "Tell me why she didn't."

  "That's none of your business, Talisha. But you were wrong. It wasn't a humbling experience." I whipped my hand out from my coat pocket, pulling back the sleeve as I displayed the wire wrapped around my wrist.

  Her ey
es widened. "Is that-?"

  "Yes," my lips trembled as I spoke the word. My father walked forward and touched a hand to it. I felt nothing but the rough texture of his hands on my skin as he turned my wrist over in his hand.

  "You've been chosen. My Mireyah has been chosen." His words were spoken softly just as the hand he used to hold mine was. "My Mireyah."

  "Mathios? What's going on?" My mom's voice, just behind my father's.

  "Jada, our Mireyah. She's...." his voice trailed off as he made a choking sound. My mom stepped around him, eyes tracking immediately to what he held in his hand. I knew the instant she realized what the thin wire around my wrist symbolized. It was something we all knew although no one in my village - Wintercairn - had ever seen it in person before.

  "On your first Collection? At eighteen?" She took my face in her hands and her eyes, a darker gray than mine but with the same shape, the same tone. And, like mine, blurry with unshed tears.

  "She hates it," Talisha interjected, and I could feel it already - an odd assortment of pride and bitterness in the way she stared at my wrist.

  "She does, Tali. We know our Mireyah." She wrapped an arm around my shoulders even as my father held my hand in his.

  My mother drew me towards the living room, and I sighed and laid my head on her shoulder.

  "Mom, I have to tell Varo."

  Chapter 3

  Mireyah

  As the moon rose in the sky and illuminated the snow that coated that ground, I knew I should sleep. As it would be the last time I could rest my eyes with the knowledge of my family nearby, I knew I should hug that memory to my chest. But I couldn't. I had more goodbyes to say.

  Shivering slightly, I crept out of bed and walked towards my dresser. I took the key that Serenity had given me from the top drawer before bundling myself up as warmly as I could. I was determined to get there without freezing.

  Although freezing might have been an improvement to the fate that awaited me. I stopped by the hallway window and looked out; it was like the snow, the moon, called me.

  "Mi? That's really you, right?" I spun around and saw my little brother, eyes filled with tears as he stared up at me with his bottom lip trembling.

  He had tears in his eyes. "I had a bad dream. I dreamt you left."

  "I'm still here, Varo, go to bed." I rubbed a hand across his head, cursing inwardly.

  "Mi. Mummy and daddy said you’re leaving tomorrow." His dark eyes looked up at me as a ray of moonlight speared through the hallway window.

  Damn it, what a way to tell him.

  "That's right, Thunder. We'll talk more about it tomorrow before I leave, okay? You need sleep." I hefted him up, groaning a bit as I did so. He was getting too big for me to carry.

  I dropped him back down outside his bedroom door. "Go to bed."

  "You'll still be here when I wake up, right?" He stood, at the doorway of his bedroom, a night light shining from inside.

  I nodded. "I will. Tomorrow."

  "Okay, Mi. Goo' night." He rubbed at his eyes and crawled back into bed. I stood there, staring at him for a bit before closing the door and going down the hall.

  I whispered a quick thank you that there was no fresh snow, so I could take the car out. I might have enjoyed walking, but I didn't like it enough to do in the middle of the night.

  It took me a five-minute drive to get to the shop where Serenity kept an apartment in the rooms above that she shared with Corinne. I ran as fast as I could to the side door and unlocked it with the borrowed key.

  As I closed the door behind me, the light turned on making me squeak and drop the key. "Eek!"

  A throaty laugh sounded. "Oops. Sorry, Mireyah."

  I turned and came face-to-face with Corinne. "Corinne! You startled me. How did you know I was down here?"

  "We've been restless. I know she worried about you today." She paused, and it was like she was trying to read my face. "There's something about you."

  "Is she awake? Or if not, can you wake her?"

  Corinne wasn't the least bit surprised by my request and instead took the phone that was mounted to the wall. She speed-dialed a number and spoke to the receiver. "Yes, she's here. Okay. I'll tell her."

  She walked forward and stroked a finger down my cheek. "Fatigue. Have a seat, Mireyah. I'll go make some tea. Serenity's on her way."

  I took a seat by the office desk and heard sounds coming from the tiny kitchen off the workshop. "She's in there. Be gentle."

  Serenity appeared and walked straight over to me. Rather than taking her own seat, she knelt in front of me. She rested her forehead against mine and stroked my face. "I'm sorry."

  "For what?"

  "I didn't tell you. Corinne and I argued about it, and I pointed out that Talisha would tell you, knowing full well that she wouldn't have. I didn't want it to break you. I knew full well it wouldn't. I was just being a coward." She wrapped her arms around me, and I squeezed back.

  "You're not wrong." I sighed and realized that I was crying when her hand came up to wipe a tear off my cheek. "I wanted to run. I still do."

  "Yes, of course." She ran a finger around the wire encircling my wrist and unlike my family, there was no surprise on her face. "I knew they'd like you. I was afraid if I'd warned you, it would make them want you more. I can see now that there was no point. Fate can't be changed."

  "I did a reading," Corinne spoke up from the doorway. She held a tray with cups on it. Walking over, she placed the tray on top of the table next to me and sat down. "I saw that you were going on a journey. It wasn't what I would call a bad reading, but it showed difficulties. Now I see that this is it." She gave my shoulders a gentle squeeze before handing me a cup of warm tea.

  "Stay for a bit?" Serenity asked. "Hey, it'll be our last time hanging out."

  I rubbed a hand across my eyes. "Yeah. I'll fucking miss you both."

  ✽✽✽

  The door closed behind me, an echoing thud that I felt in my soul. To say Talisha's bitterness had endured the night would have been an understatement. Varo sat on the rickety old bench off to the side, kicking his little legs and only just scuffing the ground with his shoes. I knelt in front of him, feeling the burning threat of tears in my throat. Saying goodbye to my parents had been difficult, saying goodbye to Talisha a bittersweet mixture of regret and jealousy, but saying goodbye to Varo?

  The hardest thing I’d ever had to do.

  Without a doubt.

  "You'll be a good boy, won't you, my Thunder?" My hands touched his knees, feeling the woolen pants beneath my bare hands. The cold air bit at my skin, tiny pinpricks of pain that erupted all over. But I needed to feel him in my arms, just one last time before I never saw him again.

  "Yes, Mi." He nodded, sniffling back tears of his own. His head remained bowed, cowed by the reality of losing someone he loved. He was too young to understand the reality of where I was going, too young to grasp the fact that my life in Godsvail wouldn't be all sunshine and roses. "Can't I come with you?"

  "Perhaps one day they'll choose you for Collection." I plastered a fake smile on my face, unwilling to tarnish the memory of our last moments together with my hatred of the Gods. One day, Varo would be old enough to form his own opinion.

  That was not the day.

  And I would never be the one to help form his opinion.

  His gray eyes hardened as he stared at me. "Will you still be there if I do?"

  "Maybe," I said with a sad smile.

  "If you are, then you can't ever become a God, can you?" he whispered.

  "No, Thunder. I'll be too old by then." I reached forward, cupping his tiny cheek in my hand. "But I'll get to see you again, and I'll get to watch you become one of the Gods."

  "I miss you already," he said, throwing precious arms around my neck.

  I caught him in my arms, barely staying upright and not falling on my ass in the snow. "I love you. You know that, right?"

  He pressed one of his two favorite green toy soldiers into my han
d as he bobbed his head up and down, wrapping my fingers around it. "I love you too."

  I looked down at the toy he'd given me. He pointed at it. "He's bored here. He wants to go on an adventure. Can he come?"

  "Sure, Varo." I squeezed Alvaro to me one more time, pressing a kiss to his cheek before setting him back onto his feet. "I'll take good care of him."

  He held his other soldier in his hand, waving goodbye as I stepped back and hoisted my pack higher on my back. Turning away was impossible, but eventually I had no choice.

  I'd dallied too long with my goodbyes as it was, but every step I took brought me closer and closer to the village center. And with every step, my footing faltered, tempted by the wilds in the distance and the promise of freedom.

  Only the toy soldier I gripped hard in my right hand kept me moving forward. The reminder of a life of servitude for the little boy who needed a hero, even when he was too young to understand what I would condemn him to if I ran away. My stomach churned in a pit of anxiety, the lingering heartache seeming almost small compared to the fear of the unknown.

  I was under no illusions that the Descendants would be as fascinated by me as those Gods had been at the Collection. Really, it would have been in my best interest to learn to shut my mouth and do as I was told.

  But I knew myself well enough to know that would never happen.

  A human escort waited for me at the train, really a guard in reality to ensure I made my way onto the train as expected. When I walked right up to him outside the sleek train, he took my left hand in his and inspected the wire as if it held the secrets of life.

  "Welcome, Mireyah Bolstad. Congratulations on being selected for service at Godsvail Academy." He bowed, gesturing me forward.

  I stepped onto the private train car, far more elegant than any I'd ever traveled in when I needed to gather supplies for the shop or go to the city for whatever reason. A group of four already sat in the train car, glancing at one another excitedly mostly.

  One of the males was more apprehensive than the others, his eyes darting from one side of the train to the other. The doors closed behind me as the guard followed me in. I took one of the two remaining seats, curling my legs up into the chair with me as best I could and rubbing my hands together to warm them up. The gloves sat in my pocket, unused, and I dropped the toy soldier in along with them so I could strip the pack off my back.