The old TV flickered, flashing on and off as I twisted the knobs back and forth.
"Come on, come on..." I muttered under my breath.
"-A very important announcement." I heard a voice say over the television. I sighed and headed back down to sit on the couch, where my younger sister (adopted, if you were wondering,) snuggled up to me as I wrapped a blanket around her shivering frame. Holden walked into the room, sweaty from the practice he had just been doing.
"Why did you-"
"Shush, Lee!" Val said, motioning with a skinny finger. "Come and sit down, the King is making an announcement!" Holden begrudgingly sat down next to me, and I waved my hand in front of my nose.
"Maybe not that close Holden, you were just training, after all." I said. His cheeks tinted with the tiniest amount of pink as he scooted to the other end of the sagging sofa, and I smiled inwardly at my big brother's embarrassment.
"Look, look! It's about to start!" Val said exitedly, pointing to the aged TV. We all instinctively leaned in as three figures came onstage. The Queen was, as always, dressed perfectly, with her pale pink dress accented by nude heels and long, curled ringlets of lucious dark brown hair.
After her came the Prince. His black hair and grey eyes, like his mother, didn't seem as captivating, just rather... bland. After them came the King, dressed in his military uniform with countless badges, his salt 'n pepper hair tousled and his blue eyes seeming to pierce right through the screen.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, standing at the polished wooden podium. "As you all know, the killing system that was set in place fifteen years ago has worked well to keep only the strongest alive. However, today marks the beginning of a new era, as the latest, limited phase of the competition begins tomorrow." Val turned to Holden.
"New phase? What new phase?" she asked him. He shrugged.
"I don't know, why don't you ask Kaylee?" He said, turning to face me. I looked first at Holden, then at Val.
"Sorry, guys. I haven't heard anything about a new phase of the competition. Hey, I bet they tell us what it is here!" I directed their attention back to the flickering screen. The Queen stepped up to the podium, nodded at her mate, and then faced the audience and continued the speech.
"This new phase is an opportunity that gives everyone a chance," she explained. "Now, we will handpick 2,000 people, and rank them among this smaller group by their abilities, not their wins. Whoever is in the top ten will move, along with their families, to this beautiful city, where they will never have to want again." She smiled, but this time her canines slide out just a tad, giving her a look like she is daring us to take up this challenge.
The Prince steps up, but I'm too focused on what the Queen said to focus on his section of the speech. Holden, Val, and I stare at each other for a long time, each of us trying to find a way to put what we are thinking into words.
In the Capital, we could find out what's hurting Val. They could cure her there. She would get to be a normal fourteen-year-old, hanging out with friends, going to a good school to get a good education, later on getting a good job. We always thought that we wouldn't be able to give her that opportunity, but I guess we were wrong. Now, we finally could, but we were only going to get this one chance.
We had to take it.
"I'll do it," Holden and I said at the same time.