Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
To us, these Little Sisters are like a salvation.
We’re going to make it.
And when I look at myself in the mirror, wearing this spectacular, handmade gala gown, it’s enough to convince myself it’s true.
“Are you ready?”
I turn and find tiny Haryet standing in my bedroom doorway all dressed up in her equally spectacular gown. It’s also made of glimmering champagne silk, the highest-quality linen, and hand-blown glass beads. But it’s shaped a little different, has a light blue sash that crosses her breasts, and more skirt layers than mine.
“You look stunning, Haryet.”
She smiles and curtsies to me, lifting her skirts up as she bows her head. “So do you!”
“So do we all.” I look past Haryet and find Gemna wearing her own version of our gowns.
She models for us, lifting up a hand to showcase her hair as she turns her head and cocks a hip. “Fab, right?”
We agree, laughing and smiling. But when that’s done, there’s a moment when we all go a little somber.
This is not the end. We’re close, but not there yet. There are dozens of galas just like this one in our near future.
It just feels a little bit… final, for some reason.
CHAPTER FOUR
As soon as the awe wears off, the five of us snap into action. Our first gala is in just two hours. We’re not meant to have much time to pull ourselves together for the first Choosing ball, we’re meant to have thought everything out ahead of time and the blue dresses we are all currently wearing are meant to be our gowns for the evening.
But every girl in Pledge, from the time they sign up at age twelve, secretly starts planning how she will amaze the Extraction Master on the first night because this is our first public display of spark.
There are about half a dozen girls who have a slight advantage in this area because they have exceptional spark displays. Spark display is genetic. You get what you get. But it’s what you do with it that really matters.
And this is where my friends and I will shine.
We don’t have the best breeding, we weren’t blessed with up-city levels of genetic spark, but we are smart and we came prepared to stun. Because the five of us will be displaying our spark using our dresses. Embellishments, to be exact. Aside from the actual dresses we’re currently wearing, the Little Sisters are only allowed to bring a modest-sized makeup case into the dorm. From now on everything else will be provided—including all the basics such as food, and clothes, and personal health items.
It doesn’t even cross the minds of most Little Sisters to concentrate on making their dresses the one thing that sets them apart on the stage, because we have to wear the one we put on this morning to the gala tonight and the Choosing dress must always be made by our own hands.
And while every one of us looked very pretty in our handmade dresses, most of them were basic and simple. Because that’s the tradition. This city does love its traditions, this whole Extraction thing being a prime example of that.
Also, these up-city girls are mostly unconcerned about their seamstress skills because… well, why should they be? All their lives they’ve had the coin to buy the clothes they wear. And anyway, dressmaking is only a modest percentage of the total score during the Choosings. Spark will be weighed the highest overall, of course. But even dancing is ranked higher than dressmaking.
Why worry about this dress when, in the past, it hasn’t counted much?
So it hasn’t even occurred to the up-city girls that they might make an impression by turning a simple dress into a beautiful gown with the addition of trimmings.
And no, I might not have the most powerful display of spark, but I do have spark. As do we all, or we wouldn’t be here. And I know how to use it to my full advantage. All five of us do. That is how we, the down-city girls, will make ourselves stand out tonight.
Immediately after we all choose our spaces in the dorm the Matrons appear, clapping their hands and barking orders at us. Telling us to be ready in an hour because we have one final dress rehearsal in the ballroom.
My crew and I make the most of this hour. We find our modest-sized makeup cases on the carts lining the fake canal down the center of the room and rush right back to the sewing area in our space.
Inside my case I have yards, and yards, and yards of blue tulle. You can’t stuff much fabric into a makeup case, not without ruining it, and there’s very little time for sewing. But tulle is special in this regard. It’s slightly wrinkled once I pull it out, but so is my day dress. It’s linen and we all know what linen does in this heat. So when I wrap the secret skirts around my waist and fluff them up a little, I am transformed into something sexy and wild. A feminine creature men might dream of taming.