5: Tests

PHOENIX

I’m shivering like a leaf in winter by the time I get to the door that has the same number as the keypad I was give. My teeth are chattering badly. I unwrap my arms from around me and with shaky fingers, I unlock the door and push it open.

A dark haired girl is sitting on the bed when I stumble into the room. She screams in horror before regaining control and moving back, like she wanted to shield herself from me. I only muster a small smile and enter the room, closing the door behind me.

She is still watching me cautiously as I rest my back on the closed door, breathing heavily. Her long dark hair forms a veil around her face as she watches me from beneath her lashes. I read her nametag and nodded to myself. Jenny Green of Nightlight pack.

The name is familiar to me, they are a small pack, one of the smallest in the country. Much smaller than ours. No wonder she is reserved. I offer her a smile, hoping she would see that I am harmless.

“Hi, I’m Phoenix.” She eyes me warily but nods, bringing my shaking hands up to push the wet strands of hair away from my eyes. I don’t have any of my hair products with me and I doubt they’ll be nice enough to give me a replacement. This is going to be a long day, week, year. Life. All in all.

I’m already tired on behalf of the rest of my life.

“Jenny,” I nod toward the nametag on her uniform. Her face flushes as she sits upright. Her oddly bright eyes move to the other bed in the room and she points at the folded cloth on it. “Your uniform,” she says in a small voice.

“Thank you,” I reply, the words coming out breathless. She notices that and quickly gets off her bed, she takes slow cautious steps toward me and I raise a brow, wondering what she wants to do.

She stops in front of me and stretches her hand out for me to take, I don’t think twice before accepting her help. She places my arm over her shoulder and supports me as we walk to a chair that is beside my bed. I sit down with a sharp exhale, feeling how my sore body strains as I sit.

“How did you get hurt?” she asks, her question is curious and not probing. “The water cannon isn’t what caused it right?” She looks like she is trying to remember how that happened. I stare at her questioningly and she smacks her lips together, dancing on her toes nervously. “I came yesterday, we had to go through the same process.”

How she sounds so casual surprises me, like we didn’t just get abused pretty much. I know neither of us can tell the Wolf House anything to I settle for the next best thing. Shutting my mouth up.

“Oh,” I reply with that and breathe through my nose. My eyes feel droopy and all I want to do is get into bed and sleep this nightmare away.

“Or should I walk you to the bathroom? You might feel better after a bath,” I nod and sigh. That sounded like the perfect plan. She helps me again and I get up, groaning from straining my muscles yet again.

She snatches the uniform on my bed as we walk by it and hands it to me after she opens the bathroom door. I nod my thanks and take it from her. When I close the bathroom door behind me, I breathe in slowly and take in the large space.

It was almost as big as the room, with a fancy shower head. Almost like the type in Jake’s bathroom. I shake my head, getting rid of the thoughts of him. I walk slowly to the counter where a large mirror is glued to the wall above it and I sigh as I take in my appearance.

Curly hair still wet, with a scratch on my face from Lila’s claws. There’s a purple smudge under my eyes that I can’t even remember at what point I got it. I looked out of place in the pristine bathroom with all its over the top fancy amenities.

The luxury doesn’t make me feel any better, I feel worse if I am being honest. I notice a window at the end of the bathroom and it immediately gains my attention, I walk to it, my knees feeling weak but I wanted to check for possible escape routes. I can’t stay here.

I have to climb the toilet seat to be able to hoist myself up and reach it, but it gives me a good view of the floor below. I shudder when I see the amount of guards littering every corner, they are by every door, some standing with weapons while others look like they are the weapon.

Any dream of escape is crushed by that sight. There is no way I can sneak past them. I breathe in as I step down and start undressing. Knowing my only hope is to pray to end up with a good man, like my father. At least then, I might have a chance at being happy and living an okay life. I had to try.

My shower is quick and when I step out, Jenny is back to her position on the bed. She gets up and walks to me then points to the chair I sat in earlier. She walks to her side of the room and pulls out a small kit.

Without another word, she starts cleaning my obvious wounds. “They are starting checkups tomorrow and I don’t think this will heal before then,” she says the thing has been on my mind but I refused to entertain. “I hope it doesn’t leave a bruise so it wouldn’t affect your scores.” I hum, closing my eyes.

“Who did this to you?” she asks after a few beats of silence.

I peel my eyes open, staring straight ahead as I think of a reply to tell her. In the end, I settled for the easiest. “Some bitch.” There is a bite to my tone. Jenny doesn’t say anything after that.

*****

The next day is filled with the main event. We were woken up very early in the morning by Lady Melissa. All the girls which were about a thousand were lined and then we were paired into groups.

The first test was physical appearance and body checkups. With all my bruises, I’m scared I didn’t do well but jenny went out of her way to assure me they won’t mind, since they can obviously see it is just temporary. Her optimism rubbed off on me and I felt a lot better as the day went by.

Later in the night, we are yet again called down for the final checkup of the day, fertility.

Again, we set out in our individual groups and each of us was checked by a doctor. The main exam is to check the maiden head then cervix. I’m a little confident in that and so is Jenny. We laughed about it a little. For the first time since I arrived in the wolf house, I didn’t feel like it would be a total failure.

When we walked out and I saw the sheer look of panic in my ex-best friend’s face, I felt ten times better.

That is what she gets for being a backstabbing bitch. I hope Jake gets what’s coming to him too.

We are beyond exhausted when we get back to the dorm.

“I need to sleep for a week to recover from this,” I chuckled beside Jenny, she has been complaining of being tired since the physical fitness test.

Lady Melissa’s voice comes as soon as we reach our dorm door.

“Dear girls, you all did well today and most of you cooperated. Those that did not take their warnings seriously will be punished accordingly. For now, have some rest and we will meet tomorrow, the day of your Fated Banquet.” She pauses, like we’re supposed to clap or something.

“There is a dress on your bed and you are expected to be ready by 8:00pm sharp. Your final scores will be announced and you’ll be one step closer to your future. Good luck!”