4 - JASINA

CHAPTER FOUR

A s 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.

Which was my plan. The Extraction Master, Aldo Scott, is kind of old, but he's still a man. Men respond to beauty and when I pull out all the stops, I am more than beautiful. I am… tantalizing and sultry. Not exquisite in a Clara Birch way. But I see how the men look at me. Even the old ones.

And anyway, Aldo's retiring this year so his son, Finn Scott, will be right beside him tonight. He is not an old man and I don't care how attached he is to stupid Clara Birch, all men look.

He will definitely be looking at me tonight.

I labored over my skirts for more than a year, hand-stitching hundreds of handmade fabric butterflies into the tulle. Then I accented it with strings of shimmery, silver thread and tiny golden roses made of silk. Cheap silk, but who cares. The final result is something right out of a fairy tale.

And I didn't tell a soul about it. Which is why all four of my best friends are gaping at me in shock.

"Holy wow, Jasina!" Ceela's hand is over her mouth as she takes in my new look.

Britley comes over and bends down to get a better look at the details. "My goodness. Now we know why you turned down all those dates over the past year! How long did you work on this?"

" So long." I chuckle.

Harlow circles me with a critical eye, tapping her chin with her forefinger. "It's over-the-top, excessive, and pretentious." She stops in front of me, frowning. But then she bursts out laughing. "But that"—she points at the dress—"is a fabulous dress!"

Lucindy squeals, clapping her hands.

And then I compliment their dress embellishments too. We all brought extra tulle skirts. It's the only thing that could make this kind of impact and fit into a makeup case the size of a toaster. But each of our dresses are vastly different.

Harlow's skirt is gold and embellished with tiny brass fairy bells so every time she moves, she makes music.

Lucindy's skirt is blue, like mine, but it's not just tulle. She's ripped up tiny strips of dyed cotton and sewed them along the back to make a train that fluffs up in the wind she creates with her feet as she walks.

Ceela made her tulle into a huge bow that attaches at the small of her back and falls all the way down to the floor.

And Britley has not only made a skirt, but a capelet too. Her day dress was tailored, unlike all the other Little Sisters, who opted for full and fluffy. So this capelet makes her look mature and sophisticated instead of princess-y.

We stand in front of the massive, floor-to-ceiling mirrors in the sewing room and sigh.

But then the Matrons start calling us to line up, and while all my friends seem to have found time to pull their hair into something cultured and sophisticated, mine is still an untamed mess of auburn waves.

It's long and wild—like me. And I decide that it will just have to do.

When we get in the line of Little Sisters down the center canal of the dorm, every head turns to look at us. All eyes widen. Most with appreciation, but some with jealousy.

They all look gorgeous as well. Most of them have much nicer hair than me, though mine is pretty spectacular, wild and untamed as it is. And all of them have better makeup, since I didn't have time for that, either. But still, even though they look stunning, they are… the same. They are what the people of Tau City have come to expect from the first Choosing.

And the five of us are different.

This is when they all realize that we're down-city girls and not only that, we're sticking together. A team. Always a team.

And that's when they remember that this is a competition and turn back around to stare straight ahead.

I catch the eye of Auntie Bell after we start filing though the hallway to make our way over to the God's Tower event center, and she winks at me.

A knowing wink.

Not just because I look amazing and my seamstress talents are on full display, but because this is the beginning of the end for these galas.

It all starts here.