Spring and Night: ACOTAR Fanfic

52

!Swearing!

A/N: Sorry if there are any errors or confusing sentences- busy day! :)

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-'•Linetta's POV•'-

Usually I would admire trees and stare at them with awe. However, these trees- Hybern's trees to be exact, are made out of bone. On the outskirts they're normal, bark and wood. That must be a way to lure you in, to make you think this is just a normal kingdom surrounded by forests and woods.

Blair walked in front, her beautiful black dress gleaming, twinkling like tiny stars. Which reminded me of him. Of the boy I left without even a goodbye.

It had to be done I thought, squeezing my eyes shut to make me believe it. Stop thinking about him.

"Almost there." Blair's cold voice announced- echoing through the gloomy 'bone' forest. Bony fingers were in place of leaves- standing out at all sides, pointing at every angle.

Finally, we made it to the other side of the forest, the moonlight much more visible.

People of all kinds sat in rows and rows of seats, the type you'd see in a theatre, surrounding a stone stand in the middle.
Four seats in a row, spaced out, lined the stone stand. With three girls in three of those seats, leaving one empty.

"Today, Linetta, you'll be taking part in a beauty competition- doesn't that sound lovely?"

Huh? I thought perplexed. Beauty competition?

I could now see the bright sign over the girls heads, all in pink:

"Beauty Competition"- It read

"Ah a shame." Blair disappointedly said, searching the crowd. "It seems my special guests haven't yet arrived."

I would ask who they were, but I don't really feel like knowing.

We walked up to the gap in between the rows and rows of seats, walking up a rug leading right up to the stone stand.

"Sit yourself on that empty seat, Linetta- and await your trial." With that, Blair of Hybern waltzed up to her high seat, among the chattering crowds.

Shaking slightly, I walked up to my seat- sitting myself down.

I looked to my left- three of the girls stared at me, down the line each of them looked uglier than the other.

They were all paled face, had three shades of hair: blonde, black and brown- with deep set black eyes. Not as dark as Blair's—- but dark enough.

"Welcome my lovely people of Hybern, to a trial you never knew you needed until now." Announced Blair, standing in front of her seat, her face full with dignity. "Give a big round of applause for Linetta of the Spring Court!"

Nobody applauded, nobody smiled kindly or wished me luck. They all stared at me with cold expressions- as if my life didn't matter at all.

This was Blair's set up of course- they were all told to behave this way- but sadly I don't think it would make any difference to their characters, they'd all be the same anyway without her help.

"This is how tonight's going to work." Blair smiled, brightly. You'd think it a sweet, innocent smile- if she wasn't just about to talk about how my life will end. "My judges here-" She pointed to the four people, who I hadn't noticed, sat in a row behind a desk to my right. "Will evaluate your looks, how you convey yourself. Once they give you your scores on each of the 10 tasks that I will ask you to complete, depending on the score you receive, you will have to fight the other 3 people that won that task- for a...few minutes- until someone dies at some point through the trial." She chirped, her beautiful face practically beaming. "So if you understood that right, whoever is given the worst scores- has three people against them."

I glanced at the girls to my right, they grinned widely- as if they knew how this was going to play out.

"Now let's not waste any time and get started shall we? As this is a beauty competition- looks is the main thing. Each one of you stand up, and face the judges, let's see how they score each of your appearances."

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The judges looked perfectly normal- no attor look in them at all.

Ok good, maybe I have a chance at this. Those 3 look as ugly as a mauled corpse does, they have to vote me the highest.

We all stood in a row facing the judges- my confidence boosting every time they looked up at us.

Come on. I pleaded to myself.

"We're ready your majesty." A man with odd looking circular glasses and a rough beard announced to Blair.

"Call out the scores please, out of ten." Blair looked very excited- this just made no sense.

"Cornelia the score of 8 out of 10."

What? I glanced up at Blair who was smirking down at me.
Cornelia, the blonde one, laughed this deep throated horrible laugh.

"Jemima the score of 7 out of 10."

My heart started to beat rapidly- no. Jemima the brown haired one- smiled over her shoulder at me.

"Lila the score of 9 out of 10."

The last girl, dark haired, made a whoop! Of enjoyment.

"Linetta the score of 5 out of 10."

You can't be serious.

Cackles and laugher rose up from the crowd. She doesn't just want me to die, she wants me to die humiliated as well.

Everyone pointed at me- whispering and laughing.

"Whenever you are ready girls."  the Judge declared, addressing the three others. "Pounce."

With that command, they did.

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Blood trickled down my face like rain drops as the three girls sliced with their sharp claws at my face. I didn't even have time to react and step back.

A clock- hanging behind me- ticked as it counted the length of the fight.

All I have to do is survive for a few minutes, I can do this.

I dodged the onslaught of Cornelia, teeth out arm back ready to jab into the side of me- I spin away, nearly crashing into Jemima.

My father has taught me fighting techniques, but not many. He is the kind of traditional father- that girls aren't 'meant' for fighting.

I didn't really care much, when I had my beast.

They're all coming at me- from different angles every second. The crowd weren't helping, screaming high pitched- jumping up and down.

I ran further down the stone slab- bashing them away from me as hard as I could.

I dropped low as they went for my face- pulling Lila down by her dark, peeling legs- just the smell of her rotting flesh made me gag.

"BITCH!" She screamed, crashing onto the stone.

I tried to make another run for it- but I was grabbed either side, their sharp claws at my throat.

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