Victoria's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Victoria watched Bella take her place in the nameless line. She wanted to run after her. Chloe held her arm. "She's gone," Chloe said. "Don't waste it. We still have to get you in." Victoria looked at her sash. FIRST ROUND, with her name in gold thread. It should have meant something. It meant nothing yet. She crossed the square to the banner that promised a crown. A woman in a long dark coat stood beneath it, holding a ledger. Her face was pale and smooth. She did not look up. "Name," she said. "Victoria," Victoria said. The woman ran a finger down the page. "You are not on the list. Uninvited contestants join the line." She lifted her chin toward the slack-faced girls. Victoria's stomach dropped. "I have a sash. It has my name on it." The woman's finger stopped. "A sash is not an entry. The invited bring a token the Village cannot eat. Something a name is tied to." Chloe caught Victoria's eye. "The photo," she whispered. "Our names held on it. Yours didn't, but theirs did." Victoria pulled the folded photo from her pocket. Two girls grinned up at her. Bella. Chloe. On the back, the two names sat still and clear. She held it out. "This," she said. "These names don't slip. They're real." The woman took the photo. She turned it over. For the first time she looked at Victoria. "Two names," the woman said. "Not yours." "They know me," Victoria said. "She came to warn me." She pointed at Chloe. "That's her. She's standing right here. A name on paper and a name that walks. That's two witnesses the Village can't swallow." Chloe stepped forward, boots planted wide. "I vouch for her," Chloe said. "Victoria. Write it down." The woman studied them both. Then she dipped a pen and wrote in the ledger. The gold thread on Victoria's sash warmed against her chest. The letters FIRST ROUND seemed to sit heavier now, like they had weight behind them. "You're entered," the woman said. She handed the photo back. But her mouth curved. "The pageant takes payment. You gave a token tied to names. The Village keeps one." Victoria's hand froze on the photo. The ink on the back was changing. Bella's name faded first, letter by letter, until the space was blank. Only Chloe's name stayed. "No," Victoria said. She rubbed the empty space with her thumb. Nothing came back. The last proof of Bella was gone from the picture, the same way Bella had gone from the line. Chloe's jaw tightened. "That's the cost," she said quietly. "You're in now. But every round will ask for more." Victoria stood inside the pageant at last. The line of nameless girls waited behind her. She had bought her way in with Bella's name. She gripped the photo and looked toward the first round, already counting what she still had left to lose.