**Imp Author's Note at the end of this chapter please read till the very last line!!**

We all stare at Catherine Lodge, frozen, as she commands us to not move and walks off to get the authorities.

I don't remember how, but all four of us are now holding hands. Tight.

Jay looks as confused as he looks worried, and his father explains to him about how he has been reinstated on his previous job post. Or rather, Had Been reinstated.

Soon, we are surrounded by officials, guns levelled at us. Earlier, it was just conflict among students and mysterious happenings without proof, but now, Mr. Rai is a felon in the eyes of law.

He has broken a serious law.

And we know by looking at those present here that he has hell to pay.

An officer points his gun at Mr. Rai, and commands him to step away from us and put his hands up.

As he starts to slowly move away, Jay holds onto him, refusing to let him leave.

He looks scared, really, positively scared, and my heart breaks looking at him.

My mom is clutching my arm so tight that her nails are digging into my skin, and I know why - her chances of survival are lowering with every second as well. OUR chances of survival.

A small crowd has gathered around us, and I spot some of our friends in it, as well as Mike and Cherry.

Just as Mr. Rai is about to be carried away, Bella steps in front of us.

"Stop." she says. "Mr. Rai is the one who had interrogated Nebula earlier today. That means she is an accomplice to crime, and also that her investigation is probably rigged.

If not, though, that means Mr. Rai probably had no idea he was going to be interrogating people he knew, and so I propose -

We take Nebula instead of Mr. Rai to get our answers. "

My breath hitches, as I realise that if this happens I would no longer have anyone to blame for not being able to save us. That was upon me now.

" NO!! " my mother's voice pierces my thoughts, as she pulls me behind herself protectively.

I glance at Jay, and I can see that he too, is fighting a battle with his mind. After a moment he breaks the contact, looking away guiltily,but this time before HE can look away, I catch his eye and give him a small smile.

Then I put my free hand on my mom's shoulder and gently push her away.

I turn back and kiss her on her cheek, then slowly extracting my arm from hers, I walk up to Bella.

"Why are you doing this?!" I hiss at her, my eyes boring into hers.

"Because I'd hate to see you in a lab, flower. And also because this is going to be so much fun." she smirks, clocking an eyebrow at me as she catches hold of my arm and jerks me towards herself.

"So!" she says out loud, "you coming or not?"

I take a step in her direction, then pull up my chin so we are at the same height. Looking into her eyes I say,

"Take me."

She half-smirks at this, but then as she sees the officials around us, she grabs hold of my arms and twisting them behind my back, puts me into restraint wires, the modern and almost foolproof solution to handcuffs.

I twist my neck around to look at her, and she bares her teeth at me before giving a soft chuckle and pushing me forward.

I twist my neck again, this time to look at my mom, Jay and Mr. Rai, and they all look at me, worried and scared sick.

My mom's eyes are red-rimmed, and Jay's eyes are focused on me so intently that I can almost feel his presence and hear his voice in my head.

"You can do this. For Us. "

"For Us."

For the second time today, I am back in the metal chair, only this time, I have about 5 lives to save.

I am once again hooked to the lie detector, and another needle is plunged into my already sore neck.

Then Christian places what looks like a retina scanner in front of me.

"What is that for?" I ask, willing myself to not let my voice waver.

"This machine detects dilated pupils and other things happening in your eyes and processes it for information about your state of mind, guilt percent,etc."

Great, so so far, I have one drug, one lie detector and one futuristic retina scanner to cheat.

"Though this process also requires a lot of help of the Sodium Pentothal." he says.

Ha! So maybe I still do have a chance.

My mind has gone from being in a terror overdrive to being sarcastic and self depreciating, but my heart is still racing like it wants to tear itself out of my chest.

Then he starts the questioning.

"Ms. Nebula. Did you have Mr. Rai as your interrogator today?"

The truth rolls easily off my tongue.

"Yes"

"Did you know he was going to be present?"

"No"

"Did it seem like he knew you were going to be there?"

My heart jumps, but I have managed to control the serum and the lie rolls off my tongue just as easily as the truth, though it leaves a bitter taste behind.

"No"

The lie detector let's my lie go undetected, and I am almost relieved, but then the retina scanner beeps, shooting sharp red light in my eyes as I gasp in shock and clamp my eyes shut.

Christian nods at Bella, who walks up to me and just stares at me for a moment with a slight smirk on her face.

Then, before I can even see her body move, she slaps me so hard that my head viciously whips to the side, and as I manage to recover, I taste blood from the edge of my mouth.

"Ms. Nebula, I implore you to speak only the truth"

Christian says, eyes cold as ice.

He repeats the question, and I do the only thing I can - I fight my own body.

"NO" I say again, and he gastures to Bella, but before she can reach me, the scan machine shoots green light, and I almost break down crying.

Christian runs a confused and frustrated hand through his hair, and then he picks up the questions right where he left off.

"When he found out he knew you, did that influence your interrogation about Ms. Astha's case?"

INFLUENCE my interrogation?!! Hell, there had been no interrogation!! We had had a spiritual chat about our society and how we could all die, and then he had let me go!

" No, it did not. "

Both the lie detector and scanner beep and spit red, and before I know, Bella's fist connects with my jaw.

"No, it did not"

Lie detector green, scanner red.

Bella scrapes the chair on the floor and angles it to face her, then throws a vicious kick to my lower ribs.

I gasp as the air leaves my lungs, when it is back, I ball my hands into fists with steely resolve and say,

"NO!! NO IT DID NOT!!"

And the room floods with green light.

Christian curses out loud as he flips the chair he was sitting on, and before I can blink he has grabbed my by my collar.

"I don't know what it is that you are doing, you fiend, but one day I am going to get you. Then you'll see"

"One day" I say, as I push him and deftly get up and get to the door.

He starts coming after me, but Bella puts a fist on his chest, glaring into his eyes, and he finally controls his rage and once agoin putting on a cold expression, says,

"You may leave. For now."

My knees are shaky, and I am giving it about 2 minutes before I start crying, and I push open the door and sprint towards the hospital, where I know I'll find my friends with Astha.

As soon as I catch sight of them, my mother jumps up and pulls me into a bone-crushing hug, and I am soon enveloped by people into a group hug.

After I manage to break free, I see Astha sitting up on her bed, arms outstretched, and I give her a hug too.

Once i have assured them that everything is fine for now and the attention has shifted from me, I start backing towards the door so that I can process everything that has been happening.

But an arm snakes itself around my back and I turn to find my BFF, Kalani, whose eyes understand me the most, and my legs give way.

She holds onto me and gently lowers me to the ground, and I dissolve into quiet sobs of relief, each breath stinging my bruised ribs a little.

The next morning, we are all getting ready for our classes as usual, when the digital calendar announces something that makes us want to push our heads into pillows and go to sleep again-

Our final evaluation, personality test, and THE CHOOSING CEREMONY are less than a month away.

Sooo I know this is a long chapter and many apologies for not updating yetsrday but I had a really crappy network connection.

Also, I am almost at the end of the book, and I am anitipating about 3 to 4 more chapters.

This book was never about a world end, I was sure I could not handle that big a plot, but I promise you that the Choosing ceremony chapter is going to be packed with all things drama, so keep reading!!

Also please keep loving and supporting this book, and comments and constructive criticism are more than welcome!