Welcome to the Selection, where thirty girls have the chance of a lifetime to get their prince charming!

However, there has been a change to this event--there are four boys who look enough like the royal family to look related, but aren't royals at all added into the mix. These 'paupers' will pretend to be princes, and the princes will change how they look enough to not be recognized.

The question is, why go through so much trouble?

Well the answer came from the prince's grandmother, Vivian, who said, "When my daughter was selected, she went on and on about how some girls would only act nice to the prince because he was a prince. That's why we've decided to change it this time--with eight boys instead of four, hopefully that will make them less hostile and desperate. By keeping a secret of who is who, we also are trying our best to ensure that the ones who are selected by my grandsons truly love them for who they are, and not their rank."

And so it begins.

Unfortunately, there have been rumors that the rebellion could be planning more attacks this year, and the palace is definitely a target, especially with the Selection going on. Despite precautionary measures, there could be attacks that can't be stopped, though we will have to hope and pray that they can be held off.

As for the powers, they are something new and unique to this Selection because of how new they are. What started out as a rebel attack gone horribly wrong, is now making it harder than ever for them to gain a foothold. A lab created bacteria, meant to cause a variety of symptoms, but ultimately death by the death of neurons and the swelling of the brain, was let loose on the people to lessen the population and thus weaken the country from the inside. They had a cure that no one else had, and would sell it to them...In exchange for the keys to the country. Every province has a slightly different strand of the same bacteria, but certain regions near each other had ones that were more similar. That way if one cure was found, it couldn't cure all of the provinces, but only one of them.

The Rebels never really thought about sunlight being an important variable to the bacteria's growth. Since all the tests had been done in secret labs away from any sunlight, there was no way they could've known.

The sunlight caused changes in the body, such as when it makes vitamin D, and has a small amount of different kinds of radiation. With even a few hours of sun, the bacteria couldn't survive without changing a little. This little change made a big difference.

The brain, instead of being killed, was altered, allowing for different kinds of powers to develop. Different strands of the bacteria changed differently, making each province have its own unique power. And, because of how similar the bacteria strands were in provices near each other, they developed similar powers.

The powers are not very strong, but they are there. They all seem to be powers of the mind, except for those of Angeles, who got a more deadly strand of the bacteria drastically different than the others that had to he treated with stronger UV rays.

Now the secret of creating superpowers is common knowledge, and the Rebels have their own powers too. And, even worse, they have learned to make the powers they obtain even stronger. If they show up, there is one important rule: don't let them find you and stay alive.