Chapter 114

As they walked, Avi kept himself and Kirstie in the back of everyone, while Kevin stayed in the front to be sure to lead them exactly as The Counsel had instructed him to. Alex was nearly giving Avi an aneurysm, every time he saw something interesting, he would involuntarily drift over towards it. Avi must've reached out and grabbed his hand six different times in the length it took them to walk to The Counsel. "Alexander, no." He'd say. Jake tried holding his hand too, but Alex was both easily distracted, and far too curious. Mitch was the exact opposite. Avi even wondered if Mitch pressed himself any closer to Scott, maybe he'd just completely disappear. Mitch kept Scott's shirt tightly clutched in one hand, and his eyes to the ground. Near the end of their journey, Scott couldn't bear Mitch's fear anymore, so he just picked him up off of his feet and walked with him in his arms, where Mitch could hide his head in the crook of Scott's neck. Todrick held the door open for him, and everyone else that followed. Once they were in the building, Avi counted them all once more, just to be certain everyone had made it. Albert was sitting at a front desk looking thing in the corner of the room, but once he saw them he skipped over. "Hello again! Hello all!" Everyone waved or verbalized their hellos, until Albert met Jake's eyes. "I'm sorry, I don't believe I've had the pleasure." Jake shook his hand. "They call me Jake. You're Albert, I would assume?" Albert smiled and pulled away from him with a large, old person grin. "That's me! Welcome Pentatonix pack, and others. Today we have simply asked you here to get a better feel for Pack life. So it's actually very helpful that you've brought in people from other packs. If you'll all follow me." He headed off down the hall, where everyone followed, until he stopped in, what appeared to be a large classroom, only with fewer desks. There were only about ten desks, and they were all filled with Counsel Officials. Albert held a hand out to motion them all to stand in front of the desks. Albert then stood off to the side of the Officials, facing the Pack members, and began the test. "Avriel, if you'll step forward." Avi took a single step out of line. "Now, I'm going to ask you to arrange these people in order by Pack Ranking. Highest on the far left." Avi nodded slowly, confused as to why he should be doing this. Everyone moved in the general direction of where they thought they would belong, except Scott who stood by Mitch until Avi forced him away. When Avi was done, he stood on the very far right of a line of people. Albert prompted him to explain the order, so he did. "I'm first, because I'm the lead. Then I have Scott, and Jake. The next two Alphas. The two Betas in the middle, Kevin first because of his Ranking of 14. Then the three Omegas, in order of Ranking number. Mitchell, Kirstin and finally Alexander." Two of The Counsel Betas were taking notes furiously, while one Alpha raised his hand. "By this scale, why shouldn't the two male Omegas be higher up than the female?" "I sorted by Ranking. Not desirability." Avi explained shortly. Albert smiled and waited for more questions, but when none came he began the next exercise. "In this same fashion, organize them by behavior. Best to worst." Avi nodded once, and went to work. When he was done, he walked down the line once more, to be sure it made sense. He nodded and then stood to await their questions. "So... At the front, I have both Betas. Kevin first because his good behavior has lasted longer. Then I have Alexander, Kirstie, and Scott. Finally I have Jake and Mitchell. Jake, who I haven't known very long. And Mitchell who is working on his attitude, but still hasn't gotten there yet." The Counsel Betas wrote even more notes, and then a different Alpha raised his hand. "So... It's the Betas that behave the best, obviously. But how is it possible that some Omegas are more well-mannered than the Alphas, and some aren't?" "Some were trained differently, is all." Mitch looked down at the ground and his face went red, feeling like he'd disappointed his Alpha. Scott tried so hard to teach him, and make him into the best Omega he could be. But Mitch had failed him, and ignored him, and now not only was Mitch the worst in front of everyone, but Scott was being called out for it as well. Albert waited again, but again no questions came. A Counsel Omega walked in the room, and walked over to Albert to tell him something quietly. While she walked past one of the desks to get back out of the room, she tripped and fell. Albert allowed them to react for a solid two seconds, and then one of the Counsel Alphas yelled at them to freeze, while the other Officials examined what their first reactions were. Kevin had taken a single step in her direction, Todrick and Kirstie both covered their mouths with their hands. Both Avi and Jake had taken strides towards her, while Scott was already knelt down beside her. Alex had covered his eyes with his hands and cringed, and Mitch's eyes were wide while he stared at Scott. The Betas took even more notes. Albert walked around the group of people, trying not to touch them while they held their stances. He was speaking to the people taking notes, although he spoke loud enough for everyone to hear them. "None of the Omegas did anything. It looks like one of the Betas was going to, but he took too long to respond. The Alphas... Well, two of them were half way there, and one was all the way to the hurt Omega. How?" One of the Betas spoke up, chewing on the end of her pen. "He didn't hesitate at all when she fell. The other two took a moment to process, while he was just ready to go." Albert nodded in agreement. "I also want you to take note that it was not the Lead Alpha. It was the subordinate Alpha." Albert then nodded at all the frozen people. "You're all good to go. You can... De-freeze." Everyone relaxed a little, but Scott stayed beside her. "That was a test and stuff... But are you okay?" She nodded and sat up. "Yeah. I've gotten used to it, being the clumsy woman I am. Thank you though, Alpha."