Hello everyone. All I have to say is… I HAVE WRITTEN PERMISSION TO DO THIS THANKS TO KATHELF WHICH MEANS YOU CAN NOT BLAST ME! Anyhoo… On with the story.
Laney buzzed around, making sure there was a note on every door or desk. She made sure everyone would be there, whether or not they were a Greencloak. Finally she had gathered everyone up in one room.
"I bet your all wondering why I brought you here today." Laney said, trying not to overfill with excitement. She looked around at everyone. Shane, Conor, Meilin, Rollan, Abeke, Tarik, Lishay, Barlow, Monte, Lenori, Kalani, Finn, Maya, and Olvan. Fifteen people was a lot, if not too much.
"You forgot me!" Devin said from behind her. Laney purposely didn't invite him or Drina. She forgot about Dawson.
"And me!" Drina called.
"And me. And I'm enjoyable!" Dawson stated.
"Darn it, I did forget Dawson." Laney said.
"And us." Drina and Devin said.
"Yeah… Forgot…"
"So, why did you bring us here?" Shane asked.
"To read this!" Laney said, tossing a book onto a table.
"Spirit Animals Wild Born?" Olvan read aloud.
"Yup! Can I read the first chapter? It's my favorite in this book!" Laney blurted.
"You've read this before?" Meilin asked.
"Yeah. How do you think I know about this place?" Laney confirmed what they all feared.
"This is going to be interesting…" Rollan started until Laney interrupted him.
Spirit Animals Wild Born by Brandon Mull.
"Dude, there's a giant map on the front." Shane said calmly. Until he realized what the map was mapping out. He spit his water all over Lishay, who got extremely annoyed.
"Get on with it." Lishay said, glaring at Shane.
Chapter one, Briggan.
"That's familiar." Conor interrupted.
"This is going to take a while…" Kalani stated.
Given a choice, Conor would not have picked to spend the most important birthday of his life helping Devin Trunswick get dressed.
"Wow. That's mean, Conor!" Devin said, looking directly at Conor.
"Sorry." Conor shifted embarrassedly. Meilin rolled her eyes.
"You were a brat, Devin." She said, ignoring the fact they were trying to read.
"Hey!" Devin exclaimed. Laney chose to keep reading.
In all honestly, he would not have volunteered to help Devin Trunswick do anything, ever.
"All I did was insult you a couple of times!" Devin said, raising his voice.
"Yeah, a couple." Laney muttered.
"You guys are mean!" Devin said. Conor kept quiet. Kalani looked at Devin like he was crazy. Shane ignored everything and Olvan eyed Devin suspiciously.
But Devin was the eldest son of Eric, the Earl of Trunswick, and Conor was the third son of Fenray, Herder of Sheep. Fenray had incurred debts to the earl, and Conor was helping to work them off as a servant to Devin. The arrangement had began over a year ago, and was set to last at least two more.
"Unless you summon one of the Four Fallen and are taken away by the Greencloaks and meet two other kids while the other one is on the other side." Laney blurted.
"She managed to interrupt herself." Rollan said. Meilin looked at him with annoyance.
"Thanks for stating the obvious." She said, rolling her eyes.
"Your gonna roll your eyes out of your head if you keep doing that!" Rollan defended.
"Idiot." Pretty much everyone except Conor and Maya muttered.
Conor had to hook each fiddly clasp on the back of Devin's coat correctly or the folds would hang crooked, and he would hear about it for weeks. The fine material was more decorative than practical. If caught in a storm, Conor knew Devin would wish for a simpler, more durable coat. One without clasps. One that might actually keep him warm.
"Is this all about Conor? I want a chapter!" Devin exclaimed, ruining the perfect silence.
"You don't get a chapter." Laney calmly said.
"Why not? That doesn't seem fair!"
"Only Conor, Abeke, Meilin, and Rollan get a chapter in this book." Laney said, rolling her eyes. "Now shut up so we can finish this chapter! I'm still on page one!" Devin remained silent.
"Are you done fussing around back there?" Devin asked in exasperation.
"Finally, I get to talk!" Devin yelled. Everyone ignored him.
"Sorry for the delay, milord," Conor replied. "There are forty-eight clasps. I'm just linking the fortieth."
"Conor, you are too nice." Rollan said. "I would have told him off." Meilin looked about ready to shoot him. Shane continued ignoring everything.
"Is Conor still here, because I don't hear him or see him." Abeke asked.
"Yeah I'm still here. Just there's so many people." Conor replied.
"Great, everyone's alive. Time to continue!" Laney rushed.
"How many days will this take? I'm about to die of old age! Are you just inventing numbers?" Conor resisted a sharp reply. Having grown up counting sheep, he probably knew his number better than Devin. But arguing with a noble caused more trouble than it's worth.
"So… Your only being nice so you don't get in trouble?" Rollan asked. "Guess your not as pure as we all thought."
"Wow." Meilin said.
"Can we finish the chapter, then put our thoughts in?" Finn asked reasonably.
"No, cause I'll forget by then!" Rollan had a weird smile on his face.
"Great, he's gone insane." Laney stated, giving up on reading.
"Go on please. I want to see what happens!" Maya put in.
Sometimes Devin seemed to deliberately tempt him. "It's my best guess." The door flew open and
"I WONDER WHO COMES IN!" Rollan shouted, staring straight at Dawson, who looked petrified.
"Wow." Everyone said except Dawson. Meilin looked determined to roll her eyes after Rollan's comment on it.
Dawson, Devin's younger brother, burst into the room.
"HE DIDN'T JUST WALK IN, HE BURST IN!" Rollan yelled again.
"Dude." Shane simply said.
"Finally, he talks!" Laney noted. Finn took the book and started reading.
"Are you still getting dressed, Devin?" "Don't blame me," Devin protested. "Conor keeps napping." Conor only gave Dawson a brief glance. The sooner he finished the clasps, the sooner he could get himself ready.
"OOH, YOU ACTUALLY DO LIKE LOOKING GOOD!" Rollan, yet again, screamed. Kalani got up and retrieved some duct tape.
"Yell again and I'll tape you." Kalani threatened. Laney took her chance to get the book back. She snatched it and read like a manic.
"How could Conor fall asleep?" Dawson called, giggling. "Everything you say, brother, is so interesting." Conor resisted a grin.
"WOW, CONOR YOU RESIST A LOT OF THINGS!" Rollan yelled, right in Conor face, who now also looked petrified.
"That's it!" Kalani said, getting up. Rollan squirmed too much for her to put the tape on his mouth. Lishay got up and held him down, along with Meilin and Olvan. Finally Kalani managed to get the tape on.
"When am I in the story?" Drina asked.
"Not for another five books or so." Laney confirmed.
Dawson seldom stopped talking. He often got annoying, but he could sometimes be pretty funny. "I'm awake." "Aren't you done yet?" Devin complained. "How many are left?" Conor wanted to say twenty.
"HOW INTERESTING!" Rollan had ripped his tape off.
"NOOO!" Laney yelled overdramatically.
"These people are weird." Shane stated. The door flew open and there stood Nicole, Laney's little sister.
"Why didn't you invite me?" Nicole asked, anger written all over her face.
"WHYYYYYYYY?!" Laney again overdramatically shouted.
"Dude." Shane said, once again. Finn handed the book to Tarik, giving up on life.
"Five." "Think you'll summon a spirit animal, Devin?" Dawson asked. "I don't see why not," Devin replied. "Grandfather called a mongoose. Father produced a lynx." Today was the Trunswick Nectar Ceremony. In less than an hour, the local children who turned eleven this month would each try to call a spirit animal. Conor knew
"WHAT DID YOU KNOW, CONOR?!"
"Nothing. I knew nothing!" Conor said, raising his hands in surrender.
That some families tended to form bestial bonds more regularly than others. Even so, calling a spirit animal was never guaranteed, no matter what your family name. There were only three kids scheduled to drink the Nectar, and the odds were against any of them succeeding. It was certainly nothing to boast about before it happened.
"Exactly!" Laney interrupted.
"Yes." Lenori added calmly. Devin sunk into his chair.
"What animal do you think you'll get?" Dawson wondered. "Your guess is as good as mine," Devin said. "What do you except?" "A chipmunk," Dawson predicted.
Laney high-fived Dawson.
Devin lunged at his brother, who scampered away, giggling. Dawson was not dressed as formally as his older brother, which allowed him freer movement. Still, Devin soon caught him and tackled him to the floor, pinning him down. "A bear will be more likely," Devin said, grinding his elbow into his brother's chest. "Or a wildcat, like Father.
"Funny, he ends up with Elda the wildcat. Of course that was a fake bond because he's a FAILURE!" Laney plotted.
"Laney, you're such a weirdo." Nicole stated. Laney held back from slapping her.
First thing I'll do is have it taste you."
"That's mean!" Maya exclaimed.
"Exactly." Shane said.
"That's his brother though!"
"Family division. It's more common then you think." Shane stated, glancing at Drina.
"Yeah. And most of the time it's the older sibling's fault." Nicole added for no good reason.
"Hey!" Laney, Devin, and Drina protested. "You're mean!"
"Let's get on with it." Meilin said, waving her hand as if to say 'go on'.
Conor tried to wait patiently. It wasn't his place to intervene. "You might get nothing," Dawson said bravely. "Then all I'll be is Earl of Trunswick, and your master."
For some odd reason, Laney high-fived Devin.
"Not if Father outlives you." "I'd mind my tongue, second son." "I'm glad I'm not you!" Devin twisted Dawson's nose until he yelped, then stood up, brushing off his trousers.
Dawson rubbed his nose.
"At least my nose isn't sore." "Conor will drink the Nectar too!" Dawson cried. "Maybe he'll be the one to call a spirit animal." Conor tried to look invisible. Did he hope to summon a spirit animal? Of course! Who wouldn't?
"Me!" Shane said.
You couldn't help hoping. Just because nobody in his family had done it since some obscure great-granduncle decades ago didn't make it impossible.
"You guys really need to stop thinking about family roots on getting a spirit animal. I mean, no one in my family has summoned one, but I have Prissy." Laney said, holding up her hand.
"It's custom in Erdas." Conor said.
"Right." Devin chuckled. "And I suppose the smith's daughter will summon one as well." "You never know," Dawson said, sitting up and rubbing his nose. "Conor, what would you like to have?" Conor stared at the floor. He had been asked a direct question by a noble, so he had to answer.
"Oh my gosh, what's with the noble thing?!" Laney blurted.
"I've always gotten along with dogs. I'd like a sheep dog, I guess." "What an imagination!" Devin laughed. "The sheep-herder dreams of calling a sheepdog." "A dog would be fun," Dawson said. "And common," Devin said. "How many dogs do you have, Conor?" "My family? Ten, last I counted." "How long since you've seen your family?" Dawson asked. Conor tried to keep his voice even. "More than half a year." "They'll be there today?" "I except they'll try. It depends on whether they can get away." In case they couldn't make it, he didn't want to show he cared. "How novel for you," Devin sniffed. "How many clasps remain?" "Three." Devin turned around. "Let's not dawndle. We're running late."
"EEEEEEEE!" Rollan yelled.
"Ugh, he ruined it!" Meilin exclaimed, face-palming.
There you go. Seven pages of humor. Don't worry, I'll update fast. Please review!
