Chapter Ten: Part of the Team
Sonia decided that before she explored outside, she'd explore inside. Considering the fact that inside was a lot bigger than outside.
The medical hall was straightforward and simple, just a whole bunch of rooms full of hospital beds.
Once outside the medical hallway, there was 3 ways she could go.
Down the stairs, which were to her right, left into the hallway that had Knight Master's quarters in it, or forward, into another hallway.
She went forwards and realized that all the rooms in that hall were bedrooms. But then why did they have tents outside?
Confused Sonia made her way down the spiral staircase.
No one had been on the top floor; except for Knight Master who Sonia was guessing was in her quarters. She seemed to spend a lot of time in there.
At the bottom of the staircase, Sonia walked to the entrance then turned around to observe the first floor and recall the very first time she had been there.
Back then, all of this had been a dream to her. Now she had accepted it as reality, but nothing still made sense to her.
Looking around, Sonia saw the entrances to 4 hallways. 2 near the front, one going left, the other right. And then two at the back. One on the left; the other right, but those two hallways were at an angle. She decided to go to the right hallway in the back.
Walking through it, there weren't any doors other than the large wooden door at the very back. The door was carved with what looked like words, but not in the English alphabet. There was no lock on the door, just two handles, both made of gold.
Sonia pulled on one of the handles, opening one of the doors, and entered the room.
On the other side was a library. The biggest library she had ever seen. The ceiling was one of the highest ever. There was bookshelf after bookshelf, and they almost reached the ceiling!
From the looks of it she was at the very front of the library, which also consisted of a large table and several chairs and couches.
She starred at the library in sheer amazement. Then Sonia realized she wasn't alone.
Sitting at the table surrounded by piles of books, was Mari. She hadn't noticed that someone had entered the library.
Sonia decided to make herself known. She walked up to Mari until she was right behind her. "Mari?"
She didn't reply.
Sonia tried again. "Mari?"
Still no reply.
Alright, you asked for it, Sonia thought.
Sonia reached over Mari's shoulders and tickled her sides, expecting her to giggle, but Mari just closed her book and turned around to see who it was that had disturbed her reading.
"Oh, hello," she said.
Sonia felt her cheeks go red. Well, that was kind of embarrassing. "Aren't you ticklish? "Sonia asked.
"No, not at all," Mari replied. "Are you?"
Sonia scratched her head, trying to get through the awkwardness. "Yes, very. Im sorry I disturbed you."
"Don't worry about it," Mari said, as she turned back around to continue reading her book.
"Um, Mari?"
"Yes?"
"Im not on earth, right?"
"Nope."
"Well…are there any books…about this planet?"
"There are books about the continents, this world, the underworld, and earth as well. They are all in the same section."
"May I borrow them?"
"Of course. You'll find them on the very first shelf, on the bottom to the right."
"Thank you."
Sonia made her way to the location Mari had told her. If any of this was actually real, there were some things Sonia wanted to know about.
There were four hardcover books. Each a different colour, but the exact same thickness…more or less.
Guessing that there was one for each topic Mari had mentioned, Sonia grabbed all four, and then quietly slipped out of the library, in hopes of not disturbing Mari once again.
With the books in her hand, Sonia didn't feel like exploring inside anymore. Instead, she wanted to go outside and find a place to read. Making her way through the hallway, she began thinking about what Knight Master had said about the conference hall. She was invited…but why?
Outside the tent, Sonia stood for a while taking in the sun. It was so warm. It felt good on her skin, but then she remembered she didn't have any sunscreen on!
Better find some shade, she thought.
Outside was exactly how she remembered it. The fire pit was still there, though there were a lot of ashes in it this time. Doesn't anyone ever clean it? No one was in sight. Where was everyone?
Sonia spotted the big tree with a table underneath she had seen on her first say and made her way towards it. It was a perfect spot to read.
She put the books on the table and sat down at the base of the tree. She knew she had said she would read, but it was so nice out. And quiet. All she wanted to do was sit and look at the sky. It was bluer, and the clouds were whiter.
There was rustling from behind. Sonia turned around abruptly to see what it was. She was half expecting it to be a goblin. She still hadn't gotten over the events of Kerrie Beach and she was trying her best not to think about it, but it wasn't a goblin. It was a boy. She remembered seeing him in Knight Master's quarters the first time she'd ever been there, but he hadn't been in the room when she'd awoken with no clothes on.
He looked down at her with expressionless eyes. Sonia stood up, a bit curious.
"What are you doing…" he asked, but it wasn't really a question.
The boy scared her a little bit, she didn't know why, but he didn't seem like the other's she'd talked to so far. Not wanting to show him that he frightened her, Sonia decided to give him a very vague answer. "Nothing."
He stood there for a bit and watched her. Sonia felt uncomfortable not knowing what he was thinking. She decided to ask him where everyone else was.
"I don't know," he said. "I haven't been around for a while in case you didn't notice."
"No, I didn't notice," Sonia replied. "I thought maybe you were just one of those haters that didn't want anything to do with the "Earth Girl" so you didn't show up..."
The boy was surprised by her reply. She sounded hurt, kind of how a child would sound when he failed at making friends on the first day of school.
He wasn't the only one surprised. Sonia was too. She hadn't meant to say that. She hadn't even noticed that she felt that way.
"What's your name?" he asked her.
"Sonia."
The boy didn't understand why she had so much emotion. Was this how Earth Humans were like? It didn't matter to him though. He had more important things to think about. "You shouldn't be so sensitive, you know. There's no point feeling more than you need to…" he said. Then he left.
The reason the camp had been so empty was because everyone was in the training room. By the looks of it, they would be going to Silver Land soon. So they had to prepare themselves. Everyone was there except for Knight Master, Mari and Rufus. Rin had left early as well. It was her job to make dinner that evening.
They practiced until they were starving, which was different for everyone. One by one they left as they got hungry. The Grand Chase never actually ate their dinners together, only on special occasions or when Knight Master forced them.
Outside, Sonia had fallen asleep against the tree. She hadn't realized how tired she was. When she woke up, she saw the setting sun. Dinner didn't cross her mind until she heard her tummy growl. "Oh no, dinner!"
Getting up, Sonia ran to the tent, forgetting the books at the table. Where was the kitchen? Most likely on the first floor. She could smell the food so she followed the aroma. It led her to the hallway on her left, near the entrance. Walking, she saw a door open, halfway down the hall. That's where the smell was coming from.
Sonia ran to it as fast as she could. When she got to the entrance she bowed and apologized. "Sorry im late!"
She waited for a reply…and when no one did, she straightened herself and looked into the room. The only person there was a dark skinned girl with white hair. She had blue eyes and her outfit matched her hair and eyes. It looked like she was trying to hide a smile.
"Um…where's everyone else?" Sonia asked.
"They already ate," the girl replied.
Sonia looked around. The room wasn't too big. There were paintings hanging from the walls of various landscapes. There was a very long table in the center of the room and chairs all around it. In the center of the table was a vase and fruit basket. Around it were platters full…well not completely full…of food. The girl was clearing the table.
"I fell asleep," Sonia told her.
The girl smiled. "It's alright. Here I'll put some food in a plate for you."
"No! It's…alright," Sonia protested. Suddenly she didn't feel like eating. "I'm not hungry."
"Are you sure?"
Sonia nodded. "Yes."
Sonia had stayed back and helped the girl clear the table. They'd talked a bit, and Sonia had learned that her name was Rin. Now, they walked to the conference hall together. It was upstairs in the same hallway that held Knight Masters quarters. By the looks of it, everyone else was already there, and they were late.
"Will she be mad?" Sonia asked Rin. She was worried about making a bad first impression although she didn't know why.
Rin shook her head. "No, don't worry. Knight Master is very kind."
Sonia breathed a sigh of relief. She opened the door to the conference hall. Inside was a table and everyone was seated around it. At the head of the table was Knight Master. Everyone watched as they entered.
"Sorry we're late," Rin apologized. "We were clearing the table."
Knight Master nodded. "Sit down, you two."
Rin made her way towards her seat. Sonia looked around for an empty one. There was only one left. She sat down. To her right was Sieghart and to her left was a boy with magenta hair that she was not familiar with yet. Sonia felt uncomfortable being a part of the meeting. She was the newbie. She had no idea what was going on and she got a strange vibe that some of them didn't want her there.
Sitting right across from her was that boy she had met earlier by the tree. To his left (from Sonia's perspective) was Arme and to his right was a boy with silver hair. There were no more seats to the left. Everyone else was on the right. She looked around for Jin. The first person she had met. She trusted him the most at the moment.
"Well, it's been decided that were going to Silver Land. We'll leave in 2 days' time. I'll have our ship prepared. I need all of you to help out with the preparations. Rin, you're responsible for food. Arme, I need you to take care of any medical supplies we need. Mari, I want you to build weapons compatible with our ship in case we run into trouble. You never know anymore. I need the demons to create a compass that'll detect any dark magic on the sea and finally I need someone to chart our course," Knight Master said.
Demons? Sonia thought. What did she mean by demons…
"Who will chart the course?" Arme asked.
"I can do it." A girl in the back stood up. She had blonde hair and green eyes.
Knight Master nodded. "Thank you Lire. I want the rest of you to help the others out as much as you can, alright?"
Everyone nodded their understanding, except for Sonia. "Um. Excuse me but…what about me?" she asked.
"What about you?" Knight Master said.
"I'm supposed to get home, aren't I? Aren't you going to help me do that?"
"Frankly, we have no idea how to get you back home," Knight Master told her. "Even if we did, we'd be hesitant to send you back. Do you know why we're going to Silver Land, Sonia?"
She shook her head.
"We're going to Silver Land so we can get you trained. So that you can know how to properly use your power," Knight Master explained. "We're doing this all for you. You're part of the team now."
"Part…of the team?" Sonia echoed.
"Oh yes I almost forgot," Knight Master continued. "I need someone to explain things to Sonia. Let her know what's going on. Any takers?"
"I'll do it."
The voice came from right behind her. She knew who it was even without turning around. Oh please, no, Sonia thought. Not him! Turning around, she looked up at Sieghart. He was standing up and smiling down at her. It wasn't a kind smile though. It was more of a hey-look-you're-stuck-with-me-now kind of smirk.
Knight Master got up from her chair and smiled at the group of teenagers. "Good," she smiled. "Let's begin."
.