Chapter 4

"Hey, you must be the new recruits." The squinting children heard a voice, and, after waiting a few moments to let their eyes adjust to the bright light, found that the pleasant voice belonged to a girl wearing colorful clothing and big gold hoop earrings. Her blazing red hair was tied up in a bandanna and she looked about eighteen years old, older than the children.

"Boy, y'all look like you've seen a ghost. Did Morty scare you with that speaker of 'is?" she asked quickly. "'Oi, Morty! Next time, would you not scare 'em? I have to deal with it if ya do, y'know!"

She turned to the rather nervous-looking group of youngster. "Gather round and follow me; it's time for your verbal fact dictation, that is, yer tour. Follow me!"

"Verbal fact dictation," said Sarah. "Is that V.F.D.?"

"No, no," replied the girl. "That's just a silly little phrase that I like to say. C'mon now! Don't wanna miss your tour!"

She introduced herself as Bridget and proceeded to give the children a tour of the building.

The building itself was perched high in the mountains, overlooking a gigantic waterfall. Bridget led the children through dozens of rooms, each more fantastic than the next. There was a huge greenhouse containing plants that not even Sarah had seen, inventing studios, rooms filled with writing utensils of all sorts: pens, pencils, and quills. There were lounges filled with more armchairs that they had ever seen in one place before and also laboratories and rooms filled with all sorts or animals, from lions and rabbis to iguanas and koalas.

But the room that made the children gasp was not the enormous kitchen or the dorm rooms. It was the library. The library entrance was an arch with the letters V.F.D. elegantly engraved on it. Stepping through the entrance, they saw that the room was huge, bigger than all the others. All the walls were completely covered with books of all sizes, and there was a moving ladder for people to use to get them. The most spectacular thing, however, was the window. The window took up the entire fourth wall and was overlooking a lush valley. To the left was the mist from the waterfall.

Here Bridget stopped and told the children, "Well, this is 'bout the end of your tour. This is the room where we keep all our information. We've got books on just about everything to aid you in your research. Any questions?"

Samantha again tried to ask her question, "What is V.F.D.?"

"What?" Their guide asked, surprised. "Didn't Morty tell yeh?" Seeing the shaking heads, she continued, "Why, it stands for Volunteer Fire Department, of course. We secretly fight arson and gather knowledge to help the world be a better place. I can't believe Morty didn't tell yeh!"

"He didn't tell us much of anything," said Jacques.

"Well, I'll brief yeh on what you'll be doing as a volunteer. It'll be like school for a while, yeh training, that is, except you'll be focusing on what you're good at. Lemony, take a good look at this library, since that's where you'll be spending most of your time.

"Sarah, your time'll be mainly spent in the greenhouse, and Dorian's will be mainly spent on our mountain trails. Samantha, will be mainly in the communications department, and Daniel will work in the writing center. Dorian and Sarah's areas of expertise will often bring 'em together, as will Samantha and Daniel's."

"What about me?" asked Jacques. "What about Kit?"

"Kit has been moved to the infirmary already. Once she's gotten better, she will study at the underwater research base near the stream with me. Jacques, yer training will require special private instruction. Don't yeh worry, you'll see each other around the headquarters and at mealtimes. Speaking of which, it's dinner time!"

Author's note- Just want to warn you that the nature of the story will change quite a bit soon. I hope you like it a little bit darker and more serious...