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April 22nd, 2005
A loud bell rang. I heard the stomping and pushing of people running upstairs, I stepped aside on the stairs as dozens of people rushed past me to their rooms. I heard some of them whispering, “Hey, there’s the kid that got hit,” and their friends answering, “Better him than me.”
Tri, Jev, and the others pushed their way to me. Jev through her arms around me. “Frix, are you all right?”
I pushed her away. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said harshly.
Jev glared at me, but before she could speak, Tri said, “I guess none of us can blame you for doing it. That ‘food’ was… was…”
“Disgusting?” Jeb suggested.
“Horrible?” Klitz asked.
“Repulsive?” Rill questioned.
“Well, I thought it was good,” Ferdy said.
“Shut up, moron,” Rill said.
“Come on, let’s just go back to our room,” Tri said.
“Wait, I want to come too,” Jev said.
“All right, but don’t let those guys with the black hoods over their faces see you,” I answered.
Jev and this girl with frizzy, brown hair walked into our room. The rest of us followed. Jev and the girl sat down on mine and Tri’s bed. “This is Orla, by the way.”
“Hi,” Orla said. For some reason, when she looked at me, my face reddened. Jev rolled her eyes.
“So, who are all of you?” Jev asked.
“Well,” I began, “I’m Frix and this is Tri…”
“I mean the people I don’t already know,” Jev scowled.
“Oh,” I said. “Well, this is Ferdy, this is Rill, this is Jeb, this is Klitz, those two guys over there are Harris Shanks and Hilt -don’t bother talking to them, they won’t answer-, that guy over there is Larry, and that’s…” I stopped. Where was that yellow eyed kid?
Rill looked back and asked, “Where’s what’s-his-face?”
I looked around the room. There were 11 people, counting myself. There was no yellow eyed kid. “I don’t know. He was hear half an hour ago, and I know he didn’t leave the room.”
“Maybe he jumped,” Klitz suggested.
I glanced around the room. Like a heard of sheep, the eight of us ran to the window on the other side of the room. I looked down. There was nothing but jagged rocks and a deep, blue sea.
“Nothing’s there,” I said.
“Well, if he jumped, he might have sank,” Jev said.
“But, look at the water,” I replied. “It’s still. No waves. What would have pulled him down? Remember when we used to go swimming back home? We always floated, even when we weren’t trying to.”
“Well,” Orla said, a bit sarcastically, “Maybe he flew away.” She rolled her eyes at the thought of it.
We all headed back to our seats, but then, Tri stopped, “Maybe he did fly away.”
“Huh?” I questioned.
“Yeah,” Rill butted in. “Maybe he can fly.”
“That’s stupid,” Orla said.
“Maybe he’s a vampire,” Jeb said, eyes widening.
“That’s why he didn’t come down to dinner. He’s hunting his prey tonight,” Klitz said, as he scratched his dark skin. “I bet he is.”
“That’s really stupid,” Orla said. “If he was a vampire, why wouldn’t he just suck our blood right now?”
“There’s too many of us,” Tri said. “He was looking for a lone victim.”
“That’s why his eyes are yellow,” Rill added, “Everyone knows that evil creatures are supposed to have yellow or red eyes.”
“What if he turns on us next?” Ferdy asked, whimpering.
“We have to kill him,” Tri said, getting that mischievous look in his eyes. “Frix, get me a stake and a mallet.”
“Oh shut up!” Orla yelled. “Now you’re trying to kill him? You don’t even have proof that he is what you think he is. Besides, what if he can hear you saying this right now?”
“I don’t see him here,” Tri said. “Are you saying that he’s invisible or something?”
Orla began, “No, I’m saying that…”
“Maybe he is invisible!” Rill said. “Maybe he has an invisibility potion, or maybe that black cloak he was wearing can make him invisible, or maybe…”
“Maybe he’s in bat form!” Jeb said. “Vampires can turn into bats, can’t they? Maybe he’s hanging from the ceiling as a bat!”
All of us looked up, even Orla. There was nothing.
“Maybe he climbed out the window,” I said, a little worried of sounding stupid in front of Orla. “He could be a Spider Crawler. They can climb on walls, you know?”
“That,” Orla said, “Is a much better guess than anything else you idiots have come up with so far.” I blushed, though it did cross my mind for a second that she had called us all idiots.
But,” Jev said, “We would have seen him on the walls, then. He couldn’t have climbed.”
“Unless,” I said, trying to protect my idea, “He crawled on top of the roof or to another wall.”
“Why would he?” Jev asked. “What use does he have of being on the roof? And if he went to other walls or other rooms, what would he do?”
“Suck the blood of his victims, of course,” Rill said, still clinging onto the vampire idea.
Orla sighed. “Will all of you just shut up about vampires?” She turned to Jev. “Let’s go.”
Jev stood up. “I was waiting for you to say that.” They both walked out the door and entered their room. I hated to admit it, but I was sort of sad that Orla left, even if she was kind of rude.
“Good riddance,” Tri said as they closed the door behind them. “I thought they’d never leave.”
“So, do you guys really think he’s a vampire?” Rill asked.
“Could be,” Tri said. “It’s the best idea we have.”
Wrong, I thought. My idea was best. Orla had said so.
That night, I went to bed thinking about the yellow eyed boy. How did he get out? Could he really be a vampire? Were there even such things as vampires?
I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Tri lay besides me, snoring. Everyone else was asleep. Then, I heard something. My head turned to the window. A figure in black walked through the window. I don’t mean crawled through. I mean walked through. Like it had been walking on air. The figure lied down on the floor in a corner. He’s back, I thought.
The next morning, I woke up before anyone else. I sat up and looked at the corner where the figure had sat down. He was still there. I knew it was the yellow eyed kid. He sat with his knees to his chest and his back curved over his legs. His arms were crossed on his knees. Strange, I thought. He only has one glove. He only has a right hand glove, but not a left one.
I kicked Tri. “Huh, whuh?” he said at he sat up groggily.
“Shush,” I said. “The vampire is back.”
Tri’s eyes widened. “Quick, get the stake.”
Everyone else started waking up. Soon, we were all whispering to each other.
“Let’s poke him with a stick and see if he’s alive.”
“Someone, get me a stake.”
“How can he sleep not lying down?”
“Somebody, get Tri a stake.”
“Get your own stake.”
“Will you all just shut up?”
We all jumped. A bell went off. The breakfast bell. Everyone stood up. As Tri drew close to the door, he said, “Hey, do you think we should leave Frix alone with you-know-who?”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, not believing myself. I actually wished that I could go down with them to the rancid gruel that awaited us. But, I didn’t want to take a chance and get whacked.
I sat there for a long while, just staring at the yellow eyed kid sleep. Was he really sleeping? I didn’t know.
A while later, I heard the bell ring. The sound of herds of people running upstairs ran through my head. Tri and the others came through the door. “Is the vampire still asleep?” Tri said.
“Shh! You wanna wake him up?” I asked.
“I think he’s dead,” Rill said.
“I doubt it,” Jeb replied. “Look, you can see him breathing.”
We were all silent for a while. Klitz, Rill, Jeb, and Tri played cards. Ferdy counted the holes in the ceiling, though he couldn’t count very high. I watched the yellow eyed kid breath. Something about him seemed familiar. Like I knew him from somewhere else.
After a while, the dinner bell rang. Everyone was gone once again. I decided to try and get to sleep. I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes. I never actually got to sleep, but it was nice being able to get lost in my thoughts. Then, I heard something. It sounded like someone had bumped into something. I opened my eyes, just in time to see the yellow eyed kid jump out the window.
I ran to the window. I looked out. Nothing. Not even ripples from where he would have hit the water. Then again, I hadn’t hear a splash, had I?
I looked out into the ocean. Then, I saw something. It looked like a small spot. But, I knew that it must be an island. The island we were on wasn’t the only one, was it? I wished that I could go to the island. Just to get away from the horrible food and the men in black robes with the whacking sticks.
The bell sounded. Once again, everyone was back.
“Where’d the vampire go?” Was the first thing that came out of Tri’s mouth.
“He jumped,” I said.
“You’re kidding!” He said. Everyone ran to the window.
“I don’t know what happened to him. He just jumped out. There wasn’t even a splash,” I said.
“I bet he flew,” Rill said.
“Maybe he isn’t real. Maybe he’s an illusion,” Klitz said.
“Maybe we’re all illusions,” Jeb said in a floaty, ghost like voice.
“Shut up,” Klitz said. “It was just a suggestion.”
“That’s it,” Tri said. “Next time he comes back, I’m getting the stake.”
At that moment, Jev and Orla walked through the door. “Don’t tell me you’re all still sticking with the vampire idea,” Orla said.
“That kid jumped,” I said. “But he didn’t fall.”
“Did you see him fly?” Orla asked.
“No, but there was no splash,” I said.
“Maybe he was quiet when he fell,” Jev said.
“How could he fall quietly?” Tri asked.
Orla sighed. “Listen, you might as well abandon the vampire idea. If he was a vampire, he would have killed Frix, wouldn’t he?”
I gulped. He would have. I was suddenly glad that I could go back to breakfast and dinner the next day. Besides, I was hungry.
“But, he does look like a vampire. Did you see his eyes?” Tri asked.
“You don’t suppose…,” Jeb began. He suddenly grew hushed.
“Don’t suppose what?” I asked.
He looked around. He signaled for us all to get close, so that Harris Shanks and Hilt wouldn’t hear. Then he said quietly, “You don’t suppose that he’s one of Aros’ Assassins?”
Some of the people gasped. Klitz’s eyes widened. Rill turned pale. Tri shuddered a little bit. Even Orla looked worried. Ferdy looked clueless. “What?” I said.
“Aros’ Assassins,” Jeb said. “Some of the deadliest and most evil people that ever have or ever will live.”
“What’s an Aros?” I asked.
“Aros,” Rill said, “Is evil itself.”
Tri nodded. “My family has been hunting him down for generations. My grandmother, my father, and now me.” He gave another shudder.
“What does he do?” Jev asked.
“Do?” Orla questioned. “What doesn’t he do? He kills innocent people. He ruins whole cities. He want to take over the whole kingdom of Gairifilin.”
I wondered what she meant. Everyone knew that Gairifilin had been divided into three kingdoms for centuries. What use would he have for three divided nations?
“They say,” Klitz said, “That he plans to kill all Murdrinites. That’s why we’re here. Those men in black robes are Aros’ Assassins if I’ve ever seen one. Once he gets rid of us, he’ll be one of the only Murdrinites in any of the three kingdoms. He’ll be the most powerful person. He’ll be king.”
I thought about the king that had ruled my village in South Gairifilin. He had been a horrible king. Would it be any worse with Aros? The current king would kill us, anyways.
“But,” Ferdy said, “Our current king isn’t a Murdrinite. Aros would be much more deadly.” I wondered how he had known what I was thinking, but then I realized that my thoughts hadn’t been all the way there. Like half of them were there, and the other half…
“Ferdy,” I said. “Did you use your powers.”
Ferdy looked scared. “I… I… I didn’t mean to.”
“That’s it!” I said. Everyone looked at me. My face reddened. “Well, what I mean is, uh, if Aros is as bad as you say he is and he’s going to kill us, we could stop him. I mean, who’re more powerful: One Murdrinite or 400?”
“But,” Tri said, “He still has his Assassins. Most of them are Murdrinites.”
“Yeah,” I said. “but, wouldn’t it make sense to at least try and stop him?”
Orla got this devilish look in her eyes. “Yeah. We could train ourselves as warriors. We could put an end to his conspiracy and his Assassins.”
“Where would we train? We can‘t train in this room with the Assassin-Vampire and those other three” Jeb asked.
“On the roof,” I said. “Rill’s a Weather Worker and Klitz is a Bird Singer. They could get us up there.”
“No, I couldn’t,” Rill said. “I’m not good with wind, yet.”
“And I can only call small birds, so far,” Klitz said.
“I wish there was something I could do,” Jeb said.
Right then, I remembered the island. “How big of animals can you call?” I asked Jeb.
“I’ve called dolphins and large sea turtles before,” Jeb said. “I’ve been working on sharks.”
“Listen,” I said. “If you look out the window, there’s a little island far away. If we could get out there, maybe that could be our training spot. Jeb could call sea creatures. It’d be perfect.”
“When do we do it?” Jeb asked.
“Tonight,” I said. “At midnight. We’ll be back before anyone wakes up.”
“What’ll we call ourselves?” Jev asked.
“Aros has Assassins,” Tri said. “But, we have Warriors.”
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