Paz

Chapter 8

        The next morning, I woke up to someone pulling open both tent flaps and the painful sunlight. That someone snapped insistently, and I later found out that it was Eponine trying to get my attention, and not long after my lack of response, she decided to tip the bed over, which helped. As I tumbled off of the straw hammock, she smiled and went to the chest where I keep all of my stuff to presumably find a proper outfit or something.

  "Good morning..." I said and sat up with my blanket wrapped around me tightly. Eponine waved behind her shoulder at me. She seemed too busy to look back at me and give me a warm smile like yesterday, and was scowling at a pair of acid-washed jeans, setting them aside with a white tanktop. After a while, she stood back up and handed the bundle of clothes to me, making a few gestures with her hands then snapping a few more times, then before I knew it, she had left me to myself once again.

  I looked down at the pile she had given me and looked over the whole thing: A pair of my nicest jeans, some bright pink shirt I don't remember owning, and a necklace she probably had given me before she left. It was just a simple one, a strip of leather with some sort of charm that looked like a wing indented into the wood. I frowned at the outfit and went to my chest again, emerging with my favorite pair of faded jeans and an ink black tanktop, and a hairbrush. As soon as I left my tent, another person was immediately in front of me, though they were one I didn't recognize.

  "Finally you're done! Do you  realize that we're on a tight schedule?" He said in agitation. The new person had stark white owlish wings protruding from his shoulder blades and he wore an annoyed look on his face. He had deep brown hair and chocolate skin, light enough that you could spot freckles on his face. I stood disoriented for a short moment, then caught up with myself.

  "What do you care?" I snapped back, hopefully keeping the venom in my voice. The man was tall and looked like he could snap me in half with the flick of his wrist. "I don't even know who you are!" The man's scowl deepened and he rubbed his face to relax. He looked like he was about to speak again, but Seefe appeared seemingly from nowhere and looked at the two of us.

  "Any trouble, you two?" she asked with a stern face. The other one rubbed his face again.

  "Not at all," He replied in a mumble, "I guess we're just not getting along too well." Owl-guy glared at me, then left, striding angrily to the clearing.

  Seefe eyed me then ushered to follow her. "Don't worry about Wyatt, he's all bark." she said as she walked quickly in front of me. I need to pick up my pace with hers.

  "Where are we going?" I asked. I knew we were going to the clearing, but that was about it.

  "You're going to start your first day of training today. Why do you think Ep gave you that necklace in the first place." Seefe sounded like she was smiling. That explained the charm Eponine gave me. I must have belonged to some kind of garrison now. Weird.

  Before I could blink, Celeste stood between both of us and kept walking, making me jump and swallow a yelp. She smiled at me and hugged Alex from behind. "You guys are taking so long!" she whined, "Everyone's starting to wonder where you two are. I'll take you back over right now if you like"

  "Why not?" Seefe smiled and took Celeste's hand in her own. I did the same with her other and closed my eyes tightly, remembering what Celeste had said before. When I opened them back up, all three of us were in an area of the Clearing, in front of Eponine and Wyatt. Seefe motioned for me to take my place with them.

  She began:

  "I trust that you are aware of the new member of the garrison?" (I was right) "Everyone, this is Paz, she only got here yesterday, so treat her well. We're all family here -" She told me to come foreward. "Paz, as of today, you are an honorary member of this garrison. Go with Celeste to begin your training please."

  This was weird, it felt like I was just a baby going through kindergarten, or something along the lines of that. Everyone stared at me with a near-predatory gaze, like I was about to break apart any second. Celeste took my arm and gently nudged me away from the rest. "Come on, bug, we've got a lot to do."

  I complied wordlessly and followed Celeste to a different area, just outside the thick of the forest. The trees seemed to fade into pitch blackness, and something wriggled around in the maze of trees before me. The sight seemed so strange and mesmerizing, it pulled me in quickly. I could have sworn I saw a pair of eyes flash out to stare at me, I needed to get a closer look. It was calling to me, ushering me to join it in the darkness. Paz, Paz, Paz -

"Paz!" I broke out of my trance when I felt someone pull me away harshly.

"What?"

  Celeste looked nervous, standing in front of me to keep me from staring at whatever was out there. "I think we should find a different place to practice, Bug,"

  The delirium returned in waves. "I - I saw something out there... I need to see it-"

  "Paz." She sounded stern and took hold of my shoulders. "There is nothing  out there."

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

I tried my best with this chapter, but it was kind of hard to continue the story from the last point... I also had to brainstorm for quite some time on the continuation of the plot and the like.

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