Opposites: The Staff of Light [Book One]

16. The Whatever Flag

Annabeth

Golden plates lined on our table with food that already was served. If I may be correct, I saw a cloud of mist above mine before we entered, which immediately left once we got in. “Something’s haunting me,” I thought. “Something really is haunting me. It’s the voice. It’s the voice I keep on hearing in my head.”

I stopped by the door until the entire cohort got in. For one thing, saying cohort that many times made me feel Roman. You see, almost the cabins are barracks, the stations for Roman soldiers, in case some of you wouldn’t know. And there were cases for weapons somewhere inside the cabin… and I found it. I just wasn’t quite sure if I was supposed to open a secret door and mingle with the stuff inside. I haven’t told anyone yet, not even Alice.

Besides, Alice and I were never that close. I mean… she’s my opposite. There are so many ways to figure it out. I have brown hair, she has blonde. She has ice powers, I have fire. She goes a lot outside, I don’t. I hear these high-pitched voices in her room every night, like Japanese language, sometimes in English but soon will lift up the same Japan, and I guess she may be fond of anime. Well, excuse me, I don’t. I read books… I don’t know about her. What else? She ices her dresses and other clothes while I don’t? Well, technically, ice doesn’t affect clothes harshly. I can’t actually burn my clothes, now that would be just pathetic.

I froze by the entrance of the cafeteria, noise lifting up to the air when the other cohorts started enjoying the meal again. I wondered how they could be so noisy. The cohort doesn’t even do that. I stood by the door, trying to ignore the fact that I was staring blankly into the air. I just didn’t want to get myself into anymore soda-trouble. The Games would probably start soon and I have exactly no clue of what to do if another can had spilled on me.

“Hey, Fire Girl,” a new voice said. A flash of yellow zoomed from the second table and stopped in front of me. I saw a boy with sandy blonde hair, wearing a yellow shirt and workout pants. He grinned at me, running a hand through his hair. An arm was over my shoulder with him leaning on the wall behind me. “So, what happened to you at the infirmary? What? Soda got your fire leg?”

“Listen, Arthur,” I growled. A fire flamed on his hand behind me, which he quickly waved around in the air until it burned out. “I don’t like you doing this to me or my cohort, so please, duck off, because by the time I lay my hands on you, you are dead. Dead, I tell you! Now, we had a deal.” I smiled innocently as I made my way to our table, having no choice but go. “So, I guess I’ll see you unconscious on the Games, then.”

I sat beside Colton, finding all their eyes on me. He leant across and whispered a hopefully nice thought into my ear. “I like you doing that,” he said softly. “Can you please not stop doing that? You know, at least, for me, and the entire cohort, please? You know, respect like what you preserve for all of us rarely comes to view.”

He pulled away, and my eyes softened. “I’d be honored,” I answered, looking back at my plate. It wasn’t much really. It was a simple tea cake, a Devil’s food cake. I didn’t know how I knew it, but I’d be glad to tell you the recipe, but I’m afraid that would be a story for another day. I took a piece off with a fork and put it into my mouth, savory sweetness and delight danced along my taste buds. I’ve never eaten something so delicious ever in my life. Okay, consider that fourteen years of my life. I once saw a picture of the same cake in a book, and now I was eating it.

It was perfection. Gods, I craved for more like an entire swarm of vultures trying to fight for the decomposing leg of a hyena. Maybe that wouldn’t be a perfect little explanation but it sure sums up what I saw in that cake. You can tell I was never raised with pastries, never knowing how delicious each bite tasted. I took another bite and another and another… until I finished off the entire dish. Like I said, it was perfection. From that minute forward, I wondered what I’d have for breakfast the next morning. Things should work that way, shouldn’t it?

“I only ate a few chili peppers for breakfast today,” I thought. “I’d better look for another dish, preferably a lot like this one.”

A new voice came into the room. We turned and saw a man in his mid-twenties dressed in all black, whatever his problem was. My necklace felt cold on my chest. “Good evening, students,” the man smiled sweetly in his… did he have a British accent? Why am I not surprised? “In a few minutes, I would like all of you to make five lines, one per cohort, and the head should accept the flag. During that session, I’d like all of you to access your powers into the Flag and leave the name of your cohort to it. It’s initiation night. Anyway, after that, you all should scurry back into your cabins and change.”

The man looked down at his wrist, reading time on his watch. “I’ll give you five minutes to change, and you shall all meet in front of this tavern in the same lines,” he added. He smiled at me, making a gesture for me to come over. “The head mistress would like a word with you, Miss Candum. Soon, you can join the others of your cohort.”

I placed my palms on the table and stood up. As I made my way to the door, Jimmy from behind me yelled something so unpleasant I so had to resist the lust to make the entire cafeteria explode. I looked at Alice’s golden buttermilk cake, and I didn’t know why she loved butter so much. You know, I think it may be one of those Minecraft things she plays. What was that name of the youtuber she adored again? Skylar? Skyler? Sky-is-Blue? Oh, whatever. I gave up on guessing.

“The Fire Girl got herself in trouble again!” Jimmy cried, laughter building up the room again.

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, shut up, doofus,” I murmured as I thought of fire on his hair, and hopefully that happened when he began to scream.