Spirit World Adventures

Chapter 9 - Brunch and the First Trial

We all had to hand our signed cards to Master Jack before we sat down to eat in the dining hall. It was a small room with a long table lining the middle. Several doors went off to each side of the room, and people came in and out serving different dishes. They were foods I'd never heard of; tastes I'd never tasted!

'While you eat, I will explain the trials to you,' Master Jack said, sipping from a glass with one foot up on his chair as he leaned casually to the side – mom would never let him do that at my house. 'Each of us – myself, Belle and Sal – have devised a test, if you will. We are testing different things about you to see if you are worthy of joining us in kicking some SSA butt. First is my task, which I will set shortly, then Sal's, then Belle's difficult one to end with a bang!

'I rather like our set up this year, if I do say so myself!' He literally patted himself on the back; it was cheesy.

'Where are the people who have already done this?' asked a girl wearing a sweater vest.

'Out hard at work or in their beds!' Master Jack answered.

'And their work, is it to help save people from the SSA? To save the spiritually sick?'

'Sure!'

'But the spiritually sick are a hindrance on our society, are they not?'

Master Jack became annoyed with her then, and I didn't blame him, 'Let's just say we have very different ideas about what constitutes sickness and I for one like to treat the sick, not kill them and punish them for getting sick, Acacia Storm.'

The girl (Acacia Storm) shrunk in her chair, but I saw her lips still moving as if she couldn't stop herself from making some sort of retort.

'Now, leave the questions for...well, let's just get on with it and I'm sure all questions will be answered naturally along the way. Isn't that more fun, too?'

I nodded, but no one else did. They looked as scared as I felt inside. It was weird; half of me was so excited to get started and see what I could do, but the other half of me felt like I was being set up to fail at something. The two sides were fighting one another in a tug of war that I didn't like. Looking around the table, I saw kids of a variety of ages; all shapes and sizes. Going to school within the Walled Cities meant I saw a lot of the same people all the time, from high-status families. Maybe that was what the boy from before had meant. I haven't seen enough types of people in my life. But that wasn't my fault.

'Let's do introductions! There's this funny thing that people used to do on Earth where they get totally embarrassed doing ice breakers. Let's do that!' Master Jack said, as Belle sat down beside him with a massive plate of glossy buns. 'Say your name and then say two things about yourself, but one of them must be a lie and we all have to guess which!'

'I'll go first,' I said, standing up and brushing the crumbs from my t-shirt, 'My name is Tenaya Walker, and I ... have a pet monkey and I can run one hundred metres in twelve seconds.'

Everyone looked at me and then they started to laugh.

'That's too easy. No one has a pet monkey, Tenaya, was it?' said Acacia.

'Well, it'll be easy to guess your truth and lie,' I blurt out, 'because you're such a damn nerd!'

'Now, now, Tenaya, hold back that bite until later!' Master Jack said, 'But I agree, I don't believe you have a pet monkey. Are we right?'

I nodded and folded my arms in a huff as I sat down. Acacia went next – big surprise.

'Hello everyone, I'm happy to be here,' she said.