DESTINY

CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

 The dining hall takes up half of the downstairs. Apparently they do more than just eat in it, though, because the table we sit at is only long enough to span the whole back wall. The rest of the floor space, covered in a large rug, is unused except for a few divans and settees. They don't have many rules here, however they do like to separate girls from boys best they can. Girls on one side of the bedroom floor, we walk up and down the steps on opposite sides, and we sit facing the males at the table. All except Annalee and her husband. They sit beside each other.

 "So Seri," Ginger begins (it feels strange calling her that), "what did you think of that beginning?"

 "Yea, that was a little out there." Romi, who sits in front of us, lowers his head. They are talking about what Annalee's husband did before we were allowed to eat. He instructed us all to lower our heads and close our eyes to bless the food. None of us had seen anything like that.

 "Oh, uh, I don't know. It was different, I guess."

 "I thought it was the weirdest thing ever. I thought Papillon and Grace were the only strange divisions."

 The thought of Papillon brings me to the thought of my sister. I wonder what she's doing right now. Probably some ritual singing or something. "I don't know, I thought it was all right. I mean, gracing the food can't hurt us, right?" I shrug my shoulders. Ginger shrugs back and continues to shove, most lady-like if those two things can even remotely go together, a piece of cheesy chicken into her mouth. They served us chicken parmesen for our first meal here. I think Annalee said it was her favorite dish when we started eating.

 Once everyone has finished eating and talking to kill time, Quearan, Analee's husband, stands. Ginger goes to stand as well, but I take her arm and pull her back into her chair. If there is one thing I know about Victorian Division etiquette, it's that if the head of the house stands to leave or make an announcement or whatever, everyone else stands as well. Her face reddens but I don't think anyone really noticed except Romi and me.

 "If you will all take your dishes and stack them neatly on the cart beside the door, I will meet you all in the entering room for more instructions for tonight's events."

 The clatter of people pushing out of their chairs and taking their cups and plates fills the room. "Now we can stand." I smile at Ginger. We stand and pick up our plates. Behind us are huge french windows that show us all the day is gone.

 "That was stupid of me. It was something I hated doing there, but for some reason I did it."

 "Don't worry about it. Some habits are hard to shake."

 When we have stacked our dishes and walked into entering room, Annalee and Queran stand on the bottom step so they can stand a little higher than the rest of us. "So, the question someone asked earlier about the third floor I answered that it was a surprise. It is, indeed, a very big part of tonight! It is tradition that we do this now. I hope you all got good enough rest last night, because tonight, we ain't sleepin'!"

 All of us walk upstairs. The third floor is nothing like I expected. It is a lot like the dining hall, but the whole floor is one big, huge room. A few people stand in the room already, dressed in all black, but none of us are introduced so I take it they work here maybe? The lights are turned off suddenly, and girls squeal as guys ask what's going on. Ginger and I grab onto each other and, making the two of us laugh, Romi huddles into us and almost rams us to the floor.

 A voice cuts through the commotion and silences everyone. "Anything you can find in this room, take it and use it to your advantage. There are seven of us who are team leaders, the number not a coincidence if you were wondering." Laughs come from invisible people. "First rule, well, there is no first rule. But for starters, don't kill anyone, please. Hurt them, that can slide, but no killing. We haven't saved you yet. The seven of us will be hidden or running around places and you have to find us to be a part of our team. Once you have all found one of us seven, we will continue on with the second part of the game. Have fun with this and, remember guys, it's just a game, so don't get worked up if your team doesn't win in the end. But I will say, the prize is pretty awesome."