Radar

The Meeting

Once Oli and Neptune were through to the Free State, the octomobile crashed down onto Nephititi with a clang. They leapt out the silver machine, Olivia holding Bagel in one arm, her briefcase in the other, and raced to the Bottleneck Hotel to drop off her stuff before the meeting. They staggered through the doors of the grand building, and dumped any luggage they had in a cupboard labelled "STAFF AND PERMANENT TENANTS ONLY".

"Hello Lamentha, take Miss Blackburn's cat and luggage to her room will you please?" Neptune asked. Oli hadn't quite realised who he was talking to, until she turned around, and realised she'd had her back to this magnificent creature since they walked through the doors. Behind her stood an extremely large cat. Not 'large' in a 'fat cat' kind of way, but 'large' as in if you made a fully grown Maine Coon three times bigger.

"Lamentha is a Magnificat, but she can be quite moody, so try to stay on her good side, you don't want to end up like poor old Maggie over there." He whispered, pointing to a lady who seemed around 30 years old, who was covered, I mean COVERED, in cat scratches, and bite marks. Next to her was who Olivia guessed was the hotel concierge, holding a bag of frozen peas to Maggie's head.

"Ugh, fine. But I'm not putting anything away, I'll just put it in your room. And that cat better not attack me in any way or it's getting thrown out the window." Lamentha groaned.

"Wait wha-" Oli started, though, yet again, Neptune cut her off.

"Thanks Lam. Now quick, we need to get to the meeting!" Neptune said, with an anxious wiggling foot. (Wiggling foot count: 4)

They rushed back out the front doors of the hotel, and Neptune handed Olivia an umbrella.

"What's this for?" She asked

"Open it up, and jump when I tell you to okay. It's for the brolly plain. It's a little bit like Mary Poppins, you'll be flying away with your umbrella in no time," He replied, "3...2...1... Jump!"

They jumped in synchronisation, and the wind caught under their umbrellas, lifting them away in the wind. The landed at the front of a big red-brick building with a sign next to it, saying 'Braveheart Hall'.

"Right, don't be scared, but there will be 9 other scholars and patrons there, so try to be on your best behaviour." Neptune said to Oli, pulling open the ornate double doors, leading into a huge room with a marble floor. As soon as they walked in, name tags appeared on their shirts, Oli's saying 'Olivia Blackburn: Scholar' and Neptune's saying 'Neptune West: Patron'. They gingerly crept through the hall, opening yet another ornate door, to where the other scholars and patrons sat, waiting for the last two to arrive. Olivia and Neptune sat down on their chairs, which were extremely uncomfortable, but they just put up with it. She looked around the room. To her left was a tall boy with the name Jack Boltan, whose patron was an elderly woman named Sheila Ross. To her right was a shorter, blonde girl called Nancy Therman, her patron, Sorscha Itting. After a few minutes of scouring the room, she realised that on the wall opposite her, was a blackboard with all the names of the scholars and patrons, for the scholars, their age was included as well. The board read:

Scholar: Patron:
Nancy Therman,  16. Sorscha Itting
Hattie Forreger,  16. Jason Boglin
Jack Boltan,  17. Sheila Ross
Olivia Blackburn,  16. Neptune West
Raegan Hill,  16. Holly Jove
Betty Richards, 17. Katie Richards
Blake Corra, 17. Joseph Gratland
Iris Sallow, 16. Si Ching
Michael Monto, 17. Florence Totham
Kyle Wilson, 16. Zara Pattison