The Miscreants of Xiphoid Camp [NOT UPDATING CURRENTLY]

» 2130 « Chapter 4 - An unexpected companion

It was a far-from glorious morning at Xiphoid Camp. Avior had been rudely and abruptly pulled from a fitful sleep by the sound of a bell ringing faintly outside. Upon further investigation, he saw Fred Finch jogging up and down the main path, violently shaking a bell and yelling "up and at 'em, campers! Let's go! Time's a-wasting!" Apparently that was how every day began at Xiphoid Camp — a ceaseless cacophony of torture. He was far more tired than he felt that he should have been, though he supposed that a midnight escapade would have to have its consequences at some point—but Avior Viator did not face consequences. Consequences faced him.

He had showered and dressed as fast as humanly possible. There was no way any aspect of that bathroom was architecturally sound, and he shuddered to think what nasty sort of insects might have been crawling around in there. That had brought him to where he was now. Standing in a semicircle with the four other Tertiuses while Fred Finch and Caryn babbled on about what to expect at xiphoid camp.

"I'd like to congratulate our two new junior counselors, Inaya Bartlett—" a tall, willowy girl with long braids stepped out of the Secundo group and waved nervously— "and Andy Mcdermott!" Caryn said. A blond boy walked stiffly out of the Quintus group. He did not look at anyone. He did not smile.

Avior was learning that there were nine cabins at Xiphoid, each with some weird Latin name. He didn't know how people were sorted into which cabin, other than that they were split by gender—except for the ninth cabin, Nonus. He couldn't figure that one out. The Nonus campers looked out of place among the eager, excitable faces of the other eight groups. They were all either surly and bored or brimming with nervous energy.

"Yes! let's give them a round of applause!" Fred Finch said, tearing Avior's attention away from Nonus. Fred Finch made a great show of applauding harder than anyone else. Once the noise died down, he continued. "Right then! Junior counselors in training: Remi Dotson, Bradley Robinson, and Elwood McDermott are to report to Inaya and Andy after breakfast!"

"Affirmative, sir!" Bradley called out. A few people giggled. Bradley seemed to have very little self-respect.

"Okay! When your cabin's name is called, step forward as a group to receive your official Xiphoid Camp T-shirt!" Fred Finch said. Behind him, Caryn ripped open a large cardboard box.

"Primus!" she called.

"Secundo!" Fred Finch cried.

"Tertius!" Avior and the rest of Tertius stepped forward. Caryn handed him a teal and white tie-dye shirt. Who had approved that garish idea? He unfolded it, and to his dismay, it bore violently purple lettering on the front that he was quite certain read 'XIPHOID CAMP' and below it, most likely 'Tertius'. There was a black outline of a sword behind the words. He planned to throw this shirt out as soon as possible. It was entirely too much.

The calling of names continued, with "Quartus! Quintus! Senio! Septimus! Octavo! Aaaaand Nonus!" Once the final shirt had been distributed, Caryn clapped twice. "You are all free to go!" she said. "Come back here at twelve o'clock for our first camp activity!" And with that, all fifty-six members of Xiphoid Camp dispersed, and Avior found himself caught in a flood of moving bodies and waving hands and a constant stream of loud chattering. He pulled his arms in tight to himself and tried not to get swallowed whole by the press of people.

"I bet Secundo is gonna beat Primus in the rankings again you guys are so going down just you wait and see..."

"Not a chance—there is no way we're losing to a bunch of girls..."

"Did you hear about the new staff here no I don't know why but it's pretty suspicious i wonder what happened maybe..."

The crowd seemed to all be moving in the same direction with a single destination in mind, and Avior was swept along to a large, imposing cabin with a cerulean roof and tall set of double doors quite similar to those on the main office. He was fairly certain that this was the dining hall. Once inside, his suspicion was confirmed. In the center of the room, there were nine tables, each a different color. Perhaps those were meant to divide each cabin. However, most people chose to ignore the colorful tables and instead gravitated toward the far more numerous uncolorful round tables scattered throughout the room.