Legacy's Ghost

Episode 36: Negotiations

It's almost as if the Ghost was waiting outside with his ear pressed against my door, listening for me to wake up. After both men left my room, I thought I'd stay up all night tossing and turning, worrying about the next day, but I must've been exhausted from whatever happened in the caverns because I was out in seconds.

When the first glimmer of sun appeared in my room, I'm awake, pacing along the grass, letting its texture and coolness calm me.

Barely a minute later, there's a tap on the door and the Ghost pops his head inside. He gestures to a small pile of clothes near the door. "I brought you a new set. Nobody is in the showers if you'd like to get clean, then I'll take you to Edmonds. He'll have breakfast waiting for you in his office."

My stomach flipflops and I swallow, then grab the bundle of clothes from the floor next to the door.

As I tiptoe through the empty hallway, I memorize every detail. My time is limited at the monastery. No more Trina. No more Oliver. No more TAG lessons. Just when I start to make friends, they're ripped from me. I'm alone again.

The Ghost stands guard outside the showers while I lather up and wash off, quickly changing into my multi-layered outfit and becoming anonymous again. As if it matters. I'm sure the whole colony is talking about me. At least before my freak incident with the Swarm, only the people at the monastery knew about me. I was a nonissue. Now everyone knows. Even the Trinity are meeting me. In person. Alone. To talk about my future.

When I meet up with the Ghost again to leave, I'm a ball of sweat and ready to take another shower.

"You ready?" he asks.

I nod, then follow him to a portion of the Monastery I've never been to before. Mainly because it's heavily guarded and has multiple security features. The Ghost is stopped three times and uses a facial recognition program (which I find fascinating because people can't see his face, yet these computers seem to be able to recognize him) at four more entry points.

When we stop, our surroundings have morphed from the ancient, wooden hallways in hollowed out trees, to modern wooden structure in the center of a grove of trees. Each simulated leaded window is shatterproof. The walls made of a nuclear blast-proof composite, is covered with ornately hand-carved wood on both the inside and the outside to appear like the other buildings.

Though I've never been here, I know exactly where we are. I saw photos of it and studied the schematics in the files I'd been given in one of my TAG classes. We're in the Political Hall, where the Trinity welcomes, entertains, and meets with leaders from other worlds.

The guards stationed on each side of the twenty-foot-high solid wooden doors watch us enter into the Hall where Edmond sits at a massive wooden table covered in a variety of fruits and breakfast foods.

Edmond's sitting in a velvet tufted chair that looks more like a throne when we approach him. He looks up from the papers he's reading and smiles, letting the crow's feet at the edges of his eyes etch deeper into his skin. "Gentlemen, welcome!"

He stands and gestures to the seat he'd been sitting in. "Atan, you sit here please. Tradon and I will sit on either side of you."

I take the seat, sinking into the plush cushions. The velvet is still warm from Edmond's body, and the table hits me at the chest, making me feel like a toddler sitting at the grown ups' table. On the table, every sort of fruit and pastry imaginable spreads between us, with a gold-tipped plate in front of each of our chairs, and a goblet poised at the upper right-hand corner of my plate. Edmond and the Ghost each have cups of coffee on matching gold-tipped saucers.

I put my hands in my lap, waiting for instructions. Is this a test? Will I get in trouble if I do something wrong? My stomach gurgles at the sight and smell of the warm, gooey cinnamon rolls, but I refuse to move.

Finally, Tradon grabs a croissant and some grapes, placing them on his plate. Edmond and I do the same.

"You will have your first meeting here with Tradon. He prefers his meetings to be more informal," Edmond says, before popping a grape into his mouth.

I gaze out at the hundreds of empty chairs in front of us. "What does formal look like?"

"You'll see soon enough," Edmond says, with a gentle smile. Let's focus on your meeting with the Ghost first.