Jim Armstrong and the Goblet's Curse

Chapter 3: Take Candy From Strangers

   "Enter."

Noah pushed open the double doors and walked into the room with me in tow. I looked around me and my jaw dropped. The room was huge and hexagonal with three windows as three of the angles. An oak desk sat in front of the three windows with a red rotating cushiony chair behind it. Two more cushiony chairs sat in front of the desk for visitors to the office. An armoire stood in the far corner of the room and a couch sat in another corner of the room, but the most interesting part of the office were the papers.

There were pieces of paper everywhere, piled on top of the desk, strewn over the floor, haphazardly taped to the walls and peeking out of the armoire that was could barely close because of them. But even more interesting than the abundance of paper, were the drawings that were on the papers. Some were just sketches, others full out drawings, others still unfinished pictures with scribbles through them, as if the artist had gotten frustrated with the idea and abandoned it.

I finally took my eyes off the drawings and turned them to the man sitting in the red rotating chair. He was a middle aged man with reddish hair and a scraggly beard. He wore a suit and tie, looking crisp, but at the same time, he had the relaxed, laid back feeling of someone that didn't worry about many things.

"Master Benoit," Noah started. "I present to you, for the first time in person, James Armstrong." Master Benoit studied me for a moment, then he said,

"Would you like a candy?" Master Benoit dug through his piles of papers, unearthing a small plastic bowl that held colourfully wrapped candies in it. He slid it in my direction. Noah nudged me in the back.

"Just go with it," he whispered. I took a caramel centered one and Master Benoit replaced the bowl on his desk as I unwrapped the candy and popped it into my mouth. Master Benoit addressed Noah.

"It's a relief that you got to him in time," he said.

"I was lucky. The Greyon was about to finish him off when I killed it," Noah replied. Master Benoit nodded, then turned back to me.

"So, what do you think of the school?" Master Benoit asked me.

"Oh, it's amazing! Really cool," I said.

"Great, because you'll be spending the rest of your school years here." I choked on my candy.

"What? Are you serious?" I asked incredulously.

"Of course," Master Benoit answered, choosing a candy for himself now.

"Well, what about the rest of grade seven? High school? Because, to be honest, I very much plan on going to university too, and I don't think anyone will accept me if they see that I went to a school that I didn't even know about until today," I said.

"Don't you worry about that," Master Benoit said. "You're not going to a high school, or university. Well, not a normal one at least. You'll be here," Master Benoit explained. "As soon as you're signed in, every year you'll gradually acquire all of the normal knowledge that you would've learned in that year. Really, you should be thanking me. You don't need to sit through those boring classes, no tests, no lessons, you'll simply just... know it!"

"I'm not complaining about that," I admitted.

"Good! Now, Q&A time! I love doing this," Master Benoit said. "Fire away!"

"Uh, okay," I said, taken aback. "Um... why did that Greyon-thing attack me?"

"Oh, that's an easy one! It attacked because you're a Guardian and it wanted to get rid of you. Next!"