The Chosen Ones: Awaken (On Hiatus)

Chapter 10

Josiah smiled at me warmly.

"Welcome Iris, Comb. Glad you could make it."

"Did I really have a choice to not come?"

Nope.

"Thought so."

Comb pushed past me and headed over to a group of guys, leaving me at the front of the room.

"What a gentleman." I thought dryly.

I looked around the room. Everyone was in their own little group. They all had a place to be. They belonged. And they were all staring at me.

Kill me now.

Josiah got up from where he was sitting and walked towards me. He smiled at me encouragingly. When he got to my side, he put his hand on my shoulder and turned to face the others.

"Hey, kids!" He called out.

"Hey, Dad!" They replied in unison.

This again...

"We have a new family member for you to meet... Again." I felt their stares intensify. Josiah looked at me. "Go on," He whispered. "Introduce yourself." Is he serious right now?!

Yep.

"Shut up."

I looked at Josiah, pleading with my eyes to no avail. I took a breath and looked at everyone again.

"Uh, hi, everyone." Silence. "My name is Iris."

"Hello, Iris." They replied. Kinda like robots...

Josiah cleared his throat and clapped his hands.

"You guys know what happens next. Form a circle." The next few moments were filled with the sounds of chairs being pushed against the walls and shuffling bodies. Soon, everyone was sitting on the floor in a circle. Well, I say circle. It was more of a lumpy egg. Josiah observed the "circle".

"We'll uh, do better next time." He said with a chuckle. He turned to me. "Let's introduce everybody else, shall we?" I gave him a slight nod. "We'll go counter clockwise starting from..." His eyes scanned the crowd. "Aurum!"

He was sitting on the right of Josiah. Aurum turned his head and made eye contact with me. I felt a blush creep up my neck as I remembered my last encounter with him. He grinned.

"My name is Aurum, as Dad has so graciously pointed out." His golden eyes twinkled. A sea of gold... I could swim in that all day.

Someone's got it bad.

"What? What does that even mean?"

Like you don't know.

"I don't!"

Mmhmm.

The girl to Aurum's left began.

"I'm Poppy."

"Star."

"Name's Violet."

"Clepsydra. Clep for short."

"That's an interesting name. It's not English."

Neither is Aurum's. They're both Latin.

"What do they mean?"

Clep's name means 'hourglass' and Aurum's name mean 'gold'.

"Infinity."

"Rose."

"Luna."

The girls shot me a smile. I smiled back.