Air Kingdom

Chapter 24-Food Fights And Giant Holes

This must have been the only time I've ever seen Rodas off guard. One second he was composedly eating breakfast, the other he had pie all over his face.

There was a stunned silence as no one said a word. We all expected him to dodge or duck, but he must have been too distracted by the sweet sight of food. Finally, I broke the tense laconism by giggling.

I couldn't help it. Sure, what Ellia did was wrong, but there was a silliness there that could cheer anyone up.

Rodas glared at me the best he could with whipped cream all over him. He picked up a syrupy pancake and flung it at me. The soppy creation landed straight on my head and I could even feel the maple syrup dripping on my face.

I gasped in disbelief. No. He didn't.

I picked up a handful of eggs on my plate and ironically missed. Training with my bow gave me spectacular aim but Karma made a move by making me mess up. Instead, the eggs hit Natalie, who was wiping the cream off Rodas' face.

Yellow and white eggs were now tangled in her thick blond hair. She smiled viciously before calling out, "FOOD FIGHT!"

In a flash, Serena flung cucumbers at me. I ducked, letting the wall take the blow and threw my toast-it was the first one I'd ever made-at Emily. Unfortunately, she caught it mid-air and crumpled it in her hand. However, Seiro took his milk and poured it on top of her head.

Emily quickly stood up, letting milk drip down all over his body. The food fight stopped, everyone, staring at the couple. Seiro mischievously smiled, acting completely different than usual. Emily seemed different too. Glaring at Seiro, she grabbed clumps of soggy cereal and stuffed them in his ears. At the sight of them fighting, the fight recommenced.

I don't know how long this went on, but we all stopped when we ran out of food to throw. To say that the whole place looked awful was an understatement. It was utterly horrible. Food adorned every white space in Natalie's kitchen.

If a Krey came to kill us, we would have easily stayed alive by blending into our surroundings like chameleons.

"Um, guys," Natalie began, shattering our realization of the outcome of our fight. "I'm going to need all hands on deck to help me clean this catastrophe up."

"Aye, Aye Captain," I responded, looking deadly serious. I even threw in a salute. Everyone else nodded, prepared to scrub every corner of the kitchen. Everyone except for Ellia.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna take a shower. See you guys later." She called out already running down the hallway. That girl hated chores.

Natalie sighed and snapped her fingers. Ellia's footsteps suddenly stopped and got louder and louder, until she finally reached the entrance of the kitchen, looking blank-faced. Everyone was confused at Ellia's sudden willingness to join us but Rodas had a knowing glint in his eyes as he stared at Natalie, who seemed to be concentrating.

What was even more shocking was the sight of Ellia picking up a sponge and starting to wipe all the grease off of the floor.

Serena was the first to snap out of her daze. "Omg! Is this a miracle? Am I really seeing Ellia Lightfeather doing chores?!" She gasped obnoxiously.

For some reason, Ellia didn't respond and continued scrubbing, showing no reaction to Serena's exclamation. That itself was a problem.

"Uh, Ellia? You in there?" Serena asked, waving her hand in front of her face. She didn't reply, looking completely engrossed in her work. We all turned to Natalie, who had her eyes closed.

"Care to explain what's going on?" I demanded, having mixed feelings about Ellia cleaning. Like her little puppet, Natalie said nothing. Rodas answered our troubled thoughts.