The Death Breathers

Chapter V

I find myself waking up back in my own nest. I don't think I'll get used to what it's like here.

Well, maybe, but not anytime soon.

I sit up, rub my eyes, and sigh.

It's pretty quiet. But it's a Saturday, so I think it'll be pretty laid back today.

I decide to have a shower.

I walk to the bathroom and find a girl with bright yellow hair standing at the sinks.

"Oh, hi!" she says. "G'morning."

I manage a slight smile, before she speaks again.

"I'm Canary, just so you know. Just remember me by the hair," she says.

"I will," I say as I smile, and go into a shower.

()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()

When I'm done, I grab one of the robes and wrap myself in it.

It's warm and fluffy too, like someone just took it from the dryer.

I go back to my nest, and put some clean clothes on. I settle on a black t-shirt under a plaid shirt, with some jeans.

I put some Converse on too, just the short ones.

I head down to the dining hall and see a few people there.

There's toast on the racks, and milk bottles. There's different types of spreads, and jugs of hot water to make a drink. There's also teabags and hot chocolate powder and coffee beans.

I make myself a cup of tea, and take a couple of slices of toast. I find the peanut butter, and slather it thickly onto the toast.

"Whoa, there rookie! Don't have too much now," says a boy with green hair.

"Oh, I'm just taking advantage of the sources," I reply. "I'm sorry, I really need to know everyone's names. What's yours?"

"I'm Parakeet, the one with the seriously whacky hair. If you're homophobic, I'd just like to warn you; I'm gay."

"Oh, I'm not at all. I'm all good with that stuff, seriously. And I'm happy that you can just say it without blushing or anything."

"You were bound to find out anyway, I came out to the group only a few weeks ago."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and it actually went really well. They all kind of knew anyway."

"How do you mean?" I ask, head on a lean.

"I'm just that sort of person apparently. Hey, drink your tea, it's probably getting cold."

"Thanks," I say, taking a sip. "So, how long have you known?"

"Uh, probably since I was around 11 or 12. I started seeing things in guys I never really noticed before."

"Aw, well I'm happy for you. And I hope you can find someone as proud as yourself to date," I say.

He thanks me with a smile, then continues with his breakfast.

()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()

After breakfast, I go to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face.

Then I go up to my nest, and just hang there for a bit, before Sparrow chirps at me.

"It's time to begin your training."

I look up at her. She's smiling.

I smile back, and follow her to the training area.

"Ah... I forgot to remind you that you'll probably need some more 'gym like' clothes for this part of your training."

"Oh, that's all good," I say. "I'll just pop back to my nest and change."

After that, I jog back to the training area.

It's quite different to what I expected.

There are ropes hanging from trees, and some ladder ropes. There's also a big mattress. Also, there's dumbbells and poles on the wall, plus some weights.

"Er... what's that for?"

"Oh, the weights? They're for later in your training," she explains.

"Right," she says. "I think we should start with some of the basics. Climb up on this ladder rope."

I climb up the first couple of rungs, and she tells me the next instruction.

"Can you flip on stuff?" She asks.

I consider this.

"Well, yeah, I guess."

"Could you do one for me? Please?"

"Um, okay," I say as I prepare.

I flip, and she claps. "Very nice. That was just to see what you can do."

"Okay, what's next?"

()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()

After a day of showing her what I can do and what I know, she says we can rest. She gets me water with ice in it, and I thank her graciously.

It was pretty tiring, I have to say.

She lets me go back to my nest to have a little nap before dinner.

It's about 20 minutes, but it definitely helps.

Jay wakes me up ever so lightly to tell me that dinner is ready.

"Hey, Phoenix, dinners ready."

He speaks in a silvery voice.

He's so sweet.

I open my eyes to the wonderful sight before me. I smile and get up.

We walk to the dining hall together. We're the last ones, but it's okay.

We sit beside each other and another girl with short white hair is sitting beside me.

She's very graceful, I can imagine her being a swan-like bird.

I don't ask her name, I can sense that she's quite reserved and quiet.

She quietly eats her food, and I decide to ask Jay what her name is.

"Oh, she's called Swan," he whispers.

"Of course."

"How do you mean?"

"She just looks and acts like one."

He giggles. "Yeah, a bit."