The Legend Of The Six

Chapter 20

It's been two weeks since the campfire. Today is Friday, and it's time for me to go to the ceremony. I see the note during class. It's waiting for me on my desk, just sitting there. I know what it means because it's in invitation form.

"What's that?" Rowan asks. I jump, startled. He's right behind me, looking over my shoulder. I quickly grab the note, backing away.

"It's nothing," I tell him. Amelia enters the classroom, and everybody sits down fast. Amelia chuckles, finally sitting at her own desk. I raise my hand.

"May I go to the bathroom?" I ask her. She nods.

"Go ahead. Hurry back, please."

I feel a bit bad about what I'm going to do. Putting the guilt out of my mind, I stand up. Making my way through the rows of the desks, I head out the door. Spotting the fire alarm, I take a deep breath and pull it.

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I walk down the street, heading toward the familiar abandoned house. It looks like the leaning tower of pizza, except dirty and broken. Maybe I should explain now. See, you know I'm in foster care. What you don't know is that I'm part of an....organization. It's a community of foster kids that look out for each other. We're the family we never had. We keep just broken people, too, not foster people only. It's weird how it got started. I'm one of the founders. There are four other founders: Emma, Raine, Beth, and David. We've all been best friends since we were little. We met in a crowded foster house, and we've stuck together since. Never losing contact. We each picked an abandoned building to hide in, and called it our "house". Emma's is called the Swan house, David's is called the Bear house, Raine's is called the Cobra house, Beth's is called the Cheetah house, and mine is called the Raven house. Obviously. We just started to let people come to us. We've become sort of famous on the streets. Anyway, when there's a new person (recruit) about to become part of a family (house), we have a ceremony held for them at the person's house that they chose. The founders have to be there for the oath they take. It's a whole party thing and everybody celebrates. The oath the recruit takes is serious and is not to be taken lightly. The invitation said it's a new addition to the Swan house. Nico Rivers is joining today. Huh. Wouldn't have expected that. Nico Rivers has a rich daddy that could buy him anything. I don't know why he would need to join our community. But there's always more to a person than it seems.

I'm almost to the house when I hear somebody call out my name.

"Raven!" he yells. I whirl around to see Rowan standing there, out of breath and sweating. I glare at him.

"What're you doing here?" I ask incredulously. He puts a finger up, telling me to wait a minute. He's hunched over, panting. What did he do? Run a marathon? I think back to when he followed me to the diner. Then he did the campfire thing. I was afraid something like that would happen. I was afraid if I uttered one word, then the dam would break and everything would come flooding out. I guess I was half wrong, half right. Not everything came out. I was still able to keep some secrets. Well, to be fair, my head is pretty full of them. Rowan finally speaks.

"I saw you leave the building and go out into the street after the fire drill so....I kinda sorta.....followed you," he says. I gape at him. He had the nerve to do this after the diner!

"Just leave me alone," I scream. Some people walking by stop to look at us. I look at them and widen my eyes, making sure I look like a panicked, scared teenage girl. "He's trying to make an inappropriate move on me!" I yell at them, pointing to Rowan. He looks like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Miss, this is all a misunderstanding-" he begins. But the old lady hits him with her bag and starts lecturing him on being a proper gentlemen. I slip through the crowd unnoticed and head toward the house once again. Climbing up the steps, I hurry inside. Woah. It's beautiful. Decorations are everywhere. The old instruments they found a while back are in the middle of the room now, waiting to be used. I sigh. The old worn mattresses are in the back, out of the way. People are running around everywhere, trying to get ready for the ceremony. I spot Emma talking to some guy. It must be Nico Rivers cause I've never seen this guy before, and I know everybody in our community. I watch as he says something to her that makes her eyes widen and her face grow red. He walks off and she just keeps standing there.

"Hey Em!" I shout at her. Emma turns around and smiles. I walk towards her. As I reach her she says, "I haven't seen you in a week!"

I think back to my near-death experience and all I've been through.

"Yeah," I say. "I've been busy."

She nods, though I can tell she wants to ask me about my response.

"Why don't we get changed?" she asks instead. I nod.

"Yeah, don't wanna miss the big show!"

She laughs. A strand of her curly, ginger hair falls in her face, brushing against her glasses and resting on her freckled face. She hasn't changed a bit in the last week. Same old clothes: A thin, loose camo jacket, a white tank top, torn jeans, and sneakers. She clasps her hands together.

"This is gonna be fun. And wait till I tell you about how I actually know the new recruit!" she squeals. I gasp.

"I know! And he is sooooooo infuriating!" Emma says as we walk toward our rooms. Sighing, I nod my head.

"I can relate," I tell her sympathetically. She gasps.

"Raven! We absolutely have to gossip like the girls we make fun of!" she says. I nod sadly. She looks sick as she says, "Unfortunately, it's time to become one of those girls for a few minutes."

We both shudder.