The Court House is stunning. It doesn’t strike me as a place of horrible torture and I begin to doubt all the rumors I’ve heard. A smile actually reaches me and I realize that there is hope for a better outcome. The place looks like a gorgeous boarding school. There is a large green lawn stretching out before me, its rich color enlightens me and I begin to feel giddy. I am standing at the gate with the other candidates and we are all in awe. There is a fence surrounding the area and the gate is made of intricate black vines twisting and turning up to about ten feet in the air. My fingers reach out and to feel the cool metal and am overwhelmed by the smoothness of it. There are two white pillars on each side and I begin to dread that this building will be as colorless as the last. There is an arch at the top of the gate that forms what would like the top of a heart and there are two vines twirling together at this point. It seems as if they were lovers who were separated for the longest time and were finally reunited, their love spirals all the way the box close to the bottom of the gate. It’s a DNA scanner. Luis lifts open the lid and does the required retinal scan. There is a small beep and the two coal black vines are separated once more as the gate opens, and I try to move as quickly as possible so to not have the lovers apart for too long.
I can’t help it. I stand still, frozen in awe of the large building. It’s about four stories tall and stretches all the way to the lakefront at the far end. The building is made of simple concrete, but has been painted various colors. It’s as if each room had to have a different color, and then I realized in what shape the odd color patterns were in. They were all shaped like puzzle pieces, all different colors, like something a small child would enjoy assembling. Yet, it didn’t take away from making it look professional. It’s… hard to explain how it fit in perfectly but it just did.
Eventually I began to walk again, across the stone decorated path. The concrete was a pastel blue and it felt surreal to be walking on such oddly colored floor. The stones on the edges of the path were like glass, see through and yet dark enough to make you confuse it for a rock. There are odd plants behind them. It looks like a green stick with a bulb of colorful fluff. But the fluff wasn’t all in one bundle, it was separated into different groups, like four or five, and they spread outward and away from the central yellow ball. There were green leaves coming out from the green stick. I walked closer to Logan and whispered, “What are those colorful things called?”
He smiles, “They are called flowers, and the red ones over there,” he points to the area closest to the entrance, “that are all tightly put together like almost in the shape of a cup, are called roses.”
“Roses,” I repeat.
He nods, “Have they never taught you about flowers in the School?”
I look down, immediately ashamed, “I usually didn’t go to the School, I tried to work, for money.”
“Oh.” He says softly, and our conversation ends.
When we reach the entrance and I am about to enter Luis stops me.
“Wouldn’t you want a rose?” He asks me.
My cheeks turn pink and I stutter, “Oh, I umm, well, sure.” I push my loose red hair back behind my ear as he hands me one of the plumpest of the bunch.
“I heard you’d never known about flowers, much less roses. I thought you might like to take one in to your dormitory.”
I smile at him, “Yes, I would.”
He extends out his arms and his green orbs laugh along with him. “Did you know that there are roses of the color blue?” He seems excited to intrigue me, so I play along.
“Well actually Mr. Night, no I did not.” I reply.
“Then I must find you one! And call me Luis, I’d prefer you to look at me as a friend instead of an official.” He tells me.
I simply nod and he continues to talk to me, even when it’s obvious he should say something to the whole group instead. I start getting looks from the other candidates and luckily the lady that had been sitting next to Genevieve spoke up.
“Official Night, I believe it is time for you to lead all of the candidates to orientation.” Her blonde hair bounces in her messy bun. She is dressed as if for the Choosing Banquet, but she looks too old for it. Maybe twenty-three years old?
“Oh yes, right! Well candidates I’d like to welcome you to the Court House. Here you will be awakening at six thirty in the morning for our traditional strength camp. Then taken for breakfast at seven and be placed in your uniform and attend the School, here we have some of the best teachers from around our sector and we expect you to do your best in these classes. At twelve o’clock you will have lunch and resume with classes until five. At the end of the classes you have dinner together and a free period until eight o’clock, then you must go to bed. You will meet with me during your free period, don’t worry I’ll go to you. Then we can work on your campaign, and your presentation.”
I can tell he’s still looking at me, but it isn’t the friendly, kind look anymore. It’s like he wants to protect me from something he doesn’t know of, but what?
He hands out tablets that were in his tan flip open bag.
“What I am handing out to you is a map of the Court House. Don’t lose it because I’m not planning on ordering more. Each of you has a separate dorm. Boys are on the left wing of the building, girls on the right. We don’t want any surprises from midnight encounters.” He raises an eyebrow at each of us, “Understood?”
We nod, and he continues, “Your rooms have been chosen for you already, just look for the one with your name on it! Any questions?”
We all stay silent, and Ethan raises his hand.
“Can I share a room with my brother? I need to help him get used to this place; in the Safe House it took him almost a week to stop having nightmares.”
“No it didn’t!” Lucas protests, hitting Ethan on the arm.
“Yes it did!” Ethan retorts.
Luis laughs, and says, “Sure, but only for a few nights, we can’t have you too in the same bedroom for more than a week.”
Ethan nods and Luis looks at the crowd and his eyes catch mine again, “Anything else you’d like to know?”
Claire raises her hand, “Do we have to wear uniform all day long?”
Luis responds as he strides around the grand entrance, “Excellent Question, you only have to wear your school uniform for school hours, for the training beforehand we’d prefer you wear athletic clothing, shorts and a tee. After that you can wear basically anything you’d like.”
“Anything?” Claire asks.
He simply nods. “As long as it can be considered appropriate.” Then after a quick and obvious glare from the twenty-three year old he corrects himself, “Sorry, scratch that. Anything.”
What was that? Claire doesn’t seem to mind, if anything she’s excited to daydream about what she can wear tomorrow. Was I the only one who noticed? I look around cautiously, remembering when they sedated Harry and determine no one else noticed. Then I see Logan’s smile twitch. He must’ve noticed it too, I think to myself.
“Off to your rooms candidates!” Luis proclaims. We all go our separate ways
