Sudden Departure

Chapter Fourteen

Eighteen chocolate curls danced around in front of my face. I know. I counted them. Just when I peeled my eyes open from my nap I saw them.

Nebula popped up from her sitting position on her bunk and grinned at me. "Dinner time."

My stomach growled violently as I slid from the bunk and landed with a thunk on the gray cement. I yanked my hair out of its coil and watched it expand into a wavy, tangled mess.

As Nebula steered me out of the room I frowned. "Question: If we are dead how are we still hungry?"

She chuckled, "How did I know you would ask that? Um, since you have left over Life Essence traces in you (due to the fast paced ritual not being very reliable,) you still get hungry, but the rest of us have no Life Essence left. We only eat to keep sameness."

I nodded and shuffled after Nebula. We went back down to the first floor. In the big lobby there were four long tables set up Harry Potter style with another one set up horizontally by Death's door. Eight people with white armbands sat at the head table and hundreds of people with the other varying colors were seated together at their tables.

Nebula went and sat with Terrance so I followed behind her. When he saw Nebula he smiled, but as soon as he saw me his face fell and he nodded at me curtly. I slumped onto the bench and watched the white banded commanders stand up.

"Please rise," a woman with long white hair directed. Everyone rose. "Thank you for joining us, tonight. Death, as usual, could not attend. In his place I would like to welcome every new Sudden Departure and thank you for making the decision to join our ranks and restore balance. Congratulations to those of you who have been assigned. Please, dig in."

At her words everyone turned their heads to me and casted almost disappointed glances. I felt my face turn red.

A girl with blonde hair twisted in two little buns on the top of her head looked at me and smiled. "It's okay, you aren't the first person not to be assigned the very first time."

I lifted an eyebrow. "When was the last time?"

Her smile dropped and an apologetic look replaced it. "Um, six hundred years ago."

"Thanks, that helps a lot," I said with a tight smirk on my face.

She bit the inside of her cheek before extending a hand. "Hi, I'm Millie."

I huffed and shook her hand. "Shailene."

She smiled cautiously. "I know."

I watched Millie as she piled food onto her plate, which reminded me how hungry I was. I slid a plate off of the stack in the middle of the table and loaded it with gobs of mashed potatoes, a piece of steak, and a spoonful of green beans. I quickly shoveled it into my mouth and went back for seconds. I felt like I hadn't eaten in days.

A guy with long, dark hair pulled into a ponytail at the base of his head laughed. "Hungry?"

I swallowed a mouthful of potatoes, "You have no idea."

Everyone went back to their plates. As I lifted my plate and added more food a question popped into my mind. "So, do you have to sit with the specific assignments like the Houses in Harry Potter or can you sit wherever."

"They prefer that we sit with our assigned groups, but we can sit wherever," answered the guy with the ponytail.

I nodded and returned stuffing my face with food.

"Yeah, like I'm a Receiver, so is Nebula, Terrance is a Guardian, and Hershel here is a Scout," Millie supplied gesturing to everyone with her hands.

I nodded and wiggled around uncomfortably in my seat. I felt the hot glare of somebody's eyes on my back. I twisted around on the bench and saw a guy leaning against a pillar with his eyes focused on me.

He had dark, side swept hair that framed his pale face with messy, inky locks. His limbs and torso were long and thin, but toned and wiry with muscle. On either side of his long, straight white nose sat his magnificent eyes.

They were unlike any I had seen so far. They were clear and glassy and reflected everything about both him and me right back into my own eyes. His eyes seemed older than time itself. Old, yes, but also wise enough to know not share their secrets.

He sort of reminded me of Cameron, but almost surpassed him in an odd beauty.

I pulled my gaze away from him and his acknowledging smirk to Millie and Hershel. "Um, who's that?" I asked while hooking my thumb in the direction of the guy and hoping my face wasn't reddening.

As they searched for him their faces filled with recognition, then confusion, then an expression I didn't recognize.

"Don't know," Hershel shrugged, obviously feigning nonchalance.

I cracked my knuckles and leaned forward. "You're lying."

Both of their jaws dropped. Millie stopped in the middle of transferring food to her mouth and stared at me with wide eyes. Hershel reeled back and raised his eyebrows at me in shock.

"I would like to know who he is," I stated as I leaned back again and breathed deeply.

Millie leaned towards me and spoke in a hushed tone, "Nobody really knows who he is."

Hershel leaned forward and did the same. "Yeah some think he is a rebel spy and others think he's a projection made by Death to keep us in line."

I nodded. "What group is he in, like what was he assigned?" I asked, pushing them for answers.

Millie shook her head, "Nobody knows that, either. He kind of floats, it's like he's not even assigned."

"Yeah," Hershel piped, "sometimes he'll be a Scout, others he's guarding, and he does other stuff, too."

I frowned and bit the inside of my cheek. I turned around to look at him, but he was gone.