The Secret

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

5 AM. The loudest music Dotti had ever heard echoed through the air and blasted her brain to jello.

"OHMYGOSHELIGILBERTFINN!!" She got up and threw her pillow at her cousin. He had had his pillow over his head, as did everyone else, but turned grogily around to face her. "IT'S NOT MY FAULT!"

Her look told him she didn't believe him. "YOU DID THE SAME EXACT THING AT CAMP. EVERY YEAR." 

He shook his head. "I DIDN'T DO IT THIS TIME!" The music shut off and a rock hard pillow flew at them. 

"SHUT UP, PEOPLE!"

"STOP SHOUTING! I'M NOT DEAF!" 

"I'M NOT SHOUTING!"

They were knocked down by a sleep crazy Kimmy. "BE QUIET! WE'RE ALL DEAF FROM THAT STUPID MUSIC, NOW FORMATION PEOPLE!" 

They were all awake by that time, and hurried to get ready. They got their hearing back too, well, mostly. 

"Stephen! Get out of the bathroom! There is seven of us, you know!" 

"Why would they wake us at five?!" 

"Dotti your hair looks like an octopus!" 

Dotti shrugged. "It does what it does." 

Dan and Ollie started banging on the bathroom door. "STEPHEN!!!! Get out of there!" 

"Ehem.." They turned to see Jay at the door. "I guess Uncle Mark forgot to tell you. The music plays at five, you get thirty minutes to get over to the training hall. Usually you'd spend thirty more minutes warming up for training before breakfast. But since today and tomorrow are off days, you'll just be going over rules. I'd get over to the training hall before Reagen gets impatient. Oh and, good luck!" She flashed a mysterious grin and disappeared. 

They all stared at the spot she had just been standing in for about a second before corruption issued.

"Stephen were leaving you!" 

"Come on people!"

"I'm so through with all the confusion in this place!"

"Ugh! Just move guys!" 

Dotti banged as hard as she could on the wall. "Now zip it. Everyone in a line." She waited for them to shuffle into a misshapen line. "Now march." 

The first few yards of shuffling feet were quiet, then that disappeared as a small snicker erupted from amidst them. Another one, a low chuckle. Soon everyone erupted into laughter. They entered the huge cave that served as a training hall still laughing. Something that died on their lips as soon as a voice said, "Well, it looks like the morning birds found their way." 

A tall black haired woman was leaning against the far wall. Reagan.

"Oh leave them be. You had a first time here too," Mark surprised them by defending them. He nodded to them. "Good morning, children. I suppose Jay stopped by to warn you? Good. Now I know we didn't start off very well..." he changed subjects. "Today was a practice, to see if you would get up. We see you have. Everyday an alarm will go off at five am to wake you. You have thirty minutes to wake up and get ready. Than we warm up. After that a small break for breakfast, and then the real training begins." 

"And we weren't told this last night because....?" 

Reagan smirked. "Mr. I-Know-What-I'm-Doing here forgot." 

They spent the next twenty-five minutes learning various rules and being told what is expected of them. After breakfast Reagan took them to the armory, where they each picked out a training rapier.

"You will all be trained in the basics. Sword, bow, sling, spear. Once you've learned them, you may pick a weapon of your own. It can either be any of the ones you see around you. If it's not one of the ones I listed, you will receive training for that as well." 

"Can I take this one instead?" Dan held up a perilous looking saber.

"No you may not." Reagan took the saber and put it back in its sheath. "Practice blades are dull for a reason, you know." 

"Yeah, yeah," Dan took up his dull-edged rapier and followed the rest of the group back to the training hall with Reagan.

~~***----**~~~

Monday morning started with a smiling Uncle Mark saying, "Today, you learn how to work." It ended with the Keepers, or PIT, as the Seven were beginning to be called, falling on the ground exhaustion.

"This is going to be the worst week of my life," Callie groaned. Even Kimmy agreed.