Synectica

Chapter 6

        Netta stared at Ryan for a moment, trying to process all of this. There was another whole country out there somewhere; if it was even still there. And somehow, she was from there. But then....were her parents from this country as well? Were all these kids' parents from this country that apparently no one had ever bothered to tell her about before? The red-haired girl - she was pretty sure her name was Ella - set a cup of tea in front of Netta and sat down next to the small blond girl Ryan had called Sophie. The two kids from the computers, Alice and James, came over as well and sat down at the table. They all looked fairly uncomfortable. She must be the first outsider to come in here to this - what did he call it? The Domum? The dark haired kid, James, seemed especially uneasy. But it looked as though he was putting that aside. Netta would have found out for sure and listened to his thoughts, but she thought it might be rude. Also, he was probably good at keeping his thoughts to himself after being friends with Ryan. But on second thought, maybe they weren't friends. Ryan did seem pretty annoying at times. Finally, Alice cleared her throat and straightened up.

        "Since James is reluctant to make the first move, as usual, I will for him." James glared at her, but did not interrupt.

        "I assume that since Ryan has already given you a full history that he has also told you our names. However, I am going to introduce myself and my brother anyway. It is only proper. My name is Alice Noveston. And this is my brother James Noveston. It is a pleasure to meet you." She smiled broadly at Netta and then elbowed her brother in the side and gave him a meaningful look. He glared back at her and then sighed.

        "It's nice to meet you Synectica. I won't hold your most recent attempt on my life against you." He still seemed uncomfortable; or maybe it was suspicion she detected. She would wonder how he knew her full name, but for someone who has access to the school security cameras, it was not necessarily surprisingly. None the less, it was kind of creepy.

        "Since Alice is being all proper, I will be is as well." said Ella. "My name is Ella Stev."

        "And I'm Sophie Lanin" said Sophie.

        "Ugh fine, I'll reintroduce myself. I'm Ryan Cartson. We obviously do not know each other because I have not been giving you my whole life story for the past twenty minutes." The other kids chuckled and Netta took it as a sign that it was okay for her to do so as well. When they were done laughing, they all looked at her expectantly. She heard Ryan in that place in her head. "You gonna tell us your name or what?"

        "Oh, my name is Netta Everst." she said quickly.

        Netta felt that things would be less tense if James would at least crack a smile. What was this guy's problem? All of a sudden the stood and turned to Ella.

        "Ella, I need to talk to you. Now." He said curtly. He walked over to the corner of the room and waited for Ella to get up and meet him there. He then started to talk to her her very quickly and very quietly .

        "Always so dramatic," said Ryan as he turned and looked at James who looked like he might pop a blood vessel.

        "Seriously, what is his deal?" said Sophie. "If I hadn't been out looking for Fizzy, we wouldn't have found her and she would be lying dead at the side of the school."

        "Netta or Fizzy?" Said Ryan

        "Netta you moron. Fizzy would just fly away or whack Sam in the face." Sophie smiled as she imagined Sam getting whacked in the face. "Which reminds me," she continued, "why did Sam try to kill you anyway?" She had turned her attention to Netta by now who had previously been zoning off.