Of Both Worlds

Chapter 3

Kale closed the large doors with a clang and Ace mindlessly bent down to pick up the discarded sword as Kaylin opened the door for him. Ace brushed by her without a word the wheels in his head spinning. He handed Kale back his blade who sized up Ace with a new perspective. "Adroit indeed." Kale mused taking the blade from Ace.

"You want to talk about it?" Kaylin asked as they strode towards the mess hall for dinner. 

 "I told you already Kaylin, I don't remember what happened."

 "It was so cool though Ace, you should have seen yourself, you were fearless, you concurred that wyvern like it was nothing! You didn't even get a scratch!" 

Ace shrugged off her compliments. A short boy with dark hair ran up to them, he was a bit younger than most of the others at camp. "Hi, I'm Sam." He held out his hand and Ace shook it, confused as to what was going on. "I heard you're now Adroit, congrats man." 

 "Uh, thanks. No offense, but why are you talking to me?" 

Sam smacked his forehead with his hand. "Duh! Sorry, my minds all over the place today. I was the new kid before you came along, and since I haven't had the easiest time making friends, I decided to be your friend, you're welcome."

 Ace looked at Kaylin to see her reaction to this sudden appearance by this boy. "How old are you, Sam?" Ace asked at last.

 "Thirteen, what about you?"

 "Fifteen."

 "Hey, you know you've never told me your name." Sam said.

 Ace hadn't intended to. No connections. "I'm Ace."

 "What's your ability?" Ace opened his mouth but didn't know how to respond, he turned to Kaylin for help. 

 "Undetermined." Kaylin said. "But he does have one."

 "Which yurt?" 

Ace turned to Kaylin, a question on his face. Kaylin hesitated. "Also undetermined."

 "So where's he sleeping tonight?" Sam asked. 

 "Yeah Kaylin," Ace said, stopping and crossing his arms. "Where am I sleeping tonight?" 

 "Health house." Kaylin said simply and kept walking. Ace caught up to Kaylin in a few long strides, and Sam had to jog to keep up.

 "I'll sleep there with you, if you want." Sam said. 

Ace didn't want Sam being a problem when he snuck out to visit Paramonos so he switched the topic. "Where do you live, Sam?"

 "Fox yurt." Sam said, looking at Ace with his bright blue eyes. 

 "Maybe I'll ask Kale if I can take up residence there, even if only for tonight." 

Sam's face lit up. "That would be awesome!" 

 They entered the mess hall and Kaylin led them to an open table where a covered platter sat in front of each seat. There were about two hundred or so teenagers in there. Ace reached for the cover on his platter and Kaylin smacked his hand. "What?" Ace asked. Kaylin shook her head and jerked her chin to something behind Ace. Ace turned around in his seat to see Kale stand on a platform. 

 "Talonhunters!" Kale called out. "It is with my greatest please to say that we have a new Adroit with us today, Ace please stand." Ace froze in panic, he hated being the center of attention. Kaylin stepped on his foot and Ace jumped to his feet. 

 "Thanks," Ace murmured to Kaylin.

 "Don't mention it." Kaylin muttered back. 

Kale was saying some nice things about Ace, but Ace just couldn't focus in on the words. When everyone applauded Ace took that as his cue to sit down. The normal hubbub returned and dishes were unveiled. "Kaylin!" A girl with dark skin and dark hair pulled up in a bun sat next to Kaylin. "I've been looking for you all day girl, where have you been?" The girl noticed Ace. "Dang he's cute." The girl then seemed to comprehend that she said that out loud. She put her head on the table and groaned. "Oh my god, just kill me now." 

 Kaylin laughed. "Lauren this is Ace and Sam, Ace, Sam, this is Lauren." With her head still on the table, Lauren gave a meek wave. Ace's face was as red as it had been since that one time he forgot to wear sunscreen in Death Valley. 

Lauren stuck her head up. "Nice to meet ya. So aside from that totally uncharacteristic way for me to make a first impression, I'm Lauren and I'm usually not that on top with my opinions."

 "No sweat." Ace said. 

 "So!" Sam said licking his lips. "What's on the menu for tonight?" Sam lifted his metal cover off of his platter to reveal a hamburger with a side of tater tots. Lauren's platter revealed a chicken caesar salad and Kaylin had fish tacos. 

"Ace, before you lift your cover up, you have to be picturing what you want your meal to be, drink included, you only get one order." Ace closed his eyes and then lifted up his cover. Kaylin looked at his plate unamused as she said the contents out loud, "A full oven roasted turkey, a bowl of mashed potatoes, a rib-eye steak, three sausages, a hamburger, a coconut milkshake and a tall glass of water." Kaylin let out a sigh. "I don't suppose I missed anything?" 

But Ace was already going to town with his food. And Kaylin had indeed missed some items of food. Ace had no idea how all of that had fit on the platter in the first place but it certainly didn't fit now. Ace was planning on saving all the meat to give to Paramonos, the poor wyvern had absolutely no meat on his bones. Ace chugged the whole milkshake, downed the hamburger and snarfed half the thing of mashed potatoes and inhaled his whole mini pizza before he was sufficiently full.

 On the way back from dinner Ace had a plastic bag full of meat in one hand and his other hand was on his stomach. "Ugh, I think I ate too much." Ace moaned. Kaylin looked at Lauren who rolled her eyes. "I'm just going to go to sleep, I see you guys tomorrow." 

 "Ace what about..."

 "I'm sorry Sam, I'm really not feeling well, we'll arrange something tomorrow okay? I promise." Ace said as he started heading towards the heath house. 

"Okay Ace. Good night." Ace could hear the disappointment in Sam's voice, but there was nothing he could do about it. 

Ace needed to go see Paramonos.

Oooh what's he going to find out?