Call to Arms (War of the Fae: Book 2) (6 page)

“There will be things at breakfast you can leave.
 
Just be sure to go back to your room and leave it before your training.
 
They clean while we’re out.”

Chase listened to our conversation, saying nothing.
 
The only indication I had that he was actually paying attention was the occasional hint of a smile or frown I’d see on his face.
 

We arrived at the big room, where we had all gathered after completing the test.
 
There was a buffet table full of food at the far end of the room and the big, round wood table in the middle had several people sitting and eating at it.
 
Some fae were eating standing up, chatting with other fae.
 
Finn and Spike were at the table, halfway through whatever was on their plates.
 
They waved when they saw us, gesturing to the open seats next to them.

“Let’s get our food first,” said Becky.
 
“We have to hurry.”

We went up to the buffet, and all I could think when I got there was that this had to be the weirdest buffet ever.
 

It had some of the normal stuff like sausage, eggs, and fruit; but then there were some mystery meats I was afraid to know too much about – some of which were moving a little.
 
I also saw some scary vegetable looking things, and then some stuff that was neither meat nor vegetable
but was
covered in dirt.
 
Who the hell eats stuff covered in dirt for breakfast?

“Aye changeling, how goes yer first day as a fae?” said Gilly, standing next to me in her kilt.
 
I hadn’t noticed her come up, probably because she was so short.
 
She reached up and took a handful of the dirty lumpy things, putting a few on her plate and popping one in her mouth.
 

Well, that explains a lot of things
.

“I’m good.
 
How about you?
 
What’s new?
 
Those, um, dirt balls look ... yummy.”

“Dirt balls?
 
Ah, ye be talkin’ aboot the truffles.
 
A rare delicacy these are.
 
I could eat the whole of ‘em, I could, but it wouldna be polite o’ me to do that ye see.
 
Nowadays, ye doan see too many people worryin’ themselves about manners, but not me.
 
Manners are what makes this world a good place ta be; in fact, just the oother day, I was tellin’ Gander ... ”

I tuned Gilly out while I put a few things on my plate.
 
The rambling gnome didn’t even realize I wasn’t listening.
 
I didn’t want to be rude or anything, especially when manners were some sort of issue for her, but I wasn’t going to shortchange my brownie and risk not having a maid.
 
If I had to choose between having a gnome as a friend and a brownie as a servant, the brownie was going to win every time.
 
I had to finish my breakfast and get back to my room pronto.

“ ...
and
he says to me, ‘Gilly’, ye gotta stop with the ... ”

I cut her off.
 
“I’ve got to go eat now, Gilly.
 
Enjoy your ... truffles.”

I walked away as she ignored my departure and continued talking to whoever walked up to the buffet behind me.

“Who was that?” asked Spike with a big grin on his face as I sat down.

“That is Gilly.
 
She’s a gnome, and she eats dirty truffles and wears a mini-kilt that is waaaay to short in the back.
 
I suggest that you never look directly at her ass-end, as she is prone to bowing – and then bad things happen with the kilt I’d rather not talk about right now.”

Everyone around me laughed, including one of the werewolves I remembered seeing last night standing next to hot werewolf guy – the one who had planned to eat Becky, Tony and me in the forest just a couple days before.
 
I pushed the thoughts of Tony away quickly before they could ruin my morning and thrust me back into the world of never ending sadness again.

I looked over at Chase’s plate.
 
“Holy shit, Chase, no wonder you’re so huge.”
 
His plate had enough food for five people on it.
 
It even had some of the moving meat on it.
 
“Um, not sure if you realize it or not, but some of your meat is still alive.”

Chase speared the squirming meat with his fork and stuck it in his mouth, watching all of us as he chewed.
 

We stared at him, both repulsed and curious about what was going to happen.
 

He swallowed, licked his lips and said, “Salty.”

Finn and Spike started laughing loudly.
 
Becky smiled.
 
I just shivered.
 
I had to stop watching the others and just focus on finishing my sausage and eggs.
 
I poked my sausage a few times to make sure it was good and dead.

“I see you like the angulas, Chase,” said Jared, sitting down next to him.

Chase shrugged.

“The tiny eel you just ate.
 
Angula.
 
They’re good.
 
A little salty for my taste.”

“Oh,
ugh!
 
Chase, you just ate a live eel,” I said, disgusted all over again.

“No, it wasn’t alive, just moving as if it were,” explained Jared.
 
His explanation was a typical fae answer – clear as mud.
 

Whatever.
 
I didn’t feel like talking to him yet.
 
I guess I partially blamed him for Tony and me being apart right now.
 
Maybe if Jared had been honest from the start, Tony wouldn’t have felt so overwhelmed and ... I don’t know ... out of his element or whatever.

“Come on, guys.
 
We have to go gift our brownies and get to training.”

“Gift our what?” asked Finn.

“You have to give a little token of your appreciation to the fae who will be cleaning your room and clothes and stuff.
 
There’s a basket of tokens over there on that table.”
 
Becky gestured to a wicker basket full of wrapped things.
 
They looked like candies.
 
“The brownies can’t touch that basket – it’s spelled – but we can.
 
We’re supposed to take one thing out per day and put it on the silver tray on our dressers.”

“Spelled?
 
How’s it spelled?
 
B-A-S-K-E-T, right?” asked Finn, obviously confused.

“No, goof, spelled as in ‘enchanted’ – a witch put a spell on it.”

“Oh, okay.
 
Gotcha.
 
Whatever you say, boss,” said Finn, amiably.

We all went over and grabbed a token.
 
Mine was wrapped in shiny, bright purple foil, about the size of a big gumball you can get from a machine at a pizza place for twenty-five cents.
 
We made our way down the hall to our rooms.
 
Chase and mine were first – we left our tokens on the trays.
 
Becky, Finn, and Spike had rooms that were pretty far from Chase’s and mine.
 
They left their tokens and we started back towards the dining hall/meeting room.
 
I got all confused following Becky who was acting as our guide.

“How do you find anything here?
 
I’m already lost.” I asked, frustrated.
 
“How am I supposed to sneak into your rooms at night if I can’t find my way?”

“The halls are spelled – this whole place is actually.
 
It’s done on purpose to keep the Dark Fae from being able to get in and cause trouble.”

That reminded me of those voices I’d heard outside the bathroom, but before I could say anything, Becky continued.

“You’ll learn how to find stuff at your first training.
 
It’s pretty easy once they show you.
 
If you don’t know the secret though, you can wander around just one hallway forever.
 
Every door looks the same and sometimes you don’t even see doors.
 
Stuff changes all the time.
 
Or at least, it looks like it’s changing.
 
It’s really not though.
 
At least, I
think
it’s not.”

Spike looked at her nervously.
 
“What do you mean, you ‘think’?

Chase and Finn moved in front of us, seeing the dining hall door just up ahead.
 
I guess they’re eager to start the training.
 
Dopes.
 

Becky shrugged.
 
“I haven’t been here long enough to really understand a lot of what goes on.
 
I’ve only had one day of training.
 
I’m sure we’ll all figure it out eventually.”
 
She quickened her steps up to catch up to Chase and Finn who were opening the door at the end of the hall.

She obviously wasn’t too concerned, so I decided not to worry about it either.
 

Spike was shaking his head as I walked up.
 
“I don’t know, man.
 
First I find out I’m a life sucker, then I find out my mentor is Valentine the fruity incubus who might have the hots for me,
then
I find out some fae is gonna steal my stuff if I don’t give him a present every day – and now I find out this place is a maze I could get stuck in forever?
 
I’m starting to regret my decision.”

I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not.
 
“Spike, I think you should see what happens today before you start regretting anything.
 
That’s what I’m
gonna
do.
 
Nobody said this was going to be easy.”

“I’m not worried about easy.
 
I’m just worried about my sanity when all’s said and done.”

“I thought you liked crazy,” I said, openly flirting.

He flung his arm over my shoulder as Chase opened the door.
 
“Your kind of crazy, yes.
 
Fae crazy?
 
Not so much.”
 
He dropped his arm and smacked me lightly on the butt as I went into the room ahead of him.
 
He’s lucky there were fae witnesses
there,
otherwise I would have given him a good karate chop for that.
 
I turned and gave him the evil eye instead, but he just laughed and mouthed the words,
“Behave yourself.”
 

I whispered back,
“Never!”
just as Céline walked in the door on the opposite side of the room.

Just then I remembered about the voices I had heard the night before, outside the door of the bathroom.
 
It was too late to talk to Becky and the guys about it now, though.
 
I had to remember to bring it up at lunch.

“Time to start our training.
 
Come on guys, you can follow me.”
 
Becky walked over to the same door Céline had just entered through.
 
She left the main room, the guys trailing out behind her.

“Ready for your first training session?” asked Céline, walking over to me.

“How come I’m not going with them?” I asked, watching the door shut behind my friends.

“They have a different training schedule than you do.
 
Yours is ... customized for now.
 
That may change in the future.”

She turned and walked back over to the door Becky and the guys had just exited from, grasping the door handle and stepping out into the hallway.
 
“We’ll see how you manage today.”

My friends had already disappeared from the corridor.
 
Must be that magic hallway thing
.
 
I followed her until we reached a door at the far end of the hallway.
 
I thought for sure we were going to be walking out of the fourth obelisk when we went through, but when I stepped out and looked around, there was no waypoint and no clearing.
 
We were in the middle of the Green Forest.
 
I turned back around to look at the door, but it wasn’t there anymore.
 
There was an ancient tree, but no door, no hinges, and no handle.
 
Fucking magic.
 
Again.

“I thought we were doing something at the lake today,” I said, remembering the vote at the meeting yesterday about something
with me and a possible affinity to Water
.

“You will later.
 
But first, I’d like to start our morning session just getting a feel for what you’ve already developed on your own.
 
Let’s sit.”

She sat down on a fallen log, and I sat on the ground in front of her.
 

“Tell me about your experiences with the forest.”
 
She stared at me patiently, waiting for me to begin.