5. Beginnings Are Hard
"So, how'd he do? Did he use any magic?," Adelaide asked anxiously, as soon as Wozniak squeezed into the kitchen again.
"Well, I don't think he did, but he was able to either deflect or dodge the Thompsons' double attack… Oh, and next time I see their older brother, Mac, I'm gonna have a word or two with him about teaching novice children advanced curses… I took their wands away for a while… Yeah, so, anyway, The Thompsons tried their infamous bodily harm curse, but I think they missed… I think I went back inside a little bit too soon, though, because it seemed to me that li'l Wingrove was about to punch their lights out…, which would have been regrettable, of course," Wozniak hurried to add, when he noticed Adelaide giving him a hard look. "Gotta watch out for 'im, though, seems to have a temper, that one. So… How did it go with Ms Wingrove? Will the Memory Charm take?"
"We'll see. I told her everything about The School and then modified her memories… If Giovanni decides to tell her about his stay here next time they meet, then Shari's memories should simply come back, and it would be as if she had just forgotten for a little while. But you know that kind of Charm is always tricky… We'll see," Adelaide repeated.
Suddenly, both stood up ramrod straight and cocked their head to the side.
"There it is, again! Do you hear it this time?," Adelaide whispered.
"Yeah, it's like you said, like a muted trumpet… Ach! I feel nauseated, as if someone just riffled my innards…" Wozniak actually looked a little green around the gills.
"I don't feel well myself, either. I think I will retire for the evening. But we'll have to tell the rest of the staff in the morning. This is some sort of intrusion. Someone is scanning us! Talk to Johannsen and have him double-check the security of the Perimeter."
"Yes, ma'am! On my way!"
***
Meanwhile, Cerulean Pod was quieter tonight than any other night in recent memory: It wasn't customary to have grizzly-sized Mr Wozniak yelling at them to get into bed ahead of Lights Out, or to have their resident bullies so easily thwarted. Only the very brave dared to continue gossiping in whispers that floated from one bed to the next. However, something none of them knew because they were all novices, was that no one, but absolutely no one, had ever withstood two full-blast bodily harm curses with nothing more to show for it than a slight itch.
Oblivious to all these exciting facts, Giovanni snored noisily, with one arm draped over his face, and a leg hanging down on the side of his bed. The four-day trip in an ancient SUV had taken its toll.
***
Next morning came entirely too early for Giovanni, tired as he was. An insistent but soft chime had begun ringing around five-thirty, which he was able to ignore for a few minutes until the youngest girl in the dorm, who slept in the next bed over, kicked the foot of his bed a few times.
"Wakey, wakey!" She was one of those annoying people who are actually chipper in the morning. When she saw him sit up, she left for the bathrooms.
Giovanni considered skipping the shower so he could snooze a few more minutes. But he had grown accustomed to getting up at five in the morning for the last couple of years, so he just mumbled curses for a few seconds while he stretched and cleared the gunk from his eyes. Then, he rummaged through his luggage until he found a towel, toothbrush, toothpaste… He was very relieved to find that the pod had two sets of restrooms and bathrooms, for boys and for girls, and got cleaned up in a few minutes. When he came out of the bathroom, though, he realized he had forgotten all about the three girls in the dorm, and belatedly covered himself with the towel, turning slightly less red in the face than the three girls.
"Maybe next time you will consider taking a change of underwear into the bathroom with you, like all the normal people do, asshole!"
This was the tiny kid who had sassed him last night. Giovanni didn't bother arguing with the boy, but instead looked at him intently and rubbed his own forehead pointedly on the same spot where the mini-bully sported a small goose-egg. That shut him up. Giovanni got his clothes, went back to the bathroom, and came back out. He went to his bunk, made the bed, and started putting away his stuff.
"You'll have time to do that after breakfast!," the small girl said, still entirely too happy for such ungodly time of the day.
"Um, okay, thanks. Hi, sorry, didn't have much time last night for introductions. I'm Giovanni…" And he stuck out his hand.
"I'm Circe!" And she ignored the hand to give him a quick hug. "I'm so happy to meet you! I like you! Come on, breakfast! I'm so hungry! Let's go!"
"Okay… But you lead the way. I'm not sure I could find the way back to the kitchen."
"Don't be silly! Of course you can! All you have to do is go straight. As long as you don't take two turns in the same direction, one after the other, you will always end up in the kitchen!"
True enough, although they seemed to wander for far too many minutes, they actually arrived at the kitchen with everybody else. All the other students entered through three other doors, and Giovanni realized these were the students from the other three pods. Everyone passed in front of the stove, and received a plate full of food. At the stove, a lady about the size of a commercial refrigerator and wearing the whitest apron that Giovanni had ever seen, stood there monolithic, and dispensing the food like an automaton.
"Erm… You got some cereal instead?," Giovanni asked, as he received a plate piled high with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, biscuits, and ham.
The kitchen goddess only flicked her eyes at him, and mumbled gutturally, "Eat it! It's good for you!"
"Look, no offense, but…"
"Thank you, miss Loeb! May I have some grape jam?" Little Circe elbowed Giovanni ahead of her, and her bright smile seemed to mellow titanic Ms Loeb back into impassivity.
"Whoo! That was close! Look, just eat whatever miss Loeb gives you, and no one gets hurt, okay? Just do it, it's one of those things, you'll see…" Circe hurried Giovanni away from the kitchen and into a dining room with barely enough room to sit all forty-four students at once.
The decor was Early Crazy Hunter, with all the four log walls decorated by dozens of antlers of all sizes, from floor to ceiling. There were eleven small square tables for the students, and a long table at the back, where the teachers sat. Each table had jugs of milk, orange juice and water, and four place-settings. Belatedly, Giovanni realized that the only spots available were at the table where the other two girls in his pod were looking at him and giggling, no doubt remembering his after-shower promenade au naturel. He felt awkward for a moment or two, feeling as if he were sans pants again.
"This is Traci, and this is Staci," Circe said brightly, once they were all seated, "and this is Giovanni."
The girls were about fourteen, very blond, very dimply, each one sporting a four-billion-watt smile, and seemed as cheerful as Circe and didn't mock him or anything, so maybe they were okay.
Just then, the Three Furies arrived at the teachers' table and sat down, except for Adelaide, who remained standing.
"Children!," she raised her voice, and everyone fell silent at once. "The assignments for this morning are: Cerulean Pod with Mr Wozniak…"
"Mr Wozniak is our Pod Leader, and he teaches Practicals," Circe started commenting in a whisper, for Giovanni's benefit. "I like him a lot!"
Adelaide continued, "Indigo Pod with Ms Loeb…" A few groans were heard, since nobody liked washing approximately two billion dirty dishes throughout the day. "Cyan Pod with Mr Johannsen…" At this there were a few fervent "Yes!"
"Mr Johannsen is the Caretaker: He keeps all our gadgets running. They say he also teaches anyone that asks him nicely how to fix cars and stuff." Circe actually wrinkled her nose.
Before Adelaide continued, there were louder groans in the room. "Settle down, children, yes: Cobalt Pod with Mrs. Staab…"
"She's the Housekeeper, and she's very picky and she's always hovering, double-checking on you, ugh!" While Circe commented on Adelaide's assignments, Giovanni looked around the dining room, finally finding two other boys that looked about seventeen and a girl that looked his age, or maybe a little bit older. Right then, he realized that everyone else was staring at him. Circe elbowed him again. "Just wave and smile! Ms Adelaide just introduced you!"
"Um, hi…" Giovanni waved. With their backs to the teachers' table, the Thompsons and the mini-bully put their hands to their chest and flipped him the middle finger.
"Well, it's good to know who're your friends… Circe, who's that little kid, the one I dropped on his head?"
"Garret Feldman. I'll tell you all about him later… Now that you're finished, let's all get back to the pod so you can put away your stuff. So, let me tell you the daily schedule…"
"You know my schedule?" Giovanni looked down and was amazed to realize that he had eaten everything on his plate…
"Of course, silly!" Meanwhile, Circe continued her explanation. "We all have the same schedule! So, Wake-up Call is at five-thirty. Breakfast from six fifteen to six-forty-five. Personal Time until seven. Chores until noon…"
"Chores?"
"Yes, we all have to help maintain the place. Takes a lot of work. Really old place, this school, and the weather is harsh out here in the mountains, you know? So, Lunch for forty-five minutes, and another half-hour of Personal Time after that. Then, from one-fifteen until six in the afternoon, Tuition. They switch us from classroom to classroom every hour or so, to avoid us going stir-crazy, but usually we start classes all of us together, to work on our Regular School stuff with the Three Furies. If you're having trouble with a subject, they sometimes let you work a bit longer on it, but mostly they just send you on to the next classroom. We don't always end up in the same group, or have the same classes. So there are four main classes: Regular School, with the Furies; Practicals, with Mr Wozniak; Integration, with Dr Doe; and, Theory, with Professor Benoni. I don't like Professor Benoni at all, but the older girls all think he's dreamy… Ew! I don't know, I just think there's something seriously wrong with him. He's just too young to be a professor, I think. Anyhoo… After classes, Dinner for forty-five minutes. Then, one and a half hour of Homework, and Personal Time until Lights Out at ten. So. Now you know. And now that you put your stuff away, let's go meet Mr Wozniak at the front lawn. Ready?"
Giovanni was already exhausted just hearing Circe telling him all about it.
"So, how'd he do? Did he use any magic?," Adelaide asked anxiously, as soon as Wozniak squeezed into the kitchen again.
"Well, I don't think he did, but he was able to either deflect or dodge the Thompsons' double attack… Oh, and next time I see their older brother, Mac, I'm gonna have a word or two with him about teaching novice children advanced curses… I took their wands away for a while… Yeah, so, anyway, The Thompsons tried their infamous bodily harm curse, but I think they missed… I think I went back inside a little bit too soon, though, because it seemed to me that li'l Wingrove was about to punch their lights out…, which would have been regrettable, of course," Wozniak hurried to add, when he noticed Adelaide giving him a hard look. "Gotta watch out for 'im, though, seems to have a temper, that one. So… How did it go with Ms Wingrove? Will the Memory Charm take?"
"We'll see. I told her everything about The School and then modified her memories… If Giovanni decides to tell her about his stay here next time they meet, then Shari's memories should simply come back, and it would be as if she had just forgotten for a little while. But you know that kind of Charm is always tricky… We'll see," Adelaide repeated.
Suddenly, both stood up ramrod straight and cocked their head to the side.
"There it is, again! Do you hear it this time?," Adelaide whispered.
"Yeah, it's like you said, like a muted trumpet… Ach! I feel nauseated, as if someone just riffled my innards…" Wozniak actually looked a little green around the gills.
"I don't feel well myself, either. I think I will retire for the evening. But we'll have to tell the rest of the staff in the morning. This is some sort of intrusion. Someone is scanning us! Talk to Johannsen and have him double-check the security of the Perimeter."
"Yes, ma'am! On my way!"
***
Meanwhile, Cerulean Pod was quieter tonight than any other night in recent memory: It wasn't customary to have grizzly-sized Mr Wozniak yelling at them to get into bed ahead of Lights Out, or to have their resident bullies so easily thwarted. Only the very brave dared to continue gossiping in whispers that floated from one bed to the next. However, something none of them knew because they were all novices, was that no one, but absolutely no one, had ever withstood two full-blast bodily harm curses with nothing more to show for it than a slight itch.
Oblivious to all these exciting facts, Giovanni snored noisily, with one arm draped over his face, and a leg hanging down on the side of his bed. The four-day trip in an ancient SUV had taken its toll.
***
Next morning came entirely too early for Giovanni, tired as he was. An insistent but soft chime had begun ringing around five-thirty, which he was able to ignore for a few minutes until the youngest girl in the dorm, who slept in the next bed over, kicked the foot of his bed a few times.
"Wakey, wakey!" She was one of those annoying people who are actually chipper in the morning. When she saw him sit up, she left for the bathrooms.
Giovanni considered skipping the shower so he could snooze a few more minutes. But he had grown accustomed to getting up at five in the morning for the last couple of years, so he just mumbled curses for a few seconds while he stretched and cleared the gunk from his eyes. Then, he rummaged through his luggage until he found a towel, toothbrush, toothpaste… He was very relieved to find that the pod had two sets of restrooms and bathrooms, for boys and for girls, and got cleaned up in a few minutes. When he came out of the bathroom, though, he realized he had forgotten all about the three girls in the dorm, and belatedly covered himself with the towel, turning slightly less red in the face than the three girls.
"Maybe next time you will consider taking a change of underwear into the bathroom with you, like all the normal people do, asshole!"
This was the tiny kid who had sassed him last night. Giovanni didn't bother arguing with the boy, but instead looked at him intently and rubbed his own forehead pointedly on the same spot where the mini-bully sported a small goose-egg. That shut him up. Giovanni got his clothes, went back to the bathroom, and came back out. He went to his bunk, made the bed, and started putting away his stuff.
"You'll have time to do that after breakfast!," the small girl said, still entirely too happy for such ungodly time of the day.
"Um, okay, thanks. Hi, sorry, didn't have much time last night for introductions. I'm Giovanni…" And he stuck out his hand.
"I'm Circe!" And she ignored the hand to give him a quick hug. "I'm so happy to meet you! I like you! Come on, breakfast! I'm so hungry! Let's go!"
"Okay… But you lead the way. I'm not sure I could find the way back to the kitchen."
"Don't be silly! Of course you can! All you have to do is go straight. As long as you don't take two turns in the same direction, one after the other, you will always end up in the kitchen!"
True enough, although they seemed to wander for far too many minutes, they actually arrived at the kitchen with everybody else. All the other students entered through three other doors, and Giovanni realized these were the students from the other three pods. Everyone passed in front of the stove, and received a plate full of food. At the stove, a lady about the size of a commercial refrigerator and wearing the whitest apron that Giovanni had ever seen, stood there monolithic, and dispensing the food like an automaton.
"Erm… You got some cereal instead?," Giovanni asked, as he received a plate piled high with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, biscuits, and ham.
The kitchen goddess only flicked her eyes at him, and mumbled gutturally, "Eat it! It's good for you!"
"Look, no offense, but…"
"Thank you, miss Loeb! May I have some grape jam?" Little Circe elbowed Giovanni ahead of her, and her bright smile seemed to mellow titanic Ms Loeb back into impassivity.
"Whoo! That was close! Look, just eat whatever miss Loeb gives you, and no one gets hurt, okay? Just do it, it's one of those things, you'll see…" Circe hurried Giovanni away from the kitchen and into a dining room with barely enough room to sit all forty-four students at once.
The decor was Early Crazy Hunter, with all the four log walls decorated by dozens of antlers of all sizes, from floor to ceiling. There were eleven small square tables for the students, and a long table at the back, where the teachers sat. Each table had jugs of milk, orange juice and water, and four place-settings. Belatedly, Giovanni realized that the only spots available were at the table where the other two girls in his pod were looking at him and giggling, no doubt remembering his after-shower promenade au naturel. He felt awkward for a moment or two, feeling as if he were sans pants again.
"This is Traci, and this is Staci," Circe said brightly, once they were all seated, "and this is Giovanni."
The girls were about fourteen, very blond, very dimply, each one sporting a four-billion-watt smile, and seemed as cheerful as Circe and didn't mock him or anything, so maybe they were okay.
Just then, the Three Furies arrived at the teachers' table and sat down, except for Adelaide, who remained standing.
"Children!," she raised her voice, and everyone fell silent at once. "The assignments for this morning are: Cerulean Pod with Mr Wozniak…"
"Mr Wozniak is our Pod Leader, and he teaches Practicals," Circe started commenting in a whisper, for Giovanni's benefit. "I like him a lot!"
Adelaide continued, "Indigo Pod with Ms Loeb…" A few groans were heard, since nobody liked washing approximately two billion dirty dishes throughout the day. "Cyan Pod with Mr Johannsen…" At this there were a few fervent "Yes!"
"Mr Johannsen is the Caretaker: He keeps all our gadgets running. They say he also teaches anyone that asks him nicely how to fix cars and stuff." Circe actually wrinkled her nose.
Before Adelaide continued, there were louder groans in the room. "Settle down, children, yes: Cobalt Pod with Mrs. Staab…"
"She's the Housekeeper, and she's very picky and she's always hovering, double-checking on you, ugh!" While Circe commented on Adelaide's assignments, Giovanni looked around the dining room, finally finding two other boys that looked about seventeen and a girl that looked his age, or maybe a little bit older. Right then, he realized that everyone else was staring at him. Circe elbowed him again. "Just wave and smile! Ms Adelaide just introduced you!"
"Um, hi…" Giovanni waved. With their backs to the teachers' table, the Thompsons and the mini-bully put their hands to their chest and flipped him the middle finger.
"Well, it's good to know who're your friends… Circe, who's that little kid, the one I dropped on his head?"
"Garret Feldman. I'll tell you all about him later… Now that you're finished, let's all get back to the pod so you can put away your stuff. So, let me tell you the daily schedule…"
"You know my schedule?" Giovanni looked down and was amazed to realize that he had eaten everything on his plate…
"Of course, silly!" Meanwhile, Circe continued her explanation. "We all have the same schedule! So, Wake-up Call is at five-thirty. Breakfast from six fifteen to six-forty-five. Personal Time until seven. Chores until noon…"
"Chores?"
"Yes, we all have to help maintain the place. Takes a lot of work. Really old place, this school, and the weather is harsh out here in the mountains, you know? So, Lunch for forty-five minutes, and another half-hour of Personal Time after that. Then, from one-fifteen until six in the afternoon, Tuition. They switch us from classroom to classroom every hour or so, to avoid us going stir-crazy, but usually we start classes all of us together, to work on our Regular School stuff with the Three Furies. If you're having trouble with a subject, they sometimes let you work a bit longer on it, but mostly they just send you on to the next classroom. We don't always end up in the same group, or have the same classes. So there are four main classes: Regular School, with the Furies; Practicals, with Mr Wozniak; Integration, with Dr Doe; and, Theory, with Professor Benoni. I don't like Professor Benoni at all, but the older girls all think he's dreamy… Ew! I don't know, I just think there's something seriously wrong with him. He's just too young to be a professor, I think. Anyhoo… After classes, Dinner for forty-five minutes. Then, one and a half hour of Homework, and Personal Time until Lights Out at ten. So. Now you know. And now that you put your stuff away, let's go meet Mr Wozniak at the front lawn. Ready?"
Giovanni was already exhausted just hearing Circe telling him all about it.
To Be Continued…
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