Falcon Feathers

Falcon Feathers (Chapter 10)

Chapter 10

An Old Friend

I looked down at the sheet that the receptionist had given to me. IT WOULD APPEAR THAT WE ARE IN THE MOUNTAIN DORM. (Yup).

"Who has the mountain dorm?" I asked.

"I do." Nala replied.

"Same. And it looks like we share a room." Moses said.

"And apparently we three share a room." Will said looking over Angel and Joelle's shoulders, "Jungle dorm."

"Nosy much?" Angel said.

"Ok, so mountain and jungle are right next to each other so we will meet you guys at the edge of them." Joelle said.

"Sounds good." I said. Nala, Moses, and I headed to our dormitory. After a good twelve minutes of walking we reached the base of the mountain. It was bigger than it looked from the entrance. It was full of crags, nooks and crannies. Looking around, we found a large boulder that had signs painted on it. The arrows on it pointed to the different areas for students. Next to it there was a large boulder that had a single word written on it. 'Enter'.

"I wonder how we get in." said Nala.

"Maybe there is a door around here." I said. I felt around the wall for handles but found none.

"Well this is fun." Moses said.

"Do you have any better ideas?" I asked.

Moses walked up to the large bolder that had enter painted on it. He rapped on it with his knuckle.

"You might want to stand back." He said and cocked his arm back to punch the rock. We took several steps back.

"I really don't think that is such a good i-" Nala began. Moses punched the wall creating a large vertical crack in it. He jumped back as a mini landslide of rocks hit where he was standing. The pile of rubble shook and moved as a massive eye opened to look out from the wall. More and more of the wall came away leaving a gigantic golem head in its place.

"Why, hello there little residents" said the golem smiling. "Welcome to the mountain dorm. My name is Cael."

"Um, hi" I said. "I'm Derek. These two are Nala and Moses."

"It is a pleasure to meet all of you. You will find your dorms up there." he said gesturing upwards towards the plateau part of the mountain with a nod. "Allow me to escort you to the door. Hold still." Cael said.  The ground shook and a palm rose from under our feet and lifted us up. Once we stopped we stepped off the hand and onto the platform. We walked up the steps and into the lobby. There were mailboxes with our names under them. After leaving the foyer with the empty mailboxes, we headed to our room.

"I call the window room!" I yelled throwing my bags into the room. I looked around. It was a medium sized bedroom with a desk, a bookshelf, and a closet. Walking out of there, I took stock of the joint dorm we shared. There was a couch, a coffee table, a television, kitchen, a patio with a sliding door and an air hockey table.

"Wow, this place is nice." Nala said coming out of her room.

"I was expecting bunk beds." Said Moses.

"Should we call them to see if they are ready?" Nala asked.

"Good Idea. What is their room number?" Moses asked.

"J307" I said.

Moses called them on their dorm phone.

"Uh huh.... Uh huh.... Ok... alright we will see you then." Moses said as he hung up.

"What did they say?" Nala asked.

"They said they would call us back when they were ready." Replied Moses.

We watched TV for a half hour while we waited for them to settle in. The phone began to ring.

***RING***

"The phone is ringing," Moses said.

"Then pick it up," replied Nala.

"But you see, that would require me to get up," He explained.

"Fine, I will get it." I said. (kids these days) THEY ARE THE SAME AGE AS YOU. (its not the same) WHY (because, shut up) HUMANS THESE DAYS.

After meeting up with everyone on the path that led to their dorm we headed to the main building. We entered the dining hall and found seats in our section. I got my food and sat down. Looking around the room, I was surprised to see how crazy things were. There were animals everywhere.  On several occasions I heard shrieks as someone stepped on a tail.

"Wow. It looks like the U.N. and Animal Planet put together." Will said.

"Seriously?" I said looking at Will.

"What? My Dad works at Discovery." He said.

"Really?"  I said surprised.

"No, but wouldn't that be cool?" Will said smiling. I rolled my eyes and took a drink of my iced tea.

As I stared blankly into the crowd of people, not really following the conversation, my eyes fell upon a familiar face.

"Lance?" I said.

"Did you say something?" Joelle said.

"HEY!" I yelled waving at him, which was hardly noticed amongst the chaos. But he saw me and walked over with his tray.

"Derek? What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I could say the same thing for you. Oh Everyone, this is my friend Lance." I said.

"Hi," he said sliding down across from me.

"So how long have you two been friends?" Angel asked.

"Umm. Hmm. That is a good question." Lance began.

"For as long as I can remember." I said. "Oh yeah. I almost forgot. There is someone you still have to meet."

"Who is that?" he asked.

"Release." I said and Gagan swirled into existence on the table.

"Why, hello there." Lance said smiling. Gagan puffed up his feathers and screeched at him.

"Hey calm down." I said. (What is your problem?) HE, IS MY PROBLEM. (That makes no sense you just met him.) Gagan snapped at his finger but missed. In a flash a large coyote appeared on the floor by Lance's leg. It bared its fangs daring Gagan to try something.

"Hey!" I said and held out my arm for him to hop onto. He stalked stiff legged up my arm and onto my shoulder, with his eyes never leaving Lance.

"Ignore him I don't know what his problem is." I said.

"Yeah, sure." He said. The coyote growled.

"Down, Jekyll" he warned. The coyote sat up on its haunches and stole a sandwich from Lance's plate before lying down to get comfortable. Lance rolled his eyes and smiled.

"So what classes do you guys have?" He asked.

The rest of lunch passed by without any more incidents and soon we filed out of the room to head to our first period of the year.

"What class do you have first?" Joelle asked.

"History," I replied.

"Same." She said.

"Cool," I said and our group split up to head in the different directions to our classes.