The tiny pelts of hot water fought my anger, soothing me.
Unfortunately, it also brought with it a lot of guilt at what I had done to Des.
The strangest thing was that I wasn't that angry about the luggage. I was angrier over the disrespect that Des showed me and that's what confused me the most.
I barely knew Des. I shouldn't care about the way she talks to me .
So why do I feel like she still owes me?
I stayed under the shower for a while longer until a knock on the door brought me out of my trance.
I wrapped a fluffy towel around me and opened the door.
On the floor was the pink backpack Des had grabbed earlier. I had forgotten that I'd carried on board with me. I sent up a prayer of thanks and opened the bag.
I checked the front pocket of the bag and let out sigh of relief. My locket was nestled among some clothes and Streak's keys.
That was way too close.
I quickly got dressed and carried my things out of the bathroom.
I closed the door behind me and ran straight into Caleb. I stretched my head backwards to look at him and was surprised to see him smiling brightly. The sight of it was strange on his face but at the same time cute.
I quickly took a step back and went around him, dumping my things on the bed.
Jaydel and Des came into the room, looking at me like I was a bomb about to exploded. An awkward silence filled the air. Finally I had had enough.
"Des, I'm sorry for getting so angry and hurting you, it truly wasn't my intention to hurt you. Well, I did want to hurt you but I don't know why. I know you probably won't believe me but I don't get mad easily. I mean I do get mad, I'm no doormat or anything but I mean, umm, I don't know."
I let my voice go silent and looked down. I was ashamed at my behavior and honestly couldn't explain it.
I jumped when I felt hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Caleb smiling down at me again. This time I couldn't help but smile back at him.
"There's going to be a council meeting after breakfast. After that you'll understand everything that's going on."
"Okay."
I looked at Des and Jaydel who had been silent through the whole exchange. Des shot me a look that promised revenge and stormed out of the room. Jaydel followed her but not before she sent me a small smile.
I sighed to myself and went out of the door with Caleb following close behind me. I assumed Des and Jaydel were going to wherever breakfast was served so I trailed them.
They didn't seem to be in a rush so I took the opportunity to look around.
The hallways was wide with stacked brick walls. As I walked down I could see several tunnels branching off into the different areas of the Headquarters. The place was like a maze and you could easily get lost in it if you didn't know where you were going.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and saw Caleb pointing to a room I had just walked passed.
I had been so lost in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed Jaydel and Des had disappeared. I quickly backtracked and went into the room.
Immediately I entered, I was assaulted with the scent of delicious food and loud noise. The room itself was large and spacious, about the size of a football field, and had several tables scattered around it.
The room was filled with men ranging from the ages of about seventeen to sixty. All the men were incredibly fit with bulging muscles and were dressed in all black outfits with a gold watches. I unconsciously crept closer to Caleb before I caught hold of myself.
A guy close to the door caught sight of me and stopped in his tracks. He sent me a small smirk before jumping on a table and cupping his hands around his mouth.
"IT'S THE CRONUS!"
Immediately, thousands of eyes turned to look at the door and more specifically, at me.
The sound in the room stopped. It didn't wind down into silence. It just stopped.
I looked at Caleb, uncomfortable under the stares of the whole cafeteria.
Caleb moved to join the food line so I grabbed a plate from the stand and followed him. He let me in the space in front of him
Immediately I stepped in, a guy with a shaved head, dropped his plate and moved away. This carried on until it was just Caleb, Jaydel, Des and I on the line.
I quickly collected my food, ignoring the wary looks from the servers and extremely conscious of the eyes on me.
As I passed other tables people sent me terrified looks and moved their chairs as far away as possible. It made me feel guilty but... powerful. Very powerful.
I slowly started to return their gazes and looked each person straight in the eyes until they turned away. The feeling I felt before came back but the feeling wasn't rage but a sort of dominance, a need to oppress these people around me. I quickly push it down, shocked at my thoughts.
We finally stopped at a table with five people sitting in it. They were well-built so I assumed they were guys. Four of them looked about my age but the other man was much older.
Caleb gave a small bow and addressed them.
"High Trainer Globe, Master Aristos, Master Vallaci, Master Eltelln and Master Salden," Caleb said gesturing to each of them, "I would like to introduce High Master Cronus," Caleb said pointing to me.
High Master Cronus, it has a nice ring to it.
Immediately, all of them turned to me. I was surprised to see that there was a girl among them. She was the one who Caleb called Master Vallaci.
She was just as fit as the other guys and had an inquiring look on her round face and bright green eyes.
She had straight, thin blond hair and was wearing a baggy hoodie and sweatpants, all of which were black. I was surprised that she wasn't wearing the same uniform as the rest of the people in the room. In fact, everyone on the table, except the older guy, was wearing their own clothes.
They were all just staring at me and I didn't know what to do so I waved at them. They all ducked, along with the people sitting on the three tables closest to us. I slowly lowered my hand and turned to Caleb giving him a confused look. Caleb just shook his head at me and mouthed the word 'wait'. He suddenly left and went towards a stage where a man was standing.
I was left with these people who were straightening from the ducked positions.
Caleb jumped on the stage and whispered to a man. The man went up to the microphone at the front of the stage, cleared his throat and started to speak.
"Good day CAVES, there has been some panic over the presence of High Master Cronus. I assure you she will not harm any of you. So please, relax and behave as you would on a usual day. Oh, and please endeavour to keep to your own plate , we do not want a repeat of last Tuesday's lunch." The crowd laughed at this comment and slowly began to relax.
Caleb bounded off the stage looking pleased with himself and pulled out a chair for me. I sat down and looked at my tray.
I was surprised to see a burger on it and a bottle of orange juice. My stomach clenched at the sight of the food and gave a low, rumbling growl. I quickly devoured the meal and was starting to feel more like myself.
I had eaten so fast that no one else on the table had finished yet. I used the time to observe each of them.
I was sitting at the head of the table and had the older guy across from me and the other four on either side. I slightly tilted my head to look at the guy closest to me on my left.
He was the one who was referred to as Aristos. He was bulky, like the rest of the guys here, and had shoulder- length, black hair that was currently framing his face like a curtain. He was quite pale and had that withdrawn look, like those models that always have moody faces. From the way he curled his shoulders into himself and he used his hair to hide him, I could tell that he was quite shy.
He was sitting next to the girl with blond hair, who was currently talking to the person sitting across from her. He was the one Caleb had called Eltelln and was a large black guy with brownish- gold eyes that practically glowed, and a cocky smirk.
The guy, Salden, to the right of me was slightly less bulky than the others but not by much. He wore glasses and had, as Maddy would have said, the 'bookish-cute' looks of a gentleman. I was suddenly hit with an intense bout of homesickness.
I missed home a lot more than I thought I would. The Salden guy was talking but I wasn't sure who to until he reached out and touched my arm.
I moved away from him on reflex. He looked startled for a moment but quickly composed himself and started to talk again.
"So, where are you from?"
"London," I replied.
"Cool, well, I'm Alex. We all got here a little over a month ago. I came from-"
"More like taken from," interrupted the Eltelln guy.
"Thank you Chris. I was taken from the university where I was studying in Paris. Luke," he said referring to the Aristos guy, "came from Italy." Luke gave a grunt in acknowledgement and went back to his food.
"Lila's from USA and Chris' from-" Alex didn't get to finish because Chris interrupted him again.
"I'm from Kenya, but we don't get plenty chicks like you over there," He said as he grabbed my hand and kissed it.
Lila gasped at this show of affection but the others didn't look quite as shocked.
I looked at Lila's horrified face and Chris' now worried expression and couldn't help but laugh. It felt really good and soon most of the table was also laughing with the exception of Luke, which just made me to laugh even harder. When I had finally stopped and could breathe, I noticed that the room had gone quiet again and all eyes were on our table.
The people on the table were obviously used to this and barely blinked but it made me feel incredibly uncomfortable. I was used to being in the spotlight as my father's daughter but I still found it uncomfortable that they were staring at me.
The small itchy feeling that I felt before started again.
I began to feel anger at the people and was on the verge of snapping when I felt a cool, familiar hand on my shoulder breaking the hold of the rage on me.
Caleb leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Chill" as he methodically massaged my shoulders, causing the tension to flow out of them. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the rhythm, letting my anger flow out of me.
The feeling was pure bliss and I almost forgot what was happening around me. I heard someone clear their throat and I lazily opened my eyes to see everyone on the table staring at me with odd, curious expressions.
Fortunately, I was saved from addressing their looks by the ringing of a bell, in short bursts, three times. Everyone on the table instantly got up.
Caleb tugged on my hand indicating that I should also get up, so I did. We moved towards a large metal door on our right.
"What's going on?" I asked Caleb.
"Council meeting," he whispered back. The people on each table stood up as we passed.
The room we entered was slightly smaller than the cafeteria. It was set up like a coliseum with a long jury-type bench at the front of the room. The bench was built with some sort of a wooden wall in front of it with 'CAVES HEADQUARTERS' engraved on the wall.
Under this was a list with the word CRONUS heading it in bold letters. Directly under that were four more lists with smaller engravings on it. The bench was on a raised platform and overlooked some sort of boxing ring with metal walls instead of ropes.
We were led to a smaller seating area, opposite the other bench. It was significantly lower and much closer to the ring.
I heard cheers around me and was surprised to see that the stands had been filled with about a thousand people. I looked around to see what they were cheering for and saw that the other bench had been filled with five older men with ages ranging from fifty to sixty. The wall covered every part of them except from their shoulders upwards.
A tall man, of about thirty, standing to the side of them began to speak.
"Welcome, all, to the fifteenth official council meeting. This is the first council meeting since the alleged destruction of the core families. We have gathered today to say that the CAVES HEADQUATERS will no longer be without their leaders. With their guidance we shall overcome the Hunters once and for all."
At this the crowd began to scream and cheer.
The man waited a few seconds before raising his hand, signalling for silence.
"First, though, as tradition says we must confirm the identities of our core family members through a series of tests. Now the trails started..."
I tuned off at this point because I was still stuck on the 'trials' part. I looked at the other Masters around me to see if they had any clue as to what was going on but was met with confused looks that matched my own.
I turned to Caleb, who was standing next to me, and was instantly worried when he refused to meet my eyes.
"Caleb, what's going on?" I silently begged him look at me and give me some reassurance but all I got was the stony face from when we first met. The guy in front had apparently finished his speech because he said,
"Now, let the Verification trials begin!"
A/N: If you enjoyed this chapter please vote for it, comment or both. If you hated it (I hope not) please vote, comment or both. It would really mean a lot and it only takes a few seconds. Thanks.
Rhe Tache
This chapter was edited (29/12/15)