First Draft: Chapter 21

Every time I brought up art guild, Clio would always talk about how long it took her to do her homework, and how she had no time to get involved in anything extra curricular.  However, since she was so interested in art, it seemed like the perfect thing for the two of us to enjoy together.
We were hanging out in her dorm room one night.  I suppose I might as well describe here what her room looked like, because it was really an interesting set-up.  She had a normal dorm room, just like the rest of us.  Unlike the rest of us, she could not stand the way it looked.  The white cream colored walls and tan furniture made her nauseous.
“Sometimes this whole place really gets me down,” she said to me once.  “Not just my dorm room, but the whole University.  Everything here is so boring.  Tan colors all over the place.  Yuck.”
If she could have, I think she would have transformed her whole room into black.  She certainly made the best attempt she could.  She took black curtains from her home and replaced the standard issue cream colored.  She bought black ribbons, which she strung in various places throughout the room.  Every place that looked like it wasn’t quite interesting enough got a black curtain.  Her final assault on the creamness was to buy black sheets of paper and to stick as much of that as she could all over her room.
Her room was interesting in more ways then that.  She had pieces of her artwork arranged around the room.  Most of them were rather eclectic.  A plastic gun mounted on a board.  A bunch of pieces of wood glued together with nails hammered in at random places.  It was all stuff I didn’t really get.
And there were notes scribbled everywhere.  She wrote down stuff she was studying on the walls and on the door, so as she walked around the room she could study stuff.
And her clothes were absolutely everywhere.  On the ground, on the bed, on the chair, on the desk, you name it.  Clothes were completely scattered everywhere.
So, we were hanging out in this dorm room.  I was lying down at the time I think and I mentioned something like, “Yeah, we really had a good time at the art guild meeting last night.”
And she was sitting beside me, and she said, “I’m happy you had fun.”
“You really ought to come check it out with me sometime.”
“Haven’t we talked about this before?”
“No, I mean it this time.  I know you’re busy with homework, but it will only take an hour.”
“I don’t know why you’re bugging me that much.  The person you ought to talk to is my brother.”
I reached up and stroked her cheek.  “I’m sure your brother would have a wonderful time, but the person I want to spend time with is you.”
She kissed my hand and smiled.  “That’s a sweet thing to say.”
“You could meet a lot of my friends, see what I do every week.”
“I’d feel silly going.  My artwork is so bad.”
“Mine’s bad too.”
She thought for a moment.  “Okay.  I’ll go with you if you can get my brother to go to.  He's so much better then I am, it doesn’t really make sense for me to go and for him to stay home.”
And so the next day we ended up in her brother’s room.  Clio explained to him the proposition.  Orpheus listened patiently and then, when she was finished, said, “Now explain this to me again.  Why do you want me to go to art guild?”
“I don’t want you to go.  He does.”  She pointed at me.
“No, I want you to go,” I reminded her.  “I don’t care what he does.”
Orpheus pretended to be offended.  “What’s this Jon?  You don’t care?  I must say, with that attitude I just might not go.”
“No, that’s not what I meant.  Actually, you really should go.  You’d probably get a lot out of it.”
“I don’t know,” he responded.  “I might not get anything out of it.  This is going to sound incredibly arrogant of me and everything, but Jon seriously I think I going to be, just so far ahead of everyone else there it’s not even going to be funny.  I just can’t imagine what they could help me on.”
I just sort of shrugged.  “Well, I’m not pushing it man, whatever.  I just thought it would be interesting for you because of all the time you spend on art.  I think it would be interesting for both of you, but whatever.”
“No, actually Jon, I would be kind of interested.  I’d just like to see what they do and stuff.”  Like Clio, Orpheus had the habit of moving his hands all over the place when he talked.  It was rather interesting to watch.  “I was kind of curious about the art guild anyway.  I just don’t think they can really help me that much.”
I couldn’t believe his pride.  His paint splattered on canvas was that good?  And yet, when we went to the art guild meeting, it appeared it was no idle brag.
Hermes took me aside.  “Jon, come take a walk with me.”  We went out into the hall.  “This kid is amazing,” he said as soon as we had stepped outside of the room.  “Where did you find him?”  I opened my mouth, but Hermes didn’t give me space to answer.  “His artwork just blows me away.  The way he arranges color is just incredible.  He shouldn’t even be here.”
“At art guild?”
“At this University man.  He should be studying abroad at an art school.  This is like a waste of his talents.”
“I don’t think his family can afford it.”
“That sucks.  You know he’s not going to get his talents recognized in Fabulae.  Jon, promise me you’ll keep this kid coming here.”
“I’ll try.  He feels art guild is below him.”
“Well, in a lot of ways it is.  He’s much better then anyone else here, but I’d practically pay to see his stuff every week.”
“I’ll see what I can do.  You might want to talk to him yourself if you feel strongly about it.”
“Maybe I will.  Hey, who is that girl that keeps hanging on you?”
“Clio?”
“Yeah.  It looks like she’s afraid if she lets go of you, you’re going to float away.”
“She’s just affectionate.”
“I guess.  So are you two a couple.”
I nodded.  “I think we’re pretty official now.”
“How come I haven’t heard about this before now?  Are you keeping things from me?”  I just shrugged.  “You know, I think I’ve seen that girl before.  She’s in one of my classes or something.”
“Really?  What did you think of her?”
“She seemed a bit strange maybe, but I’m sure that’s just because I don’t know her real well.”
“Strange?  Like how?”
“I’m not going to offend you?”
“No man, we’re good enough friends that you don’t have to worry about it.”
“She always raises her hand and talks a lot, but no one can really understand much of what she’s saying.”  He thought briefly about what he had just said.  “I bet she’s just not much of a public speaker.  She’s probably really cool in a lot of other ways.”  He seemed embarrassed to have brought it up.  “Don’t worry about it Jon, I’m sure she’s cool.”

The first one came in the morning.  The second was in the evening.  They went through the precaution of making sure I was alone, although there was really no reason why they had to.  Everything they did to me was legal, in a twisted sort of way.
One of them must have been watching me, and reported to the others when I left the library.  They must have also known exactly which route I would take back to my dorm room.  At any rate, they were ready for me.
It was twilight, when the last rays of the dying sun struggled to fill the sky.  The shortly cut grass glistened in the red light.  The birds had flown South already, but I thought I could hear chipmunks chattering in the trees.
The first blow caught me completely by surprise.  Titus must have been hiding behind the old Oak tree and when I walked past it, he emerged from his hiding place to deliver his blow.
I was struck with a long, thin, wooden rod, like a broom handle or something.  Actually, I suspect it had been a mop in its former life, before it was converted into an instrument of pain.  Titus waited until I had my back to him, then he wound up and delivered his blow.  The wooden pole whacked across most of my back.
Of course, when I was hit I had no idea what was going on.  One minute I was thinking about chipmunks and sunsets, the next I felt a searing pain across my back, which quickly spread to all areas of my body.  One minute I was walking along enjoying the fresh air, the next I was on the ground and my head was spinning and I could hear excited voices all around me, but they sounded like they were talking gibberish.  It was almost as if in the shock of the moment my brain lost its ability to decode language.
I didn’t have much time to think, but it didn’t take me long to figure out what was going on.  It was another encounter with the Cadets, and this time the advantage seemed to theirs.  While I lay vulnerable on the ground they rushed out from their hiding places.
I acted fast.  I sprang to my feet and plowed into the first Cadet I saw.  I caught Hector completely off-guard.  One minute I was lying on the ground, the next my shoulder was driving into his gut.  I knocked him right off his feet and then I drove him straight into a tree.
After I slammed Hector into the tree as hard as I could, he chose to just fall to the ground rather then give me cause to attack him more.  I turned around and saw that I had four other adversaries closing in on me.  Titus, still wielding his mop handle type weapon, Ajax, Matthew and Teucer.  I looked around frantically to see if Orion was with them, but he was no where in sight.
They had already closed the gap left by Hector’s absence, and were closing in on me.  It was like some sort of weird dance with the four of them forming a circle around me.  Or perhaps a square would be more accurate.
Titus struck first.  He swung his stick at me.  I was able to block the blow with my right forearm.  It hurt, but better the thing hit my arm then my face.  At the same time I grabbed the rod with my left hand, then with both hands, then I tried to pull it free from Titus’ grip.  Titus didn’t let go of the stick but he was pulled into the center of the square with me.
Titus and I were in a kind of a tug of war for the stick for a while.  Well I kept my grip tight with my right hand, I slid my left hand along the rod until I had my left hand gripping the center, hopping this would give me more leverage.  Titus still clung on to his part of the stick.
Everyone else stayed on the outside, watching the little battle to see what would happen.  Hector had gotten back on his feet by this time and took the spot that Titus used to have.
Titus tried to spin his body around and land a turning kick right on my face.  It would have been a good idea except that he had to let go of the rod for a second while his body spun around and his foot got ready to slam into my nose.  That second was all I needed.  The instant he let go of the rod I slammed it into him.  With one foot on the ground and the other in the air he was easily knocked down.
Ajax rushed me from behind and I could hear him coming.  I whirled around and brought the rod down hard on his head.  This stopped him dead in his tracks but only seemed to daze him so I whacked him in the side with the stick.  That sent him teetering a little.  It was the third blow that knocked him down.
And that’s when they all rushed in.  The other four of them pounced on me this time.  I swung the stick like a club.  I hit Matthew squarely on the nose, causing his head to fly backwards and the rest of his body to follow it.  I then held the stick in front of me and used its firmness when I slammed it against Teucer’s flesh, knocking him down.  I had cleared myself a pathway, and I ran through it.  I dropped the stick on the ground and just took off.
The blood pounded in my ears.  I had lost control of my feet, they were just moving on their own now.  I pumped my arms wildly just trying to keep up with my legs.  It was a great feeling.