Second Draft Part 2: Chapter 13

Just as I was leaning over another box, there was a knock at the door. I stood up and went over to the door to answer it. Icarus was standing in the doorway. “Oh, hello Icarus.” I opened the door for him, and then I went back to the boxes.

“Hello Jonny,” Icarus said. He stuck his head in tentatively through the doorway. “Um, I’ll just invite myself in I guess, okay Jonny?”

I opened another box. “What? Oh, yeah, come in Icarus. I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be rude. I’ve just got a lot of unpacking to do.”

“Still?” Icarus walked in and looked around. “Jonny, we’ve been here for a week, and you still haven’t unpacked yet?”

I threw some clothes on a shelf. “I’ve been busy.”

“You didn’t even have time to unpack? What in the world have you been doing? Classes don’t even start for another couple of days.”

I had spent most of that time out on the Cadet fields, training either with Orion or by myself. Registration for the first year Cadets was only a few days away, and Orion wanted to make sure I made the leadership cut.

“You know, having fun,” I answered.

Icarus collapsed into one of my chairs. That was one thing about Icarus. Everything always had to be so dramatic. He couldn’t sit down normally. He had to almost fall backwards into my chair. “Hey, I stopped by David’s dorm room earlier,” he said. “No one was there. Do you know where he went?”

“Yeah, he’s out with Helen.”

Icarus leaned back in my chair and drummed his fingers on my desk. Icarus could never sit still for long. “That figures. Those two are always together, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, they are.”

“You’d think they were married or something. How long have they been going out now anyway?”

“Oh, about a couple years now.”

“That long already?” Icarus rocked the chair back and forth. He looked out the window as he continued drumming his fingers on the table. “Do you see David much these days?”

“A little bit,” I answered, folding some shirts. “It’s not like it used to be.”

Icarus stood up and opened the window. “Lots of things aren’t like they used to be.” He spit out the window. “Hey, check it out Jonny, I made it all the way to the sidewalk.”

I made a point of not looking at Icarus as I continued unpacking. “Nice Icarus.”

The brief distraction had broken Icarus’s train of thought. “Now what was I saying? Oh yeah. Things are really changing. I mean, we’re at the University now. The University Jonny. Think about it. We’re not kids anymore. Did you ever think we’d really end up here?”

“I knew I had to go somewhere.”

“You know what I mean. Did you ever think we’d be this old? Didn’t you think we’d be kids forever?”

I stopped what I was doing and looked over at Icarus. “There was a part of me that thought that, yeah.”

Icarus walked away from the window to come over and look at my boxes. “Need any help unpacking?”

“Nah, I got it.”

“Hey, how come you didn’t get stuck with a roommate like the rest of us?” I shrugged the question off as if to say I didn’t know and it wasn’t important. Icarus looked over at me, and then his face melted from a quizzical expression into a knowing one. “Because of your father, huh? Old Flash made sure you got your own room.”

I decided to change the subject. “How is your roommate?”

Icarus scowled. “He’s an absolute moron, Jonny. I hate him already.” Icarus looked around the room as if searching for something, and then added, “Hey, Jonny, do you have anything to eat? I’m starving over here.”

Lately this had become a common theme. Every time Icarus dropped by to see he asked for food. “You’re not scrounging my food again Icarus.”

“Ah come on. You’re dad can afford it.”

I opened a desk drawer and took out half a loaf of bread. “Here, take it,” I said, throwing it at Icarus.

The strength with which I threw it at him caught him off guard, but he recovered quickly. “Thanks a lot.” He bit into it hungrily. Then with a full mouth he continued, “Well, I suppose you’re wondering what you’re doing tonight.”

I took out my socks and started putting them in the dresser. “I know what I’m doing tonight. I’m unpacking.”

“Not tonight you’re not. Tonight you’re going to the University art show.” Icarus took a crumpled flier out of his back pocket, and began unfolded it. “Check this out Jonny,” he said, holding the flier up in my face. “All art by University students on display. Sounds cool, doesn’t it?” He stopped shaking the flying in front of my face and took it back to read from it. “See art on display by your fellow students, interact with fellow art lovers…” Icarus stopped to take another bit of bread, and for a while his words were muffled by the sound of his chewing “…mmm hmm learmmm mmmm other cultural events that the University offers, and find out how you can contribute to the art community. Icarus finished reading and looked at me expectantly.

“I’m not going.”

Icarus refolded the flier and returned it to his pocket. “What? Give me one good reason why not?”

“I don’t like art and I have to unpack tonight.”

I opened another box, but Icarus walked over and promptly closed it again. “Jonny, this stuff has been in boxes all week. It can wait another night.”

“I have to unpack sometime.”

“Tomorrow is sometime.”

“Icarus, I don’t even like art.”

Icarus attempted to give me a disgusted look, but he the effect of this was ruined when he stopped to take another bite of my bread. “Don’t like art? Well then Jonny, I absolutely insist that you come. Besides I’m sure we’ll meet all sorts of new people there.”

“But I don’t-.”

“Come on,” Icarus said as he opened the door. “We’re going to be late.” I just stared blankly at him, so he added, “Come on Jonny, just spend two hours with me at this art show, and I promise I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the night.”

I looked from my boxes and then back to Icarus. Briefly at my boxes, and then Icarus again. “Two hours?”

“That’s all I ask of you.”

I took a deep breath. “Okay. Two hours. Only.”

**********************************************************

I don’t know what I expected. The University had a lot of grand old beautiful buildings that would have been great for this event. I guess I expected the art show to be in one of those buildings with tall magnificent dome ceilings painted with beautiful frescos and long glass windows stretching all the way to the ceiling.

Instead the art show was in a basement. It was lit by torches so that the art work could be seen well enough, but it had the dim feeling of a dungeon.

Icarus is the kind of person who always has to make a fantastic entrance whenever he goes anywhere. He grabbed the handles of both doors, and pulled them both open at once, and then entered the art show walking proud and erect as if he were some visiting foreign dignity. A few heads turned towards him. I sneaked in quietly afterwards trying to look as if I was here by myself.

There were a few portraits on the wall where we first entered. Icarus stood looking at them for some time. I stood a comfortable distance away from Icarus and just tried to take in the different people who were there. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but everyone struck me as just looking very normal. There didn’t appear to be any wild-eyed artist types. In fact probably the nuttiest person in the room was the one I had come with.

“Hey, Jonny, pay attention to the paintings. You’re embarrassing me. I brought you to an art show, so quit staring at the people.” Icarus thought about what he had just said, and added in a quieter tone, “Do you see any pretty girls.”

“No.”

“Oh. Well quit staring at the people then. Look at the art. Why do you think I brought you here?”

I looked at the art for a while to make Icarus happy. He was really intently studying the paintings, and I pretended I was doing the same. In reality my brain was drifting to all sorts of different things. A first year student always has a lot on his mind. I was thinking about the upcoming first day of classes, and registration for Cadets. I was wondering what David and Helen were doing right now, and probably above all my mind kept wandering back to the unpacked boxes in my dorm room.

I don’t know how long we were standing there in silence. Probably a couple minutes. Icarus turned and lightly hit me on the shoulder. “Alright Jonny, which one’s your favorite?”

“Um, that one I guess.”

“Which one?”

“The one on the right.”

“Really?” Icarus scrunched up his face and scrutinized my choice with a critical look. “Why?”

“I don’t know. It looks the most realistic.”

Icarus simply took a deep breath and said, “Hmmm.” I could tell by the way he “hmmm-ed” that he didn’t approve, but I didn’t want to give him an opening by asking him about his own choice, even though I knew he was waiting for me to do it.

We walked a little bit down the hall. Icarus stopped me suddenly. “Now look at that Jonny. That is art. Do you see that painting? Absolutely beautiful. That really speaks to me. Look at the way the colors play with each other; the message of conflict inherit in the piece. I must meet this artist.”

Icarus spoke in his usual loud conversational tone, and I began to wonder if I was the only one who thought he was acting strange, or if this was the way one was supposed to talk at art shows. I looked around, and saw several pairs of eyes staring at us strangely. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal, except this was the first week of University. I didn’t even know any of the other students at this art show. I put my hand up to my face with my index and middle finger against my temple in order to look like I was concentrating on the picture. This also had the effect of shielding my face from the side.

Quietly resolving never to go anywhere with Icarus again, I looked at the painting. It was simply a swirl of colors; nothing that made sense. Icarus remained fascinated by it, and it was some time before we moved on.

We saw many more sculptures and paintings. Icarus was invariably attracted to the ones that didn’t make sense. He raved about a sculpture that appeared to be just a bunch of random stones thrown together. He talked for a full five minutes about a painting that was just different colored dots.

One painting in particular excited Icarus. He was fascinated by a lot at the art show, but this painting got him even more excited than usual. “Look at this Jonny. This painting is absolutely magnificent. I must meet the artist.”

It was a picture of two different men, one imposed over the other. Both were drawn from the back so that their faces were not visible. Both men had their arms raised, although since their figures overlapped it created a muddled picture and I couldn’t quite tell what either was doing with his hands.

At the center of the painting the men were drawn against a plain white background. At the edges of the painting the artist had drawn a boarder using red, yellow, and black, but only at the fringes. The center of the painting was mostly white.

“Now tell me Jonny, what do you see when you look at this painting?”

The answer seemed obvious. “Two separate men overlapping?”

“No. No, no, no Jonny, what does it mean to you?” Icarus leaned back and contemplated the painting. His eyes narrowed and his hand rested under his chin. He had assumed the posture of an art critic. “Now see Jonny, when I look at this painting, I see the sun?”

“What?”

“No, look. You’ve got pure hot brilliant white in the center, and then it moves out into different colors. You know all color comes from the sun, right Jonny?”

“What about the two men in the middle?”

“They symbolize life. All life is dependent on the sun. And they both have their arms raised, welcoming the sun.”

“But they’re in the sun.”

“No, that’s just symbolic. You need to imagine that they’re on Earth, reaching towards the sun, and yet inside the sun at the same time.” Icarus snapped his fingers, delighted at his own explanation. “This painting is absolutely brilliant. I would love to meet the artist.”

“I know him,” said a voice. Both Icarus and I turned our heads to look at a third boy watching the painting with us. He blushed slightly. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help overhearing,” he said. He gave us an apologetic smile. He spoke softly, and had dark brown hair which covered his forehead, but was brushed back slightly at the eyebrows, in a manner that would have perhaps been fashionable ten years ago. “You two must be first year students?”

We nodded. “Yeah, I was thinking you had to be first years,” he said, his black eyes looking over us coolly. “I haven’t seen you around at any of the art shows before. My name’s Adonis.”

We both gave our names, and exchanged casual handshakes. “Hermes is over this way,” Adonis said, stepping down the hall in the direction he indicated. “Hermes is the one who drew that picture.”

Adonis led the way, with the two of us following behind him as if he were a schoolmaster. Icarus flashed me an excited look with his eyebrows raised. “Look at our luck,” it seemed to say.

We walked into the refreshment room at the end of the hall. Adonis lost his shy mannerisms the moment he stepped into the room. He obviously felt more comfortable among this crowd. “Hermes, I have some fans of yours,” he called out to the whole room.

All eyes turned towards the person who must have been Hermes. He was in the middle of eating a piece of cake that he held in his fingers. He hurriedly shoved the rest into his mouth, and then wiped the frosting off on his pant legs as he walked over to Adonis. “Fans of mine?” he asked. He didn’t seem to believe he had heard Adonis correctly.

Adonis looked at Hermes, and then quietly touched his own upper lip. Hermes took the hint and then wiped his sleeve across his mouth to remove the frosting. “The great Hermes,” Adonis said with an elaborate gesture in Hermes’s direction.

Hermes was not a short person, but neither was he particularly tall. The top of his head was about level with my chin. He was dressed differently than what I expected of an artist. In contrast to a lot of the avant-garde styles we saw around us, Hermes had on only a plain white shirt and plain brown pants. His hair was about the same length of Adonis’s, but was colored sandy blonde instead of Adonis’s brown. And instead of being combed back above the eyebrows it was tussled and scattered looking.

Hermes had strong arms. I could see this right away. I had an eye for those kinds of things at the time. When you work out or train a lot, like I was doing at the time, you tend to develop an eye for other people’s muscles that have been defined by exercise.

I could tell Hermes worked out, but apparently only his biceps. His chest looked flat and undefined, which made a funny contrast to his bulking arms. I figured he most do a lot of arm curls with dumbbells, but not much of anything else. He also had a slight belly protruding, which I was guessing might have some relation to the cake he was eating.

Hermes turned from Adonis to us. “Really? You guys liked my work?”

“We loved it,” Icarus responded.

“Really?” It would appear Hermes did not get a lot of regular compliments on his artwork. He didn’t look like he knew what to say. He looked from Icarus to me to make sure this wasn’t some sort of joke. I nodded along with Icarus and tried to look sincere about my love of the painting. “Can I get you guys a drink? Have you tried the punch yet? It’s pretty good, for free punch anyway.”

Hermes turned to the punch bowl. As he was filling up our drinks, Icarus continued, “You sir, are a genius. I found your painting absolutely astounding.”

Hermes handed the drinks back to us. “Which one?”

It hadn’t occurred to Icarus that there might be more than one of Hermes’s paintings on display, and this question threw off his rhythm. “Oh, um, I don’t know actually. Jonny, did you see the name of it?”

“No.”

“Well anyway, it was the big one about the sun.”

“The what?”

“The two people superimposed over each other.”

Hermes snapped his fingers excitedly in recognition. “Ah, yes. That was one of my favorites as well. The colors on that piece turned out really nice.” The pleasure of talking about his painting had made Hermes forget his surprise, and he started to take us in with new eyes, as if suddenly seeing us for the first time. “I didn’t catch either of your names,” he said, extending his hand for us to shake.

We both gave our names, and Hermes added, “Are you guys first year students here?” We answered yes. “That’s cool. I’m a second year student myself. So is Adonis.” Adonis was actually only half in the conversation at this point. He was still standing in our circle, but his gaze was following a girl across the room. He turned quickly back to us when he heard his name mentioned, and affirmed that he was in fact a second year. And then his gaze returned to the girl.

“So where are you from?” Icarus and I both answered we were from Urbae. “Ah, local boys,” Hermes said, draining his punch glass. “In that case you probably know more about the University than I do. I’m from all the way out in Alba.”

I could tell by the confused look on Icarus’s face that he didn’t have a clue where Alba was, so I took over the conversation. “Alba huh? You’ve come a long way to go to school.”

“That’s what everybody says. I’m the only one from my prefecture to come out to Urbae. My parents wanted me to go to school closer to home. But I just had to come out to where the action is. I mean, this is it, isn’t it? Urbae, the capital city. The one you always read about in books.”

Icarus and I exchanged looks. “Listen, Hermes, let me save you the anticipation,” I said. “There’s no action in Urbae.”

“A sleeping city,” Icarus chimed in. “Nothing ever happens here.”

“Oh come on,” Hermes said almost irritably. “What do you mean nothing ever happens here? This was where the Restoration took place, right? The stuff we always read about in history books, it all happened right here.”

“Jonny’s dad would know about that,” Icarus said. I deliberately ignored the comment, and Hermes didn’t seem to pick up on it. He was too excited to get thrown off track of what he was saying.

“I know the Restoration is old news, but what about the uprising two years ago? It happened in this very University. That was all over the country of course. We even had demonstrations in Alba. But it started and finished in this University. {Enthusiasm here possible problem with Hermes later apathy}

“And besides,” Hermes added, his voice going down as he came to the end of his rhetorical flourish, “if things are so boring in Urbae, why did you two stay here?”

“That’s a good question. Why are we still here Jonny?” Icarus asked.

I knew why I was here. It was what my destiny demanded of me. I had to stay in Urbae if I wanted to join the Cadets. As to why Icarus, and for that matter the rest of our class, all went to the same University, I couldn’t really say. I suppose it was like Hermes said: however boring this city seemed, it was still the capital city. Things didn’t become any more exciting in the provincial towns. Many people from the provinces came into Urbae to go to the University. No one from Urbae ever went out to the provinces to attend a University.

But I doubt Icarus, or any of the rest of them, put much conscious thought into this. We all went to the Urbae University because everyone in the class before us had gone to the University. And everyone in the class before them. And the class before that. And all the classes all the way back to the time of the Restoration, to the time of our parents, and before.

Icarus’s single comment had set off a whole train of thought in my mind, and I was now standing like Adonis, in the conversation but not longer part of it. Hermes and Icarus had continued on with the conversation, and I listened to try and pick up the thread.

“Now that was a painting I had fun with. It started out as a simple outline sketch. I had a friend of mine pose, and I drew him from the back.”

“And?”

“Well, like I said it was supposed to be just a simple sketch. I just drew the outline of his body, and then I colored inside the lines with black. Nothing special. I didn’t like the way it looked though, so I finally I just used white to paint over the whole thing.”

Hermes eyes glowed, and he was now completely at ease with Icarus, as if Icarus had been an old friend. The mutual fascination with the painting had turned the two of them into intimates already.

“The interesting thing was that even after painting over the whole thing, I could still see where it had been, so I just traced the outline and put it back on the picture. It looked pretty cool, because now it just had a dark outline, and the rest of it looked faded. But it still needed something, so I got another friend of mine to do a different pose, and I drew that as well, also from the back. I painted his figure over the one I already had. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I thought maybe it would turn out cool. After that I added a lot of color to the edges so it wouldn’t look so plain.”

“But it’s more than just that,” Icarus insisted. “It symbolizes the sun, and life.”

“It’s taken on those meanings as well,” Hermes said diplomatically.

Adonis was gone from our circle now, in body as well as mind. He had at last slipped away unnoticed during this exchange, and was now talking to the girl who had captivated his gaze all this time. Hermes realized Adonis was gone about the same time that I did, and he gave a smile to apologize for Adonis’s rudeness. “Hey, what are you guys doing after the show?” he asked. “Do you want to grab a cup of coffee?”

“All the coffee shops are closed at night,” I answered.

“That’s in the city. Inside the University walls, we keep different hours. I can show you a cool place.”

Icarus volunteered us both. “We’ll come.”

I was annoyed at not being consulted, and Hermes must have seen it on my face. “Jon, is that okay with you?”

I didn’t want to appear rude. “I can’t stay out too late,” I said. “But I can come out for a little while.”

*********************************************************************

Although the University was in the middle of the city, in some ways it acted like a city unto itself behind the high walls. There were many cafeterias for the students to eat at during the daytime, and in the evening there were a few privately run shops and cafes. Hermes led us along the path with the expertise of a veteran second year.

“This place is one of the coolest places on campus,” Hermes said. “It’s a little hard to find if you don’t know what you’re looking for, but people who know about it always come back. You guys like coffee, right?”

“We love it,” Icarus answered, again without asking me.

“Actually, the coffee at this place isn’t anything special. The real reason I come here is because of the people. I’ve met some of the most interesting people I know at this place.” Icarus looked really excited when he heard that last part.

Hermes led us around to the back of one of the daytime Cafeterias. I had eaten in the cafeteria before at the beginning of the week, but I never noticed the back of it, nor the stairs that led under it into the basement.

In red paint, above the basement door, the words “The Cave” were painted, but it was obvious not a lot of care had gone into their creation. The letters looked hastily painted, and much of the red paint had dripped down onto the red door before it dried.

Hermes pushed open the old wooden door, which creaked like old wooden doors always do. We followed him inside. There was a flight of narrow stairs immediately after the door, which we climbed down. They were wet and slippery and the place smelled like vomit. As we neared the end of the stairs, the smell of vomit was replaced by the smell of smoke.

The coffee shop itself was a lot larger than the small entrance had led me to believe. The basement obviously filled up the same space as the cafeteria above it, and maybe even a little bit more. And it was packed with smoke. Everyone had a cigarette or a cigar. I think I might have even seen a few pipes scattered here and there. I began to cough involuntarily as the smoke entered my lungs.

Hermes was right about the interesting people. I could tell this from the first minutes. The clothing inside was very unusual, with some of the most unique fashion I had ever seen, not to mention the hairstyles. And for whatever reason a lot of wire rimmed glasses. Near sightedness and this coffee shop must have had some connection.

Icarus elbowed me in the ribs. “Hey, ease up on the coughing. You’re making all the smokers uncomfortable.”

Hermes motioned to an empty table. “You guys can sit there. I’ll treat you the first time.”

As Hermes went to the front counter, Icarus and I sat down at the table. Icarus’s face beamed with excitement. “I can’t believe this Jonny! We’re having coffee with this great artist.”

“I think we’re the first fans he’s ever had,” I said. “He’s more concerned with making a good impression on us than we are on him.”

Icarus leaned forward in his chair. “Jonny, do you realize the genius of this man? He’s like a prophet of our generation.”

I didn’t feel like arguing the point, so I just changed the subject. “Have you met any other interesting new people at the University?”

“Tons, yeah. There’re so many more interesting people here than there were at our old school. Our old class was really pretty boring when you think about it.”

Hermes returned with three steaming cups. He gave us each one as he sat down. “Try this. You’ll love it.”

Icarus immediately took a huge swallow. I brought the cup cautiously to my face and smelled the contents. “Is this coffee?”

“It has coffee in it. Go ahead, try it.”

I brought the cup to my lips and took a small sip. An incredibly sweet taste passed through my mouth. I took a bigger gulp. “This is delicious,” I exclaimed. “What is it?”

“It’s a specialty here. Mainly coffee, but there’s a lot of other stuff mixed in with it. It doesn’t even taste like coffee, does it?”

“I don’t like coffee, but I like this.”

Icarus had finished his drink already, and put his cup down, and was already making greedy eyes at mine. Almost as an unconscious gesture I covered my cup protectively as I sipped the sweet drink.

“You know,” Hermes began, “if you guys like art, you should join the art guild. You could display some of your own stuff at the next art show. Do you paint or draw?” The tone in his question assumed as a matter of course that we did one or the other.

“I paint,” Icarus responded. “I have a few pieces I’ve been working on, but I’m not very good yet.” This was the first I had heard about Icarus’s painting, but it did not surprise me. Once I had gotten to know Icarus, nothing about him really surprised me. If he had suddenly sprouted wings and flew out the window I doubt that would have surprised me.

“Don’t worry about it man,” Hermes responded. “We’re all amateurs at the art guild. It’s just for ordinary students. Anyone who wants can display a painting. It doesn’t matter how good you are.” Hermes turned to me to look at me. “What about you?”

“I don’t paint.”

“What do you draw then?”

“No, I don’t do either.”

“Oh.” Hermes was obviously not expecting this answer, and he stared at me in silence for a few seconds. I think it was on his tongue to ask me if I sculpted, or something like that, but he must have discerned from my expression and flat tone of voice that I wasn’t interested in any of it.

“Well you should come anyway,” he said at last. “Maybe we can find something you’re interested in. Otherwise you can just look at the paintings and discuss them with us.”

“I don’t have time. I’m joining the Cadets next week once classes start.”

Again, I don’t think this was an answer Hermes expected. He blurted out “I didn’t know you were one of those,” and then his face immediately reddened once he realized what he had said.

“He’s one of those alright,” Icarus said casually. “Jonny’s father was one of the heroes of the Restoration. You’ve probably heard of him.”

I could feel the embarrassment flowing through my body almost as if it were some tangible force. I glared at Icarus. Icarus never really picked up on these sorts of hints, but fortunately Hermes noticed and he changed the subject. “Okay, I tell you what I’ll do. I’ll write down the details for art guild. Do you have a piece of paper? Never mind, I’ll write it on this napkin. We meet on Tuesday nights at 8 O’clock in the gallery room at the art department. It’s after the Cadets finish training, so you can still come by if you want Jon. Try and stop by just once and see if you like it. You never know, we might find a piece of art that you like.”

Hermes tore the napkin into two pieces and gave Icarus and I each a copy of the same information. I put my half into my pocket and gave what I hoped was a noncommittal smile. “Thanks. I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Hey, do you guys like music?”

The abrupt change of subject startled even Icarus. “I guess so, why?” Icarus answered.

“There’s a band playing in a few minutes over in the music hall. It’s only a short walk from here. I think you guys might really like it. They’re some of my favorite musicians.”

I still had unpacking yet to do, but I was beginning to enjoy Hermes’s company, and the unpacking could wait for another day.

Second Draft Chapter 14

The next morning, the day before Cadet registration, my father visited me. He never mentioned the Cadets once, but he didn’t have to. We both knew that the purpose of his visit was to remind me not to disappoint him.

Abel came as well. Abel was thirteen now, and had changed a lot from the whiny little kid he was a few years before. But he was still a child, and I felt more distant from him at that time than ever. I was eighteen and I felt myself fully an adult.

Since my door was never locked, my father simply opened it and walked in. Seeing that I was still asleep, he rapped his hand loudly against the wall to wake me up. “Alright Jonathon, rise and shine. It’s almost four o’clock in the afternoon.”

“Are you going to sleep all day?” Abel chimed in.

I looked around groggily. “I was only taking a nap Dad. I’ve been up since eight o’clock this morning.”

Abel stayed respectfully by the door, but my father walked around the room inspecting things as if he owned the place. And I guess in a way he did, considering that he and Flash practically ran this University. He opened the curtains, and I squinted as sunlight poured into the room. “You were out too late last night, weren’t you?”

“Maybe.”

“And you haven’t even unpacked yet? This is unacceptable Jonathon. Your room was never this dirty when you lived in my house, and it won’t be this dirty here. After Flash went through all the trouble to get you a single room, is this how you’re going to take care of it?”

I sat up on the bed and shrugged my shoulders. “The room doesn’t look that bad to me.”

He acted like he didn’t even hear. “This is not acceptable. If you don’t clean this up, you can be stuck with a roommate just like everyone else at the University.”

I nodded as I tried to wipe the sleep out of my eyes. “Okay. I’ll clean it up.”

“The next time I come over here I want to see a room that I can be proud of. I didn’t raise you to be a slob Jonathon.” Whatever cleaning skills I had or didn’t have at this point in my life were no thanks to him. I never saw him clean anything around the house. He relied on the servants for all of that. But I kept my mouth shut.

He pulled a chair out from behind my desk, and sat down in the center of the room, looking straight at me. Abel now entered the room and sat down on my desk. “So what have you been doing this week?” my father asked me.

I breathed in a deep breath as I realized any hope of him leaving soon was gone. I would have to face the usual inquisition, and forget about my nap.

*******************************************************************

University classes started in the fall, just like our old school always did. But the world was different now, and we were different with it. We had become adults, and left our childish schooldays behind us.

At last, we had the coveted student passes to the University campus, and we could enter and leave at will. Although now that I had it, I no longer cared about it.

We all lived within walking distance of the University, or at least all of my old schoolmates from Urbae did. In fact the University was actually closer to my house than the old school. But it was no longer my house anymore. It was my father’s house, and Abel’s house. I now lived in the University dormitories, according to the old tradition, just as my father had once left his parent’s house when he had turned 18.

I had been to the University for one afternoon two and a half years ago, but the University I remembered from that day had no relation to the University I now saw before me. At times I began to doubt I had ever been here before at all, and wondered if I might not have dreamed the whole thing.

Most of that day two years ago was spent in the nature preserve, away from the main part of the campus. Only at the end did we encounter the main campus buildings, and then the running around and confusion made things seem completely different from the calm green lawns I now saw before me everyday. After several unsuccessful attempts to reconcile things in my mind, I began to wonder if I had even been to this part of campus at all, or if my brain had been playing tricks on me, and we had ended up on some different part of campus entirely.

I had made one attempt to go back into the nature preserve and relocate the path we walked, but either I couldn’t find it or I didn’t recognize it when I saw it. Forest scenes have a way of all looking the same, and after two years it was impossible to retrace my steps.

There was, however, one unmistakable reminder of that day, and I saw him at Cadet registration.

Because I had volunteered in the Cadet Center for two years, I was known to everyone and my paper work went through smoothly without me even having to fill out anything. Actually given my family connections, this would probably have been the case regardless.

On a Tuesday morning, the day before classes started, I woke up early and went to the Cadet Building in the center of campus.

A whole campus building was dedicated to the Cadets. It was a very elegant building. Even the landscape around it was carefully controlled. The building itself was built in the classical style. The entrance was supported by spotless white pillars. I walked up the many stairs and in through the grand entrance. The lobby had a large domed ceiling. I was just about to ask at the front desk where registration was, when I saw a sign directing the new recruits. I walked down the grand hallway towards an auditorium at the end of the hall.

As I entered the auditorium, I looked over the sea of faces to see if I knew anyone. Most of the faces were new and strange. A few people looked vaguely familiar. I think I had seen some of them around somewhere at the University during the past week.

From my old school class, I saw Christopher sitting in the front rows. He was talking to the people around him and seemed to have made several new friends already.

Christopher was ambitious in his own way, and so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to see him there. After all, he had been elected our class president every year for the last four years. It was only natural that he would want to be a Cadet. No doubt he considered it some sort of stepping stone to an upward career in government office.

And yet, when I thought of all the hard training I had done with Orion, I found myself wondering if Christopher would be able to handle it. He was in reasonably good shape, but athletics wasn’t his passion. He was probably much more at home with his schoolbooks, or debating with LJ and Varro. Christopher would try for the leadership track, but I didn’t think he would be much competition for me.

In a corner on the side of the auditorium were my three best friends Ajax, Teucer, and Hector. They were sitting off by themselves and made absolutely no effort to meet any of the other people. In fact they sent off a hostile look to anyone who dared to sit close to them. They were the same as ever. The three of them had their gang, and they were convinced no one else would be of any value to them.

I wasn’t expecting to see those three here, but I wasn’t surprised by it. They were always looking for an excuse to push people around, and so Cadet training would fit them nicely. Once they got into the army they could push people around for their job.

The nice thing about Hector and Teucer was that they knew their place. They wouldn’t try and surpass Ajax by enrolling in the leadership track. Ajax was the only one of them who would be competition for me. In strength Ajax and I were about equal, but he had not been training like I had for the past two years.

I didn’t know any of the other new recruits, but I was already feeling very confident about my chances.

I took a seat near the back and waited for things to begin. Soon, the room became quite as a huge giant of a man dressed in a military uniform came to the front. He had red hair and a large red beard, and was at least a head taller than anyone else I’d ever seen, even bigger than Orion. His uniform was obviously too small for him, and strained against his body as if it would snap off at any minute. He reminded me of a man from another time, and I immediately thought of Orion and Orion’s dream to imitate the heroes of old. This man looked like a hero of old. Or like a giant from the ancient legends.

“Alright, everyone listen up,” he bellowed. “My name is Zeus.” That name sounded familiar to me, and in fact the man himself looked familiar. The voice sounded familiar. I had heard it before. Words came drifting back to my ear. “…You dumb hicks, get your hands off of him.” I closed my eyes and I could hear him as clearly as I did two years ago. “Don’t you realize whose son that is?”

I shook my mind out of the past and looked back up at Zeus. “For the next four years, I own you,” he declared. He said it with a smile on his face, and it was greeted with nervous laughter from around the room. But the humor was for him only. “Remember that before you sign up. This is the only warning you’re going to get. The Cadets isn’t just some campus club. Once you sign your name on the dotted line, you’re committed for the next four years. Legally the Cadets own you. You can’t just quit because you don’t like it. If any of you don’t think you can handle that, then you can just turn around and march right out of here.”

There was a slight stirring, as if several people would have liked to walk out the door. I looked at Christopher. Since he was in the front, all I could see was the back of his head, but his head was fixed to the front, as if the thought of leaving never occurred to him. Once Christopher sets his mind to something, he’s usually pretty determined.

“Cadets isn’t easy. The next four years I’m going to work you to your limit everyday. I’m going to make you hurt. Every night you’ll think back on this moment, and many of you will wish you had left when you had a chance.”

Next I looked over in the corner. Hector was shuffling his feet uncomfortably, and Teucer was starring longingly at the door. Ajax was lying languidly in the chair, his arms hanging loosely by his sides. He couldn’t have looked anymore relaxed.

“The Cadets requires a lot of hard work, dedication, and discipline. Most importantly, it requires obedience. Obedience to Fabulae, obedience to the Duke, and obedience to me. You will lose your self identity, and you will become a slave to the Cadets.”

When after a pause, no one had stood up to leave, Zeus’s smile widened. “Good. That’s what I like to see. The Cadets has a proud history. We were there at the Restoration, and we’ve produced the finest officers for every war ever since then. Not all of you have what it takes maybe, but all of you will work hard.” He relaxed his posture on stage and his shoulders dropped down. The posture was contagious, and there was a general loosening of tension all throughout the auditorium. “All right boys, you can relax for the first day. All we want from you right now is your name, your age, and some other important information. Then we want to get your measurements so that we can issue you the appropriate equipment. Now, there are a lot of you here, so just sit tight and be patient. We’ll get through all of you eventually. Monday be here at five in the morning for-.”

There was a slight, I wouldn’t say groan, but a slight murmur through the auditorium. It was something I almost felt more than heard. Zeus felt it too. In fact I think he had been expecting it, and maybe even deliberately setting it up. He abruptly stopped his speech and straightened his shoulders and stood at attention again.

“Do any of you boys have a problem with the time we meet?” he shouted. “Do you? Is five too early in the morning for you rich kids?”

Zeus stopped for a second and starred out at the audience, as if he expected someone to respond. I think most of us, myself included, half hoped someone would be foolish enough to respond, just out of morbid interest so we could see Zeus turn on them. But no one said anything.

“You will be here at five on Monday morning gentlemen, and you will be here on time, or you will have to deal with me.” Zeus looked around the room one last time. His eyes darted from person to person as if he were just waiting for somebody to make a mistake. Again, no one moved.

“Alright, go to it then. Registration is through that door on your left,” Zeus pointed to a door in the front of the auditorium.

*************************************************************************

“Looking good Jon. I think we might have found the perfect look for you at last,” David said, as I tried my new Cadet Uniform on in front of the mirror.

I could hardly believe the look myself. I had never felt so adult before. But seeing my reflection in the mirror with the Cadet uniform on, I felt a sense of how grown up I really was.

The brand new uniform shown bright blue, with shiny brass buttons. I was so used to seeing Orion wear this uniform, that one of my first thoughts was how much like him I now looked. Of course he was taller than me. And more muscular. But I had been working hard the past two years, and now my own muscular frame shown slightly through the uniform. I had an impulse to see more of my frame in the mirror. I straightened up slightly so that the uniform was pulled taught, at the same time breathing in and pushing out my chest.

I had meant it as a subtle gesture that no one would notice, but David knew me too well to let me get away with it. His hand flew out, slapping the backside of my head. “Knock it off Jon. Quit showing off in front of the mirror.”

My shoulders sagged back down, but I made a token effort to save face. “I was just straightening up.”

“Yeah, whatever.” David wasn’t convinced, but he was kind enough not to push the point and embarrass me in front of Helen.

“I think that Uniform makes you looked really sexy,” Helen cooed. The words seemed to obtain a new innocence in her voice.

“How many of those new uniforms did they give you?” David asked.

“Five.”

“Five? All the same?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you need five of them for?”

“They have to be perfectly clean at the start of each day.”

This seemed to be funny to David. He chuckled. “Looks like you’re going to be doing a lot of washing for the next few years.”

“They have maids on campus,” Helen reminded David.

“No, I have to wash and clean the Uniform myself,” I answered. “It’s part of Cadets regulations.”

“But they have maids right on campus for washing,” Helen insisted.

“Not for the Cadets. We have to learn ourselves. There are no maids on the battlefields.”

“Jon, nobody cares if you have a clean uniform on the battlefield,” David said.

I let this ignorant comment go without a response.

From behind me, a new voice entered the conversation. “Nice Jon. Very nice.” All three of us turned around at once to see Hermes walk in through the open door.

I thrust my chest forward again. David didn’t notice because his attention was on the newcomer. Then I did the introductions. “David, Helen, I’d like you to meet a new friend of mine, Hermes.”

David shook hands in his usual friendly way. David was automatically friends with everyone. He didn’t have an enemy in this world. “Pleased to meet you,” David said, holding out his hand.

“Likewise.” Hermes shook David’s hand, but he was already looking over to me. “Hey Jon, we missed you on Tuesday.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. I’ll try and be there next week.” I actually had no intention of coming next week, but I didn’t want to get in a long discussion about it.

“What’s on Tuesday?” Helen asked.

I looked to Hermes to answer that question, but he nodded his head at me and sent the question right back. “Oh, just some art thing,” I said.

Hermes, deeming my explanation unsatisfactory, decided to expand. “It’s the art guild. It’s a place where students can get together to share their work, and learn about what art opportunities the University offers.” It sounded a little hollow coming off his tongue, as if it was a prepared sale’s pitch which he gave to lots of students. And it probably was.

Helen smiled at me, with her usual magic smile, and I felt my whole body wanting to melt underneath her gaze. “You’re doing art guild as well? That’s wonderful Jon. I’m so proud of you.”

She seemed so pleased at my interest in art, and of course I couldn’t tell her that I actually had no intention of going. Instead I played into the role she admired. “It’s something I always wanted to try out. You know how I’ve always had an interest in art.”

“No,” she said, her eyes wide with astonishment. Her eyes looked particularly beautiful when they were opened wide like that. “No, I didn’t know that at all. You never mentioned that before Jon.”

In the back of my mind I realized that every word I was saying now was something I would have to wiggle out of later when I talked to Hermes again. But at the moment I didn’t care. “Art is something I’ve always been passionate about. Icarus and I went to the art show last week on campus, and that’s where we met Hermes.”

Helen looked so happy, and pleased with me, that I didn’t want to say anything for fear of disrupting her glow. I just wanted to look into her face, and see her smile. David’s face looked much more confused. “How can you do art guild?” he asked. “You’re going to be busy with Cadets.”

Hermes jumped to answer this question. “We meet at eight o’clock, after Cadets training finishes.”

The confused look on David’s face only deepened. “Yeah, but you’re going to be very busy. With all the Cadet training, and your schoolwork, do you really have time for this Jon?”

“I’ll be busy, but this is important,” I answered. “Art is important to me.”

A smile broke out on David’s face as he slowly shook his head. “Jon the Artist. Man, I never would have thought it.”

Second Draft Chapter 15

It was barely light out. The sun was just a pink glow on the horizon, and the darkness was reluctant to give up its hold on the sky. Even though it was still early fall, the air was cold and still chilled from the night.

At five O’clock we all assembled outside of the Cadet building. Everyone looked different with their blue uniforms on. Even Christopher lost his bookish looks, and looked like a real soldier in his Cadet uniform. His eyeglasses, which in every other context just made him look like a nerd, now gave him a look of sophistication, like one of those gentleman soldiers at a ballroom dance.

Ajax looked really magnificent in uniform. I hate to say it, but its true. I found myself admiring Ajax in spite of myself. But then it didn’t really surprise me. Ajax always had a bit of a handsome look to him. It wasn’t until after you got to know him that you realized what a jerk he was.

It was Hector and Teucer that I was more surprised by. Hector always looked like an idiot before. He had a long face, like a horse, and his mouth was always hanging slightly open. I wouldn’t have thought something as simple as a uniform could have transformed him, but there he was in front of me looking very smart and proper.

Teucer as well, who had always looked small and squirrelly before, now seemed to have gained in stature.

The rest of the Cadets were unknown to me, and the fact that everyone was dressed the same made them all the more indistinguishable as we all stood around milling about. But I knew in the next few months we would all become like brothers.

Zeus was visible a long ways off as he came strolling up to us. His massive frame was hard to miss. And his voice carried across the field. Before he arrived we could hear his voice clearly through the air. “Alright, form up!”

We all stared at each other, confused. None of us knew exactly what that meant, but we knew that Zeus wasn’t someone to be ignored. Christopher took the initiative by getting everyone to form a line.

Zeus walked up and smiled slightly at the line. “Ah, no. But good try. I keep forgetting you’re all new and you don’t know how to form up yet. But good effort cadet….” He looked at Christopher. “What was your name?”

Christopher took a step forward and yelled out crisply, “Christopher sir.”

Zeus nodded slowly, and I knew he was mentally putting this information in a place where he wouldn’t forget. The first training session hadn’t even started, and already Christopher was showing me up. I resolved not to let him upstage me again.

Zeus stood back, relaxed his shoulders, and clasped his hands behind his back. “Gentlemen, I can’t tell you what great pleasure it gives me to see you all assembled here on time. After our last meeting, I was a little worried this might be too early for some of you.” There was no laughter, either because it was too early in the morning, or because we were all afraid of Zeus. “I hope you all came ready to work today,” he continued, “because if you don’t leave here feeling like you want to die, then I haven’t done my job.” He smiled at his own joke, but again there was no laughter.

“The first thing we need to do is teach you how to form up. For now we’ll have you just form up by number until your leaders have been decided. Then at six o’clock the other Cadets will show up. Eventually, once you first years have learned the ropes, you can start showing up at six as well. For now you need the extra practice.

“Although the other Cadets have had one, two, in some cases three extra years of training, you will be expected to do all the same things they do. There will be no exceptions for first years. You must complete all the same tasks in the same amount of time. And if you can’t do that, then you must train extra until you can.”

Of course it wasn’t fair to ask first years to do the same tasks as fourth years. And I could feel the wave of nervousness flowing through my fellow Cadets. But I knew what Zeus was doing. He was going to throw us into the fire to separate the pure from the impure. That’s how he would know who the leaders were. I was immediately grateful to Orion for all the training he had given me. I would need it to come out on top this week.

***************************************************

I decided I should probably go to a couple Art Guild meetings just so that I wouldn’t look like a total fraud if Helen ever talked with someone else from the Art Guild. I knew she was David’s girlfriend now, and things weren’t like before, but I still wanted her to think well of me. That was an innocent enough wish, wasn’t it?

I figured all I had to do was to go to two or three Art Guild meetings. I didn’t even have to do anything there. Hermes had specifically said people could just watch if they wanted. All I had to do was show my face, and introduce myself to people so that they’d know who I was if Helen ever asked.

The following Tuesday I went to my first meeting. Cadet training had run a bit late that night, so it was just after 8 when I got there. I cracked open the door a sliver and looked through. The chairs were already formed in a circle, and it looked like they had already started. I was about to close the door and leave when Hermes saw me. “Jon! Jon!” He called out to me from across the room, breaking up whatever discussion was already in progress. “It’s okay Jon, come on in.” I opened the door all the way and walked in with a red face. “Here, have a seat Jon,” Hermes said, gesturing to an open chair.

There were about twenty people seated in the circle. I gave a sheepish wave to everyone as I walked to my seat. I noticed that everyone else there was equipped with thick pencils and paintbrushes and other art supplies. I of course had come empty handed.

“Well Hermes, would you like to introduce your friend?” someone asked.

Hermes looked at me closely, as if he were studying me to decide if I was acceptable or not. “No, I think I’ll let him introduce himself.”

I looked out on the faces. “Ah, Hello. Let’s see, my name is Jon. I’m a first year student here, but I’m actually a native of Urbae. I haven’t decided what I want to study yet.” I paused to search for something else to say. “I’m not really sure what I’m here. I’ve never been interested in art before, but Hermes convinced me to come.” That last part was one of those spontaneous moments of honesty that no one really plans out, but just sort of happen sometimes. Obviously I hoped that part wouldn’t get back to Helen. Hopefully it wasn’t the kind of thing that would stick in people’s minds.

Despite the blunt introduction I gave, I noticed that everyone was looking at me with kindness and friendliness. I also noticed for the first time that there were several cute girls in the circle. “Please, sit down Jon,” someone said to me. “Welcome to our meeting. I hope you find something that will interest you.”

*****************************************************************

After we had learned how to form up, Zeus led us around to the Cadet field. We all walked over in a loose group behind him, but once we got to the field Zeus bellowed, “Form up!”

We quickly ran into the rows and columns that he had taught us minutes before. He nodded slowly as he looked at us. “Not bad. I’d like to see you learn to form up quicker, but we’ll work on that. Okay listen up gentlemen, I want you to take a good look at this obstacle course. You’ll be seeing it in your nightmares for a long time, and when you do I want you to make sure that you at least see it right. This is quite possibly the worst obstacle course designed by human ingenuity, and you will do it every day as a warm up. Anyone who fails to complete the obstacles in the allotted time will have to do it again, and again, until he gets it right. Any questions?” This last part was purely rhetorical of course. All of us knew better than to ask a question. But I’m sure all of us were wondering the same thing. What exactly were we supposed to do? The field was filled with wooden walls and jungle gym like creations. It looked like a children’s playground from hell. But what were we supposed to do? Climb the obstacles? Crawl under them? In what order?

Zeus knew what we were thinking, and he seemed to enjoy our collective panic. After letting us stare out at the course for a moment, he called our attention back. “We have a special volunteer here today to show you how it’s done,” he called out. We all turned back to look at him, and now Orion was standing beside Zeus. “Pay close attention because he’s only going to go through this once, and then you must do it yourselves.”

Orion always managed to come out of nowhere like that. Obviously he must have walked up while we were all watching the obstacle course, but his mysterious appearing acts still seemed like a magicians tricks.

Standing side by side, Orion and Zeus made an interesting contrast. Zeus was slightly bigger, but they were both giants among men. Zeus was old, while Orion was fresh with youth. Orion’s face was soft and handsome looking, while Zeus’s face was covered by his scraggly red beard, and an ugly red scar ran across his forehead.

And yet age had not seemed to dull Zeus. He was one of those people who simply grow tougher with advancing ages. He was maybe 50, but I was much more frightened by him than I would have been of anyone 30 years younger. And even Orion looked a little uneasy standing next to Zeus. Every muscle of Orion’s body was strained to attention, as if he was terrified of making even one wrong move in the giant’s presence.

“Go!” Zeus shouted. Orion turned and ran towards the obstacle course. Orion began from a dead start, but he picked up speed soon enough. Orion had a way of making everything look effortless, and the way he ran made it look as if he was simply floating through the air. When he got to the first wall, Orion climbed over it with ease. He covered almost half of it with his first jump, and then his outstretched arms were able to reach out and grab the top of the wooden wall. He pulled himself up to the top with his arms while his feet pushed off against the wall, and in an instant he had cleared the obstacle and jumped down into the mud on the other side. Even Zeus was surprised by this and I heard him chuckling quietly to himself quietly with amazement.

He handled all the obstacles in this way. His muscles moved like a machine, doing the tasks asked of them with no sign of strain or exertion. He climbed up a rope, slithered under a barrier and then crawled through the mud under barbed wire. He sailed through about ten other obstacles, and then arrived back by Zeus’s side, muddy, but not winded.

“And that, Gentleman, is how it’s done,” Zeus said beaming. He made no attempt to conceal his pride at Orion. “Last chance for questions.” None of us fell for that trap. “Okay, well then,” he said as he pulled a small pocket watch out of his uniform, “Your time is running as of…” he paused and his eyes squinted to view the second hand ticking “…Now!”

************************************************************

“The format here is pretty simple Jon,” Hermes explained to me. “We always open every meeting by sharing art work we’ve done in the past week. That part is simply voluntary of course. Not everyone has to share, but everyone usually offers comments and advice to the artist. Then after that, we move onto some sort of coordinated group project. For instance last week we all drew portraits of the person sitting to the right of us. Just fun stuff like that.”

“You said I didn’t have to draw.”

“No, no, of course not. Not if you don’t want to. You can just watch if you want.”

I settled back in my seat nervously. The Art Guild meeting, which had already been in progress before I interrupted it, resumed. Everyone returned their attention to the girl who had been presenting. She had long black hair and a very pale face which was made even whiter by the complete absence of make-up.

“This next piece is very special to me,” she said, resting a painting on her lap. “I was trying to represent a lot of the various themes that I think make us all human. The different colors in the picture represent different emotions. In most cases I’ve stuck with the traditional interpretations. Red represents anger, blue sadness, and so on. Another thing I thought was important was the fact that all of us have different personalities at different times. That’s what the many different faces represent.”

Hermes nudged me. “See? Isn’t this great?”

I shrugged, and we both returned our attention to the artist. “I also wanted to create a sense of being trapped or imprisoned by the limitations of society. That’s why I’ve set the whole painting behind these bars, as if the whole scene takes place in a jail. Now I have one final piece I would like to share with all of you…”

**************************************************************

“Form up! I said form up damn it! I don’t like having to ask twice gentlemen! You better learn that fast.”

I’m sure we must have been a pathetic sight. On the first day of training Zeus had taught us very quickly that the uniform does not make the Cadet. No longer the majestic men of five o’clock, we were now a bunch of boys whose heads were bent down and whose chests were heaving for air. We hurried to assemble in the neat rows that Zeus wanted, even as we were all breathing hard with exhaustion.

“Gentlemen, I have never seen such an awful, clumsy, slow,” he drew out the word slow, as if that was the cardinal sin, “attempt at that obstacle course before. You lot are even worse than the usual first years. And I mean all of you. To the man.”

I was pretty sure he went through this speech every year. I also suspected that he would have gone through this little spiel no matter how good our time had been. We could have set a new record, and he would still have told us we were the slowest ever. And yet, for some reason, his words still seemed to burn me.

“You think that those blue uniforms make you a Cadet? I’ve got news for you gentlemen. We gave you those uniforms, and we can take them away. None of you are worthy of being a Cadet. You lot better shape up and you better do it fast.”

Zeus stopped for a moment and appeared to think, although I had a feeling this too was part of the act. “Alright gentlemen, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. You’re going to run this obstacle course again, but not all of you at once this time. This time you’re going to run in pairs. Two of you are going to race each other. The winners of the race will be done for the day. The losers will race each other. And then the losers of those races will race each other, until we only have one loser left. And trust me gentlemen when I say that you do not want to be that last loser.”

The vicious way he said those words sent a chill through me. I didn’t know what would happen to that loser, but I didn’t want to find out.

“Orion, why don’t you help me pick the first pair,” Zeus said. Orion, who had been standing back watching Zeus, stepped forward obediently, his muscles once again strained at attention.

Orion looked over us, and his gaze rested on me. I didn’t think he would pick me. That would be obvious favoritism. But I was the first one Orion picked. “That one,” he said, pointing at me.

“You heard him Cadet. What are you waiting for?” Zeus called out. I scrambled to the starting line.

“Okay Orion, who is he running against?” Zeus asked. I watched Orion’s eyes go over the other Cadets, and I thought for a minute he was looking for someone who looked weak. Someone he knew I could beat easily to make me look impressive in front of Zeus, and give me a head start on leadership selection. But instead, Orion’s hand pointed at Ajax. “Him.”

As Ajax came forward, I could have kicked myself for being so stupid. Orion didn’t want to make things easy for me. He wanted to challenge me. I should have known that by now.

Orion’s eyes had a satisfied look as he watched us on the starting line, and I knew that in his mind this was an extension of the fight he had rescued me from two years ago. This was my chance to redeem myself.

I looked at Ajax, but Ajax wasn’t looking at me. Ajax was staring straight ahead, but his eyes were narrowed with determination, and perhaps hatred.

I tried to clear my mind. “Don’t think about all that. Don’t think about any of that. This is only a race between two people. None of that other stuff matters. The only thing that matters is who crosses the finish line first.” I also thought about the old school races in gym class. It was three years ago now, but I still took comfort in the thought. “I beat him once, and I can do it again.”

“Go!” Zeus yelled.

My mind was still clouded, and Ajax got a head start on me as he exploded from the starting line. I cursed myself for not being focused and ran after him. I could see his legs flying in front of me, and it struck me that I had never seen him move so fast before. He was just as determined to beat me as I was to beat him.

As we both scrambled over the wall, I became aware that the other Cadets were cheering for us, as if it were a sports competition. Zeus had apparently allowed that much lapse in discipline. Or perhaps even encouraged it as a way to add pressure on us.

Ajax leaped off of the war and into the mud. He tried to land with his feet running as we had seen Orion do, but Ajax didn’t have the coordination to pull it off. He stumbled forward on unsteady feet for a few steps, but in the end regained his stride and sprinted forward toward the next obstacle. I jumped down seconds after him.

The cheering, although we were moving away crowd, somehow gained prominence in my mind. I couldn’t make out individual voices or even which cheers were for me and which ones were for Ajax. It was just one large roar.

And, although I doubted he was cheering, somewhere in that crowd was Orion. Watching me to see if I could defeat Ajax on this course and set things right, or if all of his training had been for nothing. My old competition instincts kicked back in. Nothing mattered in the world so much as beating Ajax now.

With renewed drive, I pushed my body forward. By the time we got to the second wall I was beginning to catch up to Ajax. We both pulled our bodies up to the top at the same time. I swung my legs over in one movement and jumped down below. He wasn’t able to get his legs over quite as smoothly, and by the time he hit the ground I was a couple beats ahead of him.

********************************************************************

After all the presentations had finished, the pale faced girl, who appeared to be in charge of the meeting, said, “I thought maybe a fun activity would be if we all drew a picture of this room from different angles. Then, we could compare all of the pictures and see how much things are affected by our different perspectives.” Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a brief glimpse of Hermes rolling his eyes at this suggestion. But he didn’t say anything.

Other people began talking excitedly about the idea. Already chairs were being re-arranged around the room. Hermes leaned over and said under his breath, “She wants to be a school teacher when she graduates. The meetings she chairs are always like this. But come back next week when it’s my turn.”

“Hermes I didn’t bring anything,” I whispered back.

“What?”

“No paper or pencils or anything.”

“Oh. No problem. I’ll get you some stuff out of the drawer.” Hermes stood up and went to the cupboard in the back of the room.

Before I came to this meeting I had resolved that they weren’t going to talk me into doing any actual drawing or painting myself. But now that the moment had come I realized I couldn’t just stand around with my hands in my pockets while everyone else drew. At least with pencil and paper in my hand I wouldn’t feel so awkward. I didn’t have to make a serious effort. I could just sit in the corner and pretend to draw.

Hermes returned with a thick drawing pencil and a white pad of paper, and I took my chair to the back corner of the room. By this time almost everyone else had started drawing already, and the room had become silent except for the scratching sounds of those who were pressing heavily down on their pencils.

Now that I was comfortable in my corner, I began to take in the feel of the room for the first time. Although I had felt like a stranger when I first entered, I now reflected that in many ways it was a warm and inviting room. There were lots of couches scattered throughout the place. They were old couches, often sagging in the back or with the stuffing coming out. But those details made them all the more inviting. With a new couch you feel like you have to ask permission to sit down. An old couch is free to even the uninvited guest.

I briefly considered just making lines on the paper so that it looked like I was busy drawing, and then later quietly throw away the paper before we regrouped. But then something in me decided to try and draw after all.

I’ve always hated art class at school, but this wasn’t school. Maybe with out the presence of teachers and bells, I would find that there actually is an artist buried inside me. “No you won’t,” piped up a little voice inside me, but I squashed that voice down, and began studying the couch. Already I had in my mind a perfect image of the couch I wanted to put down on the paper. But my hand refused to follow my mind. The first lines I drew on the paper were unsteady and wobbly.

I closed the pad of paper, and walked across the room to where Hermes was sitting. “Hermes,” I whispered. “I need an eraser.”

**************************************************

By the time I crossed the finish line I was almost a full five seconds ahead of Ajax. But I was too exhausted to savor my victory. I took a few uneasy steps, and then bent forward with my hands on my knees. My head bent down, and I felt like I was going to throw up.

“Well done Cadet. You’ve won.” I could hear the voice of Zeus, but the words didn’t register. He sounded a lot further off than he actually was. Warm blood was still pulsing through my ears giving everything a surreal, far off, feeling.

“Cadet you will stand at attention when I’m talking to you!” Those words had a sharp quality to them that pierced the fogginess around my brain. Although my sides protested, I forced myself to stand to attention. This act completed, Zeus seemed satisfied, and his voice softened slightly. “Well done Cadet. Return to your position now,” he said, indicating the empty space in the formation.

“And you, Cadet,” Zeus said, pointing at Ajax, “will run the race again later.” Ajax stood at attention and nodded obediently to Zeus, but he avoided eye contact with me as we walked back to our places.

****************************************************

I erased, drew, and erased again. I knew what I wanted to do, but my unsteady hand refused to obey my mind. The once clean white paper was now becoming one giant eraser smear. I thought about ripping it out and starting over again, but what was the point? It had been foolish to think I would be able to do this in the first place. I knew I wasn’t artistic. Somewhere in my brain, I had allowed myself to believe that hanging around with Hermes would cause his talent to rub off on me. Now I realized how foolish that sentiment had been.

I pushed on anyway. Maybe if I just sketched a few more lines down the picture would round itself out. But nothing turned out the way I wanted it to. Near the end, I became frustrated and started sketching faster and with less care. Now I only wanted to finish the picture and get it over with. My hand was a blunt instrument, incapable of producing beauty. Who cares? Just get this stupid thing over with.

**********************************************************************

The first half of the morning was consumed by the races. Christopher did much better than I thought he would. He won his first race. So did Teucer. Hector lost his first race, but he and Ajax both won their second races. In the end, the last Cadet left standing was someone I didn’t even know, and Zeus ordered him to stay after normal training for some “special practice”.

By this time, the other Cadets had shown up, and it was no longer only the first years. Orion left his place by Zeus’s side, and got into formation with the other third year Cadets.

Zeus grinned at us. “Congratulations gentlemen, you’ve completed your warm up. Now this next exercise will tell me what you’re really made of.” Zeus held up a long cylindrical stick. “In the old days these used to be just solid wood,” he said. “But we had an incident a few years ago, and now the government has ordered us to pad the outside with foam.”

Like an actor slipping out of character, Zeus addressed us briefly in a conversational tone. “Kind of takes the edge out of it if you ask me, but an old soldier like me knows how to follow orders.” And then the mask slipped back into place, and he bellowed back at us in his usual voice. “These are padded, but nevertheless be careful. They can still cause a bit of damage if you get hit in the right place hard enough. So these are the rules: no hits above the shoulders, or between the waist and the knees. Other than that, everything’s fair game. Your object is to get your opponent on the ground, or out of the circle. Now, who wants to go first?” Zeus directed this last question straight at us first years.

I don’t think any of us really wanted to go first. I would have been more than content to watch a few of the older students go first and see how it was done. But then out of the corner of my eye I could see Christopher nervously shifting his weight back and forth, and I knew he was only seconds away from volunteering. My hand shot up before Christopher had a chance to make up his mind.

Zeus looked a little bit surprised at the speed at which I raised my hand, but he didn’t seem displeased. “That’s what I like to see,” he said. “A new Cadet eager to try.” The usual grin spread across his face, but I could never be sure about that grin. I didn’t know if it meant he was pleased with me, or if he was mocking me.

Zeus beckoned to me, and I came to the front and stood by his side. “And who would like to challenge this brave young first year?” Zeus asked.

Orion’s hand rose. Zeus’s grin faltered for an instant before he regained himself. “I don’t think that’s a good idea Orion,” he said. “This one’s not at your level yet. Why don’t you wait for another upper classman?”

“I think this one can handle it sir.” Orion’s voice was somehow both confident and at the same time not challenging to Zeus.

Zeus studied me for a moment and then said to Orion, “Go easy on him. I don’t want him sent into the hospital on his first day.”

I was slightly disturbed by the mention of the hospital, as well as my own concurrent realization that Orion was more than capable of sending me there if he chose. But other than that, I concluded that it was probably a good thing Orion had volunteered. No one expected me to beat him, and so there would be no shame when he inevitably knocked me down. And if I managed to hold my own with him for one or two minutes, then I would impress everyone, including Zeus.

I had no illusions about beating him. The best I could do was keep him back for a couple of minutes. I also knew that he would not go easy on me. He wanted me to impress Zeus, but he wanted me to earn it.

Zeus gave us both a padded stick and we stepped into the circle. I held my stick awkwardly, glancing at Orion for a clue as to how it should be gripped. I also tried to read his expression. I expected he would give me a friendly smile or wink, or tell me I was doing good. But his face remained a mask. He never broke for a second.

“Okay, whenever you’re ready,” Zeus called out.

I wasn’t sure what this meant. Whenever I personally was ready, or did Orion and I have to agree on some sort of mutual starting signal? I looked to Orion for a clue as to what to do, but instead saw he was already swinging his stick down at me. Without even thinking about what I was doing, I raised my stick up to protect my body, and blocked his blow.

While my brain was still absorbing what had just happened, Orion swung again. I blocked it again. He swung a third time and I parried it a third time. I took a couple steps backwards as he came towards me. I’m sure it was apparent to everyone watching that I was out of my element.

“Come on Cadet! Be on the offensive!” Zeus shouted out. I guessed that this remark was addressed to me. I watched Orion carefully, waiting for my opening. He swung his stick down. I darted out of the way, and then drew back my right arm to make my own swing. In doing so I opened up the whole left side of my body. Orion moved in quickly and struck my left shoulder.

I flinched, but more because of the pain I expected than the pain I actually felt. The soft cushioning of the stick absorbed most of the blow. While I was still stunned from the first hit, Orion whacked me in the side. My whole body involuntarily tensed up as I saw the stick about to hit me. Although the padding on the stick saved my ribs from breaking, Orion still almost knocked me over, and I lost my breath. I made a wild swing in his direction, but he jumped back to avoid it.

I quickly straightened myself out as Orion came forward. There was a smile on his face, which I at first thought was his way of signaling to me that I was doing okay. But his eyes never met mine, and I realized it was simply the smile of a born warrior delighting in the fight. He was at his happiest and most natural now, and all else was blocked out from his memory. Me, and who I was, and our friendship, none of that mattered now. He was only thinking of the struggle.

He came at me again, but this time he didn’t swing his stick. Rather he kept both of his hands gripped on each side and tried to use it as a lever to push me over. I held my stick out against his, as he put all his weight down on me.

I wasn’t as strong as he was, but nor was I the skinny sixteen year old I had been two years before. The two years of training had built up a lot of muscle in my arms, and I reached into all my reserve strength for a sudden violent push. I expected him to just meet me with more force, but the suddenness had caught him off guard. He actually stumbled backwards. I was so surprised by my own success that I didn’t press my advantage. I breathed a quick sigh of relief, and then he recovered himself and he was upon me again.

Once again we locked our sticks together and I pressed my weight against his. He wouldn’t be caught off guard by a sudden show of strength again, but for the moment I was able to hold him off. I knew this couldn’t last. I knew that I was exerting myself far more than he was, and I would soon have to give in. But for the moment I was happy just to be holding my own.

Just as those thoughts were going through my brain, Orion slid away to the side. The counterforce in front of me disappeared, and with nothing to hold me back, my own inertia pushed me forward. My feet scrambled to keep up with the rest of my body.

Orion swung his stick down low to catch my feet, and they came out from under me. The next thing I felt was his stick striking my back. Even as I fell I had to admire the fluidity of his motion. He had knocked my legs out from under me and then managed to deal me a blow on the back before I struck the ground. He didn’t waste a single movement. All I could do was throw out my hands to break my fall. I landed hard, but not hurt.

There wasn’t a lot of cheering for Orion. He had simply done what everyone had expected. There was a slight murmur of congratulatory remarks as he walked back to his row, but they had the flat quality of words that are said only for form’s sake.

As they say, there’s no shame in losing to the best, so I wasn’t upset at my performance. But I knew it would have looked bad to act satisfied with myself after a loss. That was the kind of thing Zeus would jump all over. So I kept my head focused on the ground in penance as I walked back to my space. Out of the corner of my eye I could just catch Zeus looking at me with an approving gaze.

**************************************************************************

“Wow! Now see, I would never have thought to draw that.”

“I really like your attention to detail.”

“That’s really, well, that’s really an interesting interpretation, isn’t it? What is this part supposed to be again?”

At the end of the meeting everyone walked around freely and complimented each other on their paintings. I had discreetly made my way to the wastebasket, and threw away my own crumpled drawing. I really wanted to rip it into pieces, but I was worried the sound of tearing paper would draw attention to me, and I wanted to dispose of this with all the secrecy of a murderer disposing of a dead body. They were all so absorbed with each other no one really noticed me anyway.

Now, with everyone busy walking around and talking to everyone else, I made a beeline for the exit. Hermes intercepted me at the door. “Leaving already?”

“I’ve got a lot of homework.”

At University everybody always has a lot of homework at any given time. It’s the perfect excuse for everything, and because it’s so perfect everyone always sees right through it. “What’s wrong?” Hermes asked.

I breathed in. “I’m okay. I just felt a little out of place tonight, you know? Like maybe art’s not really my thing.”

Hermes nodded his head to show he understood. “Picture not turn out the way you wanted it to?”

I was so relieved to be understood that I let my guard down immediately. “No, not at all.”

“Well, we’ve all been there at one point or another Jon. Don’t get discouraged.”

“No, I think it’s more than that. I don’t think any of this is really for me.”

Hermes was listening to me, but I could tell by the quick way he responded that none of it was really registering. “Well maybe not, but you can’t give up after your first try. Come again next week.”

“I’ll think about it,” I said as I turned to leave.

“I’ll come by your room next week to remind you,” Hermes shouted after me as I walked out the door.

****************************************************************************

“You did better than I thought you would today,” Orion said to me as we walked back to the main campus. “But you weren’t fighting to win.”

“What are you talking about? Of course I was.”

“You gave up the moment you saw me come forward. Isn’t that true?”

I thought about arguing this, but there didn’t seem to be any point. Orion knew me too well. “I couldn’t have beaten you anyway.”

“You couldn’t beat me because you thought you couldn’t beat me.” We walked on in silence while he let that sink in, then he added, “When we’re on the battlefield, we fight to win.”

“But we can’t both win,” I protested. “Someone always has to lose.”

“Yes,” Orion answered. “Someone always has to lose. Just don’t let it be you.”

Second Draft Chapter 16

Everyday at lunch I usually tried to meet David and Helen at the cafeteria. Most days it was the only time I saw either of them. I was so busy with Cadet training, and they were so busy with…. Well, they were busy with each other. They always spent their evenings together. I had trouble remembering when I last saw one without the other.

One Wednesday, a couple weeks after classes had started, we sat down at our table together as usual. David was talking about how he and Helen had gone back to his house during the weekend for Sunday dinner. I think they made a point of going home every Sunday.

“What about you Jon?” Helen asked. “When’s the last time you went home?”

“I haven’t gone back home since we moved into the University,” I answered.

“Not even for Sunday dinners?”

I shrugged. “What’s the point?”

“Don’t you miss your family?” Helen asked

David glanced up from his food and gave me a look. It was just a quick look, but I knew he understood why I didn’t like going home. Helen either didn’t see the look or didn’t pick up on it, because she pressed the subject. “You know Jon, I don’t think I’ve ever met your dad.”

To my own surprise, I laughed at this. “You’re not missing much”, I said. The words escaped from my mouth, and immediately I felt embarrassed by my bitter tone. I quickly looked down at my plate so I wouldn’t see Helen’s expression as I shoveled food into my mouth. I wasn’t sure whether she would look shocked, or pitying.

“Hey, isn’t that Simon?” David pointed across the cafeteria, and I followed his hand to see Simon alone in the corner. I had almost forgotten Simon existed. During the last couple years of school I had seen very little of him outside of class. He had spent most of his time with Joshua and Leda. And now at the University I was so busy with Cadet training I didn’t give him a second thought.

David managed to get Simon’s attention, and then waved him over to our table. “You guys don’t mind do you,” David said as an afterthought after Simon had already picked up his tray and started heading over.

“I have no problem with Simon,” I said. I was fully aware that David wasn’t really listening anyway to my answer, but I wanted to say it anyway. I really didn’t have any problems with Simon anymore. The arguments we used to get into as children seemed so distant that I couldn’t remember why I had even disliked Simon in the first place. Somewhere inside I’ve always known that the reason I argued with Simon so much wasn’t because I hated him, but because he reminded me too much of myself. No one likes to see themselves reflected in other people. It shows you things you don’t want to know.

Simon put down his tray and sat down. Friendly greetings were exchanged and everyone was smiling at each other, but there was underneath the awkwardness of old friends who have grown apart. Everyone felt guilty for not having made more of an effort to keep the friendship going, and, although no one mentioned it directly, the undertone of all the small talk felt like one elaborate apology.

“I heard you’re in the Cadets now,” Simon said to me.

“Oh come on,” David said. “You always knew that’s where he was headed.”

“I don’t know,” Simon said. “I knew that’s where everyone wanted you to go, but I always figured you could go either way.”

“Either way?” I asked. “What was my other option?”

“I don’t know. The opposite of the Cadets. Whatever that is.” Despite the vagueness of this answer, there was a sincerity in Simon’s voice that I don’t remember being there before. He seemed different to me.

“What about you?” I asked Simon. “Are you spending all of your time with Joshua and Leda?”

“I still see Leda from time to time. No one’s seen much of Joshua since he dropped out of the University.”

“What? Why would he do that?”

“Didn’t you know Jon?” David asked with a mouthful of food.

“No. I guess I’ve been so busy with Cadets that….” I let my voice trail off, and then turned to Simon. “I don’t get it though. Why would he drop out now? It’s barely even the first month.”

“He said University wasn’t for him,” Simon answered. “I don’t know. Sometimes you can tell in the first month if something’s not for you. And then what’s the point of staying?”

“Well, what is he going to do now? Without a University degree what does he plan to do? Just work in the factories?”

David threw a piece of bread at me. “Hey, look who’s talking Jon.”

“What? I’m at the University.”

“Yeah, only because your father made you come. And if you’re so concerned about your future, how come you got us into trouble so many times when we were in school?”

There was no point in arguing with David. Some people get an idea of you stuck in their head, and however much you change you’ll still be stuck in their brain as the person they used to know. Childhood friends are the worst for this. In David’s mind, I was stuck at fifteen. And it was no wonder really. That was the last year we had together, before I started spending all my time with the Cadets, and he started spending all his time with Helen.

“Joshua didn’t say what he was doing,” Simon answered. “I don’t think he knew. He just knew University wasn’t for him. The last I heard he just left to go on some kind of trip.”

“Where?” I asked.

“I don’t think he knew that either. He just left.”

“Well he must have been going somewhere. How many horses did he take?”

“Don’t be silly Jon,” Simon said. “Joshua’s family doesn’t own any horses.”

David launched another piece of bread at me. “You think everyone has a team of horses at their disposal just like your family, don’t you?”

“You mean he’s just wandering on foot? Like a bum? That’s what he left University for?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Simon said.

I looked at David for confirmation of this, but David just shrugged his shoulders as if to say, “Doesn’t make sense to me either, but what are you going to do?”

“Why would he do that?” I wondered aloud. “He seemed normal enough.”

“You never hung out with him,” Simon said quietly. “You used to say he was boring.”

“That’s just Jon,” Helen said, smiling at the others and　giving a wink to me. “He thought everyone but David was either boring or a jerk.” David and Simon laughed. “Didn’t you Jon,” she said, leaning forward and smiling at me. I realized I was the only one not laughing, and so I tried to smile.

***********************************************************************

As it turns out, Joshua wasn’t the only one from our old class who didn’t finish the year at University. The other one I didn’t hear about until half a year later, during the spring term.

The time from fall to spring term went by quickly, possibly because I was so busy I rarely had time to think about it. Once Cadet training started, Orion no longer practiced with me everyday. Only when I was having trouble with something did he keep me after for extra practice. Although the normal hours of Cadet training were exhausting enough, Orion made it clear that he also expected me to train on my own time. I did my best to make time for this.

Christopher was my only serious competition for a leadership position. Ajax, Hector, and Teucer were all bumblers. Ajax was the only one of the three that had any aptitude at all. Hector loved combat practice with a bully’s love for fighting, but he was dumb as rocks when it came to anything else. He was fairly muscular, and did well at anything requiring simple brute force, but I was always able to outwit him on the field. And the big idiot could barely run either. It was always a laugh to see his big uncoordinated body try to do the obstacle course every morning.

As for Teucer, he had been shielded under Ajax for far too long, and now couldn’t do anything by himself. He was agile enough that he could do the obstacle course reasonably well, but he just wasn’t used to one on one fighting. Three on one was more his style.

Christopher may not have been the strongest Cadet in our year, but he was a lot better athlete than I ever imagined. All this time I had thought he was only concerned about books, but I never realized what a good runner he was. And I would never have guessed he was such a good shot with a rifle either.

But what really made Christopher stand apart was the way he had somehow managed to completely commit to memory the entire Cadet rulebook within the first few weeks. Whenever Zeus had a question about anything, anything, Christopher knew the answer. Zeus tried not to show it, but I could tell he was impressed. And unless I could beat him to it, Christopher was always the first to volunteer for anything.

What’s more, Christopher was just naturally a leader. Whenever there was any confusion about anything, Christopher automatically took control and started directing people. I think he did it without even realizing it. A leftover habit from all his years as class president that had just gotten hardwired into his brain perhaps.

I was really worried about Christopher for a while. But in the end I was simply just faster, stronger, and better than anyone else in our year. All those evenings of training with Orion had paid off. My grades weren’t as good as Christopher’s, and in theory University marks are supposed to be taken into account when deciding Cadet ranks, but everything else I could do better than Christopher.

At the end of the Fall term, Zeus appointed me the leader for the first year Cadets. Christopher was directly behind me, and Ajax was third. Teucer and Hector didn’t make the cut for leadership positions.

Orion was top of his year of course, and there was no doubt in anybody’s mind that when Orion became a fourth year student he would be head of all the Cadets. Zeus had even begun to hint from time to time that the decision had already been made.

I did reasonably well in my University subjects, although I still hadn’t decided what subject I wanted to go into. I took basic classes all through the first year. I saw David everyday for lunch but David spent all his evenings with Helen. And so in my free time I found myself hanging out more and more with Hermes. Once I got to know Hermes, I really liked his sense of humor. And he liked mine. He would actually laugh at my jokes, instead of groan and roll his eyes like David and Simon used to do. He seemed genuinely happy to share my company, and so I enjoyed his. Occasionally he would even talk me into attending more art guild meetings, although I never got over the feeling of not really belonging there.

One afternoon during Spring term I met David and Helen for lunch as always. This time Icarus and Simon joined us as well. I remember everyone was gossiping about something. “Did you hear about LJ?” Simon asked me.

“What about it?” I answered.

“I don’t know what you’re asking him for,” David said. “He’s always the last person to hear about anything. Don’t ask him unless it’s something about Cadet practice.”

“I heard all about it,” Icarus said proudly. But we all knew that every second Icarus talked about the subject was a second that would tell us nothing and most likely add to the confusion. So Simon jumped in quickly.

“I heard he was expelled,” Simon said. “But I don’t know why.”

“Expelled from the University?” Helen exclaimed, her eyes wide with surprise.

“I heard he was causing trouble in some of his classes,” David said. “Asking the wrong kind of questions and arguing with the professors.”

“Can you get expelled for asking questions?” Helen asked.

“Well not usually,” David answered. “But you know what LJ was like. He was always questioning the Duke or asking about the history books. You can get away with that at school maybe, but this is the University. It’s right in the heart of the city. This is where they train the Cadets. Flash gives most of the money to keep this place running. Flash has even got his own office in the University.”

“Is that all this is?” I asked as I reached for the salt. “I don’t see what the big deal is. Does this really surprise any of you? We all knew LJ was going to get in big trouble sooner or later. He never could keep his mouth shut. He’s lucky they just expelled him.”

This response angered David, and he turned on me with dripping sarcasm. “Oh yeah, everyone always knew LJ was going to get in trouble. It was LJ who used to deface the Restoration posters, or steal Police hats. If LJ’s father was a Restoration hero instead of a Gibeonite, maybe LJ could get away with whatever he wanted to also.”

“Are you saying LJ was expelled because he was a Gibeonite?” I asked. “Gibeonites wouldn’t even be allowed at the University if it wasn’t for Flash, so I don’t see where he gets off criticizing Flash all the time. Maybe he’d like it better in the days before the restoration, when his father would be stuck in the Ghetto with the rest of those Gibs instead of practicing law in Flash’s courts.”

Simon stood up so quickly he knocked his tray down onto the floor. “Calm down Simon, he didn’t mean that,” David answered. “That’s just his father talking. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”

Simon sat back down, but his eyes were breathing fire. David was calmer, but he his tone of voice showed he was slightly disgusted with me. And even Helen had a shocked look on her face. I wasn’t quite sure what everyone was upset about, but I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach as I realized I had lowered myself somehow in Helen’s eyes. I tried to recover. “What did I say?”

“Well first of all,” David answered, “no one says ‘Gibs’ in polite conversation these days.”

“I don’t see what the big deal is. It means the same thing.”

“No, I don’t suppose you would,” David said in his most patient tone, “But Simon and I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t use that word in front of us.” David had forgotten to include Helen, but I could tell from her face that she was just as upset as the rest of them. (Icarus as usual was hard to read. I’m not even if he was paying attention.)

“Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Secondly,” David continued, “You do realize that LJ and his family are extremely lucky. Most of the Gibeonites are still in that Ghetto, working for starvation wages in Flash’s factories.”

“Now you sound like LJ,” I said.

“Maybe he had some good ideas,” David answered.

“Well it doesn’t matter now anyway,” I said. “Now that he’s expelled, the University doesn’t have to worry about him anymore.”

David raised his eyebrows, but he said nothing.