Talk

I decided to do a story with characters from some of my different series. If you haven't read them, that's fine, it should still make sense. I definitely recommend them, though. If you want to know which series they're from, just ask!

I unlock the front doors for my first session of the day. The sun is bright today.

My name is Ky. I’m...well, I’m not really sure what my job would be considered. It’s all kinds of different things, really. I deal with lots of supernatural things, so there isn’t much that surprises me.

I walk back down the hall to my office. This building is huge, it has six floors. I’m expecting the usual eleven people, so I have eleven bean bag chairs set out in front of my desk. I decided that I’m going to have them try to talk to the people they didn’t come with. They’ve talked, but not really. 

There’s a knock on the door, and I look up to see Chris, Sal, Aerin and Delvin standing there. They’re always first, so I’m not surprised.

“Good morning.” I say to them. Sal and Delvin aren’t really super talkative, and just smile at me. They look like twins, same blond hair and brown hair. Delvin is taller, though. Chris pushes his messy brown hair out of his face, and says, “Morning, Ky.”

Aerin comes over, though. He’s honestly the sweetest person. So is Arlo.

“Hi, Ky.” He says. He has pointed ears, and pale skin. His hair is curly and red. “What are we going to do today?”

“Wait for the others.” I tell him.

They all go to the table. I put a couple boxes of donuts and a bowl of fruit on it earlier, since they’re all always hungry.

They all sit together, like usual. Delvin has an arm over Aerin’s shoulder, and Chris is sitting with his legs across Sal’s lap.

“G’morning, Ky.” Cedric says as he walks in with Nami. His black hair is twisted into a bun. 

Nami never talks to anyone but Cedric, but nods at me. His brown hair is in it's usual short ponytail. “Morning.”

They sit on the opposite side of the room from the other four.

I sigh. This might be difficult. “Morning, guys. We’re just waiting for-”

“We’re here.” We all look up to see Carlos and Leo at the door. Carlos has long, curly hair, and Leo has short hair that hangs in his face. Their fingers are twisted together.

I smile. “Great! Arlo, Chase and Jackson should get here soon.”

They get here ten minutes later. Jackson looks exasperated, his long black hair is tied back, and he doesn’t acknowledge anyone. Arlo follows him, his brown curls bouncing around his head, and Chase comes in after, then comes over to my desk, running a hand through his bright red hair.

“Sorry we’re late, Es went to her boarding school this morning.” He says.

I smile at him. Es is the young elf girl they adopted. “It’s fine, just go ahead and sit down.”

They all sit, but it’s away from everyone else.

I’m about to explain what they’ll do, but I hear voices outside the room.

“Just a second, guys.” I say.

I walk out. There are two men arguing a couple feet away from the door.

“Why?” One of them hiss. He has black hair and palish skin.

“Because you need to talk to people!” The other says. He has curly dark brown hair, blue eyes, and light skin.

“I don’t!”

“You do!”

“I do not!”

“Uh, hi?” I say.

They both look at me. The second one sighs. “Sorry, is it too late to join the class?”

“I’m not-”

“Yes, Blake. You are.”

He grumbles at him, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“No, you guys are fine.” I say. “We were just about to start. You better come in now, though. They’ll eat all the donuts.”

They follow me into the room. I go to the closest to pull out two more bean bag chairs for them, and have them introduce themselves, Blake and Will. I lean against the front of my desk.

“Alright, today you guys are going to work on communication. Please don’t argue, but I’m going to have you have actual conversations with other people in here.”

There’s lots of grumbling and glaring. But I separate them into three groups and tell them to talk. I stay at my desk, working on some papers, but when I hear yelling, I look up.

It’s Aerin and Arlo, which is shocking. 

“What’s the problem?” I ask, going over to them. 

Chase has an arm around Arlo, probably to keep him from attacking Aerin. He looks mad. 

He pushes his curly brown hair out of his face. “I told him we have a dragon, and he said dragons are stupid and-”

“Arlo, you’re exaggerating.” Jackson sighs, leaning against Chase.

Arlo glares at him. “I’m not. Why doesn’t he like dragons?”

“Because I don’t!” Aerin exclaims. Delvin is sighing.

“Hold on.” I say. I’ve heard about both their lives, so I get the issue. “I don’t think you guys are talking about the same thing.”

Arlo crosses his arms. “Well, what’s he talking about, then?”

“He’s not talking about Blaze. Aerin, he’s not talking about dragons like Warmonger. Blaze is different.”

Aerin was killed a couple years ago by a half-dragon. Someone brought him back, but he doesn't like dragons. Blaze is Jackson, Arlo and Chase's pet dragon. I've met him, and he's not dangerous at all.

They don’t look convinced, though, and glare at each other. I sigh. 

“Talk about something else. Like, I don’t know, elves.”

Arlo’s eyes light up, and he starts talking about Esma. Aerin actually seems interested. I sigh in relief, then go check on everyone else.

Cedric and Chris are talking about animals, and I’m surprised Cedric doesn’t mention his and Nami's dragon, Riptide. But maybe he heard Aerin and Arlo. 

Nami and Sal are glaring at each other, though. 

“Are you guys going to talk?” I ask them.

Nami frowns. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“We don’t have anything in common.” Sal adds.

I try to think of something. “Talk about stupid things your boyfriends have done.” 

They both smile. Cedric and Chris both send glares my way, but I just shrug and move on to the next group.

I’m surprised to see Leo and Blake deep in conversation. I hear something about voices in their heads. Carlos and Will are talking, too. 

This is honestly going better than I thought it would. 

Suddenly, the lights flicker off.

“It wasn’t me.” Leo says immediately. 

 I frown, and make my way back to my desk.

“Sit tight, guys. I’ll go check it out.”

I fumble for the handle of one of the drawers in the desk, and pull it open. I feel around for the flashlights, and pull them out, then flick them on. Everyone’s sitting quietly. 

I walk around, and give a flashlight to each group. “Here. I’ll be back in a second.”

I walk into the hall. It’s cold. 

The flashlight is dim, but there’s enough light for me to get to the door. I push it a little, but it flings itself open. I shiver. There’s a freaking blizzard outside.

I pull the door closed, gritting my teeth. The harsh winds try to push it back open, but I yank it shut, then curse when I realize I dropped the flashlight outside.

I make it back to the room and I hear laughter and cheering. I peek in the doorway. 

Will and Sal are arm wrestling on my desk. Everyone else is surrounding them, cheering them on. Well, that’s one way to bond, I guess.

Sal grits his teeth, and pushes Will’s arm almost to the tabletop, but Will forces it up again. This goes on for about ten more seconds before Sal smacks Will’s hand against the table and grins. 

“Nice job.” Will grumbles going over to Blake, who's snickering.

“Let me try.” Nami says. I raise my eyebrows. He almost never wants to talk to anyone.

Sal smiles, and puts his hand up. Nami takes it.

“Ready..set..go!”

Nami wins almost immediately. Sal sighs, and moves over to Chris. But Chase goes against Nami next, and wins.

“I wanna try.” Jackson says. 

They last longer, but Jackson forces Chase’s hand onto the table, and grins. Chase grumbles, but moves to let Carlos have a turn.

Jackson almost wins, but Carlos beats him at the last second.

“Can I go?” Leo asks. Leo isn’t huge, but from what I know about his past as an assassin he’s strong. 

He grips Carlos’ hand. I can see Carlos straining, but Leo pushes his arm down.

“What?” Carlos exclaims. “How?”

Leo grins, and shrugs. Of course, everyone has to try to beat Leo, but no one can.

“Great bonding.” I say, going back in the room, startling several of them. Flashlights turn to me. “There’s a blizzard outside, so we might be here a while.”

“A blizzard?” Chase says.

I shrug. “I don’t know. But if you guys want, we can walk around this place. I haven’t been in all the rooms.”

They all agree, and pick up the flashlights. It’s way creepier to walk these halls when it’s dark. It’s quiet except for the squeaking of shoes against the floor.

“Is there a pool here?” Will asks suddenly.

I glance back at him. “I don’t think so. Why?”

“I just...feel a lot of water.” 

We walk to the end of the hall, and I open the door to the staircase.

“C’mon, let’s go upstairs.” I say.

We go up the stairs, and they whisper quietly. The second floor looks like the first, but there are more rooms. 

We go up to the other floors, which all look the same. We stop at the sixth floor.

“There are animals up here. A lot of them.” Chris says suddenly. I know he can hear animals talking, so I take his word for it. 

“Where?” I ask him.

He flashes the light on a door a couple rooms down. I can’t hear anything, but I let him lead the way to the door. He tries the handle, but it’s locked.

“I got it.” Leo says. He leans down, fiddles with the lock for a minute, then pushes it open. 

There are animals here. 

The room is huge, and the lights work in here. All kinds of animals are in here, wild ones, too, all in cages or glass compartments. There are all kinds of serums and ingredients on tables.

“Someone’s been experimenting with them.” Chris whispers, going to the different cages.

He’s right. The animals look sick, or mutated. He stops at a cage with a skinny lion. He reaches through the bars, and pets it softly. He talks to it quietly, frowning.

“He says there are more animals in other rooms, too.”

“Wait-you can understand him?” Blake says.

He nods. “He doesn’t know where the others are, though.”

“I can find them.” Cedric says. He has a special power that helps him find things.

He’s about to go back into the hallway when we hear voices deeper in the room.

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