Legends: The Folklore Trilogy Book 2

Chapter 6-Where We Learn Just How Messed Up Our Lives Are

I stared.

I gaped.

I gawked.

I'm pretty sure I made a sound akin to that of a suffocating frog.

He was muscular. The eccentric, odd Dr. Smith looked like he just stepped out of a Spartan war movie.

There was utter silence in the hall.

Then Dr. Smith burst out laughing. "Oh, you should see your faces right now," he said with relish. He turned to the hall. "Alright, you've had your fun. Eat now." From the sides of the room, platters balanced perfectly on one rolling leg rolled out, wheeling around the room with minds of their own. I twisted in my seat, my eyes following them with the wonder of a small child.

"Are those...robots?" Xavier asked.

"No dear boy," Dr. Smith said, sitting down. "They are magical."

"Magical," Harrison (sheep boy) breathed.

Dr. Smith closed his eyes. A bright light flashed, and--after blinking afterimage away--I saw he had...transformed...back into his suit with the mismatched tie and no muscles whatsoever. We stared.

"Of course," he said, "the girls' school has floating platters. But honestly, it causes traffic issues, so I think they're just showing off."

"Floating platters?" Xavier repeated.

"Girls' school?" Alex said, raising his eyebrows. Oh, Alex was one of THOSE kids. Yeah, I saw those eyebrows.

"Alright boys, get comfortable, because I am about to tell you a story of epic proportions," Dr. Smith said, reclining back in his chair. Poor guy. He probably spent all year working on that dramatic sentence.

"You are a creature, and not just any creature, but rather, multiple. You are called Legends. There are several different forms you can turn into. Five, to be precise. One form, you just saw. It is called warrior."

He said it so casually, like maybe he was letting me know he had a sandwich for lunch.

"I'm not going to tell you what the other four forms are," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "You'll have to figure those out on your own. There is a certain virtue associated with each form. Warrior is honesty, and the other four are kindness, loyalty, humility, and diligence."

I looked around the table on a whim. The expressions ranged from amazement to fear to full-on doubt.

"Up until about two weeks ago," he continued, his tone getting serious, "you were forbidden."

"Forbidden?" Harrison whispered.

"Yes, forbidden," he said with an affirming nod. "Legends were deemed as too dangerous to interact with the human race. The Elder Council, our government, began to eliminate Legends and Myths."

"Myths?" Deynan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The girl form of legends," Dr. Smith clarified. Alex sat up a little straighter. Dr. Smith continued. "It wasn't until recently that we learned the Elder Council was being manipulated by an evil woman who wanted to destroy for her own personal motives. Her name was..." For the first time, he hesitated. He looked around the room until his eyes rested on Mr. Marquez a few tables away, laughing with some of the older boys. Dr. Smith turned back to us and whispered, "Giselle."

"What happened to her?" Isaac asked quietly.

"Well," Dr. Smith said with a smile, "she was defeated. You see, our school and the school for Myths have always been extremely well protected from outsiders and especially council members. But, about a month ago, she found the school for Myths." His smile was replaced by a grim look. "She placed a...machine of sorts outside the school, with the intention of breaking down the protecting barrier placed around the school. It would take two weeks to dissolve, and then...the entire island would be completely destroyed."