Between Gates (The Gate Chronicles Book 1)

Chapter 1: Hired

The first thing Nari Eaton noted upon walking into the room were the escape routes. There were two doors - the door she'd entered through and one other, small door on the left side of the room behind the desk, which sat in the middle of the room.

All of the walls were grey as were the furnishing of the room, which consisted of little more than a desk, filing cabinent, and four chairs, three of which were organized around the front of the desk, while the remaining one was situated behind it.  

The only splash of color in the whole area came from a single, small blue sculpture on the glass surface of the desk. It appeared to be a fiery stallion of falling water, but she wasn't close enough to know for sure. 

She steeled herself, sighing. This was it. Her last interview. Here, she would find out if she could move on and leave her past behind. She squeezed her eyes shut, praying that she would be accepted, that the past could be left where it belonged - in the past. 

"You can go in now." The man - who she assumed to be an orderly - waved her into the office. 

Now was when she would move on or go back to her dull, painful life on Earth.  

This was it.

*** 

Nari gazed up at the man. Originally, she hadn't expected to be interviewed at all, let alone by the general. What sort of military establishment was this that the general would stoop to talk to new recruits? And since when were generals as young as the man standing before her? He couldn't be more than her twenty-seven years.

But the answer to both questions was right before her. She had been interviewed once by a regular recruiting officer, and this was the second interview - this time, though, it was the General who stood before her, framed by the doorway. And he was without doubt younger than any general she'd known.  

“Does the general normally interview recruits?” She asked glancing about at his sparse furnishings and the rest of the gray-walled office before setting her gaze on his blue sculpture again. The little blue carving was a life-line for her in a sea of grey and fear. It anchored her and calmed her, something she needed desperately if she was going to make it through this. 

The young man smiled, making his way to sit down behind his desk. “No, not usually.”

“So why are you interviewing me?”

He gave her a searching glance. “What makes you think I’m the general?”

She struggled not to squirm under his penetrating gaze. It was almost as though she was back in elementary school being lectured by one particularly stern teacher for dropping a pencil. "You gave it away when you answered my question earlier. You said 'not usually.' The only reason you would phrase it like that is because you are the General." 

He smiled at her, dipping his head slightly in acknowledgement of her statement. "A good response."

She didn't allow anything to show on her face or in her eyes despite the triumph she felt at having given a good answer. That was what he would be looking for. Her reaction would tell him whether or not she was truly a good fit for this place.

He was interviewing her for a position in an organization that worked to keep dark magic from reigning over the world, and all the agents of such an organization needed to know how to control emotions, reactions, and all other hints that would give an opponent the edge.

The General's gaze stayed steady on her face, and she met it with a cool stare. She knew the game he played - or thought she did, anyway. And she wasn't going to play. Not his way, that was.