Two Eyes

New Friends?

Chapter 6

"Follow me," says a random person. I follow her and say nothing.

She takes me into a tent near the smallest ones, but this one is prominently larger than the others. She immediately leaves the tent and me alone. Seeing no chairs, I find a cushion and sit on it.

"Oh dearie, you have arrived. That was a wonderful show you put on out there; I was impressed with your skills for having no training. I mean, you haven't experienced anything to make you think like that! Now I know you're one of us. But really, why are your contacts still in?"

I see a woman come out from behind a curtain. She's plump and looks to be in her 40s or 50s. Her right eye is green while the left is blue. Her gray and partially black hair is braided all the way down to her hips. She wears gypsy-type clothes colored fuchsia. Beads, jingling things and materials are everywhere. Would I have to wear these kinds of clothes? I wasn't paying attention to peoples' clothes around me before I came into the tent. I should have.

I try to answer the woman. "I--uh--"

"I haven't properly introduced myself! Forgive me." She places her hands on her hips and holds her head high. "I am Matira, leader of this camp."

"Oh." So this is who Ryan was talking about, I think. "I'm Eliz--"

"You're Elizabeth Zychite, known as Liz. I know all about you. We've been watching you for years ... basically your whole life. Sorry about that, by the way. We have to watch our subjects to make sure we're not about to reveal ... things to someone who isn't like ... us." She takes a seat (or should I say "cushion"?) behind a low desk-like object. She lays her head on her hands which lay on the desk. "I'm sure you have tons of questions, but please wait a moment as one more person joins us to form a trio."

Her eyes flick over to a curtain opposite where she entered. A guy around my age comes out in green gypsy clothes. He has pants instead of the long skirt Matira wears. He also has a short-sleeve V-neck. I notice now that neither of them are wearing shoes. The guy has short dark brown hair. They both also have tan skin.

"I'm sure you know Ryan," says Matira, "Considering he was the one who brought you here."

I blink. Wait ... Ryan? I hardly recognized him. Our eyes meet and I recognize his teal and pink eyes once again. He quickly takes a seat near Matira but still in front of me.

"So," she continues, "Any questions? Ryan is here to explain things I may not be as good as explaining. In short, he's here to dumb things down for you."

"Oh okay ..." I say. I take a deep breath. I hope these two are ready. "First question: what in the world was that? What did I have to go through just now?"

Matira sits up.

"Oh that's easy! Every time we're about to gain a new member we put him or her through something from his or her past and slightly alter it. The goal of this is to see if these people can realize that it's not real as well as to see how they do in a complex situation. For you, it was that you feared your brother's anger and the only experience you saw of Jim. He's actually quite a nice man once you get to know him. You see his girlfriend had just broken up with him over--Oh! I'm getting off-track!

"Anyway, we found out that you are good in quick-thinking situations, good at making strategies. You use your surroundings to your advantage."

I nod. I can deal with that. "Question two: how did you know about my eyes? I never showed them to anyone outside of sleep."

Matira seems flustered. "Well, let's wait until your first lesson shall we?"

"Lesson in what?"

"Magic," Ryan answers. He and Matira look at each other. She nods. He looks back at me. "I don't want to tell you too much otherwise the instructor will get upset at me. Magic is like life. At the beginning it has to be treated gently and with care but as you grow more accustomed to it, it simply becomes a part of yourself."