The Hopes of Many, the Fears of All

Chapter 5

On the way down, all I could think was how cool the wind felt. Maybe I was gonna die, but maybe not. If I died, at least there would be a cool breeze. I was surprised when I wasn't met with rocks, snakes, or some other awful thing when I hit the bottom. Instead, I was greeted with a huge pile of mattresses instead. I sat there for maybe a few seconds before I sat up and moved out of the way. The man walked up to me and smiled again.

"Nice job girly." He said. "What's your name?"

"Tori."

"Endor." He said, holding out his hand for me to shake. I shook it and turned around. There were people everywhere, staring. Some smiled and waved, while some just crossed their arms and snickered, obviously amused by me. Endor pushed me into the crowd, who held onto my shoulders, keeping me from rushing forward as Dmitri jumped down, landing on the mattresses, giving a small grunt as he landed on his knees. The whole process was repeated with him, who joined me soon afterward.

I looked up, hoping to see Aiden, but I heard a voice instead. "Y'all are crazy." I heard him say right before he jumped down.

I don't recall screaming on my way down, and Dmitri didn't either. But when Aiden went down, he screamed like a little girl. I laughed with a few others as he hit the mattresses and looked up, surprised. He quickly stood up and straightened his clothes and put on his sunglasses.

"Afraid of falling, huh?" Endor said, smirking.

Aiden looked taken aback. "No, I'm not." He said as he stuck a finger in Endor's chest. "But you are some sick puppies."

Aiden walked over to Dmitri and I with his hands shoved in his pockets. I noticed that Aiden gave off a faint glow in the dark, but I didn't say anything. I elbowed his side.

"Take your sunglasses off!" I whispered.

"No! Why should I?" He whispered back.

"Because it's black as midnight in here, you don't need sunglasses."

"Ahem." I heard Endor say. "It's time for our newbies to introduce themselves, right?" The crowd whooped in agreement. "Alrighty. So what you're gonna do is you are going to stand in the middle of the circle and say your name and age. But then you get to tell or show us your ability."

I shifted uncomfortably, which Endor must've seen as eagerness. He pulled me into the middle of the newly formed circle of people and went to the crowd. "Okay." I said nervously. "My name is Tori, and I'm seventeen." I said, and tried to walk off.

"Hey, Hey! You can't walk off until you show us what you can do!" Endor said, pushing me back to the center.

"Well, I don't know how to describe it."

"Then show us."

I nodded. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on a bow in one hand, and an arrow in the other. When I was younger, my dad would take Hayden and I hunting, but he encouraged us to use a bow and arrow instead of a gun because it doesn't scare off the rest of the animals. So I knew almost every curve and angle of practically any sort of bow and arrow.

When I opened my eyes, I had an old fashioned bow with an arrow in the other hand. They were both the same turquoise as the bat and whip from the day before. I smirked as I heard Endor do a slow clap.

"Nice job. Can you do anything else with... whatever that was?" He asked, motioning toward the bow in my hand.

"I don't know. I'm sorta new at this." I said.

"No problem. We can work at that." Endor said, patting my back as I made my way back to the circle. "Who wants to go next? Aw, thanks Hollister."

Endor grabbed Aiden even though he didn't volunteer and threw him in the center of the circle. Aiden ripped off his glasses, revealing his golden eyes.