The Magic Lands

CHAPTER THIRTEEN • CARTER

We entered the dining hall and every inch was buzzing with chatter. I guided Katie over to where Peter and his crew were sitting. "Hey Carter, I heard you got yourself a plan for Harlina, huh?" Peter asked me and I nodded.

"Yup, let's just hope it works." I responded. And his friends spoke up.

"Sure it will."

"I think its got a shot."

"Yeah."

I gave a little smile. "I'm Katie by the way." Katie said, hand formally stuck out. The group shook it one by one, and she put it down at the end.

"Nice to meet you, I am Peter." Peter said with his normal smile. Katie reflected it back to him and Peter stood up. "Let's get in line for food, shouldn't be a long wait." He said and the rest of the people at that section of the table got up.

We stood in line and collected food on our plates. They served chicken glazed in some sort of sauce, if you looked hard enough you could see a slight bit of steem rise into the air. Various fruits and cooked vegetables sat in separate bowls at the end of the table. A few pitchers sat by a stack of glasses, one was filled with water and the other some sort of pinkish-orange juice. Lastly there sat a plate of mixed cheeses. The set up might seem like a lot of food, but for an intire village, some nights there wasn't enough.

I sat down last and Peter's friends were engaged in conversation about something. I really didn't pay attention to their conversation and instead looked at Katie. She was starring at her food, head propped up with her arm.

"Katie?" I asked and a few seconds after she shook her head with a look of surprise on her face. I guess I startled her.

"Sorry I was, daydreaming... I guess." She said and looked back at he plate and picked around at her chicken.

"Ok." I said and looked to my food. I took a bite of my chicken and it didn't taste as good as I suspected so I put my fork down. I myself preferred the turkey-like bird we had the first night. I did eat my fruit though, but Katie on the other hand didn't eat at all.

•••

We plopped down on our beds. Katie on the top, and I on the bottom. She took off her glasses and asked me to put them on the night stand.

"So, Katie, what exactly happened at the dinner table. You didn't eat at all." I asked and she sighed.

"I really don't know. I guess I am just a little worried about tomorrow." She confessed. I gave her a kind smile.

"Like you told me earlier, you just have to get a little more confidence." I said and she returned my smile.

"Ah yes, I am so wise."

"Hey, if Elicta has shown you one thing it is you don't know all the answers after all."

"Yeah. Your right." She said and she flipped off her shoes and layed down. I don't really know why but it just occurred to me that we had been in the same clothes for days. Before I turned out the light I went to a small door which I assumed was a closet and peeked inside.

It was filled with a few clothing items that looked like the clothes worn by the rest of the village. "Hey, Katie." I said but heard no response from the upper bunk. She probably fell asleep, so I walked over to the oil lamp and turned out the light.

I curled up in bed looking at the wall on the opposite side of the room for a while. I couldn't fall asleep so I quitely walked out of the room and on the porch of the cottage. The village was mostly dark except for a few oil lamps still burning in the windows of other homes. I sat there for a bit before I finally got bored and stood up.

I thought about visiting Valerie so I stuck on my shoes and jogged to the barn. When I got in there it was quiet so I crept down the isle way to Valerie's stall. She was sound asleep and sort of snoring. One of her wings was stretched out and laying on the floor, the other was neatly folded up.

I walked away, just a quiet, and started to get tired. I walked back to the cottage this time and yawned as I came in the door. I creeped back in Katie and my room and she was still asleep. I layed down and this time I dozed off almost instantly.