The Otherkind

Chapter 4

Eris awoke to sunlight streaming through the dusty window opposite her bed. As she looked around she noticed she wasn’t the first one awake. Kora was nowhere to be seen, and Leo was sitting on the rug eating in front of the table, which was covered in plates of various breakfast foods and a few cups of juice. Ari and the twins were still asleep, so Eris tried to be as quiet as she could when she got up to sit near Leo. “Is this food for all of us?” She whispered.
Leo nodded and pointed to a small stack of plates with silverware stacked on top. Eris grabbed herself a plate, then began piling a few waffles onto it. The taste of one of her favorite foods was a welcome experience in this confusing new place. The sounds from beyond the door were much louder this morning, and she found herself wondering just how many people could be here. Getting up after eating, she changed into some of the clothes she had brought with her in the corner and combed out her hair and her tail fur. Unsure of what to do next, she got out one of her favorite books, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, sat on “her” bed, and began reading.
Eris looked up as she picked up the sound of someone approaching the door. She quickly shoved her book back into her backpack and prepared herself for whoever it may be. The door opened to reveal Kora, who greeted Eris and Leo, then began to wake Ari and the twins for breakfast. “Where did you go? How many people live here? Do they have bathrooms here?” Eris immediately started asking the questions she had been waiting for answers to.
“I went to talk to Anoura about some things, a lot of people, and yes they have bathrooms here. I’ll take you in a minute when everyone finishes eating.” Kora responded.
Content for now with those answers, Eris waited patiently for the others to finish eating. She realized this meant they were going to leave this room, and see what was out there. Who was out there. Eris wasn't sure she was ready to find out just yet. She wanted to ask if there was any news about Alli, but was worried she would upset Kora even more by bringing it up. The other kids hadn’t been told directly, but they’d heard what Kora had said to Anoura and had obviously seen Alli hadn’t returned. Eris went to sit next to Ari while she waited. It felt better having her best friend near her.
Once the others had finished eating, Kora explained they were to follow her through the building for the morning. The sound of voices and footsteps was much louder from beyond the door now that it was late morning. Eris did her best to appear calm, despite her prickling fur. The twins appeared nervous as well, she noted, although Ari and Leo seemed excited. Kora led them out of their room, and into the building.
The sounds from the hallway were nearly overwhelming to Eris, who had only ever heard the voices of a few people at once. Further down the hallway she saw huge groups of people, talking, laughing, and carrying various objects. Most of them were kids, she realized, and none of them were human. Despite wanting to appear calm in front of her younger siblings, she felt her ears flatten in fear. She remembered from last night just how large this building was, and it terrified her to think about how many people must be here. Despite standing near her family, she felt alone in her fear.
Ari and Leo were already asking Kora if they were allowed to say hello to the other residents of the building. The twins, hand in hand, stood close to Kora’s side, awaiting direction. Eris wasn’t surprised at the reactions of her siblings to the new environment, but she wasn’t sure what she was going to choose to do. The twins wanted to stay with Kora all day. Ari and Leo wanted to meet as many new people as possible. But where did Eris fit in? She could stay with Kora, but then she thought she may be seen as childish considering that’s what the youngest kids were doing. Then again, she wasn’t sure she really wanted to go talk to so many other people.
She decided to follow Ari at a distance, to see what the other people were like, but not necessarily talk to any of them. Ari led them straight up to the first group of kids she saw. As she went up to talk to them, Eris backed off and focused on studying them. They were a group of three, and each was a different species. One girl had a tail with bright orange fur, and white on the end. She was the smallest of the group, looking to be around nine. She was carrying a book and a pencil, and seemed quite excited.
Another girl, this one much older than the fox child, had pitch black skin around her eyes and a grey striped tail. She must be a raccoon, Eris thought as Ari made conversation with them. The last member of the group was odd, as he looked perfectly human. He seemed to be the oldest, maybe around fifteen by her guess. Eris searched for a tail, fur, or scales anywhere but saw nothing. I’ll ask Ari later, she decided. She’ll probably ask him what species he is.
When she started to focus on the conversation, she realized Ari was saying goodbye to the others as they began to walk further down the hall.
“So, what were they like?” asked Eris, approaching Ari.
“What do you mean, weren’t you right behind me listening?”
“No, I was afraid they wouldn’t be friendly.” Eris decided not to admit she had been afraid of them in general, even if they were friendly. “Tell me what you learned about them, please?”
“Okay,” Ari began, “Well, the little one is Amber, she’s a fox, and she’s even younger than Ray and Lukas. Pepper is the older girl, she’s a raccoon. The boy is Pike, I wasn’t sure about him at first, but he says he’s a fish. He says he has gills, so I guess he got lucky being able to pass as human like that.”
“I always thought that fish people would look more like mermaids.”
“Me too, but I guess maybe they’re all different.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Eris sighed. Three new faces and she was already tired of meeting new people. She was ready to just go back to their room to draw by herself all day, but she also didn’t want to miss anything interesting, and she had hoped to learn as much about this place as possible. “Did those kids say what they were doing or where they were going?” she asked Ari hopefully.
“Oh...sorry, no, I didn’t really think about asking while I was talking to them”
“That’s okay,” Eris sighed again. “I’m going back to our room, but can you come get me if something cool happens, and tell me if you learn anything about this place?”
“Yeah, sure,” Ari said as she started to walk away, headed for another group she had spotted in the hallway. Eris walked herself back to her room.
She grabbed her backpack and sat on her bed. It was too much, being here in a new place with all the people around. She did want to make friends, but everyone else here seemed to know at least a few other people already, and talking to groups was nerve wracking. She wondered if maybe she could walk around alone just to watch the other kids and get to know what this place was like. She couldn’t go with Ari or Leo as no doubt they’d want to talk to everyone, and she knew the twins were off somewhere with Kora.
She put her backpack on, deciding she’d rather keep it with her than worry about someone touching her things while she was gone. It seemed like the hallways weren’t as full, even though it had only been a few minutes. They must have all been heading to the other rooms, Eris realized. She approached the nearest door to hers and peeked through the window. The room was set up like the classrooms she’d seen on television, and it was full of kids who looked a bit older than her. There was an adult with them, their teacher, she assumed. This must be how they manage to handle having all these kids here.
Eris thought about how hard it had been for Alli and Kora to teach her and her siblings. Ari never wanted to listen and Leo never wanted to sit still. Ray and Lukas would listen to be polite, but they only really paid attention if they were particularly interested in a subject. Eris herself had always loved to learn. She would ask Kora for new books every week, she never got bored of reading.
She stepped back from the window and continued on down the now empty hallway. She looked in each window she passed. There were kids of all ages, learning various things. She paused as she turned a corner. This hallway wasn’t empty. There was a small girl with green blue wings sitting against the wall a little ways away. She seemed too focused on her drawing to notice Eris down the hall.
Eris decided it would be okay to at least walk past the girl, it was only one person after all. She glanced at the drawing as she walked past. It was a collection of constellations scattered around a planet. Eris paused. “I like your drawing.”
The girl looked up nervously. “Er...thanks…” she shuffled her feet a bit and began tapping her pencil.
“Why aren’t you in the classrooms like everyone else?” Eris made an attempt to fix the awkward silence.
“Too many people. I don’t like classes.” She went back to her drawing.
“Can I sit with you? I like art too.”
“I guess.”
Eris sat next to the girl and pulled some paper and pencils out of her backpack.
“What’s your name?”
“Ainara.” She didn’t look up from her drawing.
“I’m Eris.”
“Okay.”
They stayed that way, silently sitting together against the wall, until some of the doors began to open and people came into the halls. Eris noticed Ari following Pepper out of a nearby room. When Ari saw Eris, she came running over.
“I thought you decided to go sit by yourself?”
“Well, I did,” Eris began, “but I was curious. I made a friend while you were gone.” She turned around to introduce Ainara to Ari, but she had disappeared. “Oh, well, I thought I did, she must’ve gotten scared when all the people came.”
“Okaaaaay….your friend sounds weird.”
“I guess, she doesn’t talk much” Eris looked around one last time for Ainara.
“Okay well I went to math class with Pepper, it was so exciting!”
“I thought you hated studying?”
“I do, but going to a real classroom with a new friend was exciting.” Eris rolled her eyes.
“Riiiiiight.” She wondered where Ainara had gone, and if she’d find her again. She realized Anoura must know where Ainara should be at this time of the day, so her best bet would be to ask her.
“Hey, do you know where Kora and Anoura went?”
“No, but Pepper might!” Ari ran off to talk to Pepper, who was reunited with her little group. After a few minutes, she came running back to Eris with Pepper beside her.
“Do you want to join us for social time? We have some time to talk and have fun between each class.” Pepper explained.
“Er- no thanks, I need to find Anoura please.” Eris responded.
“I’ll take you to her.” Pepper lead Eris through the halls and toward a new wing of the building. “Third door on the left.” She said, before running off to rejoin her friends. Following Pepper’s directions, Eris quietly entered a room she recognized as what was once an office, but now appeared to be like the inside of a house. There were photos on the walls, as well as drawings and a few cork boards with various plans. Potted plants sat in a few corners, and there was a sofa with a coffee table in front of it.
Eris heard voices from a separate room in the back. “And you’re sure it’s her?” Kora’s voice.
“I’m pretty sure, but tomorrow I’m going to check for myself.”
“Is that safe? Your wings…”
“I’m quite used to hiding my wings and ears, don’t worry.”
“I can’t lose my wife and my friend. I have to be strong enough to keep the kids feeling safe.”
“I know. But we’ll get her back.”
“We have to.”
Eris stepped forward.
“What was that?”
“Hello?” she called, pretending she had just walked in. Anoura and Kora walked out together. Kora stood quietly. She looked like she’d been crying. “I was hoping you could tell me where to find a girl I met, her name’s Ainara.”
Anoura sighed. “Skipping class again?”
“Er- yes…she was…”
“It’ll be lunch time soon, you should look for her then. I will warn you, it’s loud, especially for ears like ours.”
“Thank you.” Eris left the room and retraced her steps, planning to read until it was time for lunch.