Annwn - Ch03 - Home

        Phil and I followed Zoey out of the building. Stepping outside, the fresh air hit us both hard as we gasped softly at the overwhelming daylight. The bright light, combined with the lack of food or drink for a while caused me to develop a slight headache. Keeping my head down, I decided to avoid looking around and observe the area around me, figuring that I'll get the chance to sooner or later. Right now, I just committed to following Zoey in silence.

        She lead us to another building. It looked fairly modern, five floors and a ground story, with what appeared to be a garden of sorts on the roof. Zoey opened the front door to the building and lead us up the stairs up to the third floor. Two doors lead away from the stairway; Zoey smiled as she opened the closest to the stairs and stepped inside.

        "This is our new home," she said happily as I stepped in. The place was very nice, a lot better than I had expected. The room we were in was the main bulk of the apartment, a large room which in one corner included a basic kitchen set up, with a dining area for five next to it. There was also a living room area with a sofa and some armchairs, a book shelf and a large TV mounted on the wall, with a coffee table in the centre of it all.

        One of the most striking features of the room, however, was the overly large window which almost spanned the entire far wall,; it was almost like the whole wall was made out of glass, and past the window was such an incredible sight.

        Below looked like a town, filled with a mix of old buildings made of stone or wood, seemingly upgraded over the years but yet still keeping a lot of the old architectural design; and then you had some modern buildings right next to them. It was quite an odd mash up really. There weren't really any roads, simply paths with a lot of greenery, and what seemed like a small lake area off to the side. In the distance, there were even signs of some sort of shopping centre.

         Surrounding the whole thing was a large wall, also made out of stone, which looked really old, probably centuries. Despite its old age, it seemed incredibly well maintained, with a few lookout towers here and there as well as some gates leading to the mountains and forests outside. The place seemed oddly empty, though, with almost no one in sight bar the odd person rushing around from building to building.

        "Woah..." Phil gasped, stepping forward to look out the window.

Zoey smiled, "That's the reaction most people give." Phil and I simply stared out of the window for a few more moments before we were interrupted with the sound of Phil's belly rumbling loudly, begging for food. Zoey blinked and nodded, "Oh right, you guys haven't had food yet...we were going to bring you some before the alarm went off..."

        'Well at least they were going to feed us at some point' was the first thing that came to mind as I glanced at the kitchen. "So will this place have food in it?" I asked and Zoey nodded

        "Just some basic things, but help yourself." Upon hearing these words Phil took his eyes from the view and dashed to the kitchen.

I started to head there myself as I looked back at Zoey. "You not going to get something to eat with us?" I asked as I notice that she didn't seem to be following along.

        "Nah, I got things I need to sort out. Moving stuff around and things like that..."

I simply nodded at that answer, before adding, "Hey... thanks for before. You know, the whole saving us thing."

At this, she tilted her head, slightly surprised at the comment before smiling happily, "Anytime."

        I smiled and gave her a nod of 'thanks and goodbye' before she headed to the door. With her gone I looked around once more. There were six doors leading from this room. The door leading out to the stairway sat along the same wall as one that lead to a bedroom. The other four doors were with in parallel with each other, two on one wall with the other two on the opposite, each one also leading to a bedroom.

        Heading over to the kitchen corner, Phil was already helping himself to a sandwich he'd made from some of the ham and cheese he'd found.

        "Hmmmm, sooo good!" He chewed as he nommed on it.

Rolling my eyes and smiling as I opened the fridge to see what was inside, I replied, "Good, or is it only good cause you've not eaten is so long?"

        "Hah, both probably."  

        "That doesn't make sense."

        "Yeah, well, none of this makes sense and yet here we are."

        The fridge was filled with some very basic stuff: some ham, cheese, salad, tomatoes and some eggs.

        "I guess we need to go shopping for some food sometime," I remarked, grabbing the ham and salad.

Phil nodded. "We also need to pick rooms," he said, finishing his sandwich in another large bite and clapping his hands clean as he glanced over at the doors.

Constructing my own sandwich I pointed out, "Or wait till they tell us whose room is whose."

        "Right..." he look like he was about to add something more to the conversation before the door opened.

We both glanced over to it, expecting Zoey once more. To our surprise it was someone else entirely. A girl around our age walked in. She looked around and saw the two of us and headed over. She was of average height yet with quite an attractive body. There was a slight aura of pride about her, in the way she walked and her neatly arranged school outfit. Her hair was blond and flowed downwards to around her mid back as her green eyes gazed at us. Judging by her uniform, she went to the private school that helped pay for most of the trip.
        
        "Is someone named Zoey here?" she asked. Her voice was clear without any signs of nervousness. Taking a bite out of my sandwich I decided to let Phil handle this as he gazed at her.

        "The girl who kicked down the door? Nah, she left to go get her things I think."
        "She kicked down a door?" she replied, partly thinking it was a joke

        "Well, kicking down the door is a bit of an understatement," I added before taking another bite out of my sandwich as Phil nodded.

        "True, she sent that door flying."

        She paused for a moment putting her hand on her chin in thought, "Well, I guess considering the circumstances, that tale isn't so hard to believe." She paused for a bit longer before shaking her head and looking at us, "Regardless, I assume that you two are Philip and Eliot?" A tad shocked that she knew our names, Phil nodded in confirmation, at which point she smiled and bowed her head a little, "Well, my name is Alexia Clarkson. I shall be moving in with you three."

        Phil looked shocked at that statement as I swallowed the bite I had in my mouth before speaking up, "Well, welcome home, I guess. Help yourself to some food."

        There was an odd silence for a moment, where none of us seemed to know what to say, before Alexia asked, "So what's your take on all of this?"

Once again I remained silent and allowed Phil to answer first. "Well, it's magic and stuff, so awesome, right?"

        "It'll be interesting to see how they go about teaching us, and what they'll ask us to do after we're taught," I chipped in as Alexia nodded and Phil looked at the two of us

        "What do you think they'll make us do? Evil things?"
        
"Well, no. However, their actions so far are still quite questionable. But if they are truthful with this whole marking thing and that they wouldn't normally keep people in cells, then I guess then they can be trusted more." Alexia voiced her opinion, to which I nodded in agreement.

        "Indeed, we'll see in time."

        "Well, if that's the case, then why risk joining them?" Phil asked Alexia and myself.

Alexia thought for a moment before shrugging. "Well, I would like to say I trust them somewhat, and the whole concept of learning and experiencing this 'hidden world' is very fascinating. What about you?" she asked Phil, who answered without hesitation, quite energetically.

        "It's magic! Who wouldn't want to learn magic?" He paused for a moment before frowning. Speaking quieter than his previous statement, he continued, "Plus, things aren't the best back home..." Once again, the room feel into an awkward silence before Phil broke it again looking, hitting me gently on the arm with the back of his hand to grab my attention, "What about you Foxy?"

        "Foxy?... Really?" I asked, looking at Phil, not too impressed with it. Alexia only laughed softly at it as Phil looked at me as if to say 'What's wrong?' After a second or two, I gave a sigh, knowing that that was what he'd probably wind up calling me forever now. "Well, I haven't got much else to do," I said returning back to topic. "If I go back home, I wouldn't know what to do next after this year anyways. Plus, the concept of all this intrigues me, and assuming that they keep their word about if we change our minds about staying, then I don't see why not."
        The three of us talked for a bit longer before Zoey returned. She'd removed her robe now, where underneath was a dark blue top with a golden trim and a vertical, white strip in the centre. It was an odd design; it reminded me of some sort of Asian outfit. Her trousers were a gray colour, while her socks were black and she wore white, slip-on shoes. I guessed they where good for kicking. She was carrying three bags, one of which I instantly recognized as mine from the school trip.

        "So I brought the your stuff from the trip. If there's anything you want delivered here from your homes, then give me a list of your stuff," she said with a smile as she put the bags down.

        "So whose room is which?" Alexia asked after the two introduced each other.

        "This room is mine," Zoey pointed at the door closest to the exit, "It's bigger than your rooms, but there's stuff stored in there, like some emergency supplies and equipment that will allow us to keep in contact with the other members or help us with missions and stuff. As for the other rooms, you're free to decide who gets what." I wanted to ask more about the supplies and equipment but thought best to save it as Phil quickly raced to the door closest to the giant window.

        "This one's mine..." he yelled like a child.
        
        "Then I'll take that one..." Alexia replied as she pointed at the one on the other side of the room to Phil's. I couldn't help but snicker a little at the situation. I, on the other hand, decided to stick to the same wall as Phil and go for the one closest to the door. Each one of us went into our rooms to see what was what.

        The rooms were quite bare: A queen sized bed, a desk and chair, a window and a cupboard with little else there. As well as all that, each of our rooms seemed to have its own bathroom, complete with a bath/shower, toilet, sink and a mirror cabinet. Turning the light on as there were no windows in the bathroom, I stepped forward and ran the cold water tap. Letting it pool in my hands, I splashed some on my face. The cold water hitting my face refreshed me as I looked at myself in the mirror for a few moments, contemplating all that's happened since the trip started.

        My grey eyes looked back into my own as I watched and thought, before looking over myself. My light blue shirt was quite wrinkled with all that's happened. As for my black hair, I kept it back in a tight pony tail to stop it getting into my eyes. However, one part of it never stays within the band and hangs over my forehead all the time. I've grown to ignore it.

        I turned to return to the main area, wanting to get my bag and maybe see about getting a drink. However, as I left my room, a faint knocking came from the front door. Glancing around, half expecting to see someone else answer it at first, I then headed up and opened the door.

        "Yes?"

        On the other side of the door was a girl who gasped as I opened the door, stepping back slightly and blushing, obviously the shy and quiet type. I glanced over her. She was quite tall, maybe an inch shorter than myself, with her straight, brown hair held back by a headband. Admittedly, she reminded me a lot of Charlotte. However, it was hard to tell which of the two had the bigger bust. It was clear that this girl seemed fitter, like she ran or swam a lot.

        "H-Hello... I... Is Zoey here?" the soft quite voice asked as I nodded.

        "Yeah, she is, come in..." I replied, stepping back to let her come in, unsure what else to do other than head to Zoey's door and knock.

        There was a small silence as we waited. She continued to blush and look downwards while I stared at the door with my normal, blank expression, waiting for Zoey to answer. After a moment the door opened.

        "Yeah?" she furrowed her brow, seeing me and the other girl standing there, a bit surprised I assumed.

The girl took in a deep breath yet again, realizing she had to speak now, "I-My name is Alice... I've been told... that I'm to live here..."