CHAPTER FOUR
Elliott gasped a deep breath as he woke. The sound woke Oliver who immediately began coughing upon waking. Elliott adjusted the leathery fabric over his chest, remembering that he was wearing clothing from the islands they were stuck on. Oliver sat up next to his brother, his hair sticking up in all directions. The two observed the grim surrondings together.
It was dark where they were, and the first thing that both of them noticed was the old, rusty bars that went from the dark wooden ceiling down to the gray stone floor. Though there were no windows in cell they were confined in, but they could see daylight coming down the hall, which curved toward the cell. They were in a cylintrical building on the outside wall, like a castle tower. It seemed to be very old.
Oliver crawled close to his brother and held onto him, “I’m scared, brother.”
Elliott patted him on the back and assured him, “I know, me too. It looks like we’re in that castle.” He pointed beyond the bars of the cell at the thick wall that ran opposite of where they were sitting.
Oliver looked up at the ceiling, “I thought the ceiling would be bigger.”
Elliott stood from the ground, his chest ached from the different atmosphere. He looked around for anything that would help them escape the prison, but the cell was completely empty. He walked to the bars and tried to see down the passageways running in either direction, but there was nothing but stone walkway.
“Hello?” He asked in a normal-speaking volume, uncertain if he actually did want to alert whoever might be near. When there was no response, he called a little louder, “Hello?”
He heard a faint sound that seemed to be a large door closing a good bit down the hallway. Elliott figured that if that’s what the sound was, then the hall was very long, considering the amount of echo it created.
Elliott looked back at his brother, who was still sitting on the stone floor. It was darker where he sat in the cell and he looked with wide, scared eyes through his glasses.
Then there was a new echo coming from one of the halls. It was so far away that Elliott couldn’t tell whether it was coming from the left or the right. The sound began to grow into a rhythmic clanking. Elliott backed away from the bars, fearing that the clanking was footsteps. As Elliott returned to the stone ground next to Oliver, the two huddled together. The sound became louder and the two then knew for sure that it was footsteps. They grew louder and deeper as the steps approached.
Then, the source of the steps approached. A large, ironclad figure tromped to the bars, turned toward the boys and froze. It’s armor was thick and silver, with a menacing helmet covering its face. In its large hand was a long pole with a sharp axe at its top end.
The boys stared at the large figure, towering just beyond the cell bars. They could hear its
breath huffing through the helmet. After a long moment of silent tension, the figure slammed the end of the axe into the stone floor and the bars quickly fell into the ground.
With its free hand, the figure reached to its helmet and pulled up its front, revealing a rough, though young, face. He had a large chin and spoke gruffly, as if forcing a more-masculine tone. Still, he couldn’t conceal his young tone. “The Queen has requested your presence. Come with me.”
He turned abruptly and began walking down the left hallway from where he had come. He didn’t wait for the boys, but after a few steps down the hall, the boys rose and began following him.
The boys walked close, side-by-side with a safe distance between them and the large man leading them around a curved corridor. They walked a long way in the corridor, here and there were small windows to let in the daylight. Elliott looked at his feet, realizing that the hallway was ascending.
“Brother, this is a long hallway,” Oliver said, looking up at the wooden planks making up the ceiling. “I thought we would have come back around.”
Elliott spoke in a lower voice than his brother, “No, Oliver, it looks like we’re walking upward. Look, the ground is going upward.”
The two were looking down, studying the odd manner of the castle when they realized the guard had stopped walking. The two looked up to see that he had turned toward them and now stood in front of an arched, wooden doorway that the hallway ended into. The guard opened the old door and motioned for the brothers to move through. They only hesitated for a moment before quickly moving past the guard, keeping as much distance as the could between them and he. Both boys kept their attention on the blade of the axe, glimmering over his head at the end of the long pole.
Beyond the door, there was a short set stairs leading upward where a great deal of light was flooding in. The steps were covered in red fabric and the boys felt that they were leaving a prison area and entering somewhere very formal. They nervously stood there, outside the door to the prison and before the stairwell to some fantastic unknown.
The guard then grunted to prompt them to move forward. Slowly and hesitantly, the boys walked the short ascention. Once they reached the top, the boys both gasped, looking up.
The room was incredibly large, with a domed ceiling. Light streamed through stained glass murals in the ceiling and all along parts of the walls. Ornamental stonework flowed down between the stained glass and lead the to marble patterns that wove into the floor.
Oliver pointed up at an enormous, circular stained glass window that had a sun and a moon interwoven together. “Look brother, I saw that from the sky!”
Elliott was in awe of how large the artistic window was. It shone a multitude of colors into the chamber. “It’s amazing!” He said, almost shouting.
“Indeed it is,” a strange voice replied.
The boys turned at the sound toward a large throne that ran up half the length of the entire wall. Ornate patterns and symbols were woven into it’s dark surface. “How did we not see that before,” Elliott said to Oliver in a whisper.
In the throne was a stern-looking woman with a pale face. Her body was covered in multiple layers of dark cloth. Over her head was a silver crown that fell into a dark veil.
Oliver moved close to Elliott. “She looks like a witch,” he whispered.
“Come close,” she beckoned to the boys. Her voice was smooth and deep. As they took their first steps toward her, however, she added, “but not too close.”
The boys slowly moved until they were a few yards from the Queen. They stood there, staring at her in silence, until the Queen finally sighed loudly, “Do you two not know how to address a queen?”
The brothers looked at each other, not knowing what to do. “You bow when you approach a queen,” she added, one of her thin eyebrows going up as she did.
The boys awkwardly bowed to a knee and then stood once more. They kept their attention on the Queen, worried of what she wanted with them.
After a long period of silent staring, the Queen finally address them, “Elliott and Oliver, I hear you are spreading terrible rumors in my kind kingdom.”
Elliott made a curious face, “Hey, how do you know our names?”
A brooding smile came over the Queen’s face. “There is much that I know,” she returned. “Now, I have a proposition for you.”
Elliott and Oliver were nervous. Oliver pulled at Elliott, making him lean over close to him. “She’s a witch,” he whispered.
“And what if I am?” The Queen said, leaning forward. She slowly stood from the throne and the boys could that she was very tall- taller than anyone they had ever seen before.
The boys didn’t answer, they just stood staring.
She lifted her chin and looked down on them, “Here is my proposition: you two will discontinue your lies and will be allowed to stay on my island.”
Elliott was confused and felt insulted at being called a liar. “We’re not lying about anything. What are you talking about?”
The Queen frowned, “You’ve been telling people that you came from below the clouds. It is well known that there is nothing below the clouds, so therefore you are lying.”
Elliott became angry, “We did come from below the clouds! A storm- or something- brought our house- er our room- up into the other island.”
“Probably a tornado!” inserted Oliver.
“We climbed up through a tunnel,” continued Elliott, “and found the old man- Gerd. We just want to get home, down on the Earth. Can you help us, please?” Elliott was almost crying as he begged the Queen.
The Queen looked coldly back at Elliott, “How can I help you return to somewhere that doesn’t exist.”
“But it does exist!” Elliott cried.
“Silence!” the Queen shouted, her strong voice echoing across the chamber off of the stone walls and stained glass.
Oliver began crying and sunk down next to Elliott. Elliott frowned and put his hand on his brother’s back. At the sight of hurting the boys, the Queen’s expression softened.
“Hmm,” she hummed, almost appologetically. She waited a moment before offering, “I would like for you to see my islands and stay with us. I imagine you are from another island and just do not understand how things are. It’s likely that your island’s people have not explained things to you properly and you are just ignorant of nature.” She paused, no emotion showing on her face. “You can stay here in the castle- a room will be prepared for you. However, if you decide to continue spreading deciet in my kingdom, I will imprison you forever.”
Elliott gasped at the proposition.
The Queen, noticing his reaction, continued, “You will explain to those that you meet that you are from another island far from here and are learning our ways.” The Queen unfolded her long arms from her dark gown and held open her hands. “I trust you will soon feel comfortable here.”
She then pointed to the opposite side of the chamber behind the boys.“Through those doors, my guard will show you to your quarters.” There was a tall set of doors that were oddly narrow for their height.
Eager to leave, Oliver rose from the floor quickly and walked toward the door, his head down as he moved. Elliott gave a short bow, turned, and caught up with his brother. As they approached the doors, they opened as if automatically. Elliott wondered if it was magic that was making the doors open and he turned to look back at the Queen. Just as he did, he saw the tall, dark throne was shifting backward into the wall, concealling the Queen from view.
The boys left the great chamber and were immediatly met by the same guard as before. His helmet was left open and they could see his large chin jutting out at the suit of armor’s neck line.
“This way,” he grunted, turning to the side and walking down a hallway.
Oliver, without hesitation, began following the guard, but Elliott lingered for a moment to look around. He was in what seemed to be a lobby. The room was round and also had a domed cieling, though much lower and narrower than in the throne room in which they had left. The floors were a brilliant red and the cieling had a marble pattern that swirled around its arc like it was being washed down a drain above the room. Large suits of armor stood tall around the perimeter of the round room, as if they were protecting the throne room from intruders. Hallways ran in opposite directions from Elliott, much like the prison they had awoken in.
He found it strange that there were no lamps or other sources of light anywhere, though everything could be seen clearly. It seemed that the cieling itself was immenating a vibrant glow. Suddenly, he realized the guard and Oliver were a good way down the hallway to his left. He ran to catch up with them, nearly tripping twice on the uneven stones. The guard’s long axe tapped against those stones as he walked, which let Elliott know how close he was to catching up to them.
The three walked for a very long time down the hall, passing several doors that appeared to lead to rooms. They passed several decorative windows along the wall to their left, letting in light to see by. Outside, the sun was setting and cast a light so bright into the windows that it made it difficult for the boys to see any details beyond the windows themselves.
After a long while of walking, the guard stopped suddenly and turned toward one of the wooden doors. There was a shield-shapped icon painted in silver and red on its surface. The guard retrieved a key that was tucked into his side, under the armor and slid it into the iron lock of the door. There was no handle- he opened the door with the end of the key itself. The door made a loud creak echoed far down the hall in either direction. It seemed as if the door had not been opened in some time.
The guard moved out of the way for the boys to enter and they cautiously walked into the room. Elliott turned to address the guard, but he had already begun walking back in the direction from which they had come. He left the door open.
“Look, brother- beds!” Oliver yelled.
Elliott turned to see a room just about the size of their bedroom, with two wooden beds next to each other- much like in their room as well. These beds, however, had finely-detailed carvings formed completely over their surface. Oliver wasted no time picking the one on the right, just as he typically slept in at home, and jumped onto it.
He reached to his shoulder and tried to unfasten the button on his outfit- the outfit that Gerta had put on him in his sleep at Gerd’s Island. The button was tightly stuck in its opening. Failing to unbuton it, he attempted unraveling the leather shoes woven around their feet, but he could not figure out how they were removed. He glanced around and saw that there were no other clothes around. So he looked to Elliott, shrugged, and flopped his body down, face up, on the feathered
mattress, still in the strange outfit.
Elliott slowly walked to the other bed and rolled over into it. He stared up at the large stone
bricks that curved to form the ceiling of the room. It was no time at all before Oliver began snoring and Elliott began to feel the aches in his legs from all the walking. He felt his hand to his chest, thinking of how difficult it had been breething the strange, thin air. Though he was still having trouble breething, it seemed that he was getting used to it. The events of the day, though, had worn on him greatly and soon he joined his brother in sleep.
CHAPTER FIVE
The long, hollow echoes of the guard’s steps, stomping down the hall and the clank of the long axe on the stones made Elliott and Oliver’s eyes open. Oliver sat up first and looked around the small room. The thick wooden door was closed tightly into the stone wall just beyond the two beds. Oliver wondered if the door was locked, trapping them in, and he jumped from his bed and ran to the door. Surprisingly, the door came open with ease.
Oliver stuck his head out the door and looked in either direction down the long hall. Though he could hear the guard walking, he couldn’t see him coming. Sunlight was pouring in through the narrow windows, it was at the same brightness as when they had laid down in the beds.
Oliver turned to Elliott, “Hey, brother, the sun is still shining! We been asleep for a long time!”
Elliott was already getting out of his bed. Once standing, he looked down, half expecting his clothes to be different. However, it was the same garb that he had wore to sleep. He walked to the door next to Oliver and peered in either direction of the hallway.
“Did we sleep all the way through a night and end up at the same time of the day?” Oliver asked.
His brother looked up at him, “Huh?” Oliver turned and ran back to his bed, retrieving his glasses, and returned next to his brother. He looked back down the hallway and replied, “This doesn’t seem like normal, Elliott.”
Then, they noticed the guard, finally coming into view. He wore the same shiny suit of armor, the helmet up, allowing his large chin to show. When he would walk past a window, the sun would shine off his armor and the axe to where he appeared to momentarily glimmer like a diamond. The hallway was so great that it still took a good while for him to reach the two boys.
Once directly in front of where the brothers stood, the guard announced, without looking down at them, “The Queen has called a sky taxi to take you to the learning island. She has made arrangements for you to join the school.”
Elliott made an unsure face, “We already have a school back at-” he trailed off, remembering that they were not supposed to talk about what’s below the clouds.
Oliver tugged at Elliott’s side. He whispered loudly, thinking that simply because he was whispering, the guard wouldn’t hear, “Brother, we don’t want to go to jail again. Especially forever!”
The guard, hearing, finally looked down at Elliott, a stern look on his face.
Elliott became nervous and diverted, “Ok, we’re ready.”
The guard abruptly turned and began marching in the direction he had come from. The boys
followed closely.
This time, walking down the hallway, the boys could see more through the narrow windows.
The sun had risen more and they noticed that there was a courtyard within the inside circle of the castle.
Oliver yelled, “Look brother!” and ran to one of the windows.
​
Elliott followed and was surprised at what he saw. The courtyard was large, showing the length of the hallway from the curved wall containing it. There was a large tree in the middle of the courtyard that had dense, purple leaves on it. The trunk was an odd shade of tan with green flecks in it. Beyond the tree, the great mountain climbed high, creating the encasing boarder of the courtyard. All around the tree were bush-like plants with large leaves and flowers bloomed in
patches throughout the courtyard. The plants were different from anything Elliott and Oliver had ever seen on the Earth. The boys were in awe at the beauty of it.
The guard didn’t stop and Oliver turned to where he was walking, “Brother, we got to go!” Responding, Elliott and he ran to catch up with the guard.
It was a long walk around the great hallway, half the perimeter of a small mountain to be
precise. By the time the boys reached the foyer to the Queen’s chamber, their legs were tired and they panted and wheezed. Though their lungs had begun adapting to the thin air, they were not fully acclaimated yet.
The brooding suits of armor surrounding the circular room seemed to all be watching the boys, waiting for an opportunity to attack. Uneasy, Oliver began walking toward the door to the Queen’s chamber when the guard, who was continuing to walk toward the other side of the hall, shouted to him, “Cease! You are not to enter the Queen’s chamber without permission and granted entry by royal hand.” He pointed back at himself, signaling to the boys that he was “royal hand.” With his other hand, he motioned with the long axe toward the opposite hallway that continued around the mountain. “This way,” he scoffed.
“Oh, we’re not going to see the Queen,” Oliver whispered, mostly to himself.
The three continued down the hall, this time coming to another large, arched wooden door with another painted shield on it. This one had “SW” inscribed in an old-English lettering. The guard wasted no time opening it and directing them through it. Just outside the door the sun was shinning down onto a small landing of grass. The area was a circle of roughly 30 meters that was surrounded by castle walls with the exception of gap at the far end that led down into cloud. In the center of the grass-filled landing, a strange contraption rattled bounced.
Oliver turned his head to the side, “It looks like a car.”
The strange vehicle was similar to an antique car, but instead of wheels, it had legs that balanced in on the ground. The trunk area was like a large basket, similar to that of a hot air balloon.
Oliver pointed up at the pole jutting out from its center, “It’s got a spinner too.”
There was a propellor attached and Elliott immediately understood that this was a flying vehicle.
“It’s more like a car-helicopter,” Elliott responded, not looking away from the contraption. Oliver stepped a little closer, expressing his interest in the vehicle. “It’s weird, brother.” Then a shrill voice scoffed, “Weird?!” A twisted, knotted head of hair appeared in the
driver’s side of the vehicle. It turned around and revealed a man with a large nose and wrinkled skin He wore a puffy black hat that shifted as he reached out a short arm over the side and patted the yellow surface of the vehicle. “This thing’s a beautiful beast.”
Oliver looked back at his brother, confused. He returned his attention to the strange man and blurted out, “Who are you?”
The man turned his large nose up and closed his eyes as he talked. “You just call me Cad.” “Cad?” Elliott asked. “As in ‘Caddie’.”
The man lept from the seat of the vehicle and the boys could see that he was short, like
Gerd. He wore an old-looking wrapped tunic. “Yes, as in Caddie.” His voice was snarky and mean. “Now, get in.” He motioned toward the basket in the back of the vehicle.
Elliott then looked behind him, back toward the castle, and noticed that the guard had silently crept from them, closing the door behind. Elliott was uncertain about getting in the vehicle- it didn’t look very reliable for flying around above the clouds.
Hesitantly, he and Oliver stepped toward the basket and felt its exterior. It was woven, like a basket, but the material was similar to metal.
“C’mon,” Cad yelled and Oliver responded, jumping over the side and into the basket of the vehicle. Carefully, Elliott followed.
Cad jumped over the side of the vehicle and plopped into the driver seat, which was separated from the basket that the boys sat in. He pulled a few levers and the propellor began spinning above them, pushing a gust of wind down on the boys.
The propellor squeeked as it turned and this made Elliott even more nervous, “Um, is this thing safe to be in?” he asked Cad.
Cad half turned toward them and yelled over the flutter of the propellor, “Eh? What’s wrong with you two? You act like you never seen a sky taxi before.”
Just then, the sky taxi bounced upward, sputtering a bit before becoming a steady glide upward. Elliott slunk into a corner, scared of the shaky vehicle. Oliver, curious, crawled to the side and lifted himself up just enough to see over the edge of the basket.
Capital Island was already beginning to look small as the moved away from it. Oliver looked to the left, to the west end of the island and studied the gray rectangular structures, jutting upward to different heights at the end of the island. A long span of woods separated the structures from the castle in the center of the island. As he looked, wondering what the purpose of the structures was, a boom sounded and an explosion erupted in the sky above the strange structures, leaving a dark smoke cloud above the island.
“What was that?!” cried Elliott, yelling over the sound of wind and engine noise.
“Some kind of explosion over there,” Oliver responded and began to point toward it, but the sky taxi bounced, sending him down into the basket. He became nervous of the craft, then, and crawled next to his brother.
It was a short flight before Cad turned to them and yelled, “Alright, almost there.”
Elliott didn’t realize that he had closed his eyes and in opening them, he immediately looked up, noticing that the sky had become significantly darker and the stars were vibrant above them. Before he could question the shift of the sky, the sky taxi dropped down, smashing into the ground and causing the boys to tumble in the basket.
It took them a little while to recover from the jolting of the trip. They rose carefully and made their way over the side and onto the grass of the new island. The boys took a moment to take in the surroundings before them.
This island was much smaller than Capital Island. It had large boulders going all the way around the perimeter and the majority of the middle of the island was only a flat field. Around the field were small tents here and there. The most notable aspect of the island was a large hill that led up to a tall building with a steeple and bell at its top. The building was white with swirly patterns on its surface.
Oliver looked upward and followed the line of ominous propellors that ran around the permiter of this island too, steadily turning in unison.
Cad yelled something to the boys that sounded like a farewell. They couldn’t tell over the sound of the propellor turning, but as they turned to wave goodbye, he was already lifting from the ground and flying away.
“Uh, how are we gonna get back?” Oliver asked quitely. The sound of the propellor had faded and a gentle sound of wind replaced it.
A harsh voice answered from behind the boys, “You need not worry about that now.”
Startled, the boys turned to see a tall, stern-faced woman staring down at them. Her complexion was pale and her black hair was pulled up into a bun on her head. She punctuated every syllabol when she spoke, “You two only need worry about the guidance of the wisdom of the sky.” She clapped her hands together suddenly, startling the boys, and shot one arm out, pointing with her hand fully-open toward the tents surrounding the field. “It’s sleep time now, you will both take the first tent there and retire until lesson in the morning.”
Elliott started to reason with her, “But, we-”
“Shhh,” she was quick to silence Elliott. “There will be no questions now, it is not question time. And, when it is question time, you shall only ask appropriate questions.”
Elliott, feeling that he was being misunderstood, attempted again, “I mean, we don’t really belong-”
She stopped him by clapping her hands loudly once more. She then leaned over him and spoke in a deeper voice, “It is not the designated time for questions.” Her eyes squinted as she held out the s in questions, like the hissing of a snake. “Also, I sense that you may be attempting to be... curious.”
Elliott was nervous with the tall woman peering down at him. He didn’t respond and she stood straight abruptly and pointed again with her open hand. “First tent there and we shall begin in the morning.” She said it as a demand, rather than a suggestion.
Elliott and Oliver looked to each other, uncertain, but then slowly walked to the first tent. It was a dark brown tent with red and green swirled patterns painted on its outside. Inside, the tent was only just big enough for the two of them to lie down. There were two mats and pillows unfolded neatly beside each other. It appeared that they had been expecting the boys.
Oliver wasted no time plopping down on the mat to the right. He coughed a couple of times, due to the air, before slipping into sleep. His glasses turned awkwardly on his head against the pillow.
Elliott moved over his brother and carefully removed his glasses, setting them next to him where he wouldn’t forget them in the morning. He then laid down on the mat and looked up into the tent’s top. The stars were so bright beyond that he could see the brighter ones still shinning through the fabric of the tent. He wondered what people did when it rained there. He then wondered where the drinking water came from and many other questions about life there. As he drifted into sleep, the comment from the woman about curiosity weighed heavy on him.
CHAPTER SIX
Elliott jolted awake from a sudden hit to the head. He sat up quickly, disoriented. Everything appeared blurry to him and it took him a moment to remember that he was in a tent on a new island in the sky. His vision returning to normal, he looked down next to him to see the source of the hit to the head. An inflated, white ball, dirty from grass and dirt marks, sat next to him.
The sound of quick footsteps caught Elliott’s attention and a child flung back the fabric of the tent and stood in the entrance. With him gusted a smell like apples. “Oh, hey,” he muttered, half a greeting and half a cautious question.
The new voice caused Oliver to wake and he turned over from laying face-down on the mat to study the new visitor. “Hello,” he greeted back without hesitation.
The boys could barely make out his features with the sunlight shinning bright behind him. Elliott finally returned the greeting, “Hello.”
The boy pointed down at the ball next to Elliott, “We’re playing ball-kick before lesson starts. Wanna play?”
Elliott picked up the ball and stood to hand it back to the boy. “Um, ok.” Elliott gave an awkward greeting, “My name’s Elliott.”
Oliver quickly added, “I’m Oliver.”
The boy nodded, his thick, dark hair waving as he did. He was just a little shorter than Elliott and must have been a little younger than he, Elliott figured. He wore a similar outfit to the boys, a tan fabric wrapped around him and pinned at the shoulder. The boy gave a greeting that seemed rehearsed, “I’m Dehu. I am from the Island of Zhan.”
Elliott asked, “What’s that?”
Dehu looked away, “I don’t really remember it.” He smiled, “C’mon, let’s play.” And with that, he darted from the tent.
The two brothers looked at each other, bewildered. Oliver quickly picked up his glasses from next to him and put them on before jumping up and running out of the tent after the boy.
“Wait,” Elliott cried and the two ran out into the open, grassy area where they now saw a group of children running after the ball, all dressed in the same manner as the boy in mixes of brown and tan material. Their hands all were clasped behind their back, obviously playing a game with those rules.
Oliver stopped and started counting the kids, pointing his finger at each one as he counted, “One, two, three... Brother, there’s twenty!”
Elliott counted as well and corrected, “Well, it’s twenty-eight. I guess with us, there’s thirty.”
The boys and girls, all around the ages of Elliott and Oliver, would glance at the two brothers and smile, but never asked them anything. They seemed to respond to the brothers being there as if they had always been there.
The ball was then kicked and rolled right up to Elliott’s feet. Elliott only paused for a second, with all the children running toward him, before kicking the ball away from him. One boy yelled, “You’re supposed to have your hands behind your back, it’s the rules!” The tone was acqusatory, as if Elliott was supposed to already know the rules of the game before ever playing it.
Oliver yelled to the group of children, who were now chasing the ball away from the brothers, “Hey, what are y’all doing? How do we play?”
Responding, the children slowed their steps and turned to Oliver. When no one responded,
Oliver looked past the flat, grassy area toward the white building at the top of the hill. “What’s that place?” he asked.
The children’s faces shown a mix of anger and fear. One boy responded almost in a whisper, “It’s not question time.”
Then a deep bell clang erupted across the island. At first, it seemed that the great sound was emminating from the island itself, but the boys soon realized it was coming from the white building at the top of the hill.
Without hesitation or protest, all the children began running across the field toward the building. Elliott and Oliver, not wanting to be left behind, followed the children up the hill. As the first child reached the large, white door, it opened wide. The boys and girls all slowed their pace and straightened their posture before entering the building. Elliott and Oliver didn’t want to be out-of-place, so as they approached the doorway, the two slowed to a walk and stood up very straight like the other kids.
Once inside, the boys saw the room as being similar to their classrooms at school. There were large, aged papers tacked up around the room. The windows, which were spaced evenly on both ends of the room, were hazy to where one couldn’t see outside. There was a large chalkboard at the room’s front with a wooden podium next to it. Though the boys could tell that it was a classroom, it was different from the ones they were used to- there were no colors in the room, no games or interesting posters, and the letters on the papers hung around the room were of a strange alphabet that the boys had never seen before.
“Take your seats!” The shrill voice of the teacher startled the brothers. Neither of them had noticed the tall, grim woman standing just inside the doorway.
Oliver moved closer to Elliott, frightened. He looked up at his brother and whispered, “She’s not like any of my teachers. She seems mean.”
Elliott whispered back, “Mine either.” He then looked toward the teacher and began to ask, “Where do we-”
“Shhh!” The teacher put a finger to her lips and pointed at a desk in the back. Understanding, the boys moved to the desk and sat down. The teacher seemed to float more than walk to the front of the room. No one made a sound as she did. She had no introduction to the lesson, she just began writing on the chalk board and lecturing. “This character with this character is to float, but if you take away this line here...” She made two curved shapes on the board and then erased part of the second one, “now, it is to glide, rather than to float.”
The children all stared ahead at her, no one making a sound. The teacher continued, “If we combine these two characters with the cease character...” She drew a shape that vaguely resembled a propellor, “then, we have it is floating.”
Oliver already couldn’t sit still, he glanced around at all the other children, so still and seemingly attentive. He couldn’t understand how they could change so fast from playing and running to sitting still at a desk and looking forward.
Elliott, too, found the kids’ behavior strange. He slowly lifted his hand and muttered, “Um, teacher?”
The teacher darted a very angry look toward Elliott, which made him pull his hand down and sit back in fear. The teacher floated over to him and leaned over him. “We do not talk during lecture,” she hissed. She stood over Elliott, just staring down at him, for some time. The other children made no sound and didn’t look back at the teacher and Elliott. Elliott slumped down in the desk. He was afraid.
Then the teacher stood back up and her face softened slightly. She quietly spoke, “Being that you two are still unaccustomed, I shall grant your question, but then you must be attentive to lecture as everyone else.” Her face became angry again, “If you fail to assimilate, you may face confinement.”
Elliott could hear some of the kids gasp at the mention of confinement.
The teacher crossed her arms, which made her black dress sway across the floor. “Now, ask your question.”
Elliott was too afraid to speak. Oliver, not knowing what the word “confinement” meant, blurted out, “What are these pictures? That’s not the alphabet.” He pointed at the markings on the old paper along the walls.
The teacher scoffed arrogantly, “These are of a higher linguistic value than mere letters of an alphabet. They are the character sets of the great language of the clouds. The language of Oviao. The language in which you speak now.”
Elliott became confused and looked up at the teacher. “We’re not speaking Ova- Ovi- What was it again?”
“Oviao, and you are speaking it,” she replied emotionless.
Elliott, not considering what she had said just moments ago, asserted, “We are speaking English. Is that what you call it in the clouds? Did something happen to our speach when we came here? I’m not sure why-”
He was interupted by a rod slamming on his desk. The sound was loud and startled everyone in the classroom. Elliott looked down at the rod, unsure where the teacher had even produced it from.
She leaned closer to him and sneered, “Are you getting... curious?”
Elliott was too afraid to respond. He shook in his desk. Oliver was also afraid and looked to his big brother.
After a long, contentious pause, the teacher pointed back and forth at Elliott and Oliver, “We’ll have none of your deceit in this classroom. We tell the truth in here and I make sure it is truth that is said. I am the sole protector of truth- the only source for you to understand what is true.”
Oliver did not like his brother being called a liar and he spoke up, “Elliott doesn’t lie!”
His remark made a young girl sitting at a desk near them to hesitantly turn and look at them. The teacher raised the rod up in her arm as if to hit the boys and screamed,
“CONFINEMENT!”
But, Elliott stood and pleaded, “We’re sorry, we won’t ask any more questions.”
The teacher breethed heavily, her arm still raised. She continued breething in heavy, seathing
in anger, before abruptly lowering her arm, crossing her arms over her chest, and sharply commanding, “Sit now and make no sound. You will not be given question privaledges today.” Then she turned and moved back to the chalkboard. She continued the lesson with the same tone as before, as if the entire incident had not happened at all.
Elliott sat down and the two brothers starred ahead as the lecture continued. The teacher spoke about characters and the words associated with them for a few hours without breaks. The boys could not tell what she was lecturing about most of the time, but stayed looking forward as commanded. After some time like this, though, the fear that had come from the exchange between the boys and the teacher faded and the brothers became very tired. Oliver couldn’t understand how the other children could stay sitting up for so long and his eyes became heavy. Elliott noticed Oliver’s head nodding, but before he could make an effort to shake him awake, he nodded off himself and the two fell into sleep, their heads on the desk before them.
