The Wish Box

by Nate Van Dyke

  I nodded slowly, still comprehending. “So then, how many barracks are there? Who are the leaders?”

  “There are three main barracks, with a house off to the side for the leader and any new Argonauts that haven’t been assigned a barracks. That’s the house that you slept in on your first day here. Anyway, the three barracks leaders are Albert, who you have become very well acquainted with, Hector, and a girl named Angie. I think you met her at the Arena.”

  She took a quick breath before continuing, “The barracks are separated according to the traits that you have. Hector’s barracks has an affinity for power and status. He looks for natural born leaders to join his battle group, as well as anybody that has shown prowess in combat. Naturally, as leader of the barracks, he is one of the best fighters in Argos.” She finished that last part with only a hint of sarcasm. It wasn’t super noticeable, but I have learned to spot it after years spent with Kam.

  She continued, “Albert’s barracks, on the other hand, exemplifies loyalty and strength, both of which are qualities that you can see in Albert. Though Hector’s barracks tends to have the best warriors, Albert’s warriors are the most reliable. Those are the ones you want at your back when you get into a sticky situation.”

  She smirked at that last comment, then continued, “And finally, Angie’s barracks gravitates towards strategy and leadership. Most of the people that join that battle group aren’t the best warriors, but they have the best people skills and they always keep their wits about them in difficult situations. They are the best strategists and problem solvers. Vienna was the leader of that barracks before Angie.”

  I was starting to wish that I was down at the choosing ceremony with Kam. I hoped he didn’t choose the wrong one. The more I heard about Hector, the less I liked him. I liked Angie and Albert much better. Then a thought occurred to me. “Which one are you in?”

  Nyka seemed surprised by this question. “I am in Albert’s of course. Hector offered me a position in his battle group, but I didn’t like how he talked. He acted like I was a resource that he needed to collect in order to improve the strength of his barracks. I didn’t like that. Albert was so kind that I couldn’t help but like him. The Edict had eliminated Angie as an option, so the choice was easy.”

  I instantly hoped Kam chose Albert’s barracks. I tried to send him mental messages. Kam! Choose Albert! CHOOSE ALBERT! Stop yelling! You will give me a headache! I wondered for a moment if the spirit even could get a headache, considering he was in my head. Would my headaches hurt him? Never mind.

  I shook this thought away and refocused on Nyka. “So, the Edict eliminates one option, then you choose from the other two?”

  “That’s usually how it works. Occasionally it will just tell you which one you need to be in. The Edict knows best though, so if it eliminates an option, there is a really good reason. Whenever someone ignores their Edict, disaster follows.”

  With this, she stood up and stretched briefly. “Well, I am going to get back to work. You should try to sleep some more. You are healing really fast; you must have a very strong spirit. I think you will have enough strength to sleep in your barracks tonight, but you should rest some more. Kam is going to be back after the choosing ceremony.” She checked the bandage one last time to make sure it was tight, gave me a small smile, and walked away.

  With the memory of her smile, I fell right to sleep. The pain just wasn’t as noticeable, and all of my problems were simply forgotten. I imagine I fell asleep with a stupid looking grin on my face.

  6

  More Than Just a Sarcasm Generator

  GARRETT

  I must have slept really well because I woke up rested and alert. Kam was sitting in the chair next to me. Unlike me, he looked absolutely exhausted. He was so out of it that he didn’t even notice I was awake until I pushed myself into a sitting position. He snapped out of his haze and popped out words like a drill sergeant.

  “Are you ok?! Should you be sitting up? How do you feel?”

  The bombardment took me a second to comprehend. I realized that Kam had actually been worried about me. Awww! How cute! Seriously dude, do you say anything other than sarcasm? You gotta mix it up a little bit. “I am fine,” I said aloud. “How did the choosing ceremony go? Nyka told me a little bit about it. Please tell me you didn’t choose Hector’s barracks.”

  This time Kam was caught off guard. “What? No, I didn’t. I really didn’t get to choose.”

  He said this as if it answered my question, which it didn’t. A little exasperated, I said, “Man! Now you’re doing it too! Is there any way to get a straight answer around here? Why didn’t you get to choose?”

  He laughed, which perplexed me even more, and said, “Our Edicts said we could fit into any of the three barracks, but even more than that we had other choices on the horizon. These choices would have a huge effect on the future of the Argonauts and their survival. You should have seen Vienna’s face when I read it. Anyway, it said all of the options were available, and to choose wisely.”

  He paused, and I said, “No pressure, huh? What did you do?”

  “I asked for advice. Your Edict hadn’t said anything yet, but it said that you would choose Albert’s barracks if given a choice. At this point, Hector spoke up and said he could offer me a good position in his barracks. He was impressed by our skill, and he could make us even better than we were. Angie and Albert just said that I was welcome to join their battle groups. Hectors offer was tempting, but I went with what your Edict said. Was the Edict right?”

  I smiled, and the voice in my head spoke up in the least sarcastic tone I had heard yet. See? I am watching out for you. I may not give you ESP, but I am more than just a sarcasm generator. “Yes! I was hoping you would choose Albert! Nyka is in his barracks!”

  Since Kam and I grew up together, I was pretty familiar with his facial expressions and what they meant. The one he gave me now filled me with dread. It’s the facial expression that means he just saw a golden opportunity, and it usually involves a girl. I turned around and saw Nyka standing behind me. She had apparently been listening to the whole conversation.

  Before Kam could pounce on the opportunity to give me some brotherly love, I quickly added, “And she said it was a really good barracks. Even though Albert broke my ribs, he still seems like a nice guy.”

  Kam looked a little disappointed about the missed opening, but it didn’t last long. Nyka broke in, “Oh yes! You will love the battle group. Everybody there is really nice. It also means that I get to keep training you since I am the designated trainer of the barracks. Albert will do some of it when it comes to tactics and group battles, but I do combat training and teaching. Donovan usually helps me, but he has been away recently. Hopefully he will be back soon though because I think you two will really like him.”

  With that, she started to check my bandages and get me ready to move into the barracks. She seemed quite excited, which made me feel downright cheerful. My ribs were still sore, but it didn’t hurt too badly to move. Nyka gave me another painkiller which helped immensely, but made me really groggy.

  Kam and Nyka helped me out of bed. I was able to walk on my own, but it didn’t feel that good. I was still stiff from the day’s ordeal. It’s a miracle I was able to walk at all. I realized I had never properly thanked the spirit for healing me. Thanks, spirit person. You’re welcome. My powers need a recharge time, so don’t go hurting yourself every day. And call me Bione. I don’t plan to get hurt again. Nice to meet you, Bione.

  We walked out of the door into the cool dusk air outside. Well, Nyka and Kam walked. I hobbled, trying as hard as possible not to look completely ridiculous. I grabbed Kam’s shoulder to steady myself as we traveled down the street towards a group of buildings, but he didn’t complain.

  Even though it was nearly dark, there was a lot of hustle and bustle. People walked in and out of shops, sat in front of cafes, and socialized all around us. A few of them gave us weird looks as we passed, while others we
nt out of their way to consciously ignore us. I guess we had caused a lot more trouble around here than people were used to and they weren’t quite sure how to react.

  When we finally got to the group of four buildings that we had been aiming for, I recognized the house that we had spent our first day in. It was the first one in a line of barracks, looking pretty out of place. As we came closer to the house, we heard raised voices coming from the front of the house. Hector and Vienna came into view; they seemed to be in the middle of a really important discussion.

  We walked by the house as quietly as possible in the hopes of not being noticed, but it didn’t work. I made eye contact with Vienna and had to avoid cringing. The fire in her eyes was almost tangible, as if she could shoot flames with a single look. We all froze, not really sure what to do to ease the tension. I tried to wave awkwardly, which caused me to wince. Right, broken ribs.

  After a few awkward moments, Vienna said, “Well, I am going to hit the hay. See you all in the morning at breakfast!” The false cheerfulness was glaringly obvious. Vienna turned to the door and walked into the house, Hector following behind her. I had a feeling their argument would be continued inside.

  We kept walking over to the barracks on the end. Light was pouring out of each of the barracks’ doors and there were a few Argonauts in each. Above the door on each one was a phrase that looked Greek to me. Literally, they looked like Ancient Greek letters. I pointed at one of them and winced again. Yep, ribs are still broken. It’s so easy to forget about broken bones sometimes, am I right?

  Nyka took my meaning though, and said, “Each of those is a Latin phrase that represents what the barracks stands for. Ours is ‘Fide ad Extremum,’ or Fide for short. It means ‘Loyalty to the End.’ Hector’s is ‘Robur, Virtus, Gloria,’ which we just call Virtus. It means ‘Strength, Power, Glory.’ Angie’s is ‘Ducens a Fronte,’ or Duce, which means ‘Leading from the Front.’ They are sort of like titles as well as mottos.”

  We walked through the door. Like the house we stayed in on the first day, the barracks seemed to be a lot larger on the inside. The barracks itself was sort of circular, with a row of bunks on either side, a bathroom at the back, and a lounge area in the middle. Our stuff was on a bunk on the left side near the bathroom. There were large trunks at the ends of the beds. I opened the one at the end of our bed. It was full of all of my favorite clothes, but some of the shirts were different from what I normally wear. Some were bright yellow like the ones we were wearing while others were royal blue.

  Before either of us could ask, Nyka said, “The colors signify which barracks you are part of. Blue is the color for this barracks. The Virtus barracks is red, and the Duce barracks is purple. Yellow is the color for the Argonauts. Typically, you wear your barracks color for major occasions and training so that you are easy to identify. Yellow is for questing, just in case you run into another Argonaut. Other than that, you can wear whatever you want.”

  She walked over to a bunk near the door and flopped down on it. “I would recommend you sleep now. It’s going to be a long day of training tomorrow.”

  With that, she rolled over on her bed and fell right to sleep. I collapsed on the bottom bunk, mostly because I didn’t think I could climb up to the top. Kam didn’t complain and climbed up on top. He was asleep in under a minute, which was impressive. It took me a long time to get comfortable, and even then, it took me a long time to fall asleep. People drifted in through the doors periodically and went to their own bunks.

  I laid there and thought for a while about what had happened in the last couple of days. I never really got any time to think in all of the insanity of the last few days, so now that I had the opportunity I couldn’t stop thinking. The first thought that entered my mind was a painful one. I thought about the picture that I had on the nightstand next to my bed, wishing that I had it with me now. It was a picture of me and Kam with our parents standing behind us. It was a few years old, but it was still a good memory. We were standing on the front porch of the house that my parents had just bought. We were all smiling at the camera, but unlike most photos, these smiles were genuine. We were all happy and excited to move into a new home, especially one as nice as ours was.

  Before I could stop it, a rebellious tear worked its way down my cheek. I had to quickly swipe it away before anyone saw, but luckily almost everyone else was asleep. After looking around to make sure nobody was watching, I allowed myself to relax a little bit and actually miss my parents. I didn’t want to lose it completely, but I also didn’t want to never think about them. Finally, after what felt like an hour, I drifted off into blissful sleep.

  7

  An Interesting Breakfast

  KAMARON

  I woke up long before Garrett did. He sleeps like a tranquilized elephant when he is tired. I looked around and saw the whole barracks getting ready to go. They were probably getting up to do chores or guard duty, which I didn’t have to worry about yet, so I just laid back down and thought about how crazy yesterday had been.

  First off, the Choosing Ceremony absolutely sucked. Everyone sitting there staring at me and waiting for a decision. No pressure. None at all. Just make a decision that is going to affect the rest of your life and your brother’s life so that we can get on with the rest of our day. When Garrett’s Edict said he would do best in Albert’s barracks, I just went with that one. Hector and Angie seemed really nice and all, but Garrett liked Albert, and I kind of did too.

  As for me, I think I would be fine anywhere. I didn’t know much about Angie, but from what I had heard she was a really good leader and just a generally good person. I liked Hector, and I wouldn’t mind having him as a leader. I feel like I could learn a lot from him, especially in the Arena. That being said, I don’t mind being under the leadership of Albert, especially if it makes Garrett happy.

  After a while of being stuck with my own thoughts, I was ready to interact with someone else. I hopped down off of the bed, landing so softly that I didn’t wake Garrett up. I reached over to shake him awake, but a voice behind me spoke up.

  “No, let him sleep. I will bring him breakfast later.” I turned and saw Albert standing there. He looked a little guilty, like he felt bad about hurting Garrett. I would probably feel the same if I was in his situation.

  I felt like I should do something, like salute or stand at attention or something. I was still trying to figure out if the ranking system was like the military. I decided to just ask him, “What are the ranks around here? Like, obviously you are the barracks leader, and Vienna is the leader of the Argonauts, but are there official titles or anything?”

  The guilt on Alberts face melted away and was replaced with a smile. He laughed and said, “Already looking to get ahead, huh?” I shook my head, and he continued, “Though there weren’t rankings among the original Argonauts, other than Jason being the leader, we like to follow the Roman command pattern. It is a lot more organized than the original Argonauts, which is what a standing army needs.”

  He took a breath, like this was going to be a long explanation, and continued, “Vienna is a Legatus, which is the highest rank among the Argonauts. It is the equivalent of Jason among the Argonauts or a general in the Army. I am a Senior Legionary, which basically means I am in charge of a barracks. There are usually two people who assist each barracks leader, called Optio Legionaries or Optios for short, who help the Senior Legionary run the barracks and act as advisors. Mine are Nyka and Donovan, who both help with training and special tasks. Under the Optio is the Decanus, which is like a platoon leader. They command a small group of warriors and are chosen by the Senior Legionary.”

  Albert gestured to a guy that was just walking out the door. I recognized him from the Arena battle yesterday. I fought with him briefly, but he was really good and he beat me quickly. “Yours is James if I remember correctly. So far, you three are the only platoon members, because James was just promoted a little over a week ago.”

  As he kept talking, I got read
y to go out for breakfast. He continued his explanation while I slipped into a blue t-shirt with the barracks motto on it. “Everyone else starts out as a class of Auxiliaries and can earn positions by getting promoted by someone of rank or by earning the rank through tasks and quests. The Legatus is chosen by the Edicts, which have direct control over who is leading the Argonauts, and by popularity. The Legatus can hire as many advisors as they want to help them and advise them. Hector is the only official advisor, but you could argue that Nyka is another one. Vienna relies on her a lot more than any of the rest of us.”

  I finished getting ready to go to breakfast while he told me all of this. He briefly paused while I put my shoes on. My favorite sneakers had appeared in the trunk, which was a little strange since I had left them back at the house. I wasn’t complaining though; in fact, it was a little comforting to have them here. They served as a reminder that the world was still out there, but just a little different than I was used to. I got up to walk out the door and Albert walked with me over to the mess hall.

  I kept asking Albert questions as we walked. “How does being an advisor to the Legatus work?”

  Albert thought for a second, then replied, “Well, you still maintain your rank from before, but you get more responsibilities and act as an advisor to the Legatus. Anybody can hold the rank, as long as it is offered to them by the Legatus. Does that make sense?”

  I nodded. “What about jobs?” I asked. “Nyka said she was medic for this week.”

  “Each week the Edicts choose who will do each job, like how Nyka got chosen to be the medic this week. You will learn about those positions as you take your turn filling them. The Edicts usually switch it around every week and usually give them to the people who will do the best job. The new job cycle starts tonight, so you and Garrett will both get your first jobs.”