Jimmy rolled his eyes and shook his head, but said no more.
The boys almost forgot that Mike was standing there as well until they heard him fail to hold back a chuckle. The failure prompted him to speak. “Don’t be too hard on Jeff. He’s come a long way in the last year.” The smile on his face made it hard for the boys to take him too seriously, though, but they said nothing and contained their laughter.
Mike walked toward the back of the building and said, “I'll just let them know we're back.”
When he reached the boardroom door, he knocked lightly and stuck his head inside. A moment later he slipped through and closed the door behind him.
Adam took the opportunity to ask the question. “What’s going on? Why am I here?”
He looked each of the other boys in the face, but each shrugged or indicated having no answers to his questions.
“All I know,” said Mark, “is that Elianora planned this meeting yesterday, but I have no idea why we have to be here.”
Jimmy and Kevin agreed.
“I don’t remember us doing something that would get us in trouble,” said Kevin.
Adam, Kevin and Mark turned to stare at Jimmy.
Jimmy got offended. “Why are you looking at me?” he complained. “Maybe Mark did something to get us in trouble.”
Mark looked just as offended as Jimmy. “It couldn’t have been me. I didn’t do anything.”
“That’s true,” said Jimmy smiling, “You never do anything.”
Adam and Kevin started to laugh again as Mark turned red. Before he could retaliate, though, Mike stuck his head out of the boardroom door.
“Can you all come in here, please?” he called to them.
The four boys looked at each other as if they were in trouble and were being called to the office at school. They sauntered toward the boardroom throwing questioning glances at each other that seemed to accuse each other of some unknown crime.
When Adam stepped into the boardroom, he watched the looks on each of the Senior members of the League, but each face seemed grim. Even Jimmy’s mom, Lora Jones, looked solemn. Adam had been surprised to find out that Lora was a Senior member of the League while her husband, Jim, was not.
Elianora sat at the head of the table with Lora on one side and Don Chen on the other. Gurpreet was halfway down the long table, between Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Garagan, the wife of Adam’s mother’s boss.
Elianora was the only one smiling. She stood and pointed to some empty chairs at the far end of the table and said, “Please take a seat.”
Mark was clearly nervous. He fidgeted with his hands as he sat down on the edge of his seat and his feet kept bouncing in anticipation.
Once they were all seated, Elianora continued. “Do you know why we’ve asked you to come here today?” she asked.
The four boys looked at each other and shrugged. Mark eyed each of the other three suspiciously as he kept shaking.
After a long moment of silence, Mark couldn’t hold back any longer. “It wasn’t me, I swear. Whatever you think we did. Jimmy…It was probably Jimmy.”
Jimmy’s eyes widened. “I didn’t do anything wrong!” he exclaimed, staring angrily at Mark.
Elianora moved her hands slowly in a calming motion. “You’re not in trouble,” she said, “and I’m sorry if you felt that you were. We didn’t call you here to interrogate you or punish you, so just relax and listen, alright?”
Her words calmed the nervous energy in Mark and the anger in Jimmy.
After a few moments of letting the two relax, she continued.
“You are all more than aware of the danger you’ve landed in over the past year,” she said, looking each boy in the eye in turn, “and you’ve come through it admirably. Thankfully, with some skill and some luck, none of you have been hurt or killed.” She looked directly at Adam.
“It was by chance that you discovered the Sentinel League earlier than we would have liked, and that couldn’t be avoided. Thankfully, we made the decision not to wipe your memories. If we would have, we would probably all be dead right now. No-one can argue that your actions last year saved us.” She looked around the table to see nodding heads.
“But the recent events have shown us that we’ve put you in danger, and the only reason for that has been your age. Because you aren’t sixteen yet, we’ve made you Junior Initiates in the League, but haven’t even thought what we should do with you until you reach the proper age.”
“If we make it to the proper age,” said Adam, unintentionally.
Elianora looked him in the eyes and nodded. “Clearly, you are as involved in the League as any of the members sitting here right now – even more since we know one of you has become a target.”
Everyone automatically looked at Adam and it made him feel like crawling under the table.
“Our failing is that we haven’t protected you enough or given you any tools to protect yourselves, mostly because we all saw you as too young. Normally, once you’ve been told about the League you are sent away for a year of training. You learn about the history of the League, find out what type of job you’re best suited for, and also get taught self defense. We’ve been waiting to send you sometime in the future, but because of everything that has happened recently, we’ve decided to send all four of you this year.”
Adam stared at Elianora as she paused her speech, then looked at each of his friends in turn.
“I know this is a surprise and you will have a lot of questions, I am sure, but we won’t answer them all right now. Take some time and think about it. We will meet you here again here tomorrow so we can answer any questions you come up with, ok?”
The boys all nodded.
“Isn’t Trevor going this year?” Jimmy asked his mother.
She nodded without smiling.
“He’s not gonna be happy about that,” said Jimmy.
“We’ll talk to him,” said Lora.
“I can think of someone else who might not be too happy,” said Adam, thinking of Mary. Nothing about the League ever made her happy.
“Actually, Adam – that’s not going to be a problem,” said Elianora.
Adam raised an eyebrow. “You already told her?” he asked.
“No. She asked us to send you.”
Adam was shocked. He would have never believed that possible, but Mary had been acting unusual lately. On one hand, he would be gone so she wouldn’t have to worry about keeping him fed. On the other hand, though, he would be going to train with the Sentinel League, and since she blamed his father’s death on the League and she had tried to stop him from becoming a Junior Initiate, he felt sure that she would have hated that plan.
“She asked us the day that you went to the Killaly graveyard, and we’ve been discussing it ever since,” Elianora continued. “Early in our discussions, we agreed that there was no sense in sending you by yourself, since your friends have been in just as much danger for simply being around you all the time.”
“I never thought about it that way,” said Mark. “I really should find some less dangerous friends.”
“Go ahead,” said Kevin.
Jimmy chuckled. “I didn’t realize we were considered friends,” he said.
“That’s all we need you boys for today,” said Elianora. “Come back at 1:00 pm tomorrow and bring your questions.”
The boys looked at each other and stood to leave, but no one else moved. They looked around with confused looks on their faces.
“Our meeting isn’t done yet,” said Lora.
Jimmy looked at his mom. “Should we wait by the front door?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Why don’t you take your friends over to our house for a while. If it doesn’t stop raining later, your dad can give everyone rides home.”
Adam glanced outside through the large windows on the side of the room. It was still pouring rain and the wind was strong. He wasn’t looking forward to getting as wet as he was about to get.
Mark had looked outside too. “Daaad,�
�� he said, sounding like a toddler about to have a tantrum.
Gurpreet cut him off before he could continue. “Go,” was all he said in a stern voice that clearly gave Mark no options.
“Come on, Creampuff,” said Kevin.
Mark scowled at the nick-name he had received recently. Ben Casey laughed at the other end of the table, having been the one to give him the nick-name. Adam noticed that a lot of the faces around the table were fighting back smiles.
“I’ll pick you up on my way home,” Mike said to Kevin.
“Me too,” echoed Gurpreet, although Mark was busy scowling at Kevin.
Adam looked around the table quickly, ending up at Elianora. He stood and awkwardly blurted out, “uh…see ya.”
Smooth. Very Smooth, he thought as he led his friends out into the hallway and toward the front door.
CHAPTER FOUR
The boys hung around in Jimmy’s basement for a while, doing nothing in particular other than watching TV, playing video games, and eating whatever was edible and available – pretty much standard fourteen year old boy behavior. Jim Jones brought a large bowl of pretzels for them at one point, and it managed to last a whole ten minutes.
They talked about the fact that they would be going away for training and tried to figure out if any of them knew anything that they might expect. Not surprisingly, no one knew anything more than anyone else. They thought of questions they should ask – where was the school, what things did they need to take, were there any video games or Internet connections (those were Mark’s concerns).
Trevor wasn’t home, thankfully, so Jimmy tried to pry some answers out of his dad, but Jim couldn’t be fooled or persuaded into letting out any information.
“You’ll get the details tomorrow,” was all he would say.
“How do you know? We just found out a little while ago,” complained Jimmy.
Jim smiled. “I don’t want to brag, but I sleep next to one of the Senior members.” His eyes twinkled as he watched Jimmy close his eyes, wrinkle his nose and shake his head.
“Gross, Dad,” Jimmy said once he had opened his eyes again.
Jim smiled even wider. He had accomplished what he had intended. “Anyway, I won’t get in trouble if I tell you that they’ve been talking about this for a while, but they made the final decision last night. Each of your parents had to consent to you going, you know.”
The boys thought about that for a moment. Kevin was the first to speak, though. “I guess that makes sense.”
“It’s for your own good. You’ll learn a lot about yourselves. On top of that, it’s extremely safe. I’m not going to tell you any more than that,” said Jim before he turned to go up the stairs.
“We’ll be going with Trevor and Kassie, right?” asked Kevin.
Jim flinched a little as he turned back. “Yeah. That’s right.”
“Kassie won’t mind that we’re coming along,” continued Kevin, “but you’re worried that Trevor won’t be too happy, right?”
Jim nodded his head. “He was really upset when you all became Junior initiates at the same time as he became an initiate. He was almost too old at the time.”
Jimmy nodded. “Yeah. He didn’t talk to me until after everything that happened last year. We’ve avoided the subject since then.”
“He also knows a lot more about the training coming up than you do, just because he is a full initiate,” Jim continued.
“We’ve been kept in the dark, haven’t we,” Adam blurted out.
Jim didn’t have to answer the question. It was plain to see the answer on his face.
“There’s nothing you really need to know anyway, and it’s kept Trevor happy until now,” said Jim.
“Mr. Jones?” asked Kevin.
“Jim.”
Kevin nodded. “Maybe you should tell Trevor and Kassie at the same time. I think if she’s there when he finds out it will force him to take it a little easier. He probably won’t blow up in front of his girlfriend.”
They could see the idea running through Jim’s head, and he slowly nodded. “I think that’s a great idea, but I’ll have to run it past Lora first. If she’s ok with it, we’ll see if your parents are ok with that plan too.”
With that thought still fresh in his mind, Jim turned and climbed back upstairs.
“I may have to thank you for that one,” said Jimmy.
“What do you mean?” asked Kevin.
“I mean, your plan might just work. If Trevor ends up being alright with us tagging along to training it will make my life much easier. He’s still been pretty moody with me for the past year, even though he’s a full initiate and I’m just a Junior.”
“Oh,” said Kevin. “Well, if that’s the case, I’ll just get my sister to tell him to treat you better or else,” said Kevin.
“Or else what?” asked Jimmy.
Kevin rolled his eyes. “You don’t know anything about girls, do you?” He sighed. “She doesn’t have to do anything, just threaten ‘or else’. It’ll work. Trust me.”
A little while later the boys heard the front door open and a couple of people stepped inside. The boys had been in the basement for the entire time and didn’t know if the weather was any better than it had been when they arrived. A few seconds later, Lora called downstairs.
“Mark, your dad is waiting outside. Kevin, your dad is here right now. Adam, Mike is going to give you a ride home.”
Jimmy shrugged. “I guess the party is over. See you guys tomorrow – if Trevor doesn’t kill me, that is.”
“I told you, I’ll take care of that,” Kevin said, echoing his comments from earlier.
“I hope you’re right,” said Jimmy.
The boys headed upstairs and saw that Mike was standing just inside the front door. Lora sent Mark out to his dad, and Mike sent the other two out to the truck because Jim needed to talk to him. Adam and Kevin knew what the conversation would be about, so they ran out to the truck without any hesitation.
The rain had let up to a slow drizzle, and the wind had calmed down completely. It didn’t take too long for Mike to follow and soon they were moving. He told the boys that Jim and Lora Jones would be meeting Trevor and Kassie at the Baranov house later to tell them the news. Trevor wouldn’t be as comfortable complaining at the Baranov house as he would be at his own home. Because of that, Kevin was going to have to entertain his younger sisters in the basement that evening.
Kevin shrugged and answered ‘no problem’.
They pulled up at Adam’s house and he hopped out, thanking Mike for the ride.
“I’ll come and get you before the meeting tomorrow, said Kevin.
Adam nodded, closed the door and ran into the house.
Mary wouldn’t be home from the store for a while yet, so as soon as Adam took off his wet jacket and shoes he began planning what to make for supper.
As it cooked, Adam sat at the table to wait and thoughts came rushing over him. He had never been away from home for more than an overnight sleepover before, and now he was facing being gone for – well, he didn’t actually know how long. And how far away would it be? In any memory he could recall, he had never been any further than Yorkton, less than an hour drive away.
He remembered Mike telling him that his father Edward had left for the school and stayed there to work afterward. Maybe Adam would do the same. Maybe the school would be so awesome that he would never come back to the boring little town. He could work his way up in the League and travel the world, eat food from exotic locations and never see sandwich meat again.
That all sounded great, except for the fact that someone really powerful wanted to kill him. That might make travel difficult.
The food was ready and he was hungry so he ate quickly and waited. Normally he would have finished eating and gone outside to his garage before Mary arrived home, but not that time. That time he would wait. She would already know about the meeting, since she was the one who initiated the idea. He still wasn’t sure if Mary was sending h
im away so she didn’t have to take care of him, or if she genuinely wanted him to be safe and learn to defend himself. He also didn’t know how to ask the question without making her upset.
Mary arrived around her usual time. As she took off her jacket, she asked, “So, how was your meeting today?”
“Interesting,” said Adam. He stopped at that and let Mary finish hanging up her jacket and taking off her shoes.
“What did they tell you?” she asked as soon as she was ready. She sat in the other chair at the table across from Adam.
“Just that we’d be going away for training this year. Not much else.”
Mary cocked her head and looked a little confused. “We’d be going for training?” she asked.
Adam was a little confused as well. “Yeah, me and the guys – plus Trevor and Kassie, since they were supposed to go this year anyway.”
Mary nodded. “I didn’t realize they were sending all of you together. I just asked them to send you.” Her face didn’t show whether she was happy or upset at that fact.
“Yeah. They said it was your idea, but since we were all part of beating Larix last year it is a good idea to send us all together.”
Mary thought about it for a moment. “I agree. That’s the first good idea they’ve had in a long time,” said Mary. She still wasn’t happy with the League, but wasn’t as openly hostile about it as she had been the previous year when she learned Adam had become a Junior Initiate.
“So where is this training facility?” asked Adam. “And how do we get there?”
Mary smiled. “Like a lot of other things with the League, I’m not going to tell you that.”
Adam frowned.
“It’s a tradition to not tell the Initiates much about it until you leave. The older members get a kick out of watching the new members learn these things for the first time. Yes, it’s a little strange, but most of the time, being a regular member of the League is pretty boring. Little things like that give them something to look forward to.”
“Great,” said Adam, full of sarcasm.
Mary grinned at him.
“You’ll learn a lot there, but mainly how to defend yourself. The school is a safe place, so right now it’s the best place for you and your friends to be.”
Initiates (The Book of Adam 3) Page 4