Everyone seems to be as hesitant as I am as if we’re waiting for the catch. Then, the help returns with silver metal tools, I assume we use to eat with, and clear glasses full of a dark bubbly drink. Mio, Cinder, Leo, and Kimberly enter the room and fill up the empty chairs at the table.
“Good we’re just in time,” Leo says as he lifts the silver tool with pointed ends and uses its side to cut some sort of meat with an odd red sauce on it. He uses the tool to pick up a piece of the meat and place it in his mouth. He looks to each of us and is confused when he sees we aren’t eating. “It’s not poisoned, I promise,” Leo says with a mouth full of food.
I tentatively pick up the same silver tool that Leo did and try the foreign piece of meat. My eyes widen at the explosion of flavor when it hits my tongue. The food seems to simply melt in my mouth.
“What is this?” I can’t help asking.
Leo looks at me confused and says, “Well, it’s just meatloaf. Have you never had any?”
I shake my head no and ask, “What are these?” and I wave the silver tool in my hand.
“You don’t have silverware in Garth?” Kimberly asks, looking to Mio and Cinder for an explanation.
“It’s much too expensive for most people to afford,” Mio says.
“That’s absurd,” Kimberly says shocked.
“Life in Garth is not what it use to be,” Cinder offers as some sort of explanation.
Kimberly shakes her head in disbelief and turns back to me to answer my question. “That’s a fork and the other one,” I look down to the other round silver tool, “is a spoon. You use the fork for most solid foods like the meatloaf or the pasta salad and you use the spoon for most liquid foods like the vegetable soup.” I look down at my plate and match the names of the food Kimberly said to their forms. I take bite after bite of the rich food until nothing remains on my plate or in my bowl.
“I feel like I’m going to be sick,” Zavy says as she finishes off her food. We all laugh and slouch back in our chairs knowing we are all feeling the same as her. I feel as though I have just eaten a month’s supply of food from the castle all at once. First, I just feel full, but then a pang of guilt washes over me as I remember all the people left behind in the castle. None of them will ever get to know the feeling of a full stomach. I wonder if King Renon thinks some of them helped me escape. Could he be punishing innocent people because of my actions? I dismiss the thought quickly because Paylon knows I’m a gifted, and that’s enough explanation as to how I escaped. King Renon may be evil, but killing innocent people for no reason wouldn’t sit well in Garth.
“This was always my favorite part of this job,” Mio says, letting his fork clink down on his empty plate and everyone starts to laugh again. The depressed mood throughout our group has quickly vanished now that Alexander has returned and they will all get their fair shot at getting to live in Libertas.
The servers that brought out our food circle back around to collect our empty plates and bowls. They leave our glasses behind so I continue sipping on the dark fizzing drink. It bubbles and tickles my nose each time I take a sip and I wonder how it is made. I’ve only had water for most of my life with the occasional milk if we could afford it. Just as I’m about to ask if we could go rest for the night the group of servers return carrying armloads of more food.
“You can’t possibly expect us to still be hungry,” I exclaim, shocked that there’s even more food being placed in front of us.
“You can’t leave here without at least trying this dessert. It’s our famous red velvet cake,” Kimberly says, diving right into the dessert as if she hadn’t just finished a plate full of food just seconds before.
I lift my fork and scrape a small bit of the white paste off the top of the cake. I lick it off the fork and am overwhelmed by the sweet and smooth dessert. Against what my stomach tells me I eat the entire dessert until I’m scraping my plate clean. I look around and see that the others couldn’t resist the sweet temptation either.
“I don’t imagine we’ll be eating anything this extravagant on the boat,” I say. Mio and Cinder both laugh and shake their heads no.
Mio says, “It’s probably a good thing though. You think you’re having a hard time holding your food down now, just wait until you get out on the sea.”
“It’s hard to keep anything down on the water,” Cinder adds. Mio and Leo start discussing plans for our departure tomorrow. I overhear them explain that we will rest, and to my surprise eat more food. Alexander clumsily drops the cloth napkin he was using and bends over to pick it up.
When he bends over he whispers in my ear, “We need to talk. Tonight, after everyone goes to bed, I’ll come find you.” He sits back up and looks away quickly. What does he want to discuss? I don’t argue though because I have some questions I’d like to ask Alexander, and I’d rather not do it with a crowd of people.
Once everyone finishes off the last of their food we are separated into groups and are taken into different rooms that we will be sleeping in. Zavy, myself, Essie, Molly, and two more girls from the tunnel walk into a room on our
