The Shadowseeker - Victor Kloss Page 0,17
shyness.
“It's hard to say, isn't it?” Natalie replied. She looked around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping, then leaned onto the table – Ben and Charlie did likewise. “We know the dark elves wanted Ben to get to his parents. But it also looks like they're trying to start a war, which they've been threatening for a long time. The Shadowseeker could easily be trying to create havoc and distract the Institute. It might have nothing to do with Ben at all.”
Ben glanced up to make sure nobody had started listening. There were a few older kids watching them at a distance. Ben recognised one of them. He was tall, with expensively styled blond hair and teeth so white Ben could have sworn they were glowing. The sleeves of his dark blue shirt were rolled to his elbows, and his trousers and shoes looked like something Ben could only dream of affording. He stood in the middle of a small group, surrounded by a few girls and boys.
Joshua whispered something to one of his colleagues and they started approaching.
“We're about to meet an old friend,” Ben said, watching them near. Their first and only previous meeting with Joshua hadn't been a pleasant one – especially for Joshua, and Ben knew there might be trouble.
“Oh dear,” Charlie said. “I swear, I've got some sort of bully magnet.”
“Nobody's going to get bullied,” Ben said, shifting his chair back a fraction to make room for manoeuvre.
“Let me handle this,” Natalie said. “I'm friends with them.”
“Is there anyone you're not friends with?” Charlie muttered to himself.
Ben had seen that type of smirk on Joshua's lips a hundred times before, normally on the faces of idiots who would try to have a go at Charlie. There weren't normally five of them, though, and they weren't normally a good two years older than him. On top of which, his reputation at school didn't exist here. But how much damage would they do in the middle of the lunch room?
A collective gasp from the lunch room and a sudden turn of heads made Joshua and his crew stop in their tracks. People were twisting in their seats and voices suddenly lowered to hushed whispers. Everyone was looking towards the entrance. Ben turned to see what the fuss was about.
Wren Walker was making her way serenely through the lunch hall towards them. She looked just as Ben remembered, with long silvery hair elegantly piled on her head. She had that agelessness that made Ben wonder how old she could be. Her eyes were a sparkling grey and her ears were slightly pointed. Floating above her right shoulder were five green diamonds and they were attracting a good deal of attention.
“Good afternoon,” Wren said, smiling at them. “Welcome back. Congratulations to you both for passing the Initiation Test. I had no doubt you would.”
As nice as Wren was, she was also one of the most powerful members of the Institute, and Ben didn't believe she had just come down here to congratulate them.
“Is the Queen a spell or some sort of ghost?” Charlie asked.
“That is a very good question,” Wren said. “The test was put in place by Queen Elizabeth herself many centuries ago. Nobody quite knows, but my feeling is that it's a very old, powerful spell, combined with a tiny remnant of the Queen's consciousness.” She clearly saw the look on Ben's face, for she added, “We are not privy to what happens in the Initiation Test, so your secrets are safe.”
Ben tried to conceal his sigh of relief.
“I have a request,” Wren continued. “I'm sorry to break up your reunion, but, Ben, would you mind coming with me? There is an important meeting I would like you to be part of.”
“Sure,” Ben said, standing up. If there was one Institute member he trusted above all others, it was Wren. It was her letter to his parents that had triggered their initial adventure. As Director of Spellswords, she was Ben's parents' boss and had been open from the beginning about how much she liked and admired them. Wren had been a rock of stability amongst the confusion of their last visit to the Institute.
“We shouldn't be more than thirty minutes,” Wren said. “I will bring you back down when we are done.”
As Ben followed Wren out of the lunch room, he glanced at Joshua and his crew watching him. He hoped they didn't turn their attention to Charlie and Natalie, but he couldn't worry about that now.