Evergreen Academy and the Golden Club
Chapter 7 Theft of the Golden Club
"Were you mad at me cause I didn't wait for you at the party?" asked Owen on their way to the dining hall the next morning.
"No, I wasn't mad-" said Daniel. "What's with the scratch on your face?"
"I was going to tell you last night, but you seemed mad-I didn't want to push it."
"Sorry, I was just tired," lied Daniel.
He had done some thinking last night. He had to admit what Kerri had told him didn't change anything that had already happened. He had no right to be mad at anyone else. After all, his father was a grownup and was supposed to take care of himself. And after a night, everything seemed less personal and more trivial.
"So-what happened?"
"It was that stinking monkey. I was-you know-feeling hungry at the party. I still had some cake left. So I came back to the dorm. In the garden, the stupid monkey attacked me. It took me totally by surprise..."
Owen was talking about the monkey in the garden that liked to throw nuts or pebbles at students.
"That's odd," said Daniel. "I never heard of him attacking anyone before-I didn't see him this morning. Did you do anything to him?"
"I just caught him and punished him a bit."
"You didn't cripple him or anything, did you?"
"No-I wouldn't hurt a monkey, even though he's stupid like that," said Owen indignantly. "I just froze him. The charm expires in like an hour or so."
"Wait a minute-you know how to do the freezing charm?" asked Daniel in disbelief. He had read about the charm and knew it was a very tricky charm.
"Yes, My dad taught me quite a few charms," said Owen proudly.
"I used to think that the freezing charm made people feel cold-is there a charm with that effect?" asked Daniel casually.
"Yes, you want to try it?" said Owen with a mischievous smile.
"How?" Daniel couldn't believe his ears. He didn't think that Owen knew how to perform the charm. Alverdine had said that it required a powerful mind and soul.
"Stand still," said Owen. He clapped his hands and straightened his robes like a corny magician before he murmured "Namou-Chilen". Then he flicked his fingers at Daniel.
Daniel felt a chill rush through his body. It disappeared the very next moment. He waited for something else to happen, but nothing followed.
"That's it?" he asked.
"Yes, that's it," said Owen with a grin. "What did you expect? It's one of the most basic charms. Kids do it to each other all the time."
"Are there more powerful ones?"
"Oh, you are not impressed?" said Owen acting disappointed. "-no, not that I know of."
Daniel was still thinking about the charm when they entered the dinning hall. He hadn't told Owen exactly what he was doing in the library. He knew that to most people, it was kind of strange that a first year spent a lot of time in the library looking for a powerful charm. He didn't want Owen to think he was odd.
He had been spending all the time looking through complicated and advanced charms in the library. Never had he though of looking up the simple ones. He wondered whether the charm performed in his house was the same as the one Owen just did. Could those people be powerful enough to turn a simple charm into an extraordinary one? He was surprised to find that he wasn't upset about the fact-he had expected the worst, but now he believed that he would see his father again. It was just a matter of time.
He was pulled away from his thoughts when Owen waved his hand over his eyes.
"Sorry."
"What professor Alverdine taught you must be working really well," joked Owen.
"Yeah, I've got to make up for lost sleep-what did you say?"
"I said the conjuring charm professor Alverdine did was really amazing, wasn't it?" said Owen. "He could have made it more real, just like he could have with the woodmen."
"Not so loud," said Daniel, gesturing towards the food stands. The woodmen were standing behind their counters. They didn't talk to each other or look bored even though they had plenty of free time.
"They are going to hear you."
"They won't care. Actually they don't know what a care is. They don't have feelings."
"Everyone has feelings," said Daniel, surprised that Owen would talk about the woodmen like that.
"No," said Owen, but quickly added: "Yes, but they are different. When professor Alverdine made them, he gave them a tiny piece of his mind, but no feelings and emotions. They can only respond to a few commands and directions. I heard people say it's for ethical reasons."
"It's less confusing for them and for us, I guess," said Daniel, still feeling a little uncomfortable.
"That's why he gave them a fake look. Imagine if they looked just like us."
"You seem to know a lot about the kitchen," said Daniel.
"I come here a lot," said Owen, lowering his voice. "Not just the regular hours if you know what I mean. In case you haven't noticed, I get hungry all the time."
"You haven't told me about the chef yet," laughed Daniel, putting his problems to the back of his mind.
Owen took a look around. There were not as many people as normal in the dinning hall. Those in the dinning hall looked like they weren't quite awake.
"The chef's a mortal," whispered Owen. "He's actually professor Alverdine's friend. Very few immortals are good cooks-we generally think of cooking as something menial and don't treat it as an art. Professor Alverdine saved chef Wong around ten years ago. He didn't have any family left in the world. You know how professor Alverdine enjoys good food and wine. So he invited chef Wong here. He caught me taking food here at night once-apparently he loves to feed people, and I love to eat-he told me I'm welcome here anytime. It's a partnership I couldn't pass by."
The weather as usual was very beautiful, but they spent most of the morning in the library finishing up their homework. Daniel saw Kerri sitting by a window. On her desk were many big books that looked intimidating. When Kerri saw him, she quickly hid behind the books, pretending that she didn't see Daniel and Owen. She was apparently embarrassed about last night. Daniel was not exactly comfortable about what had happened either. He didn't know how he should act around Kerri any more. All of a sudden, she was this person with a tragic past. If he showed his sympathy, she might be offended. If he acted like nothing had happened, she might think that he was indifferent. It was a relief that Kerri tried to avoid him.
When they went to the dinning hall for lunch, there were more people than that morning. It looked like a few of the older students just got up. Some of them seemed to have a hangover. Daniel knew that although wine was not allowed for underage immortals in the school, it was not a very strict rule. Some of the students actually brewed wine in their own dorm room, adding herbs that they thought would help their powers.
By the time they got to the beach, it was still deserted. Daniel was kind of hoping that he would be able to see the dolphins again, but the sea was calm and all he could see were sea birds flying over the water. Owen challenged Daniel to a swimming competition. They ended up swimming out into the ocean farther than they had ever gone. The seawater there was much cooler than the area close to shore. It gave Daniel an eerie feeling thinking about sea monsters, but it also made the sea more exciting to him.
They swam back to the beach. The warm beach was like a welcoming bed after the long swim.
There were more people on the beach. Most of them were lying under the sun. Some of them were whispering to each other.
"What's all the excitement about over there?" asked Owen.
"Seems someone stole Jared's Golden Club last night," said Daniel.
"Who would do that?" asked Owen. Daniel took a look at him, but didn't answer the question.
"You don't think it was me, do you?" asked Owen. His face was turning red. Daniel had his doubts, but soon pushed them out of his head. He had to believe his friend.
"I trust you," he said. "But you were in the dorm when most of the students were at the party, and most people know how you like a powerful weapon. Some people are going to suspect you if they find out."
"I don't like this. I don't like this at all." Owen shook his head. For a boy his size, he looked very helpless.
"You didn't see anyone there, did you?" asked Daniel, feeling sorry for him.
"No," said Owen with frustration. "There might be someone in the dorm, but I couldn't tell. The place's big."
By the time they were in the dinning hall for dinner, most people were talking about the theft. Mysteries like this were always welcomed in school. No one was hurt, and it provided excitement that every teenager coveted. The Golden Club had been a temptation for a lot of students, so the culprit could be anyone.
Owen still looked kind of nervous about the whole thing, but all the excitement in the dinning hall seemed to have eased his tension after a while. The food also provided a big distraction.
Daniel saw Jared with his cronies on Monday. He seemed to be genuinely upset about the theft. To Daniel, Jared losing his Golden Club was not a bad thing. A powerful weapon like the Golden Club should be owned by someone mature and kindhearted. Jared clearly had neither trait. Otherwise he wouldn't have shown off the Golden Club and disregarded the pleading from the mermen.
In the history class, professor Haldan started a new chapter. It was about five thousand years ago, when immortals stopped as ruling kings but still played a huge role in the mortal politics. They served as the high consultants for the mortal kings. In that way they also promoted their beliefs and spread their doctrines.
When they got back to the dorm that night, Daniel found that the monkey was still nowhere to be found. None of the students really missed the monkey but a few people actually noticed that he was gone. Daniel heard a few people talking about whether the monkey had anything to do with the disappearance of the Golden Club.
Both Tony and Nick were in the dorm room. Tony was still very excited about the moon festival party although he didn't have a line in the play. Daniel had heard people making fun of him asking him what it was like to be held by Michelle. Tony didn't seem to be bothered by the comments at all.
"They're just jealous," he said, which earned him a sneer from Nick.
The disappearance of the monkey seemed to have rekindled people's interest in the incident.
"You didn't happen to hear anything that night, did you?" asked Tony. And this time, even Nick perked up his ears. He was soon disappointed when Daniel said No.
"I wouldn't mind having a Golden Club like that myself," said Tony.
"I thought you had one," said Nick. He was referring to the rabbit role Tony played at the Moon Festival party. The rabbit used a pestle to pound herbs in a mortar for the fairy, but Tony didn't get Nick's joke.
"The Golden Club Jared had is the only genuine one. There's no other club as powerful. It used to be the Monkey King's."
Daniel didn't pay much attention to the comment. The Golden Club never really fascinated him as much as the other students. That night when he laid in bed, he could hear people making different assumptions connecting the disappearance of the monkey with the disappearance of the Golden Club. Some said the monkey stole the club. Some said he was killed because he saw who stole the Golden Club. There were wilder stories too. Some said the monkey was actually a descendent of the Monkey King. Other said a ghost possessed the monkey and stole the Golden Club.
Daniel soon got so bored with all the fuss. He started practicing what professor Alverdine taught him at the Moon festival. At first, he felt the sounds were like water flowing through his head, which made his ears tickle. And at times, pieces of the information still entered his brain. Slowly, he drifted off to dreamland.
Daniel was woken up by the noise outside the window. He laid in his bed listening to what the excitement was about.
"He's back," he heard someone say.
"Where?"
"The same tree as always."
"To bad, I kind of hoped he never came back."
Daniel could hear that in the garden, the birds were singing. And further away, the monkey was making the same excited sound every time he hit someone with a nut or pebble. He looked at Owen's bed. Owen was already up. He looked quite nervous like he had suddenly lost his appetite.
"So he has nothing to do with the Golden Club theft?" the boy asked again.
"It's probably just a coincidence. He could have gone to visit his friends in the jungle if he actually has any."
The second half of the conversation sounded like good news. On their way to the dinning hall, the monkey threw a few nuts at them. Owen caught every one of them. He threw the nuts at the roadside as if nothing had happened. Daniel could tell Owen was relieved that the monkey didn't act erratically. He knew that Owen would like to put the incident behind him.
That afternoon, Daniel took a walk around the campus. He quite enjoyed walking alone, thinking about nothing in particular. He went to the sport field and sat down watching the students practicing combat. Professor Corgnon was teaching the class. Daniel saw that Owen stood high among the first year students. The students were paired up and fought each other. Owen's opponent was backing off from him. He was totally at Owen's mercy. Daniel could tell from the expression on Owen's face that he was bored. Daniel knew that with Owen's power, he could have knocked the boy off his feet with just a couple of moves.
Professor Corgnon in his black robe looked like a crow. He was shouting at different students, correcting them.
"No, You are doing it wrong," he was pointing at Owen. "You are supposed to wield the sword like this." Daniel could tell that his way of doing it was not at all better than Owen's. Owen had a way with swords that came naturally to him. It was as if the sword was part of his body. On the other hand, Kerri looked very awkward. She was paired up with another girl. The girl blocked every move of her attack, but Kerri was so fierce that the girl had to keep on moving to keep up with her. Professor Corgnon, however, totally ignored them.
Daniel also saw Mike on the field. He was much better than Kerri. His moves were nice to look at but not as practical as Owen's. Professor Corgnon strolled pass him and his partner and nodded his approval, which seemed to brighten Mike up and he fought even harder. He wielded his sword exactly as he was taught. Somehow, Daniel knew that those moves wouldn't be very useful in a real combat.
Daniel left the sport field and walked to the tower cliff. On the cliff, the wind was much stronger and the sun was brighter. The tower looked more accessible. The window of professor Alverdine's office, however, was closed. There was no movement behind the window. He must be somewhere else. Daniel couldn't help but wonder where he was and what he was doing. He remembered that Michelle had told him Alverdine was over six hundred years old. One hundred years seemed like a very long time to him. He could only imagine what six hundred years was like-he was scared to find out that just a month, his memory of his father had already become fuzzy. He still missed his father but it wasn't as bad as when he just arrived at the island. He wasn't unhappy. Actually, he loved the life he had now more than the one he used to have. It made him feel guilty in the beginning, but he didn't know what else he could do besides doing what he was already doing.
Daniel went back to the dorm after dinner. He felt that something was wrong when he entered his room. Looking around carefully, he realized that many of his things in the room were moved. Although they had been put back to the original positions carefully, Daniel could still tell the slight alteration. His books were neatly arranged, but Daniel had never really organized them. The cup was also slightly off. The dried watermark on the desk didn't really fit the bottom of the cup. He couldn't tell exactly what had changed about his roommate's belongings, but he had the feeling that their stuff had also been searched. Whoever broke into the room, however, didn't take any of his stuff-he had very few possessions. He wouldn't think that anyone would be interested.
That night, Daniel pulled Owen aside.
"I think someone broke into our room this afternoon," he said. "Did you find anything missing?"
"No, but why?" asked Owen. Then it seemed to dawn on him: "Do you think that they were looking for the Golden Club?"
"That's my guess," said Daniel.
"But why us?" asked Owen. "Do you think that they suspect us?"
"No-not just us. I think the other rooms were searched too."
"At least they can tell that it wasn't us now," said Owen. "I really don't like acting like a suspect."
"I know it sucks, but I don't think they found the club," said Daniel. "Remember the Golden Club can be shrunk as small as a hair-don't tell anyone else. I don't want people to start accusing each other.
The book is available at barnes and noble, amazon online bookstores. Search by the title. Author's blog: 360.yahoo.com/gcgustopher