“Hmm,” Ezra said. “It looks strange.”

“Why? What do you mean?” Will tried to see what was wrong with it.

“There’s no doors… no windows either.”

“Oh.” Bet was suddenly surprised.

He was right. The house was strange. It had a nice appearance, though there were nothing welcoming about it. It had long wooden walls, with wide pillars and planks that seemed to jut a bit from the sides. They might have something carved in them, but it was hard to tell. The roof was reddish brown, and there were several black drains that fed down from the upper edge.

“Well, this is what we came for. Let’s go see what we can do.”

The three of them walked timidly down the sloping lawn until they were directly beside the house. At that point they all stood perplexed by what to do next.

“So, how do we get in?” Bet said. “Not very convenient to have no windows or doors.”

“Not for us.” Ezra sort of muttered the statement. He sounded irritated… cautious.

“I’m just gonna knock,” Will said. Neither Bet or Ezra argued, so Will wandered up to the wall and knocked firmly against the deep brown wood. “Was that loud enough?” he said. Bet and Ezra came to join him, each of them puzzling over what to do next.

“Go ahead, knock again,” Ezra said.

Will nodded, stood tall and brought his hand hard against the wall.

“I’d rather you not do that.” A voice came from behind.

The three of them spun around ready to run or fight. A bit of a distance away stood a man. His hair was silver, and his blue eyes sunk a fair distance into his face. He wore black gloves and a red shirt covered by a clean gray vest. His pants looked quite a bit like jeans, though not exactly.

“If I wanted to entertain visitors,” the man said. “I’d have hung a welcome sign. Do you see a welcome sign?”

Will actually shook his head no. As soon as he did he felt stupid.

“I came because I need a teacher,” Will said. “You’re brother sent us.”

“Oh, my brother? That old fool? What makes him, or you think I’m taking students?”

“I don’t know. He… he just said that I needed a teacher. It was his idea. He made it sound like you could help.”

“Wonderful. I’ll add that to the list of reasons to thank him. Is that your Cakrit?” He spoke, though he hardly moved.

“Yes.”

“How long have you had it?”

“Only a few days.”

The man shook his head and chuckled. “You’re not ready for a teacher,” he said. “You don’t even know your Link yet.”

“Please,” Will said. “I need this. I’ll follow your instructions. I’ll work hard and do my best, I promise.”

“What’s your name?” the man said.

“Will… Will Gladmen.”

The man stared at him for a bit as if evaluating whether he was worth the time.

“Are you stowing yet?”

“No.”

The man gave an unnerving grin.

“Follow me then. We’ll talk inside. Greggin,” he called. Somewhere behind the man emerged a large black dog with long fur. It looked wild and dangerous. The man brushed his silver hair out of his eyes and withdrew a small tin, the same sort that Ezra and Bet carried. He unsnapped it and slipped a bit of something down to the dog’s mouth.

The dog sat in the grass and chewed slowly.

The man then lifted his hand and pointed toward the house. The dog walked calmly to the wall and lifted its nose stiffly. A few feet ahead of it, practically right against the wood, a large purple pocket appeared.

“So, Will Gladmen. This is your chance to convince me. Come inside and talk.” He then walked casually forward, past Will and through the portal. The dog sniffed the air for a few seconds then followed. Both were gone but the pocket remained. Will shared an uneasy look with Ezra and Bet. This didn’t make him comfortable at all.

What should Will do?

Go into the pocket with Swoop

Stay outside the pocket and wait

Go in the pocket with the entire group

This Poll is Closed