It was Koze, not Angel Vesta, standing beside her when she woke up. He handed her a wet towel to clean her face and left the room without a word. He returned carrying a breakfast tray that he placed on the small table beside her chair.
She drank the juice and played with the bowl of cereal while eyeing the silent figure of Koze. She needed to talk to somebody about anything; it didn’t matter what. “Do you eat?”
“I do not require food.”
“Are you electric or something? I mean, what keeps you going? Do you have batteries?”
His golden star-eyes flashed in response. “The word battery does not appear in my vocabulary. My components do not rely on edible food and drink. Shall we leave now?” He stood, pressed a button, and the doors slid open, allowing her to exit first. “This hallway is Star IV for the female students. Star II houses male students.”
He continued to lead the way, pointing out exits and gates and stopping to explain Star III that housed classrooms.
“The sick bay and Angel Vesta’s private office and quarters are in Star Central or Star I.”
“Where do the teenagers live?”
“Teenagers? There are no teenagers at White Feathers.”
“Wait a minute. What happens to them? The thirteen-year-olds?” She grabbed Koze’s arm to slow him down.
“They fly up on Birth Day, of course. Birth Day is the last day of the Star Festival.”
“Fly up where?” What kind of place is this, with no teenagers and no parents?
“The gift or talent determines one’s destination or particular angel realm. For example, Zadie has a talent for music. When she finishes her twelfth year of age at White Feathers, she will most likely join angels in the music realm. It’s really quite simple.”
“Well my birthday is August 31, so I have a year to find my talent, right?”
“Birth Day is the last day of the Star Festival, twelfth month, twenty-fifth day. You will be thirteen on that day,” Koze answered.
“What? You mean that everybody’s birthday is the same day? You’re kidding.”
“I am not kidding. A kid is a young goat. Birth Day is precisely three months, twenty-nine days from today.”
He walked to a door near the entrance to Star III and opened it. A huge control panel with monitors and dials occupied one entire side of the room. A square platform enclosed on three sides by clear glass was the only other object in the room.
“Please enter the chamber, stand on the platform, and wait for further instructions.” Koze opened the door, signaling for her to enter.
“Why? What are you going to do?”
“This is a scanner. You must stand perfectly still and remain silent for precisely one minute. Watch the monitor on the wall. The countdown will begin with the number sixty and end with zero. You won’t feel anything at all.”
“You’re going to scan me? Why?”
“Scanning reveals individual abilities or talents, to help determine which study group is the best one for you. Are you ready?”
“Will it hurt?” She reluctantly stepped onto the platform.
“Absolutely not. You are quite safe. Please stop talking and stand still.”
The monitor lit up exactly as described.
“Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight.” What if I think about the wrong thing? I should have asked him what I’m supposed to think about. I hope it won’t give me some awful job I’ll hate. What if I can’t do anything? Maybe it will say that I don’t have a gift. I don’t think I have one anyway.
“Forty-five, forty-four, forty-three.” Oh, please let me do something fun. Wonder where they send kids with no talent?
“Thirty-five, thirty-four, thirty-three.” Zadie has a talent. Koze said so. The triplets make jewelry and that’s a talent. Zadie said Annie has a talent, too. She can sing. Wonder how Zadie knew her talent was music?
“Fifteen, fourteen.” I like swimming and softball and clothes and roller blading. No, not roller blading. I’ll never do that again.
“Eight, seven, six.” Movies, video games, concerts, comic books. I’ll bet they don’t even have a movie theater here, or popcorn. Koze doesn’t know what TV means. Boring.
“Two, one, zero.”
“Is it over? Can I come out now?” she yelled.
“Yes. The scan is complete. You don’t have to yell. I can hear perfectly.”
“So, what did it tell you? What’s my job? I won’t have to study something really hard like math or biology, will I?”
“I am not at liberty to discuss the results of the scan.”
“Why can’t you tell me what the scan said?” She worried he might be saving bad news for later.
“Would you like to see a classroom?” He ignored her question and led her to a door marked Observation Room. They entered a balcony overlooking several classrooms separated by partitions.
Koze pointed to a large room where Zadie stood in the back row of an orchestra. She was tapping on a thing like the strange-looking object in their room. It looked like a drum except the head was an inverted seashell and the glass base was filled with colored liquid. Koze said it was called a water drum.
A choir practiced in another room. Koze handed her a set of earphones and showed her how to listen to sounds from individual rooms. Annie stepped out in front of the choir to sing a solo. Her voice was amazing.
“Hey, this is cool.”
“Are you cold?”
“No! Cool isn’t cold. It means, ‘I like it. It’s good, neat.’ It’s a saying.”
“Cool.” He blinked again. “Noted. Cool also means to like something.”
Inside the multi-storied Star III classrooms were studios for fine arts, dance, crafts, science, history, and languages. She observed some of the classes, watched hands go up, students eager to answer questions, and congratulatory smiles for success. She wondered why they were so happy about going to school.
She couldn’t draw and paint like the kids in the art center or dance like the girls in their tutus and leotards or make music like Zadie and Annie. She made good grades in history, English, and PE in her classes at home, and wondered if grades counted as a talent. She didn’t think history classes at WFA would be the same as the history she’d studied at home. Crafts weren’t her thing, either. The only thing she remembered making was a beaded bracelet at Girl Scout camp, and it broke the first time she wore it. What if they sent her to study something she didn’t like? She crossed her fingers for luck and trailed along behind Koze.
“We are going outdoors now. Remember, you must be inside the Star building before suns down. That is a very important rule.” Koze pressed a button and the door marked suns up swung open.
“Why do you have two suns?”
“To provide daylight, of course.”
Colorful stones with paintings of squirrels, birds, and colorful fish formed a path leading to a footbridge across a narrow river. Waves crashed and seabirds fussed at each other somewhere beyond the trees.
“Is there an ocean here?”
“Yes. The east side of the island borders the Rogue Sea. This path forks at the end of the bridge and continues to the maintenance building where we’re going. The black-rock path leads to the cliffs above the Rogue Sea. It is a forbidden area, beyond the Star Points.”
“What’s a Star Point?”
“The boundaries of White Feathers are marked by Star Points. You’ve seen the tall white posts topped with white five-pointed stars around the campus? They are Star Points.”
“Why? I mean, why do you have Star Points?”
“Students are protected, as long as they stay within the bounds of the Star Points. You must not go to the cliffs or the Rogue Sea. It is a rule.” Koze snapped his mouth shut.
“You mean I can’t go there and play in the waves?”
“Definitely not. The waves are dangerous, and there is a strong undercurrent. You cannot walk on the beach, either. The rocks are slippery, and the beach floods with the tides.”
Koze started across the bridge alone, ignoring any new questions Halo might ask, but slowing down so she could catch up with him.
The same delicious yeasty aroma surrounding the fountain wafted through the forest.
“Do you smell that? Zadie called it wish berries. Smells like bread to me.” She slapped her open palm against her head. “Oh, wow, bet you can’t smell. Does your nose work...or is it real, you know?”
“I have a keen sense of smell. My appendage is for cosmetic purposes. I do not require it to detect odors.” His eyes flashed with every word he said. “Zadie is correct. The aroma is wish berries. They are unique to White Feathers and provide food that help our minds be receptive to learning.” Koze headed toward a yellow metal building with a curved roof and wide doors on each end. It reminded her of a loaf of bread. The double doors were rolled up into the ceiling like a garage door.
“Hey, wait for me.” She had to jog to keep up with Koze.
Bicycles, farm machines, and vehicles with wings filled the garage. Tools and gadgets hung above work desks lining three sides of the building. He left her near the front door and headed toward the back of the room where he spoke to a person working under a rack holding up a shiny red vehicle.
She decided to check out the cars, stopping to look inside a small two-seated vehicle built on something resembling a giant inner tube. It had no top, short wings, and no doors. The truck beside it sported big rubber wheels but no wings.
She wondered if she could get a driver’s license. Koze said there were no teenagers here. She didn’t remember seeing any cars on the esplanade yesterday.
She lost her train of thought when Koze surprised her by driving up in a red vehicle and stopping beside her.
“Hey! Don’t sneak up on me like that. Are you trying to run over me?”
“I do not sneak. As you can see, I am completely visible. Now, if you will get in the vehicle with me, we’ll visit the farm.” Koze patted the seat beside him and waited for her to climb into the car.
A tall boy with olive complexion and startling green eyes hopped over a row of bicycles to greet them.
“I’ll bring the car back before suns down. Jet, this is Halo. Halo, meet Jet. He is a maintenance apprentice.”
“Hi.” The boy tapped a small keyboard on his left wrist. He had a metal pin embedded in the nail of his right forefinger. The keyboard voice sounded a lot like Koze.
“Hello.” She turned to Koze and whispered, “Is he an android, too?”
“No!” the voice in the wrist link and Koze answered simultaneously. Jet stepped back from the car and stared unsmiling at her. “I am a student at White Feathers.” He used the nail on his right forefinger to tap his answer.
“Jet cannot hear or speak. He communicates through an electronic translator or wrist link. He is a perfectly normal young man,” Koze explained.
“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, honest. You aren’t like Koze at all.” She spoke too loudly, enunciating each word.
“Jet reads lips. There is no reason to yell,” Koze reprimanded her.
When they drove away, Koze wanted to know why she thought Jet was an android.
“It was nothing. I’m sorry, again.” She didn’t mean to hurt their feelings. Jet was different that was all. He certainly wasn’t made like an android. He was slender, taller than she, had almond-shaped green eyes, and wore his black hair pulled back in a tail tied with a leather strap. The thing about Jet was, normal guys didn’t have a metal thing for a fingernail or wear a talking computer on their wrist.