Gloria Oliver Read Online Free PDF Page B

dispersed to mingle with different friends. The room ended up only about half full, but she still felt a little overwhelmed. Even during the harvest festivals back home, she’d never seen so many people in one place at one time before.
    Men and women from at least a few years older than the students to too old to tell poured out of the doors from the kitchens, armed with filled trays. In droves, they hit each of the tables and deposited dishes, utensils, and large containers of food. The students at each table passed the dishes and utensils along even as the servers came down the table and filled each of their plates with food.
    The noise level rose as voices and clanging plates mingled together into a confused din. A rich aroma grew thick in the air.
    “You’ll need to eat it all,” Mandee told her. “Especially the vegetables. If you don’t, the watchers will get on you and make you do it anyway. And you won’t get any dessert. Which would be bad, because you learn to live for those desserts.” She giggled. “They say they do it because eating them is good for us.
    Back home, it didn’t matter how much of this or that you ate, but it sure does here. And as long as you eat all of what they serve you the first time, then you’re allowed to have seconds if you want. If you can stand it, you can even have thirds.”
    Talia stared at her filled plate, not sure she’d be able to eat what she’d been given let alone more. But it did smell and look good. The roast she recognized for what it was, as well as the potatoes and carrots. A couple of the other vegetables on her plate, though, she was pretty sure she’d not seen before. She took small bites of everything to sample them all. A couple of the strange vegetables tasted a little weird to her, but not bad. What she knew, she found thoroughly delicious. In the end, she surprised herself by eating it all.
    She noticed those whom Mandee called watchers walking quietly between the tables and scrutinizing the students as they ate. Occasionally, she heard a groan or two as one of the watchers would tap a plate with a long wooden spoon, but otherwise everyone seemed happy and mostly ignored the grown-ups.
    “Have you met with the Administrator yet?” Mandee didn’t look at her as she spoke, too busy soaking up her roast’s juices with a piece of bread.
    “Not yet,” Talia replied. “I have an appointment in the morning.” The sense of insignificance she’d felt when standing before the Administrator’s golden door returned. “What, what is he like?” She hoped the Administrator wouldn’t be as overwhelming as his door.
    “He’s a she.” Mandee’s eyes were dancing. “And she’s like no one you’ve ever met before.”
    The comment didn’t make her feel much better. She let her gaze travel across the room to the table on the far side, but couldn’t see well enough past the other tables to see if the Administrator was there.
    When Mandee added no more information about her, Talia decided to change the subject. “I understand why one might want a bar for the shutters, but why would we need one for the door?”
    Yllin, the long-faced, dark-skinned girl sitting to Talia’s right, answered the question before Mandee got a chance to swallow her latest bite. “It’s to protect yourself from the peepers.”
    “Peepers?” Talia stared at the girl beside her in confusion.
    Yllin glanced at the boys in their group with distrustful dark eyes before inching a little closer to her, keeping her voice low. “Yes. They’re all over the school. They’re continually trying to sneak into our rooms, to get a peep at us while we’re bathing. You have to be very careful.” Her expression was direly serious.
    “But, but why would anyone want to do that?” Talia asked in confusion.
    “Beats me, but they do. It’s a boy thing.” Yllin stated it as if it explained everything.
    Mandee leaned over to whisper in Talia’s ear. “Some say the old lecher at the cave