The bell, it turned out, was a dinner bell.

The Greenwood dining hall was a large brown building with a poured concrete floor. The front was a long screened porch that faced the lopsided field, the back contained a kitchen, and the other two sides of the building were completely covered in windows. Several large round tables with metal folding chairs were scattered around the room. Like the Lodge, it was dark and plain, with a large rough stone fireplace as a centerpiece. That had the effect, Riley now realized, of focusing her attention on the luminous people with her instead of on the building.

About thirty other clan members were already in the dining hall, milling around and talking. Most were in their fifties and sixties, although there was one child present: a young girl with lavender light who was holding hands with one of one of the elder women.

“That’s Little Elena,” Alley leaned over and explained when she saw where Riley was looking. “Her parents are useless, so her grandmother, Big Elena, is raising her here.”

“It’s good that she has someone to look after her.” Like Jack did for Reed and me.

“We all look after her. She’s kind of our mascot. She also keeps us in line. It’s hard to let your parties get too far out of hand when you know there’s an eight-year-old girl nearby who’s had a rough time and looks up to you.”

A line began forming in the center of the dining hall, facing the kitchen. The young warriors waited until all of the older people lined up, and then they got in line too. As Riley moved behind Alley she heard a loud bang from one of the screened doors behind her. Belman and Ivan came in together. Belman grinned and slapped Ivan hard on the back. Ivan was still glaring at him.

Alley rolled her eyes. “They fight all the time.”

Little Elena’s eyes got very big when she saw Belman. She let go of her grandmother’s hand and ran to the back of the line.

Belman smiled widely. He picked her up and hugged her, and murmured, “How’s my girl today?” Elena began describing her schoolwork. Belman listened attentively and asked questions, although Riley could tell he was tired.

Riley grinned as she watched the two of them interact.

“She’s his cub,” Alley explained. “Belman’s a bear, like Darren. About the time they turn sixteen, every bear starts to form strong bonds with one or two of the young people in their life. They look out for them and protect them. Darren chose his brother, Gabe. And Belman found a cub in Little Elena.”

The serving line was like a cafeteria. Dinner was meat that Riley couldn’t identify, a tomato-based soup, corn on the cob, salad, baked apples, and a chocolate dessert. She skipped the mystery meat but placed some of every other dish on her tray. Then she followed Alley to a table in the back right corner where all of the young adults were sitting together.

Gabe smiled at Riley and gestured to a seat beside himself. She blushed and sat where he wanted her to.

He glanced at her tray. “No venison. Are you a vegetarian?”

“No, I’m not, but I don’t eat a lot of meat. Fish is my favorite.”

He smiled and shook his head. “You’re a turtle all right.”

“And you’re a cat, yet you eat salad,” Riley observed.

“I eat it because I must.” Gabe sounded put upon. “I don’t really like it.”

Alley nodded. “If I ate according to my cravings, I’d weigh three hundred pounds.”

Everyone at the table began commenting on their dietary preferences. The Miyalas’ likes and dislikes were tied closely to the foods their animals preferred. 

The more they talked, the more Riley was unnerved by what they said. How much of my personality is because I’m a turtle? Have I been controlled by this my whole life?

When she was asked, Riley talked about Oklahoma and her childhood, college and her brothers, carefully leaving out any details that might help an unscrupulous person to commit either kidnapping or identity theft. While she was still answering their questions, the dinner bell rang four times again.

Everyone stood up. Riley hadn’t finished eating, but she stood as well. The clan members began exiting the dining hall and walking uphill and to the left, into the woods.

“Follow Gabe to the campfire pit,” Alley instructed from behind her. “Leave your tray where it is.”

The 'campfire pit' wasn’t really a pit, Riley discovered when she got closer. More like a large blackened circle at the base of the forest. Someone had recently filled it with chopped wood. Around the perimeter were wooden boards that rested on concrete blocks to form benches. And between each bench was an ornately carved tree stump.

“The stumps are for clan elders, and the benches are for the rest of us,” Alley explained. She sat down on a bench and motioned for Riley to do the same. “We use the word ‘elder’ to describe anyone who has transitioned, but there are twelve men at camp who are the official clan elders.”

All around the circle, men and women began seating themselves. The area filled quickly. Riley assumed Gabriel would take a seat beside her again, but he sat down on one of the other benches instead and began talking to the 'clan elder' seated next to him.

Some of the older women sat on benches, but others sat in front of men. Riley winced as she watched one kneeling there on the ground. That CAN'T be comfortable. One of those couples had bright glowing bands on both wrists that were made of their partner’s color of light. Three other elder clan members had a glowing spot over their heart of another color of light. What does that mean?

Once everyone was seated, one of the twelve camp elders stood and walked away from his stump. Everyone stopped talking as he knelt and expertly started the fire with some flint. Once he had it burning to his satisfaction, he sat back down and another camp elder stood. The second man was overweight, short, and glowing a deep purplish-red. His face was streaked with black paint.

The painted man looked around the campfire benches until he spotted Riley. When he had, he gestured to her to stand.

Uncomfortably, she obeyed.

“We have a new warrior!” He spoke with too much feeling, as if he were reading a bedtime story to small children. “I am Chief James Buffalo Vann. On behalf of everyone here, I welcome you to the Greenwood clan. What is your first name, child?”

“Riley.”

“Riley! Yes!” He sounded as if she’d revealed the meaning of life by stating her name. “And what is your animal, Riley?”

“I’m a turtle, sir.”

“A turtle! Our Grandmother has blessed us indeed. We only have one other turtle in our clan, Riley: Elder Ned Turtle Welch.” Chief James Buffalo gestured to the clan elder who had started the fire; Elder Ned nodded to Riley and smiled kindly.

“Will you do us all the honor of becoming a turtle for a moment so we can see you?” the chief asked.

“Yes sir.” Riley walked away from the campfire so she wouldn’t cover anyone with her shell. Then she transformed.

A collective gasp arose as everyone saw her. Riley stood still for several seconds until she could no longer see anyone moving around for a better glimpse, and then she returned to her regular form.

“That’s the biggest animal I’ve ever seen!” the chief exclaimed as she walked back into the group again and took her seat. There were murmurs of agreement from all around the fire.

Riley had never wanted to dig a hole and bury herself in it as badly as she did at that moment. She glowed brighter and brighter as everybody stared at her. Wonderful! I’m a freak among freaks!

Alley took her hand and gave it a squeeze in sympathy.

Chief James Buffalo reached out for Riley’s other hand and shook it energetically. “You have blessed us by becoming part of our family. I hope we will be a blessing to you as well.”

Mortified, Riley nodded at him. 

The chief returned to his tree stump, and private conversations resumed around the fire.

Desperate to shake off her discomfort, Riley looked around for something to talk about. “Why is Celia pacing back and forth across the levee?”

“She's patrolling. Making sure we’re safe.”

“Safe from what?”

“Bigfoot,” Alley teased.

“Very funny.” Riley thought again of the knife attack, and she shuddered. “Well... who are all these people, and what do they do when they’re not sitting around a campfire?”

She spent the next half hour listening enjoyably to Alley’s colorful descriptions of her clanmates, whom she clearly loved in an exasperated-with-your-extended-family way. To Riley, whose extended family was nonexistent, living at Greenwood sounded almost blissful. Yet the ‘patrolling’ was unsettling.

As she and Alley talked, Riley noticed that although many men were now staring at Alley, Gabriel’s eyes were still fixed on her. She could tell that he liked her, and that he wanted her to know he liked her. Gabe’s attention feels good, Riley acknowledged with some surprise. She soaked it in like the heat from the fire.

The bell sounded four more times. Once again, everyone stopped talking, and they all stood up.

The women began leaving the circle and walking back to the dining hall. Riley did the same, following Alley. Once she left the campfire pit area, she looked back over her shoulder. The men remained standing until the last of the women left the circle, and then they sat down again and began talking.

Alley tugged on Riley’s sleeve. “We do this every night that it isn’t raining,” she explained as they returned to the dining hall. “Everyone goes out for campfire after dinner, then we split off after half an hour. The men stay behind, and the women come back to the dining hall for hot drinks. They join us again later.”

Riley reached the dining hall door before Alley did. She tried to pull it open. Repeatedly. It was stuck.

“Push, don’t pull,” Violet called out from behind her.

Sure enough, pushing worked.

Embarrassed, Riley went inside and held the door for Violet and Alley.

“I thought turtles were supposed to be wise,” Violet said as she passed.

Riley raised an eyebrow, and glanced at Alley.

Alley shook her head. “It’s not you. She’s always like that.”

Violet stopped walking for a second after Alley spoke, then continued going forward.

While they’d been at campfire, the tables in the dining hall had been cleared. “On Saturdays, all the families who live away from camp come here,” Alley told Riley as they queued up again for hot drinks. “They bring their kids and stay through the evening. It’s so much fun to have everyone here! We dance, we play sports, have competitions, demonstrations of our powers...”

“How do I find out what my powers are?” Riley asked.

“That’s tricky.” Alley took an empty mug for herself and passed one to Riley. “Most people find theirs pretty soon once they hit puberty. It took me six years, though.”

“Six years? Is there a shortcut?”

“Not a good one. The easiest way to find out about your powers is to go visit the prophet Marc. He’d tell you everything. But Marc is a Chillicothe, not a Greenwood, which means he works for the queen. And we don’t necessarily want her to know what your powers are. Especially if they’re good. So it’s better if you wait and discover them on your own.”

“There’s a queen?” Riley asked as she poured hot water into her mug. “I take it she’s evil.”

“No, not evil. She’s not out to get us or anything. But she has her own agenda, and it’s rarely the same as ours.”

“Is there a king, too?”

Alley shook her head. “Each clan has its own chief, but no, there’s no king. Only a queen.”

“So… you avoid the queen and her clan, but she’s still your queen?”

“Yep. Her name is Rochelle. Her orders must always be obeyed. But only if you’re around to hear her give them.” Riley laughed at that, and Alley grinned and shrugged. “Like I said, our clan avoids her.”

They took their hot cocoa to the back right corner table and sat in the same chairs they’d used at dinner. Riley sipped as Alley told her stories about some of the older women in the hall. A few came up and introduced themselves. Most did not.

“They’re all dying to meet you, but they don’t want to overload you on your first night here, you being a turtle and all,” Alley explained. “Once you feel comfortable, you should go introduce yourself to them.”

A few minutes later, the men began streaming back into the dining hall. Gabe came straight to their table and sat down next to Riley again.

“What’s the news?” Alley asked him.

“Colonel Matthew says the Poxinosa and their allies are now spending all their time and energy trying to track down a teleporter.”

Alley looked shocked. “What?”

“The Poxinosa?’” Riley asked slowly. “That sounds like a disease.”

Gabe chuckled. “The Poxinosa are another clan. Bad guys,” he added. “They’ve been told by some prophet that there’s a teleporter in one of the earth clans… a warrior who can teleport people from place to place,” he explained to Riley. “That person might be able to move people around undetected.”

Here we go again with the sneaking. “Is that important?”

“It is if you plan to attack people, and you want to move all your warriors at the same time and strike with no warning.”

Attack people… with no warning… 

Riley’s phone buzzed and she jumped, frightened. ‘Xander is here. He wants to see you before Jack gets back at 11.’ Reed.

She stood up and waved to Celia. “I've got to go.”

Celia nodded as she approached. “Yeah, we need to hit the road.”

“Bye, everyone. It was nice to meet you!” Riley told them.

Alley smiled. “You too!”

“Come back soon,” Gabe said softly. Riley waved at him, and he smiled that smile at her in return.

And frightened as she was, she was helpless once again not to smile back at Gabe.