The Lost Queen Book 1 - Alden

13. Dinner With The Lost Queen

"Welcome back. Were you all able to make sure your keys work on your doors?"

We all nod at Emberlynna.

"Great, I know your all tired. That was a long day of traveling. I want to show you where the orientation and tour will be tomorrow." She takes off walking.

We don't go very far and she is talking again. "This is where it will start. Your keys will all be able to open the classroom door tomorrow. Please make sure you are in this room by 10AM. It is a couple hours of talking and paperwork. Then a break for lunch. Followed by a tour of the campus. And believe me, you do not want to miss any part of it."

"And now for the food. I know you are all ready for dinner by now. There are 3 options open tonight for dinner. Usually there are 6, but we're not running a full campus yet. So, the options are a deli, that has different meats and breads, they have cold sandwiches and several different types of salads available. Our cafeteria, which is served like a buffet. They have theme nights for the buffet. Tonight's theme is burgers and fries. And your last option is the dining hall. It is right next door to this room. It is more like a sit-down restaurant. You will go in, get seated and the wait staff will bring you your drinks and take your order down. But it is never a full menu. They simply serve 1 dinner per night and you can choose the options you want. The dinner is written on the white board daily. Here we can read it, it's right here."

"Today's menu is spaghetti with garlic bread and salad. You could choose between meat or vegetable sauce and also the type of salad you want. Those are the 3 options for the night. What are you all thinking?"

I glance at Clark and Victor. "I really need to sit down and eat dinner, then go crash. I am exhausted."

"Alright bro, but I'm gonna get me some burgers. I am starving and plan to hit that buffet a couple of times." Victor stands there rubbing his stomach. "I'm gonna do some damage to that thing."

"The cafeteria is located on the 3rd floor, right in the middle. So pretty much 2 floors above where we are now. You really can't miss it. It's not walled in with a door like the other rooms. Also, the blood bags are located right beside the buffet, do not forget to grab one."

"Clark, your choice?"

"I'm torn, but I think I'll go with burgers as well. But I doubt I'll be able to do as much damage as Victor."

"Great, and Jenny?

"I'll do the deli, a salad back in my room sounds good."

"Ok guys, do I stink?" I blurt out.

"We weren't going to say anything." Clark jokes and everyone starts laughing.

The professor shakes her head, "I'm going to show Jenny where the deli is, it's a little trickier to find. It's kind of hidden beside the grocery store. But no one forget, orientation and tour at 10AM. Do not be late."

"Thank you for helping us today and for the goodies in the fridge."

"No problem, enjoy your dinner."

"See you back in the room." Clark and Victor go off towards the center elevators.

I head into the dining hall. There is a hostess standing right inside the door, so I get seated right away.

The lights are dim, the music is low, and the temperature is perfect. I probably could fall asleep if it wasn't for all the unique artwork everywhere. It keeps catching my attention and I zone out staring at it.

"Good evening, I'm Ben and I'll be your waiter tonight. I brought you ice water, silverware and a blood glass. Would you like meat or vegetable sauce tonight?"

I take a sip of the blood. "Meat, please. What kind of blood is this? It's really good and amazingly sweet."

"Human. The school collects it from people. They volunteer it. They don't know the real reason of course, but then the blood is ours. Cesar or house salad?"

"House please, with ranch dressing. They don't know where it goes?"

"Oh my goodness no. They have no idea, they donate to people in need of blood. And we are in need of blood, so it all works out somehow. Red or white wine?"

"Red."

"Great, I will be back in a few minutes with your salad."

I take another sip of the blood. It really is amazing, it warms up my insides. I check out all the art again. The paintings are really old. There is one with an old stable and horses in it. A couple of them are different castles. One is very obviously an old king. He has a big crown on his head and a sword in his hands. There is a big red stone right in the front center of the crown and a matching red stone on the handle of the sword. In another painting there is a beautiful female. She seems to be staring directly into my soul. She has the most beautiful eyes.

"I have your house salad with ranch dressing. Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No, but who is she?"

"Ah, she is the lost queen. She was so pretty. Excuse me. She IS so pretty. Someday I hope someone will find her."

"So where did all this art come from? I can't help but notice it's very old."

"When King Fane took over, he moved into one of the palaces and threw out ALL the artwork that was there. So yeah, someone from the school went dumpster diving for it all. They saved as much of it as they could, cleaned it up and here it is. I'm going to check on your spaghetti. I'll be right back."

I can't help but stare at her painting while I eat my salad. Something about her mesmerizes me. She has the most beautiful eyes.

"Here is your spaghetti with meat sauce and red wine. I also grabbed you some parmesan. And, there is another painting of her with her mother by the exit. You should check it out."

"Thank you, I will."

"Do you need anything else? More ice water or anything?"

"No thank you, I'm great."

"Wonderful, I need to scan your student key card."

I dig it out of my wallet and hand it to him. He scans it on this little contraption he's carrying around. "Perfect. The exit is right around the corner that way. But don't be in a rush. We don't close up for another hour. Enjoy your dinner, enjoy the art and if you find yourself needing anything, give me a wave."

"I will thank you for everything."

"My pleasure have a wonderful evening."

I sit and enjoy my dinner and the art work for a few minutes before Ben comes back. "Turns out the cafeteria people really overestimated the number of students that would be checked in tonight. So now everyone gets a dessert. Yay! I also brought you another glass of wine because it goes perfect with the chocolate and yours was out. We normally can't do extra wine for people though, so don't tell."

"It looks amazing and I do have a question. How do I leave a tip? Do you take credit card? I didn't bring any cash, I didn't even think about it until now."

"Thank you for asking. But we don't take tips. Everyone who goes to the school volunteers 15 hours a week in a field of their choosing. I chose culinary. I love this and won't try anything else. My first year, I worked strictly in the greenhouses growing food. Then I moved on to cooking and now I'm on the wait staff. There are other directions you can go in the culinary field. I just really enjoy being a waiter and choose to stay here."

"What are the other fields?"

"For first year students, it's house keeping, grounds keeping, or culinary. You will have to pick between those 3. And we get over $300 a month to use in any of the shops here. It's kind of a pain at times, but it helps keep the cost down for the school and keeps outsiders out. Sorry but I have to get back to work, my boss is giving me evil eye. Have a good night!"

"You too! Thanks for the dessert."

I sit there drinking my wine, staring at the painting of the lost queen. I wish she was here now. I bet she has the sweetest voice and those lips are so perfect. I take a bite of the chocolate lava cake. "MMM I bet you would love chocolate my princess."

"Off to bed for me, to much wine apparently." I laugh and say out loud to myself. "Good night my lost queen. You've been a wonderful dinner companion. I assume we will do this often."

I take a couple minutes and find the painting the waiter told me about. There are 2 of them actually. One is of the old king and his son. The son is about 5. The next one is of the princess and her mom. The princess looks like a little girl about 7. She is so happy sitting there with her mom. She has little curls in her hair and a big smile.

With that, I head up to my room for a shower and a good sleep.