Six o’clock the next day, there was banging on the door of Leo’s room. He sat up straight at once, alarmed by the noise, with his hair all over his face and the tip of the blanket between his lips. He needed a while to remember where he was.

    ‘Wha—what? Ursula!’ with a mind still caught back in a very forgettable dream, Leo heard the knocking again. It was a good dream, he thought. Leo hurtled heavily off the bed to open the door, but to his surprise, there was no one. Angry for having to jump off his bed so early and be torn away from his dreams for nothing, and thinking that it was a rude joke by someone he probably didn’t know, Leo was in the act of slamming the door shut, when, with the corner of his eye, he saw something standing a few feet above the threshold. He looked down at the thing that was the same size as a five-year-old and that was staring back at him with sleepy eyes. It was the ugliest child he had ever seen. It had a hairy face that made it look more like a monkey, but unlike any other monkey, the little being was blue—literally. Was he still dreaming? Leo rubbed his eyes and looked carefully at the little creature. It was, without a doubt, nothing he had ever seen before. It was a creature that had the face of a giant rat and the body of a monkey. It wore something like a dress with words embroidered on it and carried a pile of clothes. Leo stared at the creature unblinkingly for a while, unable to speak then he realised that perhaps he should go ask for assistance but before he could take one step, another surprise froze him in his place.

    ‘Good morning, sir,’ said the creature with a squeaky, nasal voice in a cheerful note that did not match the gloomy look on its face. The creature could speak, now it was Leo’s turn. Leo swallowed and gathered his thoughts to say something.

    ‘Wha—what did you say?’ asked Leo forgetting to close his mouth.

    ‘Good morning, sir,’ the creature sang in the same note he used the first time.

    ‘Good—morning. Um—who are you?’ Leo didn’t want to be rude, but he couldn’t stop himself from laughing at the weirdness of the situation.

    ‘My name is Feather Pillow, sir,’ said the creature pointing at the name stitched on his dress.

    ‘Your name is what?’ asked Leo trying to read the letters on the creature’s clothes.

    ‘Feather pillow, sir,’ repeated the creature mechanically in the same tone.

    ‘Right, I see. What do you want?’ Leo asked impatiently. He was too confused for any attempted politeness.

    ‘Not I, sir. Captain Erick, the head of the guarding forces of Zodia sent me to summon you to his office. All the warriors, he says, should be there in five minutes, and he gives you these.’ The creature handed Leo the pile of clothes. ‘It’s the typical attires of Hozafians. He also tells you that the trip for Hozafia will start shortly after the meeting and that you may leave your bags in the room, the guard named Maurice will take them down.’

    ‘Right,’ said Leo.

    ‘Now that I have informed you, I will withdraw,’ said Feather Pillow and with that, he left. Leo traced the creature’s little footsteps as it moved down the corridor until it turned out of sight before he closed the door. Despite his astonishment at the creature and an undeniable desire to return to bed, Leo hurried to change his clothes. A few minutes later, Leo was dressed in his new outfit or rather his old-fashioned, eighteenth-century, costumey-looking attire that was hard to wear and was in no way comfortable, especially the breeches. Anyhow, Leo was standing ready outside his room to go meet Erick and the rest of the warriors. He dashed down the corridor to Erick’s room, feeling a little stupid in his clothes. He was about to knock when he saw a note taped to the door saying ‘come in’ so he pushed open the door, which was unlocked, and walked into the room.

    Inside the room, there were many people. Leo didn’t count them, assuming they were the rest of the twelve warriors, but when he did count, they turned out to be eight warriors, nine including himself. They all looked at him as he entered. They were all dressed as if for a Halloween party, and suddenly Leo didn’t feel very stupid in his clothes anymore.

    There was hardly enough room for them all. Three of them were sitting on the couch next to the door, two of those on the couch were Neil and Virginia, two girls were sitting on chairs, both of whom Leo had seen the night before, and the rest of the warriors were standing. Among those standing, Leo recognised the tall, dark boy from last night, he was looking out the closed window, with arms crossed. The rest were all new faces for Leo, except for the girl sitting next to Neil, whom Leo was sure he had seen before but could not remember when. Ursula was not yet to be seen. Everyone in the room was waiting quietly perhaps in fear and anticipation for what was to come. They all looked sleepy and didn’t seem to have any interest in getting to know one another. Neil and Virginia, who already knew each other were the only ones engaged in a low-voiced conversation. Neil looked different with his oval glasses on and his eighteenth-century outfit that was only different from what Leo was wearing by a brown, leather jacket. Virginia looked gorgeous in what was supposed to be another typical Hozafian costume; it was but a simple, long-sleeved, brown, floor-length dress. Neil and Virginia smiled friendly at Leo when they saw him. Luckily, the girl who was sitting next to them stood up and went out of the room so Leo found a space to fill.

    ‘Good morning—Neil, Virginia,’ Leo whispered as he sat down, not wanting to disturb the silence in the room. ‘What’s going on here? Why is everyone looking tense?’ asked Leo.

    ‘They’re worried I guess,’ said Neil. ‘They all know what happened last night.’ 

    ‘I can’t imagine how I managed to sleep after all that happened. It was the strangest night of my life, and the strangeness continues; today an odd-looking creature woke me up and gave me these clothes, did you see it? It wasn’t just me, was it? Tell me you’ve seen it too,’ Leo begged fearfully. Neil and Virginia laughed.

    ‘Yes we saw it,’ Virginia assured him.

    ‘It was the most startling thing ever, especially when it started talking,’ said Neil. Leo couldn’t agree more.

    ‘I saw Brita on my way here and I asked her about them,’ said Virginia. ‘She said they’re called Dormants and that they help the house guests to have a good sleep, but I’m not sure what she meant by that.’

    ‘These are the rest of our group I suppose. Aren’t we going to know their names at least?’ asked Leo.