The Formation of Team 55 Page 12

  ‘He’s just being protective of her.’ Justin’s eyes were fixed at the notebook as he dipped the quill in his hand in the inkpot and continued scribbling. ‘We should be grateful that he isn’t communicating with anyone about the attack that night. If he does that, William is going to take over everything from here and this secret mission will be over, even before it can begin.’

  Vanya turned slightly to look at him. ‘What secret mission?’

  Justin looked at Brent. His head was upside down, but his eyes were fixed at Justin. The douche sighed and said, ‘Dawn thinks he can find out a way to close the gate that connects Bridging with the Land of the Old Souls. That is why they have gone to the Central Library, to find out which gate connects the two lands.’

  ‘Why would we shut the gate?’ Vanya questioned him. ‘I mean, we should be stopping that evil pathetic whoever or whatever it is, that wants to get in here, right?’

  ‘Yes,’ nodded Justin. ‘We’re doing that too. You, Kathy and Victoria will be responsible for that. You and Victoria are supposed to make yourself untraceable, even with that curse on you. Kathy is supposed to hit that evil pathetic thing with some sort of weapon if he comes here.’

  ‘That’s the plan?’ Vanya’s eyes went wide. ‘Seriously? You think he can be stopped by Kathy?’

  ‘Nope!’ Brent had gotten up and was sitting straight on the bed. ‘We think Team fifty-five can stop him. Vanya, if each one of us does our job perfectly, he won’t be able to trace you at all. As a result, he won’t be able to find you even if he enters Bridging.’

  Vanya remained quiet. She turned herself around and got lost with the view again. Justin had been able to sense it since before. But, now he was able to sense her pain even more. She was distraught. He wanted to distract her.

  ‘Vanya?’ He called her name, still scribbling something down. ‘Can you tell me how you were cursed? I mean, I need it for the research to find the right herbs and medicines for you.’

  She exhaled, still staring outside. The sun was rising from the east, which was slightly to the right side of the cottage’s front door. She remained silent for a moment, but then got up and walked inside the cottage. She sat on the red couch with her legs crossed and took a deep breath. Justin could tell that she was trying to remember every little detail.

  ‘When I woke up for real, I was in the tunnel.’ She bit her lip. Justin began to scribble everything as she spoke. ‘And, I woke up because I felt someone holding me in their arms. They had stopped my body. I think that when a descendant crosses the tunnel, they sleepwalk through it and that is why we don’t remember anything when we wake up here. The man had picked me up, was walking and I just woke up. It was like, I knew where I had to go, but I couldn’t. His face was covered with a mask and he realized that I was awake, so he stopped walking and looked down into my eyes. His face was covered, but I knew that he was staring into my eyes. I tried to get away from him and ran towards the first stop I saw. He ran after me to stop me.’

  ‘Then?’ Brent had begun to scribble something on a piece of paper too. Justin and Brent were taking every little detail.

  ‘Then, as soon as I reached the first stop, it was a sealed door and there was a switch next to it. I pressed it and kept yelling for help.’

  Justin gulped feeling nervous. He didn’t want to hear what had happened next.

  ‘I saw him pull out a dagger.’ she continued, remembering each detail. ‘I was standing with my back against the door because he was standing right in front of me. As soon as the door slid open, I felt a gush of wind hit me from behind… it was… the door was in the air… high above the ground… like I was in the sky or something. I felt my foot slipped and grabbed that man to stop myself from falling.’

  Justin stopped scribbling and looked up at her. Vanya wasn’t crying. Her eyes were wide and blank. He knew she was lost with the terrible experience she had. Her chest kept rising and falling heavily which told him that her heart was beating really fast now.

  ‘Then, I remembered that it was the same man I was running away from.’ she mumbled. ‘So, I let go. But, I felt something pierce through my heart.’ her left hand rose as it shivered and touched her chest, right above the heart. ‘He didn’t hold me, I don’t know why. He just let me fall and I could feel my body, losing its strength. I saw that door sliding shut into thin air, as it was never there.’

  An eerie silence filled the room. Neither Justin nor Dawn had the courage to speak. Justin could see that Brent’s eyes were watery and looked away.

  ‘Any scar left behind by the dagger? Any physical mark of the attack?’ Justin controlled his emotions that were bursting his heart for what had happened to her. He began to scribble again.

  Vanya blinked and looked at him. Her hands began to open the only two buttons that had sealed the shirt she was wearing close to the neck. She slightly pulled down the neck of her shirt. ‘Just the one.’

  Justin looked up at her scar. It was something he had never seen before. He dropped the notebook and kept quill on the table. His mouth was hanging open in horror.

  ‘I don’t know what that is.’ mumbled Brent. ‘But I am sure we can figure it out.’ his voice was shaky.

  I’m not sure.’ Justin walked up to Vanya and grabbed her arm, pulling her up and closer to towards the door. He wanted to see it properly in the sun’s morning light. Brent came running behind him to get a better look. ‘I don’t think anyone in Bridging knows what that is.’ Justin shook his head.

  Justin was right. He was able to see it better in the sunlight. It wasn’t exactly above the heart. The so-called scar was around three inches down the left collarbone. A black mark that looked like it had burnt the skin around it. The scar was right above the heart, but it had tiny branches of nerves that looked like thin complex roots.

  ‘He missed the heart?’ Brent asked Vanya.

  ‘No.’ Vanya shook her head. ‘He pierced it from above. I think he wanted to cut it out open.’

  ‘How did they deal with it?’ Brent asked her, tilting his head at the scar. ‘Who healed it?’

  ‘It hasn’t healed, Brent. It took me a month to wake up there. Even after I woke up, I wasn’t able to move much. There was a healer who found and hid me in some sort of cave.’ Vanya told him. ‘When I healed enough to walk around, he told me that he was able to save my heart and body, but the scar, it was still alive with a curse and he didn’t know how to deal with it.’

  ‘Why haven’t you told Ace about this?’ Brent slammed his hand on his forehead. ‘He’s going to kill us.’

  ‘No! It is alright.’ Justin defended Vanya. ‘She can’t show that scar to people all the time and she was scared enough yesterday to tell all of us about what had happened. Ace knows she is cursed and wants us to deal with it. Even if she tells him, he won’t be able to do anything about it. This is our area of expertise, Brent.’

  Brent was beginning to calm down. He sat on the red couch and began to think quietly. Vanya stood there, at the door and staring at Brent with no expression on her face.

  ‘Vanya?’ Justin knew that he had to ask this. ‘Are there any side effects of that curse. You told me that it is still alive, right?’

  ‘Yes,’ Vanya nodded, ‘sometimes it hurts very badly like it’s burning. But, it has happened only twice so far, that too when I was at Nexus. I think it reminds me that I am still cursed and that they will find me. Or maybe, it only happens when they attempt to track me? I am not sure about it.’

  ‘When you fell off that door, the dagger was with you then? On your chest?’ Brent asked her curiously. ‘Where is it now?’

  ‘Yes, it was. But, now it is with him in that cave.’ Vanya tried to remember. ‘He had hidden it there saying it was very powerful and had some sort of evil’s touch.’

  Justin hung his head. A day ago, everything was so normal. It was just yesterday when Vanya had arrived and he had seen her in the hospital of sector-0. She looked so terrified and lost. Who knew she was trying to hide
so much of pain in her tiny head. He felt helpless now. The curse was alive, the dagger was hidden in a cave in Nexus, Ace and Dawn were finding a way to shut the gate that could get them that cursed dagger, she could have a piercing pain anytime in her heart, and to top it with a cherry, there was a pathetic evil thing after her.

  ‘If we could get that dagger, we could find out what the curse was.’ Brent suggested Justin. ‘Can’t they wait to shut that gate?’

  ‘We can’t wait.’ mumbled Justin. ‘We can’t give that evil thing a chance to enter Bridging. Their purpose behind shutting that gate is to stop him.’

  No matter whatever Ace or Vanya were saying, Justin had a feeling that whoever had done this to her had done it on purpose. He had a feeling that he had chosen Vanya for a reason. Why would that man just let her drop off the tunnel’s gate in Nexus when he could have used her that very moment to enter Bridging?

  ‘He just wanted to put a tracker on you.’ Justin said it.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Brent frowned at him.

  ‘There is a lot we don’t know about, Brent. We need to find as much information about this curse as possible from the library.’ said Justin. ‘But, I can tell you this much. Whoever it is, they might want to enter Bridging, but they want Vanya as well.’

  Vanya stood there in silence. Justin wondered if she would agree with him. But she had chosen to remain silent.

  ‘I think we need to tell the team about this first. Only then we can move forward.’ Brent reminded them.

  Justin nodded, agreeing with him. He glanced outside the cottage and saw it. The bearer of those sharp-bladed canines, the saber was there.

  ‘Vanya’ Justin nodded towards the view he was looking at.

  As soon as Vanya saw the saber, she ran towards him. Justin flinched at this sight.

  ‘So even he knows how to get girls, huh? You think that’s her new boyfriend?’ Brent had untied his long hair and was tidying it up. ‘Her element is Earth though. Maybe that’s why they are so cool with each other.’ he tied up his bun again and stuck the two chopsticks back on it.

  Justin wasn’t even listening to him. The saber was nuzzling his huge face against Vanya’s shoulder. He was being so gentle to her as if he knew his one rough move could rip her body. She was standing there, in between those long pointy canines. He hadn’t seen her smile like that until this moment. It was as if she had nothing to worry about.

  ∞∞∞

  ‘Can you drop this topic for a moment?’ Justin asked Brent. ‘He likes to protect her, alright? He’s not her boyfriend. He’s an extinct animal.’

  ‘If you say so.’ sighed Brent. ‘Those canines don’t look extinct to me. They are a weapon that can make us go extinct.’

  They had left the hilltop and were now walking through the cafes in the CafeZone. It was almost ten o’clock. The sun was shining so bright above the forest, that Justin could see several rays of sunlight hitting the ground like spotlights as they walked. The saber had shown up to accompany Vanya and that gave Justin a reason to let her stay at the cottage by herself. He wanted to keep her away from the social spotlight as much as possible. The news of her arrival had spread like wildfire in a forest. She was better staying at the hilltop, away from their newly-arrived batchmates and all the seniors.

  Kathy and Victoria had been crawling around the hill trying to make it hollow from inside. Dawn and Ace hadn’t returned from the library. Justin and Brent had decided to attend the introductory session as nobody else was there.

  There were no classes held at the Phrontistery. The Divines were responsible to organize two sessions every semester. These sessions were just like seminars, attended by at least two members from each team. The level of these sessions depended on the year and semester in which the novices were.

  Right now, Justin and Brent were responsible to go there to represent Team 55 and attend the introductory session of the first semester this year. They would have to listen to each and every single word spoken by the divine who was about to give them the lecture because the two of them were going to teach all this to the rest of their team.

  Brent kept setting up his hair, making sure his bun was looking perfect.

  ‘Stop it, you look fine.’ Justin muttered to him. He didn’t even look at Brent and just wanted him to stop being so conscious.

  ‘It would be more convincing if you were my boyfriend, saying that.’ Brent muttered back. ‘Miss Justin.’

  The two were crossing the section full of small open cafes where a lot of novices were chilling. Justin looked around and saw them having some hot drinks. It was all vegan, he thought. The Phrontistery only permitted the CafeZone to serve vegan food. They were strictly prohibited from using any ingredient which wasn’t approved by the authorities. He spotted a novice in a corner, trying to build a tiny ball of fire between his hands.

  ‘You’re not supposed to be doing that in this area, Mr. Kevin.’ A tall woman blocked Justin’s path. She was staring at the boy who was trying to create a fireball but ran away as soon as he saw her. ‘These new descendants!’

  She turned to look at Justin and Brent. They glanced at each other and then looked back at her. Her hairs were blonde, short and curly. She wore a pale blue gown that reached the ground. Her commanding tone was prompting Justin that she was one of the Divines.

  ‘Newly enrolled, I guess?’ She asked them.

  Justin and Brent nodded nervously. Although Justin knew that it never happened at Bridging, he was scared that some seniors might even bully him.

  ‘My name is Venessa Amber. I am the head of the Stream Preservers.’ she looked down at them with a smile.

  She was taller than not only Justin but also Brent. According to Justin, she was even taller than Ace.

  ‘Oh!’ Brent jumped up with joy. ‘I am the Preserver to Team fifty-five. It is such a pleasure to see you.’

  Justin knew what kind of pleasure Brent was talking about. He closed his eyes with disappointment. He had discussed flirting with the divines with Kathy, but all that had been sarcastic. The truth was nobody knew the real Justin, a guy who didn’t want to see his close ones upset or suffer about anything. He could say anything to make them laugh, just to see them happy.

  ‘You can call me Miss Amber.’ She told them. ‘I hope you are heading towards the academic sector for the introductory session. It is about to begin.’

  ‘Of course,’ Justin smiled at her. ‘Miss Amber.’

  Miss Amber stomped off glaring at another new descendant, who was attempting to control water in a small lily pond nearby.

  ‘You, new novices are so eager to use those elements? Get your hands out of that water and head towards the auditorium. The session is waiting for you fools!!’ she yelled at the novice.

  Justin and Brent ran ahead before she could even say a word to them.

  ‘How are they doing it?’ Brent asked Justin. ‘They are just as new as us.’ he glanced back at the boy who was getting away from the pond.

  ‘I guess they just try to connect with their elements.’ said Justin. ‘Didn’t you see Ace last night? He made that fireplace go boom. He wasn’t even enrolled when he did it. I haven’t even tried using my fire yet.’

  At the end of the CafeZone, there was a big board hanging in the air, tied up between two old majestic trees. It had a long list of several departments and the directions they were in. Justin scanned through the board to look for the auditorium. There were six major departments listed on the board. The Departments of Leading Arts, Enlightening Arts and Creative Arts was listed under Grade one and a small arrow next to them kept glowing, pointing to their right. The Departments of Healing Arts, Protective Arts, Preserving Arts, and Warring Arts were listed under Grade two and a small arrow next to them kept glowing, pointing towards their left.

  Below these departments, there was a list of laboratories for each department and they had directions too. At the end of the list, the word ‘Auditorium’ was glowing. The arrow next to it was pointing to
wards the path that was under the board, right in front of them.

  ‘We should have looked from below, huh?’ chuckled Brent. ‘Come on! We are getting late now.’

  The path was concrete and had tall and heavy bushes on both sides. As soon as they reached the end of the path, they had to turn left, because that was the only choice they had. There wasn’t any right turn.

  ‘Is it possible that the bloody board has a sense of humor and trying to mess with us?’ Brent asked Justin. The path got darker and darker as they walked ahead. The silence was making Brent’s voice boom.

  ‘I don’t think so.’ said Justin.

  He spotted a small, three feet tall gate at the end of this path. The two of them started to walk faster and if something was about to burst out of those tall bushy walls and get them.

  ‘Excuse me?’

  Justin stopped at once. A man was standing a little away from them. He wasn’t there a moment ago and Justin could swear he saw him appear out of thin air. Brent attempted to stop, but he was so scared, he screamed at the man.

  The man seemed to be floating in the air, slightly above the ground. He was wearing a long dark blue robe that covered his ankles, exposing only his feet. His eyes were a shade of maroon and he had a perfect jawline. His auburn hair was complimenting his eyes.

  ‘I’m sorry, but only newly enrolled descendants are allowed to enter the auditorium today.’ The man said it so soothingly, that his voice boomed with calmness. Justin could sense this man’s calm and polite nature.

  ‘Oh, we are newly enrolled descendants.’ Justin informed the man. ‘We have to reach there in time.’

  ‘I see.’ The man’s body began to lower and his feet touched the ground. He looked at the two from head to toe and didn’t really seem to be impressed. ‘Show me your wrists.’

  Justin raised his hand, exposing his wrist to the man. The man held Justin’s hand and got closer to the Quartz. His maroon eyes were scanning the shiny rock very closely. But why did the man looked shorter now? Justin looked down at the man’s feet and realized that his half body was sunk under the ground, or was he kneeling? He gulped at the sight. Was he a ghost?