The Formation of Team 55

by Neo Nidhi Baghel

  ‘Alright!’ spoke William. ‘Can we all get serious for a moment?’ he turned to Vanya and said, ‘I know that you have arrived today and whatever is happening is too much for you, but Vanya, you will have to cooperate with your team. And, I am sure that your team wants to help you too.’

  ‘Oh, we do.’ Ace said it out of nowhere.

  His head was bobbing up and down as he looked around for his teammates to agree with him, but nobody chipped in for that. Dawn tried to keep a straight face. He knew that Ace had chosen the wrong moment to say that.

  ‘As I was saying,’ William eyed Ace, gesturing him to remain silent, ‘the complication here is that you left Earth on your birthday, but you didn’t show up here on the same day.’

  ‘That is why I said that you are cursed.’ Ace made his move again.

  ‘Not the time, buddy!’ Dawn leaned forward and looked Ace in the eye, trying to signal him to be quiet.

  ‘Continuing!’ William was now looking slightly pissed. ‘I never told Ace, Victoria or Brent, that you are cursed because I don’t know that for sure yet. All I know is that you were not on earth or in Bridging for almost a month and a half.’

  ‘So…’ Vanya put down the big mug on the table. ‘Where do you think I was?’ her tone was supple and gentle.

  ‘There is only one place where you could have been.’ William nodded thoughtfully. ‘When you didn’t arrive here on your birthday, the authorities became a little worried because it has never happened before. So, we sent some of our members to check on you.’

  Dawn felt the mug losing its warmth. He was listening to William so seriously that he even forgot to notice Ace, which he had been doing since they arrived at the cottage. He wanted to know what had happened.

  ‘According to them,’ continued William, ‘you weren’t there at your home. Your absence was compensated by the presence of a boy named Veer. He took your place in the family. The world had become the way it would have been without you.’

  ‘My mother doesn’t remember me?’ Vanya was about to cry.

  ‘What happened to our families?’ Ace asked eagerly.

  ‘We never had to check that because you all arrived here safely and on time as well.’ William said it so casually, it made Dawn feel a little boiled up.

  ‘It happens with every descendant, Vanya.’ William informed her. ‘The positive point we gathered from your situation was, that you left earth on time, just the way every other descendant did. But, somewhere in the tunnel that connects Earth to Bridging, you either got stuck, or you were taken away by someone.’ he kept gazing at Vanya. ‘Usually, when a descendant arrives, he or she is naked, because they have to leave all their earthly possessions behind, except for their body.’

  Dawn remembered it so clearly. He had woken up in his room at the guest house, naked on the bed.

  ‘That morning, I thought my girlfriend had left me in some hotel after my birthday party was over.’ added Brent. ‘Worst morning ever! I ran around the guesthouse, naked. William had to use his jacket to cover my-’

  ‘Please!’ Ace begged with a very torn expression. ‘Shut up, just shut up for at least a few minutes. I have told you so many times, not to remind me that.’

  William shook his head, shuddering a bit. Dawn knew he was trying to get out Brent’s naked image out of his head because he was doing the same thing.

  ‘Vanya,’ William focused his attention back at her. ‘Two days before every descendant’s birthday I get an alert that they are about to show up and I get their rooms cleaned and ready for them at the guest house. On your birthday, I received the alert and got your room ready, but you never showed up.’

  He looked at Justin, just to make sure he was doing alright with his drink. Then he continued. ‘The guest house was alarmed when you didn’t show up. I had to tell them that it was a false alert. Otherwise, if people would have found out about you going missing, it would have been terrible.’

  ‘How did you know that she was at the hilltop?’ Ace raised an eyebrow at William.

  ‘I received an alert this morning.’ he answered. ‘When Vanya arrived, I received an alert of a security breach. I didn’t know it was her. I thought it was someone from outside. And, my observation concludes that is what actually happened.’

  ‘I don’t get it.’ Vanya gave him a confused look. ‘Are you saying that I am not supposed to be here and that I am an outsider?’

  ‘No,’ William gently shook his head, ‘I am saying that someone who had access to Bridging, breached the surface of the Phrontistery and left you on the hilltop. The one didn’t want to be seen by anyone at all. It was the easiest way because nobody goes there. Although it falls within the campus, the hill is secluded and surrounded by the forest. It is away from the residential area, or the academic section, or even the CafeZone.’

  ‘Who was it?’ Dawn gulped thinking about it. ‘Was it someone who could mean trouble for us?’

  ‘I don’t know that yet, Dawn.’ William responded to him calmly. ‘Whoever or whatever it was, it cleaned the cottage for Vanya. That room hasn’t been used for the last sixty-five years. The last student who stayed there did so by his own choice. When I went to see who was there, I was ready to attack. Then I saw her.’ he nodded at Vanya. ‘She was just sitting on the bed. I thank my ability to read vulnerable minds, I found that it was her. She was so confused and shattered. It took me a moment to register that it was her and calm myself down, but if I would have not controlled myself and either attacked her or said something even more terrible, she might have lost control completely and who knows what could have happened.’

  Dawn kept staring at Vanya. What could have happened with her while she was at the tunnel and who would choose to drop her safely at the Phrontistery?

  ‘I was shocked and overjoyed at the same time because I wasn’t hopeful that you would arrive ever.’ William kept talking as everyone heard quietly. ‘Your birthday was gone and if you wouldn’t have arrived today, we would have enrolled everyone within a few days anyway. And, in that case, Team fifty-five would have to go ahead with the enrollment with just six members.’ he smiled graciously at her. ‘And, when I saw you at the cottage on that hilltop, you were wearing clothes. Clothes, that were from the earth. That has never happened before.’

  ‘The clothes we wear, the food we eat,” Victoria added to the conversation, ‘everything is made in Bridging.’

  ‘Exactly!’ William agreed with her. ‘The point is that we are not sure that you are safe because we don’t know where you were for that much amount of time.’

  ‘What do you suggest then?’ Vanya asked William. She seemed to be understanding what he was saying.

  ‘I can only suggest what is best for all the novices at the Phrontistery and the new descendants who have recently become a part of this institution.’ he glanced at everyone sitting in the room as he said so.

  Dawn could feel it. He knew something bad was coming. Please, don’t lock her up in a dungeon or something, he thought.

  ‘I suggest, that even after you get enrolled and become a novice,’ William tried to explain her, ‘you don’t live in the residential area where the rest of the novices live. It is just a precaution to keep others safe in case you have some hidden harmful elements in you.’

  ‘What?’ Ace stood up. He had been sitting there, listening to William’s observation silently so far. ‘Where are you going to keep her? Don’t say that she will stay at the guest house. Just don’t say it! It’s far away from here. She will have to take a train alone every day and even pay for it, which we aren’t doing yet. Who knows what will try to find her there. She will be safer here. Apart from that, I don’t think we would want one of us to stay out of the campus while we live here in our cozy little cottages.’

  ‘I wasn’t suggesting that.’ William said it very politely. ‘I suggest that she stays where she arrived.’

  Dawn felt his face getting hot with anger. His teeth gritted at once as he attempted to control his fists
. William wanted Vanya to live in that secluded cottage? That room on the hilltop where nobody ever goes? How was she going to live there alone? Why was she going to do this at all?

  ‘Alright!’ Vanya nodded at William. ‘I think it’s-’

  ‘No way! Why aren’t you guys saying anything?’ Ace shook his head. ‘William, I know that I said she might be cursed, but that was just because you had told me about her being stuck in the tunnel and I snapped about it.’ He glanced at Dawn apologetically as he said so. ‘I cannot let this happen, I’m really sorry, but I can’t stand the fact that you are sending her to live on top of that creepy and secluded hill, where none of the novices or divines go.’

  ‘It is not for you to decide that.’ William stood up with authority and picked up the tray. ‘The decision has been made by the authorities who run the Phrontistery. Until it is clear that Vanya is not going to be in any kind of danger outside the campus, she will have to stay inside the campus gates, guarded by the extinct beings who live on and around the hill. She will have to stay away from the residential area for the security of the novices and the Divines. Of course, she will have the freedom to explore the campus and attend classes here. But, no stepping outside the campus.’

  ‘What guarantee do you have that she won’t be abducted by the same person or thing that dropped her there in the first place?’ Ace was almost yelling at William.

  ‘I don’t.’ William said it very quietly.

  An uncomfortable silence followed his words.

  ‘Ace.’ mumbled Vanya.

  Dawn looked at Vanya. She was looking up at Ace, who now seemed even taller with him standing and Vanya sitting.

  ‘It’s alright.’ she insisted. ‘William is right. What if I really am cursed with something that might have got to me on the way here? It is better to know about it and deal with it than to just ignore it, right?’

  Ace remained quiet and chose not to speak. He sat back on the sofa and let William pick up the tray as he did so.

  ‘You all need to be enrolled now.’ William rushed towards the kitchen. ‘Everyone else has been enrolled already.’

  As soon as William went out of the hall and into the kitchen, Dawn stood up.

  ‘What do we do now?’ He asked Ace. ‘Think before he comes back.’

  ‘I don’t know!’ Ace responded covering his face. ‘Let me think! Let me think!’

  Dawn kept staring at the door of the kitchen, making sure William wasn’t coming.

  ‘We can’t leave her alone, can we?’ Kathy looked sympathetically at Vanya. ‘What if something happens to her?’

  ‘No, guys!’ Vanya tried to calm them down. ‘Let us just get over with the enrollment and then we will talk about this, alright?’

  William walked out of the kitchen. Dawn looked away towards the diagram hanging on the wall which was the other side of the room.

  ‘I need to get the charts ready for you all. It will take around ten minutes. Please, wait patiently.’ then he went towards another door.

  Dawn peered through the curtains and could tell it was his bedroom. He had no idea what charts William was talking about and he didn’t even care. Right now, he was sick worried about Vanya. What if someone takes her away from that creepy little shed, William calls a cottage?

  ‘Wanna break some rules?’ Ace asked all of them, looking around.

  ‘Sounds dope to me!’ Justin gave him a thumbs up.

  ‘No.’ Vanya looked at Ace. ‘There will be no rule-breaking or anything. I stayed at that place and I woke up there. I am sure that I can live there too. Why are you guys treating me like I am a kid who can’t take care of herself?’

  ‘It isn’t that, Vanya. You don’t know how cold and creepy that place is.’ Victoria raised her voice. ‘It’s a place where nobody goes. They say that the hill is full of extinct beings. They hide there and if you start living in the cottage, it will be like breaching their area of privacy.’

  ‘Really?’ snapped Vanya. ‘You think I haven’t been there before, do you? I woke up there, running around like a crazy girl, looking for her mother.’

  The room felt cold now. Dawn felt his heart aching. He looked at Justin and gestured him to take care of the warmth. Justin stood up and walked up to the fireplace. He knew how to handle his drinks and was still sober. The Lily Frost hadn’t gotten him so far. He simply threw some pieces of shredded logs in the fireplace and sat there, close to the fire, sipping his drink and not saying a word to anyone.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Dawn asked Vanya, who was breathing heavily with anger now.

  ‘Yes.’ she got up and went to sit close to the fireplace, next to Justin. He put his arm around her shoulders as they kept staring at the fire.

  Dawn could see them talking in a very low voice. He figured, Justin really chooses when he wants to whisper loudly, as he couldn’t hear him now.

  ‘Let’s just get enrolled.’ said Brent. He was still sitting on the sofa, sipping some hot chocolate. He touched his forehead where the bandage was. ‘I feel like I hit my head on something really hard.’ he looked at Ace, ‘What was it?’

  Ace still had a grim look on his face and chose not to answer the drunk douche. Victoria cleared her throat nervously and walked away. She sat on one of those royal chairs next to the fireplace. Justin was making Vanya laugh now.

  Ace laid on the sofa, using one of the cushions as a pillow. ‘Wake me up when William is ready to get us enrolled.’

  Dawn knew that Ace wasn’t going to sleep. He needed his own space to think properly about everything that was happening around them. Dawn sat back on his spot comfortably thinking about what was happening. How could he let Vanya stay there alone? The hill was quite secluded.

  ‘I think it might have been a wall or something.’ mumbled Brent, trying to remember what had happened after he got drunk. ‘Goodness! My dinosaur. Where is the Euhelopus?’ He turned to look at Victoria, who was sitting away from them. ‘You cranky little woman! You pushed me off the train.’

  Justin laughed out loud. ‘See? We care a lot about each other.’ he told Vanya. ‘It will be fun, you’ll see.’

  No matter who was going to tell him that Vanya was cursed, or even if she really was, he would never let her stand alone. She was a member of Team 55 now. And, most of all, Dawn had the feeling that he might have started liking her.

  Dawn looked at Ace, who was pretending to be asleep now. He knew Ace was trying to keep his head calm and keep Team 55’s secrets safe from William. Dawn laid on the sofa on which he was sitting and kept staring at the walls. The diagram, he remembered. His eyes spotted the diagram again and kept staring at it for a while. What was it?

  Maybe it was some sort of ritual which the descendants were supposed to do. Dawn got up quickly and looked around. Everyone was busy making jokes to lighten their mood. Ace was trying not to burst his head out of thoughts and William was busy. He looked at the diagram. For some reason, he couldn’t let it go just like that.

  Dawn scanned the room with his eyes and then spotted what he was looking for. A quill and a notebook kept on one side of the tea-table. He casually walked up to the table, sat on the chair and tore one of the pages. Then he began to draw the diagram on the sheet.

  If this was important for William and Dawn hadn’t seen it anywhere else so far, this little piece of art hanging in the Prime Descendant’s hall was no joke. He drew the entire diagram, looking at the door of William’s bedroom, making sure he wasn’t out in the hall yet. He wrote the colors too. Then, very quietly, Dawn kept the notebook and quill where they were before and folded up the sheet, keeping it inside his pocket. He knew that he had to keep his mind silent now, or William will be able to read his thoughts and find out what he did.

  He smirked looking at the diagram on the wall. ‘Let’s see what you’re hiding now, William.’

  Chapter 4

  Ace and his saber-toothed cat

  Very often, it happens that whatever your eyes can see, you believe it to be true. What you ca
n hear, taste, smell or touch seem real most of the time. Your five senses take over not just your body, but also your mind in such a manner that your sixth sense vanishes. It extinguishes like a fire striving to exist and spread light, but it cannot because you choose to let it die. And, just like that, it dies in vain for nothing.

  The sixth sense, which is also known as the gut feeling, is a very powerful tool that can be used to get in touch with the Source. That sixth sense within you is an essence of the Source. Whenever there is a moment when you feel something, not because it is visible to you or you can hear or smell or touch or even taste it, but because your gut feeling tells you it is real, that moment is when the Source is trying to connect with you.

  The moment you choose to start focusing within yourself, you will start noticing that intangible connection you have with the Source. It is always waiting for you to look within yourself. Just for once, sit quietly, ignore the visible sights around you and the sound that you are hearing and look within yourself. You will find the Source in every atom of your existence.

  Dear descendant,

  This is to inform you that even though you have not been called to Bridging, it does not mean that you are not a descendant of the Source. It simply implies that you still have a long way to go on Earth as a human before you evolve enough to be at Bridging.

  Although you are not at Bridging, you have the opportunity to understand what this hidden land is all about and learn about being your true self. The journey of Team 55 begins here and you are free to walk away from it right now.

  It is the responsibility of Bridging to let you know that the knowledge shared here is not a joke. It is the last and final warning for you to close this book and choose a different route if you do not wish to explore this path. If you do, please go ahead. The Source will guide you, just as it guides Ace.

  25th June 2010

  Ace and Vanya were sitting at the hilltop, behind Vanya’s cottage. William had to leave for Hellberk urgently. He had been called by the authorities to deal with an important issue. He had told Ace to wait at Vanya’s cottage with the rest of the team and that he would enroll them as soon as he returns from Hellberk.