Ace and Justin had used their ability to generate fire though their right palms by now and with just that, the passage was lit up. They had the idea that the torches would have to be lit every day, but for some reason, these torches never died of light. The fire in them had been alive for the past three weeks when Ace and Justin had lit them up for the very first time.
As soon as Victoria reached the end of the passage, she entered into the base. It was nothing more than a cave hidden under the hill, but Ace had assured Victoria that once her and Kathy’s work was done, the rest of the team will do all the work and they could do something else.
‘Work and work and work! And, all you get for that in return, is more work to do.’ Victoria was yelling inside the half-constructed base. Her voice echoed in the empty rocky insides of the hill. ‘I am sick of this task. I didn’t ask for being the one who makes this team’s wishes come true.’
‘Shut the eff up and hand me one of those lamps.’ Kathy yelled back to her. ‘I am almost there. Hurry up, or I might fall.’
Victoria stood there watching Kathy, who was sitting on one of the floating rocks and fixing up lamps all around the inside of the base. She waved her hand at one of the lamps lying on the floor and it floated up, zooming straight towards Kathy. She caught it and pulled a small tube from her cargo pants’ pocket. The tube was of glass but had Justin’s fire within it.
‘That is Justin, right?’ Victoria yelled standing there. ‘Don’t put Ace there, he just might burst the lamps.’
BOOM!
There was a small explosion on the other side of the cave and Victoria and Kathy looked at it. A lamp had just exploded.
‘I see what you mean.’ Kathy had taken off her shirt and was using it wipe away all the sweat.
The lamps fixed around the base were not the usual ones. They had gotten a lot of shiny crystals from the antique shops at Hellberk and were pouring fire over them. As soon as Kathy dropped a drop of fire on the crystal from the glass tube, it got absorbed by the crystal and collected at its center point. Even just a drop from the tube was enough to make it light up. She hung it there on the rocky wall where she had nailed a hanger and gave Victoria a thumbs up.
‘Get down!’ yelled Victoria. ‘It’s going to rain. We need to leave now.’
Kathy got up and wore her dirty shirt. She began to jump from one floating rock to another, trying to reach the ones that were floating closer to the base’s ground.
Victoria turned around to get a look at the rest of the lamps. Everything looked perfect. Tomorrow she will be free from this exhausting task and begin something new. Maybe something that will let her travel outside more often.
She heard thunder crackle outside and it sent tremors down the cave. Victoria flinched and some of the huge rocks dropped being pulled by the core’s gravity. She had lost control and ducked to the ground taking cover.
‘AAAAHHHH!!!’
Victoria looked up and tried to find Kathy. A huge pile of rock had collected against the wall. She had unknowingly used her ability to push everything that was floating in the air away from her.
‘Kathy!!’ she yelled at the sight.
The pile was huge and Kathy was stuck there. Her arm was trapped between two huge rocks and she was hanging almost twenty feet above the ground.
‘What have you done?’ Kathy was trying to pull her arm out. ‘I’m going to kill you for this, you bitch!’
‘I was just making sure that they didn’t crush me!’ Victoria was panicking. ‘Try to get it out then I can bring you down.’
‘It’s stuck!!’ yelled Kathy, out of pain and anger. ‘It got my arm and it hurts!!’
‘Don’t panic!’ Victoria yelled back. ‘I will get you out of there soon, I promise.’
‘Call Vanya!!’ Kathy begged her. ‘She can move it.’
Victoria felt annoyed. Vanya, again? Why does she need to get all the attention?
‘I can do it!’ Victoria ran towards the pile. ‘We don’t need her here. This is our job.’
Victoria was scared and very nervous. She felt like her body was shivering now. But, she didn’t need Vanya to save Kathy. She could do it all by herself.
The thunder lightning crackled outside. It was pouring down heavily. She could hear the rain even though she was inside.
Victoria tried to move one of the rocks that had trapped Kathy’s arm from above. The rock didn’t budge, but the one next to it slipped and hit the ground, missing Kathy’s head.
‘I don’t want to die in here while you try to prove yourself!’ Kathy yelled at her. She had tears in her eyes. ‘Get her now!!!’
Victoria stomped her foot on the ground angrily. The sky outside crackled again and the tremors that made rain some dirt and tiny stones inside the base.
‘If they keep falling the hill will disintegrate!’ yelled Victoria.
‘Just call Vanya, you bitch! The hill is fine. It’s Bridging, not Earth.’ Kathy screamed trying to remain still and stand on the rock beneath her feet. ‘My arm is going to be damaged permanently!’
‘Hold on!’ Victoria ran towards the passage. She had no choice and had to get Vanya before anything terrible could happen. Vanya’s element was Earth and she would know how to calm the base.
Dawn had gone to Hellberk to get some books from the library and had promised to have dinner with them. Victoria wished that he was here now. At least, she wouldn’t have to request Vanya to help her out.
She ran like a crazy woman. It was pouring down when she stepped outside. The forest floor was muddy and water was flowing down the hill. Her foot slipped and she fell on the muddy ground. Next, her clothes were covered in rainwater and mud. She could see nothing around her. The lightning kept hinting her that there were trees pouring down water and that was all.
‘Vanya!’ There was no point in calling her name from there. But, she wasn’t in her right senses. She kept yelling her name for some time. The sky blinked as the thunder crackled, responding to her.
Victoria got up and tried to look around. It was dark and the rain wasn’t helping at all. She managed to get hold of a branch and stood under it, wiping her face. What could she do? She felt angry. She and Kathy had been doing this very risky task alone and it was so tiresome. Vanya only came to visit them during the afternoons when the sun was out. She was angry at her for not doing anything for the team. Everyone was working on something, except for Vanya.
She stood there for a minute, trying to observe the situation in her mind and then chose what appeared to be the only option she had at the moment.
‘Moon!’ she yelled. Victoria knew help would come now. ‘Moon!!’ her voice was torn and weepy. Her hair got caught in the thin leafy branches and she pulled them getting away from under the branch.
Grrrrr…
Victoria looked sideways. She was still standing in front of the entrance passage of the base. But she didn’t run inside to save herself. She knew who it was.
The thunder crackled and a beast came into view. It was the saber. Vanya had named him Moon and Victoria hated it so much. She ran towards him and climbed on his back without even thinking once. Vanya had taught them how to communicate with Moon, the saber.
Victoria had never gotten on Moon’s back before, but she wasn’t scared. She liked him and had tried to make their bond stronger, but it didn’t help much. What if she fell? But, she had to get Vanya to save Kathy.
‘Go!’
The beast growled at the thunder lightning and began to climb up the hill. Victoria had made Moon a collar that had belts connecting to the saddle strapped to his back. She held on to its collar as it sped up the hill, carrying her along with him. She felt the thin and small branches hitting her as Moon ran ahead and climbed up through the green. She hid her face resting it on Moon’s back.
The rain was so heavy that Moon kept slipping off the muddy rise. His steeled claws blinked back at the lightning as they attempted to get a hold of the muddy and slippery ground beneath him.
He growled with desperation, attempting to climb as fast as he could.
Victoria screamed as he slipped once and then held on tightly to his collar.
Suddenly he stopped and looked towards his right.
‘Moon?’ Victoria called him, wiping her face on her sleeves. Then out of nowhere, instead of climbing up he began to run sideways.
‘Moon! Up!’ Victoria got nervous. Didn’t she give him the right command? Why was he running sideways?
But before she could notice what was happening, Moon had reached the rocky stairs and was now climbing up faster and more conveniently. She felt better now. She felt more confident and safe.
‘Hurry!’ Victoria was really worried about Kathy.
Moon reached the top of the hill and sprinted so fast, that he had to skid to stop himself from banging up himself against the little cottage’s wall.
‘Good Moon!’ Victoria jumped off him and ran inside the cottage door. Moon stood there with his eyes fixed on the sky. He kept growling at the rain as if asking it to stop troubling him.
Victoria didn’t even look down to see what was going on. She had stepped on some sheets that were scattered on the floor.
‘What are you doing?’ Brent yelled at her. He was sitting on the floor with a lot of sheets spread in front of him. Victoria had poured all the rainwater on those sheets. The notes scribbled on them were fading away, mixing with the water drops.
Brent gritted his teeth. ‘Do you even know how much time it took us to calculate her doses?’ he yelled at her.
Victoria spotted Vanya sitting near the fireplace. Ace was sitting right next to her. He had a pin in his right hand that looked like a syringe and was about to inject it into her scar. They both had frozen in the action and were staring at Victoria from head to toe.
‘You ruined Justin’s entire calculation!’ Brent began to pick up all the sheets and had a very broken look on his face.
Justin was sitting on the bed. He had a huge wooden crate in front of him which was full of roots, herbs, and flowers. He looked sadly at Brent and kept crushing something that was inside the small mortar and pestle in his hands.
‘It is fine.’ He got up and kept aside the mortar and pestle. ‘She had no idea, Brent.’
Victoria was sure he was preparing something for Vanya to consume.
‘No time for that!’ Victoria walked over all the remaining sheets, pouring down all the rain off her clothes and grabbed Vanya’s arm.
‘Kathy needs you at the base.’ She told Vanya before pulling her up.
Victoria turned towards the door and felt not being able to pull Vanya. Was she so strong? She turned her head and saw that Ace was holding on to Vanya’s other arm.
He glared at Victoria and tried to remain calm. He had never yelled at her.
‘She needs to take this dose.’ He informed Victoria. ‘It keeps the pain subsided.’
‘Let her go, Ace.’ Victoria exhaled looking down. Brent had picked up all the sheets and was standing away from her with a look on his face that said STOP IT.
‘She needs her medicine.’ Ace said it with a straight face. ‘Or what happened to her a week ago, might happen again.’
Victoria remembered what had happened a week ago. The team was sitting at the CafeZone and discussing picking departments when Moon had growled and appeared out of nowhere. Dawn had told them that he wanted Justin to reach Vanya. Justin had to climb Moon’s back in front of the entire crowd of novices who were chilling there and rush to check on her. Her scar had given her body a burning pain and her heart felt like it was being pierced. After this, Justin and Brent had come up with all these doses that kept Vanya’s scar calm and at rest.
Victoria might have been hating Vanya for the last few weeks, but she wasn’t so mean. She wanted her to take all the medicines she needed. But, she also knew that after the dose, Vanya gets sleepy and right now Kathy needed her.
‘Let her go now or Kathy loses her arm forever.’ Victoria kept breathing heavily. Her heart was beating so fast with fear, anger, and hatred.
Ace didn’t say anything for a moment and then looked at Vanya.
‘Come back soon.’ He smiled at her. ‘We’ll do this then.’ Then he let go of her arm.
‘Alright.’ Vanya smiled at him.
Victoria stomped out dragging Vanya with her. Why was everyone being so sweet to her? Was it because she just might get angry and leave them, which might make things difficult for Team 55? Or, was it because she was the Protector of this team and they needed her to be alive?
‘Moon?’ Vanya touched his canines as he approached closer to her.
Victoria could tell Vanya wasn’t willing to care about the rain. She had explored the green sea of forest that surrounded the hill on Moon’s back several times. They had a very strong bond now. It burnt Victoria from within. Why was everything so perfect for Vanya even though she was in grade two and not for Victoria even though she was in grade one?
Vanya was tiny and Victoria knew very well that if this Pearl of Team 55 fell off the saber, Ace would kill her for dragging her out of the cottage.
She climbed Moon’s back and pulled Vanya up, letting her sit in the front.
‘Take him to the Base!’ Victoria told Vanya. She grabbed Vanya’s waist and held on tightly to her.
There was nothing to worry about now. Vanya didn’t even need to say it. It barely took her a second and Moon was climbing down the hill in his true nature, like a wild beast. He did not take the rocky path he just sped down the right side of the cottage. Victoria held on tightly to Vanya, shutting her eyes close.
The saber skidded and stopped as soon as he reached down the hill. Victoria jumped down and ran towards the entrance passage of the base. Vanya ran after her and the soft growls of Moon told Victoria that he was following them in.
Victoria had built the passage big enough so that Moon could get in. Every time Vanya would come to the base, Moon would sit outside, scratching the rocks that marked the end of the entrance of the passage. He would growl loud enough for Vanya to make the base shudder and kept calling her. Victoria had to work an extra week on the entrance passage to expand its height and width so Moon could fit in and get through to reach the base. This was the first time he was getting inside the base. She hated Vanya for this.
Kathy had no idea they had arrived. She was simply hanging by her arm where Victoria had left her; twenty feet above the ground.
‘Kathy! We’re here.’ Victoria yelled running to the other side from where she could see her. ‘Vanya get her out!’
Vanya looked around and tried to find something. She made a distressing sound not being able to find anything which she could use to get Kathy out of there. Then her face lit up with some idea. She glanced at Moon and he growled at her. Victoria could see her thinking. She wanted to punch Vanya so badly, but then she would be blamed for that too.
‘I need to get up there!’ Vanya looked scared. Her eyes were wide open with fear, but she was acting quick. ‘I will have to touch that rock to get her out.’
Victoria looked around for something. There was nothing that she could use to climb up. All the rocks were piled up together and moving even one of them could mean the death of all three of them. The base was still under construction.
‘I don’t have anything.’ Victoria ran around looking for something.
‘How did you move the rocks?’ Vanya reminded her. ‘Make me move, you fool! Take me up there.’
Of course! Victoria took a deep breath.
‘Kathy, I want you to be quiet for a moment. Can you do that?’ Victoria requested her.
She kept glaring at Victoria. ‘Just let me get down, you bitch! Let’s stick your arm between two rocks and hang you there. Then we’ll see who remains quiet.’
‘Shut up!’ Vanya looked at Kathy.
The thunder crackled outside and Moon growled at the base. The base was hit with a wave of tremors again. All three of them were quiet now.
‘Is it
going to collapse?’ Vanya asked them.
‘NO!’ yelled Kathy. ‘The hill is very tough, trust me! Just get me out of here.’
Vanya stood there for a moment and then Moon pushed her from behind.
‘Do it.’ Vanya took a few steps away from the pile of huge rocks. Then she took a deep breath and ran towards it. ‘Do it!’ she had almost reached the pile.
Victoria raised her right hand and pointed it at her. The ruby in her wrist began its work and directed all of her energy towards Vanya. Before anyone of them could realize, Vanya was high, up in the air. She had managed to grab on to a rock that was stuck between two big ones, close to Kathy.
Vanya slipped a foot and grabbed on to a smaller rock stuck there.
‘Don’t you dare move your hand or I’ll fall to death.’ Vanya yelled at Victoria. ‘I have a curse to kill before I die.’
‘Oh, just do it.’ Victoria yelled back. She wasn’t here to hear Miss Survivor’s sad story.
Moon’s eyes were fixed at Vanya. He kept pacing around the pile of rocks. At one point, he attempted to climb up the rocks. This made Victoria feel less valuable than Vanya. Moon had been very protective of her and had saved Vanya’s life twice by now.
‘Moon, stop!’ Kathy yelled at him. ‘You’re going to get us both killed.’ her arm was bleeding. ‘I think my bone is not in very good condition.’
Moon growled softly, looking at Victoria and then sat down tilting his head up every now and then. His tail kept hitting the rocks slowly from left to right. Victoria knew that no matter what happened to Kathy, but if Vanya dropped, Moon would pounce ahead to save her. His eyes remained fixed at her and paws kept waving up simultaneously.
She looked up at the two. Vanya was trying to walk on the edge of the rock that was below her. Victoria kept attempting to push Vanya’s body towards the rock she was clinging on to. Her energy wave was acting like a wall for Vanya, making sure she wouldn’t fall back.
‘Just a moment.’ Vanya told them. She was very close to Kathy, whose arm was stuck between the two rocks Vanya was clinging on to and walking on. She attempted to lean sideways and bent lower towards Kathy.
The Formation of Team 55 Page 15