Chapter 10 – The Five Of Science
~~~~ Winter 1878~~~~
Helen sat on the sofa in her father's study; book in hand, a cup of tea next to her.
The fire crackled in the fireplace keeping the December chill at bay.
She was back in London in her father's massive house, why her father felt the need to buy such an enormous place was beyond her, it wasn't for wealth, her father never cared about a single dime, he only used it to improve his work, and occasionally to help her in her endeavors. The mansion was also no for the prospect of grandchildren, Gregory Magnus figured a long time ago that there was a chance his daughter would never marry and have children, and he had accepted it.
When she had asked him the reason for the seemingly useless and overpriced purchase of a home too large for a family of two, he answered: "It's for my work."
His work was cryptic enough. But she had learned to call it home, and found many treasures about it she enjoyed. It had a beautiful garden for one thing, beautiful rooms, and a library she could get lost for days in.
Her favorite treasure though, happened to be sitting behind her fiddling with a piece of string.
She patted the top of his head.
"How's the untangling coming along?" she asked, breaking the silence.
"How does such a thing get into such horrendous knots!" cried Nikola.
"It's string, getting into knots is kind of it's job," she laughed running her hand through his hair, messing it up then smoothing it back down.
"Yes, but it makes it virtually useless for my purposes!" he growled.
"Why don't you just get a new piece of string, Nikola?" asked James from his little corner in the study.
"This was my new piece of string! I kind of, set fire to the last one…" Nikola fiddled more with the piece of string.
"You are a walking safety hazard Tesla," John walked in holding a teapot. He went over and filled Helen's cup before sitting next to her.
She smiled appreciatively at him.
"It's not my fault half the things in this house are flammable, most of the tapestries are fake knock-offs.
Helen laughed.
"Doesn't matter, my father still expects you to replace the one you destroyed," she rubbed his head again and he gave up on the string tossing it away from him.
"If it was a real Medievil tapestry it wouldn't have gone up like a tissue," he pouted and reached over for his wine glass and sipped from it.
"You still set it on fire," she laughed.
"Nigel was half responsible! He was the one that said "Hey, let's combine these two highly flammable chemicals together to see if we can make a stable compound that can clean windows!" Why isn't he getting charged with the damages?"
"It's wasn't to clean windows, it was to remove rust! And you were the one who put too much in! More is less, he said!" defended Nigel.
"Do you two need another time out?" said James. He stood up from his chair, returning a book to a small bookshelf in the study, and he walked over to the teapot resting on the table in front of John and Helen, refilling his own cup.
Nikola glared at him, choosing not to answer his question.
Helen sighed, these men had become like family to her, that's why she dragged them to London for Christmas. John and Nikola came happily; Nikola had gotten used to spending Christmas with her, he barely needed and invitation. James had a lecture to attend not to far from London so he agreed to spend a few days at the mansion. Nigel wanted to go visit his sister in Norfolk, but a horrible storm reported the roads to and from Norfolk were closed.
She got her whole group of friends over for the holidays, filling the almost always empty home with laughter, music, love, and the occasional explosion.
James and Gregory had hit it off almost immediately, Helen joked that James was the son her father never had. John and her father got along as well; the two of them discussed medical procedures at length over port on some nights.
Even Nigel to a certain extent got along with her father, both sharing an interest in chemistry and other curious topics.
Gregory glared at Nikola though, Helen had laughed, they were still at odds with each other since the summer. I guess he suspected that Nikola was sneaking her into quiet rooms and shoving his hand up her dress. Gregory showed more disdain or Nikola since he burnt down one of his tapestries, spilt wine on the Turkish rug, ate the last scone, and scared the cat.
It still was all-in-all a fantastic Christmas with all her new found friends. They had become like a group over the last few months, all scientific and curious, they had many good times together, and with Gregory.
Gregory had called them to his study that night, and only Helen knew why, she found it hard to keep it from them; they had been sleeping at the time.
She found it especially hard to keep the secret from Nikola, the one she shared everything with. He had found a hidden passageway last summer, connecting a certain guest room to her bedroom, naturally he now always claimed that room as his own so they could sneak over and talk at nights when either one of them couldn't sleep. Sometimes they'd fall asleep talking with each other, and he'd leave before her maids entered in the morning.
Many things they talked about were secrets; secret hopes, secret dreams…or Nikola would make finger puppets on the wall.
These nightly visits were quite frequent, and not just by Nikola, she had snuck into his room at the dead of night some evenings too.
It was sneaky and childish, but that's what they were.
Gregory finally entered into the study, as authoritative as a tenured Oxford Professor, but as graceful as a skilled ballroom dancer.
"Good evening," he said accepting a glass of brandy from James who went to sit down by a big chair near the fire as Gregory made his way around the furniture to stand in front of the fireplace.
"What's this all about?" asked James inquisitively.
"I'm going to let you all in on a little project I'm working on."
Nikola stood up from his chair to stand behind Helen, curious to know why.
"That's not like you Magnus, I thought all your work was so secret not even Helen was privy to it, why the change?" Nikola asked, being as snarky as ever.
"Nikola, don't be an ass," Helen giggled slightly and pushed him to sit on the armrest beside her.
"This particular project requires 5 adventurous beings as yourselves, willing to push boundaries, break rules, and face danger if necessary," Nigel smirked smugly.
"I assure you we're flattered Gregory, don't leave us hanging," coaxed James gently.
"Yes, well, what I'm about to show you, may change the way you view your life indefinitely, and you're all strong, intelligent, capable men who I think can handle it, even you Nikola," said Gregory, finishing his glass.
Nikola gave him a sardonic smile and crossed his arms.
"One bloody tapestry and I'm the incompetent one!" muttered Nikola to Helen.
"Come with me gentlemen, Helen!" They all got up from there respective seats, except for Nikola. Helen grabbed his hand and pulled him along.
Gregory led the five of them through a hidden door and down a very dark staircase, led by candlelight.
He looked into some device protruding out of the wall, which Nikola paid special attention to, until the door unlocked.
"Hold on to your wits lads, this is nothing you've ever seen before," said Gregory and Nikola stared at Helen.
Her eyes were wide with excitement as the other men entered into the room.
Nikola passed by the door and stopped to look at the curious device on the front of it, more fascinated by that then any of the real wonders.
"Oh my," said James, looking at Gregory with marvel, "quite the project my good man."
"I'll say, it's like a zoo blew up," muttered Nigel.
There were cages and cages of strange creatures big and small.
"What is this Gregory?" asked John, his eyes widening to the size of Helen's.
Nikola looked up from the door.
"Huh-wha?" he stared stunned at the marvel of creatures. "You make these yourself Magnus?"
"Nope, these are God's own, I've just made a safe harbor for them," Gregory pulled them further into the room. "There are many, many more out there, and they need help, for ages they've kept themselves in the dark or in hiding, unwilling and too afraid to come into the light of knowledge for fear they will be slaughtered, and some of them have, some don't even know what's wrong with them, I've made it my prerogative to find them, and help them, but I can not do it alone. With Helen's excellent medical skills, James' observational skills, Nigel's handiwork with chemicals and concoctions, John's strength of character and Nikola's way with animals, we'll make a good team."
James steps up and clasps Gregory's hand.
"I am with you Gregory, I would not miss this for the world," he looked around, stilled dumbfounded by the mass of creatures.
"Me too, Magnus, this is fantastic!" said Nigel, a big smile across his face.
John looked over at Helen then back at Gregory.
"You can count on me," he said with a slight smile, bowing his head gracefully.
"Out of all my plethora of skills he chooses animal loving, that's just great," Nikola scoffed and everyone looked in his direction, mostly glaring.
"Nikola, please," said Helen.
"Of course, but I can do more than cuddle chipmunks," he stepped up to Gregory and firmly grasped his hand.
"Oh I'm sure some of your other talents may become of use in the future," Gregory said unwavering.
"Wait, does this mean we have to leave Oxford?" asked Nigel.
"No, just be ready when I need you," said Gregory, "My five, hands on deck."
They all smile and nod.
Nikola looked at Helen, she was smiling proudly at all of them but her gaze fell upon his momentarily and he smiled, slightly to himself.
"You must all keep this secret to the grave, tell no one what you saw, or about what you're going to see, from this day on, you are members of my sanctuary, the five of science!"
Gregory bowed and took his leave, leaving the five of them.
"The five of science?" Nikola raised an eyebrow.
"I think it's catchy, The Five, makes us sound like a team," said Nigel.
"We are a team now, a team dedicated to expanding our knowledge of the world around us, starting with these creatures," Helen smiled stretching out her hand.
"It's certainly an intriguing inquisition, I'm up for a challenge," said James putting his hand on top of hers.
Nigel nodded and placed his hand on top of James', so did John.
Nikola stared at them for a moment, mostly at Helen, looking for something, wordlessly.
"Come on man, are you going to join us, or are you not," said James.
Helen looked at him, tying to read what he was thinking.
He finally sighed.
"I always love an adventure, who knows all the trouble we could get into," he smiled at Helen and put his hand, gingerly on the top.
"Then it's settled, the five of us against the world."
~~~~Authors Notes~~~~
Sorry if this chapter felt sort of like Fellowship of the ring, I tried, I really tried not to make it cheesy but what can you do. Don't ask me what the string is about, I just wanted Nikola to be playing with a random piece of string.
I promise there will be no more chapters like this one, you can just hear the awe inspirational choir music in this chapter. Again, I'm sorry.
I'm playing on this notion that the only reason Nikola joined the Five was because of Helen, I don't know how, maybe he saw it as his chance to get super close to her, or something, but it makes sense.
Read and Review.