Royal Institute - Next Series Link on Page 1 - Page 7

What is your main attraction for Novels and Movies?

"Veer, kal raat mere cousin ki death hogayi!" Lier Lier Pants On Fire.. 🤣 🤣

I LOVE to analyse. HENCE, English HL! 🤣

'Kitne FUGLY shirts pehenta hai! Fugly ka matlab samajhti ho na?' 😆

I think I will fail EngHL ! 😆 I love analyzing novels -- not tragedies though -_- HAMLET! -__-

"Maine tumhe behave karne ko kahan tha!"
"Par woh toh office mein tha na? and now we're friends!" 😆 He is so cuteee!

'I don't mean ki tum har roz piyo you know? Devdaasi ban jaaogi'! 🤣

Outch! Suck for you, really! =/ The worst so far has been Crime & Punishment! Did that yet?

"Gujju boy lobster kha raha tha! Pet kharab nahi hoga?" Something like that! 😆

'Toh Punjaabi sahi hai?'

'Aur perfect galat?' 🤣

😆 Really? Thank yo so much! I will try to give Kiya a better role! =)

"You have to promise us!" I said, because honestly, that was all I could say. Kiya looked as if she could care less.

"Look! I get it all right. You don't like me, and I am not interested in your works either. I won't go around gossiping with Juhi!"

I wanted to tell her that she was being rude! Though she wasn't wrong about Juhi, let me make this clear, I love my sisters! But I didn't say anything. Panchi connected the watch I wore in my mom's office to her laptop. Thin wires were running down the floor, connecting to our Plasma Television.

I wasn't kidding when I said we are rich.

The picture popped up one by one. We went through things but ended up considering it of no use. Finally the last picture came up. My denim jeans framing it. No one spoke anything. Everybody knew.

"Wow, whose the hottie?" Exept Kiya. Everybody knew that my dad went off on a mission and never came back.

"Mr. Saxena." Panchi said.

"I know him! The other guy!" Kiya said. Nobody replied.

"My dad." I answered softly. And then nobody spoke. She didn't ask. No one does.

I got up and walked towards the bathroom. Trying to indulge myself into a daily routine. I brushed my teeth, washed my face and I was just combing my hair when I heard a gasp.

"Neesh! You've to see this!" Panchi said. I tied my hair into a quick ponytail and walked outside.

"What--" But my question hung in the air. Panchi had zoomed in the picture. And on the T-Shirt of Mr. Saxena and dad was name inscribed in bold fonts.

Ashvamedh.

"So, there is a school for boy."

"Special school." Panchi continued.

"For spies!" Gen completed. Who knew Juhi's irrational rumors can actually hold truth.

"Wow! So there was none before?" Kiya asked. I noticed she wasn't being sarcastic. She was genuinely questioning. So we told her the history of Royal. And over the night, Kiya finally stepped into the wall of our friendship.

The Royal building was huge. Besides the grounds, there were underground rooms and storages. There are three sublevels, each lower than another. But my favorite parts were the secret passages and dusty tunnels. So that night, I spent most of my awakened time sitting in one of those passages, crying for my dad.

The next day was very hard to keep our eyes open. Professor Sheikh went on about how countries react on invasions, while rest of us tried to keep our heads from falling.

Honestly, the whole tiredness was coming from last night. The four of us barely slept. (Kiya was up catching up with her subjects.) None of us could sleep after the discovery last night. (Did I tell you we have very strong evidence that there is a school for boy spies?)

It wasn't until Mr. Saxena poked his head inside the room, interrupting a pretty decent lecture that my brain turned active again.

"Pop quiz! On the ground in twenty minutes." He said before rushing away.

The atmosphere was chilly. Yet, none of us had jackets on. We are not super women who can endure cold, so I am speaking for entire 11^th grade Cove-Ops class when I say we were freezing. There were only seven students left in our class. Professor Mehta called in Riya Bhannot for something, so right now we were only six people in the class. Kiya was lacking behind, so until she catches up, she can't join CoveOps. She has to catch up fast, and fast will be an understatement in her case.

We moved towards the white van when it came around the field.

"Ladies!" Mr. Saxena's voice moved through the chilly winds. "Your ride's here."

I don't know about you, but living in a boarding school means good bye to luxuries. (Though our bedrooms and facilities say something else.) When you're a spy who is supposed to be hidden from the world, you don't ride huge vehicles. So I was pretty excited and surprised when I heard the rapturing blades of helicopter making loud noise, descending in our grounds.

"What you will learn today, ladies," Mr. Saxena begin as soon as we were all settled inside the warm helicopter. ", Is going to be harder then all your last tests." He said. "Until now you followed people, but now, people will follow you."

The first time I came to Royal, I thought it was the biggest building ever. I was five. Now twelve years later, I saw the building become smaller and smaller as the helicopter rose above the grounds. The town of Kishori came into the view.

"I don't know how many there are. But today you'll find them, and you'll deceive them." Mr. Saxena continued. Within a week, he had become my best, favorite and strictest teacher.

"So far, this will be your biggest test. It will tell you where you stand."

Then he grabbed black striped from the floor. Blindfolds.

"You will be wearing this for the moment we spend reaching to our destination." He said, as he tied the blindfold over my eyes.

Well, by moment he meant forty-seven minutes and seventeen seconds. We could have gone very far from the Institute, or we could have gone round and round and landed back twenty yards from our home. We don't know.

I could hear soft whispers from Panchi who was sitting across me, probably reciting over her memorized Advanced Encryption textbook. Besides me, Gen was snoring softly. (The girl could sleep anywhere!)

As we sat in the van that was waiting for s after our arrival, I saw the nervousness I felt on my friend's faces.

"Counter-surveillance has three functions. Ms. Sharma, name them." He fired as soon as we all sat down.

"Detect and evade surveillance procedures?" Shakshi said more like questioning then a direct quote from page thirty-seven of our textbook.

"It's a big world, but that doesn't mean it's any easier to hide. If you're going to stay in this class, you better learn to hide. Because only lucky one comes home." He said. Not looking at me at all. Rather at the blank screen on the van's wall. "Even if in a box."

My dad wasn't lucky. He never came home. Not even in a box. Tears tingled my eyes, and all I wanted to do was throw the door open and run away. I wanted to curl up and cry until no tears are left.

"Last year some of you proved you're good at not being seen when you don't wanna be seen." He looked directly at me. Yes. Last semester I kept myself hidden from eyes -- for a boy. "But this time you go from tailers to tailees. And ladies," I swear t god I could hear the hearts jumping as Mr. Saxena spoke with a low voice. "This time, it gets harder."

When I think about it, he was right. Last year we tailed a highly trained CA officer into a carnival. He was simply trying to enjoy a drink of Coco-Cola. But it was our assignment to find out what he drinks, without him seeing us. It was harder then it sounds. But bad guys always have odds in their favor. Especially when they are the ones following you.

"I don't know how many of them are out there. But if they are good -- you should assume they are very good. They can be anyone ladies. You have to use every trick you can muster to find them, and lose them and reach to this place by Six pm." He handed Panchi an envelope.

"And ladies," He said with his hand on the door, "if this operation hard," I don't think anyone was breathing. "It is supposed to be."

With that Mr. Saxena left and before we knew, he was gone. One by one we all stepped out of the car.

"It's a beach!" I whispered.

"Good!" Gen said behind me.

"Not that kind of beach!"

We were in Mumbai, seven hundred kilometer from home. How we reached here in less than an hour, was a mystery.

The place was busy with all kind of people. There were country's biggest businessmen to a beggar on the street. There were mother's carrying their babies around in a wheel chair, and laughing along their husbands. There were teenagers hanging around, joking and eating at food stalls. There were old men wiping the sweat of as they took pictures of the famous Gateway of India and there were more people who couldn't have been more ordinary, or more out of place. It was like they all belonged; yet no one truly resided here. All I could think was, oh, Mr. Saxena is good!

Panchi opened here envelope beside me. There was a picture of bronze idol of dancing Krishna that I have come to recognize so well. Under the pictures were words so nicely written in Mr. Saxena's handwriting.

There is no place like home.

6:00 PM

Part 2

The idol was in the Prince of Wales museum. The museum was towards the south and close. Getting there was the easiest thing, but getting there without a tail is going to be one heck of a job.

"Ooh! He is cute!" Gen said as she crossed the pedestrian street, her eyes glancing at the boys sitting on a bench twenty feet away. I was standing by the ocean's railing, avoiding the photographers. I was so glad Kiya wasn't here, she did be busted in a moment. After all, she was once stopped on a street by the director of Vogue India and asked to be on their cover. She was that beautiful, even without makeup.

"I am going to fail this class. It is so hard!" Panchi said. Well honestly, I think she will drop sooner or later. Panchi belonged in science laboratory -- which is one place I am never going to survive for longer than Dr. Bhatia's class.

"Panchi, you will be fine." I muttered. I turned towards the gate and walked through it staying by the wall. Gen bumped in me.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking!" She apologized in a normal voice. That was the biggest lie, she was looking -- at everything. I smiled and nodded.

I walked over to one of the ice-cream stalls, and bought myself a choco-bar. The sun was so bright above my head and its been fifty minutes, yet we have found no trail. We are terrible at this!

A woman walked past me towards a photographer. She was wearing high heels and a beautiful dress. Her hair was flowing down to her waist. There was nothing wrong about her. Just that exactly forty minutes ago, she was wearing a jogging suit, and pushing a baby's stroller.

"Operatives." I said as calmly as possible, taking a bite from my ice-cream bar.

"We see her." Panchi replied. I glanced around and saw Shakshi and Panchi sitting on a railing, eating Dairy-milk. I wonder where my other friends are.

It was about five in the evening when I finally lost my final trail. (At one point, Gen almost talked us into crawling out of a restaurant's window. But a cleaner walked in and we dropped the plan.) I jumped over the backside of the terrace of a hotel and ran off towards the railway station. We decided to split. We will reach our destinations, just from different directions. Just incase we missed a trail.

I planned out a map. I went into the Westside shopping center. I noticed a group of schoolgirls who had almost same uniform as mine. My friends had gone dead on my radio-com-unit. Most of the time, it's not a good sign.

"I love your bracelate!" I said to a girl beside me. Strangers with compliments seem safer than strangers with candies.

"Thanks!" She said, and then frowned a little. "Are you in the same tour group?"

"Of course! National Science League." I replied. I had read the badge a minute ago.

As soon as we reached the fourth floor, I slipped through the crowd and made my way to the elevator. I was about to press the button but some other hand beat me to it. I turned to look at a boy with dark hair. I realized he was one of the boys from the bench that morning.

"Hey!" He said, doing a half nod that every boy seems to do. Well, by every, I mean Kartik.

"Hi!" I replied, because I am trained to be well mannered. I pressed the button again, hoping the elevator would come faster. When we finally got inside the elevator, he leaned against the railing. He had stunning dark brown eyes, broad shoulders and he was tall. About five eight. His hair weren't gelled up like Kartik always head, instead this guy let his hair fall over his forehead. If I admit it, he looked cute. Very cute, but I am not about to admit it.

"So, Royal Academy?" He asked, pointing towards the crest on my shirt.

"Institute." I corrected him.

"Do they call you princesses there?" He asked. A very weird question indeed. I shrugged.

"Never heard of it!" He said. Well, that was kind of the point of my school, but I didn't say so.

"Well, that's my school." The elevator seemed to get slower and slower. I could hear the clock ticking in my head. Because wherever we are, we always know the time. Even when we wake up, we know the time by seconds.

"You in hurry or something?

"Actually, I have to meet my teacher at Prince Walas Musuem in ten minutes, and I am kind of late. He will kill me!" I said. Not a lie, but an exaggeration -- I hope!)

"How do you know?"

"Because he told me, meet me at Prince Wales Museum!"

"No!" He shook his head laughing. "How do you know you only have twenty minutes? You're not wearing a watch."

"My friend just told me." I replied. The lie was smooth and easy, and I was proud and happy that I don't have to think about how he noticed something Kartik hadn't noticed in six months.

"You fidget a lot!" Make that two things Kartik hadn't noticed.

"I have low blood sugar." I lied for the third time. "I need to eat something." Not a lie.

"You can have some, I already ate enough." He pulled out a huge packet of gems. I was very tempted to take it, but what did I say about strangers with candies?

"Um, that's okay. Thank though!" I said. He shoved the candy back in his pocket with a shrug.

As soon as the elevator stopped I walked away towards the south door as soon as possible. But I wasn't done yet. I was being followed! But not in a covert sense.

"Where are you going?" I spun on him.

"I thought we were going to meet your teacher at Prince Wales." He said.

"We?"

"Yeah, am going with you."

"No you're not!" I snapped, because a) Last year a guy came to protect me and almost ran over Dr. Bhatia with a jeep during midterm exam! And b) I am sure bringing a candy-boy to a clandestine rendezvous isn't an instruction in CIA book.

"Look, it's dark. And you're in Mumbai!" Oh my gosh! It's like he had grandma on speed-dial or something! "And you only have fifteen minutes."

He was wrong by forty seconds, but I didn't say so. I turned and started walking out the door.

"You walk really fast!" He said, jogging up to match my pace. "Do, do you have a name?"

"Sure, lots of them."

That was probably the truest thing I told him. The boy just smiled at me as if I was funny and cute. Which let me tell you, I was not! I was running around the city all day in the hot summer. My hair and clothes were a mess from climbing through narrow spaces.

The wind blew in my face, and even at the end of summer, I felt coldness wrap around me.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

By now I was sure he was flirting with me. I have learned a lot about boys ever sine the aforementioned boy tragedy. So I stopped and turned to him. "Look, thanks for all the chivalry and all, but I can handle it myself. It's just around the corner." I said. "And there is a police officer."

"What?" He asked, looking from me to the police officer standing ten feet away. "You think that guy can do better job at protecting you then me?"

Honestly, I thought Panchi can do better job at protecting me than him. But I didn't say so. "If you don't leave me alone, I will scream and he will arrest you."

Somehow he understood it was a joke. He slid his hands in his pockets, and slowly walked back, a grin never leaving his face. When he was finally gone from around the corner, I made a run for the museum. I only had five minutes.

I finally reached the Krishna idol, to find no one there.

"You're four seconds late." I heard Mr. Saxena behind me. My favorite teacher.

"But, I am alone." I replied, my voice still heavy from running.

"No Ms. Rai, you're not." He said.

Then the boy from the elevator, the boy from the bench stepped out of the shadows.

Looking at me.

Smiling at me.

"Hey again, Royal Girl!" He said, winking at me.

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