Hadrian's Wall (52 page)

The guys in yellow had started collecting
the beverages brought by the freshmen. In exchange, the freshmen
received a kind of pass. Ahead was a narrow path that disappeared
into the trees. Other guys in yellow were checking the passes
presented by the freshmen lined up in front of them.

I heard a click behind me.
I turned in time to see Dwayne and David lifting a Styrofoam cooler
from the rear compartment of Dwayne’s 4x4. They carried the box to
the yellow-shirted staff members and waited their turn to get our
passes.

“What does ‘F.E.’ mean?” I
asked Delilah.

“What?” She looked at me, confused.

I pointed to the yellow shirts of the
staff.

A glimmer of understanding came into her
eyes.

“Oh...it means
‘
Fraternity
of the
Empirical’—in honor of Marcellus Empiricus, a renowned scholar of
Celtic origin. It’s the oldest fraternity of UWall, but it’s not
the only one.” Delilah began counting on her fingers. “We still
have the Ogham, which in the Celtic language means “alphabet of the
trees”; the Massalia, in honor of the renown center of learning of
the ancient Celts; the Asiatic League Emma-o, which consists of a
directory of its own and three other smaller fraternities; and the
Mother Goddess, in honor of the greater goddess of Celtic
mythology. Ogham and the Mother Goddess are both female
fraternities and coordinate the activities of two specific sectors
of the university. The Ogham is responsible for organizing the
university library and the Mother Goddess promotes the cultural and
artistic events, as well as streamlining aid to students who come
from afar.”

“Wow, Delilah! You’re a
regular encyclopedia!”

We both laughed, but there
was seriousness in her voice when she said, “In terms of what
happens in Hadrian’s Wall, I really am.”

I stopped laughing, transfixed by a strange
feeling.

“Why?”

Delilah didn’t pretend that
she didn’t understand.

“It has to do with the dark clothes you
wear, right?” I insisted.

She laughed without humor.
“You might say so, but not the way you’re thinking.”

“And what am I thinking?”

If she answered me, I
didn’t know because David chose that moment to join us.

“The last passes were distributed and no
freeloaders will be allowed in.” He rubbed his hands cheerfully.
“We must go there to hear the instructions.”

“
Why?”
I asked, confused.

He shrugged.

“Verano’s parties are
always full of rituals and mysteries.”

A movement among the other
freshmen caught our attention and the conversation stopped there.
Intrigued, I watched car owners begin to hand over the keys to the
guys in yellow. Some went running back to their own cars, hastily
pulling off T-shirts and shoes. Some guys in yellow overtook them
to demand the car’s keys. Meanwhile, others in yellow had already
started the engine and drove the cars out of the clearing, leaving
many owners standing there looking stunned.

I spun on my heels and saw Dwayne cornered
by two guys in yellow. He was reluctant to hand over the keys to
his 4x4. I approached cautiously to better hear the discussion.

“Why do I have to take off my clothes and
hand over my car keys to you?” Dwayne asked, visibly irritated.

One of the boys smiled ironically.

“Rules are
rules
, freshman.”

“But you’ve always
announced the rules in advance. What’s this now? What do you want,
guys—
that we jump in the dark?”

One of the guys started to
laugh as if Dwayne had told a very funny joke.
Soon the two in yellow were laughing. By the look on Dwayne’s
face, I knew he felt like a dweeb.

“Almost...”
The guy who seemed to be leading the group of
yellow shirts finally answered. “If it’s any consolation to you,
man, be aware that Joe changed a few of our rules
when he heard that we would have
one...special...guest
.”

Dwayne narrowed his eyes, turned to us, and
then turned to them again.

“Anyway, you’re already in
the game,” the young man insisted. His frown disappeared. “Can’t go
back now.”

Another guy in yellow gestured to us to
follow him to the trail.

With an exasperated sigh, Dwayne began to
take off his shoes. He tied his shoelaces together and hung his
shoes around his neck. He stood up, took off his cap, turned it
inside out and placed his sunglasses and car keys in it. The others
were following his example.

I stood still, watching.
Upon seeing Delilah untie her beach wrap, I panicked! What should I
do now? Should strip down to panties and bra?
No way!

“What’s happening here? I
don’t have a good feeling about this.”

Delilah heard me and
replied, “Bullshit, you’ll have fun.”

I hate parties. They’re
never enjoyable for me. Like a flash, I remembered the last time I
attended the one with the “Hypothetical Carmen” and her
“Hypothetical Boyfriend” and my “Hypothetical Blind Date.”
Oh, don’t forget the “Hypothetical Simon Creed”
too
. I remembered the school parties as
well...how I
avoided
every social event like the devil runs away from the cross or
the vampire from the garlic. Every time I couldn’t escape, it
always ended badly.
Oh, now I see. You
have a phobia of parties. Come on, spoiled girl!

The supposed leader of the
yellow-shirt guys sent someone to collect our belongings. The guy
looked pleased when he saw the girls’ swimsuits, but not so when he
saw my pants and T-shirt. He gave Dwayne a pat on the back and
said, “Rest assured, Preston. Your car will arrive safely at the
other side of the lake.”

Before any of us could ask
why they were taking the cars away, we were led to the other side
of the clearing where two fraternity guys waited to collect the
latecomers’ passes.

I caught the two guys
exchanging a brief glance when it was my turn to pass. At that
moment I thought it was because I was still wearing my clothes, but
then I heard one of them mention the name “Cahill.”

Am I hallucinating? Did I
just imagine they said that name?
Well,
there was some truth in the hallucinations of Mel Gibson in
Conspiracy Theory
. The
possibility that there was truth in my madness began to seem more
and more concrete in my head, especially when I spied a group of
pale, silent people gathered near the trail head. They were very
quiet compared to the freshmen. They didn’t seem to be in a hurry
to join the rest of the people.

One of them looked directly
at me. I looked away, feeling uncomfortable, but my curiosity
compelled me to look at him. Suddenly, the whole group was staring
at me. I could swear that their eyes sparkled behind their
sunglasses. The guy who looked at me moved his lips. Without taking
his eyes off me, he seemed to be telling others, “It’s
her.”

I took a deep breath and
then got behind Delilah as we followed the others along the narrow
path. We had to watch where we were stepping because some stones
made the going a little rough. The path wasn’t steep. It was
actually pretty straight, except for a few curves.

Even though walking was
easy, I couldn’t walk fast. The guys didn’t notice. They kept
moving forward with enthusiasm, while I was slowing down, already
breathless. Delilah saw Abby farther ahead, next to Dwayne, and she
ran to catch up them. Other people walked around me and disappeared
as the path curved. I realized I was alone on the trail. I breathed
deeply and stopped to rest. We hadn’t walked very far, but I hadn’t
had much physical exercise during my hospital stay. What a shame! I
felt like I was ninety years old.

Suddenly, a
rustle of leaves startled me. I didn’t go closer
like the protagonist of my latest fantasy about the Forest
Green-Screen would have done, nor did I ask “Who’s there?” I looked
at the shadow hidden amongst the trees and felt a renewed wave
of
terror
come
over me, as if hostile vibrations emanating from precisely that
unseen point in the woods—“unseen” in quotation marks, since
apparently it was advancing towards me, leaving behind swaying
branches and falling leaves.

For a fleeting
second,
the figure
stood out from the green leaves and the shadows between the
logs. My muscles immediately tensed. I thought I saw a pair of
sparkling yellow eyes looking at me. I blinked, but the eyes didn’t
disappear like a “well-behaved” hallucination would do.

I heard
a low growl coming from the creature. It sounded like a
buzzing bee—very odd! The figure moved and began to advance
straight toward me, moving very fast, and then just as fast, it
stopped again, as if seized by sudden tension. Then I saw the
leaves of trees swaying farther away as it rapidly retreated and
muffled sounds of pursuit. I stepped back so fast that I collided
with someone behind me.

“Hey, watch out!” The voice was that of
David Martin.

He held me firmly by the elbow to preventing
me from falling.

For the rest of the way, I
didn’t see or hear anything strange. Silence reigned. I don’t know
if David’s presence inhibited my hallucination, if that’s what it
was. Anyway, I was grateful to him for accompanying me the rest of
the way.

* * *

When the trees became less dense, I realized
that we were approaching our final destination. The sound of
laughter could be heard beyond the trail, which abruptly ended near
a large rock. At first glance, it looked like it had been carved,
but upon closer inspection, I concluded that its rounded contours
were natural. All of the freshmen and the yellow shirt guys were
there.

“We’re at the top of the
‘cranium’ of the skull,” David whispered in my ear.

The cliff was approximately the height of a
three-story building.

“More or less,” David
confirmed when I asked him. “It’s not dangerous. Many people come
here to jump in the lake or to practice sport climbing.
I just don’t understand what
Verano intends to do.”

Delilah came out of nowhere, leaving behind
a stunned Abby.

“Where were you?” she asked me. Her tone
sounded critical.

Upset, Abby looked at us and then walked
away without saying a word.

I didn’t answer Delilah’s
question since it was obvious that I could not have been anywhere
else but on the trail. I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the
back of my hand and walked around the edge of the rock.

Damn! It was windy here.
At first it felt good because it provided relief from the heat, but
soon I began to shiver. However, the view was worth the discomfort.
The lake shimmered with the last rays of the
sun—
the light was dispersing in tiny dots
into the blue water
, glistening like
thousands of sequins scattered on black velvet. Ethereal beams of
light seemed to float on the surface.

Laughter and music drew my
eyes to the lake shore. Facing the “skull” was a sandy beach formed
where the opposite shores of the lake narrowed, bordered by rocks
and underbrush. Many people were dancing, some were sitting and
talking, and others were swimming in the lake, playing with the
buoy and a rubber raft. The music was provided by a DJ whose
equipment was installed in the rear of a van. Farther back, I could
see logs being arranged for tonight’s campfire. Several cars were
parked nearby, including Dwayne’s 4x4.

“Over there, guys, see the winners!” said a
dramatic-sounding voice behind us.

I turned on my heels in time to notice the
approach of a young man with a shaved head, a goatee, and the
tattoo of a sword on his right arm.

“Joe Verano,” Delilah said.
She didn’t have to tell me. I’d already guessed.

Although his comment was intended for
everybody, he glanced at me.

“To get into the party, you have to do what
they did—jump.”

“Come on, is this some kind of ritual?”
Nikos asked. I noticed that Sally was with him. She shook her head,
looking worried.

“You can say ‘yes,’
freshman!” Verano replied, staring at Nikos.

Not far from us, Abby
covered her mouth with both hands and threw herself into Dwayne’s
arms. He, in turn, faced Verano.

It turned out that Joe
Verano didn’t seem to care about the distress he was causing. He
just gave us a playful smile. “No courage?”

As if to demonstrate what should be done,
two of the guys in yellow rushed to the platform and then uttering
war cries, jumped into the lake. I held my breath as I watched them
plummet toward the water. I felt nervous beads of sweat make their
way down my forehead and seep into my eyes, causing them to sting.
If the demonstration was intended to make us less afraid, the
effect on me was just the opposite. I was terrified. I watched the
two men fall until their yellow T-shirts disappeared into the
sparkling waters. Those few seconds before they emerged screaming
and waving at us seemed like an eternity. As they swam toward the
party on the other side, Verano turned to us.

“See guys, it’s not so
difficult. We do this all the time here, but you aren’t from Maine,
you’re from way off!” He shrugged and pointed to the lake. “Anyway,
that’s the only way you can get into my party.”