Realm of the Goddess (22 page)

“Burke got away,” Shiv finally said. The rest of us stood silently. There was really nothing to say. But then Dev spoke up.

“At least we’re rid of these two. They’ve been the bane of my existence for quite some time now.” Nina put her arm on his and he leaned back into her. I wanted to ask what he meant exactly, but I knew I would have to wait until later.

“We have to find my parents,” I said, walking slowly to the door. “And my weapons.”

I was still unsure on my feet, and using the firepower had left me feeling even more drained. Shiv was by my side in an instant, supporting me as we all filed into the hallway.

Chapter Twenty-One

It was deserted
, but light streamed in from a door at the end of the hallway. Above it was a red exit sign flickering in the distance. The carpet was worn and the smell of sweat and stale spices made me gag. It was an old building, by the looks of the peeling paint on the walls. There were several doors on either side of us, but there was no light or sound coming from any of them. We all opened doors as we passed them, checking for any signs that my parents may have been in there. Then we heard a shout from one of the rooms up ahead that Aruna had entered. We all rushed to it. My heartbeat quickened in anticipation, but then as I reached the doorway I realized that it was the one I was being held in earlier. I followed the others in and scanned the room. Aruna was standing in a corner, triumphantly holding my dagger. It must have been here the whole time.

“The sword’s here too,” Nina called out, pointing toward the bed. I got down to reach underneath, and sure enough, there was my sword. I pulled it out and sighed with relief. I knew my pendant was probably here too. They must have taken it off while I was unconscious. It would have been glowing like crazy. I checked the bed, but it was bare, no sheets or pillows. Shiv picked up the thin mattress and there, stuck in a corner of the metal frame, was my skull pendant. He picked it up and handed it to me.

“Okay, time to find your parents,” Dev said as we all left the room.

We had almost reached the end of the long hallway when I noticed a faint light leaking out from under one of the doors close to the exit. I ran toward it and the others followed.

I scanned the room as soon as I entered. There was no bed here or any other furniture. But then...in a corner on the floor two figures were huddled together. My body was throbbing with more pain than I had ever felt before, but it was nothing compared to the relief and joy that coursed through me right now. My parents were here, and they were alive. But barely. I ran to them, collapsing on the floor beside them, and my heart broke. My mother’s beautiful face was battered and bruised, her eyes vacant as she stared at something only she could see. My father, his handsome rugged face crisscrossed with cuts, seemed to be more lucid. His eyes showed signs of recognition when he saw my face in front of him.

I had to fight the urge to break down and I knew that I could not show any weakness. The bruises on their faces were already bluish-green, which meant that they must be at least a few days old. I shuddered at the thought of what they must have endured. I began to speak to my father gently, almost crooning. I needed him to know that they were safe now and that I would allow nothing to hurt them again. Ever. After a few tries he responded. He moved his hand slowly and put it softly over mine. It felt weightless. I looked down and saw how frail it was, the skin hanging loosely over the bones. I took it in both of mine and looked him in the eyes again.

“Daddy, it’s me...Callie. You’re safe now.” I could barely say the words without choking on my tears.

“Callie...Callie, I’m sorry...”

“Daddy, no...you have nothing to be sorry for.” I was trying desperately not to cry, but the tears started coming anyway, falling on his hand and mine.

“Your mom...I tried to stop them...” The rest of his words were lost as he broke down in sobs so hard, they wracked his whole body. The others stood back, sensing my need to have this moment with my parents. But then Dev stepped forward and spoke gently to me.

“Callie, we need to get them out of here. It’s not safe.” I nodded, tears still running down my face. I stood up as Shiv and Aruna helped my mom, while Nina and Dev supported my father as he rose unsteadily to his feet. We made our way out of the building to the front of the warehouse complex. It was dark outside and a little cooler than when we had arrived here this morning. The place was deserted, but farther out on the street there was the usual busy traffic. Kolkata never really slept. We went to our vehicles and carefully deposited my parents in one. I got in the back seat with them while Dev drove. Shiv, Nina and Aruna went in the other car.

After we reached the house, Uncle Suresh called his doctor to come and treat my parents’ injuries. We were all checked out too, but other than a few bruises and cuts, we were fine. My dad was malnourished and had a couple of minor fractures in various stages of healing. But it was my mom who had taken the brunt of the torture. Dev and I had experienced first-hand the demon’s special power of causing mental anguish, so I was convinced that if the Rakshakari hadn’t come when they did, I would have been in the same state as my mother, who was almost comatose. I couldn’t bear to see her like this, but I did not want to leave her side. I stroked her hair gently as she slept. Shiv came in and sat with me for a while. We didn’t talk but it was comforting just to be with him. Nina came in to try and coax me into eating, but I had no appetite. I wanted to be there when she woke up, just so I could tell her that I would never let anything bad happen to her again. My dad slept for a long time then woke up and ate a little before going back to sleep again. A little bit of color returned to his face, but I still didn’t want to burden him with the million questions I had rattling around in my head. I slept on the floor of their room that night, in case they woke up and needed something. I was deeply touched when Aruna spread out a mat for herself and wordlessly joined me. I was exhausted, and knowing she was with me allowed me to close my eyes for a bit and get some much-needed rest.

I woke up at the crack of dawn to see Aruna bent over my mother, wiping her face with a washcloth. I got up quickly to take over, but she just shook her head.

“Let me do this please, Callie,” she said, as she tenderly dried my mother’s face with a towel. “You go and be with your dad.”

I squeezed her shoulder gratefully and went to sit at my father’s side. He stirred as I watched him, the shadows under his eyes deepened by the dim light that streamed in through the thick curtains. His eyelids fluttered open and he smiled when he saw me.

“Callie,” he said, his voice raspy and weak. “You were here all night, weren’t you?”

I nodded, tears filling my eyes once again as I reached for his hand. He struggled to sit up, so I helped him.

“Callie...you must have a lot of questions,” he began, but I didn’t want him to worry about anything right now.

“Daddy, it’s okay,” I reassured him gently. “We can talk about it later.”

He shook his head. “I need to tell you...I should have told you a long time ago.” When I said nothing, he continued.

“I was an orphan...many years ago here in Kolkata. One day an older couple came to the orphanage and adopted me. They saw the mark on my neck.” My mind was reeling with disbelief. I’d never noticed a mark like that on his neck. But then again, I never knew to look for anything like that. “They took me in and I attended the Rakshakari Academy here,” he continued. “I was five years old and I began to train.”

“At that age?” I couldn’t imagine how he must have felt. He nodded.

“My parents were Rakshakari, of course, so when they realized that I had a power they were overjoyed.”

“How old were you when you got your power? Were you scared at first?” I tried to stop myself from firing questions at him, but it was too difficult. My dad had this whole other life that I knew nothing about.

“I was seven, so yes, I was terrified the first time I went into someone’s dream. I had no idea what was happening.” He started to cough and his whole body shook with the effort. I immediately felt guilty. He needed to rest, and here I was pestering him. I picked up a glass of water from the nightstand and held it to his mouth. Slowly he took a few sips and then leaned back against the headboard.

“Daddy, get some rest. We can talk later,” I said, stroking his hair. I looked over to my mother and realized that Aruna had left. She must have wanted to give us privacy. My mother was still asleep. My dad began to tell me more.

“So, after the initial shock, I realized I could get people to do things by going into their dreams.” He smiled wryly. “It was a good thing that my parents caught on quickly, otherwise things could have gone very wrong. They immediately consulted other oneiric manipulators, who taught me how to control my powers and use them against demons instead of unsuspecting friends and teachers.”

I smiled at the thought of my dad getting into trouble as a young boy. It was so crazy that he had this cool power and I had lived with him my whole life without even an inkling.

“When I got older and my power became stronger, I was able to manipulate demons into destroying each other. It didn’t work on all demons. Some were more powerful than others and were able to resist me. The more powerful the demon, the more it took out of me. Sometimes it took days for me to recover. I would be weak and vulnerable. Over time, news of my power spread, and by the time I met your mother, there were many in the demon world who wanted me dead.”

“Did Mom know who you were when she married you?” I tried to picture her, young and in love with a man who was destined for a higher cause.

“When we first met, I was too afraid to tell her. She sensed something different about me, but it only made her love me more. When I finally told her, she wasn’t all that surprised. But then you know what Mom’s like. She’s always been fascinated by the strangest things.”

This was true. My mother was a woman who was open to many ideas, even those that others might dismiss as fantasy. It made so much more sense to me now, why she had chosen to study mythology. As I watched my dad, he seemed to be perking up more and more as he spoke about his past. He was probably relieved to get the secrets off his chest.

“We’d been married for about a year when it happened the first time,” he continued.

“What happened?”

“A demon tried to kill your mother. I came home just in time to stop him from tearing her apart. It was a Makra demon. Have you learned about them yet?”

I nodded. Mr. Perkins’ lectures were still pretty fresh in my mind. Makra demons were like spiders. They had legs that attached to their victim’s bodies before ripping off their limbs. I shuddered to think that my mother had come close to dying at the hands of one of them.

“Anyway, I was able to destroy it, but one thing became very clear to me. I would not continue to put your mother in danger. The thought of losing her was not something I could live with.”

Even now the fear was evident on his face. I knew exactly how he felt. The thought that I had almost lost them both was too much to bear.

“After that I decided I would leave that life behind. I had always wanted to meet my mother’s family in Seattle. So my mother made the arrangements and we were on our way there to start a new life. I went to the University of Washington to get my Master’s degree. I wanted to teach, but then a couple of years later my father died and we came back to take care of my mother. Soon after that you were born, and since I had left my old life behind, things seemed to be fine. There were no attacks or threats and we were happy.”

Until I started having the nightmares. My father didn’t actually say the words, but he didn’t need to. I knew the events all too well. We sat in silence for a while.

“Why me, Daddy?” I asked, finally giving voice to something I’d been too ashamed to say to anyone until now.

He squeezed my hand and smiled, his eyes crinkling in the corners.

“I don’t know, sweetheart. I used to ask myself the same question after I was adopted. I used to wonder why I couldn’t just play outside like the other children. I had to learn how to fight and go to school every day with bruises. One day I just couldn’t take it anymore. Some kid at school said that my parents were bad people because they beat me. I ran home crying because I was angry at the boy, angry with my parents for adopting me, angry at the world. But when I got home my mom was there and she told me I was a chosen one. That there were only a few people in the world who were worthy of such a destiny.”

My eyes had filled up again, this time for the little boy who just wanted to be like everyone else.

“Callie, you too are a chosen one. You too are worthy of this destiny. You will be the one to bring down evil and restore faith in people.” He took my hand in his and squeezed it. Then with a sigh he shut his eyes. I raised his hand to my lips and kissed it softly. Then I carefully put it down and stood up. Taking one last look at my sleeping mother, I quietly left the room and went downstairs. Aruna met me on the way and said she would go and watch over my parents while I took a break. I went in to the dining room and saw the others already there. They seemed relieved to see me. I was ravenous and piled my plate high with food. While we ate, Dev announced that we needed to strategize for the next attack. Now that we had vanquished Mahisha’s top lieutenants it wouldn’t be long before he made an appearance.

“I don’t understand why he hasn’t tried to kill me himself,” I said between mouthfuls of scrambled egg.

“Mahisha suffered grave injuries the last time you...Kali fought against him,” Dev said.

“But that was five thousand years ago. Shouldn’t he have healed by now?”

“You have to remember that Mahisha received his boon after a thousand years of penance and piety. After the atrocities he committed, the gods would never grant him anything again.”

“He must have found some other way to regain his powers. The only explanation I have for his absence so far is that he is just not strong enough,” Shiv said.