Realm of the Goddess (23 page)

“So he will keep sending his minions to do his dirty work until then? And we have no way of knowing where and when that will be.”

“At least your parents are back and we have the sword,” Nina said.

“Ben is still out there,” I said, the familiar guilt gnawing at my insides. I was so happy to have my parents back, but I couldn’t bear to think what was happening to Ben or if he was even still alive.

“We’ll find him, Callie,” Shiv said. I appreciated their attempts to make me feel better, but I knew there was a good chance I might never see Ben again.

After breakfast, we discussed the possible locations of Mahisha and where his people might be holding Ben. I went back upstairs after a while, quite discouraged.

Chapter Twenty-Two

It took a
few days, but slowly my mom began to regain some color and lucidity. She still didn’t talk about what the demons had done to her, and having experienced just a little of it myself, I didn’t want to press her for details. Things began to improve after that. She still had a long way to go, because quite often I would catch her staring off into the distance and I knew she was battling the demons in her mind. Nevertheless, she was here and I was grateful for that. My dad was getting better every day. He noticed how Shiv hovered over me, worrying about me, and that was enough for him. They began to spend a lot of time together and I went back to training with Aruna, who was slowly beginning to come out of her shell. A few days later a call came for me. It was Mr. Bhandal, the priest from the Kali temple. Shiv and I had given him our contact information in case he had some more news about my parents’ research.

“Mr. Bhandal, this is Callie. How are you?” I said, really curious about this call.

There was silence at the other end. I could hear someone’s labored breathing.

“Mr. Bhandal?”

“You must help me...please...they will kill me.”

“Who? Mr. Bhandal, who will kill you?” I felt a familiar wave of nausea as my stomach twisted into a knot.

“They want the sword...you have to come here...alone.” Then the line went dead.

My first impulse was to go to Shiv, but I caught myself in time. If I told him, there was no way he would let me out of his sight. He would have good reason not to. I knew I would be walking right into a trap. I went over all my options. One was to tell the others and go to the temple, armed and ready for battle. They would see us coming and kill the priest before we even got near. That was unacceptable. Or I could go by myself, save the priest and hopefully take out some of them in the process. I knew I was being overly confident, but I had no other choice. Obviously I was not letting anybody take the sword, so I would have to fight my way out. I sat for a while ruminating about my next step when an idea struck me. I could get the others to stay out of sight while I went in alone, and that way if things went south, I would have backup. Bolstered by what I thought was a great plan, I went to seek out the Rakshakari, who were scattered all over Uncle Suresh’s enormous bungalow. I should have talked to Dev or Nina first, because when Shiv heard what I had planned he went ballistic.

“Are you crazy?”

“No, Shiv, I am not crazy. Do you have a better idea?”

“Yes, I do. We all go in together and finish the son of a bitch off.”

“Well, that’s nice, but you’re forgetting one important detail. They’ll kill the priest.”

That seemed to shut him up for a moment. But only for a moment.

“Okay, so that would be bad. But you know what would be worse?” He paused. He could be so dramatic. “If you got killed. Or taken.”

“Are you done?”

He just looked at me.

“I know it’s risky. But I am not willing to let one more person get hurt because of me.”

Dev and Nina hadn’t said anything yet, probably because they were stunned at Shiv’s outburst.

“Shiv, calm down.” Nina’s stern voice had an instant reaction. Shiv sank back into his chair but glared at her defiantly.

“I like Callie’s plan,” she said.

“I agree,” Dev said. “We can’t risk them seeing us, but of course we cannot allow Callie to go there by herself.”

After our experiences on the island and then at the warehouse, I was convinced that Mahisha was still hiding out. The question was why.

“I don’t think Mahisha will be any danger yet,” I said. “If he had the strength he would have tried to finish me off himself instead of sending his people. There’s something else going on.”

“I’m inclined to agree with you, Callie,” Dev said. “My theory is that Mahisha underestimated you, and now that you have the sword he is desperate.”

“And that means he will get careless,” Nina added.

“Okay, so I will go in there with my sword and the
gada
. I’m assuming he will have his men there to protect him.”

“That’s very likely,” Nina said. “You will have to assess the situation. Your goal is to get the priest out safely and protect the sword.”

“That’s what he’s really after,” Dev said. “He thinks you are powerless without it.”

“Is he wrong?”

I couldn’t imagine what Mahisha would be like when he had his full strength, but if even the trinity couldn’t destroy him, then what exactly was I going to do without the sword?

“You must not forget that when he heard about Kali he felt fear,” Nina reminded me.

“It’s not just the sword, my dear,” Dev added. “Kali was incredibly powerful. When she went into a rage, everyone trembled with fear.”

I didn’t know what to say. Right now I just wanted to save Mr. Bhandal. I was the reason he was in danger, and I would get him out of it.

“So we know Burke will be with him. Probably a few others as well.”

“Yes, and once you’ve taken out as many as you can, we will come in,” Dev said.

“I can take the priest and keep him safe,” Aruna said.

“And I’ll make sure that Callie’s covered.” Shiv had finally stopped sulking.

“Okay, so let’s go,” I said, leading the way to the weapons room.

We geared up quickly and made our way to the temple in two vehicles. The driver of my car stopped by the main entrance while the others stopped a bit behind me, hidden from view by a tea stall. I waited for the driver to leave before going up the steps into the temple. As I entered the inner sanctum, my eyes had to adjust to the darkness. Nobody was there. I started to go toward Mr. Bhandal’s office when I heard a groan. I turned to see where it was coming from. I spied the priest propped up against a wall in a corner by the smaller statues. He was alone. My senses heightened, aware that this must be a trap. My pendant was getting warm, but that didn’t surprise me. They wouldn’t leave him here alone and make it so easy for me. I scanned the interior of the temple, but there was nobody else here. Cautiously, I moved closer to the priest. I wasn’t sure if he was conscious, because he wasn’t moving. When I reached him and bent down to touch him.

“Mr. Bhandal...it’s Callie. I’m here now.”

He stirred slightly and opened his eyes slowly. At first he said nothing but tried to focus his eyes on something. They fixed on something behind me. He lifted a hand weakly and pointed.

“You have the sword,” he said hoarsely. “You have Kali’s sword.” His eyes lit up briefly and his hand fell back to his side. I nodded, trying to assess his injuries at the same time, but I couldn’t see any bruises. The pendant was really hot now and glowing brightly. Something was very wrong. Then two things happened at once. Mr. Bhandal reached over my shoulder to touch the sword, which was securely strapped to my back. My pendant started to give off sparks. Mr. Bhandal was mouthing something, but before I could figure out what he was trying to say, the sparks grew stronger and Mr. Bhandal’s hand jerked back as soon as his fingers made contact with the hilt. I jumped back and froze.

Mr. Bhandal began to melt. Not melt, as in from the heat, but his skin was actually melting off his bones. It was disgusting, and I could do nothing but stare at him in horror. As the skin on his face fell away it revealed a sort of skeleton but with tissue and muscle in places and bare in others. Slowly, he stood up. I gasped in horror as the figure grew taller and taller, until it towered over me. I was no longer looking at the priest but rather some kind of amorphous figure, barely human.

Although most of the face had melted off, the eyeballs were still somehow dangling in their sockets. They were looking directly at me, and I was frozen in terror. My brain was beginning to realize what my eyes refused to believe. Somewhere from the recesses of my mind, a memory surfaced. Mahisha was a shape-shifter. Even in his weakened state he had somehow morphed himself into a likeness of the priest. My pendant was burning the skin in the hollow of my neck, and I unfroze. I stepped back and reached over to draw my sword from its sheath. I raised it high above my head, ready to strike, and just then someone grabbed me from behind and wrestled me to the ground. I looked up at my attacker. It was Burke. His lips were curled in a cruel smile and he produced a dagger. As he lifted his hand above his head, I suddenly felt him being lifted off me. Then I saw Shiv’s face. He had Burke by the scruff of his shirt and effortlessly flung him across the floor. The dagger he was planning to kill me with skittered along the concrete.

Shiv held out his hand to help me up. I turned to look at Mahisha, but all I saw was a shrivelled shape propped up against the wall. So that was it. The shape-shifting must have drained him of what little strength he had managed to scavenge over the years. Shiv looked at him in disbelief. My sword had fallen to the ground when Burke had attacked me. I picked it up and paused for a moment. It seemed so anti-climactic. Here was this supremely powerful demon of myth, and he didn’t even have the strength to pose a danger anymore. I looked behind me. The others had followed Shiv into the temple, and they all watched now as I raised my sword, ready to finish off Mahisha once and for all.

“Move a finger and I will kill him.” The voice rang out of the darkness of the temple and echoed off its walls. We all turned around. Burke stood by the statues, his arm around someone’s neck. I squinted in the dim light and gasped. Burke was holding his dagger at Ben’s throat.

“No...don’t hurt him,” I shouted, fear grabbing my insides.

“His life in exchange for my master’s.” I could see the insanity in Burke’s eyes. He pushed the blade of his dagger against Ben’s throat, and a few drops of blood slowly trickled down. Still I hesitated. I knew I would hate myself for this later. I had an opportunity to vanquish evil today. It would prevent boundless suffering; so many innocent people would live if I killed Mahisha now. But how would I live with myself? Knowing that I had sacrificed Ben. I looked at each of my friends’ faces. There was nothing there to help me. It had to be my choice. Deep inside I knew I’d already decided, but I had to be sure.

I turned back to face Mahisha, who was slumped motionlessly against the wall, his breath coming out as raspy grunts. I raised my sword...and let it fall to my side. Burke smiled in his condescending way, knowing he had won. It was almost enough to make me change my mind as he dragged Ben over to me, the blade of his dagger still precariously close to slicing the jugular vein. I held my breath as he knelt down beside his master, not letting go of Ben. He helped Mahisha up and mumbled something as he waved his hand over a spot on the wall. Suddenly the wall shimmered, as if it had liquefied. I looked on in shock as Burke released Ben, picked up Mahisha and walked right through the undulating wall. I ran to Ben, who had just crumpled to the concrete floor. He was barely conscious. I knelt down beside him and was about to help him up when Dev and Nina both cried out in unison.

“Shiv...no.”

I looked back just in time to see Shiv run through the wall behind Burke and Mahisha. I jumped and ran after him, screaming the whole time, not recognizing my own voice. I was there in seconds, but it was too late. I hit a solid wall, hard, and fell to the ground. I clawed at the brick, unwilling to believe what had just happened. Nina and Dev were beside me, pushing and prodding, trying desperately to find an opening. But it was gone. The portal or whatever it was had disappeared, and we had no way of knowing how to get it to open up again.

My fingers were bloody and my face was streaked with tears, and finally I collapsed on the floor. Nina was sobbing in Dev’s arms. Aruna tried to comfort them, but there was nothing she could say or do. For any of us. Shiv was gone. I had done this. I had made a choice, and now we were all going to pay for it.

After there were no more tears left, I stood up and went to Ben. He was beginning to stir. Dev and I wordlessly helped to carry him out of the temple to the car. Aruna held Nina as she sobbed uncontrollably the entire drive home. I had no words, no thoughts. I felt like an empty shell. I knew the pain and guilt would come, and it would haunt me, but right now I felt nothing. I would take Ben home and help him recover from whatever hell he’d been through. I would take care of my parents until they were better too.

And I would find Shiv. I would do whatever it took to bring him back home. One thing I knew for certain: this time there would be no mercy for Mahisha. Nothing would sway me. I would destroy him, even if it killed me.