Daughter of Kali- Awakening

by Shiulie Ghosh

  Chapter 9

  Darius told Em he'd take her home, so she'd be there when her folks got back in the morning.

  "You've got a car?" she asked, puzzled.

  "Sure. How do you expect me to find demons? On the bus?" he teased her.

  "When did you get a license?"

  "After I’d finished my Warrior training. We graduate at sixteen but then we have to do a year as an apprentice with a mentor."

  "So, you've only really been a Warrior for about a year?" I asked.

  "That's a long time for a Warrior," he said shortly.

  "What do you mean?" asked Em.

  "I mean, sometimes Warrior life-spans aren't that long. Don't worry," he said, seeing Em's face. "I don't intend to be demon-kill for a long time. Come on. You've got to see my car. She's sweet!"

  I watched as Darius took Em's arm and walked her outside. I heard a noise behind me and turned to see the Professor watching me.

  "How did you enjoy the jump?" he asked amiably.

  "Better the second time," I admitted. I pointed to the book Darius had left on the table. "The Library gave us that. It should have something on the orb in it."

  "Good, good." He cocked his head to one side. "And you? How are you holding up? You've had a lot of things to take in."

  "I'm okay. I think there's more I need to know though. Like, how come no-one at the Guild knows about me, if Mum was pregnant? It would have been obvious, wouldn't it?" The Professor clasped his hands together and peered at me.

  "Your mother left the Guild for a few years after your father died. She only found out she was pregnant after his death, and she didn't come back until you were two or three." His face took on a reminiscing expression. "You used to play in here, you know. We used to watch over you, Mrs Peters and I, while your mother went demon hunting. But then your mother decided this environment was bad for you, and she never brought you back. She was probably right." He sighed. "We did miss having you around though. You were a funny little thing, always exploring."

  "How did my father die?" I asked.

  "The usual, for a Warrior. A demon killed him. A Named One, in actual fact, the last time that a Named One had been seen here, until last night. Normally we only get the drones coming through. They're smaller than Named Ones, not as intelligent or powerful, but unfortunately there are a lot more of them. Thousands, probably."

  I nodded.

  "Thank you for telling me."

  I tried to feel sad about my Dad, but the truth was, I had never known him. I didn't feel enough of a connection to mourn him. All I had of him was a grainy photo, and a bunch of lies from Mum.

  I started to feel the slow burn of anger in the pit of my stomach, and swallowed it down. "Where's Mum?"

  "Downstairs in the combat room, training." He wheeled himself over to the desk. "If you'll excuse me, I'd better start having a look at the book, see if we can find anything."

  I contemplated going to see Mum, but I still had the folder from the Library stuffed inside my clothes, and I badly wanted to see what it said. I went upstairs back to the bedroom, avoiding the accusatory stare of the Kali statue.

  The folder contained a photo of a child that looked so like me when I was young, I had to read the caption to make sure it wasn't.

  ‘Child, female, approximately six years old, unknown parentage, recruited in Mumbai. Blood type: O+. Ethnicity: Indian. Religion: Hindu.’

  I skipped to the training reports that followed, with comments scribbled in by hand from nameless instructors. It was like a school report; 'Remarkable aptitude for training' said one. 'Prone to recklessness' said another. 'Excellent sword skills, but must evaluate situations more carefully' said a third.

  The most acerbic note was towards the end of the slim file, when Mum had reached fifteen. 'There is no doubt that Mari is one of the most gifted Warriors we have ever trained. However, her skills are severely undermined by her lack of respect for authority figures and her disregard for regulations.' I grinned. Mum hadn't been a star pupil, although she had been a good fighter. She had been apprenticed to an older Warrior. I squinted to make out the name.

  Sam Masters.

  My heart stopped. Sam. Was that my father? I read on. Sam and Mum had fought together for a year, until Mum’s training was complete. There were hand-written reports of 'contact', which I assume meant encounters with demons. These gradually gave way to type-written notes as the information became more recent. My eye was caught by an entry in red, when Mum was eighteen.

  ‘Named One reported. Warrior Mari dispatched. Ordered to wait for back-up. Order disregarded. Warrior successful in dispatching Named One.’

  Mum had tackled a Named One on her own when she was eighteen. She had faced disciplinary proceedings for failing to follow orders, but her handlers had successfully argued that since she had carried out her prime responsibility as a Warrior, she should be exonerated. Her handlers were listed as V. Peters and H. Danby. Mrs Peters and the Professor.

  Mari was sent back to work and there were no further sightings of Named Ones reported.

  A year later, the entries stopped. A single line noted her status as 'decommissioned'. There was nothing further.

  I stared at the folder, willing it to contain more details, more information. But there was nothing. No further mention of Sam, whoever he was.

  "This is useless!" I yelled, throwing the folder onto the floor. There was a small 'ping' and the folder vanished. I stared at the place it had been, before remembering what Darius had said. It was only a copy, and the Library had deleted it. I put my head in my hands.

  Something had happened between the time Mum had fought the Named One, and the point she'd left the Guild. I looked up as realisation hit me.

  Me. I had happened. Mum had got pregnant.

  "Right," I muttered to myself. "Right. It's time I found out everything." I went downstairs to look for Mum.

  The combat room was on the ground floor. There were mats on the ground and a wall full of weaponry. Mum was currently beating up a wooden dummy which was mounted on a rotating platform. I watched her for a while. The dummy swung round viciously fast, the ends of its flailing arms mounted with spikes and chains that cut through the air. Razor tipped spurs whipped past her legs. Mum ducked and weaved, looking for an opening. She saw her chance, and punched hard. The dummy flew off its mount and slammed into the wall.

  "I think you've broken it," I said.

  "Oh. How long have you been there?"

  "Long enough. I want answers."

  Mum walked towards me cautiously, as if she was afraid of upsetting me.

  "Okay. Ask."

  "You killed a Named One, and a year later you left the Guild. What happened?"

  "How did you...?"

  "WHAT HAPPENED?" I didn't mean to shout, but that's how it came out. Mum crossed her arms over her waist and stared at the ground.

  "Your father died."

  "Was my father Sam Masters? The Warrior you were apprenticed to?"

  "How..."

  "Just tell me!"

  Mum sighed.

  "Yes. It was Sam. He was a little older than me, but not much." She smiled mirthlessly. "Warriors don't tend to get old." She looked across at me, her eyes bleak. "The Guild didn't know about us. Warriors are discouraged from forming relationships. Even making a close friend is frowned on. Falling in love is forbidden. Sam and I kept it a secret. Then one day, Sam came up against a Named One. Only the second one in our lifetime. And it killed him. So I ran away, because I couldn't face going on without him.” She swallowed. “But then I discovered he'd left me with something precious. You."

  I nodded coldly, unmoved. "So you lied to me this whole time. Made up some stupid story about him being a soldier, a hero..."

  "He was a hero," Mum said sharply. "His mistake was trying to take on a Named One by himself. He thought he could do it, because I'd faced one a year earlier. But he was wrong. He died because of me."

  There was pain in her eyes, but r
ight at that minute I didn't care. I had no sympathy for someone who had kept things from me this whole time.

  "How did you kill it?" I asked bluntly. "I saw you with the one last night, Asghal. You were faster than it was, stronger. How can you kill Named Ones and others can't?"

  Mum looked down at her feet again and muttered something.

  "What?" I asked impatiently.

  "I didn't kill it." She looked at me. "That first one. I didn't kill it. I just let everyone think I'd killed it because that was easier than admitting the truth." She took a deep breath. "It beat me. It won. And it possessed me."

  I blinked.

  "Huh?"

  "It possessed me. Turned into some black smoky crap and went inside me. It was the most painful experience of my life. I thought I was dying. Christ, I begged to die. I felt every cell screaming..." she stopped.

  "But, you got exorcised, right?" I said. "Mrs Peters, the Professor, they got rid of it?"

  Mum shook her head slowly.

  "It's still here. In me. Dormant, paralysed, I don't know. But I know it's here because I can do things no-one else can. I'm stronger, faster, I can heal from wounds in minutes. The first time I realised I was super-powered, it freaked me out. But then I realised it made me a better killer. A better Warrior."

  "I don't believe you." I stared at her in horror. "It's not true! You're making this up!"

  "No, I'm not!" she shouted. "Look at me, Kaz! Look at me!"

  She looked me square in the face. And her eyes changed colour. One moment they were her normal dark brown, the next they were silver.

  As they changed, I saw the shadows come back, living tendrils curling around my vision, floating in front of me. And as they settled around my mother, I finally knew what they meant.

  I flew at her and slapped her as hard as I could. It was like hitting rock, but I didn't care. I howled at her, all my pain coming out in one bitter rush.

  "You let me think I was ill! You made me think I was going crazy!" I hit her again and again, and she let me. "I saw shadows all around you, and you took me to a doctor! And when the shadows came back I thought I was sick again! Did you know? Did you know I can sense demons?" I stopped, sobbing, my chest heaving, still screaming. "I saw the shadows over Miss Smith, and I saw them again last night at the factory. And I've seen them over you. How could you do that to me? How could you let me think I was mental, that I was a freak?”

  My strength ran out, and I stood, exhausted. Mum grabbed my hands and held them tight.

  "I didn't know. Kaz, you have to believe me, I didn't know about your visions. I thought they were my fault, that being here and around my work was affecting you." She put out a tentative arm, but I pulled back.

  "All this time," I said, too weary to shout. "All this time, I thought I was mad. Seeing things that weren't possible. I saw Miss Smith change into a monster. She looked dead, decaying, but she had evil inside her. I was terrified, Mum. I thought I was ill again."

  "Kaz, I'm so sorry. I have no right to ask you to forgive me, but I am sorry."

  Her eyes had gone back to brown, and like mine, were full of tears. But her grief left me cold. All the fear and uncertainty of the past few years, all the times I'd convinced myself I was sick in the head, all the times I thought I was imagining things, it all lay like a bottomless pit between us. I took a deep breath, trying to ease the vice around my heart.

  "Tell me everything. Who else knows about you?" I asked, more calmly.

  "Violet and Henry. But they don't know the extent of it. They think it was a failed possession, that the demon gave up and went away and my powers are a leftover symptom. They thought it best not to tell the Guild in case I'm not trusted anymore. You're the only one who knows the truth."

  "Who was the demon? Can you feel it inside you?"

  "I don't think..."

  "Tell me!" I shouted. "No more lies!"

  Mum swallowed and nodded.

  "Okay. The demon is one of the oldest on record. It's called Belzael. And it had silver eyes. That's why..." she gestured at her face. "That's why my eyes change."

  "Can you feel it living in you?"

  "No. It's silent. I only feel its strength."

  "But you're vulnerable to things that affect demons," I said matter-of-factly. "That hellfire Darius threw at the imps. That was affecting you too."

  "Hellfire feels cold to you. It's agony to me. Even at a distance." She paused and continued awkwardly, "I never meant to make you feel like you were going mad, Kaz. You're the most important thing to me in my life."

  I looked at her stonily.

  "It's not enough. I don't know if I can forgive you. You lied to me this whole time. But..." I paused, reaching a decision. "I'll keep your secret. I won't tell anyone about Belzael."

  She nodded.

  "Thank you. I'll accept that, for now. But I will make it up to you, Kaz. I promise." She touched her face where I'd hit her. A red handprint was slowly fading. "I deserved that. You're right to be angry."

  "I wanted to punch you, actually. But I'm not sure how."

  She cleared her throat.

  "Let me show you."

  "You want to show me how to punch you?"

  "You're the daughter of two Warriors. Sam would turn in his grave if he thought you couldn't punch properly. Here, like this."

  It was a truce, of sorts. Mum spent the next two hours showing me how to punch using my full body weight. How to pivot my hips and throw my shoulder behind it. Then other moves; how to take out an opponent's feet from under them. How to use my elbows and knees. And how to kick; front, side, and spinning back heel. I'm sure a psychiatrist would have a field day watching this, I thought, as I launched myself at Mum again and again. But as therapy, it was curiously effective.

  There was a cough from the doorway. Darius was back, watching us with frank curiosity as we sparred.

  "When you two have had enough quality time, Henry’s found something."

  The Professor was upstairs in the computer room with Mrs Peters.

  "What have you got?" Mum said, throwing a bottle of water to me and opening one herself.

  "We think the crystal orb Gasana was carrying is something referred to as the Demon Sphere," said the Professor. "According to the book, it was supposed to bring luck in battle, but as various armies including the Mughals, the Burmese and the Chinese discovered, it actually brought defeat. It got a name for itself as a cursed object when people around it began dying every time there was a full moon. Clearly the Guild didn't think it important enough to lock away, since it ended up in a museum."

  "It doesn't sound as bad as some of the other stuff we read about," said Em dubiously. "Why would the demons want it back?" Everyone looked blank.

  "The only thing that makes sense is that they've realised they need it for something," said Mrs Peters. "What do they need?"

  "What they've always needed," said Darius promptly. "A way into our world. And coincidentally, we've been knee deep in drones for weeks."

  "Right about the time the Sphere disappeared," said the Professor. "Is it possible the Sphere can create hellholes?”

  “It's the only explanation." Mum looked grim. “Remember Kaz’s mirror? That was no accident.”

  "I thought hellholes happened anyway?" I said. "I mean, demons have come through in the past, haven't they?"

  "Rarely. We're not sure what triggers them. There's some thought that it's due to specific events, but whatever it is, it doesn't happen often. Or at least, it didn't."

  "But how come you don't know? I mean, it was the Guild that opened up the prison dimension in the first place, wasn’t it?"

  "Yes, my dear, but then they threw away the key," said the Professor. "The secret of opening up gateways to other dimensions is lost to us. The only good news is that all the hellholes we've come across so far have been temporary."

  "What about the one in my mirror?"

  "I ran some tests on it. The energy readings were very low, it would have only
lasted a few more minutes if we hadn't forced it shut "

  "Okay, so let's assume the Sphere can open temporary hellholes on demand," said Darius. "What about the children who've gone missing recently? Is there a connection?"

  I'd forgotten about them. The Professor pulled up a series of what looked like police reports.

  "Five young people missing from in and around this area, including the two at your school," he said. "But so far no bodies have turned up, which is extremely unusual for demons."

  “We don’t know for sure the demons have taken them,” said Violet.

  “But it can’t just be a coincidence that a demon showed up at the same time,” I said. I was remembering Miss Smith’s speculative gaze over the students in her maths lesson. “I’m sure it’s connected.”

  "Only one thing for it," said Mum. She looked annoyed. "We're going to have to ask one of the Cleansed. Dammit."

  "Who are the Cleansed?" I asked.

  "Dribbling idiots."

  "Mari! Please! It's not their fault," said Mrs Peters. She turned to me. "The Cleansed are the ones we've successfully managed to exorcise. Unfortunately the experience leaves them a bit, erm, damaged." I noticed Darius behind her twirling his finger by his head and crossing his eyes. I stifled a grin.

  "You mean they've gone a bit bonkers," I said. Mrs Peters winced.

  "Let us say they are not easy in their minds. Many are unable to reconnect with their old lives. They end up homeless or in mental institutions."

  "So how do they help us if they're nuts?" I asked, deliberately trying to annoy Mrs Peters. She pursed her lips.

  "The experience of being briefly possessed sometimes gives them the ability to see where demons are. We, of course, will be searching for your Miss Smith. Whatever's going on, she's at the centre of it."

  "Trouble is, we often can't make head or tail of what they're saying," said Darius. "Because they're nuts," he added helpfully. Mrs Peters shook her head in exasperation.

  "You three can do some work. Go ask Michael, he's the closest."

  "I hate the Cleansed," muttered Mum.

  "Kaz and I will go," said Darius easily. "You go home, Mari. I'll make sure she's safe."