Daughter of Kali- Awakening

by Shiulie Ghosh

"I have to find her," I said in a small voice. "I said some things to her... I have to tell her I didn't mean them."

  "Oh Kaz, she'll know." Em pressed her lips to my head, and got up. "I'm going to have another go at the locater. Get some rest."

  But I couldn’t. I lay on the bed, dry-eyed, staring at the ceiling. In my mind I replayed over and over the things I'd said to Mum. I'd called her a liar, and I said that I'd never forgive her.

  The guilt tightened its grip on my heart, until I thought I wouldn't be able to breathe properly ever again.

  Chapter 14

  At some point I managed to get some sleep, and this time, thankfully, I didn't dream. When I got up, it was late afternoon and I realised I was starving. I showered and changed before heading downstairs.

  Everyone was in the kitchen looking glum. There was some leftover pizza on the table, and I grabbed a piece gratefully. Darius waved his hand at me, and I saw it wasn't broken anymore. Whatever they had in their medicine cabinet here, it sure beat the NHS.

  "Kaz, dear. How are you feeling?" asked Violet. I swallowed some pepperoni.

  "When were you going to tell me?" I asked. "That I had an aunt?"

  Em and Darius looked at me with their mouths open, but Violet and the Professor exchanged guilty looks.

  "I'm sorry, Kaz. We didn't think you would welcome more revelations," said Henry, apologetically. "And Di is rather a difficult person. I don't think your mother had any contact with her after your father passed away. She doesn't know about you, of course."

  "She does now," I said bluntly. I filled them in on my visit to HQ, and what I'd found out from Lucian. "Basically, Lucian wants us to prove the demons are up to something, so that he and some of the others can get rid of Dark."

  "Honestly, does the political backstabbing never stop?" asked Violet with a look of annoyance. "That's exactly why I opted to leave HQ. Too many megalomaniacs."

  "Well in this case, I'd agree about Dark. The man clearly doesn't understand demons. So, what have we got?"

  "Nothing," said Darius, and the gloomy looks resumed. "Locater spell won't work, and we've been ordered to stop researching the Demon Sphere by Dark. We can't even get anything from the Library. We weren't sure why, but it makes sense now."

  "Ordered...?" I was furious. "Who does that man think he is? That's my mother's life he's playing with!"

  "What about this ring that deactivates the Sphere?" asked Henry. "Can Lucian get hold of it for us?"

  "He doesn't know where it is," I scowled. "And if we can't get access to the Library, I don't know how we'll find it."

  Em had been listening quietly, spooning some ice cream into her mouth.

  "Does Dark have a private computer at headquarters?" she asked mildly. Darius frowned.

  "Yes, in his office. But you're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?"

  Em shrugged.

  "If he's confiscated another Guild member's work, there's presumably some record of it. It may be in his computer."

  "But how does that help us?" asked Violet. I grinned, and gestured towards Em with a flourish.

  "Henry, Violet, meet the best hacker in Mallow Bottom. Probably in the country."

  "Well, definitely Mallow Bottom," murmured Em modestly.

  "Hey, wait a minute," Darius burst out. "You can't hack a Guild computer, especially not the Chairman's. That's serious trouble."

  "Only if I get caught."

  "But it's firewalled, protected..."

  "Yes, that's why they call it hacking."

  "But my dear," interjected Henry, "there are dozens of computers at headquarters. How will you isolate the Chairman's?"

  Em finished her ice-cream. "All I need is an email he sent from it. I can trace his IP address from that. Anyone got an email?"

  Violet pursed her lips.

  "I have just the thing. He sent a missive last week exhorting us to keep a tighter rein on our expenditure on paperclips. I was wondering what to do with it. I had some unsanitary ideas."

  Darius still looked doubtful.

  "I'm not sure about this, Em."

  "If it helps find Kaz's Mum, I'm doing it." She looked at me. "I'll get right on it."

  "Ooh, breaking the law. How wonderful."

  The mulled wine voice came from behind us, and we all turned towards it in surprise. The blonde woman leaned in the kitchen doorway, idly checking her manicured finger nails. "Can I join in too?"

  "Diaphanous!" Henry sounded astonished. "We haven't seen you in so long, my dear, how..."

  "Stow it, Henry," she said sharply, pushing herself upright. "You don't like me, and I don't like you. But Aloysius sent me to help, so here I am. Hello again, Darius." This last bit came out as a purr, and Em looked sharply at Darius.

  "Hi, Di," he said evenly. "This is my girlfriend, Em." Di's dark blue eyes raked Em from head to foot.

  "Lucky girl," she commented. "Younger than you normally like them."

  Em's eyes narrowed.

  "I'm sixteen next month," she said. Diaphanous ignored her completely, and turned to me. We looked at each other for a long moment.

  "I should have known when I saw you," she said finally. "You look just like her."

  "I didn't know about you," I said. "I guess you didn't know about me."

  "Your mother was very good at keeping secrets. Almost as good as she was at getting people killed."

  "Di..." started Violet in a warning tone. I shook my head and took a step towards the blonde woman.

  "It's okay. Say what you want, I don't really care. As long as you help me find her."

  Diaphanous stared at me a moment longer, then shrugged and smiled coldly.

  "That's why I'm here. Anything to help take down that sanctimonious idiot, Dark."

  "Good." I turned to the others. "Em, start trying to get into Dark's computer. I want to know where that ring is. Henry, Darius, try to find out why the demons would want children, and how they’re connected to the Sphere. Violet, keep trying the locater spell."

  Di looked round the room in astonishment.

  "You're all okay being ordered about by a teenager?" she asked in bemusement. Everyone exchanged glances and shrugged.

  "Yep."

  "Fine."

  "Absolutely."

  They all got up and walked out to the computer room. Darius handed me something as he passed. Mum's keys. I looked up at him.

  "I brought the jeep back," he explained. "She'll need it when we find her and bring her home." He gave me that crooked grin, and I smiled gratefully.

  "Thanks."

  Diaphanous watched him leave.

  "So, what are we doing, boss?" she asked sarcastically.

  I tossed the keys to her. "Can you drive?"

  ◆◆◆

  "This is a suicide mission," she said, five minutes later. "Don't get me wrong, I like risking life and limb as much as the next girl. But this is stupid."

  "If you don't like it, just drop me off and go," I said. But in truth, I was having second thoughts myself.

  "The last time you tried this, it ended in an ambush," she reminded me. We were driving towards the alley where Michael lived. I wanted to see if he'd had any more visions about where the demons may be.

  "Yes, it was a set-up. But he did lead us to the demons, didn't he? Even if they've planted more false visions, they may be useful."

  "You are so much like your mother," she commented. "Rushing in, without a thought for anyone's safety..."

  "Oh give it a rest," I snapped. "I get it. She took risks. But that's what made her a great Warrior."

  "A great fighter. Not a great Warrior. Warriors are supposed to protect people."

  "Mum didn't kill your brother. He was killed by a Named One."

  "Which he chose to face because he wanted to prove he was good enough for her!"

  "That's not Mum's fault," I yelled. "He decided to face it alone, and he got himself killed."

  Di was gripping the steering wheel so hard, her knuckles wer
e white. I softened my voice.

  "At least you knew him. I never even laid eyes on him. All I had were the lies Mum told about him. I don't even know what he looked like. I've got one grainy photo, and I'm not even sure that's him."

  There was a long pause. I watched the road rushing past the window, wondering where Mum was, if she was okay.

  "He was very brave. And loyal," Di said suddenly. "Sam was older than me. We were in a Romanian orphanage. I don't know if you know anything about those places, but they used to chain us to our beds." Her lips twisted in bitterness. "Easier to keep tabs on us. Sam used to tell me stories to take our mind off things, like the fact that we never had enough to eat, or that we couldn't go to the toilet when we wanted." I stayed silent, imagining the horror. "When the Guild came, they only wanted Sam. I was sick, you see. Weak. But he refused to leave me. Badgered and badgered them until they took me too. He saved my life." She cast a fierce glance at me. "I'll do my job and help you find Mari, but I won't forgive her."

  I nodded.

  "I know."

  We pulled up outside the off-license. Di shrugged off her leather jacket and slung it on the floor of the car. She caught me smiling in amusement.

  "What?"

  "Just wondering if Warriors get some kind of wholesale discount on leather. You all seem very fond of it."

  She shrugged.

  "It wipes clean. Practical. Anyway, I see you've appropriated Mari's coat." She was right. I had taken to wearing it to feel closer to Mum. Di leaned round and felt under the back seat. "I presume she kept a stash of... ah. Got it."

  There was a click, and the backseat sprang open. I goggled. Hidden in the interior were enough weapons to launch a small war. Blades, daggers, arrows. The underside of the seat had a sword-shaped cavity hollowed out where her favourite weapon would normally sit. Di reached in.

  "Crossbow. Sweet ."

  Her eyes shone with unholy light as she loaded it, and it occurred to me that for all her diatribe on risk-taking, she thrived on it. I picked up a short metal stick with a button half way along its length.

  "What does this do?" I said, pressing it.

  "Wait...!" Too late. Both ends suddenly telescoped out, each tipped with a wicked looking blade. Di threw herself back in time to avoid a nasty puncture. "Watch it!"

  "Sorry. Why do we need weapons anyway? It's only Mumbler."

  "I don't have many rules, as you have probably realised. However, if I did, I think one of the main ones would be to never walk down dark alleyways without protection." She eyed my baton. "Though I'd feel better protected if you put that thing away."

  I pressed the button again, and the sharp ends retracted. I tucked the baton into an inside pocket. It fitted nicely.

  We got out of the car and walked down the alleyway. We'd only gone a few steps when I realised it felt wrong. It was too quiet. A single street lamp sent our shadows looming ahead of us, dark and misshapen. A stray breeze snared an empty bottle on the ground and rolled it round in a circle, the glassy scraping noise putting me on edge.

  "Well, this isn't creepy at all," commented Di. I ignored her.

  "Michael! Michael, it's me, Kaz," I called out. "Remember me from the other day?"

  There was no answer, but now that we were further down the alley, I could see the bins where he normally lived. In the dim light, I made out his feet behind one of them. There was a thin red blanket covering his legs, and as we drew closer I could see his hands clasped above, as if in prayer.

  "Michael, sorry to disturb you, I just wanted to ask..." I stopped dead. The blanket hadn't always been red, I realised. It was stained in blood. Michael's blood.

  Michael stared at the sky in horror, his eyes fixed on some point high above, his mouth open as if he was about to speak. He hadn't been dead long. But I knew exactly what had killed him.

  The top of his skull had been bitten off.

  ◆◆◆

  I punched the wooden dummy again and again. It was on a low speed setting, and Di had taken the precaution of removing some of its more lethal attachments, but even so it caught me a stinging blow several times. I didn't care. I welcomed the pain.

  "Every time, every time!" I growled, as I hit the dummy. "Always one step ahead."

  I did a back heel kick as Mum had taught me, catching the dummy on the side of the head and rocking it backwards. I didn't right myself in time and it cracked me sharply on the shin.

  "You've got speed," commented Di from the other side of the room. "But no finesse."

  "I don't need finesse to stick a purified blade into a demon."

  "But you need training," she said.

  "Unless you're offering to do it, shut up and leave me alone."

  I got up again and punched the dummy. This time a chain smacked me on the nose. Tears sprang to my eyes and blurred my vision.

  "Dammit!"

  Di turned the dummy off.

  "I can show you a few tricks," she said grudgingly. "But not with this. This is too old-school."

  "What do you have in mind?"

  "Tomorrow. I'll bring something. We'll start training at eight sharp."

  I nodded once, and she walked out, heading in the direction of the Jump Room.

  Rubbing my sore nose, I wandered upstairs to the computer room. Peering through the door, I saw Darius and Em sitting at a terminal, laughing together at some shared joke. They looked close, intimate. I took a breath and walked in.

  "How's it going?" I asked. Em pulled a face.

  "Not good. They have a pretty tough firewall. I've broken three layers of security so far, but I'm not sure I can get through the others."

  "Keep trying," I said.

  "Kaz, it's after ten." I looked at the clock, startled. I hadn't realised it was that late. "I've got to go, but I'll start again in the morning, I promise."

  Darius stood and held out his arm.

  "Come on, I'll take you home," he said. She smiled into his eyes and looped her arm round his.

  "Actually, do you mind if I come too?" I asked suddenly. Darius looked at me in surprise.

  "I thought you were staying here?"

  "I think I want to be at home. Just for tonight. I need to pick some stuff up and I... I know it sounds stupid but I want to bring some things of hers. Could you drop me?"

  Darius looked at me gently. "It's not stupid at all. Of course we'll drop you. Come along ladies, my carriage awaits."

  He dropped Em first, as she lived closer to the Mansion. I pretended not to notice as he walked her to her door, whispering something quietly in her ear that made her blush. He dipped his head and brushed his lips against hers, his hand cupping her cheek.

  "Get a room," I said acidly when he got back in the car. He shook his head gravely.

  "I'm being a strict gentleman," he said, pulling away from the kerb.

  "I'm sure that's a novelty for you."

  "You'd better believe it. But it's nice. I like it. Anyway, you're the one who threatened me with dismemberment if I didn't treat her right."

  "It won't be me dismembering you. It'll be her Dad. Have you met her parents yet?"

  "She won't let me," he said uncomfortably. "Apparently they're quite strict." I gave a bark of laughter.

  "That's an understatement. The minute her Dad finds out about you, he'll be running your name through the police database. You'd better hope it comes up clean." Darius looked genuinely worried. I changed the subject. "Diaphanous seemed to know you quite well. Is she an ex of yours?" He glanced at me, his face serious.

  "You need to watch her. She's not quite all there. A bit unhinged. Apparently she had a worse childhood than most, and for a Warrior that's saying something."

  "She had the same childhood as Dad. He wasn't a whacko, was he?"

  He shrugged. "I didn't know him, sorry. Before my time."

  "And mine."

  He dropped me at my house. It seemed strange, coming back to a place I'd been with Mum just a day before. It looked the same, yet everything wa
s different. I looked at the dark windows and wondered if I'd made a mistake.

  "Do you want some company?" he asked, as if reading my mind. I sighed.

  "I would love some. But it's late. You go. Pick me up in the morning?"

  "Of course." He hesitated. "Kaz, you know you can depend on me, don't you? For anything. You only have to ask." His voice was tender, and my heart did a little flip. I leaned over and kissed him softly on the cheek.

  "I know. Now go. I'll be okay."

  I waited till he'd gunned the car down the street, then walked into the house. Kali glared down at me from the wall, her tongue stuck out rudely. Everything was as we'd left it, even the unwashed coffee cups on the table.

  I walked into the kitchen and picked up the Ganesh statue. I stared at his stupid elephant head. I hated it, but Mum had loved it. One of the few things she'd carried with her from India, because she always said it brought good fortune.

  "Where were you when we needed you?" I whispered.

  And then, for the first time since my mother was taken from me, I broke down and cried.

  Chapter 15

  Kali led me through the shimmering hole in the Jump wall. But we didn't end up in headquarters, or anywhere else that looked like the Guild. We were standing in a desert of black sand, stretching as far as the eye could see, an alien landscape under a blood red sky. Scorching air currents seared my skin, leaving my lips and eyes dry. There were no trees, no clouds, no features at all but the sound of the howling wind. And something else; something on the very edge of my hearing. Voices, murmuring, pleading. I couldn't make them out.

  "Where are we?" I asked my guide. She shrugged, a complicated manoeuvre for someone with four arms.

  "Home," she said. "Don't you recognise it?"

  I almost laughed.

  "You're insane. This isn't home. What are we doing here?"

  "Look."

  She gestured back to the black desert, and when I looked again, it was filled with thousands upon thousands of demons. All drones, all identical, lined up in ranks, looking to me.

  My heart leapt in terror, and I heard a low snarling noise beginning among them, gathering momentum as it passed from demon to demon..