by Sabina Khan
Chapter Three
I was dreaming. I stood on a battlefield again. The sword I held glinted in the sunlight. I looked down and saw that something was engraved along the entire length of the blade. It was in a language I did not recognize.
Then blackness again.
The sound of voices floated into my ears.
“…can’t protect her from it any longer.” The voice sounded familiar, but my brain could not string together any coherent thoughts. Then other voices, unclear as they faded away.
The light changed. It was bright, but then the pitch black took over.
The stinging brought me back. I tried to open my eyelids, but the light hurt. I closed them again.
“I was able to remove most of the stingers. Some of them were embedded deep in the skin. They will come out eventually.” I didn’t recognize this voice, but it brought back a deluge of memories. My parents’ bedroom, that creature...then the pain, like a thousand needles puncturing my skin at once...and Shiv. I could feel my eyes getting heavier and then...nothing.
When I came to I was cold. I opened my eyes slowly; even the little sliver of light coming through the tiny parting in the curtains sent barbs of pain through my eyes. I sat up, careful not to move too fast, and winced as my head protested nonetheless. I turned my head slowly to get my bearings. As far as I could tell I was in someone’s bedroom, a girl’s room. I knew this from the abundance of purple everywhere. There was a white dresser with a big mirror against one wall. A small white desk sat in the corner, with a purple chair tucked underneath. Lilac curtains framed a large bay window. My brain was foggy. I closed my eyes and sighed from the relief of shutting out the light. How long had I been out? Images flashed in my mind. Shiv’s face floated into my inner vision. A creature...attacking. Then there was a deluge of memories and everything came flooding back. My parents’ bedroom, the attack, the creature exploding and then the pain that had wiped out everything else. Other bits and pieces of memory made their way back until they fit together like the pieces of a puzzle. Someone had saved me...Shiv. I remembered now. I looked into his eyes before I blacked out. He must have brought me here.
I stood up and immediately regretted that decision as the walls began to dance around me. I closed my eyes for a moment then opened them again. To my relief, the walls stood absolutely still. I took a small step, then another, hesitating before each movement, and walked gingerly to the door. I opened it, stuck my head out, stepped into a hallway and looked in both directions. There were wall sconces lining each side. Ornate frames held pictures of people I didn’t know, but they all looked Indian. I assumed Shiv had brought me to his house. Down the hallway to my right I could see the top of a staircase, so I began to walk that way. When I reached it, I looked over the banister and saw that the staircase wound around a huge pillar in the middle of a large foyer. Voices floated up and I went down the steps, following the sound. It led me to a set of double doors just off the foyer. I stopped in front of them, not knowing if I should go in. I could still hear muted voices, so I was startled when the doors suddenly opened and Shiv stood in front of me.
“Callie...what are you doing down here? You should be in bed.” He was obviously concerned and looked back to where I could see his parents walking toward us.
Nina stepped around Shiv and took my hands in both of hers.
“Callie, my dear, how are you feeling? You had us worried,” she said, not unkindly.
“I’m a little dizzy, to be quite honest. Do you mind if I sit down?” I realized that the little walk from the bedroom had left me a bit winded and unsteady on my feet.
“Of course, come in and sit by the window here,” Nina said, taking my arm and guiding me to an armchair. I must have squinted, because Dev walked over and adjusted the blinds so the sunlight wasn’t streaming into the room anymore. I sat down while the others gathered around me. We were in some sort of library, judging by the dark bookshelves that lined all four walls. It was an enormous room with a fireplace in one corner and a large desk in front of it. It all looked antique; the furniture had elaborate carvings on the legs and sides.
“What happened exactly?” I asked, looking up at them.
“How much do you remember, Callie?” Shiv asked.
“Well...I remember going home early from school and then...that car...it was going to hit me. And then...someone was in my parents’ bedroom. Not someone...” I looked up at Shiv. “What was that thing? Was it real?”
Shiv was looking down at my arms, so I followed his gaze. I gasped involuntarily. My arms looked as if they had been attacked by a thousand thumbtacks. The holes punctuated both my arms like little periods. So — I hadn’t imagined the bizarre attack.
I looked at him incredulously. “What was that thing? What did it do to me?”
The three of them exchanged looks. I knew it couldn’t be anything good.
Dev spoke first. “Callie, beti,” he began and my heart lurched a little. He was using the term of endearment for a daughter, which meant something awful had happened. “There is no easy way to tell you,” he continued, sitting down on the armchair next to me and putting his hand on my right shoulder. “You were attacked by a demon.”
It took my brain a second to register the words. A demon. Okay. I drew in a slow breath, a really slow one, and held it, giving myself time to figure out just how to react to this. I looked at Shiv and Nina, trying to read their faces, but they did not look surprised at all. I had to say something.
“Are you sure? A demon?” I asked weakly, not wanting to insult this nice man. But I did think he was insane. Maybe that was why he had to leave California.
“Callie,” Shiv said, looking at me as if I was the crazy one. “I know it’s really hard to hear, but there’s something you need to know.” Yes. I needed to know the number of their psychiatrist. Hopefully they were getting a family discount. I knew I needed to get out of there. My parents were probably frantic with worry. Where were they anyway? Shouldn’t they be looking for me?
“You know what,” I began, “I’m so grateful that you’ve taken care of me.” I turned to Shiv. “Shiv, I owe you big-time for getting me out of the way of that crazy driver. If there’s anything I can do for you...” I stood up. “I really should be going now. Thanks again.”
“Callie, you can’t go back to your house. It’s not safe,” Dev said. He took my arm again and gently but firmly directed me back into the chair.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I said. “My parents will be home by now and they’ll take care of it.”
“Callie...your parents...they’re gone.” Nina looked at me and the look in her eyes told me that something had gone terribly wrong. I was in denial, but I knew something strange had happened at my house. Suddenly, a wave of nausea hit me hard and I took a deep breath. My head was spinning and I felt the room fading away. I could not pass out again. I willed myself to focus and stay conscious, but I lost the battle and once again everything went black.
When I came to, I could hear Shiv’s voice.
“The venom is still lingering, Dad,” he said. “She has to take it easy. Doctor Gupta said he took out as many stingers as he could, but the poison was already in her system.”
“I know, son, but she has to learn the truth,” Dev said. I opened my eyes carefully. I was still in the armchair. I must have only passed out for a few moments. I tried to sit up, but my head felt heavy and my arms were beginning to throb.
“Why did you say that my parents were gone?” I said, sitting up straight and looking directly at Nina.
“Callie...they were taken. That’s why you can’t go back to your house. It’s not safe.” I felt panic rise, but I had to stay in control this time. Something very weird was going on.
“Who took them?” I asked, my voice sharper than I intended. “And why haven’t you called the police?”
“The police cannot help in this matter, Callie,” Shiv said. “Look, I know it’s all very confusing to you right now, but if y
ou let us explain, it will make sense.”
My gut told me that I should listen to what they had to say. Plus it wasn’t as if I had the strength right now to jump, run home and find out what was going on. I only had to look at my arms to know that something had attacked me and that Shiv had saved me from being killed. I decided I was going to trust my instincts and let them say their piece.
“Okay,” I said, looking around at the three of them. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Dev spoke first. “Callie, how much do you know about Hindu mythology?”
“A lot, actually, thanks to my parents. But what does that have to do with anything?”
“Everything, actually,” Shiv said. But he let his dad continue.
“You know about Kali, yes?”
Yes, I knew about Kali. I’d only been named after her. Of course, my parents had picked a Westernized version of the name, but Kali had been the inspiration. They had both wanted a daughter who was strong-willed and fearless. I didn’t know how well that worked out, since I was deathly afraid of spiders and deep water.
I nodded.
“There was a time when humanity was overwhelmed by the reign of the Asuras, the demons. The people felt abandoned by the gods and appealed to them to save them from the horrors that they were being subjected to. Mahisha was the king of the Asuras. He could not be defeated...by man or by the gods, many of whom responded to humanity’s cries for help.” I had learned this myth on my grandmother’s lap as a little girl. I could still recall with startling clarity the faraway look on her face as she would regale me with her favorite tales of gods and goddesses. I knew what had happened next. The lesser gods, frustrated by their failures, went to the great Trinity, Indra, Brahma and Shiva and appealed to them for help in destroying Mahisha. The gods grew angry when they heard of the evil doings of Mahisha and from their wrath Kali was created, the ultimate goddess, Destroyer of Evil. My grandmother used to tilt my face up by the chin, look into my eyes and tell me that she knew one day I would go out into the world and destroy evil too, just like Kali. Now I wondered if there was any point to what Shiv and his parents were saying.
“Why are you telling me about these stories? I heard them all as a child. What does any of this have to do with my parents?” Normally I would never use this tone with adults, but now was not the time for politeness. If they were right and something had happened to my parents, I needed to find out quickly. And my patience was wearing thin. Plus I was afraid I might pass out again at any time.
“These are not just childhood stories, Callie,” Nina said. “They are real events and everything that you heard was true. Mahisha was real, Kali was real...is real.” Nina’s face was flushed and she began to pace as she continued. “When you heard about the great battle between Kali and Mahisha, you heard that in the end Kali destroyed him. Even though he was a shape-shifter, right?”
I nodded and tried to recall details my grandmother had told me. According to her, Mahisha escaped every attempt at capture by changing from a bull to a lion and even into a man. But finally Kali managed to cut off his head while he was in bull form.
“Well, that’s not exactly what happened,” Nina said. I looked at her in confusion.
“What did happen exactly?” I asked.
“Kali was betrayed. It was a plot to destroy her before she could destroy Mahisha.”
“But I thought she was created to be indestructible,” I said. I remembered she was given gifts by each of the gods of the Trinity from whose wrath she was created. Indra gave her a thunderbolt, Shiva a bow and arrows, and Brahma a sword.
“That’s right, but no one knows what happened exactly,” Nina said. “There are those who believe that the Trinity feared that she might become too powerful and might try to overthrow them, so...”
All this was making my head spin. And I still didn’t know what was going on.
“Why are we talking about this?” I asked. “We should be making sure that my parents are okay.” I looked at Shiv pleadingly.
“That’s just it, Callie. We know who took your parents...at least we have a pretty good idea who is behind all this,” Shiv said.
“Then why —” I started, but Shiv interrupted me.
“Your parents were taken by demons. You were attacked by a demon. We are pretty sure that it was one of Mahisha’s demons.” He looked at his father triumphantly, as if to say See, that wasn’t so hard to blurt out, was it?
I was numb. Nina sat down next to me again.
“Callie, the thing is...Mahisha was never killed. He was very nearly destroyed, but he was very powerful, and although it has taken him centuries, he is regaining his strength. In the meantime he has been gathering an army of loyal followers who have been slowly spreading corruption and evil. There are many who believe that he is rising again, and when he does, there is only one who can destroy him.”
“Okay, I guess that must be Kali then. But she’s not here, is she?” Frustration was making me snarky and I was getting tired of all this. Some of my strength was also coming back and I was ready to leave. I stood up. “I’m going to my house, and if my parents aren’t there, I will call the police,” I said with more conviction than I felt.
“Callie, don’t leave. You have to trust us...trust me,” Shiv pleaded. “There is a reason why this is happening. And it has to do with you.”
I just stood there waiting for him to continue. I really had nothing more to say to him.
He must have sensed I was wavering, because he rushed his next words.
“Kali is reborn whenever evil threatens to overpower good. With the threat of Mahisha looming, we knew that she would be reincarnated soon. That’s what led us to you.”
Chapter Four
Shiv looked at his parents. So did I. I was completely taken aback.
“What do you mean...led you to me. Who are you people?” I felt I should make a run for it, but there was something in their faces that made me want to stay and see how this played out. They were looking at me as if...as if they were seeing something...I didn’t know what.
“We are Rakshakari,” said Dev. “Protectors of the Goddess. A council was formed five thousand years ago to protect Kali when she failed to destroy Mahisha and a conspiracy was suspected. We are descendants of the original Rakshakari. We are guided to the Goddess whenever and wherever she is reborn. And we were drawn to this place...to you.”
“Why me?” An image flashed in my mind from my nightmares. A wild-eyed girl with a sword, blood and sweat staining her face. Could it be...no, it wasn’t possible. These people were insane and I should get as far away as possible from here. But...my nightmares...that creature.
“Callie, have you ever dreamed about something really strange?” Nina asked, looking at me intently. It made me uneasy. Had my parents mentioned something to them? We never talked about it, but...why was Nina asking me? How could she possibly know? They were looking at me expectantly.
“What do you mean, strange?” I wasn’t going to tell them anything until I was a hundred percent sure they were not crazy.
“Kali has been reborn a few times over the last five thousand years,” Nina replied. “Evil doesn’t really take a vacation.” Her feeble attempt at levity did not amuse me.
“Each time Kali was reborn as a human avatar, the subject experienced violent nightmares and started exhibiting signs of severe mental stress,” Dev said. “Not every girl was strong enough.”
“What happened to those girls?” There was a slight quiver in my voice, which I hoped no one noticed. When I’d started having the nightmares I had almost suffered a nervous breakdown. My parents had taken me to a therapist and my grandmother had taken me to see a sadhu, a holy man in some remote village, but in the end my parents had to uproot their lives and move thousands of miles away to start over. All because of me. But the nightmares had stopped until after my seventeenth birthday. And now these people were insinuating that I might be some sort of reincarnation of Kali. They hadn’t actually
said it yet, but I could see it in their faces. Especially Nina, who was looking at me with a sort of fanatic light in her eyes. Shiv was answering my question, so I turned to him.
“You have to realize that the reincarnations happened centuries ago. Those girls didn’t have access to any information or anybody to help them, really. It was more difficult for the Rakshakari to locate them. Some of them succumbed to mental despair. Some were burned as witches. Some didn’t make it, even though the Rakshakari got to them. Not all of them had the psychological strength to withstand such a manifestation.”
“Okay, so let’s say, hypothetically, if someone had these nightmares, but they stopped after a while and then started again abruptly, what would that mean?” I knew I was being naïve thinking that they wouldn’t see right through me, but I wasn’t ready to admit or accept anything yet.
“Well, Callie, it would mean that the time has come for the Goddess to manifest in you completely,” Dev replied. “It also means that the threat is closer than we thought.”
“And my parents?” I asked, a pang of guilt shooting through my chest at the realization that this was not a myth, and there was no denying that they had been taken. Something deep inside me knew, had always known, maybe, that I was different. But never in my wildest fantasies had I ever imagined this. My grandmother’s face flashed before me suddenly in my desperation. She would have known what to do.
“Your parents will be alright, Callie.” Dev came over and put an arm around my shoulders. “They would never dare to hurt them. They have only kidnapped them to draw you out.”
I fell back onto the armchair, deflated. Everything was out of control. Every instinct in me was telling me that this was real, that there was no denying it anymore. But I had no idea what I was going to do, what I was supposed to do. How was I going to save my parents?