The Grasp of Nighttide

by Sadaf Zulfikar

  Alice smiled, tears rolling down her cheeks as she hugged Lance. She began to recall every moment she spent with him. Her memories came flooding back in a wave. Alice? Rave? Both were inside her head now, each with different meanings, different emotions attached, but the one constant in both set of memories was this man. The smile, the rush of love towards him was the same from Rave as it was from Alice. He was her constant, and she knew that she loved him no matter who she was.

  “Holy shit! I’m really sorry!!” A stout man with a beard came out of the car, panicking. “I don’t remember what just happened. I wasn’t even supposed to be here.” he grabbed his head, completely being unable to remember anything. Sensing it wasn’t the perfect time to wander about his memories, he quickly shifted his attention to the two. “Hey, are you okay?”

  Alice glared at his feet. He was on the road, but nothing happened. It looked like something more happened than just her memory coming back. After a moment where she tensed, wondering if she was going to rip this man to pieces, then she realized that nothing of that sort was going to happen. She was free. Free from the demon’s grasp. After fifteen long and painful years she was finally free.

  “Is he okay?” The man bet down to examine Lance. “I think we better get him to the hospital.”

  Rave nodded as she wrapped her arm around Lance’s waist and put his slump arm around her shoulders. The man- Jarred, kept most of the weight on him as they slowly walked towards his car. Rave was grateful for that. She was all drained at the moment and even if she wasn’t, she couldn’t handle Lance’s weight. She was thin and weak because of the frustration all these months, and she admitted she hardly ate enough. But everything was about to get better now.

  She looked at Lance and her heart ached. He was hurt because of her.

  The worse is over, she thought. I will never hurt you and never leave you again, I promise.

  Jarred got into the driver’s seat as Rave and Lance sat at the back, with Lance’s head resting on Rave’s shoulder.

  “Sorry about that. I swear I don’t know what was wrong with me.” Jarred apologized again. “It was a long day at work, but I’m always alert behind the wheel.”

  “It’s alright. It was really dark anyway, plus he will be alright.”

  Rave could see Jarred relax from the mirror. She knew it wasn’t his fault, and she didn’t want to put any blame on him.

  At the hospital Rave sat impatiently near Lance, waiting for him to awake. Jarred left apologizing once more and saying that he’d drop by to check on Lance in the morning. The doctors assured that it was nothing serious and that he would be discharged the next day. She glanced at her watch for what felt like the thousandth time. It was exactly twenty-three minutes before he slowly opened his eyes.

  “Rave? Are you there?” Lance spoke. His voice made her extremely happy.

  She rushed towards him, her head hovering above his. “Lance! You scared me.” she hugged him, landing a kiss on his lips.

  Lance grinned. He caressed her hair and wiped the tears at the corner of her eyes. “My love for you has proved to be stronger than anything. I had told you we are destined to be together, my lady.” he joked, causing him to earn a punch from Rave. “Ouch.”

  “I remember everything now. Everything!” Rave declared excitedly. “The demon threat is gone. I made the stitch in time!”

  Lance gaped. He quickly sat up and stared at her. “Are you serious? You mean…you are free? And you…you remember?”

  Rave nodded. Lance grabbed her and pulled her to a hug. “This is so amazing.”

  Lance paused and looked at his arm. “And….” he continued but ended up leaving his words hanging.

  Rave raised her eyebrow, wondering whether it might be the injuries bothering him. She tried to check his arm.

  “I need a stitch too,” Lance winced. He looked slightly disoriented, and pain made him wince.

  “Where? Show me.” Rave asked alarmed, bending over.

  “Here” Lance moved forward and his longing eyes met hers. He cupped her chin and grabbed her to a kiss. Their hands interlocked as the kiss went longer. It was not only a kiss full of passion and love but it was also the very kiss that Rave had desperately craved for a long time. It was a kiss of freedom, a prince’s kiss given to the princess in the happy ending of all fairy tales. They had finally found their happy ending.

  CHAPTER 38

  The sudden vibration in her pocket startled her. Diane Lara cautiously looked at the screen of the phone and heaved a sigh of relief when she managed to identify the caller. It wasn’t the queen. She quickly pressed the button to answer the call. “We lost the demon.” she sighed and paused for a deep breath. “The whole scene was freaking unbelievable. I mean... Can you believe that Rave could suppress it? I still can’t believe my eyes! It should have never taken place. The strong magic that assured us since years has vanished…gone! We were so dependent on her. And now... everything is gone!” Diane exclaimed.

  Diane felt wrecked. No assignment had ever suppressed a Grasp demon before. It was a long fifteen years looking after the demon and tonight everything was gone. Diane tried to bring the demon under her control again- after Rave saved Lance- but she couldn’t reach for it, though it was still inside Rave. Not even powerful Summoners like Andy or the queen herself could do it now.

  A chuckle mixed with sigh could be heard from the phone. The caller, Andy Frost seemed unsurprised to hear the news. “So that’s the deal.. Oh darling, I know you did your best.” Andy said, trying to comfort the horrified Diane. "And it's not the end of the Grasp or something. I know it's bad for us. But not our end."

  “She didn’t say a word.” Diane nervously curled her long raven hair with her finger. She informed the queen an hour ago, immediately after the demon was lost, and the queen cut the call without saying anything.

  “Didn’t you get her mail?” Andy asked, surprised. “I’ve checked it for you and you got nothing to worry about. I was wondering why she sent that.”

  “What mail? Are you trying to pull my leg, Andy? She doesn’t know how to e-mail,” Diane snapped, disapprovingly. However, when there was no usual laughter heard from Andy, Diane’s face turned pale.

  “Oh God, Andy must be telling the truth! Crap!” Diane cursed under her breath as she quickly killed the call and checked her mailbox. Upon seeing the notification, Diane face fell. Yes, the queen had sent her a mail. Maybe the queen had included all her anger in it. “I’m dead.” Diane opened the mail which had no subject to it. Unlike what she had expected, the Queen seemed to be not blaming everything on her.

  It read ‘Do not panic. We did lose the biggest asset that could add to our years forever. But there is still hope that things will be promising. And until then we shall push with our normal lives.’

  Things will be promising? Diane thought. How is she not mad? Why isn’t she simply blaming me? Unless is she thinking about the possibility of the miracle…

  Just then, a message came in. It was from Andy. Don’t panic, darling. Got it? It’s the Queen’s order. Keep calm, Diane. Love you. XXX. Andy ended the sentence, with a heart emoticon. Even it was just a short message, Diane was glad Andy sent it to her. His words had totally helped her to calm down.

  Diane heaved a sigh of relief and smiled as she replied. I love you too Andy.

  So Austin and Shiori have announced they are going to have a baby eh?

  Diane clicked on the unread message on their private Grasp group chat. Looks like it. She typed.

  Diane’s thoughts swam back in time where she wrote letters to announce the birth of her first child- many of the Grasp received it only months later. It was a tough job, she couldn’t imagine living in that time now. In this modern age, a simple text could reach any part of the globe in the blink of an eye. Science had never failed to marvel Diane.

  We are young too mate. Let’s have a kid. It has been so long. Andy said with a cheeky emoticon at the end of the sentence.

  A kid sounde
d farfetched, they’d been trying for one since twenty six years already. Though both of them never expressed it in words until Andy did this time, they had hoped for one by now. They should’ve tried harder but with work always in the way, they only met when either of them had breaks from their assignments- that was no more than twice a year. Now with even their granddaughter Stephanie gone, Diane wanted a kid more than ever. She had a shot now, and perhaps some company would do her good as she was feeling depressed over the failure.

  Can you come here? Diane asked hopefully.

  I would love to but you know my assignment is active. The boy may get us a few lives more. Also I can’t fly there with two weeks to my wedding. Susie won’t let me. She bought me such expensive stuff. I’m floating in dough. She agreed for a court marriage and a small ceremony for her little family and two of her friends. Andy sent.

  Diane guffawed. Next time, then. She replied. Just as she thought the conversation had ended, a message sprung out on her phone. “You never fail to surprise me, Andy” Diane grinned as she checked the message.

  No! Why don’t you drop by? It has been almost a year since we last met. I couldn’t even come for summoning that Rave’s demon for you last week. I miss you.

  It’s okay. Marco was there. We’ll meet sometime soon. Miss you too. Diane went back to her phone’s home screen to look at the picture of her and Andy. She missed him beyond words.

  You don’t have that girl’s assignment now, right? Tell the queen about the trip and she will have no problem. I guarantee you on that. Oh yeah, I’ll make sure Susie doesn’t doubt on us, I can even introduce you as my cousin. You can stay for the wedding. I will buy something special for you… Diane had somehow felt Andy was beyond human or Grasp with his ability to type at a superfast speed. It had only been about yen seconds since his last message and here he was, with a long text.

  I’m sixteen and you are thirty. I’m not sleeping with you, old man. Diane teased.

  Andy had maintained his age for his wedding with Susie, just as Diane had kept hers steady until a few days ago to be with the old man Paul. It wouldn’t take more than maybe two days for her to reach her thirties too, but it felt lovely to be young again, and she didn’t want to be older yet.

  You will when you get here.

  You have already thought it through huh? Diane chuckled.

  I wouldn’t be called Andy Frost if I didn’t have a plan, you know. I have thought of everything love, just waiting to be with you again. With that, Andy ended the chat with his favorite emoticon, Pusheen the Cat.

  CHAPTER 39

  It was the night of the Sangeet ceremony. The night full of music, dancing, colors and wild fun. Although the big day was three days away, it was Sangeet that Janice had been waiting for, for so long. She wanted it to be the best ceremony in history, so she gave Jacob free reins to plan out the wedding day, while she worked on throwing the best Sangeet party ever. Also working separately was good as it meant fewer rows between them.

  As Janice and Jacob, separately of course, pondered over flower arrangements and song selection and the hundreds of hassles involved in planning a wedding, Lance and Rave found a lot of time to spend with each other. They were exhausted from the previous happenings and were not interested in making a grand affair of the wedding, and mostly kept away. However, a wedding at local church would never have been approved by Lance’s parents, especially by Janice, who was bent upon creating an unforgettable event as her boy was to be wed.

  Rave arrived at Janice’s mansion in LA on the day of Sangeet. When she got out from the car she was mesmerized by the enchanting décor that covered the façade of the already elegant and intimidating mansion. Golden fairy lights adorned the walls and pillars; they were hung from the roofs and came all the way down to the grounds. All the trees in the sprawling lawns were alight with dangling lanterns with multicolor lights in them that made beautiful colorful shadows all across the manicured gardens. The walk from the main gate to the house had makeshift pillars on both sides draped in blue and black silks with fairy lights of matching colors. Large specially ordered lamps were placed near the pool and their reflection in the clear water was just majestic. As Rave hurried inside, she caught a mouth-watering aroma coming from the food marquee.

  At the entrance of the main hall, once again Rave was stupefied. All the regular furniture was removed and the black marble floor was shining under the lighting from all sides. Thick blue mattresses were lined against the walls with black velvet pillows on them. The pillows were decorated with Indian embroidery and mirror work. In the center, was a large square low stage with huge disco lights hanging over it. This must be the dance floor, thought Rave. The windows were open and the silky sheer window panels blew gently in the breeze, as though inviting all to enter. Even though the place was not completely set up yet, Rave knew it was going to be fabulous. She found Janice surrounded by workmen waving her hands to each of them, telling them exacting what she wanted.

  It was work for her, no doubt, and she was occupied with her frustration getting things done.

  “Hi,” Rave said to Janice, expecting a warm welcome.

  “You head upstairs. The make-up artist has arrived and so has your dress. I’ll be up when I’m done here.” With that said, Janice went over to a table at the side which had lots of trays.

  Somewhat taken aback, Rave smiled and climbed the stairs, which were draped in thick garlands, and bouquets of red roses making grand appearances after every two steps. Rave was busy admiring the flowers when she spotted a girl sitting on the steps, in a floor length traditional dress.

  “Rashi?” Rave said happily. Spotting a familiar face amongst everything was a relief.

  “Finally,” Rashi sighed.

  “You look very pretty,” Rave said

  “Thanks Alice. I mean Rave... I haven’t seen your dress yet but I bet it’ll be spectacular,” Rashi said. “You’ll rock in it.”

  “You are early.”

  “Lance wanted me to be here, especially because you don’t have anyone familiar. Just to make you comfortable. Come on now.”

  A dark blue and black colored dress, a lehenga choli, awaited her in the next room. It was beautiful. The black blouse and the flowing blue silk, floor length lehenga were both covered in intricate gold embellishments. Rave examined it closely, admiring the details of hand-beading and gold threads that ran through the fabric. She had not tried it on but Janice had taken measurements and assured it would be perfect on her. Rashi helped her get into the dress while explaining to her about ”Gota” and ”Tilla” work that was done on her garments which was what every Indian bride traditionally wore. She looked more beautiful than she’d ever seen herself.

  Rashi fired another question, “what does Tujhe mean?”

  “You,” Rave replied.

  Rashi had been teaching her Hindi for the past two weeks and was now testing her to see if she remembered what she was taught. Rashi had tutored her for hours; Rave was terrible at grasping foreign languages. Rashi said it was best she knew some words, at the very least, for the ceremony and so Rave gave it as much attention as she could. Her mastery of Hindi was not upto the mark, but Rashi made it a point to successfully drill some phrases and words into Rave’s head.

  Almost an hour passed before Janice came to call Rave downstairs. She had changed into- what Rashi whispered to her to be- a saree. It was a light pink and she let her dark hair loose- there was an elegance and grace she carried with it.

  “See, I told you it would be perfect,” she said, admiring her. “The color suits you so well. You look stunning!”

  “Thanks.”

  “But there is still one thing missing.” Janice inspected the contents on the table.

  Rave looked herself in the mirror again. She had the ‘kundan’ earrings and necklace on, even bangles. Nothing looked missing to her.

  “Here,” Janice showed a small dot sticker, before she set it on Rave’s forehead. “Now, you are done.”

>   “Right Aunty.” Rashi stood behind Rave looking over her shoulder at the reflection in the mirror. “With the bindi, she looks perfect.”

  When she headed downstairs, flanked by Rashi and Janice, the hall was unrecognizable. The lighting had done an amazing job. From the tiny mirrors on the pillows to the beautifully designed glass pieces on trays of flowers and henna, everything reflected light making the hall glow in a deep shade of gold. There were hundreds of colorful diyas, traditional Indian clay lamps, along the stairs and walls. About a hundred people in Indian attire had their eyes set on Rave, making it feel it every bit her wedding day. Rave felt butterflies soaring in the stomach and her knees felt like Jell-O.

  “Stop fidgeting,” Rashi ordered. “You do not need to do anything other than enjoying yourself down there.”

  Rave scanned the hall for Lance. Where was he?

  “Lance had to be ready down there to receive you. I knew Jacob would not let him be on time.” Janice said in anger.

  “That’s okay he’ll be here soon,” Rave tried to reduce her stress and anger, forgetting about her own uneasiness.

  “Well let’s hope he hasn’t caged my son,” she sighed.

  What Rave knew about Lance’s parents was that they were popular and reputable people, very sophisticated. However, when the topic came to each other, they’d fight and argue and accuse like little kids. Lance was right in wondering how they ever got married. She wondered as well.

  When Rave sat on the mattress which was golden in contrast to all the blue mattresses there, all the people took their seats. Her mattress was covered in a canopy of thick marigolds, and flowers of every color adorned the wall behind her. The fragrance coming from the flowers wasn’t overwhelming as Rave thought it would be. Janice might’ve used some of her tricks to get a right scent balance going, and had done a wonderful job at that. Rave felt like a princess on her throne, only her prince was missing. Janice, who had been sitting next to her, was replaced by a lady- Anita- who was going to draw mehandi on her hands. Rashi had mentioned that to Rave. The crowd was being served drinks and most of them were chatting with each other.