by Sonia Singh
The man was Sanjay.
I didn’t know what the vision meant, but I did know one thing.
I was so feeling the shakti.
I’d have to ask Ram about the weird vision. What was up with the horseback riding? I’d never been on a horse in my life.
The familiar wind started up, without my being aware of having called it.
“It ends here, Sanjay.”
He looked at me, and whatever he saw made him open his mouth and step back.
Without any effort I pried the gun from his hands. With just a thought, I increased the wind’s intensity so Sanjay was flung back against the hall closet door. Indira was hanging on to the banister for dear life. The wind had loosened her bun, and her locks spun around her face.
I thought the wind-tousled look really did it for her.
“You have a choice, Sanjay. You can live, or you can die. If you live, it will be by my rules.”
He stared up at me without answering.
I prodded him with the edge of my sword. “The Goddess of Destruction does not ask twice.”
“Live,” he whispered. “I’ll live.”
I kept the sword trained on him but silently ordered the wind to disappear.
It did.
Yes!
Okay, so I was being a little dramatic with the wind and giving Sanjay the choice between life and death, but it wasn’t like I could send him to jail. On what charges? It was my word against his.
And I didn’t really want to kill him. “Rise,” I demanded.
Sanjay did, and I looked him straight in the eye. “You will leave California. You will move to Seattle and pursue your dream of destroying Bill Gates. Your desire to create a software program to rival Windows is a worthwhile one. Focus on it. I never want to see you again. If you come near me or mine again, I will know. Believe me, I will know.”
I could see in his eyes that he understood. Maybe it was my whole new well-adjusted Goddess of Destruction persona, maybe it was his desire to keep Indira happy, or maybe I had just succeeded in transferring his fanaticism from me to Bill Gates.
Whatever.
Indira threw herself to the ground at my feet. “Jai Ma Kali!”
I cocked an eyebrow at Sanjay.
He followed suit. “Jai Ma Kali!”
How I loved my worshippers.
Chapter 60
I WAS ON A ROLL, so I decided to cover one last base.
Linda Vista Hospital.
Not as nice as Hoag, but I wasn’t there for the ambiance.
She was sitting alone in the cafeteria, nursing a cup of coffee.
Nursing, get it? She was a nurse…
I took a seat across from her. “Hey, Nadia.”
Her hair was limp and her T-Zone dripped with oil. I didn’t mention any of it though.
“What do you want?”
I tugged on my lower lip with my teeth. This was going to be painful. Better to do it fast. “I’m sorry. What I did the other night was uncalled for. You didn’t deserve that.”
I was wrong. Fast didn’t mean painless.
Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Why are you apologizing?”
She didn’t believe me. And Ram thought I had issues!
“Nadia, I mean it. I had no right to treat you like that. I’m really sorry.”
She folded her arms and sat back. “Give me a break. You are so full of it.”
This wasn’t working. I’d have to use the Goddess Gaze.
Before I could do so, a doctor with a bandana covering his curly brown hair sauntered over. “Could I interest either one of you ladies in a breast exam?”
Nadia curled her lip. “Not even if you were George Clooney in the second season of ER.”
“Not even if this were some sort of parallel universe and a pathetic remark like that was actually a turn-on,” I said.
He moved away with a dazed look, and Nadia turned to me with a grin.
“Listen,” I said. “Do you like your job?”
“I love it,” she said without hesitation. “And I’m damn good at what I do.”
“I believe that.”
“I guess, in a way, I’m glad everyone knows the truth. I hated pretending.”
“Tell me about it.”
“I don’t think you’ll suck as a goddess.”
I smiled. “Thanks.”
She smiled back. “Anytime.”
Chapter 61
“THE BANNER is crooked,” Ram said.
“I’ve adjusted it three times,” Tahir said, taking a sip of his scotch and soda. “I’ll be damned if I do it again.”
It had been four weeks since I’d converted Sanjay and Indira, and I hadn’t heard a whisper from them since.
We were throwing Ram a bon voyage party at the house.
I put my arm around him. “Relax, Ram, and finish your Coke.”
He took a sip and made a face. “Bah! Someone has put lemon in it. I will exchange it.”
Before he could walk away, I grabbed the sleeve of his robe. “Have you thought more about the vision I had, Ram? The one with the stallion and the decapitated head?”
He rubbed his chin. “Were you sleeping?”
“I was wide-awake. I told you.”
“It means nothing.”
“But—”
“The children are drinking all the Coke. I must go now.” He tugged his robe away and hurried off.
Sometimes I wondered about Ram’s priorities. I shook my head and concentrated on my dirty vodka martini.
Pinky joined us. “It is a nice party, Maya,” she said. “You have done a good job.”
“Thank you,” I said with surprise.
“You know,” she added, “it is fine to enjoy a drink now and then, but it should not become a habit. It is different for men, of course. They work hard all day and come home and want to relax.”
I was about to respond when I caught Tahir’s eye. I choked back my retort and smiled. “You’re right.”
Well it wasn’t like I had to live with her.
She smiled back. “Have I told you any stories about when Tahir was a baby? He was absolutely perfect.”
Tahir laughed. “Ma.”
Pinky reached over and affectionately smoothed the collar of his jacket. “He never fussed as a child. All you had to do was place him in front of a mirror, and he would happily look at his reflection all day. It was his favorite pastime.”
Tahir’s smile disappeared. “Ma.”
I excused myself as a new party guest arrived. “Nadia, I’m glad you made it.”
“I brought someone. His name’s Doug, and he’s a cardiac surgeon. He’s parking the car.”
“Great. Can’t wait to meet him.”
She ran her fingers through her hair. “So you and Tahir really are getting engaged.”
“Yeah.”
She smirked. “I give it three months.”
I tossed my hair. “Does Doug know those aren’t your real boobs? ’Cause you might want to tell him that in reality, his thirteen-year-old nephew probably has better cleavage.”
“Bitch!”
“Skank!”
We took off in opposite directions.
Thank God things were back to normal.
My brother walked over with my drink and handed it to me. “Thought you might need this.”
“Thanks.”
“You should come up to Stanford,” he said. “I could show you the campus, we could go into Frisco…”
“I’d love that.”
He blinked, smiled, and walked away.
Mom, Aunt Dimple, and Aunt Gayatri were supervising the buffet table. I joined them.
“I took the check down to the shelters, Maya,” my mom said. “Half to the homeless shelter and half to the animal shelter like you requested.”
I was helping out our furry four-legged friends at the local no-kill shelter. Maybe I’d eventually reach out to snakes.
I was suddenly struck with a terrible thought. “You di
dn’t give away my Segway, did you?”
My mom rolled her eyes.
She was doing that a lot lately.
“You only reminded me ten times,” she said.
“Thanks,” I said, and hugged her. This time she hugged me back.
“Can I ride the Segway, Maya?” Aunt Dimple asked, her mouth full as usual.
I put my arm around her and squeezed. “No.”
Aunt Gayatri was surveying Tahir. “What’s his sperm count? Have you checked? If they’re sluggish, come to me right away.”
Ram and Tahir were waving me over, and I was grateful to get away.
“So.” Ram beamed. “When will you be coming to India?”
Tahir slipped an arm around my waist. “Soon.”
I looked at him. “Actually, my answer was never.”
“But you should come before the wedding,” Ram said.
“Wedding?” What were they talking about? “We haven’t planned anything.”
“I’m thinking a Delhi wedding,” Tahir mused. “I’ve asked Ram to officiate. Do you know we met before? I didn’t realize it until now, but Ram and I were on the same flight to LAX.” Tahir’s eyes narrowed. “Were you the one who burned a stick of incense in the lav?”
So that’s why Ram and Sanjay jumped me at LAX. I was wondering why they’d chosen such a public place. I cleared my throat. “Back to this wedding business—I was thinking more Dana Point and not Delhi. We can book the Ritz.”
“I was meditating,” Ram explained.
“You can’t go burning incense on a plane,” Tahir pointed out. “It’s dangerous and against regulations.”
“Where is it written?” Ram argued.
Ugh.
Malevolence was on the move.
It was getting to the point where I didn’t have to be in close contact. A fifteen-mile radius was my limit.
But I was getting better every day.
Ugh.
“I have to go.” I brushed past them, mentally checking that my sword was in the car.
“Maya,” Tahir said, catching up to me.
“It’s going to be like this,” I said. “Malevolence doesn’t care about convenience.”
Tahir leaned over and kissed me. “Go. I’ll save you a piece of cake.”
“Two pieces.”
Ram waved. “See you in India!”
We were really going to have to talk about that.
And then I was running out the door.
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to two of my favorite New Yorkers:
Kimberly Whalen—my dream agent, who not only has super powers, but believed in Goddess from the start and encouraged me to call whenever I felt anxious and insecure.
By the way, Kim, you’ve yet to give me your new phone number…
Lyssa Keusch—my brilliant and generous editor, whose creative insights are so enlightened that all across India, meditating swamis whisper her name in hushed reverence.
My thanks wouldn’t be complete without a decibel-shattering shout-out to Kim and Lyssa’s fab assistants—Rebecca Strauss and May Chen.
My crew: Nakul Mahajan, Simi Singh, Rebeca Ladron de Guevara, Amit Singh, Michael Cochran, Lucinda Ferguson, Shelly de Simone, and Gary Mecija.
My writing teachers: Sean Hulbert, Terry Black, and Louella Nelson.
And no, I didn’t forget you guys either—
My extended family: Romel Bhullar, Maya Lalvani, the Mahajans, the Saggars, the Brars, the “other” Singhs, the Ahujas, the Jollys, the Hotanis, the Lalvanis, and Aruna Chandiramani.
About the Author
SONIA SINGH is a first generation Indo-American, born and raised in Orange County, California. Unlike Maya, the heroine of her debut novel, Goddess for Hire, Sonia loves India and travels there once a year.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Copyright
GODDESS FOR HIRE. Copyright © 2004 by Sonia Singh. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub © Edition NOVEMBER 2008 ISBN: 9780061978906
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