by Namita Singh
of which he threatened everyone? Had he really done it, despite my constant insecurities about him using his abilities?
I find my stare turning into a glare as we walk. Neal senses my gaze and turns towards me.
“What?” he says quietly.
I loudly breathe out, “Did you-”
“No.” Neal interrupts sternly.
“You-”
“Don’t.” he interrupts again.
“Let me complete.” I snap.
“Let us reach the room first.” Mikhail grunts in front of us.
I huff, giving up and following our elders. Neal stares impassively at me for a moment before following us upstairs. Once we reach the room, Mikhail quickly ushers us in and locks the door behind him. I do a check, concentrating to sense any therian aura apart from us. But I don’t sense anyone. Most of the therians must be downstairs, out of earshot.
“Alright.” Mikhail sighs, looking at us. Father has stepped sideways, running a hand down his stoic face. He doesn’t look at any of us. Before Mikhail can speak and order us around, I start speaking myself.
Turning to Neal, I give him a harsh glare, “You made this up?”
Neal looks anxious as he takes in my bearish tone. But he resolutely stands, licking his lips to speak the following words, “No. I didn’t.”
“You just-”
“I didn’t make this up, alright?”Neal cuts me off. “I needed a leverage above those guys and-”
“And you thought you’ll get that by scaring them by something that-”
“-They don’t know how my foretelling works!”
“That doesn’t mean that you start using your status for your benefit!” I snap.
“Why the hell not?” Neal exasperatedly says, “I am done with your insecurities, Lichinsky. I will-”
“-It’s for your benefit that I am ‘insecure’! Are you seriously kidding me? After all I have told you-”
“I didn’t make that up.” He quips.
“-Then stop making all of them think that you have!”
“Okay. Enough.” Father interrupts, keeping a retraining hand on my shoulder. I hadn’t even realized that I had started taking steps towards Neal. Neal is still in his place, glaring at me.
“Lichinsky,” Neal begins, sighing and running a hand through his hair, “If I hadn’t made them think that I know what’s going to happen, we wouldn’t be standing here. They would be instead keeping us on a leash.”
“That’s right.” Mikhail grumbles from his position. He had been silently observing the exchange till then. “Acting like you know the future was the smart choice after coming here. It’s the coming here part that doesn’t seem very smart.”
“How the hell antagonizing those men was a smart choice?” I say to Mikhail. “The last thing I want is for everyone to look at him wearily, as if he is a monster.” I wave my hand towards Neal. “If god forbid, we do end up needing a helping hand at the end of the day, none of those people are going to provide that hand of help. Not when Neal has so openly threatened them; so openly displayed what he can do with his power. And it’s not just about now. If we escape this situation, then also we have almost no comrades, thanks to him.” I glare at Neal.
“You’re saying as if they were going to be real friendly if I hadn’t done that.” Neal says, blindly waving his hand towards the outside of the mansion.
“At least there would have been a benefit of doubt.” I say. “But now, not even that-”
“-Lichinsky, I really don’t think they would have listened to anything we had to say in that case. They would have bound us, kept us under their eyes and literally offered us to the occultists by their own hands.” He exasperatedly explains.
“What’s the big deal?” I snap, “You said that facing the occultists is inevitable, so I agreed with you and came here this early. Now I’ll pick the same argument and ask, what was the need to make everyone deride you when we’re going to face the occultist anyways?”
“The need to keep those therians out of the way.” Neal points out, frustratingly.
“Those-”
“He is right, Josh.” Mikhail calmly interrupts me.
“Stop being biased.” I snap at him.
Mikhail’s calm stance hardens as he glares at me, “Watch your tongue.” He angrily says, making my anger falter, “Stop acting like a brat and look at the facts. Neal’s right. If they think we’re vulnerable, then they will keep you bound and under surveillance. They will escort you to the Occultist like a fugitive and let go only when the Occultists have empowered you. At least without the involvement by the therians,you will be physically free till in front of the occultists.”
“Just to be bound again once in front of them.” I point out morosely.
“Not if I have the scimitar.” Neal points out.
I feel a vein painfully throbbing in my skull, “Stop being heroic; it’s going to bite you in the ass!” I yell.
“Boy, you piss me off.” Mikhail grunts, “Get your head straight for a moment.”
“It’s straight, alright. Your explanations make no sense to me.”
“Lichinsky,” Neal says, gritting his teeth, “You do not understand our explanations.”
“I would if they made sense.”
Mikhail clenches his teeth, probably thinking of ways to strangle me. He exchanges a glance with an exasperated Neal. Neal sighs and turns towards me.
“I don’t want to get into an argument, okay?” he says quietly.
“Yeah,” I snap, “Because you’re going to lose if you get into one.”
“Stop.” Father’svoice echoes suddenly. We all turn to see him standing a little sideways, his right hand pinching the bridge of his nose. His eyes are closed. “Just stop for a moment. Everyone.”
“You ask your boy to shut up. He apparently doesn’t understand the phrase ‘forget the spilled milkand save for the future’.” Mikhail grumbles, walking towards the windows and peeking outside.
Father gives him a dry look before turning towards Neal, “Have you conjured up anything in the future?”
I feel annoyed at the hope in my father’s voice. And I am going to be seriously pissed if Neal has envisaged something. I just want to go in front of the Occultists, appeal to them and hope for a sane decision in return. I absolutely don’t want a situation that will blatantly display Neal’s prowess and put him in a vulnerable spot later on.
Neal looks at me upon my father’s question. A moment later, he turns to father, “No.” he says quietly.
“You’re lying.” I say. My voice is quiet and distant. I am unsure over my emotions at the present. I don’t know if I should feel rage at Neal making something up or hurt that he is so openly lying in front of me about it.
Neal says nothing at the accusation. I walk towards the chair near the table. With frustration echoing in my every step, I finally slump on the chair. My thoughts are so messed up that I cannot possibly explain them in words. A number of things are going through my mind and all of them are pointing at the negativity ensuing.
The most notable being the fact that Neal and I are fighting, something that we hadn’t done in the past ten days. Secondly, I have been assured in my mind that there are no secrets between us, but Neal has been keeping a lot of things from me – be it his plan to make the therians think that he has an upper hand or the fact that he has actually build an event of the future. I am saddened to realize that he doesn’t consider it important for me to be aware of his plans. And thirdly, the most dangerous development is the antagonism of everyone who is outside this room. I am scared to see that things aren’t going the way I wanted them; instead they have gone haywire with my partner stuck in the center.
It feels eerie to realize we are this close to the ultimatum; this close to the end. I don’t want to see it this early. I want to procrastinate participating in this event the same way I used to procrastinate doing my homework back in Latvia. But Neal’s not a procrastinator. He used to be punctual with his home
work, a trait common to nerds worldwide, and even in this real life situation he is making sure to not dillydally around.
But I never wanted this. I have come here, but reluctantly. I never wanted to agree with Neal to travel back here. I never wanted-
I freeze on that thought, facing an epiphany.
I look at Neal who is waiting for my father to question him further. But I don’t allow my father to speak.
“Did I come here out of my own volition?” I ask aloud.
Neal snaps his head at me, blankly staring at me at the question. Even father and Mikhail have paused, eyeing between Neal and I as the question hangs in the air. Neal looks at Mikhail once and then at my father before turning back towards me.
He looks at me, almost sadly, “No.” he says quietly, sighing.
This is probably the last straw for me, to know that Neal has forcibly made me come here without informing me.
I say nothing, letting the silence extend.
“Alright,” Father breaks the silence, glancing from Neal to me. “I’m glad to know that the decision to come here is not of my son’s. Because it really is very stupid to be here, Neal.”
“Stop ganging up on me.” Neal groans.
“Yes,” Mikhail says, walking and sitting in the chair next to me. “Let’s stop accusing one another and think about what to do now. And since you seemed to have planned out a few things,” he says to Neal, “what are you planning next?”
Neal sighs, “Nothing.” He mumbles.
“Pardon?”
Neal hesitates, “I guess…it’d be better if I have the scimitar in my hands.”
“That’s your plan?” Mikhail