by T. G. Ayer
When her eyes fell on Maya's bloodied arm she left the room for a few seconds to return with bandages and towels. At least she had something to do as Maya hadn’t wasted time telling her family the whole sordid story. The ambush and Amber’s death were expected pieces of her gory tale, the demon’s escape wasn't. But the presence of the Goddess of Shadows sent the entire room into silence.
Maya didn't have time to grill her parents on why they were so worried about Chayya. She’d saved Maya’s life so she couldn't understand the strange fear she’d seen in their eyes.
Claudia and Nik arrived soon after. Nik stuck around more for Maya’s benefit than anyone else and she appreciated her parent's thoughtfulness although she wasn't entirely sure she wanted him around. But she was way too full of worry for Ria to be bothered with him right now.
“This is very unexpected,” said Nik as he sat in the sofa opposite Maya. Her stomach tightened. He'd chosen the seat furthest from her. Clearly, he wanted some distance. Exactly what Maya wanted. Wasn't it?
“What? That the demon lured me into the school, attacked me, then ran off and possessed my friend?” Maya bit out, her tone bordering on icy.
“What?” Four voices asked in unison, sounding much like a ghostly acapella troupe.
“The demon has Ria.”
“Maya. Explain please before we expire from shock.” Her dad’s voice soft and calm, as if she were a wild horse to be broken.
“It knew Ria is my friend. Obviously, she knew. Amber . . . or the demon . . . she used Ria’s cell phone to lure me back to the school. But Ria wasn't there. Chayya searched for her-”
“Chayya looked for her?” Nik asked, managing to achieve a raised eyebrow expression without raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, you have no idea . . .”
Maya's dad cleared his throat, bringing the two young people back to the conversation.
“Right. Okay, so I went straight to Ria’s house after leaving school, and asked for her. Auntie Sunita said she was busy but as I turned to leave I saw Ria . . . and she had . . .” Maya stopped speaking. It hurt too much. The knowledge Ria could die stabbed her like a hot poker.
“Maya, chica, what did you see?” Claudia asked, her voice gentle as all eyes watched as Maya struggled with her pain and fear.
“Ria had red eyes, just like Amber’s were at the school.”
Maya swallowed hard and then burst into tears.
After she'd cried and relaxed somewhat Maya cleared her throat. "So what are we going to do about Ria?”
“Apart from breaking into the house, abducting her, and performing a spell by force, you mean?” Done with dressing Maya's wounds Leela folded her arms and sank into the cushions, dejected.
Maya scowled.
“She is secure in that house you know,” said Maya’s father. “Not much chance of storming the fort.”
“Tell me about it,” said Maya, dozens of memories flooding back of times Ria had not been permitted to do the usual kid social thing, like movies, concerts and parties, and even study dates. “Maharaja Gupta is a tyrannical ruler.”
Everyone laughed, a strained, tight version of the real thing. Mr. Gupta’s stringent control over his family was no secret, and as Maya watched her father’s jaw clench, she acknowledged the adults saw much the same thing in the overbearing man’s attitude as she did. The laughter died, and everyone gradually switched back to sober and worried.
The next morning arrived, bleak and dull. The dressings on her cuts were changed and Maya was relieved to see they were thin slits in her flesh that would heal over soon enough. She had to force herself to go to school. But despite knowing it would seem strange if she were absent on this day of all days, the temptation to head off to some abandoned piece of land and use the trees for target practice almost won.
Maya gritted her teeth and jogged up the sidewalk to the entrance to the school. A strange buzz electrified the area. All around the stairs and the doorways, little clumps of students spoke in hushed tones.
Maya knew what they were talking about. She knew.
She was so deep in the black mire of her thoughts she entered the school’s front doors and walked straight into Joss.
“Hey, I was just coming out to look for you.” Maya’s eyes narrowed as she examined Joss’s decidedly green-gilled expression.
“What’s the matter?” Maya asked, offering the most appropriate response considering she should be ignorant of the whole debacle, like everyone else.
“One of the halls is cordoned off.” Joss answered, taking a deep breath of the outside air, and a couple steps away from the entrance. “Also happens to be the hall with our lockers. Means we can’t get to them.” As she talked, she walked down a few more stairs and leaned against the balustrade that hemmed in the stairway.
“Cordoned off?” Another appropriate response.
“The police are all over the place, yellow tape everywhere. The hall has seen better days, that I can tell you.”
Maya needed to see for herself. “Will you be okay outside here for a few minutes?”
Joss nodded.
“I won’t be long, okay?”
Joss nodded again, seeming happy enough to sit and wait for Maya.
Maya ran up the stairs and entered the building. The buzz intensified inside and she strode to the hall, scanning the corners for lurking shadows. Her heart thudded but thankfully no wisps of darkness lurked there.
She turned the corner.
The hallway looked pretty much the same as last night. Streaks of dried blood were painted across the walls, and along the floor. A pool of blood marked the spot where Amber had fallen and bled to death.
Maya guessed that Amber's body had been discovered either late the previous night or early this morning. A few uniformed men and women dotted the passage, swabbing and taking photographs, studying and talking. More hushed tones.
“Excuse me, Miss. If you need something from your locker you’re just going to have to manage without it for today.” A voice broke through Maya's thoughts. She turned to the source.
A police officer glared at her, as if her very presence created a disturbance. In a cool, flat voice, he warned her to stay away from the hall. Something about investigating a student homicide.
Maya retreated, leaving the grisly, blood-drenched hallway, swallowing hard as she walked. She felt like what she was - a criminal. Amber’s blood streaked the walls and floor and it had all been her fault. Maya didn’t care that the Rakshasa had started the whole thing.
If it hadn’t been for her, Amber would still be alive.
She passed clusters of gossiping students as she headed back to Joss. The student body seemed to be abuzz with the news, as if the means and method of the death of a fellow student outweighed the actual death.
Near the front doors, a group of Amber’s friends jostled Maya as she passed. All the girls bore the same brand of pained, red-eyed, fake grief.
Maya snorted in silence, passing by as invisible as always. Amber was never the most likable person. And Maya's seeming ability to blend into the schools walls and floors had, on more than one occasion, allowed her to be privy to the worst Amber-related gossip.
In reality, the dead girl’s friends simply hated her guts. And now they cried for her. Maya didn’t understand it. However it was painted, and no matter how horrible Amber had been, she hadn’t deserved what happened to her.
The day had warmed a bit and the sun bathed Maya’s face and head as she pushed through the doors. Joss glanced up at her and smiled, looking less green.
“Feeling better?” Maya asked.
“Yeah. Much.” She shot Maya a sheepish smile. “Sorry.”
Maya opened her mouth to make a joke out of the whole episode because both girls knew Joss wasn’t going to live this down, when the hair at the back of Maya’s neck rose, sparking little stabs of electricity down her spine.
And the odor of blood and spice scented the air.
Maya glanced up at the entranc
e to the school and sure enough, there stood Ria.
Or rather, the Rakshasa who had control of her poor friend’s body. Ria stared at her, her eyes flicking from Joss to Maya, her lips curled in contempt.
She stared straight at Maya then glanced back at the doorway, meeting Maya’s eyes again with a frigid glare. A spark of triumph flared in her dark eyes, eyes for the briefest moment glowed a faint amber.
“What the heck was that?” asked Joss, gripping Maya's arm.
“What?” Maya responded, frowning both at her shock and Joss's grip on her arm – the arm the demon had split open.
Joss glanced at her face, then at her upper arm where Joss’s fingers dug into her flesh, nails and all. With a sheepish, uncertain expression clouding her features, she released her grip and said, “Nothing. I thought I saw something but it’s way too weird.” As she spoke, she stared up at Ria, an odd look marring her profile, as if she expected the other girl to sprout another head.
Maya said nothing, unsure of how to respond, especially when her heart thudded with the possibility that Joss had seen Ria’s eyes glow. Maya hadn’t even known it was possible for normal people to see a Rakshasa’s true form.
All the while Ria stood at the top of the stairs, unmoving as if entranced. Kids walking in and out of the school parted for her, like water around a rock in a stream. But it was her dead, cold stare that chilled Maya to the bone.
“Maybe we need to speak to Ria.”
“I really don’t think so Maya, not after the way she just looked at us. I’m no sucker for punishment okay?”
Joss met Maya’s eyes and Maya knew nothing she said would change her mind. Ria had her well and truly spooked.
“Fine, I’ll go myself,” Maya said a little too sharply.
But even before she took the first step toward the Ria-demon, the Rakshasa disappeared, merging with the crowds, gone before Maya could get to her.
Chapter 19
When the doorbell chimed the last person Maya expected was Ria's father. Maya’s dad answered the door, and was left there, his greeting falling onto deaf ears as Mr. Gupta stalked past him, brushing his meaty shoulders against him, his chubby cheeks pink and moist. He stomped into the living room with Ria in tow. Ria whose face and arms were covered in purpling bruises.
Maya’s mother and Claudia rose from the couch where they’d been talking. Now they stared, visibly horrified by the poor girl’s injuries. Did they, like Maya, also fear the obnoxious man may have brought a demon into the Rao home? Maya lowered the volume on the movie she’d been watching.
"Ria?" Maya stood up, wanting Ria to look up at her so she could see if the Rakshasa was still in control.
"Don't you dare speak to her! You've done enough damage to my family already." Mr. Gupta’s black eyes speared Maya’s, like she was some disgusting thing stuck on the sole of his shoe.
Maya stared at the red-faced man. Every instinct told her not to speak, not to talk back. He was an adult, after all, and good little Indian girls knew how to be respectful. But she couldn't control her need to know what was going on.
"What do you mean? I haven't done anything!"
Mr. Gupta laughed, the harsh bark spattering Maya's cheek with drops of spittle. "Pretend all you want but the entire town knows exactly what you are. And it's certainly not a lady!"
Maya wiped her face, repulsed by the warm moisture, but she couldn't linger on her distaste for Mr. Gupta’s body fluids. She was desperate to find out what he meant, why and how he could have hurt his own child so badly. Not that he hadn’t hit Ria before, but previous instances had left her with a black eye or a sprained wrist, not leaving her looking like she’d been used as a punching bag.
Ria watched in silence, a shadow of a smirk on her lips. That one little curl of her mouth confirmed the demon was still inside Maya’s friend's body. What was the Rakshasa up to? What had she done to make Mr. Gupta so angry he’d hurt his daughter this way?
"Now, Gupta. What are you trying to say?" Maya’s father asked, his voice an octave higher as his anger built at the other man’s insults.
"What I am trying to say Rao, is you've spoiled and coddled your daughter far too much! She’s an embarrassment to the entire community and you’d better do something about it. Soon."
"You’re not making any sense."
"Sense? What doesn't make sense is how you can condone her behavior. Surely, you don't approve of her consorting with the Richards boy? Interesting cover story too. You really think we believe that nonsense about him beating her up?”
At first Maya was a tad confused. Richard's boy? Then it dawned on her - Byron.
“What was it, Maya? A lover’s quarrel? And now nobody can find the boy? Not to mention the horrible death of that Alden girl."
"Come on, Gupta. Maya couldn’t have had anything to do with that boy’s disappearance or the Alden girl's death," Maya’s father responded with iron control but a vein beat blue and angry at his temple. “I hardly think you really believe the things you're saying.”
"Oh yes, I believe it. And why do I believe it? Because I had a nice long talk with my daughter. That is how. Ria's behavior and attitude has gone from bad to worse. And your daughter’s influence has been the sole cause. I understand some people are unable to enforce proper discipline in their homes,” Mr. Gupta glanced at Dev, criticism clear in his fiery eyes. “But please don't make your inability to control your daughter my problem.”
Ria’s father faced Maya, his flabby cheeks wobbling with anger, his eyes flashing the depth of his dislike. "I came here tonight to tell that girl to stay away from Ria. I don't want her in my house. I don't want them to even know each other. I know it may not be in your nature to respect the wishes of an adult but Ria certainly will. Won't you, Ria?”
He’d held onto Ria’s arm throughout the entire conversation as if he suspected she might run for her life. Maya would have, had she been in Ria’s shoes, but Ria herself? No, Ria wouldn’t have run. Now, he shook his daughter's arm, his fingers clasped so hard into her skin it seemed very likely the pudgy digits would sink right into her reddened flesh.
“Insolent girl.” Gupta turned to his captivated audience pointing an uplifted palm at Ria. “See, how she doesn't answer. She has learned to be disrespectful from Maya. But I will no longer tolerate it.”
He turned and stamped out of the living room, and out of the house dragging Ria with him. A car door slammed, then another and the vehicle took off, speeding down the street.
“Things are getting a bit too exciting around here these days,” remarked Leela, as if the infuriated man had been nothing more than a courier delivery guy.
“Did you see the way she looked at me?” Maya whispered.
Her father nodded. “So what do you think that was all about?” he said.
“The demon has control of Ria’s body. I think she pushed Mr. Gupta to the edge knowing he would blame me. Probably knowing she can get into the house that way.”
“Even if she entered, the house is warded, right from the foundations up. No way would she have been able to stay here, or take anyone's body.” Dev Rao sighed, weary and worried.
“Then she will try to find another way to get to Maya,” said Claudia. “I’ll go check the wards.”
“Wait, I’ll join you,” said Maya’s mother.
The two women left the room. At least they had a purpose. Maya hated being useless in this situation. But what did she know about warding a house against evil anyway?
Maya decided to ask the big question. The subject everyone seemed to be avoiding at all costs.
“So . . . about Chayya.”
Her father glanced at her, a worried expression painted on his face.
“See! What’s that look for? What do you guys know that you’re all keeping from me? Is she some evil god or something?”
“Okay Maya, no need to get upset,” her dad placated her. “It’s not Chayya herself we are worried about. It's the fact that a god, any god, is here in t
his town, that is a concern.”
“Why? Surely, she was here to help. She didn’t seem like she was threatening my life or anything.”
“No, what is a concern is that the gods only get involved for two reasons. Mischief, which I don’t think applies in this case, or . . .”
“Or?” prompted Maya.
“Or it means big time crap is about to hit the fan,” said Dev.
“Alright. Now what?” asked Maya, frustrated. They seemed to keep going in circles.
“No idea.”
Chapter 20
The next evening, with Ria’s possession still on her mind, Maya disappeared to the silent gym, determined to try and make more valuable use of her time. A lot better than sitting in her room replaying the memory of a certain kiss and how horribly it had ended. Or the messy death of Amber.
Soon she was immersed in the moves of her latest routine. She loved the silence of the studio when all the teachers and students had left after training. The cloth of her sleeves labored against her sides as she performed each move, the sound swift and harsh. Her feet moved rapidly against the plastic mats, rubbing the floor in short sharp strokes. The burst of flames rushing in small roars spurting from her hands like little red and orange flamethrowers.
Odd how she’d never enjoyed her Kung Fu training and yet now when she combined the art with her Fire practice, she seemed to have developed a deeper appreciation for it. She still didn’t believe she was much good at the martial arts, but at least she enjoyed the sessions rather than gritting her teeth the entire time.
Maya paused in her workout, an odd sound reaching her ears, loud enough to break her concentration. The bright fluorescents of the studio brought everything into stark contrast. Beyond the windows, the last dregs of daylight had fled the sky.