The Apsara Chronicles Boxed Set Page 25

  He was emaciated, as if he hadn’t eaten in months, the skin wrapped around his bones, not an ounce of flesh remaining. His graying hair was long and ratty, turning into dreadlocks, his beard a tangled nest of salt-and-pepper strands.

  He lifted his face to hers, the sorrow in his eyes so deep that she wanted to burst into tears, to scream her grief to the heavens. She knew what he was saying to her.

  Ma was dead.

  Vee looked back at her grandmother, this time her tears falling unchecked as she called out to her, praying that he’d lied to her even if he’d done so with only his eyes.

  “Ma!” she shouted, staring hard in case she saw some evidence to refute what she knew already.

  And as she stared, the image of her grandmother blurred, shimmering, there but not there.

  “What’s happening?” she whispered.

  “Illusion,” he said, the word scratchy on what was likely an unused voice.

  And as she watched, the image of her grandmother faded into nothing, leaving empty shackles and only two prisoners in a stone cell.

  “What was that?” she asked, her tone almost as dead as she felt.

  “Aura . . . memory,” he croaked.

  “What happened?” Vee demanded answers, and despite the sorrow in his gaze, he nodded.

  Swallowing hard, he spoke through cracked and bleeding lips. “Tried to use . . . power.” He shook his head, his dreadlocks swaying. “. . . Failed.”

  Vee waited as he began to cough. She winced at the strangled sound and stared in horror as he hacked and spat out a wad of green, blood-filled phlegm. Looking closer she saw the glint of perspiration on his skin, the flush of his cheeks, evidence of a raging fever. He was so terribly sick from the looks of it. And yet he was still alive.

  He looked up again. “Too frail . . . power strong . . . body weak.” He chose his words sparingly in order to save his throat. And Vee waited patiently. “He killed her.”

  Tears sprang up again but they were more from anger than grief. She wanted to hurt the demon, to rip out his throat the way he’d ripped out her heart.

  She began to tug at her manacles, bucking away from the wall, screaming at the top of her lungs.

  “Strength,” he said, his voice still scratchy.

  Just one word was all he’d needed to say.

  Vee took a deep breath and blinked back the tears. She stared at him, disbelief filling her mind, yet in her heart was utter joy warring with indescribable grief.

  In a matter of moments, she’d lost and gained so much.

  She’d lost her grandmother, an event she’d always expected as the final stage in a human’s life. She’d been prepared for Ma’s death, albeit not in this particular fashion. Although Vee had a feeling that her grandmother would have preferred it this way, to go down with a fight. And from the looks of it, she had.

  What Vee had never dreamed of was the return of someone who’d already died. Who she’d already mourned.

  Her father.

  Chapter 49

  Hours passed and Vee understood exactly what the demon Hiranyakasipu was doing. He wanted Vee to stew on her situation, to mourn her grandmother, to wait and wonder what he was going to do next.

  But he hadn’t anticipated the kind of person Vee was. Or the kind of person her grandmother was. The old woman had been kind and wise, imparting her knowledge and strength to her only granddaughter.

  The women of Vee’s family had always been strong, it seemed, and Vee had been no different, taking her cues from her grandmother’s strength in the absence of her mother. And now, she found herself not bereft of strength, but imbued with it. Despite her grief, despite her loss, and despite the horror the evil asura was putting her and her family through.

  When she heard the click at the metal door she knew the time had come to face the monster.

  And yet, when he entered, he seemed so much less than he’d appeared before when he’d come in his deific form. Perhaps it was the stone-walled cell, or the death of her grandmother, or the sight of her father in the terrible condition he’d had to live in for so many years, but Vee’s impression of the demon was no longer one that instilled fear, or any form of respect.

  She hated him.

  And she did not fear him.

  Lifting her chin, she stared at him, defiance in her gaze. But he paid little attention as he waved a hand and released her manacles. She fell to the ground, her toes having been at least a foot off the ground. Not far, but when her feet had lost their feeling, even that short drop was jarring.

  Then Kasipu released her father’s chains too, an act that she didn’t feel one bit grateful for, because she knew it was merely a ploy. One to gain her trust.

  She glanced covertly at her father, a message to him to wait for her signal. She only hoped Raj Sharma was still the strong man she remembered, that Kasipu hadn’t succeeded in breaking him.

  Kasipu waved at the empty manacles from which her grandmother had so recently hung. “You see what happens when you do not hold up your end of the bargain?” He smirked as he rubbed his bearded chin.

  “That’s on you. You can’t make me feel like that was my fault.”

  “Oh no, you silly girl. I did not mean for you to feel guilt. It’s the righteous anger you are feeling at the moment that I wanted to evoke.”

  “You killed my grandmother so I can be angry?”

  He grinned, flashing teeth so white it seemed unnatural. “How do you feel now that you know the truth?”

  Vee got to her knees, the feeling finally returning to her legs. “I will make you pay,” she yelled, her voice breaking.

  Kasipu stopped and looked at her, his expression that of a benevolent father. Then he began to applaud, the impact of his palms echoing around the cell like the clanging of cymbals.

  “That’s right. Show me what you are made of, little Apsara.”

  Fury rose within Vee’s heart and all she wanted was to get to her feet and tear him apart. The conch shifted within her pocket, and the chakra weighed heavily against her hip. Two weapons against this demon that she could not yet use.

  She considered the conch. Its invisibility would be far more beneficial to her father in case she wasn’t able to save him. Besides, it was time she attempted to use her own power to fight this bastard of a demon.

  Vee removed the conch from her pocket, shifting to her side as if she was staring at her father in despair. She laid the conch down on the stone floor beside her, relieved at the widening of her Raj’s eyes. He could see it. How, she didn’t know, didn’t have the time to think about it.

  Still on her knees she shifted, her back now to her father, and toed the conch closer to him. A quick glance revealed it was now at his feet.

  A second glance and the conch had disappeared, the slight bulge in his left pocket confirming the conch’s new location.

  Vee breathed a sigh of relief and got to her feet, steadying herself, readying for the fight. Taking a deep breath she exhaled, blinked . . . .

  And found herself on the sidewalk outside Kasipu’s house, Nivaan to her right tending to her now-conscious mother.

  Vee ran over to her mother, sinking down at her side. Before she could say a word she began to sob, struggling to get the words out. She felt her mother’s hand on her cheek, and inhaled, feeling calm sweep over her like a warm wave.

  I thought she didn’t have any powers?

  “What is it, Vee?” Devi’s voice forced her to focus.

  “It’s Ma. She’s gone.” Vee could barely get the words out as she brushed the tears away. Vaguely she registered that Nivaan was there, that he’d put his arm around her shoulder, that she was leaning into him, taking his strength. She shuddered. “But there’s something else . . .”

  She wasn’t sure how to tell her mother.

  “Out with it, Vee. I’m a big girl. I can handle it.” Vee could see how strong her mother was. She hadn’t shed a tear when Vee had told her that her mother had died.

  Vee swallow
ed hard. “It’s Dad. He’s alive. I spoke to him. He’s really sick, but he’s alive.” The words spilled out, a tsunami of pent-up emotion drowning first Vee and then her mother.

  Devi began to cry and though Vee felt like bawling her eyes out, she felt the soft, almost imperceptible squeeze Nivaan gave her.

  She looked up and met his gaze. He glanced at the house, the unsaid instruction there in his eyes—go and finish this.

  As Vee got to her feet, Devi wiped her eyes and said, “Wait. There is something you need to understand before you go back.”

  Vee paused and faced her mother, one eye on the house at her left.

  “That day . . . you weren’t supposed to be in the room. Your power was so untrained, so young. It’s what made the magic go haywire. And somehow Kasipu seems to know this. Your magic invoked the vortex. And the vortex is what Kasipu wants. It’s a window to destruction . . . capable of destroying worlds . . . universes.” She paused to swallow and winced as she shifted to a more comfortable position. “We had to close the vortex at all costs. Your father knew it and so did I.”

  “It was my fault?”

  “Not your fault. But your magic intensified ours. We should have catered to it. Maybe cast the spell when you weren’t around. But we did it anyway, thinking the wards around your powers were enough. We were wrong.

  “When you came into the room, the vortex had already opened so wide there was little chance of closing it without sacrificing a life. I was trying to talk him out of it when you walked into the room.”

  “And this magic is what Kasipu wanted?”

  Devi nodded. “He sent his brother to bargain on his behalf. Yaksha did everything to make your father believe he was good. Years of talking, of working together. Your father had begun to trust him. Even I could only see good in Yaksha.” She blinked away a fresh wave of tears. “But then he asked for the vortex and I began to wonder. Still, I didn’t think too much of it until your father tested the invocation that day.”

  “It was supposed to be a test?”

  Devi nodded. “But it got out of control. And that’s what the brothers wanted. They’d had a plan all along.”

  “Didn’t you read the Scrolls, Mom?” Vee shook her head. “They tell you that Kasipu wants godhood, which is why he seeks a pure Apsara. One whose powers are incomparable. And that Apsara’s power will make him into a god again.”

  Devi frowned. “What are you talking about?” She was shaking her head. “What scrolls?”

  “The ancient books Dad kept in the archive room. I was reading them a couple days ago. I’ve been reading them for years.” Vee frowned, her heart thudding against her ribs.

  Devi reached for Vee’s hands. “Vee, those scrolls are blank. They’d never been read by anyone before. They’re just ancient scrolls found in an arid valley. Ancient books with blank pages and nothing to tell. Whatever words had been written on them had faded with time.”

  Vee shook her head. “No, Mom. I’ve read them. The Apsaras have been writing about the Hiranya brothers for centuries. Each of their lifetimes are recorded for posterity.”

  Devi stared at her daughter, her expression unfathomable. “And nobody could read it until you . . .” Devi’s voice drifted away as she began to smile, “You really are the one.”

  Vee shook her head. “I’m not sure what or who that is, but right now I have work to do.” She glanced at Nivaan, who was pretending to attend to the bandages on her mother’s head, as if he hadn’t heard that crazy revelation. He looked at Vee, flashing his dimple, which never failed to bring a smile to her lips. “Take care of her for me, okay?”

  Vee didn’t wait for a response. She got to her feet, grabbed the chakra from her waist and headed for the house. Kasipu wasn’t going to set her father free. And the asura had to die. At whatever cost. She understood why her father had wanted to sacrifice himself. Because he knew it was for the greater good.

  Now, she faced the house and prayed that the conch would help her father when the time came. Right now, she couldn’t concentrate on anything else besides destroying Kasipu.

  She swung the chakra around her head, once, twice and on the third swing she flung it at the building, watching as the spinning gold disk slammed into walls and roof, and the house exploded. She raised her hand as the weapon boomeranged back to her.

  Devi and Nivaan ducked, but the flying debris simply flew through them, past them. Vee frowned as she watched shards of the front door fly straight at her, and then right through Syama.

  Her eyes widened. The house and Vee were in a different dimension than earth.

  Vee spun on her heel and ran inside the house, now suddenly back to its normal state. The whole parallel world thing was messing with Vee’s head.

  Inside the house, she found the mirror and watched Kasipu as he raced away, his back to her. Vee jumped through the mirror, landed on her feet and pushed off, following a few feet behind the demon.

  Kasipu stopped at the end of a long tunnel and turned to face Vee, his mouth twisted into a horrible grin.

  He lifted his hands and sent blasts of heated air at her, air that was hot enough to burn her to dust. The blast wave sent Vee flying backward, tumbling over and over until she hit a solid wall and slammed her head into stone. Pain exploded in her skull, but she pushed away, shaking the daze off.

  Vee instinctively lifted her hands, shoving back at the constant barrage of energy, taking one step, then another, until she caught her breath. She pulled power from inside her, willing her mind to give her the energy, still unsure of how it all worked. And then, with every bit of her strength she flung the force back at him, deflecting the sizzling heat toward the demon. Kasipu yelled as he hopped about avoiding his own heat-weapon.

  Vee closed in on him, raising the chakra and flinging it at Kasipu. He screeched and swung around, missing the flying chakra by an inch, then ducking to avoid it on its return.

  Frustrated, Vee let out a groan. So Kasipu knew how to evade the chakra. Not much use fighting with that now.

  Vee stiffened. She had no choice now. Her own powers would have to be enough. She pulled on the energy she’d used the last time she’d created the forcefield—or at least she hoped she was, because both times she’d used the power she’d had little idea of what she was doing—and pushed it out at the demon. He toppled over and went flying until he hit the far wall.

  He got to his feet and dusted himself off, glaring at Vee. The beads of perspiration on his forehead confirmed he knew he was in deep trouble.

  The golden trishula that came flying at Vee would have impaled her in the middle of her forehead had she only blinked.

  But she hadn’t.

  She didn’t waste a moment wondering where it had come from. She just put out her hand and caught the weapon by the handle, tipping it over and facing the triple business end at Kasipu.

  Vee began to run, trishula in one hand, chakra in the other. Kasipu threw himself into the air, and Vee jumped hoping she’d at least get half as high, just enough to strike the demon in his legs.

  But she rose into the air so smoothly that she let out a shocked cry.

  She couldn’t pay attention to the mechanics of her newfound lack of gravity because Kasipu was staring at her so filled with fury and intent that she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do.

  To her right, she could see the superimposed vision of her father in his cell. He was pulling the conch free, and putting it to his mouth.

  Vee stepped forward, about to yell at him to stop, when he blew the conch, the sound so soft and low that Vee could hear it more with her bones than her ears.

  At the sound of the conch, every plane they were overlapping came to a standstill.

  Only Vee hovered in the air, as if she existed in her very own dimension. Kasipu remained suspended, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. His hands went to his throat as if he was struggling to breathe and Vee had to search within herself for even one ounce of sympathy for his plight. She found none.<
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  Her fingers tightened and as they closed around the handle of the trishula, Vee finally registered what the weapon was that she held in her hands. The gold gleamed, the triple points shone with an unearthly glow.

  The trishula of Lord Shiva. Lord of Destruction. The Cosmic Creator.

  And Vee now held His most prized weapon.

  How was she able to wield it? And more importantly, why?

  She looked at the weapon and then at the demon. And decided, in the blink of an instant, what her next step would be.

  With Kasipu suspended before her, Vee took aim with the trishula and then threw the trident as fast and as hard as she could, given that she was also suspended in the air.

  The trishula flew, slamming into an invisible field of magic surrounding Kasipu. The protective barrier shattered into millions of pieces as if it were made of whisper-thin glass. The weapon flew through the shield and slammed into Kasipu’s chest, the three blade-sharp tips piercing flesh, drawing blood, and eliciting a god-awful scream from the demon.

  A blinding golden light exploded from Kasipu’s chest, the triple wounds from the points of the trident beginning to widen. The bright glow seared its way through the body of the demon, and in those spaces, those expanding patches of light, Vee glimpsed a land of such intense beauty she could barely look upon it without bursting into tears.

  Then Kasipu exploded into golden light, shattered portions of his body and soul flying into the air around him, splintering again and again, a million pieces into nothing.

  At last, the dimensions collapsed into each other and everything disappeared except for Vee and her father. He was staring up at her now, standing on the bare grass of an empty plot of land where Kasipu’s house had once stood.

  Vee frowned, confused as to why she was still suspended in the air while he was on the ground.

  She shifted and turned to see her mother and Nivaan, Syama and Akil all staring up at her in awe. At first she thought they were looking at her, but soon she realized from their almost cross-eyed gazes that they were staring at something behind her.