What Maya Saw
Page 30
Maya just nodded and then looked hopefully at her phone. Her mind was far away. So Lola tried to plug the holes. ‘We did behave suspiciously sometimes,’ she admitted. ‘Can we ask you a few questions, please? Who kidnapped Father Furtado? Was it Charles Brown?’
‘He seems to have been drugged one evening,’ Father D’Gama said. ‘He remembers working in his office in the Zoology department. Then he remembers waking up in a strange house. The apartment in Sea View. The only people he met there were Charles Brown, that woman with the green eyes and that little girl.’
‘But why did they kidnap Father Furtado?’ Lola asked. ‘Was it because they thought he might recognise Charles Brown as Karl Brun?’
‘That was certainly one of the reasons,’ Father D’Gama said after some thought. ‘Also, it was safer to have him out of the way. He knew what Father Lorenzo had really wanted. He could have destroyed Professor Kekobad’s manipulative plan with a single sentence.’
‘Also,’ Lola added, ‘they may have thought that Father Furtado had cracked some of the clues. That he knew more about the keys than he was admitting.’
‘They kept interrogating him,’ Father D’Gama agreed, balancing his coffee cup and lemon tart. Sitting on the green sofa, the priest seemed much more approachable than he did at St Paul’s. ‘Charles Brown kept trying to get information out of him. Information that he really didn’t have.’
Lola glanced at Maya, who continued to stare out of the window. So Lola played spokesperson again. ‘I still can’t figure out who was working with whom. The Shadows thought they were working with Charles Brown. Professor Kekobad was also working with Charles Brown. And Chhaya and her daughter were also involved. It’s really confusing.’
Father D’Gama nodded. ‘I don’t know how loyal any of them were. They all wanted the liquid for themselves and did whatever they could to get hold of it.’
‘What will happen to Professor Kekobad and Charles Brown now?’ Lola asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Father D’Gama said. ‘The police have filed an FIR. Something to do with kidnapping and smuggling. But I suspect nature will act more speedily than the wheels of justice.’
‘And Amara, Owais and Aniruddh?’
‘There has been no trace of them, and I don’t expect there will be. They will have slipped into other identities by now.’
‘They’ll get new names and new lives,’ Lola agreed. ‘Then in another 111 years, they’ll start panicking again. So weird.’
Father D’Gama looked at Maya, who sat speechless and miserable. Anxiety clenched her stomach. Sanath wasn’t responding to her messages or answering her calls. ‘Maya, everything will be fine. Give it time,’ the priest said as he got up to leave. ‘I will check on Sanath when I get back to college. I will keep you informed.’
Lola went back to her aunt’s house in the afternoon, and the rest of the day extended bleak and empty.
In the evening, Maya phoned Veda. ‘I just wanted to say you were amazing through the whole thing,’ she mumbled.
Much to Maya’s astonishment, Veda laughed – a most unVedalike thing to do. ‘Other than your fear of heights and fear of the dark and fear of rats and overactive imagination, you were pretty good too,’ she said, actually sounding normal. ‘See you at St Paul’s tomorrow.’
Maya’s mother hovered around all evening, trying to find out details as discreetly as possible. But discretion had never been her forte.
Maya went to bed early to escape the inquisition. The apartment across the compound was empty, the windows tightly shut and the wind chime still. The book by Karl Brun sat on Maya’s desk, waiting to be read. The ripped aqua skirt lay across a chair waiting to be mended.
‘Tomorrow, I’ll feel better,’ Maya thought, brushing her hair with brisk strokes. But the words had the meaningless feel of an empty promise.
Then at 10.09 p.m., just as Maya was drifting off to sleep, her phone vibrated. She reached out, jumped up and grabbed Donkey Do for moral support.
The message was from Sanath. ‘Will you come for a movie tomorrow?’
Maya sent back a single word. ‘Yes.’
The answer came immediately. ‘Third time lucky!!!’
Maya laughed and gave Donkey Do a grateful kiss. Then she tumbled into the velvety oblivion of sleep.
She didn’t hear the soft Rat-a-tat being beaten in another corner of Colaba.
It was better that way.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The biggest thank you to Tina Narang and Lubaina Bandukwala, the editors from heaven.
ABOUT THE BOOK
I am nothing, I am something, I weigh less than breath, Darkness destroys me and light is my death. Who am I?
Almost from the moment Maya steps into St Paul’s College, she is afraid.
Everywhere she goes, she encounters questions and secrets. Not to mention the Shadows – a bunch of drop-dead gorgeous students who she realises will do anything to keep their youth and beauty. Even kill.
Maya wants no part in this sinister adventure. She would much rather be shopping for shoes, munching brownies and shedding her geeky image. But the teenager soon finds that she doesn’t have a choice.
Only Maya can see the Shadows for what they really are. Only she can unravel the trail of clues laid long ago by a dead priest. Which is why both the forces of good and evil need her so badly.
Unsure about whom she can trust and believe, Maya launches into a clue hunt across Mumbai – and in the process learns about love, friendship and growing up.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shabnam Minwalla has spent most of her life with words – editing her school magazine, working as a journalist with the Times of India and writing non-fiction, for example, a coffee-table book on her beloved alma mater, St Xavier’s College. At the moment, she writes food columns, book reviews and features for newspapers and magazines. But what she most enjoys is writing books for children.
Her first book, The Six Spellmakers of Dorabji Street, was critically acclaimed and a hit with children (many of whom refer to her as “that Dorabji Aunty”). It also won the Rivokids Parents’ and Kids’ Choice Awards. Her second book, The Strange Haunting of Model High School, is an adventure story set in a Mumbai school and has been published by Scholastic.
The Shy Supergirl and Lucky Girl, both published by Duckbill, are popular with young readers.
Shabnam has conducted workshops and sessions at Bookaroo in Delhi and Pune, at Lit Fests in Chandigarh, Raipur and Hyderabad, at the Kala Ghoda and Tata Lit Live festivals in Mumbai, as well as at many schools and libraries. She has also conducted journalism and creative writing workshops across the country.
Shabnam got her MA in Journalism at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She was also a Chevening Scholar at Wolfson College in Cambridge.
Other books by Shabnam Minwalla:
The Six Spellmakers of Dorabji Street
The Strange Haunting of Model High School
The Shy Supergirl
Lucky Girl
Letters from readers:
The Six Spellmakers of Dorabji Street
Ever since I read this book I’ve been hooked onto this. It was a very funny, interesting and magical book. I just love magic and it was surprising to find everything I love in one book. I felt as if I was in the place of Nivi and it was just a wonderful experience.
Anoushka Sivasankar
Mumbai
Your book was really good; I thoroughly enjoyed it! Hope you keep writing 100, 1000 good books so I could be a reading champion!
Arushi
Mumbai
The Strange Haunting of Model High School
I LOVE your book! I totally dove into it from the start. I think I read it in about four days. It was wonderful. You really make it feel like I’m in Model High with Mallika, Sunaina, and Lara … Thank you for writing this amazing story…
Amelia
California
I read your latest book The Strange Haunting of Mod
el High School late into the night and finished it today. It was so interesting and funny I couldn’t put it down … I like the humour and the mix of cricket and football in the book. If you need any cricket info, contact me and I will try to answer you on the spot.
Purv Ashar
Mumbai
The Shy Supergirl and Lucky Girl
I just adore your books. I think the Indian names you used were a very nice idea.
Virika Shah
Mumbai
I would like to share some questions with you. From where did you get these characters? Did you have fun while writing these spectacular books?
Aashriya
Mumbai
Reviews of earlier books:
The Six Spellmakers of Dorabji Street
Though The Six Spellmakers of Dorabji Street is a children’s book, it will appeal to every age group for the engaging plot, and Shabnam’s beautiful literary style.
Sravasti Datta
The Hindu
Spellmakers … is a breezy, well-paced read that had me grinning from go. I enjoyed its wit, and its keenly observed kids-eye view of the silly adults they must endure.
Bookblah
Shabnam’s writing brings Mumbai to life – the setting here is not a bland background to the narrative – it’s a living, breathing character that is an integral part of the story.
Priya Bhasker
Young India Books
The characters, both adults and kids, with their quirks are well-etched and kids will surely want a sequel to the book. The brand names and locations mentioned, make the book very real and set a context. The solutions the kids come up with are also pretty realistic. The beautifully established links/parallels between fantasy/magic and reality will appeal to even the more cynical reader.
Saffron Tree
The Shy Supergirl
It’s hard to find a story about a superhero with a truly novel power, but The Shy Supergirl pulls it off. It should make every geeky little kid (of any age!) stand up and cheer.
Payal Dhar
Goodbooks.in
Shabnam Minwalla’s Nina is The Shy Supergirl without the dual identity. Who says a supergirl can’t be shy? These books and their individual characters flatten stereotypes.
Joeanna Rebello Fernandes
The Times of India
The Strange Haunting of Model High School
Minwalla’s writing is often laugh-out-loud funny and spotted with the kind of wordplay kids adore … Minwalla’s fiendish plotting kept me guessing all the way till the end. And best of all, I found the ending both surprising and poignant.
Anil Menon
Goodbooks.in
Lucky Girl
The story encourages kids to try new things. Just because you have never done something before, does not automatically mean you won’t be good at it. In fact, you’ll never know if you are good, unless you try. It also shows that there is more than one way to be good at something.
Kanika G.
PlusMinus’n’More
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First published in India in 2017 by HarperCollins Children’s Books
An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
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Copyright © Shabnam Minwalla 2017
P-ISBN: 978-93-5277-469-2
Epub Edition © December 2017 ISBN: 978-93-5277-470-8
Shabnam Minwalla asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved under The Copyright Act, 1957. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, 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 Publishers India.
Cover design: Kalyani Ganapathy
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