Maya looked at him, her eyes a mix of curiosity and suspicion.
‘And no,’ Adri continued, ‘MYTH has not sent me. I have been banned as a practicing Tantric for many years now.’
‘Don’t mind me,’ Maya began, ‘but I don’t take things at face value. If you want me to believe you, prove it.’
Adri was beginning to like how she was. Logical rather than emotional. Curt, yet she’d been polite so far. Maybe this had a chance of working out. He rolled a sleeve of his kurta back.
‘Tattoos of the Necromancer,’ she spoke softly, looking at the black, swirling writings. ‘Fine. I believe you. Go on.’
‘My name is Adri Sen, and I have been involved with the magical arts for a long time. But right now, I need help, help from a certain person who’s quite close to you.’
‘Who?’
‘Your elder brother.’
‘Abriti?’
‘Yes. Abriti. He has something I need, something that will get a certain debtor off my back.’ Adri had never been any good at simplifying things, and this was all that he could come up with at the moment. It wasn’t the worst explanation in the world, and it left a lot of questions unanswered, but for now, it would have to do.
‘What does Dada have that belongs to you?’ Maya asked. Dada was a term of respect and endearment for an elder brother, and betrayed Maya’s closeness to him.
‘I’m sorry, but he wouldn’t want you to know,’ Adri replied. It worked. Maya looked a little less suspicious than before.
‘Dada’s not here,’ she said after a pause. ‘He works for MYTH. He’s in Old Kolkata, working in one of their protected research camps.’
Research camps? Adri thought. His human guise must be that of a scientist or something. The part about him working for MYTH, however, was true. For now, the Angels, the Necromancers, and the Sorcerers were all fighting against the Free Demons under MYTH’s banner, in a battle that had been raging in Old Kolkata for about ten years now, with neither side showing any signs of a definite victory. It made sense, Adri realised, for the Angel to tell his adoptive family that he was working for MYTH—lesser cover-ups and alibis to come up with.
‘I know he’s in Old Kolkata,’ Adri said. ‘But I can’t get to him.’
‘Obviously,’ Maya replied. ‘They don’t allow us outside the gates.’
‘The problem isn’t Old Kolkata. The problem is MYTH. I have been banished by MYTH. If I am found anywhere near a MYTH facility, they’d do me in.’
‘They will do that to any civilian,’ Maya spoke. ‘The Old City is anyway out of bounds for civilians of New Kolkata.’
‘They’ll go easier on civilians. And besides, not if we disguise you as a random civilian of Old Kolkata, then they won’t.’
‘Disguise me?’ Maya exclaimed, surprised.
‘Ah,’ Adri said. “Ah” hardly cut it though. He hadn’t mentioned that she would be tagging along to Old Kolkata with him—she had simply, and quite naturally, assumed that he was just seeking information. The revelation of the extent of her involvement had been fast and brutal. He should’ve broken the news more slowly, more gently, perhaps. But Maya’s eyes were brightening.
‘You’re asking me to go to Old Kolkata?’ she asked, her voice thinner.
‘Was about to ask, yes,’ Adri ventured.
‘But that’s incredible! You know how to get there?’ she asked, clearly betraying excitement.
Adri stared at her. How did he get so lucky? Maya was practically dying to get to Old Kolkata. With a complete stranger, even. Maybe she wasn’t as mature as she had seemed. But Adri wasn’t complaining.
‘I can get us to your brother,’ Adri spoke.
‘Old Kolkata is dangerous,’ Maya said, her enthusiasm unabated. ‘Will we see Demons?’
‘Hopefully not,’ Adri replied. ‘Like I said, I can get us to where your brother is. All you have to do is bring him out to me. I need to talk to him.’
Maya turned thoughtful all of a sudden. ‘Look . . . er . . . . Adri . . .’ she began awkwardly.
‘It’s fine, call me Adri,’ Adri stated impatiently.
‘Yes. Adri. Thing is, I don’t know you. You could be anyone, any rogue Tantric who takes me out there and . . . er . . . does black magic on me or something.’
‘Why are you so keen on going then?’ Adri asked her. ‘You’re obviously interested in Old Kolkata. Weigh that with the risk.’ He had given Maya an ultimatum. He expected it to work.
‘I need time to think about this,’ Maya said.
Adri nodded understandingly. ‘I can give you half an hour.’
‘Half an hour?’ she repeated, incredulous.
‘I have to reach Old Kolkata before dawn. It’s a very strict deadline.’
Maya got up and walked towards the blackboard, her fists clenched. One of her friends, a girl, came halfway into the classroom. Maya gestured that everything was all right and her friend went back. After a while, Maya followed her outside. Questions. Whispers. Giggles. Adri suddenly realised everything had been dead quiet so far. Bloody eavesdroppers.
It was an hour later that Adri hurried down the stairs, with Maya in tow. One hour. An entire hour, half an hour more than he had bargained for. This wasn’t good, Adri thought. He couldn’t afford to be this lax with his time, not with what was waiting beyond the deadline.
‘My friends hate me,’ she panted.
‘They don’t trust me,’ Adri murmured.
‘I don’t trust you,’ said Maya, shaking her head. Maya’s friends were watching darkly from the second floor. She waved to them cheerfully, while Adri walked on. She was carrying a backpack. Must be books, Adri thought. Reaching the college grounds, Adri began scanning the area for Guardians. None could be seen. Only students.
‘Where are we going? I need to pack my stuff,’ Maya said.
‘Fine. Where do you live?’ Adri asked.
‘Near Ruby.’
‘I need to pack my stuff too, and I live closer. Let’s go to my place first.’
‘Okay, where do you—’
‘Gariahat.’
‘That’s pretty close.’
They continued walking fast, occasionally conversing, until all of a sudden, Adri stopped dead. Then he turned around, and walked back briskly. Puzzled, Maya looked ahead only to see the twin gates of the university in the distance.
‘What is it?’ she asked, following him.
‘Is there a bathroom around here?’ Adri asked. Luckily, he had remained just outside their range, or they’d have been on to him by now. He should have known that they’d be back on their pillars. It had been more than an entire hour, for heaven’s sake. He needed to distract the Guardians again.
‘A bathroom?’ Maya repeated.
Adri was not even listening to her as he looked around frantically. Maybe in one of the buildings—
‘Is it the Guardians?’ Maya asked.
Adri stopped. ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘They will sense me easily.’
‘Okay,’ Maya spoke. ‘We’ll jump the wall.’
‘We’ll do what?’
The low wall was a long walk away. Adri could see the neat pile of white bricks the students had placed beneath the structure to make the jump easy. There were no Guardians here, he observed, jumping the wall and landing on the other side, close to a busy intersection he knew well. They could get a bus from here easily.
‘See? Wasn’t so tough, was it now?’ Maya said, out of breath. ‘Why were you looking for a bathroom?’
There was no way Adri was going to tell her about his Familiar trick now. A low wall? Seriously?
On the bus they sat on separate seats. Maya fished out a book from her bag and started reading. Observing her, Adri realised this was going to be a strange journey. Maya had, for the moment, agreed to come—he was glad about things working out this easily. She did not seem like the average girl though. No, it would definitely take time to understand her, and he needed to understand her to manipulate her. She was doing him a
favour; he couldn’t let things turn sour. He couldn’t be rude, for one. Adri did not prefer being this calculative about people, but it had become second nature. An unforgivable profession, Necromancy. The matter at hand was a delicate one. He needed Maya.
Just like its predecessor, New Kolkata too had a lot of traffic; the bus took its time to travel the short distance to Gariahat. Adri did not like it. He could feel each second, every moment, the entire day almost, scrape past slowly but yes. The traffic lights irritated him, as did the other vehicles that slowed the bus down. He needed to move faster, dammit. They got off, only to get swallowed by the crowd—a whirl of people and colours, hawkers screaming their prices, flashy goods brushing against shoulders, multitudes gushing through narrow streets. Claustrophobia. A pickpocket’s paradise. Something like the Esplanade of the Old City, thought Adri. He was used to it, and fighting his way through the crowd, he cleared out a passage for Maya. She followed gingerly. Once or twice they almost lost each other in the crowd.
Maya didn’t see the sudden gap between the two buildings, a narrow crevice, almost undetectable, until Adri slipped into it. She inched in behind him, carefully avoiding the adjoining sewer, until Adri took a sudden right and disappeared. A small opening. A flight of stairs. Adri wasn’t visible, but she could hear his footsteps, climbing up. Looking around for a second, Maya followed him. An open door greeted her on the first floor landing and she peeped in, delicately. Adri was pottering around his small one-room flat.
‘You didn’t lie about being a Tantric,’ she spoke, awestruck, as she stepped in, leaving the door ajar. Adri’s room was strange. Maya looked around, her gaze travelling from one object to the next, eyes wide in wonder. She touched things, lightly, gingerly, briefly.
‘Be careful,’ Adri spoke, looking at her. ‘Don’t go around touching everything you find mysterious, or harmless, for that matter.’
‘Sir, yes, sir,’ Maya whispered, staring fascinatedly at the skull lamp. She inspected the pentacle on the floor with great interest, moving on to the numerous scrolls scattered all over the single table in the room, most of them rolled up and sealed with black wax. The air smelt of some peculiar incense, she realised. Or this guy smokes a weird brand, she thought, spotting an ashtray.
Adri moved off to a corner near the bathroom door and pulled something out from beneath a tomb of books. A backpack. Dusty. Carrying it to the window, he slapped it against the sill, dusting it noisily and vigorously. Long trapped dust exploded, fleeing its confines, making Adri sneeze.
Maya’s gaze had turned to Adri—to this twenty something Tantric, no older than a college student, sneezing away. Old Kolkata was a dangerous place, she had no doubt; but her doubts about Adri rose, about his ability to protect her as promised. Maya knew a lot, but knowledge was not enough to survive in the Old City, she needed someone with experience. And Tantrics were supposed to have a lot of experience. Were supposed to. Adri sneezed again.
She was losing confidence in Adri. But going to Old Kolkata was imperative for her—she wasn’t an idiot to run off on adventures with complete strangers. The young Tantric seemed like the perfect vessel to get to the Old City. Once there, she would find a way to take care of her business, it was a city after all, roughly modelled the same way as New Kolkata. Even if she had to ditch Adri, with luck she would find her way around. Right now, however, Maya needed Adri. She had tried to leave the city before and had failed. Besides, she was curious to know if he would live up to his boast.
She hated the fact that he was a real Necromancer though. She was hoping he would turn out to be a fraud, his tattoos temporary; she wanted him to be someone who would just take her into the city and disappear. She didn’t want him to be a problem later on. Tantrics were a tricky lot, and people who managed to offend them did not live to tell the tale. She was wary of him, but her doubts about his abilities kept her reassured. It was best to keep Adri thinking she was an innocent curious kind of girl. This room held no signs of a girlfriend; Adri didn’t seem experienced at all in dealing with the fair sex.
An oblivious Adri had finished dusting the bag. He started packing. Some spell-books, pocket-sized, bound in brown leather. A couple of glass vials, different sizes, all packed carefully within the folds of a soft cloth. Some clothes. A few wooden cylindrical containers, painted black, dropped carelessly. There was nothing methodical about his packing.
It was while throwing in a couple of dried human bones that he heard it. A creak, against the door. Very slight, but enough. Adri whirled around and rushed past a startled Maya, disappearing outside the doorway. Sounds of a scuffle. And a moment later Adri was pulling in a struggling figure. The fight ended, the newcomer landing hard on the floor and Adri crashing against a stack of books.
The figure on the floor was that of a youngster. The most startling thing about him was his pearly white hair, a confused fuzz stacked atop his head, each individual strand a viciously tight curl. Dressed in a formal shirt and jeans, he was handsome, with a striking face and fair built, though there was not a trace of muscle anywhere on his body. He was gasping for breath on the floor, his eyes shooting daggers; but not at Adri.
‘Gray!’ Maya exclaimed, eyes wide.
‘Who’s he? Do you know him?’ Adri wheezed from the floor.
The newcomer turned to look at him. ‘You can say that,’ he muttered, his voice resounding with anger.
‘Boyfriend?’ Adri asked wearily.
‘Younger brother,’ said Maya. ‘Someone who has a lot of explaining to do right now.’
‘I knew it, man. I so knew you were going out with some . . . some . . .’ Gray looked spitefully at Adri.
Adri glared back. This wasn’t the Angel. This was the younger brother. So there was a younger brother in the family, someone capable of finding Kaavsh. And yet the Fallen had skipped this little detail, pairing him up with the girl instead, making the job so much more painful. Fallen’s little joke. Adri thought of retaliation, but Gray’s accusations reached his ears, withdrawing him from the recesses of his mind.
‘He’s not my boyfriend, Gray,’ Maya spat. ‘And even if he was, it does not give you any right to follow me around like this! What were you thinking?’
‘Excuse me, but I think I have the right to know who my sister is dating,’ Gray muttered defensively, sitting up.
‘I will slap you,’ Maya told him.
‘You can’t. Not after you’ve been caught with this bloody Necromancer!’ Gray stated.
‘Hardly caught. You don’t know caught,’ Adri said, rolling his eyes. He was still spread-eagled against the pile of books.
‘I’m not dating him, Gray.’ Maya felt her anger slowly ebb away. She was the one who would have to do the explaining; curiosity and protectiveness were no sin. She detested what Gray had been up to, but she loved her brother.
Gray stood up. ‘Oh God, there’s hardly any space here,’ he complained, making his way to the bed and sitting in a corner, arms crossed against chest. ‘Explain.’
Maya was quite fair about it, telling him about Abriti and how Adri needed his help, ending with the part where she’d have to go along to get their brother out to a safe distance, beyond the reach of MYTH, to a place where Adri could talk to him. Gray did not remain quiet during the explanation, coming up with a thousand questions. But much to Adri’s relief, he swallowed the story in the end.
‘So you’re off to Old Kolkata?’ Gray asked in a tone of great disapproval when Maya finished.
‘Yes. And your permission is the last thing I’m bothered about,’ Maya replied.
‘Not necessarily,’ Adri intervened.
The siblings turned to Adri.
‘I need only one of you. So, either of you can come with me. I’m assuming Abriti will recognise Gray,’ Adri said matter-of-factly.
Maya looked at Adri with growing horror, and Gray’s eyes widened with unexpected surprise. As they began to argue, Adri looked on. Gray had taken the shameless bait he had thrown. College kids, su
rely bored, probably thinking the Old City is some tourist spot. Adri wasn’t eager to paint the real picture. No. He would obviously prefer Gray on this journey, and his conscience did not speak otherwise. Maya would be a liability, and would not be used to the hardships they would certainly face on their journey. Adri naturally assumed that on grounds of impending dangers and possible wear and tear, the male would win the battle between the siblings. He was wrong.
Maya was adamant. No one could try and stop her from her sojourn to the Old City, especially not Gray; she wasn’t a little girl anymore, and could take care of herself—something Gray needed to understand. Gray, on the other hand, refused to let his sister go off to Old Kolkata with someone he did not trust, a Tantric to boot. A responsible brother, he claimed rather righteously, would never allow this. He would have to go instead; to keep a watchful eye over the man as he led him to Abriti, who would most certainly know how to deal with him.
Adri left the siblings to squabble and resumed his packing. He was almost done, stuffing in some mercury branches at the last moment, when Maya called him. ‘A conclusion?’ Adri asked, turning around to face the siblings.
‘Take both of us,’ Maya said. Her eyes were not meeting his.
‘Do I happen to look like a tour guide?’ Adri raised an annoyed eyebrow.
‘C’mon man. You can take an extra person,’ Gray said meekly.
‘No. I take you, or I take her. That city is risky, I’m not pulling two people through that.’
‘Look, I’m not letting her go alone. And she’s not letting me go alone. Give me a solution that’s as practical.’
‘Toss a coin,’ Adri suggested.
Gray considered this, but Maya had started protesting. ‘Adri, it’s either the both of us . . .’ her voice trailed off.
Adri looked at them. Brother and sister, standing side by side, looking back at him. He needed them to find the Angel. What choice did he have anyway? ‘I will give both of you fifteen minutes to pack your things. We leave this place in five, beeline to your house.’
Adri picked up the last and the most important thing in his kit—a long, fairly large wooden casket, the size of two shoeboxes piled on one another. There was a custom-made place for it on one side of his backpack; tying it in place firmly, he grabbed a shirt, and headed off to the bathroom.
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