by Namita Singh
main purpose is to keep our family’s name alive. And of course, he has too much attached memories to let go of this place. So, in order to keep me safe, he asked me to leave once I found your mother.”
“And you moved to Latvia.” I state glumly.
“Yes. Terry and Rufina accompanied us. And well…rest is history.”
“People here think that you left Mikhail behind for your own benefit, isn’t it?”
For a moment, father simply stares at me. I wonder if I have guessed wrong. But I have noticed, on more than one occasion, Pleve insinuating that father left Mikhail behind in the moment of a family crisis. Pleve has even used this as a bait to prove my father not deserving of being a member here. After all, what kind of person can belong to this ‘perfect Realm’ if he cannot even stand by his family during a downfall? That guy, Pleve, seriously ticks me off. For now, I keep my irritation at bay and wait for father to respond, who is still emotionlessly staring at me. After an eon, he speaks.
“Do not…call your grandfather by name again.” He orders.
Immediately, I feel my face getting warm. I didn’t even realize that I addressed Mikhail as ‘Mikhail’. In my mind, I haven’t still come to grasp that he is my grandfather, so I simply think of him as ‘Mikhail’.
But I seriously didn’t intend to speak out his name like he is my school buddy or something. Not in front of the son of the person I address by a simple first name.
Treating elders with respect is weighed upon heavily in my family.
“I am not settled with the idea of him as my grandfather.” I reply to father honestly.
Father nods in understanding, and drops the subject. He begins, “And yes. People did think that I left father for my benefit. They thought I escaped the Realm so I don’t have to face Jermaine. They believed that I didn’t take my father because he was a burden and the sole reason why Jermaine is there to harm me.So, in their opinion, I left the Realm to build my own family separately. That seemed to aggravate people against us more. That the Lichinsky men selfishly care only about themselves.”
“And they have nothing to say against Jermaine?” I say dryly, “Who is on a killing spree because he has non-human powers and possibly an immortal life?”
Father shakes his head at me, “People do not know of Jermaine’s activities against us, Josh. And whatever few people father confided in ended up responding like Pleve. Father stopped seeking support right that moment. Besides, you think that just because Jermaine doesn’t age and can disappear into thin air, he is living the cloud 9 life? He is literally stuck between life and death, with no peace to be found. The Occultists may be the higher beings of our world, but serving one is like living death.” Father shrugs, “Or at least that’s what I have been told.”
“What is he?” I repeat the question, hoping for a clearer answer.
“He serves the Ninth Occultist….as her sycophant. I am not aware of the job description,” Father grunts, “But if a witch granted him immortality, it has been at the expense of his good life. The witch imposed that as a punishment, so naturally it’s not something good. The theories say that having the blessing of a witch makes you surpass the good things in life. But being with a witch expels all the goodness you could have found. The Occultists have the power to expand their energy by utilizing the life source of their sycophant. That is what Jermaine must be experiencing. He must have his life thinning in front of his eyes, and all the goodness vanishing from his system. Father says he will be a wraith in the future, with not even the recollection of his human life. Even now, he is only driven by his hatred and vengeance. Imagine not feeling anything else. I can bet it’s not a good feeling.”
The whole description has me pondering. I scratch my head, “Why haven’t I ever read books with this information?”
Father sighs, “I gave you the books to make you understand what we are and how we came to be about. I didn’t seem it necessary to let you know of the complicated stuff…the servants, the scimitar, the battles…”
I roll my eyes. “Well, to know of the person who wants to kill us would have been a nice warning.”
“Then I would have had to tell you why he wants to kill us.”
“So, Mikh-grandfather made a mistake. Big deal.” I shrug. It’s still bizarre to think that they didn’t seem it fit to inform me this because they thought I will think less of them.
“It was not my story to tell, Josh.” Father states another reason why I have been kept in the shadow. “And father’s reputation has only faced downfall since his ‘mistake’. I don’t think I would have felt nice in narrating that to my son.”
I avert my eyes, “I wouldn’t have judged.” I mutter, then clear my throat and divert the topic, “Isn’t it too much of an exaggerated response to kill us for grandfather’s mistake? I mean, Jermaine could have harmed grandfather all this time and be done with his tantrum.”
Father nods, “He could have. But he wanted father to experience the loss of a family, loss of everything. To experience what’s it like to know that our legacy will not continue. That is why he aimed at father’s family. Before it was mother and I, amongst which he got my mother. Now it’s you and I. Jermaine just wants the Lichinsky family to not continue in the future. He probably wants father to die knowing that he has no son or grandson that will carry his name. Because he experienced the same thing.”
I frown, “Jermaine experienced the same thing?”
“Yes. Once he was convicted for the theft of the scimitar, his whole family was exiled. His brother, wife and son. They all eventually died.”
An eerie silence falls as I try to grasp this information.So, not only Mikhail made a wrong decision of convicting someone, he also has the death of three innocent people on his head. I can understand Mikhail making a wrong judgment regarding a criminal who was caught red handed. But to punish the whole family of that criminal? That doesn’t make sense to me. Somehow the drive for Jermaine lashing out seems slightly justifiable.
“Grandfather shouldn’t have punished the family…” I mutter.
Father sighs. “He knows that, Josh. He does feel severe compunction regarding his every decision in Jermaine’s case.”
I do not think that is good enough. My judgmental thoughts make me realize why exactly my father wanted me to stay oblivious. Now that I know the whole situation, I obviously find Mikhail to be in the wrong. And father obviously didn’t want me to think that. Too late for that now. I, anyways, choose to not speak on this matter anymore.
The eerie silence extends into a much longer quiet gap as I stare at the floor and contemplate over all the information I have gained. Another thought creeps into my mind. I begin to speak further but then pause, wondering if I should ask him or not. Father, who has been constantly observing me, seems to sense my dilemma as he encourages me to ask whatever I want to know. Shocking, I know.
“How did we get our passports approved for visa in just a few hours?” I eventually ask, “And…without any interview? It was also baffling to see us grasping thirteen plane tickets just few hours prior to the flight.”
Father heaves a sigh, but this time the corner of lips are slightly quirked up.
“Don’t worry, Josh.” He answers, “You’ll know the perks of approaches once you’re old enough. Don’t fret over the topic too much.”
I internally scowl at his not-so-subtle way of brushing off the topic. I open my mouth to rebel against father’s decision, but his sudden spiked attention at something behind me forces me to instantly turn around, half expecting Jermaine to be there somewhere. However, the sight is much less threatening, with Aakir’s tousled hair spiking in different directions and his hands unceremoniously rubbing at his eyes.
“About time.” I snap, my heart going into overdrive. I hastily get up from this side of the bed and approach him on the other side. Aakir looks at me, sleep still evident in his eyes.
“Don’t get your boxers in a bunch.” He says hoarsely as I sit down next to him, “I met
Neal.”
“No shit.” I roll my eyes, “That’s for what you were sent.”
Aakir glares at me, “A little gratitude would suffice, douche bag.”
I mentally scoff, “Gratitude? For having a good sleep?”
“It wasn’t an easy job, asshole.” Aakir snaps, “Neal wasn’t in his astral form for me to access him easily.”
“Alright,” father says, “Enough with the curses.”
“And enough with the side talk. Just get on with it.” I urge Aakir, impatiently.
Aakir glares at me again, “You’re ungrateful.” He snaps, but then shakes his head and speaks up, “Without my help, Neal wasn’t able to project. I spent so much time in concentrating on him, so I could communicate. It took me quite a while to understand that he may not be in his astral form. So, I focused on extracting his astral form.Concentrating to help him project, without knowing his location is not a walk in the park.” He snaps, looking at me again.
“Yeah, yeah,” I say, not really paying attention, “Where is Neal?”
Aakir scowls at me, but before he can retort on my ignorance, father interferes again.
“Tell from the starting.” Father says, “What happened? Did you find his location?”
Aakir shakes his head, “First of all…when I tried to think of Neal, expecting my astral form to teleport to where he is….that didn’t work. No matter how much I thought of
