by T. G. Ayer
"Then how did you break through?" asked Maya coming to her knees.
Chayya sighed, "I had to speak to the god of gods but when he knew it was to save you he was most happy to break the ward," she said as she glanced around the cell. Her eyebrows rose as her gaze settled on Kas. "I am assuming he is the other person who needs saving?"
Maya nodded. "Don't ask if he deserves to be saved," she said with a wry smile. "Can we get going? Before the guards return?"
Chayya nodded and leaned forward to help Maya to her feet. With a nod Chayya began to disintegrate into grey and black shadow. Maya watched as her own body took the form of satiny rips of darkness and then fell away into nothing.
She blinked and then she was standing in her room at the Oberoi. Ria and Joss sat at the foot of the bed while Maya's parents were in the middle of a meal. They both looked tired, jet-lagged from the journey but as soon as Maya solidified into herself they came straight to her.
"Maya," said her mom as both her parents jumped to their feet and hurried to her. "Are you alright?"
She nodded, "I'm fine. Nothing damaged, not even a drop of blood taken."
Joss snorted. "This time," she said giving Maya a stiff glare.
But, before Maya tackled the wrath of her family and friends she turned to Chayya. "Kas?"
The goddess nodded. "I will return for him."
"Where will you take him?"
"To Patala. Yama has a few things to discuss with the boy."
"Boy? Isn't he older than Nik?"
"Only a little. And in demigod years that doesn't mean much." Chayya smiled and placed a hand on Maya shoulder. "Don't worry about him. He will receive due punishment for his actions but I have no doubt that he will be fine."
Maya shrugged. "I don't really care either way."
"Yeah, why should you care. The guy stabbed you in the back," snapped Joss. Maya's mother turned to hide her smile while Dev wiped his mouth in an effort to hide his own amusement.
"What are they talking about?" asked Ria. To Maya's relief she looked curious and not confused. Then Maya blinked at her Friend, suddenly aware that Ria was uncovered, her identity plain for her parents to see. She made a mental not to check what happened to change her mind about keeping her secret from Maya's parents.
"Long story," Joss patted her shoulder. "Don't worry. You'll know every detail soon enough."
"I had best be going. He must be growing frantic," said Chayya.
Maya laughed then dipped her hand into her pocket for the little brass container. When she handed it to Chayya, the Goddess shook her head as she took it. She held her right hand over it for a moment then returned the vessel to Maya. "Please hold onto it in case you need me."
Maya nodded, smiling. "Shadow messaging."
Chayya nodded then disappeared in a flurry off black and grey silken shadows.
Maya sighed and glanced over at Ria who was still staring at the spot that Chayya had just occupied. "Why does that no longer surprise me?"
Joss nudged her. "Don't worry it gets worse. Trust me."
"And better," said Maya as she forced herself a space between her two friends. She held them both by the shoulders and squeezed.
"You alright?" asked Joss.
"Never better."
Chapter 46
Maya's mom and dad rose from the small table by the window. "Right, we have to make plans for our trip to the refuge tomorrow," said Dev.
"Where exactly is this refuge, Dad?" asked Maya, as curious as she was tired. All her life she'd heard of the refuge but she'd never once thought of finding out exactly where on the map it was. Funny how things which often seem insignificant can someday be of great importance.
"It's near a place called Varandha Pass. It's in the Western Ghat or mountain range, about four hours south of Mumbai."
"Oh, good. Not a long drive."
"Sort of." Her dad smiled and when she frowned he gave in. "The car will take us to the foothills of the mountain but we will have to walk the rest of the way. It's about a two hour trek to the temple itself."
There was a chorus of weak groans from all three girls and Dev laughed. "Get a good night's sleep ladies. Boot camp starts at four in the morning."
"That early?" Maya complained.
"Come on, Maya. You battle demons on a regular basis and yet an early start defeats you?" Her mom raised an eyebrow.
"Kali gave me her fire power not an Early Bird alarm clock," Maya said with a pout.
Everyone laughed at that and her parents left soon after.
Maya immediately rounded on Ria and Joss, both her own eyebrow raised questioningly at the two girls.
"What?" they both asked in unison.
Maya looked at Ria. "What happened to keeping things from my parents?"
Right sighed. "You know how amazing you parents are. And Joss thought it would be a good idea if they knew who they were saving, if only for my own safety." She shrugged.
Maya was satisfied with Ria's answer so she turned to Joss. "Kali's fire power? Demons?"
Joss raised both her hands in defense. "Hey, we were alone. And it seemed a good a time as any to tell her. Sorry."
"Good," said Maya, happier than she'd been in a while. "One more person I no longer have to tiptoe around." She smiled at Joss who seemed strangely shy all of sudden. Then Maya sighed and said, "Shower."
"Go. When was the last time you bathed," asked Joss.
"The black streams of the serpent plane, remember?"
Maya headed into the shower and turned the taps as hot as she could manage. It still felt as thought the cold water from the tunnels had gotten deep into the marrow of her bones. The scalding shower revived her somewhat while she dealt with the odd emotions fighting for space in her mind.
She'd been confused and deflated when Lord Shiva had arrived to take the bow away. And left without her. She hadn't had time to think about it while she'd been making plans to escape from Lanka, but now that she thought about it she wasn't sure she liked it too much.
It made her feel used and dispensable.
Had the God of Gods even cared if she had a means of escape from Lanka. Would he have put an escape plan in place had she not had her emergency call to Chayya? Maya wasn't entirely sure. Lord Shiva had been helpful with the wards but would he have done anything if Maya had been stuck in Lanka without a way out?
Maya sighed as she dried off. Should she even try to figure out the god's motives or was that a pointless exercise. Yes, she had been given a task. And yes, she had fulfilled it. She really needed to leave it at that.
But one niggling thought remained.
The thought that she wasn't as appreciated as she expected to be. Maya shook her head. But wasn't that arrogant of her? Who was she in the greater scheme of things. Her real duty was to fulfill Kali's expectations of her. None of the other gods owed her anything.
Dressed, much more relaxed, and waiting for her room service order, Maya was just sitting down to talk to the girls when her parents returned. Nik appeared in the girl's room minutes later. Ria let out a soft shriek when she noticed him standing beside her.
With a hand on her chest she said, "I will get used to that. I promise."
They all laughed at that and Maya brought them up to speed on everything from Nagini's betrayal to Kas as a prisoner in Ravana's jail.
"So you don't seem surprised that Nagini betrayed me?" Maya asked after they asked all their questions of her.
Nik shook his head. "As soon as you disappeared with Shiva-turned-Thakkur, Nagini apologized and explained what she'd done. She'd felt she had no choice and that was the only way to get her daughter back. What she didn’t realize was that was probably the best way she could have done it. Getting Ravana to take you to Lanka it meant the bow was in the heavenly plane."
"Making it easy for Lord Shiva to simply walk in and take it back," Maya nodded. "Which he did do in the end."
"And once he had the bow he told Yama about your situation and set things in
motion for a rescue. My father contacted me immediately because, of course, he thought I was with you."
"So how did you all get out of Nagini's lair?"
"The magical ward that Thakkur, or rather Ravana, had set didn't work so far away from the trap below the artifact room. I was able to bring the girls back almost immediately and then go home to see what plans were being made to get you out of Lanka. When I got there it seemed a rescue plan was premature as you were already saved by then."
"I was lucky that Chayya had given me a way to contact her. Had it not been for her I would still be in Lanka waiting for you to save my butt."
"And it appears you managed to capture Narakasura as well." Nik nodded proudly.
"Ha. I had nothing to do with it. He was simply imprisoned with me. Or me with him, rather. Right time and place, nothing more."
"So he's been in Lanka all this while?" asked Joss.
Maya nodded. "In that very cell from the looks of it. He was still wearing the same clothes."
"Er, Maya. You were pretty observant to recall what he'd been wearing weeks ago," asked Joss raising a doubtful eyebrow.
"Yeah, you tend to recall these things when you slice the guys arm and leg open. Ripped and bloodied clothing are memorable things."
"Oh," said Joss and Ria together.
Dev got up and bent his back. Maya rolled her eyes at the sounds of cracking bones that came from her father's body. "Dad, you're falling apart."
"Parenthood will do that to a man," he said as he walked toward the door. "Get some rest kids, wakeup call is at three."
Maya's mom gave her a tight hug and followed Dev out the door.
Before long Nik had disappeared and the girls were wriggling in the bed trying to get comfortable. Maya didn't have to worry about how long it would take her to fall asleep.
The moment her head hit the pillow, she closed her eyes and fell into a deep exhausted sleep.
Chapter 47
The next morning their sleep shattered at three and they dragged themselves out of bed, packed and headed to the lobby. Nik met the girls at their door and walked them to the elevator. Even at that hour, with Ria covered from head to toe in the Burqa, all four of them were on the lookout for Viren.
Thankfully they didn't run into him. Maya had to admit to herself that she wasn't entirely sure she'd be capable of holding back if he tried to take Ria from them. She could picture it all ending with a very crispy Viren Sen.
Minutes later they were all in the hired four-wheel-drive, heading out into the Mumbai darkness. At first, silence reigned as they all slowly went from groggy to fully awake. Nik sat up in front with Dev while Leela had chosen to sit in the back with the girls.
She turned in her seat so she could Ria and Maya in the back. "Before we get to the refuge, there is something you need to know. But first, Maya I have to say I'm really sorry I didn't tell you this before but since you've been exposed to Ria's experience I thought I could finally talk about it to you."
"Okay, Mom. You're getting me worried here." Maya inched forward on her seat and held on to the back of her mom's seat.
Leela patted Maya's hand. "It happened a long time ago Maya but it's time you knew." She took a deep breath and looked at each of the girls in turn. Then she settled on Ria. "When I was seventeen my father arranged a marriage for me. He was handsome and from a wealthy family, and as innocent as I was, I thought that my life would be perfect. I was eager to make my parents happy. They had always been loving and supportive and I still believe my father honestly thought he was doing what was best for his daughter. Securing her a good future both socially and financially.
"What he didn't know was they underneath the handsome face, my future husband had a sadistic streak. I was blind to it too. The wedding arrangements, the engagement, even the wedding passed in a blur of happiness because, even though I had always been against arranged marriages, I truly believed everything was going to work out fine." Leela stopped and took a shuddering breath and Maya's fingers clenched. Her gut was telling her what her mother was going to say next.
"My wedding night shattered all my dreams, all my hopes." Leela's voice fell to almost a whisper and she looked out of the window. "He force himself on me. He wasn't kind or patient at all, and when I resisted he became enraged. I couldn't go out of the house for two weeks after that night. That was how long the bruises took to heal. He gave me a black eye, a bust lip, two broken ribs and a fractured finger.
"His mother was horrified and so was his father but this was the heir to their estate, to everything they had ever worked for throughout their lives. How could they admit that he abused his wife?"
"So they covered it up for him?" Maya asked, her throat so tight she could barely breath. Maya's glance at Ria confirmed the tears falling slowly down her cheeks. She knew how Leela felt. And Maya's heart swelled with pride for her mother's strength.
Leela nodded "Only until his mother couldn't handle it anymore. It took almost a year. And it took the loss of my first pregnancy." If she heard the trio of soft gasps from her audience she didn't react. "My mother-in-law became ill, refused to eat or drink. And my father-in-law knew he would lose both his wife and new daughter if he didn't do something. So he sent me to the Kali refuge."
"He sent you there?" Maya asked, shocked. "Why would he do that?"
"Because he could see what it was doing to his wife. He had seen the loss of his first grandchild. His son was spoiled and entitled and quite vicious when it came to women. Not his mother though. I don't believe he'd ever abused his mother. Just me, because I was his wife, his possession.
"And his father knew that sooner or later I would pay for his decisions with my life. So he did what he had to do, arranged transport, gave me old clothing to disguise myself and sent me on my way. All the way to the train station I looked over my shoulder constantly afraid he would have found out, that I'd see him running after me waving his fist at me.
"In the end I boarded the train and made my way to the refuge. Inside the bag they'd packed was a small case filled with money. Ten lakhs. I was in shock. I knew they were a wealthy family but that was more than twenty thousand dollars at the time. I knew then that they blamed themselves for what I'd been through. I was never more grateful to anyone than to them. What they did for me was incredible and I can never thank them enough. I often wonder what would have happened to me if they had been a different sort of people.
"Although I tried to give the money to the temple, the Mother insisted on keeping it for me. She was certain that someday I would need the money for my own life. And true to her word, a time came when I had a new husband and a new life. A time when that money helped us to move to the States and begin a new life."
"Haven't you ever worried that he would find you? That his parents would one day tell him the truth?" Maya asked.
Leela shook her head. "I knew I could trust them not to say a word. Because they knew my life hung in the balance. If he ever found me I would be dead."
After a long moment of silence, and as the first light of the dawn pierced the night sky, Ria took a shuddering breath. "Thank you for telling me that. It's so easy to feel like you're alone in the horror of it all. So easy to forget there are other women out there going through the same thing."
Leela nodded. "The refuge will be good for you. You can train, become stronger, learn self-defense. And you can change you identity too. When you return to the States you will be someone else and your family and Viren will never find you. But remember Ria, that is a huge step to take. It would mean you can never, ever see your mom and brothers again."
"That explains why we've never met your parents, right?" asked Maya. She immediately regretted the question when she saw the shadow of sadness blot her mom's face.
Leela nodded. "I could never contact them. It would have been too dangerous, for them and for me and my own little family. I still have no idea what my father-in-law told my husband, or my parents. Whether he faked my death or said I ran a
way? I'll probably never know."
Ria smiled and looked up ahead at Maya's dad talking to Nik and driving along happily. "And you have happiness now."
"Yes, Ria. You can find happiness too. Be a different person but still be yourself. But only if you want to."
Ria nodded and Maya leaned forward, putting her arms around the seat and around her mom. She squeezed tight and said, "You totally rock, Mom.You're a real inspiration to me, Mom. "
"Me too," said Joss.
"Me three," Ria piped up trying to hide a sniffle.
Leela patted Maya's hand. "And honey, are you okay with me telling the girls this at the same time as you?"
Maya frowned and shook her head. "Why wouldn't I be? You had you reasons for not telling me and you would have told me eventually. Now was just the right time because Ria needed to hear that from you. Beside, these girls are my sisters."
Leela laughed. "Maya, you're pretty amazing yourself."
Everyone laughed at that and Nik turned around, "What's so funny?"
"Girl's stuff," said Maya. "Don't worry about it."
He made a face and turned back to his conversation with her dad. And Maya smiled.
The rest of the trip went by fast enough, interrupted only by a short stop for breakfast at a roadside shop that looked ready to fall down on itself. Maya worried about the hygiene of the drinks and fried food. But she enjoyed the sweetness of the strong tea anyway.
When they reached the end of the trip they stopped at what looked like a simple lookout area. They got out and stretched and then stood staring around at the green hills and valleys. In the distance, Maya pointed out the white slash of a waterfall as it fell into the valley below.
"It's beautiful," she said, shading her eyes against the morning sun.
"Let's get going," Dev said. "We leave the car here and walk the rest of the way."
"We leave it here? Out where someone can just come by and steal it?" asked Maya, slightly worried about their ride back.
But her dad shook his head. "Just get unpacked and I will show you," he said being mysterious.
