(Book 6) Hayden Mackay and The Third-Eye of the Pancharatna

5.2 The Four Ss

Hayden

"And where did you say she is right now?" Celina asked, desperate.

"Temporarily unaccounted for," I replied. 

For the next one-half hour, or a bit longer, I recited the story as swiftly as possible but made sure not to leave out details. They cringed and flinched several times at several instances, myriad emotional expressions crossing their faces, from shock to disappointment to miserable to bewilderment. The only emotion that lacked was compassion, and I couldn't blame them.

When I was done, Celina had her jaw tensed up, as if barely restraining herself from creating a tempest. A cold gust of wind blew across the room anyway. She slowly turned to Tyrell, who shifted uncomfortably in his chair and said in a sobbing voice, "I need to see her!"

"Wait," he said, wearing an unsavory expression, and looked icily at me. "Abilities are pretty tricky to tackle, we're all well aware of that. But that isn't enough reason for you to keep this Pruthvi. He should be the first person to know about this."

"I'm going to speak with him," I replied, failing to mitigate the pressure building in my throat. "As soon as he's done with Makara."

"No, you're not listening. You should have told him already. This is going to be a lot for him to digest in a single day."

"It was a blunder mistake. A severe one at that. With you gone, I was scared of losing him too."

His facial features relaxed, but he still looked saddened. "How do you think he's going to feel now?"

My heart sank. Now I had to look away from the disappointment that he reflected in his eyes.

"But Pruthvi doesn't even remember her being angry at him," Celina said, stretching her arms out and then wincing. "Is that why we lost our memories? So that you don't have to deal with Pruthvi?"

I remained mum and stared off at the corner silently pondering. That had honestly never crossed my mind. Did she really?

"If that's true, then she's helping you," Celina added. "Should I really believe Haimavati is helping you? From what I know, Haimavati doesn't help anyone but herself. But now I'm so confused." The wind blew off the note resting on the table.

Tyrell sat back in his chair, his shoulders slumped. The stern expression that he wore gave me heartache. "Haimavati Roksana is a relative of one of our friends," he said, then suddenly bellowed out laughing. "This is so rad!"

I glanced up at him, beaming, apparently lost for words. His sudden laughter filled the atmosphere with much more anxiety over the prospect of tentative more bad news to come.

Celina flashed him a stare. "Excuse me? Is this Rahu speaking? Because clearly, Tyrell seems to have lost his mind."

"Eh?"

"Haimavati's dangerous, a clever person who gets things done by any means..."

"Hayden saw her from up close, not you," he interjected.

"And he still got stabbed," Celina said pointing an accusing hand at me. "She stabbed a king. Talk about treason."

"Knowing that he's a Samagraha," Tyrell snapped. "Look, while I agree that nobody has the authority to do that, I'm still quite convinced that she had a solid reason."

Tyrell Kissler was defending Nazira Khan. Such an unforeseen development. What was this, his way of expressing gratitude towards her for rescuing him from captivity? The essence of his take matched the few tiny details from Singh's narrative, although the comparison seemed lackluster. But then, what do I know- there's no accounting for taste.