ATN: THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY

MOTHER BOOK

Next afternoon, I was in Dad's room. That is because his room is the only one that has an empty balcony. The other balcony was mostly taken, with the washing machine, or ropes to hang washed clothes. Dad's balcony had none of those. One could stand there and pass time. And I needed some me time. 

I stood there, thinking of my and my cousins' discussions last night. All of us were different than any other normal guys. I was thinking of what my Dad would do when he got to know this. What my cousins' parents would do. Maybe Dad would be happy, or maybe he wouldn't bother. But I knew, he would be worried about me, moving things with my mind. He would pray that I wouldn't get myself into trouble. I was his only child. He had lost Mom, and if he lost me too, he would be devastated. That got me thinking, what if my Mom was alive and she got to know? How would she have taken it? 

I turned towards Dad's room, and was startled. Riya was standing there, making no sound, for who knows how long. "What up, wave woman?"

She laughed, and said, "Didn't see you inside. So came to find you." Riya and I had a different kind of bonding. With her being twelve days older, we were nearly illogical twins (if that's a thing). She always knew what I wanted, or how I felt, a little more than my other cousins. She was the one person who completely understood me. Anyway, we went in, and I sat down on Dad's bed. Riya sat beside me. I told her what I was thinking. She put her head on my shoulder.

"Brother mine, I'll tell you a secret. You know, every day, I feel like my Dad isn't all gone. I feel like he is still around. So, I guess none of our parents are actually gone. Their essence, as if a part of them, is around us, watching us. So, perhaps, they already know." 

Those few words from her made me feel so good that I smiled, and got up. Then, suddenly, my eyes went to a box under the bed. Strange! Dad never had a box under the bed. At least, I hadn't  seen any. I flicked my fingers and brought the box in my hand. "What's that?" Riya asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen this." The box wasn't a huge one. It was wooden, and all I had to do was slide the top surface to open it. Inside, there was a very old book, titled, 'Mother Book'. I opened it and turned a few pages. I figured out that this book was not a normal book. It was a book of magic! Different spells, incantations, charms, curses, were put in this. Different figures were made, like the five star symbols, and many more. There were spells that were marked 'simple', and spells that were marked 'complicated'. I looked at Riya, but she was looking at the book bluntly. 

"Call the rest. This thing is weird." I said.

Riya called the rest of my cousins. They came from other rooms, we sat down on the bed. "That was inside that box?" Dadai asked, after they all took a look at the book. I nodded. 

"We saw the box last night, thought perhaps Uncle Rohit had some work files in there." Abhro said.

"Uncle Rohit is a sorcerer? He has been practicing magic?" Hiya asked.

"Nope. That's not possible." Dadai said, "This book looks like it hasn't been taken out of this box for a long long time. Plus, its named 'Mother Book'."

"You mean..." I asked, my eyes widened.

"I don't mean, but maybe, maybe Aunt Helia found this book somewhere. Being an archaeologist, she must have been to strange places." Dadai said, in a concluding voice.

We didn't discuss this further. We had to catch a plane that night. We rested for a while, and then started getting ready. I put the book inside my bag. If this book explained real magic, maybe I could use it for my powers. Who knew? I was ready to give it a chance.

That night, we all got ready, picked our packed bags, booked a cab, and reached the airport. When an attendant asked for the ticket, I showed it to her. She saw it, and directed me towards the boarding area, where an electronic board read, 'DEL to ATN'. I went through security checks, and luggage drops, and reached the area. One by one, my cousins joined me, and we had only one question in mind, "What's ATN?"

"DEL is Delhi. But ATN?" Dadai asked.

"Atlantic City maybe." Riya answered.

"Or Atalanta? In Italy?" Abhro asked.

"That's not a place. That's just a football club. The place is Bergamo." I said.

"I think," Riya interrupted, "We will find out soon enough. We are boarding."

Yes, the gate had opened, and one of the attendants there was calling our names. We rushed to her, and entered through the gate.