The Haunted Fortress of Bhangarh: Book 1

71. Divine powers, secret maps

Ishita was sleeping peacefully and soundly, dreaming of the breathtaking locales of Europe she wished to explore at least once in her lifetime, but a sharp and shooting pain in the back of her head coerced her into snapping her eyes open and sitting straighter on the bed. Groaning, she tugged at her hair and clicked her tongue, grumbling about the headache persistent since that evening. Still in a state of somnolence, her groggy eyes went to the bedside table where her travel pouch resided. Hoping to take a pill out, she had only just picked up the pouch when her gaze fell on the phone perched at the table. Her brows furrowed in befuddlement upon identifying that it was Rudra's phone.

She picked the device up and took the blanket off her in the pursuit of returning it back to him. Assuming he must have forgotten it when he dropped the girls off at the room after dinner, she slid down from the mattress and slipped her feet into the pair of sandals lying at the foot of the bed. However, she was furthermore muddled when she only found Surbhi on the bed.

"Where did that hag go?" She huffed and glanced around the room. "Shravani? Are you in the washroom?"

Upon receiving no answer, suspicion arose in her heart, and she ambled out. The boys were in the room across from the girls, and she was hoping to knock at the door and obtain a response after eons. However, she was surprised when the door opened with a creak upon receiving a slight push from her. She peeked her head inside, allowing her eyes to roam across, but Rudra was nowhere to be seen. Rishabh, Ayush, and Ranvir were sleeping on the bed while Aman had his head lolling from one side to the other as he was fast asleep on the sofa. The television was tuned into a black-and-white Hindi movie but the volume was considerably low, thereby allowing the boys to continue napping without a care in the world.

She gulped hard, and her lips trembled. Rudra was nowhere to be found. Shravani wasn't in the room. With Bhangarh Fort only a few miles away and Shravani having ill intentions since the first day, she wasn't sure if the girl had taken another evil step to annihilate Rudra's peaceful life or not.

She rushed back into her room and dialed Shravani's number numerous times, but every time, there was either no response or the call couldn't go through. Fear gripped her heart like never before as she clutched onto Rudra's phone and shook her head to get rid of all the strange and despondent thoughts popping into her mind. She wiped the sweat beads developing on her forehead and contemplated what the next course of action could be, but her cognitive ability was rendered fruitless due to the panic building inside her heart.

"Dammit, Rudra!"

She lunged his phone on the bed and allowed her gaze to dart back and forth in frenzy, but she had to double back when a piece of paper fluttered in her line of vision atop the desk at the other end of the room. She rushed towards it and snatched the sheet from under a paperweight, her trembling palms holding onto it a bit too harshly as her terrified mind tried to make sense of the words jumbled together to form coherent sentences.

Dear Ishita,

I could have left a message on your phone, but I wanted to write a letter. One last time. Back in the day, letters were the primary form of communication and the periods of waiting between each one used to be long drawn out. However, there was a sweet pain in those durations and the exhilaration of finally receiving a response was beyond explicable.

The other day when I said I never liked you much... I lied. I love you as much as I love Rudra. Both of you are dear to me. All of you are. Aman, Surbhi, Ayush, Ranvir. I adore all of you for making me an integral part of your lives, and I will remain indebted forever.

Coming to the primary reason behind writing this letter, I regret to inform you that Rudra has chosen to do the very thing I wished he would. I need him to go to the Bhangarh Fort in the middle of a full moon night, but at the same time, I don't wish for him to get sucked into the nonsensical motives of Kalavati. The lady in red intends to sacrifice his soul, bind him to her by marriage, and take him to the supernatural realm as her consort.