2.1. Double-dog Dared

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Hayden

Hardik swooped past me, slipped and slid through the staircases, rotated frantically twice in the air, then slowly drifted back and forth like a feather before settling down on the floor of the patio.

Pain seared up my gut. I gasped and pressed my hand against the wound trying to staunch the leaking blood. There was an intense desire, an itching impulse. The desperate craving for my stone was getting stronger with every passing second. I needed to feel its presence in my pocket and savor the warmth of my flames. As the spasm passed, I resumed walking into the apartment. My leg cramps made it difficult to even stretch. Dragging them up the stairs, laden with a thin coating of hoar frost, was like hiking barefoot in the deep snow.

The door of the apartment was opened, thank god for that! I hauled myself in and instantly fell on the table, and stumbled down to land on my woundless side. The diamond box crashed to the floor, the impact unclasped its lid.

A burst of energy shot through my veins. I took a deep breath and checked my pocket. The Cornelian was back, safe and warm, filling me with strength and vitality. I stood back on my feet and checked my wound. There was no more stabbing pain, just a little throb, and a slight healing sensation.

Then the event that had happened before my death flooded my mind. The gross betrayal. "You wished for it."  Her statement resonated in my ears. Everything else she had said was lost in the moment of agony. The strength now piling up was indeed the realization of anger boiling inside me. I gritted my teeth and pressed my eyes shut trying to subdue the anger.

In reality, I wanted to scream and yell and use every last fiber of my being to blast, burn, and bludgeon.

Instead, I flamed my fingers.

Her face did not appear in my mind.

I increased the intensity and lit up the fireplace.

There was neither her face nor the voice.

A painful lump lodged in my throat.

Movement...

A bunch of fireflies invaded the porch, brightening the rail and wall, and emitting light inside the door and window. Hardik glided up, breezed with the fireflies, and drifted back onto the floor once again. There were notable spurts of its usual strange behavior. But other than that the world was back to being dead silent. The silver moon was still in the black and blue sky.

"It is for your own good." Shourya's statement then began to rankle me. For my own good? The sincerity in his voice was nearly making a point that perhaps I was being biased too quickly, thinking like everyone else in the country who didn't know her personally as much as I did.

My mind raced. Took more deep breaths let my anger down and began to access before I concluded

Was there a sunny side to this? Could Nazira and Shourya both betray me to such a great extent? Knowing Nazira and her fondness for Shourya, did she give herself up for Shourya's sake? Was it only a ploy to break the magic laid on him?

My stone burned.

Her serial actions in the past few months began to overcrowd my brain and I tried to make sense of them

She'd helped Tyrell escape from captivity.

Celina had come to her senses only after reading the letter from her that delivered an apologetic, yet lifting message.

With her simple gesture, Leena shall now be able to carry on the legacy of being Maiden and still fill the void.

Pruthvi was fortunate to have another, most crucial purpose in his life- to raise a family of his own.

(Book 6) Hayden Mackay and The Third-Eye of the PancharatnaWhere stories live. Discover now