Sitara and The Dayan

CHAPTER SIX

"What if she saw everything," Grandma was yelling. Her voice was no longer weak, and she definitely didn't sound sick. "We are lucky she believed me."

"I didn't know she would come here," it was Bhuvan's voice.

Sitara got a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that she got before something bad was about to happen. Her instinct urged her to return to her bed. Instead, she kneeled and peered through the keyhole into the room.

The room that was filled with gardening tools was gone. Now it was a completely unfamiliar room, with shelves brimming with potions, books, and weird objects hanging from the wall. A circle had been drawn on the floor, encircled by candles.

Grandma was standing near the circle.

Sitara noticed two things at once.

Grandma was not wrapped in the shawl anymore.

Second, Sitara knew why Grandma was wrapped in the shawl. Grandma was deadly skinny, with her skin clinging tightly to her skeletal frame. Bluish and red veins protruded from her skin, while her head seemed disproportionately large for her frail body. Her extremely long braid swayed eerily behind her. She looked gruesome.

Sitara rubbed her eyes and checked around herself. Was she dreaming? Was it a nightmare? What was happening?

"And you?" Grandma hissed at Tripti, who was standing in a corner, her head bowed down. "What were you doing? I told you to keep a close watch on her. "

Tripti peeked at Grandma, and then quickly lowered her eyes. "She told me she was going to the market. I didn't know when she came here."

"You should have known," Grandma yelled. Sitara had never heard Grandma talking to Tripti like that. She had never treated Tripti like a servant.

"I'm sorry." Tripti trembled, cowering under Grandma's piercing stare.

Grandma snatched the glass brimming green liquid from the table, gulped down the liquid, and then hurled the glass to a wall. It shattered it to pieces.

"I'm getting weak," Grandma yelled in frustration, clenching her bony fist. "My powers are leaving me.

The room fell into an eerie silence as Grandma's voice echoed through the air. Then Grandma raised her hand and a black book floated from the bookshelves and landed in her outstretched palm.

Grandma flipped through the pages. "We have to be very careful around her."

"We have handled lots of girls like her," Bhuvan said with a sneer.

Grandma shot him a fierce glare. "She's not just any girl. She is my granddaughter. Sitara is smart."

The mention of her name hit Sitara like a boulder. She felt wide awake. It was all real.

"But you are a powerful Dayan," Bhuvan said. "You can handle her easily."

Grandma was a Dayan!

Her sweet, loving grandma was a Dayan. It was a good thing Sitara was sitting, otherwise she would have collapsed to the floor.

Grandma traced a line in the book with her bony finger. "Amavasya is still a few days away," she said. "Until then, we have to keep her safe and alive."

"We will," Tripti said.

"Not if she keeps running away," snapped Grandma. "That day, she saw your snakes. And then she saw the coffin. It's all because of you, Tripti."

Tripti fell to her knees in front of Grandma. "Please forgive me. I've served you for a long time. I have always gotten you magical girls and made no mistake. I'll be extra careful around Sitara from now on. I promise."

"You know how important Sitara is to me. I can't lose her." Grandma aka the Dayan said. "She's one in a million."

Sitara didn't know how to react. Getting called one in a million was a compliment. But as it came out of grandma's mouth, it felt like a curse. Whatever the one in a million was, she didn't want to be that.

"Will Sitara be the solution to your problem?" Bhuvan asked

"Yes, she is. I haven't seen power like her in five hundred years of my existence," Grandma said, her eyes shining. "For centuries I have been hunting for girls with magic, but they were just a temporary solution for me. They don't give me what I want. But Sitara will be the forever solution to my problem. She will grant me eternal beauty and youth." Grandma pulled out a dagger from the book and examined it. "And power."

"Forgive me, but you are worrying in vain," Bhuvan said. "Even if the girl found out your truth, she can't do anything. She can't fight you. She has to do the ritual."

"No," Grandma said. "She had to sacrifice herself for me. I can't even give her any potion or cast a spell on her. The entire process must have to be done without any magic. And only then the ritual would be complete and it will grant me what I want."

"Do you think Sitara will willingly die for you?" Tripti asked.

"Yes, she will," Grandma said with a smirk. "She loves me so much to do anything for me. She will let me drink her blood and give me her soul. She will die for me. And her love for me is so strong. The force of love is far more powerful than anything. And you know what will happen after the ritual is complete?" Grandma said, her voice dripping with greed. "Once I'm young and beautiful, the fairy king will be head over heels in love with me. I'll marry the fairy king and rule Amrit Nagari. Then I will have all the magical creatures as my slaves. I'll be the most powerful Dayan in the world."

"I know you will be the queen soon. You and the fairy king will make a great couple," Bhuvan said, hyping up Grandma. "And together you two will rule Amrit Nagari."

Grandma looked pleased with that comment.

"Yes, I can't wait to see you crowned as the queen of Amrit Nagri," said Tripti. She surely didn't want Bhuvan to be Grandma's favorite.

"All Hail the Queen of Amrit Nagri," Bhuvan said.

"All Hail the Queen," said Tripti.

Sitara anxiously swallowed hard. Two more things were obvious.

Grandma was a Dayan.

A Dayan who ate other people's soul.

And second. She wanted to take Sitara's soul.

To put it simply, her Dayan grandmother wanted to kill her.

****

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