(Book 3) Hayden Mackay and The Shaatrumani Stone

4. Singh-The King (Part 1)

I sighed heavily in exasperation. There was no point of getting disappointed or frustrated. I told that to myself repeatedly yet this intense feeling of unable to carry out a given task was making me feel so low. Many have told me earlier that I was strong enough to master things easily and I was positive I was maintaining the talk till date. But today things were changing. My own Constellia was making feel amateurish and I wasn't able to handle it well.

Doctor mentioned it several times that my stone was the most uncontrollable one. However, Celina and I both agreed that he was stating that only to keep me and my powers in control. But I guess he was right after all. I did take my stone too much for granted. Now things were keeping me in my right place. I was indirectly being indicated that there might be few situations that I would not be as successful as I have always been.

"That was so cool," said Pruthvi, and he was saying that for a hundred and fiftieth time.

I smiled weakly at him, tentatively eating the baked beans and sausage hamburger.

I was glad for my friends on meeting their companions but I seriously wished I was one of them. I tried to hide my disappointment by keeping my head down and running my fingers through my hair.

"Are you okay?" Leena asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah," I said, keeping my face straight, "Of course I am okay. Why would you ask that?"

"Because you are awfully quiet," she replied.

"No, er," I said, finding the right words, "It's nothing. You know what, I am glad you guys made it."

Tyrell smirked. "Modest now, are we?"

"I am not," I said, indignantly, "Stop being so delusional."

"Don't worry, Hayden," said Pruthvi, keeping his fork down and sitting straight, "You heard Naag. He literally warned you about facing a tough time dealing with it."

"Yeah," I said sadly, "I am already feeling the pressure."

"Why do you think Doctor made us aware about Constellia thing now?" said Tyrell, having a big bite of his burger.

I frowned at him unable to understand his intention.

"What type of question is that?" asked Pruthvi, his voice coming out in a strained squeak, "Obviously it requires a lot of energy and now he thinks we are ready for it."

"I have been in this academy for what, almost ten years?" said Tyrell, keeping his eyes on his plate, "Even Tanvir used to laud me that I was good enough to learn new things but of course, he didn't teach me any."

"May be because they were waiting for Hayden to arrive," said Leena, "You know, how many times we have heard Tanvir and Yamini talking about him all the time."

"Yup," said Tyrell, with a slight edge in his tone, "I have been here for ten years and nothing. Hayden comes in and lives for not even a complete year and he is already a macho to learn everything already."

I shot him a hard look. I wasn't able to figure out if there was pun intended. But he was neither laughing nor his expression was giving me a mark of a tease. Leena and Pruthvi stopped eating and glared at him, surprise and irritation clearly showing on their faces.

"I did not ask for it," I said, my voice turning hoarse, "I did not tell Doctor that I am ready to learn new things, as if he is going to believe me anyway."

"Yeah, whatever." Tyrell said not really listening to what I said. He wiped his mouth and flung napkin on his plate, "I am done. Meet you later."

He didn't bother we were still eating and that he was needed to wait for us to finish as he always did. He simply dragged his chair back and walked away from us. Pruthvi watched him go with his mouth ajar probably thinking the same as I was.