(Book 3) Hayden Mackay and The Shaatrumani Stone

8. Beneath the Posh Chair

"Hey, watch it!"
"Oops, sorry."

My curiosity must be empowered right now, for as soon as I jumped out of the Gates, I bumped into Pruthvi and almost knocked him down.

I turned back, helping Pruthvi stand straight and watched Doctor's face disappearing behind the closing brilliant lights of the Gates. I blinked when a biting cold wind hit my cheeks making me quiver. Before anything put, I and Pruthvi immediately pulled our jacket and a sweater out of our bags and wore it. As I had guessed, weather in Dakshinpur was bone-chilling.

My hair at the back of my neck stood realizing that I was standing somewhere in Dakshinpur after a very long time. I shivered, not because of the sudden gust of the cool wind, but of a thought that became a reason of my slight trepidation. I sensed an impending danger from Shashi and his minions that I might have to face anytime now. Or may be I was just being paranoid. Only seven months ago I and my friends had to go through hell confronting him and his menacing plan to avenge his mother. He did manage to show me the face of death in the form of Agnidaanav. If Pruthvi and Leena weren't there on time for me, I might as well had barbecued myself falling into that giant pit of lava.

Coming out of my vague delusions of Shashi being around, I tried to keep all of my focus on the present. It was certainly the middle of the night, comparing it with the time back in Florida. Sky was clear, moon was shining bright lessening the inky blackness of the night but not so much as to dull the infinite glittering stars. The lane we were standing on was slightly damp and sticky under our shoes indicating the melting of the recent snow.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Pruthvi looking above, his eyes widened, "I wish I brought my camera."

I followed his gaze. My mouth dropped open when I found myself looking at the gigantic palace of Rawat. I lifted my head much more up to estimate its height and on the top of the court, I spotted a flag, flapping towards the direction of the wind that reminded me of Sharad's red flag. I moved my head from left to right in a vain attempt to see the ends of the palace.

Suddenly my goosebumps startled me. Standing right in front of Rawat's palace cringed me a little. This was the place where my mother was born and grew up, the was the place which she was mortified and reluctant to disclose about even to her own son. I was standing stupefied, gazing over it as a sudden overwhelming feeling of despair and hopelessness washed over me.

This is the place where it all started.

"Come on, let's go," said Pruthvi, beckoning me, walking upfront.

I increased my pace to walk beside him, still looking at the palace. I wished we were sent in here at the time of the day for it could have been easy to explore the surroundings a little better. But the moonlight was just enough for us to have a decent look.

Both sides of the lane must have been a garden that presently was covered with dry and overgrown grass. The brown weeds were creeping over the only path that was leading us towards the entrance of the palace. The whining sound of the mosquitoes' wings were buzzing in our ears that was sickening us to an extreme.

Then walking a little distance more, we were forced to stop when an old and rusty gate blocked our way. I was relieved that gates weren't locked when I just tried and jiggled it. It creaked loudly as it slid open. The sudden sound emerging within the calmness startled us. We glanced at each other awkwardly and then broke down laughing watching each other's funny expression.

We resumed our walk towards the palace. Now the garden at the sides of the lane was replaced by a water body which was more like a canal that has diverted its path from a river, surrounding the palace as far as we could see. It was surprisingly filled with water but covered with slime at the edges. A couple of popping sound took place in the water indicating that something was alive down there. I looked away immediately without worrying much about the possible horror going on in the water.