(Book 3) Hayden Mackay and The Shaatrumani Stone

10. Footprints of Assurance

"Nope. Nope. Absolutely not. Not at all. Not even close. Oh God, no."

"Can you please give it a rest?" I hedged, totally irritated, shoving the thousandth useless scroll away, "I am already sickened and you are making it worse."

"Hey it's not my fault your grandfather hid his scroll in this dump," he retorted making me shut my mouth.

Searching for the one single scroll in this enormous pile-it was as if we were searching for a needle in a haystack. Spending for more than two hours in this scary underground secret room hasn't been productive yet. Now I was suspecting if the scroll, that no one has seen for twenty years, was even hidden in here. All these other scrolls that we had already checked were filled with some scribbled writings in a language we couldn't understand. There was no sign of the one with a map anywhere till now. I ran my fire free hand through my hair in vexation and I threw the scroll away that was in my hand only to add one more to the newly born pile.

"This is turning hopeless," I said losing patience, "Come on, let's get out of here for a while."

"To where?"

"Just outside to have some fresh air," I said standing up and dusting my jeans.

Pruthvi quietly stood up understanding my situation. I knew it might delay our plan to find his sister, but I was unable to fight this wave of nausea flooding inside me. I was carrying this feeling that if I stayed here even for an extra minute, I might puke my brains out.

My mind suddenly diverted from the scroll to Tyrell. His painful face and intense suffering we had witnessed a few hours ago washed over me. He was sick and he needed us. Even though Doctor and Leena should be taking care of him, there was some sort of guilty feeling in me that I myself couldn't stay back with him. But then this was important too. It was my necessity  to help Pruthvi find his happiness in the form of his sister. How can I ever forget that it was him who had saved my life from Agnidaanav. I constricted my heart and decided to come back here after I had a good talk with Leena about Tyrell's condition and shake hell and earth to find Pruthvi's sister with or without the scroll.

I hurriedly walked around the room and began climbing the stairs putting my fire off. The soft moonlight and cool fresh air was relaxing me already. I almost stepped on the topmost tread of the staircase when a voice rang aloud, making his hair at his back stand.

"Maruti!"

I gulped audibly and involuntarily took a few steps down.

"Maruti, didn't I tell you to stay with Nazira all the time?"

"Nazi! Nazi!" A screeching voice was what I heard next.

"Shut up! Just take me to her."

The familiar nasal voice was reverberating fearlessly in the great hall and was even so close to us. It took me more than a few seconds to settle my nerves down and to recall to whom the voice belonged. I gasped when my brain finally began to function and looked down at Pruthvi who had already recognized the voice.

"Shourya!" he mouthed, his eyes widened.

I nodded gravely at him. An odd feeling of unease overcame me when I heard clomping sound of footsteps approaching towards us. My heart skipped a beat. For once I was sure we were busted. Shourya must have seen the throne moved from its original place. Damn, we even kept the wooden door of this secret room opened too. I began concentrating on my stone but I waited for his move first needless to say I wanted to do anything out of recklessness. But then sound of the footsteps suddenly stopped and within a few seconds resumed again, this time hurriedly retreating away from us.