Page 71 of Lost and Stolen Gods
Her gaze shifted to the left, then back to me, and she smiled indulgently. “You are from a different world, and it is understandable that you should hold different views, but inthisworld, a binding is permanent. The Shakti know best. They are never wrong in their pairings.”
That was bullshit, and I was about to tell her asmuch when her gaze shifted left again, and this time I tracked it in time to see a shimmer in the air.
An ankh. Shit. Was she being monitored? Were we? Goosebumps tickled my arms as I fixed a smile on my face. “That makes sense. About the Shakti knowing what they’re doing, I mean.”
It was only when her shoulders relaxed that it hit me how tense she’d been. Under watch. Her words measured by the invisible eyes in this room. How much of what she’d told us was true and how much was she holding back?
“You are truly blessed to be chosen,” she said. “This is your home now.” The smile that had been warm and genuine earlier now looked stiff and forced.
“Sure…” Dharma said. “We loved getting kidnapped and ripped away from our world.”
A shadow crossed Bhoomika’s features. “I’m sorry that it had to be that way. But you will adjust in time. Are there any more questions?”
“Oh, Leela, ask about your vision,” Dharma said.
“Oh yes.” I sat up straighter. “I had a dream while I was in my world, about my grandmother getting killed by a shadow monster, and then…Then she was killed by a pishacha.”
Bhoomika seemed to go still. “A prophetic dream…”
“Yeah, but Chaya said she’s never heard of that being an Asura ability.”
“It isn’t,” Bhoomika said. “But humans have abilities too sometimes, or so I’ve heard. You call them psychics?”
“I’m not psychic. I mean I haven’t had another premonition since I got here.”
“Then maybe it was a singular event.”
But the way she was looking at me was a little too intense, and my scalp tightened. She was hiding something. About my premonition and about the binding,but now wasn’t the time to push her, not with an ankh floating around. I’d have to come back another time.
“We should go,” Chaya said. “You both must eat before afternoon classes.”
Bhoomika stood. “I have a gift for you both. One moment.” She hurried off through a side door.
“Well?” Dharma whispered. “What do you make of everything?”
“It’s a lot to take in,” Chaya said. “Some of it I knew, but there is information that is new even to me.”
I scanned the room surreptitiously, looking for the tell-tale shimmer of the ankh but found nothing. It didn’t mean it wasn’t still in the room with us. “Let’s chat later.”
Dharma gave me an odd look, and I shook my head slightly, hoping that she’d get the message. Luckily, Bhoomika chose that moment to return.
“And here we are.” She held out two canvas bags. “I put together some introductory text packages for the new demigods in anticipation of visits. But you two are my first.”
She handed one to Dharma and one to me. “You should read them,” she said, looking me in the eye.
“Are they in English?” Dharma asked.
“They are in all tongue, and while in this world you will be able to read them.” She hurried to the arch. “I’ll see you out.”
She ushered us back the way we’d come, stopping at the main steps to watch as we exited the gates. Ilooked back at her as the iron bars closed between us, and for a moment it felt as if the bars were there not just as a boundary, but as a cage.
Bhoomika dropped her head in a nod.
An invitation to come back? Or was I reading too much into our encounter?
Chaya broke the silence once we were on the bridge home.
“I do not believe she was wholly truthful with us,” she said.
