The Gunpowder Society

14. "The Sand Maiden"

"I'm sorry Francois," HP consoled their new student.

Francois sat hunched over with his head resting on his arms weeping silently. HP placed his hand comfortingly on his shoulder, and felt Francois shuddering in anguish. Logan then looked up at Fr. Maven and saw that the priest also looked overcome with distress as he starred hard out the window of the moving limousine. HP looked at the priest's clothes which were torn and shredded from their battle with the wolves and he knew Father was preoccupied with the reality that the plot as well as that he was most likely a target of this overwhelming force too. That forced had overcome Cicero. Logan knew he shouldn't disturb Father while he was in this transfixed state.

The limousine traveled quickly through the Parisian streets on the way back to the airport they had arrived at, where they would embark on their next plane ride, now with their new student Francois, to Nepal.

They arrived at the airport and still Fr. Maven had not said but a few words and no one said anything to him. They boarded the plane, flew to Nepal, disembarked, and it was then that HP finally broke the silence, "Father?"

Fr. Maven turned to HP with an absent expression.

"We're in Katmandu now," Father did not respond, and HP furthered, "We don't know who our next student is or where to find him."

HP was about to repeat himself and then Fr spoke, "Subra..." he stopped short, reached into his pocket retrieving a small yellow sticky note which he looked at before confirming, "Yes. Subra."

HP looked down at the yellow note which was crumbled and hardly looked like official church letter-head and gave Fr. Maven a peculiar look.

"Since I left the phone at home I had to have Mary read the students' names off to me over the phone so I could write them down," Father explained appearing to begin to snap out of his preoccupied state somewhat.

"Okay, where do we go?" HP asked, "Something tells me we're not going to pick him up at a catholic orphanage."

"Yeeaaaaahh," Maven replied looking at his note, "Kinda," he looked up at HP with an uneasy look, "It's a school."

HP starred as patiently as he could at Maven knowing there was more to the story and that asking so was not necessary.

"It's a school to train servants," Maven explained as his thoughts began to collect.

"Slaves," said Francois with a sound of disgust, making his first addition to the conversation. They turned to him with inquisitive looks. "There are no child servants in Nepal," he said.

There was no arguing with that. Maven continued, "Whatever the case, Subra is no longer with the school and has moved into a position of work. I don't know where, but my plan is to travel to this school and speak with the head mistress who relayed the information to us and see if she knows where the boy now resides."

Chapter 14 - The Sand Maiden

They walked out to the curb, found their limo and drivers waiting for them and got in with Francois thoroughly confused at how the same drivers who had dropped them off in Paris were somehow waiting for them in Katmandu. HP saw Francois' confusion and said, "Don't try and figure it out."

Francois pointed at the drivers and began to speak and HP cut him off, "Don't."

Francois listen to HP and just let it go.

"Janajati Boarding School in Bhaktupar's Durbar Square," Maven directed. The drivers turned and looked at each other trading disapproving looks of which Maven took somewhat offensively, and then the limo started moving.