(Book 2) Hayden Mackay and The Tears of the Maiden

20. Only One with all the Answers (Part 1)

I frowned, biting my lip. As I expected, Doctor's eyes turned and stuck on me giving me death stare.

"Well..." said Pruthvi but I didn't want him to get into trouble.

"I told him," I answered for him.

"You were standing at the other side of the door, listening to me and Ira weren't you?" Doctor asked.

I nodded, diverting my eyes away from him.

"Doctor, who the hell is Ira?" asked Tyrell trying to change the subject.

"Nice try, Kissler," he said, "But we are sitting here so that I can get some answers out of you, not the other way around. But...whatever...I'll tell you. Ira Zutshi is a witch."

 "A what!?" said all of us.

"She is a witch. She performs genuine, legal magic. I asked her to join Abhilashreya because I wanted her help. I also asked her to become an admin of the orphanage running above our academy, just in case."

Four of us exchanged glances and doctor seemed to understand our uncertainty.

"Look kids, Paramarashtra is full of those people you never could have imagined exists. There are certain clans..."

"Like Quinn Dimuro?" asked Pruthvi, injecting him.

"Like my uncle?" asked Celina grimly.

 Doctor ignored Pruthvi but he decided to go with Celina's certainty first.

"Celina, come here dear."

Celina sadly got up and went to sit next to doctor. He took her hand and said, "Can you tell me how and where you met you uncle?"

Celina glanced at me first. As I nodded, she told each and every detail about how we decided go after Shourya, how we started our journey towards Rawat dynasty, finally halting at the details of our few hours stop at the cowboy's bar.

Doctor smiled and said, "Tell me, how did you feel when you realized your uncle is in Dakshinpur?"

She shrugged and said, "I was genuinely happy. I thought I was going to have a family again."

He nodded smilingly, "And watching him die right in front of you eyes?

"I lost my family again. I was crushed."

His smile drained.

"That is why I always tell you to not to do anything without my permission," he said, "This type of things will repeatedly happen to you, if you keep running after Shashi without my knowledge."

"Doctor, how can my father come from this place?" she asked quickly, "I thought Paramarashtra is full of..."

"You mean British? There is a lot of history behind Paramarashtra that you still need to know. Long ago, hundreds of years ago, few of the British visited Paramarashtra and settled here as one of the communities, forming a separate clan, taking permission of Rawat's first crowned king."

"King Harsh's ancestor?" I asked.

He glanced at me and nodded but didn't say anything else regarding it as I was hoping for. It felt as if he was dodging the name Harsh Thribhuvan on purpose.

"Your father comes from that very clan," he continued turning towards Celina, "When Zarina Khan gave us your father's name, we were skeptical at the beginning. We doubted if a British could also carry a chance of being a Samagraha. But we still went ahead. Out of everyone, only your father was an exception. I remember him very well Celina. He was the only person completely overjoyed when I told him he was going to be different in the near future."