The very day Ela had felt the first wave of her transition she had blocked it.
The problem is Ela, the more you keep resisting, the more painful it becomes and slowly you will no longer be able to block the transition.
Aditya had reminded her several times in the last few days. He also advised her to try and understand the core of her energy and stop resisting. It was best if she let the transition happen to her in the natural process.
Very carefully he had explained that the bond she had built with Mini and Oishi would also help her go through the transition but if she kept blocking the results would be severe.
Ela feared exactly those consequences, the result of the transition, although she couldn't bring herself up to tell Aditya why she was frightened and also about that awful thing preying on her.
What if Aditya didn't believe? Of course, Aditya knew about such things that were beyond common knowledge more than anybody else, still, Ela was not confident enough to confide in him. A huge possibility was that he might not see that thing which only Ela and Shomak saw. And now after Mini's transition, she had started to see it too.
The closer they moved towards the next amāvásyā, Ela's fear banged on her chest rapidly. At least Shomak was there to help her otherwise it was hard to explain what she actually suffered.
"Ja-yu..."
A hushed sound came floating from behind her. It was like a whisper, faint and delicate that brushed over her skin leaving behind a touch of cold, uncomfortable and lingering sensation.
She stopped chopping the onions and turned around.
The others were all upstairs helping Oishi to crack a telepathic challenge that would get her control back, which left Ela alone on the ground floor yet she was very sure she had heard someone calling.
She could hear the whispering voice.
Very low, almost inaudible but she could still follow the trail. It came from the main hall.
Ela gulped.
Holding her breath she tiptoed out of the kitchen walking slowly towards the main hall.
With a loud thud, a glass fell from the kitchen shelf. Ela gasped and rushed back to the kitchen but she had put one step on the threshold when the lights went off and she could swear she had heard a loud clap.
Ela panted, trying to hit hard on her memory to recall and be sure she was hearing it right.
And another clap from her left.
"Ah!" She turned.
Another from her right.
She again turned, panicked, as her breathing increased.
And another from behind. She spun and jumped back with a suppressed shriek.
"Jayuuuu!!"
Half broken blackened teeth flashed at her. Bhadran was grinning flipping his head from one side to another.
"Ah!" scared, shocked and startled Ela took hurried steps back. She kept walking into the kitchen and whimpered. "Sho-shomak," she stuttered unable to call out loudly. Her vision started to blur with hot tears rolling down her eyes.
It had taken her six bloody years to forget her first encounter with Bhadran. The dreadful night had instilled a permanent terror in her. The more Bradran grinned producing a screeching sound, the more Ela choked.
She couldn't even think of one movement to attack.
Thunder rumbled with a deep line of lightning momentarily flashing over Bhadran's grinning face with his bloodshot eyes boring into Ela.
"Shomak, Shomak," Ela pleaded but it wasn't loud enough.
Ela supported herself on the kitchen table slowly moving back as Bhadran kept striding towards her. Her hand dragged along the edges of the table and suddenly missed dropping a large knife on her feet that made a deep cut beside her ankle.
"Ah!" She cried falling over the grocery boxes.
Bhadran's parted mouth closed abruptly. His eyes were fixed on the blood that oozed out of her cut.
He leapt kneeling in front of Ela in one swift move and yanked her feet pulling her towards him.
"Ah!" Ela cried.
With a deep-throated laugh he kept looking at Ela's wound. His tongue hung out of his mouth and saliva dripped from it falling on Ela's skin. Ela struggled to get out of his grip as he lowered his head and licked the blood off her feet.
"You filthy dirt," Bhadran's dreadlocks were grabbed from the back and he was yanked away from Ela.
"Get out, I'll take care of her!"
Ela stared in utter shock at Chandra who stood gritting her teeth at Bhadran. The Kaanthali slave, who suddenly seemed to have recoiled, bent down shying away.
"Out!" Chandra shouted at him and he immediately jumped up on the sink and crawled out of the kitchen window.
"Chan-Chandra?" Ela frowned.
"Awe! The mighty Jayu has fallen?" Chandra mocked.
Ela couldn't recognise her best friend. The woman standing before her was wearing a tight-fitted long dress over a torn-fitted pant, her breasts half out of the tight attire and there was an unknown loathing with which she stared at Ela.
Her eyes were tilted upwards like that of a cat and she wore shimmering kohl stretched to the sides of her hairline.
"No matter how much you try Ela, you can never be like Chaarvi, and I made sure of that!" She said blowing a handful of greenish dust over Ela's face.
Chandra threw her head back laughing while a sharp pain shot up from Ela's stomach. It was the same wave that threatened to break her every bone.
Ela twisted from side to side as she felt a gush of blood coming out of her. The pretty blue saree she was wearing now smeared in blood down from her waist.
She scratched her nails on the wooden cabinets trying to fight the excruciating constant contractions hitting on her abdomen.
Then she heard it.
The cry, the horrific scream that echoed.
Any moment she would feel her energy being drained and her flesh ripping.
"Shomak," she breathed but he was far away and Ela's broken call didn't reach him.
The only option she was able to choose was to send a deep plea to Oishi through her mind, "Help me!" she cried before her eyes rolled back and she fainted.
Shomak and Aditya snapped their eyes towards the door.
"What was that?" Aditya questioned.
"That was – " Shomak had heard it before which could only mean that thing was about to torture Ela again.
"Ela di" Oishi gasped snapping her eyes open from the concentration exercise Aditya was teaching.
"She is under attack!" Oishi jumped down from the bed and rushed out of the room.
"That scream – Ela!" Shomak ran after Oishi and Aditya followed behind him.
As soon as they came downstairs they saw Krith rushing in through the front door. "What's happening?"
"There!" Oishi pointed towards the kitchen. Shomak dashed past them, running into the kitchen and froze.
That same figure was bending over Ela and ripping off her flesh.
Beside him Aditya and Krith came to a halt, their eyes widened seeing that figure.
Aditya suddenly took out a small jar of what looked like melted gold and threw it on the figure. With a croaked loud screech it suddenly disappeared.
They hadn't noticed but Chandra was hiding behind a long cabinet. Before they could see her, she leapt and quickly ran out from the kitchen back door.
Although it startled Shomak and Ragnik Chandra's quick glimpse shocked Aditya and Krith the most.
"Chandra?" Aditya gasped watching her sly figure fleeing and suddenly Krith tried to run after her.
"No!" Aditya held Krith back warning him not to go out in the open. "Ela needs our help first," Aditya points at Ela's sweating body lying on the ground unconscious as Shomak kept sprinkling water on her face to wake her up.
She had severely bled, her clothes were smeared in blood and heavy wounds and bite marks were all over her neck, chest, hands and waist.
After a second as her eyes fluttered open Shomak scooped her up gently and went to her room.
"What happened to her? Shomak, what did you hear?" Aditya asked.
"The same thing. I heard a scream then when I followed, a strange being was eating her flesh," bile rose to Shomak's throat replaying the scene in his mind while describing it to Aditya.
"What scream? What figure?" Nishi asked. She was standing beside the staircase with Vaidehi and Geeta. "What do you mean by the same thing?"
"What are you talking about?" Ragnik questioned Shomak.
"And what did you throw on Ela di?" Oishi asked her brother.
"I saw that too! I can see what they can, I can hear what they can!" Aditya's brows knitted in deep thought. "Onkhs can understand their language that's why we could hear them scream, although not simply since it is required to be learnt, but how is it – " he choked as he spotted the weird miniature showpiece on Ela's table.
"What the - " He quickly picked it up and smashed it on the ground with all his strength. Panting Aditya stared at the broken pieces in horror, "How-how did - how did this come here?" Aditya stuttered.
Witnessing his strange panicked behavior Nishi held his arm, "Aditya, what's wrong?"
"First Chandra and now the miniature of Onkhquerik, how were you surviving in this house?" He sat down on an armchair in defeat. Holding his head between his hands he cursed, "That's why Mini's Granthim happened so suddenly without any signs and that's why Oishi was losing control over her powers! How the fuck didn't I see it before!" He muttered to himself.
"Aditya, you are scaring me, what happened? Why has Ela di turned pale?" Mini asked sitting beside Ela and rubbing her hand.
"Vaidehi, can you please ask Krith to get the raw dhatura seeds for Ela. She needs to consume it now," Aditya quickly said. Vaidehi nodded going out of the room and then returning within seconds followed by Krith who was searching for exactly what Aditya had asked for and brought it to him.
"You knew?" Aditya glared at Krith.
Krith shut his eyes in defence, "No. I saw her today. Though I did suspect after the protection shield I had placed within the five kilometres of this house was lifted off."
"But that – "
"Never," Krith shook his head guessing the question Aditya was about to ask, "I couldn't enter the house so identifying the presence of that creature wasn't possible for me."
"What is going on? Whom are you talking about?" Ragnik asked glancing between Aditya and Krith.
"Chandra. Why was she here?" Aditya questioned.
"She is Ela di's best friend and Shomak's ex-girlfriend," Oishi informed.
Another shock appeared over Aditya's face. Then shaking his head he gritted his teeth, "Well played Chandra, well played. And I am assuming she gave you this Onkhquerik?"
Oishi nodded.
"She had been friends with Ela di for ages and Oishi's teacher yet you didn't see her before?" Krith asked, blaming himself as well for not noticing her before.
"She was Oishi's teacher in the school in Kolkata. Here she was a visiting faculty and recently got appointed and somehow she was never present around him," Mini said still unsure as to why Chandra's sudden presence had any connection with their newfound problems.
"This also explains, why that dreamcatcher Oishi gifted me vanished from the school locker I had securely kept. It was definitely Chandra who stole the dreamcatcher from my locker."
"Did you know Oishi had accidentally bled while making the object?" Krith questioned. "It was used against her for a vashikaran attempt."
Aditya gritted his teeth saying, "I had suspected but before I could inspect properly the dreamcatcher had gone missing."
"Since it wasn't her hair, the attempt had failed," Krith added noticing Mini's face suddenly turning pale.
"She planned this very carefully," Aditya's hand rolled into a fist.
"What plan?" Shomak shouted getting impatient to hear the abstract exchange between Krith and Aditya.
"Everything; Oishi's vashikaran attempt was simply a distraction. Her plan was something larger. She used the Onkhquerik miniature under the presence of an Onkh to activate the gateway for the pishach," Aditya stated.
"The what?" Shomak and Ragnik shouted in utter shock.
"There's a pishach in this house?" Vaidehi slumped down on the bed with her eyes staring widely at Aditya.
"No! That-that's impossible!" Shomak gulped, "Ela would have known! She-she was sure that it-it isn't a demon!"
"Ela di grew up away from the elemental tribes. Hence recognizing that pishach wouldn't be easy for her," Krith explained, his eyes fixed on Ela's unconscious body lying on the bed.
"That pishach was pulled out through the dead ritual and hence could only prey when connected to an Onkh. Shomak's presence activated the pathway for it to reach Ela, this miniature of Onkhquerik simply acted as the path," Aditya explained.
"What the fuck do you mean?" Shomak took a deep breath and asked.
"Pishach and Onkhs are connected through the third eye. Our presence makes it easier for them to travel. That's what has happened," Aditya's eyes snapped towards Shomak and he asked, "When did she say she first saw that thing?"
Shomak gulped as realization hit him, "when I came to visit her."
Aditya muttered a few curses closing his eyes then turned towards Vaidehi.
"Vaidehi?" Aditya called but she was still in a trance. "Vaidehi!" Aditya's voice fell in a sharp authoritative tone that jerked her out of that state. "Ela needs to wake up! Fast!"
Vaidehi nodded and requested everyone to leave the room as Mini and Malini sprinted downstairs to gather the required ingredients.
"But I don't exactly know how to-how to...treat a paishachic wound," Vaidehi bit her lips as a deep frown formed over her face.
"I'll help," Krith looked around searching for Ela's toolbox that she carried to the perfumery. He found it beside her dressing table and took out the needles, scissors and threads.
"That-that voice...that scream?" Shomak shuddered.
"Yes, Shomak, I can hear that too. But the Paiśācī language, where did you learn it?" Aditya's words pierced his conscience with a violent bolt and he started to blame himself for Ela's condition. Whatever Aditya asked went over his head.
He couldn't steady himself. His arrival at her home had made it worse. It was because of him that the Pishach found its path and attacked Ela.
"I opened its path directly to Ela!" he horrifyingly stated.
"It is not you Shomak. Chandra planned it very carefully. I could have triggered it as well but I was never in contact with the miniature Onkhquerik. She knew I would have destroyed it. She made it very carefully only to be activated by your touch," Aditya explained. "Don't blame yourself, a mere mortal can never anticipate a vishkanya's steps!"
"Vishkanya?! Chandra di is a vishkanya?" Mini's shock was coming in ripples.
"Ela..." Shomak looked devastated. He constantly kept going near Ela despite Krith and Vaidehi's repeated warnings.
"That's it! You need to leave this room!" Vaideh shouted.
It took Ragnik and Nishi great effort trying to convince Shomak and when he wasn't listening they had to drag him out of the room.
"Ela! Ela!" he kept calling.
Before they dragged him out, Shomak saw Krith pulling out a sparkling thread and tying it with a sharp long needle.
"Calm down! Shomak!" Nishi scolded. "You cannot help her right now. So please don't interrupt them."
"But Nishi – "
The doorbell rang as they gathered around the main hall.
"I'll get that," Oishi said coming down the stairs. She went to open the door leaving behind the three arguing.
There were too many things processing inside Shomak's head at once. From Chandra's reality to his connection with what Aditya called an Onkhquerik, the recent past seemed to play in a blur in his head. But all he could think of was Ela's unconscious state as she lay vulnerable upstairs.
He was worried for Ela yes but more than that he had a terrible feeling about Tokkho Raj's claws gradually moving near them.
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