Neal’s presence, I couldn’t make myself appear at his location. It was like he just wasn’t there. His presence was inaccessible to me. It obviously made me think of the worst thing possible, that he has suddenly ceased to exist.” Aakir admits sheepishly. He glances at me and then hastily continues, “But then I decided to focus on his astral form, and somehow I could immediately sense that he is not in his astral form. So…I concentrated on reining the energy of my astral body and usedit to pull Neal’s astral form…”
I frown at him, grimacing, “Can you talk in English?” I say.
Aakir sighs, “It’s tough to explain. It’s just that I can sense Neal’s soul….even if I don’t know its location. I don’t exactly know how that works…” he looks hopefully at my father, but father simply shakes his head and asks Aakir to continue. “Anyways, so it took quite a lot of focus, with I constantly aiming my aura at something invisible and hoping that will help in binding and extracting Neal’s soul from his body. It took hell of a lot concentrationbut eventually I could feel that I have made Neal project. And of course Neal, upon projection of his soul, realized that I helped him. It didn’t take him long to think of me and approach me in his astral form.”
“Where is he?” I ask again. Father puts a restraining hand on my shoulder, clearly asking me to be patient. I hesitate and notice Aakir’s scowling face, probably at my interruption. But he shakes his head and continues.
“So,” Suddenly Aakir chuckles, “The first thing Neal said was that he was very, very glad to see me. He did seem relieved, albeit a little tensed, but reprieved to see me nonetheless. He explained to me how Jennifer lured him to visit the lake, to have a word with her,” Aakir rolls his eyes, “He said that there she had already arranged some sort of a pattern drawn on the sand, enclosed in a circle and she-”
“That’s the ritual for summoning the witch.” Father enlightens us.
“-uh, yeah,” Aakir says, “Yeah, Neal said he was confused at first regarding Jennifer’s activity, but it took him too much a time to understand what she was doing. Once the Occultist was there, which he refers to asa ‘fugly maiden’,” Aakir chuckles again, “Neal was bound by some force. He couldn’t move.”
Father nods again, “A witch has the capability to physically control you.”
“Yeah….then Neal said that the Occultist and Jennifer argued a little. He didn’t tell me the subject of their argumentation, but he didn’t seem very happy while informing me of that…” Why he would be happy, I think glumly. I know why Neal must have been visibly upset. By that ‘argument’, he must have figured out that Jennifer had plans to hand him over since the beginning. Aakir goes on, “Then he and the Occultist disappeared from the place. That’s what Neal said. That the lake, the mansion in the distant, everything just vanished from in front of him. The next thing Neal knows, they are at a cottage…he wasn’t sure about the term ‘cottage’ either. It’s just a plain room built with something that looked like straw…but he supposed it is not straw. Anyways, once there, he was forced to sit on the single platform.” Aakir hesitates a little as he continues, “Then…Neal said that the Occultist simply…‘ordered’ him to observe the doings of the First Occultist through his abilities.”
My frown deepens, “Um…doings of the First Occultist?” I squint, trying to make sense of this.
“And?” father prods.
Aakir shrugs, himself looking confused regarding the Occultist’s ‘order’. “So…” he says, “Neal doesn’t know the exact location where he is. He just appeared at a random place once the Occultist abducted him. He is not allowed to move because of the binding force that the Occultist has on him. He sounded quite irritated. He was in fact sitting at a single place for almost three hours without being able to project.”
Dammit. My gaze thoughtfully averts to a different corner. So, Neal doesn’t know where he is. Now what? I tiredly rub a hand down my face. This day is losing its gloom again.
“Then we tried to visit where Neal’s body is.”
I snap my head towards Aakir who has started speaking again. Apparently he is not done. I silently urge him to go on.
“Since its Neal body, he could obviously access it. With our bound energies, when Neal tried to access his body, it automatically made me teleport as well.”
“So, you found it.” I say excitedly.
“Well…not exactly. I saw the cottage he spoke of…but I could understand why he was confused it was a cottage or not…”
“What?” I say when he abruptly stops talking.
Aakir looks from my father to me and then back at my father. Then he speaks solely to him, “The…cottage was surrounded by fire.”
Confused, I look at father, who has his features completely schooled. But I can tell that the revelation has caught him thinking.
“The outside of the cottage itself was on fire,” Aakir continues in a disbelieving voice, “In fact, almost a mile in every direction outside of the cottage was drowned in the heat of the fire…for much distance the fire was prevalent. The flames were constantly building and dying. The periphery around the cottage, after the high flames, gave way to a bed of red heated coals that stretched for quite a lot of distance. At frequent intervals, the fire would rise from the coals….the air was thick with heat. It was hindering the visibility. At every angle it was just…red or orange.
“There was a volcanic mountain nearby commencing from right behind the cottage…the whole slope upto the mouth of the mountain was drowned with lava and fire. It made us realize that those ‘red heated coals’ must be actually semi-frozen lava, extending in the front and sides of the cottage.” Aakir sighs, “It was a weird site because all this frozen lava, shooting flames, were spread on a bed of snow on the mountain. Then we tried to see where this place is exactly…the moment we escaped the heated area, we could only find a sparse forest. We traversed quite a length in hopes of finding a sign or anything, but there were only woods and snow. There was no civilization. In fact, in the forest, when we turned to look at the volcanic mountain, the lava and the cottage, we could see nothing. There was a just a red haze, surrounded by piles of snow. So we couldn’t actually…do you know where that is?” Aakir asks, looking at my father.
I turn to see that my father has straightened up and is looking elsewhere with a pondering expression.
“Dad?” I ask meekly.
Father looks at me once and then at Aakir, “I need to talk to father upon this.” He gravely says, as if he is not happy with whatever Aakir has revealed, and turns around, probably to go and look for Mikhail.
I get panicky, “Wait!” I say, “Do you know where Neal is?”
Father, halfway through the door, turns around, “Yes.” He says grimly, “He is at the land of the flames.”
“Land of the flames?” I echo.
“Yes.” Father reiterated, continuing to escape the room, “Land of the flames. The same place where Jermaine’s family was exiled to.”
21.The Escapade
I watch as Aakir walks the length of the room, his expressions glum as he talks on the cellphone. I recall the days only sometime back, when I would find Aakir’s behavior regarding Silvia to be over-the-top endearing. But watching Aakir now, his sorrow as clear as day as he converses with Silvia who is not by his side anymore, I suddenly find myself relating to the situation. No, I do not imply that I have suddenly started having mushy feelings over Neal. It’s just that the absence of his aura has not only taken away the goodness he was supplying, but also the innate goodness that I had been exhibiting. Also, it’s just weird to spend so many hours without his snide remarks or without seeing his nerdy nose buried in a book.
It’s tremendously peculiar to notice such small things are looking so big suddenly. Especially when only slightly over a month has passed since mine and Neal’s friendship has blossomed. And it’s strange how so many things are taken for granted by us. Even my bitter banters with Neal seem attractive as of now. For someone like Aakir, who has been more than
excited to accept his partner and make her a part of his life for a permanent term, he must be having much more difficult time than me. But then again, he at least has the surety that he will be seeing Silvia again. With my partner stuck with an Occultist…I really do not know what to think.
Aakir sighs loudly as he disconnects the phone. He glances at me, catches my dejected stance and sighs again.
I discreetly roll my eyes.
“He’ll be fine.” Aakir mutters as he walks to sit beside me on the bed. “He is a tough cookie. He’ll manage till we reach him.”
“I know he can manage.” I say, inwardly sighing. I am not worried about Neal getting traumatized or anything. He may be helpless, but he certainly isn’t someone who is mentally weak and definitely not someone who would break upon finding no solution to his predicament.
Aakir hums, “Kind of weird, huh? Makes me wish we hadn’t turned up in this Realm. It seems to be bringing only ill luck and lots of unpleasant surprises.”
“We didn’t have an option. We couldn’t exactly hide in some corner of the world.”
“World doesn’t have a corner.” Aakir weakly jibes back.
I am feeling even more tired than him, so I do not respond to his lame attempt at humor. Aakir takes my silence to be a sign of the worry I am feeling for my partner. He sighs loudly again.
“We’ll get him.” Aakir says with determination, bumping his shoulder with mine.
I frown, glancing at him from the corner of my eyes, “I am not a kid. Stop pestering me like mom.”
Aakir chuckles, then sighs again. I find myself getting irked by how much he is sighing.
“How is Silvia doing?” I ask, hoping for a distraction.
“Not good.” Aakir mutters, “She had been so happy today in the morning…She had also talked to her mother in the morning, informing her that she is planning to look for courses in Russia…and it seemed like everything would be perfect. We’ll stay here for some time. Silvia will do some part time short course. Faith and Rahul will enjoy their vacation. Mother and Nina aunt would join our family business for the term. And when Neal’s issue will pass by smoothly, we’ll all return to our country in good spirits and try our best to resume our lives. Now everything’s shattered because of one bitch.”
I deeply exhale, letting my head fall back and rest against the head board of the bed. What Aakir is describing seems like a distant dream now. But I try to be optimistic. I try to envisage a future in Latvia where we all are again settled peacefully and completing our last year of high school.
“You think Mikhail really knows where the land of flames is?” I ask, diverging from the overwhelming feeling rumbling in my pit. It seems like there is no single topic that can keep me calm for a long time.
“That old man seems quite knowledgeable and wise.” Aakir says, almost without paying attention, “Strict too.” He adds after a thought.
“But father said that the land of flames has never been visited before…or at least no one has stayed alive to tell the tale.”
“It’s the place of exile for supernatural creatures.” Aakir snorts, “What do you expect? Anyways, seeing as how those lands are perfectly inaccessible and almost invisible, nobody would stumble upon it. Besides the heat would be too much. It will make any person turn away.”
And my partner is sitting right at the center of it. I start feeling a little queasy by imagining my partner’s state. Would he be feeling uneasy with the heat around? Disturbed by the flames? The way Aakir described it, it surely didn’t sound very comfortable.
“Didn’t Neal complain about the heat?” I ask.
Aakir shakes his head, “He is inside the cottage. Somehow the walls of the cottage are acting as barriers for the flames. Flames are on the outside…he didn’t even say that it’s uncomfortable or anything. Except for bitching about remaining put in one place for hours.”
“When are we going to know what we’re going to do now?” I ask, feeling impatient all of a sudden.
“Nik uncle and your grandfather are discussing it. Keep yourself on a leash. They obviously don’t want to take a hasty decision. After all, Mikhail uncle is expecting the land of the flames to be the residence of the Ninth Occultist. If we are to jump inside there, then we need a proper plan in case we have to oppose the Occultist.”
“You said the Occultist was not around Neal anymore…” I say, feeling depressed as Aakir narrates the deep pit in which we are as of now.
“Yeah.” Aakir agrees, “But remember what Mikhail uncle said? The Occultist is just a bundle of energies. She uses her energy as she needs it. Her physical formation also utilizes her energy. So all in all, she may not be visible to us, but she will be there.”
Fantastic. I settle a little lower on my side of the bed.
“Not to mention,” Aakir continues, “there are chances of that Jermaine man being somewhere around too.”
I find myself slipping even lower on the bed.
I have not told Aakir the details of the history between Jermaine and Mikhail. Aakir has not even seen Jermaine, seeing as how he has joined us late, but he is definitely curious about this fellow hell bent at harming us. Upon his inquisitiveness, I revealed that Mikhail wrongly convicted Jermaine once, causing him to become the witch’s sycophant. I did not tell about my dead grandmother or Jermaine’s family. Though, Aakir seems to have guessed about Jermaine’s family, as father was not discreet while announcing the land of flames to be the place where Jermaine’s family was exiled to.
“I wish I had not brought Silvia here.” Aakir says suddenly.
I frown at him, “You wanted her to be-”
“Yes.” Aakir cuts me off, “I wanted.” He stresses on ‘I’. “I got her here for my own selfish reasons and because of it, her life is in turmoil.”
I am silent for a moment. Of course I agree with him to some extent. But there is only one particular thing that has caused all this havoc, which is the main reason for my disapproval. “You shouldn’t have made Neal envisage her future.”
Aakir gives me a dry look, “Look, I know you don’t like your partner using-”
“It’s not that I despise Neal’s abilities being used like that. Well, that too, but apart from that, I believe Silvia and you would be much happier right now if you had approached her and told her about yourself, without making Neal bend her will. What would she have done? Probably flipped out? Straight away refuse to accompany you? But don’t you think she would have eventually accepted it? She is your partner. At some subliminal level, even she can sense the equanimity she gets by being with you. So, may be not instantly, but in the future, she would have come to accept you. Living for a month or two without her aura would have been difficult…but at least you would have had the reassurance of returning to a ‘happy’ Silvia.”
Aakir doesn’t say anything for a long moment. I almost believe that the topic is done with, when Aakir speaks again.
“I just…I just panicked. The thought of not knowing when we’ll return back…we didn’t know at the time that we’ll be returning within a month. Even now, we’re unaware of our return. Besides, I had a very strong feeling that she would end up dating someone else. Even now she treats me as someone who is very young for her. You have no idea how insecure that makes me feel. I just thought…I just thought if she knows about me and if she comes with me…she’ll grow to the idea of being with me.”
“Did she?”
Aakir suspires, “No.”
“And you think she cannot date anybody else with you around?”
Aakir shoots me a dark glare, “Not here. No.”
Despite myself, I find myself chuckling at Aakir’s demeanor. I never pegged him to be a jealous kind of guy. Hell, I never pegged him to be excessively emotional in anything. Romantic yes, but not dramatic. But I guess for partners, even your emotional disposition can change a lot.
“Aakir…” I start, “Even if she dates anyone, you shouldn’t worry. Or even restrict her. What have you g
ot to worry? You have the upper hand in knowing that she’ll get along the best with you.”
“Doesn’t mean I want to be the bridesman on her wedding.” Aakir snaps.
I tiredly chuckle again, feeling slightly thankful for the distractive topic. My mind feels a little at ease, without having to constantly worry over Neal.
“She will not make you her bridesman. You just need to suck up and act like a man. You can start by quitting whining like a bratty teenager all the time.”
Aakir punches my shoulder, making me wince. He shakes his head in exasperation, “I don’t know, Josh…it’s just….whenever it comes to her, I get all over the place. Know what I mean?”
I shrug.
Aakir squints at me, “Come on, you must feel something like that for Neal.”
I roll my eyes, “We are not gay.”
“He is your partner.” He points out, like a smartass.
“So?”
“So?” Aakir echoes, “So, gay or not, he obviously affects you.”
“Yeah, he does.” I say slowly, not registering what Aakir is implying.
“But not like Silvia affects me…?”
“We are not gay.” I repeat.
Aakir rolls his eyes. I don’t understand where his train of thought is going. Neal and I always hung out together. We hardly left each other’s side since we are here. But of course we are not excessively endearing to each other, as Aakir is to Silvia. Aakir has his own romantic reasons. Me? Well, as I said, Neal and I are not gay. And I believed Aakir to be aware of that since he has been the only one who doesn’t settle down to insinuate romance between Neal and I like other people out here. But, now I am not so sure about his thoughts regarding the subject.
“You sure seemed jealous to learn of Neal having sex with Ananya.”
I look at Aakir, agape.
Aakir shrugs at my stare, “I may not have said something at that time, but I was paying enough attention to your conversation with him.”
“I was not jealous.” I shake my head at him in disbelief.
“Yeah, sure.”
“Ananya is his best friend, okay? It’s not my business what he does with her. Neal even expressed a slight crush on her. And I am fine with it.” I snap in a much defensive tone than I was intending.
“If you say so.” Aakir says, doubtful.
I give him an exasperated look and get up from the bed. I am sick of people assuming Neal and I to be more than friends. I am even sick with people believing that if I have a partner, I will inevitably fall in love with him. Father and Aakir are two people who never raise the topic in such direction. But now even Aakir is becoming part of those who expect me to be gay. This is ridiculous. Neal is my partner. Okay, so, maybe I am jealous of Ananya. But not because she slept with Neal. But because her equation with Neal is much better than my friendship with Neal. After all, flawless