Chapter 22

                                    

                                          
The cracking of the hull went unnoticed as the others finally saw the momentary happiness dying out. Swati laid down the empty plate with a clatter, and surveyed the others. Madhumita was feeling particularly queasy.
                          
I shouldn't have had that extra serving of dal.
                          
'I believe we're nearing Kambuja,' Swati said, with multiple response from everyone on board - Ashwin immediately started mumbling in French (Bonjour, ceci est Ashwin, un garçon de quatorze ans indien ici pour un voyage éducatif. C'est Swati, Nandita, Jasnoor, Madhumita, Jyoti. Et voici Vignesh.) Nandita's fingers tightened over her chapatti, Vignesh looked pale, Jasnoor looked paler than Vignesh, and the others couldn't hide their shock.
                          
'Where's Gaurav, by the way?' asked Vignesh.
                          
'I don't really know. Probably sleeping inside his filthy Cabin. Swati, come; let's prepare him for his round of Khmer translations.  Or maybe...' said Nandita, getting interrupted by a disgusted Swati. 'No ways! I'm not tutoring that pile of rubbish who calls himself a human. If you want, you surely can go ahead and help him. But. I. Am. Not. Coming!'
                          
Nandita looked like she'd resigned and stayed where she was.
                          
'Could my Creation come of help?' Madhumita asked eagerly. 'All our talents will provide a contribution in us defeating...' Vignesh hesitated. 'Our enemy back there.' Ashwin was still immersed in revising French; so Madhumita approached Jasnoor in a very solemn kind of way.
                          
Part of it was acting; though the rest was coming from her heart. Not smiling like her usual self, Madhumita started complaining loudly about this so called "adventure" Narada had sent them on. So much perils, so much risks, it felt like a blur.
                          
From the time she was sitting in the school bus for the field trip, it had been a blur for her. A few lighthouses, the sand, a few children moving around in the beach talking happily, Jasnoor complaining about the school not sponsoring for a fun trip instead of an educational trip, and finally she was back in the bus discussing the History question paper with Jasnoor.
                          
And then the mystery has started. Ashwin had barged into the library, told her about the situation - an unknown person requesting an audience with the seven of them, and exited. She'd packed her bag hastily, left her favourite pen, and had set off; smiling at the thought that she was missing the English period.
                          
After this, she'd entered the white sedan. She'd seen all of the anxious faces, and she also had been enjoying some natural beauty outside the window. And after that. She'd got a slight headache and was recovering from it when all the Ardha-ishwara nonsense had started.
                          
And after this, she couldn't believe anything. How nice it would be if she could wake up shivering finding out that it was a dream, a very realistic, bad, dream? Unfortunately she could not. Every person she knew clinging to her memories was in threat of being lost; she could herself be lost forever at the jeopardy of entering an unknown land at the cost of her legal dignity, her life, and her memory.
                          
What had Yama said?
                          
If you do not... you know the consequences!
                          
What were the consequences? Madhumita did a mental countdown. Maiming and torture forever? Yes, possibly the most efficient way of torture is threatening to torture itself. Killing loved ones? Marvellous. Murdering you? No. Quite useless if you need information.
                          
The ship started rocking slightly, as though a storm was raging outside. Surprised, and a bit alarmed, Madhumita raised her eyes level with the top of the ship, and she found the tunnel like structure quite intact. Moreover, as Vignesh would say, the cosmic world did not experience such petty mortal disasters/threats.