Tantrics Of Old by Krishnarjun Bhattacharya Page A

lights crackled as the electricity in them shorted. Bursts of dark overpowering the feeble flickers of luminance.
    Darkness. Light. Darkness. Light. Darkness. Darkness. Darkness.
    ‘Adri!’ Maya called softly. No response. Gray’s snores continued, uninterrupted.
    Light. A moment of clarity. The old woman was not in her seat anymore. Disturbing. Uneasiness built steadily within Maya. Darkness. Yet again. The train continued moving at its unnervingly high speed.
    Another sudden spark of electricity. The lights flared back, this time staying for a fraction of a second. Maya’s eyes, reeling from the flash, glimpsed the old woman. She was on the
ceiling
, nestled among the fans, on all fours, her hair hanging, her clothes billowing.
    Maya screamed.
    Her scream was cut off as a strong hand clamped itself firmly over her mouth. As she desperately tried to fight the hand away, a voice whispered in her ear. ‘Sssshhh!’
    Adri’s voice helped Maya overcome her hysteria. ‘Adri!’ She shrieked in relief, but his hand tightened down on her mouth. Maya, even in panic, realised that the Tantric wanted her to shut up. She was relieved to have him, have someone to help her overcome what she had seen. She wanted to hug him and bury her face in his shoulder and not face the darkness, but Adri whispered again, and she struggled to listen.
    ‘Maya! Maya, I need you to be brave,’ his voice spoke in the dark. ‘You have to trust me, trust what I say. Everything . . .
your life
depends on it.’
    Tears were running down Maya’s cheeks, and she nodded.
    ‘First of all, silence. Whisper, don’t talk,’ Adri continued, still covering her mouth. She nodded again, and Adri slowly relaxed his grip, letting go.
    ‘Hold my hand, Adri. I’m scared. I’m so scared,’ Maya whispered, her voice thin. Adri did.
    ‘Listen to me. This is important.’ He paused. No sounds, nothing except the occasional loud snore from the still-sleeping Gray and the jangles of the speeding train. ‘What you saw, the old woman, she is a Dyne. She cannot harm you here, but neither can I harm her while we’re on the train.’
    ‘Wh-what does she want?’ Maya stammered.
    ‘She wants your
scent
. And we have no choice but to give it to her.’
    ‘My scent?’
    ‘Yes, your smell. She is a smell collector, and she wants to collect from all three of us, if I’m not wrong.’
    ‘So-so what will she do, Adri? What—’
    ‘She will creep over and smell all of us, one by one. It’s
very
important, Maya, that you pretend to be asleep when she does. Do not react under any circumstance, no matter what she does. She cannot harm you while you’re on the train, but I do not want her to give you the Mark. And that is something vile, I assure you.’
    ‘I-I can’t do this!’
    ‘You can. Maya. Listen to me, you’re strong. You can do this. And we aren’t even in the Old City yet. Now, buckle up!’
    Silence, for a while. Then Maya spoke slowly, ‘She can’t harm me?’
    ‘Not here, no.’
    ‘What is the Mark?’
    ‘I will explain later, I promise. Right now let’s concentrate on
not
getting it, shall we?’
    Maya nodded after a moment, though Adri didn’t see it in the darkness.
    ‘All right, Adri,’ she spoke, her voice almost inaudible.
    ‘I have to go back to my seat,’ Adri spoke, an apology creeping into his voice.
    ‘Oh.’ She gently let go of his hand.
    ‘I’m here. Don’t worry. Just sleep off right now if you can.’
    Maya knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep. That hair-raising flash of light had made her a wreck. She shut her eyes tight, wishing for the image to go away. She prayed to her God with burning urgency, feeling guilty about not being a more regular devotee. But she called his name and she did it again and again and again, trying to dispel the darkness. He would see her through this, she hoped and prayed. Her mind was a whirl of emotions, contrary to her body which was playing dead.
    And then she heard a sniff. Right next