by Namita Singh
down, facing the direction in which the mansion is. An extending silence falls in which Neal is silently observing the river while I am gazing at the lights in the distance. The lights are surely the part of the function we have just escaped.
I clear my throat loudly after a moment, “So…what now? Are we still fighting or what?”
Neal doesn’t say anything for a moment and then he sighs. “I had to talk to you about a few things actually.” He says, his voice completely normal as if we weren’t eating each other’s head off a moment before.
“What about?”
“I had a word with David this morning.”
“What, Jennifer bitching to him about you, now?”
“Sort of.” Neal acquiesces, “But…David seemed to be making more sense. Especially in the light of these circumstances.”
I frown at him, “Don’t tell me you’re considering eloping with them.” I mutter in a disbelieving tone.
“Actually, David wasn’t aware of Jen aunt’s plan before today. He was simply discussing the pros and cons of staying here. I accidently slipped that Jen aunt was persuading me to leave at the hotel too. He seemed surprised. Anyway, we were discussing. And we saw that the cons are more than the pros. If I stay here, firstly, there’s no guarantee that the Ninth Realm will succeed at protecting me. David says that the First Realm is the most powerful…or something like that. And if perchance, the First Realm gets empowered then also David is sure that they will not go down without making some sort of an accord with the Ninth Realm. Considering how much I have seen of the Ninth Realm, I will not be surprised if they change teams at the end moment. If by some miracle the Ninth Realm sticks with us till the end then they will be doing that because they expect me to somehow be favorably inclined towards them, with respect to my abilities. So, all in all, I seem to be getting screwed from everywhere.”
“And if you run away then the chances of the First Realm getting a hand at you are almost hundred percent. Then there would be no more ‘If’s and no more positive results, not even with negligible probability.”
“If they get a hand on me.” Neal stresses on ‘if’.
I shake my head, infuriated, “Are you forgetting what dad said about running away?”
“Yeah, that the therians from First Realm will find me eventually. But, even now I think that if I effectively use by futuristic ability, I may be absolutely able to suppress the chances of anyone getting at me.”
I drearily dislike Neal using his future making ability. I don’t focus on my displeasure though and instead point out the pointlessness of using his abilities. I say, “If that had a definite success rate then dad would have made you divine our future right now. He would have made you ensure that the First Realm therians do not even get here. The First Occultist knows the definite way in which your abilities work, Neal. Dad was plenty sure they will find a loophole through your methods. You, yourself know, that you cannot even see the definite future if it hasn’t been perfectly determined by the ones involved. Besides you cannot keep divining the future twenty four-seven. We are not exactly in a position to take chances.”
“Aren’t we already taking chances? By being here?”
“Neal,” I sigh exasperatedly, “You’re forgetting one very important difference. The Ninth Realm treats you like an omnipotent being, like you’re a god or something but the First Realm wants their hands on you because they consider you a servant. Don’t ever forget this difference.” I shake my head slowly, “Besides, if you go away then you sure as hell will not have any back up in case you land in a dire situation. I don’t like being here either but even I can see that it is the best option we have as of now. For the long run, anyways.”
“I just….” Neal suspires, “I just feel that if I go away…it’s very unlikely for any therian to find me. I mean, I can be at any corner of the world. I could well be in my old age before someone finds me.”
I shake my head again, “It may take only a few years for the First Realm to have all the realms in their favor. Then therians will be searching for you worldwide. It’s still a risk.”
“I spent seventeen years of my life without a therian finding me.”
“Because they thought vaticinators don’t take birth anymore.” I retort. “Now they know that you’re there. Even catching you in old age will be beneficial for them. They only need the vaticinator lineage to be open and in their hands again.”
Neal is silent after that. I am satisfied with the contradictions I have put up. My reasoning obviously makes more sense. But his doubts are still gnawing at my mind, making my thoughts get panicky. Almost impetuously, I blurt out my next words.
“Neal…of course I am making sense so I will not convince you for my reasons.” I tell him, “But…if, if at all, you still decide to run away then please don’t do that without informing me.”
Neal looks at me weirdly for a moment then chuckles, “Actually, I may even invite you to accompany me. So, don’t get your panty in a bunch.”
I inaudibly sigh in relief, realizing at that moment how anxious I am about my partner leaving my side. I feel my ears burning up so I immediately fall into my macho stance, “But, of course, not running away is still freaking wiser than blindly jumping off a cliff.”
Neal doesn’t say anything. Somehow, to my absolute humiliation, it is obvious to me why Neal is assuring me that he will not depart without informing me. It is because of the partner thing. Neal has witnessed Aakir’s panic filled stance regarding Silvia; there is no way he would not consider my state of mind if he goes away. The thought simply embarrasses me more.
“Okay, forget that.” Neal mutters after an eon, “I wanted to talk about Aakir too.”
I frown, “What about him?”
Neal gives me a funny look, “I am sure you must have noticed his situation.”
“Uh…”
“Regarding Silvia?” Neal hints.
Oh.
I had completely forgotten about Silvia. Is that why Aakir is looking upset? I feel shamed in admitting how clueless I am.
“You’re one brother I have seen.” Neal drawls, “Whatever. I was thinking…of helping him.”
“With Silvia?” I ask, still frowning.
“Yes. Silvia is still depressed…I didn’t even know such huge event alteration can cause something like this. I was thinking of creating some vague happy moments for her. Maybe it will curb her depressive phase. I’ll make sure Aakir is there in those moments of course.”
“Create how?” I ask. This is actually not bad. We are going to be free most of the time. It will be better if we can conjure some pleasant surprises for Silvia. The guilt of not being aware of my brother’s situation is already sort of eating me up.
Neal gives me a condescending glare, “What do you mean ‘create how’?” he snaps, “I’m sure Aakir wouldn’t mind the help. He’ll help me project too.”
I take several moments to let that sink in.
“You meant…creating the future?”
“What did you think?” he asks incredulously.
I shrug, disappointment more than clear on my face, “Something naturally occurring with our manual effort.” I give a snarky reply.
“Okay…we can do that. I’ll make sure it happens with certainty and that Silvia truly gets happy by it.”
I give him a sharp look, “You just want to use your abilities, don’t you?”
“I want to be sure that Silvia is helped.”
“Don’t.”
Neal hesitates, “What?”
“We’ll do it on our own. Don’t use your deceptive techniques-”
“Deceptive?” he drawls.
“-Yes, deceptive.” I snap, “What you will conjure may not occur in natural circumstances.”
“It’ll solve the problem.” Neal says in the ‘duh’ tone.
“We can try to solve it by our own effort.” I repeat. “Don’t use your abilities.”
“Who died and made you my boss?” Neal snaps.
“You’re being my boss again.” He ripostes.
I huff. I take a moment to calm myself. I don’t want to fight again. Not over the same thing. That’s all we keep doing.
“I don’t like you using your abilities.” I tell him quietly, my tone placid.
Neal takes a moment, “I don’t like your abilities either, Lichinsky.”
I roll my eyes, “Do you see me as an animal right now? Or ever?” I quip, “I don’t like my abilities either.”
“…You don’t?”
I turn to look at him. He is watching me apprehensively, and dare I say, curiously.
“Well…yeah.” I admit awkwardly. I realize that I have never actually expressed that I dislike myself as a therian. Not aloud at least.
“Figures.” Neal says, “I thought you must enjoy it.”
“I do.” I quickly say, “It has its perks. But…it is also somehow nonhuman and sort of a monstrosity, irrespective of how natural the therians think it is.”
“You don’t like anything…supernatural.” Neal points out after a long pause.
“You can say so.” I mumble, looking straight ahead.
“No wonder you kept persuading me that the characteristics of therians are not far off from a human’s.”
“They are not.” I insist.
“Yeah, right.”
I choose to not comment on his sarcastic jibe. Suddenly everything seems very different. Feelsvery different. Somehow I am finding this significant. A mere, vague thought of mine that I do not entirely enjoy my non-humanness has been shared for the first time with somebody. That