Poison Orchid

Chapter 14

“I think that you should stay back at home for a few days,” said Rossetta even before bidding her good morning.

“I would love that Aunty. My whole body is aching and my head is pounding and rest I do not even know what what is happening to my body. But on the other side I have to remember that my exams are in a few days and I do need to attend the classes for that reason,” replied Isis.

What she was actually thinking was two things. Brassia had told her the previous day that as a sorceress, she needed to lead double life all throughout her whole life meaning that she had to keep up the pretense that she was normal. So her original life should go on. And somewhere somehow at the corner of the mind also this thought tugged behind that she will get to see the handsome stranger whose name was Gabriel, who sat beside her and looked at her for the rest of the class. The feelings that he made to arise in her were never close to anything that she had ever felt before. She could feel butterflies flying in her stomach whenever he was closeby. His brother, Petrov was also similarly handsome did not make her feel this way and she did not want it to happen to. But on the other hand all her classmates had always instinctively shunned her never welcoming her into their company.

“I am gonna talk to your teachers today. Infact I already have saying that you have caught flu and she has said until and unless you’re good to go, you are not to go to school on any pretense. So that is absolutely settled. Now to the point of having your homework sand assignments they have said that they will send any classmate of yours with the homework, sometime after school. So I think that settles it.”

When Rossetta was speaking to Isis, Isis did not feel it properly coming, suddenly the corner of her dark grey walls started fading in and out like a curtain and then she was not even conscious to even see that she had blacked out completely. She could not even hear that her Aunt was screaming her name and Fluffy was barking madly trying to move her with her paws.

Someone was sprinkling water with heavy force on her face, she lifted her face a bit but found that everything was still swimming.

“Lie down, lie down. You don’t need o get up baby. See this is the reason why I told you that you don’t need to go to school. The things that are occurring to your body need rest and that too, ample rest can only make you stand up on your feet once more. And don’t you dare to go to sleep. I will be bringing the milk to you in a minute, you need to that to regain your strength.”

Fluffy jumped up on the bed the moment Aunt Rossetta left the room and started licking her face. She was relishing the feeling of getting her face licked and turned her face towards Fluffy even better, so that she could do that to her heart’s desire. Something was definitely happening to her, and she knew that her new found powers were the reason behind that but something else was also there which Aunt Rossetta knew and she did not. Suddenly Isis thought, why was she being given milk when she should have been given glucose water because that is common knowledge that after being unconscious, in order to increase the blood pressure, glucose was absolutely necessary.

But then again she remembered that, her body needed to cope and maybe the medicinal herbs which her Aunt boiled the milk with will do the trick. Now when she was thinking this her Aunt came in the room, with a glass of green liquid in her hand. Although it did not look like milk at all yet she took the glass from her and drank it in one go and suddenly felt that someone had given her a shock of electricity to her body. As if she got a surge of adrenaline coursing through her veins the music in the basement started blaring loudly once more like last night.

Isis sprang up from the bed and sped to the basement, unlocking the door with the new chant that she had learnt last day. And found that Grandma Brassia was dancing, floating in the air with an unknown dummy partner. And it was an odd and eerie sight as well but Isis could not even make a sound because she was mesmerized at the grace by which the old lady was dancing hovering at the same time. Suddenly the music stopped and Isis found Brassia to be nowhere in the room. Isis understood that her training to be invisible even being alive had started. And she was to find Brassia which she did not think to be remotely possible.

“There is a basket in this room somewhere and you have to find the basket with your eyes closed and without any single stuff that is placed in the room,” said Grandma Brassia behind her trying to unnerve her. But unfortunately so much of adrenaline raced in her veins that she couldn’t be unnerved at that time. A thick black cloth dropped at her feet and she knew she was supposed to tie that around her eyes and that too in such a way that no light passes through enabling her to visualize anything.

She did that, blocking her vision and suddenly felt too vulnerable because her main option of visualizing things was now gone.

“When your vision is not there, you need to trust your other senses in order to survive and find out what is required of you. It is not that you are equipped only with your sense organs. Don’t forget girlie, that our Goddess has blessed us with another sense even apart from the sixth sense that we can use to find out anything we need. Let me give another clue. Whatever you need to find in the basket is a living organism. Now, let’s get going,” said Brassia.

Taking up her advice, Isis opened up her skin, nose and ears. The moment she relaxed, she started getting a prickling sensation at the back of her neck making her realize that she was feeling Grandma Brassia’s presence. She got various smells at the same time as she started taking small steps forward, the smell of acids, copper, salts, herbs, stones and what not. Moreover she smelled old dusty volumes of books from her right hand side and she knew that she had to start finding out the life force, otherwise she would never be able to find the thing that was needed to find. She tried differentiating the life forces of the various small pulsing points and moved forward with the easy grace of a panther, as if she was dancing with the wind and had put on the winged shoes of Mercury. A few seconds later Isis found a coiling pulse with high density of blue light but still it was absolutely obscured with something, when she understood that it was the basket that was blocking the pulse. The moment she started moving forward she struck hard on the edge of a table and making her dash out the contents. The basket flew and dropped on her and she caught upon something cold and slithering like a coil, it was living and before she could even register she was holding a snake she was bitten hard on her wrist puncturing the skin but it felt like a mosquito bite to her. She did not feel any pain, any burning nothing, just she took hold of the snake’s head and opening up the blue tendril of her life force, she twisted it around the snake’s neck and yanked it with all her psychic might strangling the creature and killing it.

“Congratulations sweetheart. You passed your assignment on one count and failing on another count but you did good for the first time. Well, open your eyes immediately and see what you have done. You need to register and appreciate your handiwork,” came out grandma Brassia’s voice, the last part being highly laced with sarcasm.

Isis opened her blindfold with her wounded hand not even understanding that she was bleeding from a punctured vein because by the time she saw and understood what she had done, the poison that was running in her veins was acting as an antidote and a coagulant against the poison of the snake which had bitten her. Isis opened her eyes and found that she was holding a dead sand viper in her hand and dropped it on the floor letting out a blood curling scream. She had again killed a creature without even thinking twice about it. She sagged on the floor and found Grandma Brassia laughing gleefully and clapping her hands and acting like a mad woman.

“Oh dear!!! Oh I can’t even imagine that it is a success. Oh Rosa, Rosa come and look what our girl has done…” shrieked Brassia happily. Isis thought that she was already losing her mind and if she remained in this madwoman’s vicinity she will lose it even sooner. But Aunt Rosa had come running with the wooden ladle in her hand, hearing her shrieks and claps she came and found Isis sitting on the floor with her hand dark bluish red blood coagulated on her skin on two puncture marks, a dead viper lying near her feet with its neck horribly twisted. Isis was sitting there blank with vacant expressionless eyes.

“She did this?” asked Rossetta.

“Yes, my darling, and she did this blindfolded within two minutes. I never expected such marvelous progress for a girl of no skills. You have raised an absolute gem Rosa,” sighed Brassia happily.

“I tried my best Grandma. But she isn’t accepting the fact that she needs to embrace this darkness,” said Aunt Rossetta coming closer to Isis.

“What have you done to me?”whispered Isis.

“What was best for you,” said Rossetta.

“And who are you to decide that?” asked Isis looking Rossetta and Brassia who were now standing before her with icy calm in her voice and fire burning in her eyes.

“If you are going to do anything at this moment you won’t be able to reverse it anytime in future, so don’t act rash. Your destiny was uncertain and not written. The vision to your destiny was blocked by your mother which made it impossible on Rosa’s part to raise you up. But she did. She did what she knew the best and how you needed the best. Whatever you are today you do not understand it now but remember this Isis that very soon you’re going to need each and every power of yours in order to fight. And that day you will understand that whatever has been done has been done for your good only,” said the wise spirit of Grandma Brassia.

Isis just looked up at the face of the ghost, she was just thinking that if she had not waited and had snapped out of the rage that was building inside her then she would have committed a heinous crime which would have been truly irreversible.

“You know girlie, your eyes are your window to your soul, if anyone looks at your eyes closely even then the opponent will very easily judge what you are thinking and that is going to take away the element of surprise,” mused Brassia making Isis smile.

“Isis, there is a dark force growing inside you and you can feel its pull. If you don’t embrace it then you will be completely engulfed by the darkness itself and we don’t absolutely want that because then bringing you back from that darkness will be impossible,” said Aunt Rossetta.

Isis could very well understand that herself, that the lure of darkness was too pretty and too easy and it had its own music which was absolutely mesmerizing but giving in to the darkness was not at all an option for her but she still could not understand how come the poison of the world’s most poisonous snake does not kill her.

“You are a Poison Maiden, the only one,” said the spirit of Brassia.