The Haunted Fortress of Bhangarh: Book 1

52. The clairvoyant

The bike ride back home was unnaturally silent. Rudra had tried to convince himself and the girl that Shravani's name in a past life was Chitralekha, and they shouldn't be making a hue and cry about the fact that Shravani Iyer used an alias in front of the deceased girl's family. But Ishita seemed unconvinced. Neither was Shravani responding to any of the frantic messages and calls Rudra had left for her. Concern clawed at his heart for his girlfriend, and by the time they reached Ishita's house, both were a panicking mess.

She hopped down from behind him and poked his cheeks.

A grin cracked on his face despite the situation, for she was pouting in an adorable fashion. "What is running in that mind of yours?"

She fiddled with her bracelet, not looking directly at him, highly skeptical of his reaction. "Is it at all possible that she is helping Kalavati?"

He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "It was because of Kalavati that Raghuveer and Chitra had to separate. Why would Shravani help her?"

Ishita ran a hand through her hair. "I feel she is hiding something massive from you. There are so many questions cropping up. Where does she actually live? Why does she always run off to that weird lane? Why her story about going to meet her boyfriend and Chitralekha's fable that you saw in your dreams are so similar? And if she loved Raghuveer, who was she going to meet at sundown?"

He remained silent, letting each of the statements wash over his fatigued brain, allowing her rosy fragrance to invade his nostrils.

"Don't you see?" She huffed. "There are gaping holes in her story."

He weakly nodded, squinting his eyes at the sun above them. "And she needs to fill those gaps as soon as possible."

Ishita placed her palm on his shoulder, muttering something which he couldn't pay attention to as the rosy fragrance intensified all around him. A shiver ran down his spine, and he could not comprehend the sudden fleeting image of a smiling girl, with her face oddly similar to someone he knew, roses tucked in her hair, standing atop the step-well of a fort, her fingers entwined with Raghuveer's.

His hand went ahead to hold Ishita's, almost crushing her wrist in due process, as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. She gasped aloud, trying to wriggle out of his grasp, but going by the way he was panting and sweating profusely, she gave up her futile attempts and placed her other palm on his cheeks.

"Rudra?"

His trance broke, and he glanced away, letting her hand slide. "What the hell was that?"

She rolled her eyes. "You trying to break my hand."

Taking a deep breath, he shook his head. "Sorry about that. Uh... We are going to meet the clairvoyant today. Do you want to join?"

A bright blush crept up her cheeks, and she gaped at her shoes. "I have a date with Rishabh."

He nearly groaned. "How much time would you spend with him? He hogs all your attention these days."

She giggled. "He is my boyfriend. Of course, most of my attention would be on him. But that does not mean I don't care about you or my other friends."

"Yeah, right!" He scoffed. "Abandoning your friend on such an important day is the way you give attention."

She pursed her lips. "I don't understand why you and Rishabh don't get along much. Both of you are wonderful people individually."

He grimaced. "He always takes you away from me. How can I like him?"

She tittered, patting his cheeks. "Silly boys!"