Hale Academy: University of Sui Generis (Vol. I)

Chapter 7: Lucky Number 13

Key for this chapter:

*Rinzen's Thoughts*

//Anyone Else's Thoughts //

'Old dialogues memories, spoken out loud thoughts, the past in general...'

///Memories///

POVs

""Not an Actual Speech or Thought""

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Warning: Alternative POVs

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                          1-04-2113 (7:30 pm AMRITSAREHLI, India)

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            'Ek Onkar, satnam'

"s**t!"

Yasmeen Singh grabbed James and pushed him behind a door, "s**t!" she repeated.

Yasmeen Singh grabbed James and pushed him behind a door–conveniently placed, "Take off your shoes", she hissed abruptly.

"Excuse me?!" James asked scandalized.

"Take off your shoes", she repeated harried, "Hurry up", she demanded.

Following her instructions he nodded and took off his shoes, the odd words in the background sounded like a song for peace. Apparently, the translation magic seemed to be malfunctioning; he couldn't discern what was being sung.

                           'Kartapurakh Nirmoh Nirvair.'

"Why am I taking bits of my clothes off?" he asked, "Or yours for that matter?" he added eyeing her slip out of her own shoes, remove her coat.

She tossed both his shoes and hers into the coat and then wrapped them up.

"We're in a Gurudwara, we aren't allowed to wear shoes in a Gurudwara. Do you have a handkerchief?" she asked.

James nodded and handed it to her.

"Kneel, you're taller than me", she said, and as he went down on one knee, she tied the handkerchief over his head, like a bandana.

'Akaal Murat Ajuni Sabham, Guru Parsad Jap!'

"Why are we—", he shook his head, and "Where are we?" he asked changing the question midway.

"I told you, we're in a Gurudwara", she said, "There are rules, you can't enter the Gurudwara with your shoes and socks on, technically you're supposed to wash your feet before you enter and bow to greet the Guru Granth Sahib as well, but well teleportation magic", she said, "I was standing here taking a call from my mother whilst reading the letter", she said, "As soon as I landed in the Academy's foyer I pocketed it. So Hale Academy Magic works, with our last known location, after we open the letter?" she stated after answering him.

James nodded, "Yes", he said. "You said your curfew was at eight right? It's seven-ten", he answered her for a lack of anything else to say.

"Good enough", Yasmeen murmured. "We should go", she said, "One problem though", she said, "I can't step outside without having something to cover my head", she whispered.

"Rules?" James asked.

Yasmeen nodded, "Rules", she muttered, she peered through the doors, "There are two Granthis here, if they see me, the lectures will be too time-consuming. We honestly haven't got the time", she muttered. "And there are punishments, frankly speaking, I'm not interested", she muttered.

"What can I do?" James asked quietly.

"Well", she hummed, "Can you conjure a scarf? Or is your Ascendant magic not related to conjuring?" she wondered.

"Ascendant Magic", he corrected, "Capital letters", he added at her, "It doesn't work like that–", he answered, "–my abilities work with animals, canines mostly and because I'm an Ascendant of the dog that is the guardian to the Gates of Hell, my magic is based in death", he said, "I'm essentially a Grim Reaper. I speak to the dead and usually, they seek me out and I guide them to the next destination. But the thing about my magic is that besides being essentially a soothsayer for the dearly departed and soon to be departed, I don't really have any other magic", he explained. 

"So that's a no for a scarf", she said nodding amused. "Well between the two of us, I'll be more noticeable, especially as an Indian, you should be easily forgiven for not knowing any of the rules", she stated.

James smirked, "Well that makes sense. How about I create a diversion, the gate's not far from here, I'll meet you outside?" he suggested.

Yasmeen nodded, "Alright", she paused, "Be careful", she murmured.

"You too, don't get lost, please", he stated.

Yasmeen nodded, and "I will try my best", she said and waited as he walked out.

Yasmeen watched as he looked around confused, he looked up and then down and then walked towards one of the Granthis and started talking, going by the older man's confused expression and James's wild waving he obviously was being taken seriously, when the other Granthi walked towards them, she waited for half a second and took off for the exit, she reached the exit and hid behind a pillar she peered back to where she'd left James and ducked behind the pillar again, to find both Granthis escorting him to where she stood and given his disgruntled expression clearly hadn't been what he'd intended.

As soon as James reached her he bowed once, twice walking backward all the while before finally escaping he reached her and huffed, "Man, they're persistent", he grumbled.

Yasmeen nodded, "Extra helpful", she corrected amused.

"Please tell me this is the only theatrics we have to worry about?" he asked as she escorted him down the steps of the Gurudwara and outside, to what she called personified chaos.

"You must be joking", she laughed, her wild hair flying freely, she found a spare space and sat down, she handed him his shoes, "Do you know, before the world ended; India was the second most populated country in the world, after The Big War, it became the first. Every Indian on the planet returned here, from across the globe, briefly, before they went back to homes they'd made everywhere in the world. It took ten years for the world's infrastructure to rebuild and pretty much most of the technology came from India. This time we aren't the Golden Sparrow that was captured by the Brits, but the Rhodium Sparrow—Flying High and Free", she hummed, "That doesn't change the fact that by the Gods, do we have more people than space to put them", she turned to him with flourish and spread her arms wide;

"Welcome to the Capital of India—Amritsarelhi!" she greeted cheekily.

James rolled his eyes, "Rhodium Sparrow indeed", he huffed, "Does that include, cars and horse-carriages and cows and buffaloes and magic-carpets?" he teased.

"Well yeah", she teased cheekily. "Organized chaos at its finest", she grinned amusedly.

James snorted, "That's an example of what an oxymoron is", he pointed out.

Yasmeen shrugged inwardly she agreed at his amusement;

// That's one way to put it… Life, in general, was one giant oxymoron //

Sighing James wondered, "And so how do we go to wherever we're supposed to go?" he asked.

Yasmeen grinned, she jogged to the edge of the street, and she put both fingers in her mouth and with a piercing edge to it she whistled, as she turned around she grinned at James's consternation knowing at least three FC's stopped in front of her.

Which would be shocking given the cacophony of the streets, but she ignored everything else and started haggling the prices, after waving him over, as she talked to three of the FCs, eventually, two of them left and she waved James over again, the older man looked at her;

"A Flying Carpet?" he asked warily.

"Cheapest and fastest way to travel", she asserted, "And since they're Persian Rugs, actually pretty comfortable. Hop on", she said cheerfully.

James nodded he stepped on the carpet warily.

Yasmeen eyed him, "Have you never been on a Magic Carpet?" she asked carefully.

"Nope", he answered, "This is all kinds of firsts", he muttered and sat down warily, "What do I hold onto?" he asked looking around warily.

"Faith", Yasmeen teased amused, and at his panicked look, she added laughing, "Once you're seated unless you crash into another FC, or a building or something with equal speed, the magic of the carpet makes sure you don't fall off. It wouldn't be the cheapest and fastest way of traveling unless it wasn't also the safest", she explained, "We're in good hands, the flyer won't steer us in the wrong direction", she promised. Turning to the FC Flyer, she murmured unknowingly in her own language, causing James to frown;

"Namaste Bhaiya, Gulmohar Park, shukriya", she requested and settled cross-legged.

The flyer nodded and turned back around, he murmured something and the carpet gently rose, she jumped in surprise as James's hand landed hard on hers, his features paling drastically.

"It's going to be okay", she promised.

James nodded, "I probably should have mentioned", he started and then squeezed his eyes shut.

"Mentioned what?" she asked pulling his attention back to her.

James swallowed focusing on her, "Because of my Ascendant Magic, I'm a denizen of the Underworld", he reminded her.

"Okay?" she nodded confused.

//Where was he going with this? //

"I don't like heights!" he hissed clarifying.

Yasmeen nodded, "Oh…." she acknowledged. "Well if it's any consolation one meeting with my family and believe me when I tell you this, your fear of heights will be cured almost immediately", she promised grimly.

//To be replaced by something much worse... //

James stared at her and then hummed, "Would they have stopped you from coming if an escort hadn't been sent?" he asked worriedly.

"Probably", she answered, "Half of my family aren't altogether strict or against me venturing out. It's mostly my father and the elder contingent and their wives. Three of my older brothers are married, and that trio of witches, literally, is quite possibly the living embodiment of the old witches from Greek Mythology and instead of a cauldron, it's a pot used to make 'Chai' that they stand over and judge your worth over", she grumbled.

"After the three oldest are my two gay brothers who came out, around the same time. One of them is a Pansexual like Ash, and one of them is Bisexual. Thankfully their significant others don't particularly care much about me, and them having a say so in my life is really low", she muttered somewhat to herself.

James nodded "So three older sisters-in-law, one pseudo-brother-in-law, and one potential girlfriend?" he asked.

"Not exactly the three crones—Amisha Singhania, Priya Kath, and Manisha Bhattacharya, check. Two boyfriends for Aditya Veerji and Angad Veerji, respectively, one girlfriend for Aman Veerji", she listed in detail.

James hummed, "Veerji, is your surname?" he asked curiously.

Yasmeen laughed, "Oh no", she giggled, "Veerji means brother—specifically elder brother. A sign of respect, or you know in short 'Veere'", she answered. "For sisters-in-law, it's 'Bhabhi Ji' and or 'Didi'", she paused, "Usually I prefer to use their names, it pisses them off and I like it", she smirked cheekily, "Aman Veere won't care, neither would Angad and Adi Veere—Aditya", she clarified, "But After Adi, Angad and Aman Veere, is the f****d up foursome—Fatehdeep Veerji, Fakeer Veerji, Farhan Veerji, and Falak Veerji", she said. "If the three crones are horrible, these four make those three look like saints. They're usually the messed-up bunch, and man do I have secrets about those four that could destroy our family right down the middle", she muttered, "The things you have to do to protect family", she grumbled to herself. "And more importantly are likely to create the biggest fuss. Fair warning", she advised cautiously.

"Don't you have anyone you would consider friends in your family?" James asked worriedly.

"Hm", she paused, "No, not really", she answered, "I was pampered to death for more than half my life. The problem is that that pampering was by far the most stifling thing on the planet. I was essentially treated as a very expensive doll in a glass tower", she hummed, "No one would want to risk climbing a glass tower in fear of it breaking down on you, and then you'd be left with your body ripped to shreds. And for what, a doll", she muttered dryly.

James hummed, "Anyway, if you hated it so much why did you never run away?" he asked. "And I can't believe I just said that", he muttered to himself.

Yasmeen smiled, "Because running away may sound easy. And even though morally or ethically it isn't the correct thing to do, running away costs money. People always go: 'run away' or 'leave, move to another city' or something like that, but I'd have to have saved a whole lot of pocket money to even consider running away to another city", she muttered, "Not to mention I'd be running away with the money earned by the people who I'm running away from. That's ironically unethical", she pointed out.

"How expensive would it have been?" James asked curiously.

Yasmeen hummed contemplatively, "To rent a new apartment", she paused, "Hmm… let's see you'd have to pay a deposit of three months in advance at the base minimum. You'd need to pay a broker or the guy who gets you a place to live. Brokers are safer—Thanks to Renter-Agreement's Laws. Then you'd have to keep at least three months of rent in advance just in case—common sense dictates if you want a comfortable lifestyle for electricity, ration, and water—those bills would need to be saved early on. Not to mention there has to be an addition to your budget. So say the rent of an apartment or a hostel is five thousand. I would have needed and kept a steady flow of at least 1 lakh rupees a year to feel relatively safe", she explained.

James whistled, "How much pocket money do you get?" he demanded baffled.

"I get one thousand weekly. Now assuming I receive pocket money every week for seventeen years, I'd still only have 43 million and four hundred thirty-five thousand rupees. Which wouldn't be impossible to live on", she answered simply, "If I'd never spent a single paisa. Which would be scrutinized further if you think about it", she explained, and "Nothing is worth that", she answered at length.

James stared at her.

"What?" she asked looking around wildly, "What's with that expression?" she asked.

James shook his head, and "You really do like math", he answered for a lack of anything else.

Yasmeen snickered, "That's probably because Math is straightforward", she answered, "The science of structure, order, and relation that has evolved from counting, measuring, and describing the shapes of objects", she said.

"Emotions and people are the baffling creatures. Being human has its downsides, I wish I was an android or a robot sometimes", she grumbled.

James laughed, a barking startled sound, "That would probably take the fun out of solving problems", he said.

Yasmeen nodded, as the carpet lowered she hummed, "Brace yourself we're landing", she said.

James nodded; "Finally", he huffed. "Thank God the way back is via teleportation", he grumbled.

"Unless you were Zen", she muttered amusedly.

James snorted, "Unless you were him", he agreed cheekily.

After she paid the FC flyer the allotted amount due to him, via her phone, and received his gratitude, she turned to him, and "There's an old saying you might be very familiar with", she started.

"Oh?" he asked.

"Yup", she grinned cheekily at him, "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate", she said smirking at him.

James rolled his eyes, "Well aren't you cute", he huffed.

Yasmeen grinned, "Oh", she gasped, and "I forgot to tell you", she winced as she faced the large gates of her home opened.

"That you're royalty!" he hissed standing beside her, as several men bowed on either side of her.

Yasmeen winced, "In my defense, a lot happened"; she huffed smiling tightly as she walked down the long driveway.

James sighed, "They're staring", he muttered weakly.

Yasmeen nodded, "Don't be surprised if the minute we enter the house, one of the crones will shriek, 'Oh My God! She's Eloped!' or something to that effect", she muttered dryly jumping off of the FC.

James hummed as he landed beside her, "I'll take that under advisement", he muttered and walked with her silently. 

As they reached the front door, Yasmeen hummed, "Well here goes nothing", she muttered her last thought as the valet opened the door was the same thing she'd said to James in Latin;

//Abandon Hope All Ye who Enters…//

*

TBC