The Snake Princess

Chapter 4

The living room is completely destroyed. All the furniture is broken. The paint on the walls is coming off. It looks like there was a war here. I see my mother standing in the middle of the room alone, so I run to her and hug her.

"Oh my darling, thank god you are safe. What would I have done with myself if something had happened to you?" she said, hugging me tighter.

"Mom, what happened? I was followed in the woods and then you asked me to hide and then I heard noises like there was a fight here and all this..." I trail off as I pointed towards the destroyed living room.

"There are things that I need to explain to you but this isn't the right time. I need to make sure you are safe first and then we can talk about what happened. Your father is on his way and will be here in some time. Till then, grab a bag and take all the essentials you need. We are leaving right now." She is already on her way to her room so I run towards mine. I take a duffel bag and start packing clothes and shoes in it. I also see the diary that I used to seal myself in my father's office on my bed and put it in the bag. As I am conducting a last sweep of the room looking for things to take I hear a loud noise from downstairs. I run and take two flights at a time. There is a man standing in the middle of the room in green robes. He is really old and fragile and yet he is emitting power and authority from him. As soon as he sees me he bend his knee.

"Your highness. Finally, the day has come that I am in your presence. You have no idea how long your people have waited for your return."

"Frank. Did you just come here by yourself? What about the reds and blacks?"

"Niti. So good to see you after all these years. I think you forgot my powers, child. I can destroy fifty people alone without creating the mess you made just by destroying five. I do not need any support. I am perfectly capable of protecting our princess alone."

I am just looking from my mother to the old man having this conversation. And why is he calling my mother Niti? Her name is Sagarika. And why is he calling me his highness? Today has been weird already, this man and all this is throwing me over the edge. I take a deep breath and finally speak up.

"Mom. I need to know what all this is and what is happening. Who is this man and why is he calling you by another name and why did he call me his highness? I know you told me that once we are safe you will tell me all of it, but I need to know now or I am not leaving." I have to put my foot down or my over-protective mother will never tell me anything. I wish my father was here. He would tell me everything.

"Okay baby, we have to wait for your father anyway, so I can fill you in until then." she talks over to the sofa and takes a seat and pats the seat next to her, but I want to see her face, so I take the love seat opposite her. I can feel the eyes of the old man following me.

My mother draws in a deep breath and closes her eyes before starting.

"Mia..." She starts but is interrupted by the old man.

"My child, this is not the time. We need to leave and get to safety before the Vasukis have time to attack again. I am powerful, but I cannot take down the whole clan by myself. Daivat can get to the palace by himself. I suggest we leave now."

"No, we cannot leave without dad, we need to wait for him. If he is on his flight home already, he should be here in four hours." I argued. I cannot leave my dad here alone in danger from god knows whom.

"Mia, your dad didn't leave for Virginia. He is here and will be home in ten minutes. I will wait for him here. You need to leave now with Purohit and I will be there once your father arrives. Please trust me on this Mia." I simply nod my head and she kisses my forehead and puts my hand into the old man's hand.

"You will be safe with me, Princess . Now just close your eyes." He instructs, and I refuse to close my eyes. My mother might trust him, but I don't, so I keep my eyes wide open and the old man just smiles and says "You are going to regret it." before everything becomes a blur and the whole room is spinning so fast that I almost lose my footing. When we finally stop, I am dizzy and puke right away. We are standing in the middle of what looks like a cave, but I do not see the mouth of the cave. I hear water falling from somewhere and it smells musty. The old guy starts walking and I start following him.

"I told you to close your eyes, princess." I can hear his smile.

"I don't trust you." I reply back, but keep following him. We reach the waterfall inside the cave, which is very weird. I cannot see where it is originating from or where it is going. The ceiling and the floor of the cave are blocking the view but I can see that there is space behind it. I walk towards the falls, which is when I notice that it is flowing in the opposite direction. I reach out towards the waters when the old man speaks.

"Careful princess, never touch anything you are not familiar with and especially the things that do not follow the laws of physics." He murmurs something and the falls starts flowing towards the earth this time.

"I want you to jump into it." he says.

"Excuse me?" I am shocked. He said he was protecting me.

"Is this you protecting me? By throwing me into the water?" I ask.

"I am not throwing you. You will be jumping yourself." he replies.

"I am not going to jump into a waterfall when I done know how deep it goes into the earth or where it goes."

"It leads to your kingdom, princess. Your home."

"We just left my home and I am no princess or have a kingdom. I am just Mia who lives in a house in the countryside with my parents." I argue.

"Okay then, this path leads you to your parents too. Your parents trust me and so should you. I will give my life to protect you so trust me and jump."

At this point, I am tired of making sense of all the weird things around me, so what is one more leap of faith. I know the irony, so I jump.

When I finally hit the ground, I fall on my back instead of landing on my feet and lose consciousness.