The Goddess Legacy

Chapter 42

Jadhav stared suspiciously at Drake and Allie. “What are you doing in this man’s room?” he demanded.

“He’s my brother,” Allie said. “I told him I’m having an attack. What’s it to you?”

“It is frowned upon for women to visit men after dark,” he snapped, looking around the barren room as he spoke.

“Nobody told us,” Drake said, coming to Allie’s defense. “She’s in anaphylactic shock. If she gets any worse, she’ll have to go to the emergency room. What was she supposed to do — lie in her room and hope she recovers?”

Jadhav looked less sure of himself. “It is almost time for lights out. If she needs transport to a hospital, we will, of course, see to it.”

“Let’s see how I feel over the next fifteen minutes,” Allie said. “I took a Benadryl. That’s usually enough to open my throat and lungs so I can breathe.”

“I can check and see whether any of the staff have that drug, if you require more,” Jadhav offered, realizing that his alarm had been misguided.

“Would you?” Allie asked.

“Certainly. But I can’t allow you to remain here. There are rules…”

“Which would have been helpful to know in advance,” Drake said. “Hard to follow them if you don’t know they exist.”

“It was an oversight that will not happen again.”

“Are there any others? No late night walks? No drinking water after dinner?” Drake asked, goading the little man.

“No, just no comingling. The purpose of the ashram is spiritual awakening, and all else must be subordinate to that objective,” he announced with self-important assurance. “I would be happy to escort you to your room and will ask the staff in the morning whether they have this Benadryl you require.”

She looked to Drake. “I feel better already. Just really out of it for some reason. Maybe I should go. I’ll be okay — I just want to sleep now.”

Drake frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.” She looked to Jadhav. “I’ll take you up on your offer. I’m a little wobbly.”

“Of course,” Jadhav said, and took her arm, supporting her, no doubt thinking that the drugs the swami had fed her were having a delayed effect.

Drake watched them go and closed his door. Allie would be back, he was sure, and he’d be ready when she appeared.

Three hours later, a single tap at the door echoed through the room. He rushed to open it, the lights extinguished so as to avoid alerting anyone watching that he was awake, and slipped out to where Allie was waiting for him in the gloom.

When they were near the swami’s residence building, she whispered to him, “The windows would be on the other side. They’re about six feet off the ground. Skinny and tall.”

They stopped when they spotted a guard near the admissions area, but the man kept walking, his attention elsewhere. Drake exhaled in relief and resumed creeping along the edge of the residence, which was dark, the staff apparently asleep, the swami’s little orgy of love energy concluded.

The windows were around the back of the building, and when they arrived, Drake eyed the distance from the lawn beneath them and murmured to Allie, “They look like they’re open, but that’s more than six feet. More like eight.”

“I’m not great with distances.”

“Or height, apparently.” He backed up and took a run at the wall. His fingers almost touched the sill before he dropped back to the ground, where Allie waited in a crouch.

“That’s not going to work,” she said. “Give me a boost.”

“How am I supposed to get up there, even if you can make it?”

“One obstacle at a time, okay?”

Drake locked his fingers together and she stepped onto his palms. He lifted her as high as he could, but it still wasn’t enough. She hopped down and faced him. “Squat down in front of the wall. I’ll stand on your shoulders, and when you straighten, stabilize my ankles and I’ll test the window.”

“Are you serious?”

“Just do it, Drake.”

He complied and, when Allie’s feet were on his shoulders and she was leaning with her hands against the wall, slowly rose, his hands on the backs of her ankles while she worked her way up until the windows were at her chest level. Allie gripped the window frame and pulled herself upward until she was halfway through the gap.

“What are you doing?” Drake hissed from below.

She didn’t answer, reserving her energy for what was to come, and dragged herself the remainder of the way through the window before coming to rest on one of the thick carpets. She lay there and listened to the soft snoring from the canopy bed, the mosquito netting dropped into place to protect the occupants. To her left, a dim glow emanated from the display case, where Kali danced for eternity, now absent her sword.

Allie spotted a silk robe discarded on a chair. She crawled to it and pulled it off the back, and then made her way back to the window. Drake was looking up at her when she dropped one end toward him and gripped the other. “Climb up,” she said.

He shook his head, and she gestured impatiently. He sighed and reached up, and then, after testing his grip on the robe, used it for leverage and scrambled up the wall, Allie’s feet wedged against the stone base of the window, her arms burning from the strain of supporting his weight.

When he was through the aperture, he lay beside Allie, neither of them daring to move for fear of waking the sleeping holy man. After what seemed like hours she motioned at the case and slid closer to him, her words in his ear soft as a butterfly’s breath.

“Let me get my camera ready. You lift me and I’ll take a shot.”

He shook his head. “The flash will wake him.”

“I can turn it off. There should be enough light from the lamp in the case.”

Drake looked like he wanted to argue, but held his tongue. “Are you sure?”

A particularly loud snore interrupted them, and they froze until the swami’s exhalations normalized. Allie gritted her teeth and put her mouth against Drake’s ear. “You have a better idea?”

“Be a great time for a selfie stick,” he muttered, and then crawled on hands and knees to the base of the display. Allie followed and, after another glance at the bed, nodded to him, her phone in her right hand, the case open and ready. She tapped it to life and turned off the flash, and then elbowed him. Drake rose and repeated his stance from beneath the windows, and she stepped onto his palms, her left hand gripping the side of the case for support. He hoisted her higher until her camera was at the statue’s level, and she took a photo, wincing when the phone produced a shutter sound that seemed as loud as a firecracker in the room.

She’d remembered the flash, but forgotten to mute the volume.

Drake wobbled unsteadily in surprise and she clutched at the case to keep from falling. He regained his footing, but it was too late, and Allie’s expression radiated horror as the case began falling toward her, her weight enough to pull it off balance. She threw herself to the side as Drake dodged the display, and then the case slammed against the floor in an explosion of glass and wood.

“What the—” the swami growled from the bed. Allie bolted for the window, Drake right behind her as the swami’s guards threw open the outer doors and rushed toward the bedroom with guns in their hands.