Forest of Demons Read Online Free PDF

earth toward her.
    Priya ran.
    She was running, and then she was tripping on her oversized boots and falling with the weight of it on her back, its claws tearing at her shawl.
    She opened her mouth to scream, but managed only a whimper. Her voice had failed her, but her body fought, twisting and bucking.
    And then she was on her back, and it was looking down on her, and she was paralysed with terror. Its distorted face inches from hers, jutting jaw and finger-long fangs dripping on her. But its eyes mesmerized her. Blue as the sky and ringed in shadow.
    It jerked, screaming in pain, and her paralysis broke. She pushed at it, scrabbling backward, kicking out at it and struggling to breathe around the bubble of fear in her throat. She needed to scream but managed only a choked sob.
    It scampered away, disappearing into the trees.
    Thick arms wrapped themselves around her. “Hush. You’re safe now. Hush.”
    She lashed out, but he held fast.
    “It’s me. Ravi. You’re safe. You’re safe.”
    She stared up at him in shock. His amber eyes scanned her face searchingly. “It . . . it had my eyes,” she choked out. “Why did it have my eyes?”
     
    Priya sipped the bitter brew. Her body still shook with tremors, but feeling had returned to her limbs. Her mind was working overtime as she flipped through every frame of what had happened, analyzing it, feeling it, breathing it. Someone had been watching her; the rakshasa had attacked . . . or had it? It had pinned her and looked at her, simply looked with its eerily familiar eyes. Would it have killed her? Ripped her throat out? There had been no blood lust in its eyes, only . . . curiosity. She shook her head; it made no sense. Why would it be curious?
    “Beti? Beti? Talk to me. Oh God, Oh God, I can’t believe it. Thank God for Ravi. I’ll be praying for his long life. We’ll invite him to dinner to give thanks. Oh God, I can’t even begin to imagine what would have happened if he hadn’t been passing by and heard you scream.”
    Priya felt Ma’s soothing hand on her brow. “The Gods couldn’t be so cruel as to deliver you to us simply to tear you away.”
    Priya blinked, slowly pulling herself out of her memories and back to the present. She was in her bedroom, wrapped in a blanket, sitting back against the wall on her bed. She felt Ma’s arms around her and lifted her own to reciprocate. They held each other, and after a little while, the chill receded and the world came back into focus.
    She’d been attacked.
    She’d survived.
    She hadn’t screamed.
    She’d been paralysed by fear, and she hadn’t screamed.
    Ma was still talking, but Priya had added another question to her growing list of strange coincidences and occurrences. What had Ravi been doing in the forest, and how had he known she was in danger when she hadn’t screamed?
    A warm cup was shoved into her hand. She drank the chai, grateful for the additional warmth.
    Ma sat at Priya’s feet and took them in her lap rubbing them. “So cold. Vythianji said it was shock. But you’ll be fine and the swelling on your Papa’s leg is already going down. I’m so proud of you, but never again.” She lapsed into silence.
    Priya knew what she was thinking, worrying about. Two attacks in the same month was bad news. Two attacks during surya time were even worse. The forest was no longer safe, and Papa’s livelihood was now in jeopardy.
    “It will be okay,” Ma muttered. “We’ll find a way.”
    Priya closed her eyes and allowed Ma to lay her down.
    Sleep was the balm she needed.
     
    Papa was on his feet, limping but no longer sick with fever. He’d been horrified to discover what Priya had been forced to do, and devastated to hear of the attack.
    “I’ll find an apprentice, someone who’ll go with me into the forest,” Papa said.
    “No one will accept the position. Not after two attacks,” Ma pointed out.
    “Then I’ll speak to the munsiff and ask him to allocate me someone. Without the