Master of Death

The ground started trembling with a deafening sound. It was difficult to differentiate the sound of destruction from the shrieking cries of women and children all around. An earth quake of tremendous magnitude had struck destroying innumerable buildings and causing immense damage to many structures in the vast and busy city of London.

Sitting on the table on a quiet Sunday, Harvey and his twin brother Mike were handling the game of Monopoly with keen attention. At first it seemed as if Mike was up to some mischief and shaking the board. Soon the sound of the lamps and overhead lights caught them unaware and they instinctively jumped and sought shelter under the table. They both dreaded the worst and the first thought was to run. It lasted a few seconds and after straining our ears for some more time, they both came out of their hiding and looked carefully around for any damage to the house. Morosely, they slithered about, consciously disheartened about the fact that they were alone as their parents were away at work!

The first thing they did was call Mom and Dad. However, they soon realized that the phone lines were dead with no network. They then decided to explore their ancient house to find out if the earthquake had spared it to some extent. They saw their house like they had never imagined; everything had fallen, windows were shattered with minor cracks on the walls and floors. Harvey saw his face in one of the cracked mirrors -his jet-black hair was messed up, his broad and thick eyebrows raised till his hairline, his round glasses missing and his face covered in dust. Mike looked almost the same.

The family of the Mittal’s moved into the ancestral home of the late founder of Bloomsbury publications. The earthquake had drastically damaged their house and it had to be refurbished before it became liveable. The Bloomsbury mansion had been up for sale since long. as there were no buyers for it in the market. Since the real estate agent was a close friend of Mr. Vivek Mittal, he offered it to them till the time their own house was ready.

Exploring the huge mansion became a great past time for the twins who were always accompanied by their best friend Rachel Jain. A pretty girl with light hair and beautiful cat green eyes, she was their childhood companion and buddy. The house was marvellous, it was a two-storey building, the roof was red in colour and there were beautiful vines hanging from the first storey. The garden had over grown with flowers and bushes all strewn around the pathway and the backyard.

While exploring the house the next day, suddenly Harvey stumbled upon a fake plant as its leaves and flowers were made of a bright coloured cloth. The most interesting thing about it was its pot, which was in the shape of a rolled book. The formula, e=mc² was engraved on it and we stared at it awestruck.

“Is it a secret code?” asked Rachel.

“Perhaps” replied Mike, touching the engraved letters suspiciously.

“I think the owner of this house loved Albert Einstein” said Harvey.

Rachel asked “Can I take it home? It will be perfect for my little novel collection.”

“No” Mike and HARVEY said together.

Rachel was very angry and tried to snatch it from Mike, but dropped the pot with a thud on the soft ground. In the process they stumbled and suddenly a series of bookshelves appeared in front of Rachel, Harvey and Mike.

They stared, wide eyed as a stream of books curled out before them in a never-ending path.

They were amazed, awestruck, dumbfounded and speechless at the bright and colourful array of books in all shapes and sizes!! The trio stood at attention, absorbing this new experience, when a shrill voice of the twin’s mother disturbed their reverie and all three suddenly sprang into action running towards the house. The books were forgotten as there was only one thing on their mind- should they tell their parents about their stupendous discovery? Before they could think further, Rachel blurted out “Look what we found!” Mike pinched her so hard that Rachel almost fell down and then said “Coming Mom!” They hurriedly placed the book shaped pot in its original position, and it quickly slipped away and vanished.

They had a delicious meal while pondering over what next to do about our enormous find. They decided to keep it a secret for the time being.

Rachel’s house hadn’t been damaged so the twins’ home was now a fifteen-minute walk from Rachel’s house. Rachel’s dad was an artistic director. Rachel’s mother had died from cancer a couple of years ago and since then Rachel didn’t talk much to her dad. But Rachel was dying to tell someone her secret so she told Mr. Amol Jain about the discovery of the bookshelves. However, she was clever enough not to disclose anything about the hidden flower pot. That might have had something to do about her father’s ill reputation.

While relaxing and enjoying the delectable chicken wings, Dad received a phone call. The boys stopped eating seeing the expression on his face.

“I am coming”, he muttered gesturing to his wife to finish the meal quickly. No one ate as Dad had informed that the mansion had been broken into and robbery attempt had been made at the Bloomsbury Mansion. The call was from the police officer and he had summoned the family to make list of the things stolen. The night was large one for the Mittal family. Some gold and silver were found missing and some cash from the locker. However, the books written and personally signed by

Were all intact and safe in this hiding place.

THANK GOD!!!!

It was obvious that the thieves were after the prized possessions as anticipated by the family. The decision of keeping the books where they had been kept proved to be a wise one.

The following morning Mr. Mittal informed the authorities and the city Municipal Department about the prized collection found by the three children.

It was again a memorable day for the Jains and the Mittals!!

Master of Death

Alchemists’ symbols

THE SECRET BOOKSHELVES

My Father