Devil's Rock - Chris Speyer [54]
Zaki, instinctively, reached for the bracelet but dropped it with a cry of pain as its heat seared the skin of his hand.
As Zaki and Anusha watched, the markings on the bracelet darkened and stood still.
Anusha’s mother, having laid her cello in its case, came to see what had so excited her daughter. ‘What happened?’
‘The bracelet! Didn’t you see? The writing was moving!’
‘And it’s burning hot!’ added Zaki, nursing his hand.
Mr Dalal leant between his wife and Anusha to touch the bracelet. ‘Warm. I wouldn’t say hot.’
‘But, Dad! Look at the writing!’
Once more, Mr Dalal used the napkin to lift the bracelet.
‘Hmm. That is odd.’
‘What is?’ asked Zaki.
‘The inscriptions – they don’t look quite the same.’
‘I told you, they were moving! And they were shining!’
‘But that’s not possible,’ said Mrs Dalal.
‘No, but – they do look a little different.’
‘You’ve not remembered them right, surely.’
Mr Dalal scratched his right earlobe thoughtfully. ‘Where did this come from?’
Zaki and Anusha glanced furtively at each other. ‘It was Zaki’s grandmother’s,’ lied Anusha.
‘Was?’
‘She’s dead,’ Zaki explained.
‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ Mr Dalal passed the bracelet to Zaki. ‘You should take great care of it. It’s certainly most unusual. It may even be quite valuable.’
Zaki returned it to his pocket. It was no longer even warm but the glare of the fiery inscriptions seemed burnt into his retina so that their bright traces danced in his vision and swam in a sea of red each time he closed his eyes.
‘Bedtime, I think,’ said Mrs Dalal, with a yawn.
Zaki stood up, then realised he didn’t know where he was going to sleep, and waited, rather awkwardly, for someone to show him to his room.
‘Come on,’ said Mrs Dalal. ‘I’ll show you where everything is.’
‘That mask,’ asked Zaki as he followed Mrs Dalal upstairs, ‘where’s it from?’
‘That’s Riri Yakka the Demon of Blood,’ said Mrs Dalal, rather dramatically. ‘It goes with the drum Sandeep was playing. They both came from Sri Lanka. They’re used in the Devil Dances.’
‘Devil Dances? What are they?’
‘Ceremonies for driving out demons.’ She opened the door to the spare bedroom. ‘Here you are. Sleep well. And I hope that mask doesn’t give you nightmares!’
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Chapter 15
Lying in a strange bed in a strange room, Zaki thought he had only just closed his eyes when he was woken by a soft tap on his door. He sat up quickly and wondered, for a moment, where he was. The door swung slowly open. In the darkness, he could just make out a figure in the doorway.
‘Are you awake?’ It was Anusha.
‘Yes,’ Zaki whispered back. ‘What are you doing?’
‘There’s something you have to see. Come on,’ said Anusha, and disappeared.
Zaki struggled into some clothes and stumbled, half awake, into the corridor.
‘Follow me,’ said Anusha.
She led him to the back of the house and out through the back door, which she held open and then closed carefully behind him. The concrete paving slabs were cold and wet under Zaki’s bare feet and it was very dark in the back yard.
‘This way,’ hissed Anusha.
Zaki followed her shadowy form to another door at the end of a short path. They stepped inside the building.
Little lights and dials glowed in the darkness. There were banks of knobs and sliders on a sloping, black desk, and one end of the room was closed off by a glass partition behind which were microphones on stands.
‘Wow!’ said Zaki. ‘You’ve got a recording studio. My brother would love this!’
‘My mum and dad do music for films and stuff,’ said Anusha.
‘Do you . . . ?’
‘Play on the soundtracks? Sometimes, when they need an extra violin. I had to sing once. But look at this.’
She sat at a keyboard to the side of the mixing desk. Her fingers clicked expertly over the keys and a large video screen flashed into life.
‘You can sit there if you want,’ she said, indicating an office-type chair beside hers. Zaki perched on the chair and stared up at the