Chapter 5:
Fifteen minutes later Nina was sitting stunned on one of the living room couches. An utterly disbelieving look was upon her face. Her Grandfather was standing, striding along the room. His eyes half closed as if praying. He had a look on his face that plainly said that he hoped Nina would believe all that he had told her. For the worst part was yet to come.
‘I am not suffering the side effects of a drug I took?’
‘Be reasonable child, what drug can man have created that makes people change shapes?’
‘I’m not changing shape exactly; it’s just a feeling inside me that I have changed. Like I have grey hair or something. Only Beryl sees me like I am. So we thought it might have been just a delusion of mine. Drugs can do that you know…Make you feel like you are someone else…’ Nina argued. Trying to find some way to disprove all that her Grandfather had said. They weren’t modern day things. It wasn’t logical. Science didn’t allow you to be able to turn into who ever, whatever you want. It was trying its hardest, of course. She could not just turn into any one you wanted provided you had a clear picture of them in your mind. Turn into Superman or Miss Marple or Al Pacino if she only knew what they looked like. She could turn into an amoeba if she wanted or into nothing if she could only picture ‘nothing’. It was purely incredible.
Her grandfather looked at her. You don’t want to believe me I see. I can’t give you proof that I am right immediately. If you will come with me to a place I know then maybe you will understand. There is overwhelming proof. Wait, there is one thing we can do. I can see you in whatever form you take. You shall appear to me like whatever you think you are. Are you following me? Then change into whatever shape you want and I shall tell you what you look like. Believe me child, when I say you are special.’
Nina looked at her Grandfather as if she thought that he had gone mad all of a sudden. Then she felt a sudden stab of anger at herself. She knew he had to be right. He had never lied to her, ever. Perhaps he knew that she could sense when a person was lying to her. She was, after all, a lot like his daughter in that. Nina’s mum always knew, too. Nina gave an involuntary shrug. She might as well see if Grandpa’s crazy story was true or not.
She closed her eyes. I am an old, old Eskimo. She had a sudden clear vision of an Eskimo bent with age in an fur coat with snow all over it. Then she transformed into that vision. She could feel the coat upon her, or actually, upon him. She was transfixed. Up till now she had only tried transforming into various degrees of aging women. She had never turned herself into a man before. It sure felt weird.
‘You are an extremely old Eskimo.’
Her grandfather’s voice brought her to her senses. She turned into herself again. She looked in utter shock at her Grandfather. He could see her as she imagined she was looking. ‘This is crazy!’ she thought. How else could he know? Maybe he could read her mind? But that was as absurd as the explanation he had given her. Grandpa had said that only Protei could see her as she imagined herself to look. And that meant Grandfather was a protean too. He could do what she could. Appear to look like someone else.
‘So, how many other protei are there in the world?’ Nina asked suddenly.
Grandpa smiled as he said, ‘Many, thousands, I believe. But most don’t know their powers. It’s safer that way.’ He felt lighter all of a sudden. She understood, she believed. Now things will be OK.
‘So, why could I not live in blissful ignorance?’ Nina asked again.
‘Ah…yes, the answer to that one is meant to come. But it is still some time before I can give it to you. I need to remind you of a question I had asked you some time back. Will you allow me take you to a place I know? Everything will become clearer then.’
Nina nodded her head in assent.
‘Should I run along and tell mamma first?’ she asked.
‘That won’t be necessary, I had anticipated our trip, so I have your mother’s prior permission with me,’ her grandfather answered.
Nina’s head was whirling. She really couldn’t understand why, when she was feeling so dizzy with information was it that she looked so calm outwardly.
“If you will follow me.”
Grandpa strode over to the living room door, turned the doorknob and held the door open for Nina to pass through. He then stepped in himself. Just before he closed the door, he said to no one in particular, ‘I’ll want you back in time. Do it well.’
Nina looked inquiringly at her Grandfather, ‘Umm… Grandpa, there actually is someone in there…?’
‘There’s always more than you can see, honey.’ He answered enigmatically, smiling at her. Then he turned around and the door shut behind them.
As Nina stepped into the living room confidently, she stopped dead in her tracks. Instead of the living room which had been there moments ago, there was a long, narrow, dimly lit passage ahead of her.
“I morphed it.” Her grandfather’s words broke into her shocked silence. “Protei can turn anything they have contact with into anything they want. Of course, had you not been a protean, you would not have either seen oor felt this transformation.”
Nina covered her ears with her hands. This was crazy! She was going crazy. This could not be happening. She was asleep; it was just a dream, nothing but a dream. Oh, well, if it was a dream then she shouldn’t really bother about why everything was happening. Maybe she could wake up and write a story about all of it. Oh, well, she might as well enjoy all of it. She would, after all, wake up within minutes.
“No Nina, all this is not a dream, and you won’t wake up from it. This is REAL. As real as the fact that you and I and your friends exist.

Chapter 4:
Nina waited restlessly as she waited at the front door for her Mom to come and open the door.
She had expected her mother to give her a smile to acknowledge the fact that she knew Nina was excited about her Gift. Or even reprove her for being as excited as a five year old for a gift. What she had not expected was her mother to give her a long, sad look and usher her in with a loving fondness.
‘What’s up, ma? Is there something wrong with the gift?’ Knowing instinctively that it was something much more serious.
Verity sighed, ‘No sweetheart. Nothing’s wrong with it. Your Grandfather’s waiting in the living room. It’s just that I had almost begun hoping that this day would not come at all. It was inevitable, though. I knew it would come. Oh, but I do wish it need not have…’ on which enigmatic note, she took Nina’s bag from her hand, kissed her daughter on the cheek and proceeded upstairs to Nina’s room.
Nina looked after her mother in surprise. What was wrong with her? She moved towards the kitchen, took out a can of ThumsUp and opened it. She then proceeded to the Living room.
As she reached for the doorknob to open the door, she could hear the sound of two voices arguing issuing from the room. One of them certainly her Grandfather’s, but she wasn’t familiar with the other. She hesitated for a second and then opened the door. She saw her grandfather standing there in front of her, wearing a welcoming smile on his face. She looked around the room, to see who the owner of the other voice was. To her extreme surprise, her Grandfather was the only person visible to her. Her Grandfather saw the puzzled look in her eyes, and in turn looked inquiringly at her.
‘Um…nothing, I just thought that I heard you talking to someone. Were you?’ asked Nina.
Her grandfather smiled, ‘Can you see anyone around?’
‘Um…no?’
‘So who could I have been talking to?’ still smiling softly.
Nina looks around and spots the telephone kept on the table. ‘Oh,’ she said, comprehension dawning on her face, ‘ that’s Ok. I get it.’ Smiling she turned expectantly at her Grandfather. ‘So where is my gift?’
Grandfather looks at her deeply as if sizing her up, then says, ‘It’s with you.’
Nina looks her Grandfather in the eye, and he looks back at her as if willing her to understand before he has to say a single word.
Then she broke into an indignant smile, ‘I know that I am a “very precious gift” to you my dear, darling Grandpa, but I know that this is not the only gift you have in mind, because you really didn’t need my mum’s permission to tell me about this. So tell me what it is, because it must be really, really wicked to have made my sweet, darling mum look as grave as she looked now!’
‘Yes, you are right. That’s not the only thing, but it is also the same. It’s like a pun, a line with double meanings. You just need to know which angle to look at it from.’
Grandpa had never puzzled her more than he did now. What was all this two meanings stuff? Really!
‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand you Grandpa. I have the gift within myself?’
‘In a way, yes. But more than that, you are the gift.’
‘I’m sorry grandfather, I still don’t get you…’
‘You have been, for the past few days hiding a secret from your mother, haven’t you?’
The colour flew from Nina’s face. She started.
‘How…how- did you know…who told you? Beryl? Were you talking to her on phone when I entered? Did she tell you? But I swear, Grandpa. I was going to tell ma today morning. I had decided I would. I had thought that they were peppermints or something, but Beryl had more sense than me. She didn’t trust Tiffany. I was going to tell ma about it. I swear to God-’
‘I believe you. I believe you Nina, so calm down. And don’t use that phrase, please. It’s not nice to swear to God. But closer to the point we are discussing. I knew that I should have to tell you about this some day. As I had once told your mother about it. But this soon? You are but a child-’
‘I am not a child, grandpa. I’m sixteen!’
‘Yes, yes…you are not a child. You are my Granddaughter, moreover. You can stand it, I know. Then listen…’

Chapter 3:
That entire day Nina kept wondering what gift Grandfather could have brought for her that needed mummy’s opinion before it could be given to her. She almost lost the gloom that had been hanging around her since she had been worried about her weird chameleon-like-behaviour of the past few days.
Beryl was glad to see her looking happier than she had for quite some time now. When she had sneaked a glance at her friend as she rushed in late to the Biology lab. It had been weird to have a Nina around who was constantly under stress. Also she had some good news, or was it bad news, she wasn’t sure. But it was news nevertheless. She waved at Nina to signal that she had saved her a seat beside herself. Nina came over and sat down beside her friend. She looked quizzically at Beryl to ask what she was looking so excited about. Then she muttered ‘I’ve got some news.’
Beryl said out of a corner of her mouth, ‘So have I. But wait till the class is over.’
She signalled to her other side where a bespectacled boy with a sharp, intelligent face was sitting.
Nina understood that Beryl had to say something about her weird chameleon-like-behaviour of the past few days and couldn’t say it in front of Oliver.
Oliver was their other best friend. He was extremely computer savvy and quite as good as Nina in math. In fact it was in a Math camp that the two of them had become friends. Beryl, strangely, had known both of them since before then, Oliver being her neighbour and Nina her friend at school.
Oliver looked enquiringly at the two girls. ‘What’s up?’
‘Er…welcome back, Oliver.’ Nina whispered as she smiled at him.
Just then Mrs.Watts gave the three of them an extremely cold stare. They all immediately turned to their respective copies and started copying down all that was written on the blackboard.
‘So, what?’ Oliver demanded as they exited the Bio lab after two gruelling periods, on their way to the grounds. They had a free period before Math. ‘What’s been going on? I haven’t been gone two weeks and you two seem to have…I dunno been doing what. Will you tell me what’s been going on?’
‘It’s nothing, really. Ok, Beryl you tell him. I need to save up my expressions of sorrow for when I tell mom.’ Nina said, shrugging her shoulders her face losing the colour it had gained this morning.
She listened listlessly as Beryl narrated the entire incident adding a word or two here and there. She observed Oliver’s face change colour to a pale white, when he heard Beryl and Nina’s suspicion about the true nature of the peppermint-tasting tablets. Then watched with surprise when he started laughing and the end of the narrative.
‘Thanks, people, for cheering me up after that awesome Bio class. Changing shapes “only in my head, not visible to anyone except me” indeed! Did you actually think that I would go in for it? You know I think you two’ve had an overdose of Harry Potter lately. Classy story, though. I could write a book upon it. I still might, to come to think of it. Next time think of a better practical joke, or try this on the KG babies, OK?’
Beryl ignored him and turned to Nina instead ‘I asked Baron. He said he’s not changing into other people, exactly.’
‘What do you mean, ‘exactly’?’ Nina asked quickly.
Beryl smiled, ‘He said he was still wondering how he had turned from being so ugly as a baby to as good-looking as he was now.’
Nina rolled her eyes, ‘It is obviously the most defining question of his life, specially since that photograph of that idiot in Kindergarten has gone round the school.’
‘Yes, yaa, how can he be so thick as to not realize that it isn’t his pix at all, but a baby baboon’s!’ Beryl continued as the other two laughed loudly.
Oliver glanced at his watch, ‘I guess we should get back to class. Math starts in ten minutes.’
‘Actually, seven.’ Beryl corrected him.
‘Who cares?!’ Nina interrupted, ‘Grandpa’s at home! And he said he’s got me a gift!’
And the rest of the way back the threesome made the wildest guesses about the gift.
Beryl and Oliver knew that Nina really loved her grandfather, and when they met him the first time, they, without really realizing how, realized that they liked him as much as Nina. He just inspired their confidence.They decided to go to Nina’s place that evening after school so that they could meet Grandfather and see Nina’s gift

Chapter 2:
Nina slowly sat up in bed, drowsily wondering what had awoken her. She glanced at the clock on her study table. Just 5:30. She need not wake till another half hour. She could hear a strange, beautiful, softly tinkling sound coming from below, which could only mean ‘Tinkerbells!’
She jumped out of bed and went running downstairs.
And sure enough!
‘ Grandpa!!! It’s super smashing to see you! You haven’t answered answered any of my letters. You weren’t picking up the phone, either! Where have you been?! Oh, you’re looking fantabulous!’ and Nina ran into the arms of the dear looking old man standing before her, his arms wide open, just waiting for his Granddaughter to rush in.
‘There, there, child, slow down, slow down. Let me take a breath.’ Smiling widely nevertheless as he hugged Nina.
Nina dragged him to the couch and made him sit down. She sat down beside him and demanded ‘where’ve you been all these days? Have you turned any more people into frogs, or bats, or something?’ the two of them laughed together. It had been an old ‘thing’ between them. When she was a child Grandpa used to tell her stories of people who had annoyed him and he had therefore turned them into frogs. She had been afraid of him for three whole days before she had the guts to go and talk to him again. Then, she had made him promise that he would never turn her into a bat, before she let him buy her an ice cream.
‘Well...’ her grandpa answered in a mock-serious voice ‘Not more than two…or three, I guess.
Nina smiled. It was lovely to see her Grandfather again. She had missed him terribly and really had been worried when Grandpa hadn’t answered her persistent phone calls. It was not until mummy had told her that Grandpa had called to say that he was fine and would be coming to see her soon that she had gotten some rest.
He was the most wonderful person she had ever seen. He possessed eyes extremely similar to hers. They were big, deep-set, and as dark as her eyes. Only the calm expression in them was very different to the youthful innocence in hers. His eyes seemed to reflect the wisdom of ages. She remembered him exactly as he looked now. She could swear that even the position of a single wrinkle had not changed since. His greying beard was whiter now, as was the case with his hair, than it was when she was six years old. He was as tall as ever and walked in the same straight-backed, upright manner of old. He was a person you instinctively trusted and never really questioned.
Just then her mom bustled in with a tray.
‘There you go Father, tea with two teaspoons sugar and a hint of mint- just as you like it.’
‘Thank you so much Verity. I was just about to call out for you. I’ve brought something like a gift for Nina. But I would like to see what you have to say about it before I -er- show it to her.’ Answered Verity’s father, returning his daughter’s smile.
Nina let out a cry of protest ‘Oh, come on, Grandpa!’
Verity turned to her daughter, ‘You’ll get late for school. You can see the gift Grandpa’s brought once you come back from school. Go and get dressed. Now.’ Her expression left nothing unsaid.
Twenty minutes later, when Nina came down the stairs she heard her mother’s voice, slightly raised in anger and disbelief ‘My daughter?! What do you mean? Not the one…’ then, in a hushed tone, ‘…it can’t be. Not this child. Not her! You can’t do this!’
‘It’s not me that’s done this Verity. Be reasonable. You can’t put it on me. It is…destiny. It had to be. I didn’t have any hand in it. It is not my choice. We shall have to tell-” ‘What’s that?’ Nina entered the kitchen. She looked from her mother to her grandpa enquiringly.‘What was that all about?’
Her mother quickly wiped off the expression from her face. Putting on a smile, she said, ‘Nothing at all sweetheart. Are you ready already? Her you go. Fruit Loops.’ And she bustled off. But Nina could sense that her mother’s ‘nothing’ had been very much like her own ‘nothing’ yesterday. She wondered what the argument was all about.

Chapter 1

Chapter 1:
‘I know what I have to do, OK?! I’m sixteen, I’m not a child anymore!’
‘Then you should seriously consider stopping acting like you are one! Why don’t you tell me, like a sensible “adult” what the problem is?’
‘You know what your problem is, mom? You don’t trust me. And if you don’t trust me, you wont believe me. So I’m not telling you anything! Stop prying into my life!’ the 16 yr old shouted.
‘I will not be spoken to like that!’ her mother yelled equally loudly. ‘You had better learn your manners over again because you seem to be forgetting them as you grow older!’ Then, forcing her voice into a semblance of calmness, she took in three deep breaths, and continued, ‘and while we’re talking about forgetting our lessons, I notice you have not turned in most of the last two week’s assignments set at school as yet, and it’s long past the deadline. (Her daughter gave an audible gasp) In fact you barely managed a pass grade in the Math test you had three days back.’
‘You’ve been checking my bag?’ she said with a note of incredulity in her voice ‘without even telling me?’
‘It’s good that I have isn’t it, if you are beginning to keep things from me?’ her mother answered, a little defiantly.
Nina kept quiet. She looked at her mother with a glazed look in her eyes, as if she we’re not really seeing her standing there with a spatula in hand. A slight crease appeared across her forehead and she gave a small sigh. A lot had been happening in her life since the past few days. She didn’t know whether she could confide in her mother about all of it or not. Had it only been her secret, perhaps she would have, but it involved some other people. Some of who were old friends. She normally told her mom almost everything that went on her life. Her likes and dislikes, what all happened in class, how much she hated Tiffany, her views on current events. Her mum almost acted as a second conscience for her for she tried her best not to do anything that may bring her down in her mother’s eyes. And today she was having a row with her mother about her not telling her mum everything.
Nina saw her mother give her face a typically mummy type searching look. It was as if she could read her thoughts. An expression of concern replaced the anger upon her face. ‘ What happened sweetheart? What is it that you can’t tell mummy? I know that you are a big girl now and can take care of yourself, OK? I’m just worried about you. You look almost unhappy these days. Are you having problems at school or something? Not following lessons…? Try telling me about it, please…or you can just write to me if you want.’
Nina gave her mother a small smile. She had once written her mum a letter of confession when she had not got the guts to face her mom. She had been 6 then. She was 16 now.
‘It’s nothing Ma, I guess I’m just…It’s...it’s nothing...don’t worry about me, please… I think I’ll go up to my room and finish that Calculus homework, OK.’
She turned as her mother continued looking at her uneasily, went up the stairs into her room, and locked the door behind her. Then, instead of going towards her study table littered with books, copies, pens, pencils, etc. She went left to the opposite end of the room where her mirror and dressing table stood. She prayed with all her might muttering “Oh, God don’t let it happen again please, let it have stopped happening, let it have stopped, please!” Then she screwed up her eyes tightly.
She opened her eyes and, seeing the reflection in the mirror, made a hopeless sort of shrug kind of gesture. Her face drooped, so to speak but technically since the skin on her face was already sagging with age, that’s impossible.
She screwed up her eyes and bizarrely, when she next looked into the mirror, her skin was back to its normal smoothness. Her hair was no longer gray but, indeed, was again an ivory black, falling thickly to her waist. Her eyes, no longer the calm blue that had looked into her face moments before but beautiful, large and gazing ponderously into their own dark depths.
She turned abruptly to her bed and fell upon it. She was feeling extremely tired, mentally. She didn’t think she could stand a round of 20 grueling math questions. She had too many unanswered questions of her own.
It was so unfair! Why should that tablet have affected her in this way? Beryl had been sensible and not taken it. How could she have been such an idiot? Why had she let Tiffany get to her? She should have known that anything Tiffany offered, as a favour, could not be anything good. But even Baron had taken that from Tiff. But, well, since when has Baron not taken anything that Tiffany Majors gave him? And, since when has he had any brains to help his decisions? No, it was her own stupidity. Hey, the heat was unbearable that day some two weeks back and everyone was doing crazy things to cool off during recess. If only they had not made that idiotic rule about the school electricity being given a break during recess too. She wouldn’t have needed to resort to Tiffany’s help. She wouldn’t have taken the “Antarctic powder” that Tiff claimed was keeping her cool. ‘I mean, that’s sooo third grade! “Antarctic Powder”! What on earth had happened to me? Obviously it must have been some kind of…you-know…drug or something…’She shivered, even the thought that she might have actually swallowed some slow poison made her feel goose bumps across her back. ‘And I guess Tiffany must have thought that it’d be funny to see me turn into some kind of freak-chameleon-thingy.’
But she agreed that it was her fault mostly. She could have easily practiced abstinence as Beryl did and have let common sense prevail.
There was one thought though that kept on haunting her. What kind of drug can enable a person to turn into someone else? That was the bizarre thing about it. The only person she had told about what she was experiencing was Beryl, and it was Beryl who had brought this point to Nina’s view.
The result of this was that Nina started spending a lot of time researching drugs in the library and on the net. She was too preoccupied with all of this to hear what her Teachers said in school. Also, she was feeling strangely unwell since she had had that substance and therefore was letting her performance in class drop drastically.
Oh, but what on earth was that stuff? What was she to do about it? The only thing was to tell her mum the truth. She felt horrible lying to anyone. Hiding the truth from anybody, least of all her own mother, was unnatural and unbearable to her. Her mother always seemed to understand this distinctly un-teenager-like behaviour of hers. She never took advantage of the fact that Nina hated to tell falsehoods. She also had an uncanny knack of knowing when a person was lying and when he/she was telling the truth, which had passed on to her daughter.
Nina turned wearily on her side, resolving to tell her mom everything about what all had happened in the past couple of weeks. She got out of bed and changed into her pyjamas. Then picked up her School Diary and looked through the day’s homework.
She pulled out her chair, sat down at her table and, shifting into a comfortable position, started wondering why her friends had been saying Calculus was tough. A baby could solve those sums. She picked up her pen and pulling her copy towards her, started writing furiously.

The son shall not rise again,
Till the daughter shall rise.
The daughter shall reign.
She will be a daughter, sooth,
Who is born to Knowledge,
Born to Truth.
It shall be she who will cause
Illusion to conquer illusion.
She is not false.
It shall be she who will destroy
The delusion of mortal man.
She will bring joy.
And though the daughter riseth late,
She will rise,
She will reign.