Page 111 of No Boss
“You’re bluffing.”
“We’ll see.”
She pressed her palm against a stone and slid it aside. A section of the wall moved inward. Darkness opened before them.
She stepped through, lamp raised.
He followed.
The ceiling inside forced him to lower his head as he walked.
“The Anand men have always been tall,” Meera called ahead, her shadow stretching along the wall. “This section was built low.”
“To make movement difficult?”
“To make them humble.” She glanced back. “A man who lowers his head before entering a sacred place arrives… different.”
He absorbed that. “It works.”
A small smile touched her mouth as she turned forward.
The stone stairs began, curving downward.
Meera moved with ease. Abhinav stayed close, one hand brushing the wall for balance.
The air cooled with each step. Every turn took them further from the world above, into a place older than the Haveli itself.
“It smells different.”
“Stone and time,” she answered. “Nothing from outside reaches here.”
“How far?”
“Three levels.”
Their voices softened. Sound circled back along the walls. Even their breathing stood out, clear.
His steady. Hers… not entirely.
He walked just behind her. Close enough that when she paused at a turn, she felt his warmth.
She moved again.
“Tell me about the time.”
“What about it?”
“You said it runs differently.”
She considered it. “People come down and stay for what feels like minutes. They go back up and find hours have passed. It happens every time.”
She raised the lamp as the staircase curved.
“Babuji says the underground does not follow the same rules as the world above. He speaks of depth, of stone, of everything that has taken place within these walls pulling you away from the usual flow of time.”
“That is not possible.”
“No,” she agreed.
