Realm of the Goddess Read Online Free

with what looked like Sanskrit words perched on a metal base on a little table next to his big desk. I wouldn’t have pegged him for a mythology buff, but then again, I only saw him in history class. He finished up his conversation and hung up.
    “So, Miss Hansen. You said you were feeling unwell earlier today, so I agreed to give you another chance to write the test.”
    “Yes, and I really appreciate it. I was going to go home, but then I started feeling a bit better and decided to stay,” I said.
    Mr. Burke looked at me skeptically for a moment. “Miss Hansen, I feel that your work hasn’t been up to your usual standard. I read your last essay and frankly I was not impressed. It lacked focus, and you rambled on quite a bit. I know you have your sights set on a good university, so I will give you a chance to pull up your grade.”
    I gaped at him in disbelief. I always got good grades and worked really hard for them. I had no idea what he was talking about. I did not ramble.
    “I will let you do some extra credit work,” he was saying, ignoring my shocked expression. “You will come to my office every day after school and work on the assignments I give you. Is that clear?”
    I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. As I got up to leave, I was bristling with resentment. I would have to cut back on my after-school tutoring hours. I’d been saving for a car for summer, and now Mr. Burke was messing everything up. I stomped all the way home, glad that my parents weren’t back yet. I just needed to be alone to figure out how I would deal with Mr. Burke and my plummeting history grade. I ate some crackers and hummus then got ready for work.
    The tutoring center was a ten-minute drive from my house and when I got there the place was already humming with kids of all ages. I walked up to the reception desk to sign in and say hi to Carla, the owner. Then I went to my usual room to spend the next three hours helping my students with their math homework. On the way home I stopped for a latte because I knew I would have to stay up late doing my homework. By the time I got home it was getting dark and my parents’ car was in the driveway. I was lucky they shared a ride to work at the university and I could use the extra car. But that would change in the fall when my dad started his new job and my mom would have to use her own car. Now it looked as if I would have to get used to riding the bus everywhere. When I walked in I found them chatting excitedly. It sounded like she was making dinner plans for the weekend.
    “Callie,” she said, her voice several octaves higher than usual. “I’m so glad you’re home. You’ll never guess who I met.”
    I could guess. She’d met another Indian family and had invited them to dinner. And they had a son who was around my age and, oh my, it was all so exciting.
    “I met the nicest couple at the store today...you know that new Indian store around the corner from Starbucks? I was just buying some mangoes and cilantro...I thought Dad could make mango salsa for dinner...what was I saying...oh yes, the couple that I met, they just moved here from California a week ago. But they’re actually from Kolkata. So of course I said that they simply had to come over for dinner, and they said this Saturday would be good.”
    My head was reeling. My mother tended to go off on several tangents during a single conversation. It was hard not to get entangled in her excitement about the new couple, the new store and my dad’s mango salsa. I looked at her affectionately. She was a lot to handle after a long day, but there was something very infectious about her enthusiasm for...well, just about anything. She was like that about the course in Eastern mythologies she taught at the University of Washington. There was always a waiting list for the course, and whenever she had students over for her monthly Mythology Club dinners, I could tell that they were enthralled by everything she said. There was