Blade of Vish |

21. Midnight Talks

Anshu had a lot of stuff going on in her mind. She wasn't like this. She as a self was nothing but practical. She was one of those few girls who were on top of gossips in class. Ask if it was because of the beauty she inherited from her mother or the attitude she had towards others. In all her academic career she never tensed on one topic and that was grades. Puzzles and quizzes were fun for her and solving problems was her daily routine. In short, she was the 'High-flying' girl of her class. 

As if to ask about her social life, everything was going better than ever. Nearly the whole class was her friend and she is quite fast at making friends, an ability her brother lacks in. Hamid who everybody termed as the chocolate boy of their class was in her section. They had a few short meetings, he even glanced at her and when she caught him, he would reply in a bright smile. She thought he was interested in her. He might have asked her and her brother would never know as he was in other section. But bad luck! Very bad luck! She was drawn into this whole world. As in for details, her life was in shambles- parents kidnapped and brother missing.

When she entered in ETKing, she had no idea what to do. Telling a person (who is thinking about opting science as a profession) about gods, demons and whatnot, the person might consider them mad. But she did other thing. She left it to her senses which means nothing to do with the mind. 

But now her brother was missing. After spending a whole day in her room she finally decided to do what she would actually do! What Anshu 1.0 would do! After putting the engine of her head in first gear and rotating the direction by a hundred and eighty degrees, she started to think. That was what brain was used for right? 

After thinking for hours, soaking numerous pages with ink and filling a couple of dustbins, she finally had a plan. A risky plan to find her brother but she had one. 

The most difficult part was convincing Karan and Chitrakshi for the plan. 

Anshu came out rushing from her room like a hurricane. 

"CHITRAKSHI! SHOUBDHA! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?" She shouted their names like mad. But she was no longer upset. There was a sudden spark in her eyes. A spark everyone could notice. 

"What happened?" Shoubdha asked. 

"You look happy all of a sudden. What's the reason?" Chitrakshi was astonished at her sudden mood swing. 

"Later on. First things first, where's Karan?" 

"Why? What happened?"

"I've got a plan." 

"What plan?" Chitrakshi asked as Shoubdha went on her way way to find Karan. 

"I know how to find my brother. There is a way." 

"Can you explain?"

A small breeze nearly went through her face as she noticed a shadow near her. 

"Missed me?" Karan was standing in front of them, in his nightwear - a blue nightwear with laughing pandas printed on it. The pandas looked ugly but Karan was even worse. 

"You look wicked!" Anshu commented. 

"Using wicked for me is not a code of conduct. What do you expect from a person having sweetdreams after you wake him up in the middle of a night? Wedding suit and a bouquet?" 

"As for the answer, it's no. But do you really know what a code of conduct is?" 

"Actually it's an algorithm of expression as so to fix the expression used to express a particular expression." 

"In easy words, he doesn't." Shoubdha added as they all started laughing. 

"Really Karan, did you really don't know what you were saying?" Shoubdha asked as she left another giggle. 

"Well, it sounded pretty good to say so I said it." 

"And using expressions three times and using algorithm, were you teaching maths?" Anshu asked again. 

Karan didn't say a word. The laughter died as soon as it came. 

"What? Why so serious?" Shoubdha asked. 

"What are you thinking?" Chitrakshi questioned. 

"Four." 

"What?" Anshu asked as he suddenly said the number. 

"It was four times I used the word expression not three." 

They again bursted into laughter. 

"Was this only why you all woke me up? To entertain you?" 

"On yes!" Anshu said as she took out a small piece of paper from her pocket. 

"Anshu says she has got a plan." Chitrakshi told Karan. He meanwhile, yawned. 

"So what do you want from me?" Karan questioned. He yawned again. 

"I want you three to help me to go back to my home in Mumbai." 

"The one which was nearly destroyed?" Shoubdha asked. 

"That's the one! I need you to drop me there." 

"Look Anshu…" Karan said as he put his hand on her shoulder. "I know you are dealing with a lot. But it doesn't mean that ask to spend some time alone in your home remembering the old days and crying. We are with you!" 

Anshu put his hand back as fast as he put it on her shoulder and gave him a are you crazy look. 

"What? I think she's going in depression guys." Karan replied. 

Anshu now gave him a death glare and made a mind note to slap him to death if he did such nuisance again. 

"You are a dorphus you know. I am serious! I have a plan." 

"Explain then!" all three said in union. 

"Look, I think we are viewing this wrong. When I came home, things were shattered, thrown like tantrums even through he could have easily found mom and dad. Which means…" 

"He was looking for something. Most probably which he referred as stolen. But he never mentioned it." Chitrakshi said as she suddenly was full of excitement. 

"Exactly! Moreover I remember strange things happening at station too. Even Vaani showed up to Neel some days later." 

"Means something was going on. If not in ETKing then in the demonic world." Shoubdha added. 

"That's my concept. It's like a large puzzle. We put the pieces together and we get the picture. And that's why I want to go back." She turned to Chitrakshi "... Can you do that get out thing you did before?" 

"Hardly. That was something that I do rarely." 

"But I think we can atleast try." 

"Do not hope. I strongly suggest." 

"Then what?" 

"We can manually use the portal to transmit you to the portal locations in Mumbai and Jaisalmer." Chitrakshi answered. 

"But what about the guards?" Karan asked bringing them back to reality. What had he supposed to say everything wrong everytime? 

"I can distract them or, I would better say we can." Shoubdha gave that brilliant idea. Anshu made another mental note that it would be better to let her speak rather than letting Karan to. 

"Great! So when? What will be the time?" Chitrakshi asked Anshu. 

"Not now. Tomorrow early in the morning. Most officials will be idle by then." 

"Not of this world Anshu. Not of ETKing." 

"I was talking about mortal ones. So I was right."