"We'll kill each other before anyone else can." Ava said exasperated.
Ashley raised his head from the screen. Ava sat in dining table, frustration clouding her face.
"Why are you so worked out, Ava?" Ethan asked buttering his toast in leisure.
Ashley turned to Archie who laid on the coach. He had hoped Archie would say something. It was Ava talking, his girlfriend. But Archie showed no reaction much to Ashley confusion.
Amelia too showed no attention and acted to be busy in her photography devices.
Ashley shook his head. These two friends.
"We need to keep aside our differences and check our progress on Azaad. If we don't, anything can happen to anyone." Ava said, solemnly.
No one cared it seemed. Except for Ethan who had slowed on his lunch. Ashley shut his smartphone and sat up straight.
"Ava is right. We can fight all we want but at least it shouldn't hinder us from exchanging information." Ashley said, loud and clear to people who were ignoring Ava.
What was Archie deal?
"C'mon everyone, gather around." Ashley said, jumping down from the coach and kicking Archie down.
Archie glared him but Ashley glared him back with double intensity.
Ashley arranged the chairs and coach in hall. He was getting tired of moving coaches two to three times in a day but no one was going to listen to his complains.
Sighing, Ashley slumped on coach and watched as everyone gathered, sitting down on his arranged seats.
What did they think he is? Ashley grumbled but said nothing. He cared for information than his problems at the moment.
"What did you find in diary?" Ethan asked.
Ava looked down, diary held tightly in her lap.
Ashley narrowed his eyes when she didn't answer. She was the one going hyper.
"Why are you so silent, Ava?" Ashley asked.
Ava looked away with uncertainty.
"This diary..." Ava said keeping it on table.
"What was written in it?" Ethan asked.
"It is... Kinda emotions of Khushi Azaad. Her years of loneliness." Ava paused.
That didn't make sense. Was she confused?
"Just tell us whatever is written in it. We'll go for theories later. Step by step, okay?" Ashley said, hoping she would be more clear.
Ava nodded, visibly relieved.
"It's mostly her pain but among those emotions she wrote a few things that I'll tell in short." Ava said and Ashley gave her encouraging nod.
"It dates many years back. A time when elders were young." Ava gave the preamble. "And just so you guys know Khushi wrote it much like letters to Arnav."
And then Ava started the macabre tale of Azaad fight against Demonio that Khushi described as evil; A mind boggling escape from a crumbling Castle where Arnav left Khushi hand, their escape to Dehradun and their struggle to hide the truth about Arnav, Arav hatred for Arnav and a sudden warning that was heard by Khushi decades later which changed the prospect of Arnav and Demonio's death.
"In the end, Khushi vowed to take revenge on Demonio and save Arnav from his clutches." Ava exhaled, dropped her head in hands.
"There were no entries after that." Ava said, tired of the long narrative despite her attempt to shorten it.
"Means she found Arnav." Ashley said, his mind whirring with questions and confusion.
"Its actually weird. Demonio and Arnav." Amelia spoke. "They were meant to be dead. How come they turned out alive?"
Ashley looked down. The website he had stumbled on, during his research on Azaads. That could be the answer.
"Azaad family had many secrets and their enemies aren't easy to identify either. But there are gaps of information in Khushi diary. If only she hadn't used diary as a means of communication with Arnav." Archie said, woefully.
Ashley agreed and looked at the diary holding the secrets amid its white spaces.
"Ava, did you highlight the main parts in diary?" Ashley asked picking the diary.
"It was against my ethics but I did." Ava said, a little ashamed at her doing.
"You should be proud of it, Av." Ashley passed her a smile.
"What are you doing?" Archie asked curiously.
"A few things crossed my knowledge. Now only this diary can prove their authenticity." Ashley answered. "Gimme a few minutes."
"Are we going to sit and wait for you?" Archie crossed his arms.
Ashley opened the diary and scanned the pages for highlights. Only this diary could provide him the proofs to make his friends trust him.
"You can have your lunch, Archie." Ashley mumbled, engrossed in finding the information important for his purpose.
Ashley gave a brief glance to see Archie getting busy in his smartphone.
The diary had many highlighted parts.
"Why didn't you tell about this?" Ashley asked, pointing to a particular paragraph.
Ava squatted closer and peeked in the diary.
"Didn't seem important." Ava shrugged."You feel something?" She looked at him curiously.
At least, she didn't question his sanity.
Ashley nodded. "If read carefully, she gave the most important information that answers many complexities."
"What information are you talking about?" Archie asked turning attentive to them.
"He hates you Arnav. He hates everything related to you and even your gift. He doesn't like your gift, Arnav. Our gift. Even though he is powerful than you he wouldn't use his power. He should understand it will help him to protect from monsters like Demonio." Ashley read the paragraph for them.
"What's important in it?" Archie asked.
"Arnav died before they knew Khushi was pregnant, which gift Khushi was talking about?" Ashley questioned.
"It could be any gift they planned. Couples do future planning." Archie said icily, his eyes turning to Ava and then looked away.
"Of course, a gift that was planned long time back and could protect Arav from monsters like Demonio." Ashley quoted the part to show what he wanted to. "What could be such a precious gift that was hated by Arav?"
No one had answer for his question.
"It isn't like we were alive that time to know, Ash." Archie defended himself.
"Fine then think about Amelia question. Dead people turning out alive. Secondly, Azaad family accepted to hide about Arnav death because they thought it was unnatural and would raise questions on their identity. What was wrong with their identity? What could be so unnatural? A whole building doesn't fall due to a battle, by the way." Ashley said.
"Get to the point, Ash." Ethan said dryly.
The point was most important one and Ashley feared the reaction.
"Azaad family had powers." Ashley declared.
His eyes moving on every face to find their reaction. Ethan looked down pulling up his best blank look but it gave some eery feeling to Ashley. It didn't look right.
Ava had that distant look as if she was pondering on the possibility.
Did she feel something about powers too? Ashley thought observing her carefully.
"Powers? What's so unusual about it?" Amelia asked, rolling her eyes at him.
Ashley passed her a smile. She seemed so innocent but whatever he was going to tell wasn't. His mind went to the website he stumbled on that night.
The Powers that Haunt.
Each and every detail ingrained in his mind. The wind that talked, the fire that listened, the water that cared, the snow that whispered, the clouds that raged, the thoughts that were heard, the blood that was drained, the world that was fantasy and magical yet dark and killer.
"They weren't normal human beings. They had unnatural powers. Powers that can control nature in one way or other." Ashley tried to explain in simple words, he didn't want to go in extra detail.
"I don't understand." Archie said throwing his hand in air.
Not good. Not good.
"Something like ghost and witches that were popular back then." Ashley said.
"Are you serious, Ash?" Archie looked at him with incredulity.
"We don't believe this." Amelia said, crossing her arms.
Ashley felt annoyed. At least Amelia should've trusted him.
"Don't be so short minded. I know science so if am saying all this means there could be truth in it." Ashley said, suppressing his irritation and failing.
"Just because you are saying doesn't mean we'll accept each and everything. Particularly something that can't be explained by science." Archie pointed.
That was the problem. Science. Nature and unnature couldn't be together. But Ashley was the proof himself, he wouldn't tell that to everyone though.
"What if it can be explained by science but science hasn't discovered this phenomenon yet? Because people hid it too well due to prejudices against it?" Ashley reasoned.
"Have you ever thought their unnatural powers could be a genetic mutation?" Ashley added, satisfied of his explanation that they couldn't possibly put down.
"I agree with Ash." Ava came to his rescue. "Just accept it as a genetic mutation."
"Explain." Amelia said staring at him.
Explaining was not difficult. He could put forward many of strange occurrences.
"Some rare collection of books is said to be written on Powers. And Azaad family had secret library. Which sane person keep their library secret?" Ashley said.
"Maybe because they kept weird collection and didn't want people to taunt them?" Archie countered.
That was all he could come up with?
Ashley suppressed the urge to taunt Archie at his lame covering.
"Azaad family was the most private elite. They never shared anything to public. Coincidentally the younger generation fell for newly arrived private elites of Dehradun. Do you think all that's coincident?" Ashley questioned, moving to his next point.
"You're saying even Malik and Raichand had powers?" Amelia raised her brow. "What about Misha then?"
At least, they got the point even if they had objectives.
"They can't be this much lucky to find everyone with Powers." Ashley justified.
"They can't be lucky to find someone with powers either." Amelia countered without missing a beat.
"Why else Malik and Raichands were shady who arrived out of nowhere and Raichands vanished just like they came." Ashley snapped at Amelia, he couldn't bear her distrust in him.
"How do you know this?" Ethan was quick to caught him.
Did he say something more than he should?
Ashley pressed his lips glaring Ethan. The guy wouldn't talk but whenever he would, it'll be against him only.
"I think we had already assumed it by the meagre information we found on them." Ashley gritted.
"But still, all this things about powers doesn't sound solid." Amelia pointed.
At least, they were distracted from Ethan question. But why couldn't Amelia trust him?
"Why was Arnav death unnatural? How come Arnav and his father turned out alive when a whole building collapsed on them? Which person hear the whispers of someone far?" Ashley snapped.
Calming down, he lowered his tone.
"And let's recall those unanswered questions on our last meeting. Everything being destroyed and yet certain things of same stuff survived."
They had dismissed it as some scientific phenomenon but this time they wouldn't be able to argue that way.
"That's..." Archie trailed off.
"And now coming to the last part." Ashley paused. "The people behind us."
"Are you saying..." Ava gasped with wide eyes.
Ashley nodded. "They know about powers and they possess it too."
"How?" Amelia asked despite the disbelief in his words.
"You can help me in that." Ashley said confusing her.
"How did they enter and leave without notice? How come you don't remember anything? Their attacks that nearly killed us even before they could touch us? And then the fog that hurt them but not us. What can you say about all this?" Ashley asked, staring her.
Amelia was thoughtful. This was his chance.
"And just so you know I wanted to help you when they attacked us second time but I couldn't. I were frozen for some reason. Explain something isn't it?" Ashley added, for the first time talking about the second attack.
Everyone fell silent at his confession.
And there were those powers that only he felt. The air or strange power directing him in reaching her. The strange effect of smoke on those weirdos. The loosened rope that had held Amelia on her feet even when she was unconscious. And the biggest blow when he couldn't move when Amelia was attacked right in front of him.
There was also the picture issue that Ava sent. The difference between the two without any humans work.
But he wouldn't tell this and ruin everything for him.
"And there's also question why they want to kill us when they know Azaad family was killed until or unless they believed in powers and think we were either saved or some messed up idea." Ava said.
Ashley must admit Ava was taking it better than others. He wondered if that picture was making her believe so.
"I don't want to accept but I'll take it as something unknown science." Amelia said giving up.
"Anyway, I read Piya poetry. It wasn't easy to understand but as far I understood with footnotes, Piya had a feeling that something was not right. She had suspicion on Abhay that he was hiding something." Amelia said leaning on chair.
What? Piya?
"So what have we established so far?" Archie said thoughtfully. "The six fought with Demonio and lost Arnav in process. Years later, they realized Arnav was alive but captured by Demonio and saved him. However, only two years later, they all died in very suspicious circumstances. And Raichands happened to disappear just like that. Not to forget Piya doubt on Abhay." Archie summed up.
"All this means..." Archie trailed off.
"You can say it aloud, Archie. They were killed and Raichands are involved in it." Amelia said putting down Piya notes with Khushi diary.
Raichands? No, shit.
Ashley eyes widened. What was Amelia and Archie getting into?
"How?" Ethan asked narrowing his eyes.
"When we met Misha, she didn't react seeing me but when she saw Ashley she got hyper. She tried to reach him and kept on repeating a few words. Abhay, Kill, killer and killed." Amelia explained.
Ashley felt a panic in his nerves. Amelia couldn't imply what he was thinking. It wasn't possible for them to think like that.
"Interesting." Archie said thoughtfully.
"Abhay was hiding something. Azaad family killed along with Malik. Raichands vanished even when Abhay was said to be in love with Piya. Misha went crazy seeing Ash..." Archie said implying something.
"Absolutely." Amelia gave him a nod and a understanding seemed to pass between them. "Abhay Raichand is the killer."
"What a bullshit." Ashley snapped.
How could they even say it?
"Just because you both got some issue with me doesn't mean you'll make such assumptions." Ashley said, pointing at Archie and Amelia.
"This has nothing to got with you, Ash. We aren't calling you killer. Its Abhay." Archie said.
"Well then what it is, Mr smartie?" Ashley said sarcastically. "What proof do you guys have?"
"Misha behaviour is clear indication. And if you think more deeply, Azaad's death was wrongly published and even though youngsters were alive they couldn't force authorities to correct the error." Amelia said.
"Azaad family was influential and if authorities didn't care means someone influential had bribed authorities. Why didn't Raichand help youngsters? Why didn't they allow them in their house? And what went so wrong that they just disappeared after youngsters died?" Amelia put forward the questions.
"I don't believe this." Ashley stood up.
"You just can't throw your own unbelievable theories on us and stop us from even mentioning what we found?" Amelia shot.
"By the way, your own theories can give you answer for motive. A person can go mad for power which meant Raichands got greedy and killed that family. Besides, only power would've killed power, isn't it?" Amelia said giving him that extra sweet smile.
Ashley picked the diary and poetry, his eyes staring down at Amelia. He had enough of blame game. He would prove them wrong.
"Love cannot go greedy." Ashley said, before walking off in his room.
____________________________
The book was hardly held by the spine. The white flowers faded on the purple cover. Taking it in her hands, Ava inspected it closely.
It looked old. Like many decades old.
Something from Azaad mansion?
But then why no one showed it? And who kept it in her suite?
She opened the book. The book was snatched from her hand, she stumbled backward. Ethan held the book, looking at her.
His height and expressions intimidated for her for a fleeting second.
How could she forget Ethan was staying in her suite alone. It must be his.
"Ethan?" Ava muttered. "What's that?"
"Something important for me." Ethan said keeping it in his jacket.
Ava felt disappointed. She wanted to check it.
"Important? But it seems old. Like those things from Azaad mansion." Ava said.
"You leave that, Ava, and tell me what's wrong with you?" Ethan asked taking a step towards her.
"Me?" Ava was confused at the sudden change of subject.
"Did something happen between you and Archie? You seem sad and I noticed when you both arrived at different time with upset faces. And you guys are avoiding each other from then." Ethan said softly.
Ava looked away pursuing her lips. He shouldn't have noticed that. It touched raw nerve and hearing it from someone pained even more.
The disgust and anger in his eyes was a hot knife stuck in her heart.
"Life can be difficult, Ava and a breakup isn't something you should go through alone when you have friends beside you." Ethan said, his voice so warm that it was melting the icy barrier holding her emotions.
She had a best friend but right now things weren't better with them. They were distant due to their own decisions now.
If only she could tell everything to Amelia, lighten her heart from the burden weighing her down. She would've felt so better.
Eyes filled up with tears, she sat down on coach unable to stand anymore.
"Maybe I can help you. And even if not help, I'm always there for you even if everyone leaves you or life messed up." Ethan sat beside her.
Ava shut her eyes unable to hold the tears anymore. She covered her face, the heartbreak being fresh and the yearning too deep to cover.
His comforting hand around her shoulder was her undoing. The barrier broke and she cried her heart out in his arms.
If only Archie would've listened to her and if only Amelia wouldn't have got angry at her... Everything wouldn't have hurt this much.