Paviraa walked out of the Ethereal gate, followed by Omar and Mary. They were outside the gates of the museum. Just like their fellow tourists they stood in the line and took tickets and went inside. The difference between Rishaan and them was that they had to patronize the organisation because it was the right thing to do. Rishaan just went inside with his Ethereal gate, perks of being a sinful being.
Once they were inside they split up and went looking for clues. Omar ended up in the canteen, Mary stood at the same display staring at a large horned animal mounted on the wall, while Paviraa was the only one who followed protocol and searched. They regrouped at the canteen as they had previously decided. Mary continued to look blankly at the sky as Omar sat on the table with a pile of junk food. Paviraa expected as much. She always had to pick up the slack during all the tedious work, and she did it here as well.
"Guys, I found the security room," Paviraa announced.
"And I found donuts for dirt cheap," Omar announced equally enthusiastically.
Mary took one donut, holding it with both her hands and began nibbling on it akin to a squirrel's nibbling.
Paviraa sat down at the table as well. She would have preferred to have a better team; or rather more focused a team. But she had to make do with the team she had as of now.
Paviraa gave up and took a donut and said, "Fine, now can we please discuss the mission."
"Sfure fee caa," Omar said with his mouth full of deep fried goodness. They could make out that he meant to say 'sure we can'. Mary simply nodded.
"So I found the security room. I just caught a glimpse of the place as I was passing by. Two men were sitting and looking at screens. All the CCTV feeds were displayed on screens," Paviraa said, "We can wait till the evening and check the security tapes when they leave."
Omar had another bite and said, while spitting half his food out, "It's a security room, there will be a night shift, so no point waiting till the evening."
"Hmm, your experience shows in missions. I wish your table manners would show as well. So what can we do?" Paviraa asked.
"You remember you told me, that day, about him, about Rishaan, we can do that," Mary said.
"Do what?" Paviraa asked.
"Well, you remember, we were in our room and you were telling me about the different things Rishaan did while trying to find you? You know, that time you told me. Umm that thing," Mary replied.
"Yes, Mary, but what thing," Paviraa asked trying to be patient.
Omar was listening in with a smile trying to curb his laughter. He tried to down a big glass of orange soda in one go.
Mary replied, "The second thing you told me that day."
Paviraa took a deep breath and said, "Mary, honey, listen, I don't remember what I told you that day. Can you remind me what I told you that day?"
Mary earnestly replied, "Um, first you said 'hi Mary' then I replied 'I am fine'."
Paviraa stopped her mid-sentence, "About Rishaan, the idea, what we can do."
Mary finally understood what she meant and replied, "Oh that, yes, that, you said he was clever enough to use the core to stop the time. So, well, if one of us uses the core but does not step into the Ethereal gate, we could use it."
"Mary, my awkward little genius, let's do that," Paviraa said.
"Already done," Omar answered.
While they were discussing this, Omar opened an Ethereal gate. He remained seated, eyes downward looking at what he should have next. He continued eating.
"Crap, let's hurry then," Paviraa said as she held Mary by the sleeve of her lab coat and pulled her away.
Paviraa and Mary raced past all the people as they stood motionless. It was strange that the Guardians didn't think of using the core this way, although they were catching up. Such out-of-the-box ideas came to Rishaan naturally.
They went into the security room. It had six wall mounted screens. Each of the screens were divided into nine parts, one for each camera focusing on a different part of the museum. There were two guards in the room, both stuck motionless. Trails of smoke that emanated from the cigarette that one guard was smoking also stood still. The other guard was busy reading looking into his phone screen. Both were still. Paviraa and Mary pushed their chairs by their dollies to the sides. Mary being good with technology got used to their security console in a jiffy. They perused through the previous few days of the surveillance footage.
It led to nothing. Paviraa went back all the way till she saw Rishaan on the tapes. He was casually walking around the museum with his hands in his pocket, his backpack swinging with his gait. They followed him move from one frame to another looking at the different things. Just like any other person would do, he moved from one display to another looking at it briefly. Occasionally he would stop and read a placard thoroughly.
Suddenly there was a change in his disposition. He gravitated towards one display and stood there for a long time. They saw him walking around in circles around that object. Rishaan took his phone camera out and began clicking pictures of the object from all angles. Once he was done he made a beeline for the exit.
Even when not being watched, Rishaan was an eccentric person. While passing the exit he stopped and saw a board where 'Rs. 50 for photography' was written. He did a 'face-palm' and then continued to walk past the board. On seeing a pauper outside, he handed over a Rs. 50 note and continued walking.
"Lotus, zodiac signs and eleph--," Mary muttered under her breath.
Paviraa looked at her quizzically.
"Your Rishaan -- Umm. I mean, Rishaan. He had asked me if I knew about any artefacts which had a lotus, zodiac signs and elephants on them," Mary spoke.
She pointed to that object on the screen.
Paviraa asked, "What about it?"
Mary answered, "When Rishaan had come to my room, he asked me about this. This thing, it is as he said, look, Umm, lotus, then zodiac signs around it and elephants around it."
Paviraa stared at the screen for a while, wondering why Rishaan was interested in this strange looking artefact.
"But what is it?" Paviraa asked.
"It is a stone, with a lotus, zodiac signs and elephants," Mary answered.
"Yes, but what does it signify," Paviraa asked.
"It signifies that someone made this stone with a lotus, zodiac signs and elephants," Mary said.
"Mary, I mean - never mind. Let's just continue watching. I think we have narrowed down the search to this room and that display," Paviraa said.
They fast forwarded the video feed but nothing happened. They did it a second time to ensure they did not miss anything but they didn't notice anything significant.
"I don't think we can get any more information from this. We should go and check it out in person," Paviraa said standing up to leave.
"'Sure, maybe it will move for us in person as well," Mary said.
"What will move? Mary?" Paviraa asked.
"Umm, that stone, it moves," Mary answered.
"What do you mean it moves?" Paviraa asked.
"I mean it rotates a few degrees. I noticed that when you were fast forwarding the screen. I saw it rotate just slightly. Uh, OK, see here," Mary replied as she again stopped the video right where the stone moves.
"Whoa! Why didn't you tell me that before?" Paviraa asked.
"I did, before now," Mary replied.
"Hmm," Paviraa said knowing from years of talking with her that this conversation would go no-where. Paviraa continued, "We should go and check the artefact in person. Maybe we will understand why Rishaan was keen on seeing that."
Both of them stepped out of the surveillance room and walked through the corridor towards the stone block. They spotted Omar at the far end of the corridor getting up lazily from his seat. He had a whole pile of wrappers and disposable paper plates in his hands. He dumped them in the dust-bin and ran towards them. All three then continued towards the artefact while Paviraa explained to Omar about what they learnt on the way.
They reached the hall where this object laid waiting. It was a huge hall with a temple display on one end, statues of various Gods and demigods all along the walls and in the centre, on a pedestal was this stone.
Since there was a 'Do not touch' board placed nearby, they tried their best to look at it from a distance. It took them another few minutes to realise there was something odd about that stone.
"Does anyone else think the stone is weird?" Omar asked.
"Yes, I do. We saw it move, it is. Well it is a moving stone," Mary answered in all earnestly.
"What do you mean weird," Paviraa asked.
"You remember those clay-mation cartoons we used to have when we were small, the background, it used to have trees and stones. When we looked at them, remember how they seemed so --- " Omar said.
"Fake?" Paviraa asked.
"Yes, fake, that's the word. This stone, something about it seems unnatural," Omar asked.
He could not contain his curiosity anymore; he just stepped close and tapped on it.
"What the fudge!" Omar exclaimed.
He knocked in the stone twice and there was an odd hollow sound. All of them looked shocked.
"That's no stone," Paviraa said.
"Umm, that's no 'moving' stone," Mary corrected.
Omar put his hands around the stone and pulled upwards. The stone lifted cleanly off of its pedestal. He put it down and said.
"That's too light to be a stone. It is a fake," Omar said.
"Well if that is a fake, where's the real one?" Paviraa asked.
"Maybe the real one was a moving stone and it just moved away so they had to put a fake one here," Mary suggested.
"I remember Rishaan telling me that he had to steal something. I thought it was the green glass ring. But, what if it was this? Maybe Lord Ishrafil was wrong. So it is possible that Rishaan did not steal that, he could have stolen this," Paviraa said with a slight reflection of ease on her beautiful face.
"Even in that case, he did steal this stone here. That would still make him a thief. At least he isn't working for the bad guys. I hope," Omar said.
"Let's go to his house and see if we can find out where he hid it," Paviraa said.
Omar and Mary nodded in agreement. Omar opened an Ethereal gate, thought of Rishaan's home and stepped into the light. Paviraa followed and Mary came in last.
When their eyes opened, they found themselves in Rishaan's same old room as they remembered it. But this time, there was a mattress on the floor. On the mattress lay the stone. The real one; with a lotus in the middle, zodiac signs around it, and elephants around them as well.
Paviraa leaned over it to have a closer look. As she did so, her core suspended by the gold chain came close to the stone. The centre of the stone which seemed solid now turned into dust and revealed a small secret opening hidden. The hole was clearly made to fit a core into it.
Paviraa looked at the others and said, "So, shall we?"
The others nodded. She put her core inside the keyhole and felt a slight give as she turned the key. Same as when Rishaan did it, there was a series of metallic sounds. Like some mechanism inside which moved. Nothing else happened. Paviraa tried to turn it further but nothing happened. She then tried to turn it the other way but again, nothing happened. Finally, she took her key out.
As soon as she took her key out, the space around the stone began to warp and compress. Before they could understand what was happening, the stone sucked all three of them inside it. Rishaan's room was left empty, once again.
Rishaan's mother peeked through the door and muttered, "I swear I heard some sounds," The stone lay hidden in the corner away from her eyes.