KEVIN’S POV
The next morning when I woke up, I almost expected Kiara to have gone missing. Last night was so beautiful and fulfilling that I was afraid I had dreamt it all up. My heart started beating erratically when I saw Kiara still sleeping beside me.
I leaned against my hand as I gazed at her angelic face. My heart filled with so much warmth and love that I was afraid it would burst.
I removed the strands of hair from her forehead and stuck them behind her ears. She groaned as her eyes flew open. Her face flushed and she pulled the blanket over her face…
It felt a bit strange to see her shy away from me. I had always thought of her as a bold woman who knew what she wanted. I pulled the sheet down and kissed her forehead.
She sat up suddenly, putting a halt to my other romantic endeavors. She rubbed her eyes and said, “What is the time?”
“It is just seven in the morning, why?”
She jumped to her feet, wrapping the sheet around her, and said, “We have to meet Nivaan at eight… hurry get ready…”
I grasped her hand and said in a disheartened voice, “Do we have to go?”
She pulled her away hand heartlessly and said in a cold voice, “Yes, we do…” Then waving her hand between us, she continued, “This can’t happen again… it will have to wait till we have gotten to the root of everything that has been happening…”
Before I could say anything in protest, she rushed to the bathroom and slammed the door shut.
I picked up my clothes and rushed to the guestroom to take a bath. I almost bumped into Risha making me realize that we did have to stay away from each other till we sorted everything out.
A few minutes later we were driving to the camp in my BMW. It was altogether a different feeling to travel with Kiara. Her presence made everything merrier.
I stole a glance at her to find that she was fiddling with the Golden Box. She looked breathtaking even in the simple blue T-shirt and trousers but I couldn’t compliment her. I was still pretending to be angry with her.
“Can you turn the music off? I am trying to think.” Kiara said in a clipped voice.
I smirked at her and turned the volume higher. When she glared at me, I started humming along with the song, drumming my fingers on the steering wheel.
She shook her head and turned away from me. In the reflection, I caught her reflection. She seemed hurt. If I had known that my simple action would affect her so much, I would never have teased her.
She refused to speak to me even after I turned off the music. Silence hung heavy in the car making it feel almost suffocating.
I was glad when Collins called up. I put the phone on speaker. “Can you attend the Alpha Meeting in an hour?” His hoarse voice sounded the moment the call was connected.
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he said, “Wasn’t father going to attend it?”
“He was but… ummm… are you alone?”
I cast a glance at Kiara and replied, “Yes…”
“He has gone to seek out the mystery of Golden Box.”
I was taken aback by his words. I wondered if I should tell him that father had just gone on a wild goose chase. In the end, I just muttered that I will try to attend the meeting and disconnected the call.
“What was the address you wrote on the fake note? I hope you haven’t sent Father on a long trip…”
“I don’t remember but… I can look and say…” She said, opening the box.
The box was indeed empty except for a piece of paper. She opened the folds and kept gazing at the paper for a long time…
My heart sank when I saw her pale face. I parked the car and took the piece of paper from her hand. The address of an ancient warehouse was scrawled on the paper. I was wondering what was wrong with the address when she muttered, “This is not the address I had written. Someone changed it… I don’t know Kevin… I have a bad feeling about this… we should stop father…”
I nodded as I dialed my father’s number. It rang a few times before going straight to the voice mail. I tried again and again but there was no response.
“Damn! Why is dad not picking his call? I think you are right… we should go and look for him…,” I said preparing to turn my car around.
“Where exactly is Plankton located?”
Her question threw me off guard. I had no idea where this warehouse was. I raised my shoulders and stuttered, “I…I um… don’t know… but we will ask around…”
Kiara held her head and said in a panicked voice, “There is no time for that. Let us go to the camp…”
I had no idea why she was making such a weird request but I drove to the camp anyway.
I hadn’t even parked the car properly when she opened the door and almost pulled me out. We ran to the blue tent where we had to meet.
The moment we entered the tent, she started filling them in with details. She was talking so fast that we had to focus really hard to catch the words.
Nivaan placed his hand on her shoulder and said, “Don’t worry. We will go and find him…”
The storm that was brewing in her eyes calmed down and she even smiled slightly. It made me feel useless. It should have been me who comforted her…
“Give me the paper with the address…,” a melodious voice sounded. It was then I noticed the tall girl with short brown hair. Her eyes were large and dark like coals. For a moment I thought that I saw golden streaks in them.
There was something different about her. I could sense a kind of static energy in the air. It wasn’t the kind you felt when you were attracted to someone. It was something I couldn’t lay my finger on but I was sure I felt it earlier
Her eyes lit up as she said with a smile, “I can take you all there…”
“Are you sure you can take us all?” Nivaan said anxiously.
“Normally I would say ‘No.’ but I have this…,” She said, flashing the large locket around her neck. The large quartz crystal flashed in the sunlight blinding me for a moment.
“Valence, think about it once more… I don’t want you to get hurt… we are talking about five people here…”
My eyebrows creased in a deep furrow as I tried to make sense of what they were saying. It wasn’t as if she was going to carry us there…
Kiara burst into giggles and muttered, “Damn! What did you make me imagine that…”
My face flushed slightly. I must have forgotten to block my thoughts. I shrugged my shoulders indignantly and said, “If you know what is happening, explain…”
“You will find out in a moment. Everyone, link your hands to form a circle. No matter what… don’t let the circle break…”
Kiara grasped my left hand while Nivaan grasped my right hand. Valence closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. Her lips trembled as if she was muttering something.
The quartz crystal started glowing brighter and brighter. After a point, it became impossible to keep my eyes open. A strange queasy feeling formed in my stomach and I felt like I was sucked into something. Then nothing…
I felt like the ground had slipped out from under my feet when I saw the scene in front of me. My jaws hung open as I saw the downtrodden warehouse in front of me.
I tore my hair and exclaimed, “How the hell did we reach here?”
Kiara placed her hand on my mouth muffling most of my voice. Her eyes darted around warily as she whispered, “We teleported here. Valence is a witch… I will tell you more later… Let us focus on checking out this place first…”
I nodded my head and turned my attention to the warehouse. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the car parked in front of the warehouse.
My heart pounded against my ribs as we tiptoed to the warehouse, trying to stay hidden among the bushes as much as possible…