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Zara

The city winded past us speedily, the sun setting into a golden hue.

Leila has disapproved of loud music while driving, claiming that distracts her from focusing on the important mission, but I disagree, Music relieves stress! but when I voiced my opinion to her, she just replied, "not rock music," and continued to drive.

She spoke to me as little as she could, probably still hungover about the driver but hey, we need to let bygones be bygones, focus on the present, and live our lives. I still don't understand why Leila wanted to visit the restaurant that Aini was hiding while I went behind my supposed lover. 

"Why do you want to visit the restaurant?" I asked her without further brainstorming.

"I want to visit the spot she disappeared," she replied.

"She disappeared at the gate of the hospital, not at the restaurant but why?" I knew I was asking a lot of questions, but this was my friend we were talking about and I need to know every single thing.

"She is my daughter too," she stated randomly.

What?! I seriously doubt that she can read minds, I mean come on! It's two times in a day, first, she found out that I killed the driver and now this? This woman is hiding more things than I can think of this, should be handled carefully.

"I need to see if I can find something from that place, as per your story, Avyanna or should I say 'Wicked Witch' and Aini both disappeared at that place, if I could catch something, kind of like her aura and link with her, I will be able to track her location," she concluded, and the only thing that I caught from the process was the fact that, that my best friends mother possessed magic, magic kind of like witch-magic and she hid it from all of us all this time. 

I decided it would be wise to keep my thoughts to myself, so I simply uttered, "Wicked Witch would be more of a suitable name." Leila laughed at it.

We drove silently for the rest of the drive and parked the grey Audi next to the restaurant. Leila casually strode into the restaurant and stood at the table where Aini occupied three days ago. "is this the table she sat at?" she asked discreetly, I nodded and she sat.

The restaurant wasn't buzzing, only a few people were dining quietly but the tables will be filled in a couple of hours for dinner.

"We have to make it fast, the place will be crowded at the dinner time," I hastened her.

"Let us go near the gate," she stood immediately.

"That's it?" I asked confused at her behavior, what we only came here to sit and practically walk out of the restaurant in five minutes without doing anything?

"Why do you need a snack?" Leila mocked and I glared, she smiled slowly at me and continued, "I couldn't pick up on any traces of Aini in here, it's a waste of time if we spend any more time. Come let's go check at the gate."

"Oh okay," I muttered quickly and walked out of the door.

At the gate, Leila sniffed! I mean she literally sniffed like there's a bad smell wafting in the air. If I know one thing, her behavior attracted attention from the passerby, this was a hospital after all.

Memories of following my supposed lover and Avyanna clouded my vision, I tried to control the anger that was building inside of me and focused on Leila's sniffing. If she could sniff all the way through Aini's location, I wouldn't mind at all. Moreover, people can't see me, they might most probably assume Leila is mentally despaired, not me.

"The link to Aini's aura was strong at this place," she stated, standing next to the gate.

"This is the place she disappeared," I informed and kept quiet.

"There is strong magic at this place, a trail of dark magic and pure magic struggling to overpower one another," she said and closed her eyes and continued unclearly, "it seems like water but the place is dark, broken woods, rusty walls, damaged! Everything is destroyed, it's a house, a very big house, empty, the place is vacated, it's old and there's an abundance of dark magic in the house, there's evil...," and she stilled for a moment and fell limply to the ground. 

I instantly crouched next to get in a panic and tried to tap her cheek, I shook her hard and yelled for her to wake up, I wanted something, I ran to the restaurant and struggled to focus my powers on the water bottle that was placed on the table. When I did, I visualized myself and the water bottle next to Leila, within a second I was next to her, using much energy as I can muster, I poured the content on her face.

This magic ordeal consumed my energy, Leila stirred and woke up, "are you okay?" I inquired instantly.

"I'm fine," she replied to which I nodded and she wiped her face from the back of her palms and continued, "you should sprinkle water at the unconscious person, not pour."

I ignored her accusation and asked instead, "what did you see?"

"I saw the house but I couldn't find the location, it was ruined and old, I was able to see inside the house, I tried hard to see the outside so that I can know where it was but unexpectedly, someone pushed me away," she answered, and we walked towards the car.

On our way, we discussed the interiors of the house but it was not much of use, I have seen the mansion Leila was talking about personally, but what neither of us can ever decipher was the outer parts of the mansion, the road, or a board with the city or towns name or anything that could help us track the route.

"Who pushed you out of your vision?" I implored her abruptly.

"It was more like a black smoky mirage now that I think of it, that's an illusion created to block any powers to enter or find the place."

"So should we go back to the hospital tomorrow to find it again?" I examined.

"No, we need to go home."

I have always wondered why my best friend's house was painted white, every turn you take, there's only white. At times I've guessed if Leila's favorite color was white but once Aini said that it was grey, we have always discussed the monomers of the color, often claiming it as boring, until now.

"White keeps the evil at bay, it also helps promote peace and safeguards us from the evil. White signifies the purity that surrounds us." Leila explained while lighting the candles that surrounded her. 

As soon as we arrived back at the house, Leila set herself to work. she passed Anne's room without informing anything straight into her room, her room wasn't much, it elegantly white and sophisticated, everything placed at the appropriate place, not a single product misplaced, truth being said, I didn't expect anything less than perfection when it comes to Leila. 

she created a circle of candles and sat in the middle of it with a picture of Aini and a small pot full of water. "off the lights please," she informed and I stared at the lights on the ceiling, it went off, the dozen of candles gave the room a subtle golden glow and a feeling of seriousness.  Leila closed her eyes and started to chant something inaudible.

the candles flickered for a moment and blazed stronger than ever. Leila went completely still. the process started to bore me, I was standing idly staring at the stated Leila for more than thirty minutes and I feel the irritation slightly knocking my senses if I was still alive, I would have dozed off but now I'm a ghost and desperate to find something about my best friends whereabouts, so I sucked in my boredom and returned to staring at Leila. 

the lights flickered again and I sighed, this repetition has started to slowly vanish my hope. never did I ever think that my best friend's family held so many secrets, there were so many other ideas brewing inside my mind but it is wise to not ask them straight away and focus on the matter at hand. 

I stared at the candles, Leila has been still for too long but what caught my attention was the dripping blood from Aini's picture, it came out of nowhere. I panicked and started walking towards the picture but when I went near the candles it flickered crazy, creating an invisible power circle eliminating me from the area, it burnt my legs when I started to take a step inside the circle, the burning sensation spread to my legs and traveled up to my knees, making me shrivel on pain.

I tried once more to enter inside but the pain was too crucial so I stepped outside, "you can't enter," Leila spoke, she was now staring at me.

"why?" I asked her, still writhing in the pain.

"You killed someone and you plan on killing many," she informed.

So what, now I'm the bad guy? wow, the reality of life sucks!

"I killed a bad guy, and I'm not planning to hurt an innocent, does that make me a bad guy?" I countered.

"your intentions are of killing, innocent or not, you have murdered a human and that calls for evil," she explained simply, her face blank.

"I'm not an evil spirit Leila but if you consider killing a murderer evil, it's fine by me and I won't hesitate to do it again," I informed and continued, "why is there blood on the picture?"

"it's because my daughter is in pain."

"what did you see? where is she? did you see anything?" I questioned, my curiosity piquing to the top-notch. 

The last time when I sensed my best friend, I had her fading mirage and a scary feeling that she was dying but if Leila was calm, that does mean Aini is still safe, safe as she can get in the hold of the wicked witch but it will suffice for now.

I miss her and I yearn to find her at any cost.

"she's sleeping, deep. she wasn't dying but she soon will if we don't reach her at the right time, but her willpower to stay alive was strong and she will fight with her life until we find her, I have tried to link with A, we need to get started quickly, let's find my daughter Ze," she answered hopefully.

Leila's optimism stirred the hope within me, "what are we waiting for? let us go!"

"she was calling for you Zara, she wanted you and harry to come to find her, she is chanting your name, if you can concentrate on the details of the mansion you can connect with her, after all, she waiting for you," she continued with a sad glint in her eyes.

oh A! my Aini, how do I fulfill your trust when I am so broke inside and clueless? but I won't fail you, I promised myself to find her somehow, even if it stakes my life, I will save aini.

I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the detail of the house, broken vintage interiors and damaged pieces of furniture, the stained wall with centuries worth of dirt, and outdated chandeliers. in a few minutes, I was able to picture the mansion clearly, I tried to see where A was kept, I tried to visualize the chamber of the portrait, I concentrated so hard, wished to be teleported straight into the mansion, the room looked just like it was from the last time I was scooped inside A's dream. 

the visual started to change, it became more clearer as if I was experiencing a vision. I was able to see the chamber of the portrait more clearly every passing second, the room was neater as usual and empty. I focused on the details of my best friend. 

the portrait was empty, it was bare, the wicked witch absent from the frame, I wondered where her picture was? I noticed a human shape figure lying on the bed, opposite from the portrait's wall. I walked near the bed, a lump forming in the pit of my stomach, I sent a small prayer hoping it was A, my legs turned heavy with every step I took forward. 

I neared the bed and saw her, she was sleeping peacefully, small bruises covered her face and body, shards of glasses pierced her hands and leg but she had a tiny smile as if she knew I'm next to her. 

"I'm here A, I will take you back," I whispered, my voice slowly breaking in the middle. 

the lights around the room went off, the room turning into broken ruins, the bed A slept in was now shards of glasses and thorns tearing her skin. I tried to reach A but I was stopped when a black mirage formed next to her, uttering in a mocking tone, "you can try," and came fastly at me, knocking me out of my vision.

A/N

Word count -  2233 (excluding A/N)

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