We set out towards house number 114, keeping the ring in my purse. The house was just a five-minute walk away. We rang the doorbell and waited.

After a minute a man in his fifties answered the door. About six feet high with a huge belly and a gruff voice.

'Yes, what do you want, kids?'

'Sir, may we speak to Mr. Sunderlal Manek?' I asked him in the most docile tone possible.

'Speaking'

Dhruv spoke to him, which we always preferred.

'Namaste uncle! Actually, we happened to visit a market yesterday and the shopkeeper told us that somebody had left a ring by mistake after buying it from him. He had made a few rough guesses and one of them was that it could belong to you or somebody from your family'

He softened down a bit.

'That's really kind of you. But son, I don't wear any ring of this kind. In fact, the only ring I ever had was my wedding ring!' he burst out laughing.

We laughed politely at that feeble joke.

'Anyway, I'll ask my wife and my two daughters if they happened to leave it. Sunita!'

'Yes?' his wife came running to him.

'Please do bring the girls here along with you. These kids have come to ask something'

She did in a few seconds and he explained the whole situation to them.

'Really? Show it to me, child'

We did and one of the girls spoke up, presumably the younger one.

'Yes, I do have a ring like this, which of course means that this isn't mine'

'Thank you so much, we're really grateful to you'

We were glad that at least we could nail one buyer. And she was crossed off our list.

We went to visit the next Manek family on our list. We rang the doorbell, which was answered in a few seconds by a much older man this time, who was quite short and clean-shaven.

'Yes?' thankfully, he looked a little less cranky than our previous man.

Dhruv repeated the same request again.

'Son, this ring isn't mine. My wife has gone to visit her family and both my children are married and settled abroad'

'I see. Thank you so much for your information. Please have a good day!'

With no luck here, we walked the next two blocks to Ms. Molly's house and rang the doorbell. A beautiful young lady of about twenty-six opened the door.

'Yes?'

Dhruv repeated our request again, only to be denied by her.

'No children, this isn't mine. I'm allergic to metallic jewelrey' she spoke in a husky voice.

'Anybody, you live with?'

'No, I shifted here because I got a new job here'. She turned out to be exactly the way Devika had predicted.

'Okay then. Thank you so much for your information. Good day to you ma'am!'

We finally winded up our investigation with the Manek people. Now to search for the landlord.

'Let's go to this Rathore fellow. The landowner of Rudra Marketplace' I suggested.

'Chalo!' they all chorused. By now, their energy was infectious.

'But hey, this time I'll do the talking, okay?' Samarth begged.

'Sure!' It was better for the tall, muscular Samarth to talk to the landowner.

With a ten minute walk, we reached his place. Calling it a place would be inappropriate. It was a huge triplex mansion for which he'd joined three flats together to build it.

We rang the doorbell, which was answered by a frail man in his forties. Probably his manservant.

'Ji?' ("Yes?" in Hindi)

'Rathore Saab ghar par hain?' (Is Mr. Rathore at home?) Samarth asked him this time.

'Ji, babu' (Yes, sir)

'Ham badi door se aaye hain, unse milne ke liye. Iss vaqt mil sakte hai kya?' (We've come from afar to see him. Is it possible to meet him at this time?)

'Thehriye, main abhi unhe poochchta hoon' (Please hold on, I'll ask him right now)

He went inside and we heard the voices of two men. Damn it, so many complications just to enquire about a ring. But patience was everything in this game.

By now he returned.

'Andar aaiye' (Please come in)

Finally. We walked through the huge living room and were led into his bedroom by the servant. We were greeted by a huge, potbellied man in his forties. He was just like the first Manek, only about two times fatter.

'Rakhaal!' he yelled in a booming voice which was probably audible till the end of the valley.

'Ji, saab?' the servant came in scurrying like a frightened squirrel.

'Jao, bacchon ke liye sherbet leke ao' (Go fetch some cold drinks for the kids)

'Naahe, uncle. Kuch nahi lenge. Aapse bas ek sawwal tha, agar aapko pareshaani nahi hai toh' (No, thank you, uncle. We just need to ask you a question, if that's not a problem'

'Kya hua? Poochiye' (What happened? Ask away)

'Yeh aapki hai kya?' (Does this belong to you?) Samarth asked him, holding out the ring and repeating our query to him.

'Naahe. Lekin aap bechne ko taiyaar hain kya?' (No, but are you willing to sell by any chance?)

We had a hard time controlling our laughter at that query.

'Arey uncle, yeh toh Naulakha market se hain. Sirf bees rupaya daam!' (But uncle, this is from Naulakha market. Just twenty bucks a fly!) Samarth replied, chuckling hard.

The fellow looked really embarrassed.

'Theek hai. Yeh mera naa hai, ise le jaaiye' (Okay. This isn't mine, please take it away) he muttered sheepishly.

'Theek hai ji. Alvida, uncle!' (Very well then. Goodbye, uncle!)

We were led to the front door by Rakhaal again. We sped away quickly and gave out all of our pent up laughter.

'My my, did you see that gold digger?' I laughed.

'Greedy old fellow' Devika laughed.

'You know if we didn't need this ring, I would've sold it to the fatso for a fortune' quipped Samarth.

'I know right. Maybe we can come here again with one of the plastic rings I had when I was a kid' I added.

'He would blow all his savings for that' Dhruv commented.

'Come on, let's go home. It's almost from lunchtime and it's a long walk back. I have to take a shower too' I hurried them up.

'Me too!' each one of them chorused in unison.

'And oh, by the way, good work boys!' I praised them both.

'Mention not!' Dhruv replied.

We separated ways and ran for a shower before having to answer any interrogations.

That very evening, 5:00 pm

We met up, as usual at my place again.

'So there's only one person we still need to track down. The last lady the shopkeeper talked about' said Dhruv.

'We can't do that, because the description he gave would fit nearly half the women in Dehradun!' I told him. 'And that's all we know of her. We don't know her name or any of her whereabouts'

'Yes, that's a problem. Whereas she's the only one left'

'All we can do now is read up more on magic history' Devika told him.

'Yes, of course. I've never been much of a reader, but I'm really enjoying this book'

'Plus, we have only another twelve days to keep this book after which I must return it'

'Can't we get it Xeroxed? Dhruv asked.

'I don't think so. A Xerox will damage the book. It's a hardcover and the size is huge too' Samarth told him.

'Oh'

We opened up the huge red book again to a page I'd marked with a post-it and flipped through the pages swiftly. It was filled with all the information Esperanza had already told me earlier and long paragraphs of unnecessary information.

'I guess we should go and return this book since we don't need anything more to do with this' I suggested. 'It'd be a great way to pass the evening and also, I'll show you the library's signing method!'

'Yes, let's go! We'll be back before it gets dark, I hope'

'Of course, we will!'

'And yes, that reminds me I need to ask something before I forget. Don't you think we should look up the puzzle to the AMNESIA antidote as well? I know it's in a different book, but I'm just asking' Dhruv enquired.

'I don't think so. I saw whatever I had to in the crystal ball itself and I was the victim here! There's no point in trying to revive my memory of one single day. Nevertheless, we'll try to solve it when we get back. Right now, we should wind up our work at Esperanza's before it gets dark. The light fades away from six in the evening in this place'

We hurried out of the house to the clinic.

'My goodness, did you climb these slopes every day?' Devika asked me in surprise.

'I'm used to it anyway. This is Dehra, not Delhi. So we have a mild amount of climbing almost every day!'

We reached the clinic in about five minutes' time and was welcomed by a warmly smiling Esperanza.

'Ah, Maitreyi. Good day?'

'Yeah, I hope you're doing well now'

'Oh yes, I am. Zees your friends?'

'Yes, my cousins Dhruv and Devika'

'Namaste' they folded their hands politely.

'Namaste, dears. So what brings you here?'

I opened my rucksack and took out the red book.

'We came to return this'

'Oh, I see. Come with me'

Saying so, she led all of us into the dark corridor to the library. I felt my cousins shiver with excitement.

'Oh my god, this is so exciting! I feel like I'm really in a Harry Potter movie' Devika squealed.

'I know right!' Dhruv replied. 'Never seen anything like this before'

I loved watching their gaping jaws when they finally reached the library.

'But, I thought this place was a hole in a tree!'

'It's underground, Dhruv. Cool no?'

'Whoa. Amazing'

I returned the book and the moment I did, the leaf in my hand shape popped out of the rack a puffed away into a blast of golden sprinkles.

'What-what was that?' Devika asked me.

'Magic!' By now its existence wasn't hard to believe.

'Hey, Esperanza?'

'Yes?'

'You remember our little paradox? Octavius's child?'

'Yes, did you find anything?'

'No, I didn't. That's why I came to you'

'Do you think I should give you another book?'

'Whatever you think is best. Just asking, do you know everything about magic history and all the knowledge in these books?'

'Of course not, dear. I specialize in psychic skills and parapsychology, the psychology of the subconscious state of mind. This library contains every book in the history of magic, all written by skilled writers of the magic era. That's why I'm asking you to refer to these books, in case you turn up with something'

'I see. But I'd be glad if I could get a book which is a little different from the one I'm returning right now. I want to know a few unpopular facts about Beagle Fire and not the usual story everybody knows'

'Alright, let me see what we've got here'

She walked around the racks and we all followed her. After a few minutes she stopped at a particular rack and pulled out a book, thankfully about one and a half times thinner than the red one. Nevertheless, it still had a lot in it.

'Now, go to the large central table to get yourselves signed'

I nudged the others. This is what you came for. Watch the show.

She placed the navy blue book on the table and took out four maple leaves. I went first.

'Watch me' I told them as I placed my hand on the powder-sprinkled leaf.

They yelled as they saw blue flames arising from beneath my hands.

'Are you burning?' 'Is that fire?' 'What is happening?'

'Relax guys, nobody's burning. It's just taking my handprint'

By that time it was all over.

'Wanna do this?'

'Of course!'

They both followed suit, with a whole lot of oohs and aahs and whees. Finally, Samarth signed in and we left, bidding her a good night.