Two weeks passed with a heavy downpour of excruciating vain for the self-proclaimed detectives. Every day was just similar to the previous: wake, eat, think and sleep. The past fourteen days had been thronged with only memories of frustration and anger.

Pristine spent her mornings recollecting the grievous incident to check if that shape-shifter had left any possible loopholes. Using her invisibility charm, she and Alan had visited the crime spot only to notice that there was neither a shop called 'The Wishing Emporium' nor a building in the first place.

Alan had even staked his life again; he had once again teleported to the magical realm to inquire about further updates from his new friend, Hemant. Despite his taxing efforts, Hemant had no way but to reveal the truth that the Etherials had subsequently made no progress in their forage. The only progress he had made was in terms of emotions; his family had resumed speaking to him like nothing had ever happened. Of course, it was a great improvement personally for Alan, however, it had no contribution to solving the case.

The beginning of their plan seemed to be so successful and indulged too much positivity, all of which vanished into thin vapours as Alan and Pristine sat devastated with hands on their heads.

"I am sure I have heard that name somewhere..." Pristine pondered as the bright shafts of the sunlight illuminated her pale face. Gazing at the view of her house from Alan's window, Pristine deep-dived into her memories to find where she had heard the shape-shifter's name.

"There's no chance!" Alan sprang up and adjusted his sleeves, "You are just hallucinating. Romine is an Etherial, how would you even know her?"

Pristine remained silent and continued gazing intently at her window, remaining, as usual, deaf to his galling remarks.

Alan grabbed his comb and groomed his hair, parting two unequal sides and straightened them. As he moved towards the mirror to perfect his appearance, his reflection stared back at him, dull and worn-out. Ultimately, his mind wandered back in time, when Andrei had given him a makeover, when he had pranked Andrei into cutting a chunk of his hair, when they both got matching leather jackets...

The mirror had seen it all; the lovely friendship, the silly bickering and most of all, the companionship. Looking soullessly at the mirror, Alan felt like he had lost a twin. Huge droplets of tears trickled down his face as Alan's hand didn't bother to wipe it. He had to cry; he had failed in giving justice to his friend's death.

I will make sure the killer pays for Andrei's death...

***

Alan dashed through the stairs after handing over food to Pristine and arrived right on time for dinner. One thing that drastically changed after the murder was that the family had more time seeing each other. This had a great impact for the Alteiners as they finally began learning more about each other and feel like a family. Dinners had become more amusing with the twins mocking each other revealing some embarrassing stories, Arthur and Avril debating on the most illogical topics and Abigail flaunting her invisibility power by suddenly appearing on Alan's lap.

As Alan pulled out the chair and settled himself, he peeked through the close lids of the containers, trying to grab sight of what had been prepared. Another new abnormality that had impacted the family was that Arabella and Avril had joined forces to venture into an untraversed realm that was even harder than mastering magic : cooking. Each dinner, the family had been served with eye-appealing dishes after hours of rattling utensils and sizzling pans collided in the ultimate kitchen war to create dishes from various cuisines.

The only reason why the venture had worked out was that both the siblings were extremely supportive and enthusiastic. Avril obeyed Arabella's orders as if his life depended on it and Arabella dared every muscle and nerve of her body to hurt her adorable sibling or make him cry. If it had been either Adrius or Arthur or even Alan, then home would never become a sweet home and food will never be served.

Alan's eyes craved in hunger as Arabella presented their first dish for today's Arabic cuisine, adjusting the apron in her waist and smug in her face. The frizzling shish tawouk plate accompanied by a copious amount of french fries glimmered like gold under the light. It was cheerfully followed by a generous amount of the two famous dips: hummus and mutabbel. To make it more 5-star like, Avril was seen carefully pouring the olive oil over the dips as he preened on their collective achievement in attaining proficiency.

The family was too hungry to bother appreciating their work and immediately sealed their mouths with whatever dish their eyes set sight on. A few impressive nods, some vague thumbs ups, perplexed pupils and one loud applause asserted their victory in the food war.

Avril settled beside his sister as they high-fived at their newborn success. Removing the aprons and placing them aside, he took a deep inhale of the happy air that had finally found its way to their abode. For the past two weeks, everyone had behaved like normal humans, like Avril.

Nobody was busy chasing a robber through the streets or smacking a reckless kidnapper or even tapping the panels at the ministry's control cell and guiding directions to find the criminal. No. Every one had finally found the inner-self they had buried within, unleashing beautiful smiles that would have made each day better and happier.

Do you like this?

The voice that stirred his mental health few weeks ago spoke to him, blended with spoons of slight softness. Avril, this time, graced the voice with a smile and a dainty nod to make it obviously unobvious to the friend within him.

The demonic voice had become Avril's new friend and supportive companion. Their relations bonded in time and bloomed with love as Avril constantly spoke to the voice within him, so much that Abigail freaked out on seeing her brother talking all alone.

Not the food!

The voice's unfunny joke made Avril chuckle. He didn't know whether he was in love with the demon inside him or was it self love, but he knew one thing for sure; whatever the voice tells, it was right.

Do you wish to see your family like this?

The voice fueled his delusions, making him nod heavily. Yes, he would do anything to see them treat him as a normal son, rather than a defective brother.

Then, listen to me. I'll make sure you will always be happy.

The promises were very flowery and brought happiness to his heart; it was similar to that of a lover, making Avril hypnotized.

The voice promised him everything, that he would soon turn into a shape-shifter, that his family will soon laud him for his powers and become popular and respected in the society, and that he will only live the best of his life.

Eat, now.

Avril hastened to oblige the command and joined along his family, as if nothing had happened.

As he swallowed a bite of their aptly cooked chicken and immersed himself into the sea of food-perfection-ecstasy, he noticed that, once again, his father was not present at the dinner table. As his face frowned in a regular rage, Arthur voiced his thoughts.

"Where is Dad? I rarely see him these days.."

Izra made her children wait as she slowly swallowed the chunk of chicken dipped in hummus and answered, "Oh! I actually forgot to tell you guys something."

The siblings gradually reduced their munching and listened to what their mother had to reveal.

"After the ministry ban, your Dad has been pretty vexed about the idle time he spends. So he decided to begin working in one of his most treasured projects. I also think it is a good distraction for him, as long as he's not disturbing me in the name of doing household chores."

"What is the project? Is it a time-machine? He had asked me for one of those books I bought from Pandora, that goes on details about traversing through time and its elements... Is it that?" Arabella inquired curiously.

"No, Ara. It's – it's something similar to your powers.." Izra hesitated. She knew exactly how her children would react.

"Then what is it?"

"Its – it's a pill. A – a pill to make a human the Healer..."

The siblings had lost it all. In a span of two seconds, they had become all waspish and rebelsome as they revolted against the generic regime that was sincerely abided by their family.

"Another baby inside the household?"

"Mom, seriously! We are banned from the ministry! What is the –"

"We don't have enough space at ho –"

"I am not sharing my room," Abigail piped in fury with her hands crossed, motioning her refusal to eat and share her room.

"Relax!" Izra exclaimed, "It's not like I am pregnant!"

"Yet..." Arthur emphasized as he rolled his eyes.

"Okay listen," Izra attempted to break through the protest, "it's not like the potion is ready. There is a long way to go, probably a year! Till then, y'all can relax, and Abi, we'll make a new –"

"Sorry, guys!" Avril sprang abruptly, his plate half-eaten as all pairs of living eyes in the room turned towards him. "I gotta go..."

"Who messaged you? I heard the notification ring..." Adrius demanded.

"Lucas! He wanted some notes to refer to.....he's having his retest tomorrow..."

"Okay, but finish your food and go, Avril!" Izra raised her concern.

"Mom, I'll be back soon!" Avril darted towards the front door after managing a bleak 'bye' and slammed it.

"He's not at all home these days!" Arthur complained, hoping that someone would join him.

"Well, I think he has a girlfriend..." Adrius revealed, to the family's astonishment.

"Avril!" Arabella shrieked as a small smile escaped her face out of delight.

"That's a big plot twist," Izra laughed, "How did you know?"

"Kate told me that the other day, she had seen Avril with a girl after school. So it's just my intuition.."

"I am so happy for him!" Arabella squealed as the family responded with beams, "He's been through a lot, so I hope she's a good person who guides Avril to happiness..."

***

The dark blanket of vastness enshrouded the town, making small space to accommodate the crescent moon along with pin pricks of white stars. Pristine watched the impeccable sight of the night as she munched on the sandwich Alan had given.

She was bored, definitely. There was nothing good in hiding the monotonous conversation she had with the air around her. Alan had been sweet and kind enough to lend his tablet and earpods so that she could get some entertainment. But the hovering mystery and determination to search for the truth hindered her thoughts from being astray. 

As she took the last bite of the sandwich, her eyes wandered towards the backyard of the Alteiner's home, the view right below the window. She caught attention of two silhouettes as she casually peeped through the window out of curiosity.

It was Avril, the infamous superhero. Pangs of sympathy pricked her conscience as she also had learnt how it felt to be disregarded by the society for a mistake which was not yours. Raising her bar of respect for Avril, she peeped further to get a good glance of the Alteiner, only to be taken aback with a hammer of realization hammering her nuts, bringing back all the things she had forgotten.

It was a girl. Though there was nothing much wrong about that, Pristine scrutinized the girl's appearance from afar to confirm her intuition. Her heart palpitated vigorously as she shuddered on recognizing the girl talking to Avril.

Everything seemed to piece the puzzle she had been trying to solve for all these days. Every single situation seemed to fit right into the seat to confirm her hunch.

She had seen those round lilac eyes, the sleek mauve-hued hair that extended to her knees, the familiar smug and the surreal beauty.

It should be her...

Pristine sprang up as she saw the girl smirking, her eyes glowing under the night.

"It is definitely her."