"What do you plan now, Seth dear" Anna asked as they made their way into the house.

"Zee told me that, she was going to show me around. Told me to be ready by five" Seth said as they reached the hall.

Anna went to her armchair and sat. Seth too sat on the couch.

"Its, ten. It won't be five, for around seven hours, what will you do In these hours"

"I don't have much to do, I can go out for yet another walk or I can read the book in my room," Seth said scratching his head.

"I have a good idea, why don't you go and visit the church, you said you were eager to go there, that will be a perfect place"

"You, are right Anna, I should go there. I will leave right away" he said in an enthusiastic voice.

"Wait, Seth, I will pack some food for you so that, you won't feel hungry while solving the mystery" Anna said getting up and going to the kitchen.

Seth went to his room and took out his bag to pack something for his adventure. He took out a diary and a pen. He searched for some more things that he could take, not finding anything else. He closed his bag and tucking it away he came down into the kitchen.

"Take this, I have prepared some of my special dishes for you, you will like them," she said handing him a sling bag.

"Thanks, Anna, you are great," Seth said hugging her, she hugged her back.

He took the bag and started out. Closing the door behind him, he has just started walking when he realized one thing. How was he going to get to the church? He didn't know where it was.

He took out his smartphone and opened the maps. He tried finding his way through GPS but, failed.

The GPS showed that there was no network around to mark his location.

I wonder how dad found the way here if, the network ain't working he thought while retracing his steps and going back to the house. He rang the bell, and waited. Anna opened the door.

"Seth, why did you come back, is there any problem," Anna asked in a concerned voice and opened the door wider.

"Anna, I don't know where the church is, I thought you could tell me," Seth said sheepishly.

"How, foolish of me. I should have thought that you wouldn't know the way, wait here" she said and went into the hall and came back with a paper and gave it to him.

"This is a map, a very old one by the looks of it," Seth said opening the paper and seeing the slightly faded drawings of the houses and river and the mountain forest.

There was a compass drawn on the bottom right corner showing the direction.

"Yes, the map belonged to my son. He used to be an archeologist, he found the map himself. When he was digging on the mountains, these have been in the house since then" Anna had a faraway look in her eyes, while she said this.

"Thanks.....um- what happened to your son," Seth asked unsure of what to say.

Anna noticed this and smiled cheerfully "This is a tale for another time, you should go now, else you will be late for your meeting with Zee in the evening.

"Sure, bye," Seth said and hurried to the lane, waving to Anna before reaching the corner.

He stopped there and checked the map for the direction on the map. He first located where he was and, found that he was on the extreme edge of the southeast of the village and that the church was somewhere near the center.

There were two ways to go there, either he could continue to the route he has taken last night or he could go back and take the other route. The latter was a shorter way, he decided to take it.

He turned and started walking, going back towards the house. He saw that anna was not on the door. He continued ahead and started walking. Sticking to the main road. He could see the mountains on the distant rising high.

He has seen mountains in India too, there was one visible from the building he lived in. a rare thing, for the ones living in a city. He had even visited one of them, just for picnic when he was young. But, it was nothing like what he was seeing. The mountains he has visited had steps made so that the people can climb up the mountains. This was clearly not the same here. He could say from seeing them that, there would be no such steps to climb the mountain.

He has reached the third turning and he decided to take it. The map showed that it was a straight road to the church. Crossing the road he started walking. There were houses on both sides of the roads but, the area was quite calm and there were few motors around. He looked at his watch and saw that he still had more than six hours left. By the looks of it, he estimated it will take him around an hour to reach the church. That was no biggie for him, he liked walking, especially on lonely roads.

Back in India, he used to go on such walks almost any time he got the chance, he would walk on those roads, listening to songs. He regretted not packing his cords before leaving the house but, he soon found himself looking at the houses around him with an air of satisfaction.

He felt good when he was outside. He saw a store ahead, going there he bought himself a drink, the bottle was not familiar to him, he decided to take it anyways. Thinking of trying something new. He paid with the money from what his parents had given him.

"Is there any church nearby?" he asked the shopkeeper as he handed him money.

"You talking about, the church with the mystery" the shopkeeper inquired giving him the changes, Seth pocketed them.

"Yeah, the church seems well known here. Are there any other churches besides that"

"You will find only two community churches, one that is the cursed one and the other made so, the people can avoid going there"

"You mean, that another church was made here only so, the people can stop going to the mystery church"

"You wouldn't like to visit a haunted church, would you"

"Right..... what is so mysterious about this church" Seth inquired curiously now.

"There are many rumors around that, there have been ghost sightings, paranormal activities and many other foul things," he said sighing and seating back.

"Have you ever seen them- the ghosts, I mean. Do you think that the church really is haunted"

"I have never seen them myself, god help me if I do... but, who cares if that church is really haunted or not, we now have a new church and are happy with it"

"Right," Seth said and then with a simile left the shop.

This place is a big mystery, I just hope that I will be able to solve it while I am here. I can interrogate the people around but, I doubt they will have anything new. Maybe zee could help me to find something about this place. I could even ask her friends if, they know anything about this place, he thought. He opened the bottle and took a sip, pineapple with soda. He nodded his head immediately liking the taste.

He looked at the sticker on the bottle which said 'fruit soda'.

He emptied the bottle quickly and threw it in the dustbin. His thoughts again turned to the mystery of the church. There were various reasons he could think of, nothing of which made it seem that the church was haunted. His first thought was, that a group of ancient cult members were doing some rituals in the church and had done something that, the church appeared haunted.

After all, cult meetings were common in these parts. If that was the case then this was an easy break but, there was another more sinister explanation to it. Terrorist- refugee terrorist seeking shelter, they would want some peace and quiet.

What better place than a haunted church. This was a frightening thought. I am over exaggerating, a group of terrorists hiding in a haunted castle, in a remote place liked this. Not possible.

"What is not possible" he heard a rough voice from behind.

************************************

Game time:

My partner hokage??
sakina_moiz