The warm sunlight hit the faces of the two boys as they sat silently, scrolling through the group chat.
Aryaraj: Should we meet?
Narayan: yeah
Gautam: oh, first time Narayan has written something in the group!
Ankit: it seems dangerous outside though, the government says we should stay at home
Akshat: scaredy cat as always, Ankit. You can stay if you want
Dhanprabha: Ankit is actually right, I think
Aryaraj: but we can't just keep sitting and doing nothing
Ankit: have you seen the news of what's happening?
Akshat: but we also have powers
Ankit: have you forgotten what happened 2 days ago?
Akshat: that was a different case
Gautam: now don't fight, we can decide by voting
Aryaraj: it's a good idea
Dhanprabha: but not now, not everyone is online
Aryaraj: then let's do it in the evening. Dhanprabha, tell the girls to be online. Who will tell Mayank?
Narayan: I will
Aryaraj: then let's talk in the evening
Ankit: ok
Gautam: see ya all
Akshat: ok then
Dhanprabha: bye brothers
Narayan put his phone aside and looked at Mayank.
"Want to meet them?" Narayan asked.
"Maybe we should," Mayank replied calmly.
"Ok then, I'm going home. Come online in the evening," Narayan said, standing up.
After teleporting home, Narayan went straight to bed.
Hours passed like minutes. When he woke up, it was already evening. His phone was filled with new messages. Sitting up, he opened the chat.
Gautam: everyone online?
Dhanprabha: yeah
Ankit: Narayan is still offline
Mayank: he'll come, don't worry
Aryaraj: then let's start
Akshat: according to me, we should meet. We've been at home for days with no clue what's happening
Ankit: but it's dangerous
Akshat: you said it once already
Tehsin: we aren't here to fight, are we?
Jasmine: I think we should meet
Ritika: I saw some army vehicles but… if you all are going, then I'll come
Gautam: now, now, let's just vote
Narayan stared at the screen, thinking, hmm… so you're really not gonna tell them what happened?
Akshat: I vote yes
Ankit: no
Gautam: I'm with Ankit, so no
Jasmine: yes
Tehsin: I don't want to meet outside
Ritika: if you guys are meeting then me too
Dhanprabha: I think it's dangerous, so no
Aryaraj: I vote yes
Mayank: yes
Jasmine: so it's decided
Gautam: wait, Narayan hasn't voted
Tehsin: he rarely talks in the group, you think he will?
Narayan: I vote yes
Tehsin: WHATTT??
Jasmine: yeahh, then it's decided
Narayan looked at the screen with a small grin. Strangely, that reply gave him a tiny spark of joy.
Ritika: then where are we meeting?
Aryaraj: Ghata Wale Mataji temple
Ankit: we can meet there but how will we reach? No vehicles are running
Akshat: we have Narayan, did you forget?
Gautam: yeah, Narayan can teleport us, right?
Narayan stared at the messages and cursed each one of them a thousand times in his mind.
He typed yeah, I'll teleport you to hell but deleted it.
Narayan: I can do that, but it'll take at least an hour. I need rest between each teleport
Aryaraj: an hour is fine if we can meet
Jasmine: then let's meet after two days
Akshat: sounds good
Ankit: there's no choice anyway
Gautam: ok
Dhanprabha: ok and I'll be back in a while. Wait for me
Mayank: ok
Tehsin: I don't want to
Ritika: yeah
Narayan: ok then, bye guys
I think I made a mistake by saying yes, Narayan thought as a drop of sweat slid down his forehead and the smile faded.
---
The next two days passed just like every other day since the lockdown began, and then the day finally came.
It was high noon, and the sun was right above.
"I'll be back by evening. Don't worry about me, I'll just teleport back if anything happens," Narayan said to his mother as he walked toward the roof of the house.
His mother didn't say anything, but her face was clearly filled with worry for her son. She wanted to stop him, yet no words came out.
As Narayan walked up the stairs, he thought, 'It really took everything to convince them.' A small bag hung from his back.
He reached the roof and muttered, "This meeting is gonna be a headache," before teleporting.
He appeared next to Mayank, who was standing outside his house.
"Knew you'd come for me first. But why teleport here? Aren't you wasting your so-called precious stamina?" Mayank teased.
"Teleporting myself takes less stamina. And if I'm touching someone, it consumes less for teleporting them too. Now shut up or I'll send you to some forest," Narayan said.
"Like you could," Mayank replied with a small grin.
Narayan teleported both of them outside the temple. It was huge — large enough to hold five hundred people or more. The Diwali decorations were half done. On one side was the parking lot, and on the other were the empty stands where vendors usually sold things. It was all too quiet now.
"Isn't it too quiet? Last week it was filled with people, and now there's no one… Well then, I think I'll go and maybe do some prayers," Mayank said.
"Well, I already did, so you can go. I'll rest awhile and then teleport the others," Narayan said, sitting on a nearby bench. It was metal, painted black, and rusted in a few places.
He placed the bag beside him and opened it. Inside were five bottles of glucose water.
Narayan took one out and chugged half of it in a go. He sat for another minute.
'Let's get to work,' he thought as he stood up from the bench.
Aryaraj was standing outside his house scrolling his phone, completely unaware of his surroundings.
Narayan teleported behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Reflexively, Aryaraj used his speed and appeared two meters away before looking back.
"Chill, bro, it's me," Narayan said in a calming tone.
"Man, you scared me for a second. Don't do things like that, I'll get a heart attack," Aryaraj said, still a bit shocked.
"You should be a little more aware of your surroundings. Now hold my hand, let's get going," Narayan said, reaching out his hand.
Aryaraj held it, and they teleported to the temple.
Next was Akshat. He was sitting in his garden waiting for Narayan when Narayan suddenly teleported in front of him.
"How did you know where I was?" Akshat asked curiously.
"Well, I just know," Narayan replied, placing a hand on his shoulder and teleporting him.
"Man, no matter how many times you do it, it's amazing. You should start a company and teleport people wherever they want," Akshat babbled half-jokingly.
Narayan laughed a bit, then walked toward his bag to drink more water.
Ankit was on the roof of his house, petting his wolf. "You've grown a bit these days," he said.
Suddenly the wolf ran toward the side where Narayan had just teleported and began rubbing against Narayan's feet.
"I think he likes me more than you," Narayan teased.
"Not more than me." Ankit blew a whistle, and the wolf immediately came to him.
Ankit picked the wolf up. "And I've named him Zero. Try calling him by his name."
"You and your naming sense…" Narayan said as he touched Ankit's back and teleported them.
"Uhh, I feel dizzy," Ankit said with unsteady steps. He put Zero down. "Well, what are they doing?"
Aryaraj and Akshat were trying to break a brick they found.
"I can easily break this brick with my fist," Akshat boasted.
"Try running with me, you can never match my speed," Aryaraj said, sprinting to the other end of the parking lot.
"Leave those two," Narayan said as he went to the bench. "I'll go get Gautam now."
Narayan teleported a few meters behind Gautam, who was watering plants with a small watering can, completely unaware.
Seeing this, a small idea sparked in Narayan's mind. This is gonna be fun, he thought as a grin appeared on his face.
He quietly walked up behind Gautam, touched him with his index finger, and teleported him — watering can included.
Still unaware, Gautam kept watering without looking. Then he glanced around and saw Ankit standing in front of him. As he turned his head, he noticed the others staring at him.
"Oh… when did I get here? And why are you all staring at me like I did something wro—"
He paused mid-sentence as he looked down.
He had been watering Zero's head the whole time. He froze, staring at Zero until the water ran out. The watering can slipped from his hands as he hesitantly stepped back.
"Umm… Ankit—"
Before he could finish, Zero charged at him, and Gautam instinctively ran for his life.
"Curse Narayan, you curse! I will curse kill you! Ankit, help me!" he screamed while running around the temple.
Revenge completed, Narayan thought with a cunning smile as he took another bottle from his bag.
"Umm… what's happening?" Mayank asked as he came out of the temple after finishing his prayers.
"Don't worry, just revenge," Narayan said with a smile.
"So… are you gonna teleport the girls now too?" Mayank asked.
"No, I'll teleport them from here. I don't wanna go to their houses," Narayan said indifferently.
"You know you'll die single like this," Mayank teased.
"Care about yourself. And I consider them my sisters anyway," Narayan said while chugging water.
After about half an hour, everyone had arrived. They all stood outside the main gate of the temple in the parking lot, talking about their powers and showing what they had learned these days.
"Shouldn't you be there?" Narayan asked Mayank as they both sat on the bench.
"You should too. And I'm not interested in their babbling about powers," Mayank replied, still watching the group.
"I'll go after a bit of rest. You go and listen. Maybe someone else has seen the men we saw," Narayan said while opening his bag.
"Well… you're right," Mayank said as he stood up and walked toward the group.
Narayan, now alone on the bench, checked his bag. 1 hour and 20 minutes… there's some improvement, he thought.
He looked at the last bottle. Maybe I'll need this later.
Meanwhile, Mayank listened to the others.
Tehsin said, "Two days ago, there were so many army vehicles near my house."
Ankit added with trembling legs, "I also saw smoke rising from an explosion far away."
Everyone spoke about the same things—army vehicles, the news, the fear.
No clue about those men… Mayank sighed.
Then Ritika said quietly, "Some days ago… I saw some men in black dresses wandering the streets with guns."
Her voice was small, buried under the others' chatter — but Mayank caught it. His eyes widened slightly.
"Wait—what did you just sa—"
He pointed toward Ritika, but before he could finish, an explosion thundered nearby.
Everyone instinctively snapped their heads toward the source — thick, black smoke rising.
Not far at all.
Barely a hundred meters away.
The highway.
To be continued…
---