Chapter 30: Calm Before The Storm (Part 1)

Sneha: "Well, looks like you were right after all."

She says while looking at the small dot in the sky which was slowly growing bigger.

Ethan: "You know, it's kinda awkward to see a technology like that when we are stuck on an island with none of it."

Sneha: "None of it? What happened to our jets?"

Sneha looks around to try to find the jet they came in and finds nothing.

Ethan: "You mean you didn't notice until now?"

Sneha: "There were here just a moment ago, weren't they?"

Ethan: "No, it just looked like that. Barry was casting an illusion to fool us into thinking what you had been thinking."

Sneha: "Wait, why didn't you say anything before?"

Ethan: "Because I thought I don't need to with you being an Aural and stuff. I thought you would have already sensed it in the aura."

Sneha sighs. Just how many tricks are they gonna try to pull at each other, she wonders.

Sneha: "So, what did he do with our jets?"

Ethan: "Pretty much drowned them underwater. And he did the same to his own jet as well."

Sneha: "But why did he do that? He should already have known there is no way to go back using those jets."

Ethan: "Hmm … the barriers, right?"

Sneha nods as she looks back at the dot in the air which has grown considerably larger. She tries to analyze its aura.

Ethan: "What is it?"

Sneha: "It's a jet too."

Ethan: "I see. That makes sense."

Ethan says as he ponders on the previous topic while putting a finger on his cheeks. Sneha keeps looking at the jet so she doesn't miss anything. Unlike those in the island who can clearly see it in the sky, the people in the jet would not be able to see the island. To them, it would look like just ocean water. It will only be after they enter the barriers surrounding the island that they'll see what is truly here.

However, if they keep flying at the normal altitude for a jet, they would just fly over the barrier, so in order to get in the island, they need to know that it's here and lower their jets accordingly.

Ethan: "Did you see anything?"

Sneha: "It looks like they are lowering themselves a little. Doesn't look like they did anything to figure out that this is where they needed to lower it."

Ethan: "Is that so?"

When Barry and Ro came here, Barry already knew that the island was here because he had been here before. Kais and Sneha just followed their lead. Not knowing where they needed to start lowering the altitude was a major reason Ethan tricked Barry and Ro into reaching the island first. But since the people in this jet would need to somehow figure it out, they had thought to spy on them to see how they do it.

Ethan: "Well, they may have already figured it out by the point we started spying on them, they may have figured it out by some means that we couldn't spot from outside or they may have someone who already knew it was here."

Sneha: "Yeah, that's how it seems."

They come to the conclusion that they have failed at finding out what they intended to find, so they try to forget about it and focus on what's about to come since it is more important anyway.

Ethan: "I have been thinking about that for a while now actually."

Not understanding what he is referring to, Sneha turns to look at him only to find a rarely seen troubled expression.

Sneha: "What exactly are you talking about?"

Ethan: "Well you know; why Barry drowned our jets when we couldn't use it anyway?"

Sneha: "Hmm …"

Neither of them understands his reasoning for it. The reason this question holds so much importance in their eyes is because it can solve a mystery they would not be able to solve by themselves.

Ethan: "I know for a fact that we weren't just sharing information last night but trying to trick the other as well. While I was trying to get him to think my goal aligns with his, he was trying to do something too. But, how exactly was he tricking me?"

Sneha: "Kinda hard to figure out when you know the other person wasn't lying about anything, huh?"

Ethan: "I suppose."

The word 'deceit' is often associated with the word 'lie'. But, lying is just one way of deceiving.

Because of Ethan's Eyes of Truth and Barry's ability to read aura, neither of the two tried to deceive the other by lies as the other would have known instantly. While that may have helped in getting information out of the other at that moment, it becomes very hard to figure out exactly what the other party was doing to deceive them.

Sneha: "Hey, it's about to cross the barriers."

Ethan looks up at the jet when Sneha says so.

Ethan: "It is really close."

The moment it enters the barrier, people inside would be able to see the island along with the two standing on the beach.

Sneha: "Should we try to hide now?"

Ethan: "Well, because the ones coming here are ghosts, I doubt it would do us any good to try to hide."

Because they are energy, they can sense energy, speculates Ethan. It would indeed be hard to hide from ghosts, especially if its someone as powerful as Spectre Dyne.

Ethan: "So, tell me, what kind of image would that Dyne guy have of you?"

Sneha: "Well, we weren't exactly enemies the last time we met and didn't leave a bad impression on each other. I can guarantee that. But now the situation has heated up and he might be hostile towards me after learning that I am not working with Vermillion anymore."

Ethan: "That makes sense."

He looks at the jet as it pierces through the barrier making a portion of the barrier visible for a while. Ethan could use his eyes to see the position of the barrier anytime but it was invisible to the naked eye.

Ethan: "…"

Sneha: "…"

As the two remain silent, they look at the jet slowly coming lower and lower till it finally lands. After a brief moment of silence, the sound of the shuttle opening comes and two men could be seen standing at the entrance.

Ethan: "And I was so hoping it was not true."

He says as a bittersweet smile envelope his lips. Sneha glances at him not knowing the meaning of what he just said. But, what she sees is the sight of a man looking afraid and nervous but trying to control it – someone who is trying to hide the fact that his hands are shaking.

Ethan Kales is not a psychopath. He is not some idiot who dives into his death with a smile. He is not someone who puts his life on line to take on monstrously powerful people for the fun of it. Beneath his façade of all that there is a human being; scared of the consequences of his actions and not wanting to repeat the mistakes of his past.

That façade is not there without a reason either. That façade is their because of the fear he felt when a monster first tried to kill him. The reason he would put up that façade, the reason he would do things that can get him killed – is now standing before him.

With fear and anxiety in his eyes, with the façade breaking down a little, he looks at Spectre Dyne, the leader of the army of ghosts.

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