CHAPTER 18: THE PLAN

THE PLAN

The three of them went to the college park and found a secluded bench in the far corner. "Whatever you said fits perfectly, Anya," said Raj with a thoughtful expression. "And let me add one more thing to your observations: do you both remember when I told you I saw his eyes turn completely inky black?"

"Not again with your supernatural theories, Raj. We're discussing a real, practical situation here," Meera interjected, raising her eyebrows and voice in irritation. "But I do agree with Anya's observations. This whole thing now seems like a big plot. But what kind of plot is it? If he has teammates, which he likely does given the complexity of this situation, why didn't they hurt the students when they had the chance? Why save them and make Amavas a hero? If they don't intend to harm us, what's their endgame in elevating him as a hero? Is there something more sinister at play, some hidden agenda behind this orchestrated heroism?" Meera pondered, her mind digging out the possibilities.

Anya stood up from the bench, addressing Meera and Raj with the authority of a teacher and outlining things like a lesson plan. "No…no, Meera, if we consider the likeliness of the incident, then we have to be a little open-minded about all kinds of possibilities. So, coming back to the point, when Raj mentioned Amavas's eyes turning black, I initially thought that he was just influenced by Amavas's intimidating appearance. But now, if we look at his theories as well, things start to add up. Remember when I called Amavas to clean the canteen? Before running to the forest wildly, he came with his mop and bucket and then suddenly froze, as if he was trying to focus or hear something. It could also be possible that he might have had an earpiece, but it's also possible that he has supernatural abilities. So, if we look at things like this, then we have two theories to consider. One is mine, which is practical and realistic. We need to focus on tangible evidence and logical explanations. The other is Raj's supernatural theory, which suggests we should keep an open mind about extraordinary possibilities. We need to investigate both angles to uncover the truth." She finished, looking at both of them with a questioning expression, her eyes asking if they agreed.

Raj looked at Meera with a smile, raising one eyebrow as if to say, "What do you think now?" Meera glared back at Raj, raising her own eyebrow in anger as she removed her glasses. "Oh my god, Meera, you look gorgeous in this pose," Raj said, his smile widening as he pretended to scrutinize her carefully, teasing her. Putting her glasses back on and flipping her hair back, Meera continued to stare at Raj while addressing Anya. "Okay… alright… So how are we going to do all this?" she asked, her gaze never leaving Raj.

Raj stood up, pretending to look scared and pulling a funny face. He looked at Anya, pointing a finger at Meera, and said, "I have an idea, but first, control this gorgeous witch before she kills me with her four eyes." Meera stood up as well and kicked Raj in the butt, saying in irritation "I will kill you…you jerk."

" I will join her too in killing you, Raj, if you don't tell us your idea right now," said Anya, staring at him with the eyes that demanded "come on, spill it." Both girls looked at him with killing eyes.

"We have two theories: yours, the practical one, which is right according to you... I mean, it's of course the right one... and mine, the supernatural and true one. I mean, yours is the true one... and mine, which isn't as true as yours, of course." Raj stuttered, nervously correcting himself as he glanced at their eyes. "So, here's the plan: we'll work in two teams. You and Meera will follow your theory, and I'll follow mine. At the end of each day, we'll compare our findings and decide how to progress further." Raj spoke quickly, almost in one breath, looking genuinely scared now.

Both girls exchanged smiles, their expressions triumphant, as if they had successfully scared the shit out of him. "Well, ok, great idea, Mr. Shittypants," Meera said, touching Raj's chin and shaking it as if he were a child. Both girls laughed loudly, and Raj squirmed, looking uncomfortable. "Well then, let's meet tomorrow," Anya said, still smiling.

"Yeah, let's go. I've taught a lesson to some idiot, and I'm feeling very tired now," Meera added, stretching playfully and winking at Anya. "Don't worry, you both. I will definitely get my revenge for this," Raj said, raising his shirt collar. "Whatever," both girls replied, laughing in unison. They waved at Raj stylishly and headed toward their hostel. "You don't know who you're messing with, girls," Raj called out loudly after them before turning to head to his own hostel.

Amavas sat on his favorite spot, the ancient stone, reflecting on today's incident. "I should go check on the leopard, make sure it's alright," he murmured to himself. With that, he stood up and sniffed the air. "Oh... there are two werewolves about nine km away, and the leopard is around two km from here. Well, let's go see how the leopard is doing," he thought, running in the direction of the leopard.

"Here you are, my friend," he murmured, spotting the leopard perched on a tree. It looked almost alright, just slightly injured and hungry. "Hmmm, you seem mostly okay, but from the looks of your stomach, you haven't hunted today and you're hungry. Don't worry, friend, I'll be back in a few minutes with some food. Stay there," he said, and ran off again. Within a few minutes, he returned with a dead animal carcass he had found in the jungle and tossed it onto the branch where the leopard was sitting.

Startled by the noise of the carcass landing, the leopard stood up and looked around cautiously. Once it was sure no one was around, it approached the carcass, sniffed it, and began to eat. Amavas watched this with a satisfied smile.

Anya and Meera sat on the windowsill, sipping their green tea. Both were comfortably dressed in loose t-shirts and panties. "Do you really believe in the supernatural, Anya?" Meera asked, looking at her friend.

Anya smiled and replied, "To be frank, I really don't. But we've known Raj since childhood, and he almost never lies or dramatizes things. Even if his theory sounds crazy, what do we have to lose by investigating from both perspectives?"

Meera nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I think you're right," she said, turning her gaze to the forest. "So, how are we going to start? I mean, where do we begin?"

Anya also turned her eyes to the jungle. "That, my nerdy darling, we have to think hard and figure out," she said with a smile.

"If I'm nerdy... you're a bit—" Meera stopped mid-sentence, then pointed at something. "Anya, what is that?"

Anya, already watching Meera, followed her pointing finger and saw two pairs of glowing, blinking yellow eyes in the forest. "I think they're eyes, two animals maybe," she said, squinting.

They watched as the eyes moved closer to the fences of the college. They couldn't see the bodies, just the eyes. Then they saw both eye pairs patrolling the area near the fences where there was no light. Anya noticed something when one got a little closer to a fence lamp, whatever it was, it moved like a human.

"Meera," she whispered urgently, "I think those are two humans, and they might be from Amavas's team."

The glowing pairs of eyes came very close to the fences and stared straight at their window without blinking. Meera jumped down from the windowsill, pulling Anya with her and hurriedly switching off their room's light. "Oh my god, they were looking right at us," she whispered, scared.

They peeked again and saw the eyes were gone. Anya, punching the windowsill in anger, said, "So, I was right about Amavas. He has a team working with him. Starting tomorrow, Mr. Amavas, start counting your days here, because from here you are going directly to jail."