Bond

The council hall was a large building that more or less looked like a palace. There were high buildings and they were separated by large walkable distances. Maya had to sneak for a long time to enter the main building.

It was good that she had Nirup with her. He was a walking talking attention insulator. No one paid any attention then to her. Maya easily entered the main building. All the buildings had similar architectures but they just differed in size. She wondered if there were the same kind of rooms too.

Nirup walked slowly with ease like he was strolling in his back garden. For all that mattered, it was his back garden.

He walked seriously and Maya walked like a sneaking cartoon character. If anyone could see them, it would have been hilarious. But the world had to miss a perfect laughable moment. And Maya got to have a page of her black history hidden.

Seeing herself and then seeing Nirup, Maya doubted her life. She wanted him to act weird too. What's the fun in sneaking like this if there was no funny element?

"You should also do parkour like you are afraid of getting caught."

He had a confused look.

"Why?"

"You never wanted to act like those cool spies in movies?"

"No."

Okay then. She was the only weirdo here.

So, she stopped her weird actions and sneaked in slowly.

The council hall was like a large auditorium.

Nirup activated his shielding function to a high level before turning to Maya.

"Stay with me. Don't talk if you can help it. I will be shielded naturally. But if you do something, the spell won't last. And be quiet."

Maya nodded. She understood.

He kept her hidden.

So, she caught his elbow and signaled him to start moving. He said nothing

Nirup moved forward and then they went hidden. The security cameras didn't catch any movement.

The hall opened into a corridor.

Nirup masked the opening and closing of the door. Maya felt that he was her bug golden finger. He could do all the impossible things so easily.

They kept moving and then arrived at a room. The room had a lock.

There weren't fingerprint and retina scanning locks yet. It was a simple lock. Maya had a good experience in lock picking.

But she didn't go in person.

She still had her origami skills. She made a key fast.

Nirup looked at her key-making skill and smirked. He seriously felt the magic power origin. It was similar to his but also different.

He also realized that her magic power was also similar to his.

That meant she had two kinds of powers that were similar to his magical power.

Weird indeed.

Maya used her magic to manipulate the key and the lock was open.

She was proud of her lock-picking skill.

"A good skill."

Maya wanted to retort but she couldn't talk so she settled on nodding.

They went inside the room and found that it was actually like a lobby with staircases to many places. It looked like a palace now.

Wow. Maya never knew that the blood vampires built a place with extended rooms. That was so cool.

It showcased the amazing architectural magic but also posed a doubt.

Like why did they do this?

Was something criminal going on here?

If something is wrong, then it should definitely be more wrong.

Maya read this sentence from a book and she could not agree more.

She wanted to tell Nirup but she remembered. She couldn't talk.

She swore in her mind.

"Look over there," Niruo pointed.

Maya looked in the direction he pointed and found a very interesting thing.

There was a plant there, alone.

Maya was a plant vampire. She should have felt its presence.

Maya moved forward with Nirup and she slowly released her power.

Nirup for the first time was very surprised. He understood that she was really a spy.

She was not a blood vampire or a werewolf. She was a plant vampire.

She may not know but he knows the blood vampires did not like the plant vampires. There were many races that lived in seclusion. Plant vampires and witches were among those. But that didn't mean they wouldn't try to know what was happening in the world.

That's why they sent spies.

Maya was one of the plant vampire spies.

And he was a spy too.

He was a witch.

Ironically both had the same goal. And he knew more about Maya than she knew about him.

Nirup debated whether to tell this but he was ignoring what Maya was doing.

Maya was communicating with the plant. The plant had nearly closed its spiritual consciousness. And it was very hard to communicate with the plant.

But Maya kept holding on. She repeatedly sent her thoughts with her magic to the plant.

The plant slowly woke up.

The leaves moved and the branches stuck out in a lazy posture.

Maya understood that it woke up.

"Hi," She sent her thoughts to it.

The plant didn't pay attention to Maya.

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in a forest?"

The plant slowly moved.

"I saw many plants like you living happily in the forest. You should go back too."

Maya felt that the plant was not happy.

She could understand. The plant was alone here. Without any friends.

And seeing all the blood vampires should make it very sad.

"I don't understand what you are saying."

A cute kid talked back to her.

So, the plant was really young and it opened its consciousness only nearly twenty years.

"I'm saying that you should live with your people. Are you here by your choice?"

"I was born here."

Ah. That was understandable then.

"Then don't you want to see other plants like you?"

The plant hesitated and nodded.

"I'll take you to eat. I'll make a promise. Is it okay?"

Maya just wanted the plant to live in the forest. Living here will be detrimental to the plant.

The young baby plant was sleeping so hard that its consciousness was about to disappear.

That's why she wanted to take the plant out.

She then gestured to Nirup. She indicated the plant, then herself then the door.

Nirup understood it. He then extended his magic and included the plant too.

Maya picked it up and then she ran with Nirup.

They ran so fast and Nirup added more of his magic so that the spell would wear off after they leave the hall.

They made out safely and when they were at the street stall eating fast food when the alarms rang.

"Well, you are really awesome."

Nirup stayed silent.

"We will not be known, right?"

Nirup nodded.

"We were hidden all the way. And the library was also hidden. The moment we went out, I covered us."

Then the thing about Maya talking was a prank.

Smart guy.

But Maya didn't say anything.

She understood that sometimes magic could be faulty. And the place was a high-security magical fortress.

She just pinched his cheek.

Nirup was very astonished and he had a wide-eyed look.

Maya laughed and thought, silly boy.

Then he safely brought her back.

"See, the plants here. How do you feel?"

The plant was hiding in her collar and then a leaf stretched out to see the trees all around wound her.

As if shocked the leaf retracted.

"Don't worry. I will go back home in a few days. You can see the forest then."

The plant hummed.

Maya found the plant asleep on her face when she woke up.

The one-foot plant was now one inch.

Seeing how deep the plant was sleeping, Maya felt silly.

"Wake up. I have to get up," She woke the plant.

The plant had no facial features but looking at the actions, Maya understood that it wanted to sleep more. She gingerly picked the plant up and went to get ready.

As she was about to leave, the plant jumped on her and then hid in her collar again.

Maya smiled and went to the classes.

She sat beside Nirup. He put the barrier up instantly.

"See this."

It was a newspaper report.

The council hall was broken into last night and there was no sign of the perpetrator. Nothing was stolen.

She just concentrated on this.

"Does that mean they and no idea of what was missing?"

Nirup shook his head.

"It could also mean they didn't want to publicize the fact of what's missing."

Yeah, he was right.

Then that meant that the plant was so important.

And they would search for it like bloodhounds.

"What should we do then?"

The plant didn't move but it understood what was happening.

"Hey. Give me your magic power," the kid asked her.

Maya did that and in an instant, their spiritual powers merged.

They formed a bond.

At the same time, the pointer in the secret room of the council hall stopped working.