Pristine's Problem | ONC 2024

Two weeks passed with a heavy downpour of excruciating vain for the self-proclaimed detectives. Every day was just similar to the previous: wake, eat, think and sleep. The past fourteen days had been thronged with only memories of frustration and anger.

Pristine spent her mornings recollecting the grievous incident to check if that shape-shifter had left any possible loopholes. Using her invisibility charm, she and Alan had visited the crime spot only to notice that there was neither a shop called 'The Wishing Emporium' nor a building in the first place.

Alan had even staked his life again; he had once again teleported to the magical realm to inquire about further updates from his new friend, Hemant. Despite his taxing efforts, Hemant had no way but to reveal the truth that the Etherials had subsequently made no progress in their forage. The only progress he had made was in terms of emotions; his family had resumed speaking to him like nothing had ever happened. Of course, it was a great improvement personally for Alan, however, it had no contribution to solving the case.

The beginning of their plan seemed to be so successful and indulged too much positivity, all of which vanished into thin vapours as Alan and Pristine sat devastated with hands on their heads.

"I am sure I have heard that name somewhere..." Pristine pondered as the bright shafts of the sunlight illuminated her pale face. Gazing at the view of her house from Alan's window, Pristine deep-dived into her memories to find where she had heard the shape-shifter's name.

"There's no chance!" Alan sprang up and adjusted his sleeves, "You are just hallucinating. Romine is an Etherial, how would you even know her?"

Pristine remained silent and continued gazing intently at her window, remaining, as usual, deaf to his galling remarks.

Alan grabbed his comb and groomed his hair, parting two unequal sides and straightened them. As he moved towards the mirror to perfect his appearance, his reflection stared back at him, dull and worn-out. Ultimately, his mind wandered back in time, when Andrei had given him a makeover, when he had pranked Andrei into cutting a chunk of his hair, when they both got matching leather jackets...

The mirror had seen it all; the lovely friendship, the silly bickering and most of all, the companionship. Looking soullessly at the mirror, Alan felt like he had lost a twin. Huge droplets of tears trickled down his face as Alan's hand didn't bother to wipe it. He had to cry; he had failed in giving justice to his friend's death.

I will make sure the killer pays for Andrei's death...

***

Alan dashed through the stairs after handing over food to Pristine and arrived right on time for dinner. One thing that drastically changed after the murder was that the family had more time seeing each other. This had a great impact for the Alteiners as they finally began learning more about each other and feel like a family. Dinners had become more amusing with the twins mocking each other revealing some embarrassing stories, Arthur and Avril debating on the most illogical topics and Abigail flaunting her invisibility power by suddenly appearing on Alan's lap.

As Alan pulled out the chair and settled himself, he peeked through the close lids of the containers, trying to grab sight of what had been prepared. Another new abnormality that had impacted the family was that Arabella and Avril had joined forces to venture into an untraversed realm that was even harder than mastering magic : cooking. Each dinner, the family had been served with eye-appealing dishes after hours of rattling utensils and sizzling pans collided in the ultimate kitchen war to create dishes from various cuisines.

The only reason why the venture had worked out was that both the siblings were extremely supportive and enthusiastic. Avril obeyed Arabella's orders as if his life depended on it and Arabella dared every muscle and nerve of her body to hurt her adorable sibling or make him cry. If it had been either Adrius or Arthur or even Alan, then home would never become a sweet home and food will never be served.