" So, this guy was after Braze and Braze is a wolf and Braze chewed a little bit of his jacket along with his flesh and then you knocked him off. "
Kian was asking this for the third time not really expecting Xen to answer.
" What was it that he could do, again? " Xen turned his attention towards Mira, who was sitting beside Braze, trying to clean his wounds with her handkerchief that she had dipped in the little pond.
" He can jump really high and glide. " Mira answered as if it were an everyday occurrence.
" What about you? " Kian asked Xen.
" His hand transforms. I saw it on her night in my dream... " and then she realized the absurdity of the statement.
She looked at Xen, her eyes gleaming with the new fill of realization.
" You can summon people too. Can't you? That night, it was you who whisked me off to that place. Wasn't it! Or was it me? "
Mira patted herself down as if checking for some superpower that could have been hidden in her pocket.
Xen smirked as he looked at her.
" What? Can I not have any special power as well? You three are like the Secret Trio, can't we be the Secret Four? "
Both Xen and Kian looked at each other, agreeing with the gaze that Mira was being a nuisance.
Braze was snoring aloud at the corner as Mira finished cleaning him up. She then came towards Xen and bent down to clean the Watcher, George.
" What do you think you are doing? " Xen grabbed Mira's arm a little too tight.
" Ouch! It hurt. " Mira pulled her arm away from Xen.
" He was armed. He looks trained. He had logos on his jacket, pants and arms as well. He belongs to an organized group that is after Braze and probably after people like him, " he pointed at Kian, " and me as well. And you want me to allow you to treat him so he wakes up and gets us all killed? Do I look that stupid? "
Mira was looking straight at Xen and then she turned to face George .
" But he is human. He doesn't even look like he is much older than you and I. He might die if he continues to bleed like this. "
Mira pointed at his open wound.
" I have an idea. " Kian barged in.
" Let's tie him up. We all need answers. He might be able to provide that for us. You can knock him down if he tries anything fishy. We can try waking Braze up by then. " Kian was a diplomatic businessman just like the family he hailed from.
" Give him some clothes first. He is unbearable to look at. " The boys looked at Braze and then back to Mira as if she had just asked them for their kidneys.
" What? You each give him something. You got some spare pieces underneath at least. "
Both of them blushed loud and clear as Mira pointed at their underwear , vest and briefs.
Mira looked away as they finally began undressing trying to donate something for Braze to cover his shame.
In the meantime Mira began looking for something to tie George with and she successfully brought back a broken chain, some hydrophobic roots and some discarded plastics and some papers. She threw them all at Xen's feet.
" There you go, " she said, looking as proud as the ancient hunter gatherer who used to come back with a big kill.
" What are these? You expect me to do hocus pocus and tie him up with trash? " Xen looked so done with Mira.
" Suit yourself. That's all I got. " Mira stood there with a pout and her hands over her hips.
Xen was staring at her, without batting an eyelid and then suddenly Kian cleared his throat and he looked away and gulped. Mira looked too cute like that. Too cute for his heart to handle.
" Shouldn't we try to find a way out of here? " Kian seemed like the wisest amongst the lot.
" Go ahead. But we didn't find anything back there, " he said, pointing at the direction he , Braze and George had come from.
Just then Braze stirred and snorted very loud, startling them all as his snort reverberated around the closed walls.
" Kian, you go ahead and take a look around. I will try to make a fire with these stones and papers while Xen has his way with this boy.
We don't want to die buried here alive. Do we? "
She had a good point.
While Xen got busy trying to figure a way out to secure his new captive and Kian was gone, Mira took a corner and began rubbing two stones against each other. And after a few desperate attempts they started to give out sparks.
However as soon as she tried to light a paper with that the flame died. Mira was completely focused as he went on and went with the same process.
But everytime she tried to transfer that flame, she failed again and again.
Kian came back in the meantime with no lead but some twigs in his hand.
" There is an opening from where these fell. But it's way too far up and steep. "
" Come and help me with this one. He was stirring. He might come around any moment. " Xen called Kian.
Mira turned back and resumed what she was doing.
But this time as well, she had no success.
" Who are you? " She could hear Xen slapping their captive on the face and trying to make him come around. She was eager to join them, so she kept looking back again and again as she desperately tried to make that flame work, for at least once.
But she was as stubborn as she was. It simply would not catch fire and then she looked at the papers and the things in front of her and then back at the stones in her hand.
She closed her eyes, trying to focus, holding her breath.
She struck the stones against each other , letting her breath out.
She was sure she saw no spark this time.
But voila! There was a big, hot fire in front of her.
It was burning super large. Not only the paper and twigs, the flames had engulfed the stones and the mud.