Calix

By the time we finished setting up everything, some of the fear had dissolved.

Let me rephrase that.

Some of the fear had dissolved because it has now been replaced by a bigger ounce of fear. I sincerely hope that I do not pass out in the middle of the séance.

The fragrance from incense has created a calming atmosphere, which contradicts the rather spooky air due to the candles surrounding the Ouija Board. A serious expression is now on Isha's face, making her appear as a psychic or medium who can communicate with souls.

"Now what?" I find my voice asking Isha.

Isha pushes the planchette forward on the Ouija Board, and with her hands, positions my index and middle fingers on it. For a fraction of second, I forget all the fear clogging my brain and enjoy the warm, fuzzy feeling caused due to our skin contact.

Stop. For all I know, Isha can be a witch trying to lure me in her charms. I shall keep my guard up all the time.

Another shot of fuzziness jumps inside my spine when Isha from across the table, places her index and middle finger right beside mine, on the broader portion of the planchette. During the press conference, we had entered by holding hands. These fluttering emotions did not exist then. So why now? Why is a simple, small contact, making me feel things in such an obnoxious manner?

All of this is eventually pointing to one thing. Isha is a witch, and an expertise in black magic.

Isha stays in silence for a while, staring intensely at the planchette, before saying out loud, "We are willing to welcome none but positive souls in our circle."

"Wha—" out of curiosity as to what she is doing, I open my mouth, only to get shushed with a sharp glare.

And, oh. Her palm on my lips. Not tightly but with a light, tender touch. Perhaps, even though this is unlikely to my personality, her small actions and fleeting dancing butterflies in my stomach are able to relieve me from the extreme fear. What bizarre and confusing situations I am being introduced to tonight shall be topic of experimentation.

"Calix."

"Hm?" I ask, not catching onto Isha's statement.

"Were you even listening to me?" She sighs.

I deny shamelessly.

Another sigh leaves her mouth, "If we are doing the séance, we are doing it seriously. I may not believe in such stuff but if there is a slight possibility of anything unearthly being out there, it will be utterly disrespectful to them. You wouldn't like to upset a spirit, would you?"

"No!" I blurt out, my heart being shaken up once again and the familiar feeling of fear coiling my intestines. I shall remove all unnecessary thoughts and focus on following Isha's lead, for now.

"Good, then follow my instructions, and you'll be safe."

Isha doesn't know what her you'll be safe did to me. She only helped in enhancing my fear of supernatural entities.

Isha moves her eyes to the planchette and our hands on it. She inhales and exhales before asking out loud, "Is anyone out there, willing to communicate with us?"

I flinch when the planchette, our fingers are kept on, moves to yes. Sensing my trembling figure and an attempt to remove my fingers from the cursed object, Isha murmurs under her breath, "Don't remove your fingers unless I say so. It might break the connection and create grave consequences."

I can only think one thing at the moment. I want to go home.

"Do you want to ask questions first?"

I immediately shake my head. It seems as if I have gone mute.

"Okay," Isha shrugs, "Remove your fingers then."

The moment Isha finishes speaking, I move and scoot away a bit, putting a few centimetres of distance between me and the Ouija Board. Whatever entity is in this room and whatever business Isha wants to have with it, I do hope it doesn't cause me harm in any way or form.

But, what if it hurts Isha? A shot of pang rises through my chest at the thought of Isha being harmed, even though I have been so sure all this time that the woman is a witch. Instinctively, I scoot forward, just in case.

It is nothing but my senses of protecting my citizens, working out for me. That is it. Nothing special.

"Here I go," Isha says, after staying in silence for a moment or two, "Do you lurk around in this bungalow?"

The planchette slowly moves to yes. The rumours have been true then.

"Did you die in this bungalow?"

Yes.

"Was this bungalow once your residence?"

Yes.

"Did you die due to any natural cause like accident, health issues or anything along the line?"

No.

Isha's eyes collide with mine. Even she herself is startled at the answer of the spirit. But, Isha isn't as scared as I am at the moment. I am close to falling unconscious.

"Then..." Isha takes a pause before delivering the anticipated question, "Was it a murder?"

Yes.

"Isha, we should leave. This isn't safe anymore," I finally find my voice and grab Isha's, who refuses to budge. She pulls me down from my standing position and instructs me to stay quiet and still.

"We cannot end the séance without saying goodbye," Isha replies.

"Then do it now!"

Isha flinches at my sudden raise of voice.

I put a palm on my forehead, releasing a shuddering breath and voicing out my thoughts, "I didn't mean to yell but please. I do not like this anymore, Isha. We shouldn't mess with the dead."

"Don't worry, it won't harm you—"

"It's not me I am concerned about, damn it! It is you who is in contact with the planchette, and if something happens to you..."

Then? Then what? I find it impossible to discover the truth of my inner thoughts. I have been fearing for myself all this time and not Isha. Then why in the world am I saying something completely ridiculous and out of my comprehension sense? Isha had begun the séance and if something happened, she will be held responsible for her own activities. This has absolutely nothing to do with me.

Yet, I cannot seem to imagine Isha getting injured or leaving her here alone, in this abandoned bungalow.

A screeching sound takes my attention, followed by a scream, rising from Isha's throat. The planchette, which has Isha's fingers on, begins to furiously move all over the Ouija Board, but she doesn't seem to let go of the damn thing. And it appears as if she is in a lot of pain.

"Isha, let go of it!" My whole body trembles at the screams of Isha.

"I can't!" Tears appear in her eyes. "My fingers are stuck!"

"Shit!" A curse leaves my mouth. From the mouth of the prince who has never once even imagined using vulgar words. But oh well, fear has already consumed my mind.

Fear of seeing Isha getting hurt, even though I hold no special relationship with her, is getting too overwhelming now.

Without thinking anything, I, with both my hands, try my best to remove Isha's fingers from the planchette. When I fail, my hands automatically move to the planchette and I, with all force possible, move that jinxed thing and throw it far away from us.

Silence prevails, but not the frantic sounds of our breathing. My senses return, and I immediately shift my eyes to Isha's hand, which lies limp on the board. Taking her hand in mine, I throw the board away with enough force that it topples out of the nearby broken window.

There's no time for bidding the notorious spirit goodbye. We need to get out of this ominous place. Now and together.

I lace our fingers tightly, holding Isha close to me and round my concerned eyes over her body, inspecting for any bruise or injury. "We must leave now."

Before I can pull Isha away with me, fits of suppressed laughter startles me. When I turn my head around, I find Isha stifling her chuckles.

But why? Has she been possessed?

"Isha? What's wrong?" I hesitantly ask, but rather than stepping back, I move forward; our bodies almost touching one another.

"I am sorry." Isha chokes on her intense chuckles before bursting out in fits of hysterical giggles, confusing me even more. I wait patiently till she gets over her laughing session, with a blank stare.

"I feel so bad for laughing," Isha hiccups after having her laughter under control and wiping the tears that have slipped out of her eyes. "I am alright, Calix."

"What do you mean..." My voice trails off when Isha displays a circular, magnetic piece in front of me. "All of this was just an act. It happens so that I am quite a good actor."

A look of betrayal and disbelief crosses my face. Due to the fear with which I was consumed, I never paid much attention to Isha's other hand which had always been under the table, controlling the planchette, with the magnet. I am such a foolish person.

However, I am rather furious now. Of course, I am relieved that she is fine and there is no spirit here, but to think she pranked me, it makes me angry. Who gave her the right to toy with the fear of a person? If someone else were in my position, they could have even died due to a heart attack.

Isha frowns at my annoyed features. She steps forward when I take a step back, ultimately removing my hand from hers.

"Wait, Calix—"

"This is extremely immature coming from you, Miss Sen."

A dry chuckle leaves Isha's mouth, "So we are back to formal names, I see. Well, it was just a joke, Your Royal Highness."

"A very petty joke."

"Wow, just wow," Isha chortles in disbelief as if she is the victim here, "You are the one who enjoys ghosts and stuff like paranormal hunting—"

My brows shoot up. "And when did I ever mention that?"

"You didn't, of course," Isha snaps, "Your brother did."

What? "Do you mean Carlos told you that—that, I like to explore supernatural stuff?"

"Who else? When I was brainstorming ideas for our date to make it more thrilling, he helped me."

I can't believe that insolent jerk. Knowing him, he either wanted to humiliate me in front of Isha or make me appear as a coward.

A weird sensation tingles my spine. "Have you been in contact with Carlos?"

Isha stares at me as if I have just spoken the most absurd thing. "Excluding you, I do not have the privilege of contacting aristocrats whenever I want. Carlos and I stumbled upon one another on the street, last day. He was in disguise, though, to conceal his identity. Of course, I didn't reveal the whole thing about our bet and all, just said I wanted to take you out on a friendly date when he advised me to bring you here. Apparently, you have been wanting to explore this bungalow and use an Ouija Board like, forever. Wait...why am I even saying all this? I do not owe you an explanation after you've been extremely rude to me when I was trying so hard to make this fucking date thrilling for you, by matching your preferences.

"Let's just end this entire bet shit. I am done."

Before I can clear the misunderstanding between us, Isha storms out of the room, after grabbing her bag. I attempt to stop her, but she yanks her arm away from my grasp.

"Isha listen—"

"It's Miss Sen for you, Your Royal Shitness," Isha yells back without giving me one glance while she fastens her steps down the staircase.

"Hear me out at least!" I say, following the grumbling woman, who already seems to be with someone on the phone.

"Isha—"

When I finally catch up to her, after reaching the end of the steps, for some reason, I find Isha static in her position. I follow the movement of her eyes and find myself stilling as well.

For in front of us, we find a plastic bucket, moving around the dark living room, on its own.

"What's that?" Isha's leaves a shaky breath.

"I have no idea," out of instinct, my hands clasp around Isha's wrist when the overturned bucket pauses, and abruptly rattles towards us. Isha doesn't protest against my touch as she is totally rooted to the step.

How ironic. The entire night I was the one being frigid since I was not aware of the prank, unlike Isha. And now, the tables have turned.

This makes me wonder if Isha actually went out of her way to make this date fun for me, because she had the false notion about my preferences. This could also mean that she was uncomfortable about hosting a date in such an uncanny place. A warm feeling rises in my chest at the thought that someone out there compelled herself to forget her fears, for me. Although, it is just a ridiculous presumption. There is no way Isha Sen will do that for me. For all I know, it could just be to win the bet.

But right now, we have more important matters to handle.

I tug on the frozen woman's wrist and swiftly cross the haunted bucket, making sure once in a while that Isha is with me. That being said, I do not forget to tighten my hold around her wrist because there is a high possibility that the woman is not in her senses right now.

I know exactly how that feels. Feeling fear and losing all senses to it.

Pushing every unnecessary thought, I focus on rushing towards the door.

"Wait." I stumble but steady myself soon when I hear Isha. She seems to have steadied herself as well but her eyes are now on the stilled bucket. Thanks to the moonlight creeping through the cracks and windows, we can clearly make sense of our way in the eerily vast dining room.

"Where are you going?" I ask, when Isha walks towards the bucket. I huff out an annoyed breath at the woman's curiosity. Eventually, but with displeasure, I follow her too.

Isha moves the bucket swiftly, and we are met with...

A litter of adorable kittens.

"So you were the ones scaring us, huh?" Smiling, Isha stoops down to pet the kittens, which in turn, lean more into her touch. One of them looks over at me, and nuzzles her little body against my leg.

I stiffen. I want to pet them too and carry them in my arms, but a deep voice echoes in my ears, resulting in the unlocking of a childhood memory.

"They are stray animals, Prince Calix. Princes do not pet stray things. They are nasty."

"Pet her."

"What?" I look at the crouching woman, who has the remaining two kittens already in her arms.

"Pet her. She seems to like you," although Isha utters coldly, the emotion flickering in her eyes cannot be avoided. "Besides, you clearly look like you want to pet her."

My hands twitch. Right, no one is here right now to judge me. But before I can take the cute kitten in my arms, she runs away. Following her, the other two kittens jump off from Isha's arms, and follow their sister.

We look at one another in confusion before following the three kittens.

Not long after, we find ourselves in what looks like a kitchen. Before me, Isha already has reached behind a pile of cardboard boxes from where the howling sounds were coming previously.

I follow her suit and gasp at the sight. A white Labrador pup is lying partially unconscious on the marble floor, but thankfully he is breathing. Right beside him is a cat who most probably is these kittens' mother, and she seems to be licking up the big, red wound on the dog's stomach, in an attempt to heal him.

Without sharing any words between us, Isha and I both begin working on carrying the dog out of the bungalow.

When we reach outside, Isha already has the pup in her arms, with a distressed look laced on her features.

I switch on my phone and scroll through it in the meantime, to call my driver. However, a car honk takes me by surprise. A familiar Jaguar comes into view with Broody in the driver's seat.

"I called him." Isha says as she moves to the backseat of the car.

It was Broody then, whom she had called at the staircase because she wanted to end the disastrous date and leave. In one way or other, ending the date in such a way came off as advantageous to us.

As soon as I get inside the backseat after Isha, I instruct Broody with haste, "To the nearest veterinary hospital. Now!"

And off we go to take care of this unknown little pup, which seems to be either abandoned or lost because of the collar around his neck.

I glance at Isha, who is constantly trying to keep the pup from falling unconscious. The thought that I must clear the misunderstanding later, pokes my mind.

What a miserable first date it was.