HELEN

"So, what's the pla-" My words got stuck in my throat when my eyes registered the state the house was in.

"Oh. My. Gosh!" All three of us said at the same time. We weren't in the mood to scream, "BINGO!"

The furniture were all turned down, flower vases broken, curtains torn. The intruder had not left a single inch untouched. Nothing was in the way they were earlier.

"Steph, check if any of the valuables are stolen." Lisa told Steph.

After a while, she came back sighing. "They haven't touched the jewellery or the cash. I guess they were here for another reason."

"Was it a hungry person?" I walked to the fridge.

"It definitely has to be an angry person." Steph blurted out making us smile.

"Wait. Something's wrong here. Where are the files regarding all our cases?" Lisa asked.

"Don't worry about tha-"

"Shhh!" Lisa whispered, interrupting Steph whose mouth was open like a puffer fish.

[Don't glare at me, Stephy. You looked funny at that time. You were very excited and were bouncing on your toes, and Lisa just 'WHOOSH' cut your words. I am sorry, readers. Back to the story. 😂]

"Helena, walk around the house and check if there's someone else in this home. Be invisible." Lisa whispered.

I gave her a thumbs up and trotted to the kitchen and then to the bedrooms. There wasn't a sign of any other Homo sapiens. Next, I walked around the garden and all around the home. I ran to my friends. "There's no one around. But-"

"I can see some people." Wide eyed Steph pointed behind me.

We turned around cautiously and silently only to see our own reflections in the mirror on the wall.

"Gotcha!" Steph grinned.

"Now's not the time to be funny, Steph!" Lisa warned her and turned to me. "But what, Helen?"

"I noticed something outside." I told them. Their eyes grew wide and I led them outside to stop by the windows. I bent down and pointed. "Look at this footprint. This person, presumably male, looking at the depth of the print, the size of the shoe and the design of the soles, has stood here for a while. Here's another pair." I pointed at another pair of shoe prints. They have only walked towards the window and not from it. They have disappeared into thin air. Which means they'd have probably-"

"TELEPORTED?" Steph asked and I nodded. "Will they have teleported inside?"

"They must have. Seeing the mess they've made inside. No one else would have been here. I guess they are from the group which took James. And they are after us or after something." Lisa stated.

"I never thought there'd be someone else who can teleport." Steph expressed.

"Steph, are any of the documents stolen? You should have been careful with it, since it's your responsibility. And they were with you because you are the best keeper-of-things." I stared at her.

"Oh yeah! I am." She winked at us. "Let me check. No one would guess that place." We followed her lead into the house and into the...

"In the kitchen?" Lisa laughed.

She walked to her refrigerator and knelt down with a devilish grin on her face.

"No one else would even think about it." I acknowledged her talent of hiding stuffs.

Steph pulled out a part from below the door and guess what! There was a keypad in it! She pressed some numbers and BLEEP! A small drawer came out. "There!" She said with a satisfied smile.

"You better put them in a backpack and keep it with you at all times. Like Helena travelling everywhere with her laptop" Lisa cautioned.

"Okay. I will. Even if I'm going to the washroom." Steph took out all the files. She even had our letters and postcards, which we sent each other since we were five. She left them there and took out only James' files.

"Oh my gosh!" I repeated pacing around.

"What's the matter?"

"What happened, Helen?"

"No, guys. Nothing bad would have happened since all the files are in place. But.."

"But what, Helen. You are giving us the creeps." Lisa asked, concern lining her voice.

"It's just this thought lingering in my head. What if these intruders had been to our places too?"

"Oh. You're right. They'd have known our homes too." Lisa smacked her forehead and Steph's shoulders sagged.

"What about this, girls?" Steph proposed an idea. "How about Helen and I go to both your houses and check if anything's missing. We will remain invisible until we verify that there's no one lurking around. And then we'll return here. Until then, Lisa, safety first! And without wasting your time, you lazy bag, check these things out. See if any of these would be useful to us, our cases or safety, and in what way." And gave her my backpack.

"Okay, Sir! Done!" She saluted with a wink. I could see her eyes lined with worry but she didn't want it to be seen and hence the wink.

I held Steph's hand tightly and we teleported invisibly to Lisa's place first. We landed on her garden and noticed similar footprints by the window, and were in only one direction. We went inside [Teleported 😉] to find the inside a ruckus.

Steph started texting on her phone. I peeked over her shoulder to see what she was doing.

"Where do you keep your important things?" She texted Lisa. And the phone beeped with the responses.

"In the car."
"Under the driver's seat."
"Car's in the garage. 🤭"

"Okay!" She replied Lisa and walked towards the garage with me trailing behind her. Fortunately, the intruders had not stepped inside the garage because it was clean and spotless as Lisa would always keep it. We found some cash, few jewelleries and some files with zip lock packets under the seat.

We teleported to our place once Steph dropped Lisa a message saying that nothing was missing. Our shoulders sagged after seeing the mess in my hall too. Once we realized that there weren't anyone else other than us, we turned visible.

"I'll check for my stuffs in my secret place and toy hijack my fridge. Let's sleep over at your place tonight."

"Superb idea." She gave me a double thumbs-up. She frowned and stopped me with her hand. "But, Helen, you know mine and Lisa's hiding places. Where's yours?" She placed her hands on her hips. "It's very unfair of you to keep it a secret." She pouted.

"Okay. Come on. I'll show you." I sighed.

"Nah! I'm lazy now. Just tell me." She laid down on the floor facing the ceiling.

I bent and whispered in her ears, "I keep them inside my lamp's base, Lazy-Bag. Now don't you take my money without my permission." I turned towards my room, smiling at myself. Grateful to her laziness that she, The-Food-Lover, wouldn't know about the chips, candies and all other snacks I keep there along with the money and the emerald ring, my only jewelery. [At the mention of the snacks, Steph glares at me. It's empty now, Stephy Steph. 🤭 You can't have them now. She waves her hands motioning me to continue. I wink at her.]

"Helen!" I turned with a blank face to look at her. "Ouch, Helen! Will I ever do that?" She placed her hand over her heart, pretending to be hurt, still lying down and looking at the light hanging from the ceiling. "Or will Lisa do that once we inform her about your secret stash?"

I turned invisible, walked towards her and placed my hand on her head. To only hurt my ears from her piercing scream. She sat up suddenly and bumped out heads. "Helen!!! There's someone here! Come and save me."

"It's me, scaredy cat." She then saw me and relaxed, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. I scared her, not on purpose, though. "I was just kidding about the money, buddy. I know abou-"

"Don't ever do that, idiot. My soul almost left me." She slapped my thigh. She too some calming breaths and stood up. "Now no more touché touchés. I'll go hijack your fridge. You check on your place that's overflowing with money." I heard a smile on her voice.

"Okay, girl." I walked to my room, took the lamp and rotated the base. Twice clockwise and thrice in the anticlockwise direction, and the lamp came off from the base, revealing the hollow space filled with my favourite snacks and some wads of cash, the space starting from the base, reaching till the bottom of the table.

"Not a single soul would know about our secrets." I thought grinning.

Whistling, I turned to go to the kitchen to help Steph with the unloading of my ever-filled-fridge, careful not to step on my pillows or blankets which were strewn on the floor. We were too tired and lazy to clean our homes. We would spend days and nights cleaning all the mess. I let out a deep breath.

When I reached the kitchen, I saw Steph tying the plastic bags around her having emptied the refrigerator and the freezer, (literally, EMPTIED!) leaving nothing inside. She closed the refrigerator, came to me with the bags and pushed them towards me. Before I could catch my balance after staggering from the weight, I was whisked away and was dropped inside her home. That idiot.

I fell down with a big thud due to my imbalance and the bags fell on me. "Stupid-Steph!" I muttered.

Steph and Lisa, who had clearly been waiting for us on the sofa with the laptop on her lap, now turned upright, laughed their hearts out. "Stupids," I emphasized the 's' at the end to make sure Lisa heard me. Which she clearly did by retorting back with a "Clumsy-Helensy" remark.

Before I could stand up and pull Steph's eyes from her face, I heard Lisa exclaim, "Guys, Check out what James is telling. I left the bags on the floor and walked towards her. Steph reached Lisa's side at the same time as me and Lisa turned the screen towards us. My gaze dropped to her other hand holding a weird looking instrument and she had a smile on that illuminated her face, the smile of a person who'd received a gazillion dollars at lottery.

"What's that?" We asked at the same time. So Steph's eyes had been working too.

"You know tha-"

"Wait! I have another question." Steph interrupted.

"Yes?" I asked her crossing my hands over my chest.

She turned to Lisa, her eyebrows creased. "Lisa, you asked her to check if there's anyone still lurking around. What if there is or was someone invisible? She won't be able to see them, right?" Her forehead creased.

"Oh, Stuffy-Stephy!" Lisa sighed.

I relayed everything to her briefly.

She grinned from ear - to - ear. "Oh yessss! I totally forgot! My bad!" She winced and winked. "No one can see us when we are in our own - in our - our special forms. Since we are special."

"Yes!" I agreed. "And that's because we have James's blood in us. It surprised him too. Don't you remember?"

"Yes. Now I do. It had entered the Bermuda Triangle of my brain and was about to disappear forever if it wasn't for your pull." Stephy remarked.

"But guys! Not just blood. You have his blue blood, Helen, Steph has his green blood and I got his yellow blood." Lisa smiled pointing at each of us.

"Excuse me. But why are we always deviating from our topic? Let's finish Tara's case ASAP and find out the whereabouts of James." I ground my teeth.

[Okay, Readers. Lisa just reminded me that we haven't told you about our 'Practical Demonstrations' as we named it. 😉

Ummm... We are just having an argument on who should tell about their demos first. Steph's suggesting we play Rock Paper Scissors. So, here we go. As per the results (after just 2 rounds), it's me first, then goes Helen with Steph being the last. It always happens in a way that the person to suggest this game would be the loser. 🤭

So, Our Dear Readers, hope you enjoy the bonus chapters revealing our flashbacks.]