The book

so what now?" Isha asked us when we were back.

"we did not find anything useful." she continued. "But it was fun." Seema said.

"yeah so fun to be almost bitten by the snake." Tina teased her.

Seema was about to snap but our generous leader cut her off "okay... let's plan what to do now."

I sighed still trying to remember the familiar yet unfamiliar painting. Maybe the painting has to do something with the museum itself.

"yes" Tina almost screamed. For a second I thought that she could read my thoughts until she continued

"we should go to the library once again and check for maps of our town of later decades." Everyone nodded in agreement. I decided that it would be better if they continued their research of the forgotten museum while I do my own research of the painting alongside.

"But what will we research?" Seema asked.

"about why and when the museum got closed. And why is it not re-constructed or demolished." Isha explained.

"bonus points if it turns out to be a curse or other superstition." Tina winked.

A curse? then why was it open only? but the reason seems really important. Why was this grand museum built at the very end of the city? in the map also nothing was shown after the museum point, and how could everyone just forget about it.

I was lost in the chain of my thoughts, trying to process the information and frame questions about the situation while constantly trying to remember about the painting. However my silence didn't get unnoticed by the team.

"Parul?" a sudden hand on my shoulder made me flinch a bit as I woke up from my thoughts.

"yeah?" I asked quickly looking at everyone.

Our responsible leader asked me "you seem to be lost for a while. is everything okay?"

"yeah, how come you are not giving us ideas?" Tina remarked my unusual behaviour.

"oh.. it's nothing" I waved my hand to dismiss their worry. After a few discussions we went over to the library again.

Now the librarian was a foul tempered old creepy lady. For some reason she was always displeased with literally everything. And the ones she hated the most were the young adults. According to her all we do is goof around. The four of us silently entered and submitted the map to her. At first she she looked at us disgusted, now some comment she has to pass no.

She said "aren't you coming here too often?" we decided to ignore her like we always do while waiting for her to register it as returned. All the while we were standing there, I felt a strong gaze on me. I turned around and looked back but there was no one except a middle aged woman who was silently reading. Maybe I was imagining things. The librarian handed us three more maps along with ours and asked- no- ordered us to put them on their respective places. we began our search for the maps.

I stumbled across the place where the middle aged woman was sitting, but she was not here now. But there was a hardcover book. 'The Empress of the mystical folks, by Anahita subedar' The cover looked attractive and the title too. So I decided to open it and turn a few pages. On the 7th page was something that shocked me. The same painting!

I hurriedly took out my phone to be sure of the picture. It was the same picture. I flipped through all the pages, but there was no other picture in it. That painting of the old city... that was the only picture in the whole book series. I looked everywhere in the library for that woman but she was not anywhere. I tried to remember her face and then suddenly a memory flashed across my mind.

A woman painting something and the she looked behind "how is it princess?" She asked stepping aside "This is really beautiful, the exact copy of the view from my room." I said. As I looked at the city the one in the painting.

My head felt like it was spinning as I was tuned into the present world once again. I stumbled behind a bit and luckily I caught on the edge of a shelf as I held my head with my hand. Yeah, that was it. I saw the painting and it's inspiration in one of those strange dreams. How can I forget! I took the book from the table and hurried to my friends.

"did you find anything Parul?" Tina asked looking at the book in my hand. "oh this, this is a book of my favourite author nothing related to our mystery" I said which was maybe not a complete truth but it was not a complete lie too.

"which author?" she asked me.

"Anahita subedar" I replied.

she frowned at the name. "I have read so many books but I never heard of this author." she said and I shrugged.

That means it is not a popular book. I decided to atleast pretend to help them a bit before asking to leave.

Suddenly Seema brought a map. "Guys... 1985" she opened it and showed to us. "the museum is still here." Isha pointed out. This time behind the museum point there was a railway line showed too. But no jungle.

"wait, why is there no jungle shown here?" I decided to voice my thoughts.

"Ah, my grandpa once told me that earlier there wasn't a jungle between Rupsi and our neighbouring town Ahwa." she said. Her family lived in this city for three generations, so it was evident that she knew the most about Rupsi's past.

"Did he not say anything about the museum?" Tina asked her and she shook her head in denial giving us an apologetic look.

"I will try to ask him." she said after a while.

After sometime when I was thinking about how to go home while pretending to search, my phone rang. Thankfully it was on silent otherwise I would have been scolded by the librarian.

It was an unknown number but I picked it. "hello ma'am, do you need a loan?"

but I pretend to speak to my mother "yes mom? yeah yeah"

"ma'am I am calling from IFDC bank-"

"yeah I am coming right away." I hung up the call quickly. I hope the bank person isn't offended...but even if he is, what can I do? I turned to my friends who were already staring at me. "guys I need to leave." I announced.

"oh..yeah your mom called right?" Isha asked and I nodded.

"I will text you then." she said as I waved them bye and hurried to register my book before leaving the library to do the real research.