Chapter 44

"What have you done to Diana?"

Kai looked at Luna expectantly.

A hint of malicious smile crossed Luna's features, "Last night was the last time I saw Diana. I believe she must be at her house unaffected by all of this."

Kai said in a cold voice, "Tell me where she is and I will let you go."

The others gasped.

Luna considered this, "How will I be sure of this?"

"You have my word," Kai said.

"How can we trust her, Kai?" Tyson asked.

"You have my word," Luna glowered.

"Have some shame, Luna," Ray said.

Luna shook her head, "I have no shame. I am proud of what I did. You yourself can see how intelligent my plans were. Luck was not on my side or today…"

"You disgust me," Ray said.

Kai said, impatiently, "Tell me where is she?"

"Oh! She is safe until now but….A gift would be nice. A cheque, maybe."

Kai signed a blank cheque and handed it to her.

Luna smiled and pocketed it. "She is at her house."

Kai got up, "You are coming with me." Luna mentally cursed Kai.

"We are coming too," Tyson said excitedly.

Everybody stuffed themselves into two cars and reached the building where Diana lived. Mariah was asked to stay in the parking lot and see that Luna didn't run away.

Kai rang the bell. Nobody opened the door. He rang it again. Still no answer. Tyson had a go at it and he rang it so shrilly that the neighbour's door opened. Out came an elderly woman.

"You, young people! No regard for the neighbours. Who was ringing that bell?" Kai and Tyson pointed at each other.

Mariam smiled, "Ma'am, we are looking for Diana Greene. She lives here. She isn't answering the bell."

"You seem like a nice girl. Not like that irresponsible Diana. Sweet girl but very forgetful. Never locks the door. It must be open now also."

Kai pushed the door and it opened easily. He stepped inside.

Diana's house was in a mess. Everything seemed to scream Diana there. There were her sketches and paintings on the walls. As he moved inside, he nearly tripped over a pair of boots outside her bedroom. The room was cluttered with books, storybooks mostly. He walked to her bed and picked up a notebook. Reminders, notes and doodles filled its pages. The page that had been opened had a lot of doodles. There was "Kai" written a lot of times. Ticket to Moscow had been drawn childishly with a big question mark. Similarly, "Professor Beckor, 42, Tominson Street, Loutey, Yorkshire" was scrawled and ticked a number of times.

Kai felt lonely. He felt empty and confused. He wanted Diana so much and he had no idea where she was. He missed her smile, the way her eyes twinkled and the way she talked. Diana had shown Kai what it was to live and love. Kai had done nothing but hurt her. The last memory he had of her was him banging the door to her face. He cleared his mind and tried to concentrate on where Diana could be.

It didn't take the Bladebreakers and Co. too long to understand that Luna had lied about Diana being here.

The elderly neighbour, Mrs. Garter, was still talking to Mariam when the others finished searching the house.

"Kai, Mrs. Garter is saying she saw Diana leaving in the night and she is pretty sure she didn't hear her coming back," Mariam informed them.

Max wondered aloud, "How can she be so sure?"

Mrs. Garter smacked his head, "Manners, my boy. You have a lovely wife, by the way." Mariam smiled in recognition. Mrs. Garter seemed to really approve of her. "I don't know how you managed to get yourself such a beautiful and sensible wife. And I know about Diana's coming and going because she makes a whole lot of noise banging doors, getting stuck in the elevator and falling all over the place."

"Hmm, Grandma makes sense!" Tyson nodded.

Mrs. Garter turned to face him with an angry expression, "Who are you calling Grandma? Leave or I will call the guards!"

Ticked off and embarrassed, the Bladebreakers made their way down to the parking lot. Kai felt strange. As if he was missing something. Some clue.

"What the-!" Ray ran over to a fallen body in the parking lot where their car was supposed to be parked. Mariah lay on the ground unconscious. Beside her a tell-tale fire extinguisher rolled. Ray scooped her up and moaned as he saw a small red patch of blood on the ground.

Kay snapped, "Ray, take her to Mrs. Garter's flat. Hilary, hold a handkerchief to the wound. I will call an ambulance."

Everybody rushed up.

Mariah, fortunately, recovered pretty soon. Mrs. Gartner called up a doctor who lived in the same building. He bandaged up the wound and declared it to be 'no problem at all'.

As she drank a cup of strong tea she told her story, "That Luna! She said she was having an asthmatic attack. I took her out and within seconds she pulled off the fire extinguisher from a wall and banged it on my head. Everything started going black. The last I remember was her racing off in Kai's car. I'm sorry. She got away!" She looked really downcast.

Ray knelt beside her and looked into her eyes, "Mariah, I'm sorry. Next time I try to invite a homeless relative you don't like in take something and bang it on my head, okay?"

Mariah smiled fondly at him, "C'mon, I'm sure we will be lucky next time. But tell me, didn't you guys find any clue in Diana's flat? She's so forgetful. I thought she would write down the address of wherever she was going at least."

Something clicked in Kai's mind. The doodles! There was an address there.

He hugged Mariah, "Thanks, Mariah! You are a genius." He ran to the neighbouring flat and quickly memorized the address. Within minutes he was running downstairs not even waiting for the elevator.

Max, who had seen the doodles too, quickly surfed the net to confirm something. He called out after Kai , "Just be sure to catch her before she leaves for Moscow by the 6:30 pm plane."

What do you think!?

And I have to say I loved the way you guys loved the last chapter. Luna's downfall...hehehehe! You people are pure awesome! Thanks to my awesome, amazing, brilliant, superb, extraordinary, phenomenal reviewers- Omegaxis1 ( I have say that was one of your finest reviews. I totally loved it :D I loved how Kai 'stops and refocuses' in the end of the conversation. Thanks...RR!), Susan sewell (That's the reaction I needed! Sam would have been super suspicious lol! I am super happy that you are happy :) RR!), SMRA (Hi! Basking in your lovely praise. Yay! 6/5 now that's totally glorious! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! RR!), beyblade002 (Thanks for the coffee tip! and I am glad you're enjoying this! Wait a sec! Did you say this your FAVOURITE!? OMG! I'm so happy. Thanks a million..RR!), James Birdsong (Thanks. I'm happy you like it! RR!), angel223 ( You caught up real fast! Wow...ONE OF THE BEST! Thanks so much. I am so grateful you appreciate this...Enjoy..RR!)...I hope m not missing anyone...Lots of love to all those who favourited and alerted!

And sorry for any and all typos and errors!

See ya!

PS- The address is of course a figment of my imagination. I don't know of any place of that name but I like making up details now and then :)