The Sweet Nothings || ✓

'I AM READY TO GIVE THIS UP FOR MAIA'

Lana was wide awake. There were three files lying open infront of her and the world map was spread across the big wooden table. Nany Lily and Nana Phineas were intently staring at the map while Lana gaped at the file.

This was her progress.

And this was nothing.

The iPads and laptops had pictures and videos of Xavier running on them. But she knew that they meant nothing. All fragments of his past or hers. No clue of where he was. No clue of where Maia was.

Nothing. Nada.

And Lana was disappointed. Thinking that working on this one thing for over a year now would help her discover something about Xavier. It didn't help.

Information: None.

That's what it always was. Nothing.

'Don't you think then it's your fault?!' Levi's words echoed in her head.

"That's all that I have found out. I know this is nothing. He keeps moving places to places. Very randomly. One corner to the other. It's as if he is following this one pattern. But I am not able to decode it." Lana told Nany and Nana.

Nana Phineas nodded. "Yes. I can nearly see it." He looked up at Lana.
"Can you get me a globe?" He asked. Lana nodded and hurriedly brought in a globe from her room.

"Okay, take this marker. Mark the points I tell you to. Okay?" He asked Lana.

"Yeah sure." She replied.

He moved his wheelchair closer to the table with the world map.
"So, first Canbara." Lana marked. "Then Jakarta. Then Riyadh. Then Jerusalem. And lastly Athens." He finished.

Lana did as she was told. And stood away from the globe for a moment.

His eyes searched the map again and he looked up at Nany. Her eyes widened too.

"It's like he is making a diagonal across the world." She said and rushed forwards towards the globe.

"Yes, it is this way. It's not possible to notice it on a plane map but it's prominent on the globe." She pointed and Lana saw it too. Indeed it was a diagonal. Like a line across the world. Claiming it as his own.

"And it looks like," Lana started and came back towards the globe. "Like it's Italy next." And she looked up to see Nany and Nana have an eye contact again. Then Nany pulled out a chair and sat down, motioning Lana to do the same. Lana did as she was told.

And as soon as she sat down, she felt how tired her body was but she didn't let it affect her.

No. Not now. Not when she was finally getting somewhere.

"Why do you think Xavier is after Maia, Andrea?" Nana asked looking closely at her.

She sighed. Though they had said that she wasnt the only one to be blamed, it surely was her fault. Because of course Xavier was doing this to Maia only because of her, he was doing this for her. So once again Lana explained, yet another story that she wanted to forget but couldn't. Just couldn't.

"So yeah. He had stalked me all while I was in Italy. Then dad, Mr. Wilson, suggested that I shift here. So I did. I had thought that he stopped after I shifted here. But he was supposedly doing it all this while too. He said he would take away everyone that I love so that in the end it's just him and I. He is possibly doing this to Maia to get to me." Lana finished. Tears were threatening to fall but she controlled. She wasn't going to cry. No.

Both Nana and Nany were looking at her with concern.

"Don't blame your Andrea. We are here now. And we are helping you. We know it's been tough for you all this while but going to be okay soon. Maia will be here in no time, laughing and talking like she used to." Nany said and patted Lana's hair. Then she got and turned around, just about to say something when the door of the room burst open and in came a very disheveled Stephen, Lana and Maia's brother.

Lana was surprised to see him after so long. Yes they had talked, because he too was helping Lana to look for Maia, but this was different. She hadn't seen him since the funeral. And the days looked to have taken a toll on him. His hair needed urgent trimming and clothes needed a better iron.

He was out of breath but still huffing out, he said, "He is in Italy. One of our agents traced down a picture on the social media. Someone was clicking this other girl or something and he was in the background, passing by." He spoke, bending down to catch a breath.

Lana was fast. She moved towards the front of the room and switched on the speaker system. Holding up the microphone near her mouth, she spoke--"All gang members are to assemble in the meeting hall. Right now."

She hadn't even put the microphone down when people started filing in. Nany and Nana sat down on the head chairs, the inner gang settled itself on the table and the rest of them stood around.

Lana filled all of them in and all listened to her without interrupting.

"We need to send out a team." She said.

"You have been doing that everytime he is spotted. We never find anything." Someone said.

That's when, in a stern voice, Nany Lily spoke up."I am certain you weren't listening to Andrea properly. The diagonal pattern that he was following has ended. It ends on Italy. The best option we have is of finding him there. If not him, we will surely find something productive." She said. And that shushed the person.

"But we can't waste time like this. Searching vaguely." Someone else pointed out.

"We are not wasting time. We are making use of it." Stephen stated coldly. Murmurs ran around the room.

"All in favour of sending out a team?" Nana asked. And everyone's hand shot up in the air.

Lana was busy anticipating the results, contemplating the what if's. So she missed that one person who hadn't really raised her hand. She missed out Hazel's disloyalty.

Lana stood up, ready to make a statement when an voice spoke up.
"But why should we? Why should we put in so much of effort for this mission? Can you promise us all something in return?"

Nana was about to speak up when Lana raised her hand to stop him.
"I would say that a gang is a family. And family helps each other. Maia is in danger and if the fact that she is my family isn't enough of a reason then tell me. What do you expect of me? What do you want me to do?" Lana asked. As coldly as possible.

The person who had spoken up, Hazel, spoke up again. "When we get Maia, I want her to be our gang leader." And the room went quiet. Lana looked at her closely, thinking what was wrong with her.

"Okay. After Maia returns, everyone will have a free chance to vote for their leader. But I am ready to give this up if Maia is going to be safe." Lana said.

Then she looked around the room and her heart pounded. The absence of Damien hit her hard for the first time since the beginning of the meeting.

But she spoke up again.

"The team moves out tonight."