The Crown in the Storm ✔️

A retreat is good for the soul

Jojo announced for the music to be shut down and a hush fell over the room.

"My youngsters... what do you want? Where is life taking you? What has this city given you? It is your time to rise up and displace these intruders... to displace these figureheads"

I shared a glance with Zaroon.
"We study and strive hard to get to a position. They are born with a silver spoon in their mouth... that girl in Gulzar Mahal. Went abroad on our money... studied, using our money" roars of frustration echoed around the room. I stared at them, in shock. I did not take anyone's money. Why were they agreeing with this? I felt someone brush my hand lightly. I turned to see Zaroon, with his face set in stone, his gaze ahead.

"The elite are the reason you're here... why we're here. They take and take and leave nothing... when will our time come? When do we get to take? The answer is... soon my friends. We will use them as they have used us. We will infiltrate the very thing they call a system!" More cheers and shouts. "Please put your hands together for our first speaker of the night... Asad" applause thundered in the gym.

"Jahi mentioned you'd be here... Come with me" a man, shadows covered his face, had slipped in behind Salaar. Salaar nodded his gaze wide. We followed him to the main structure. He pulled the curtain aside and jerked his head, telling us to go in. The inside was dark and sparsely decorated.
"Is this the scholar?" A female voice asked from the dark.
"Jojo?" I asked.
"For now... I was told we'd be expecting two, why do we have three?"
"He's one of the affected," Salaar said with a brief smile, turning up the charm.
"What do you have for us? Why are you here?"

"Same as you... I hate the system. It took my mom away from me. No one cared about me. My mother was murdered in front of me and I could not do anything about it" a gasp tore itself out of my mouth. Zaroon looked ahead his gaze fixed on Jojo's outline. She moved forward, her height becoming clear.

"That's horrible..." she said sympathy coating her voice. "How old were you?"
"I was ten. I was left alone." His voice hitched. This was not acting. This was real. "The people who did it... were from an influential family. The police couldn't do anything. They negotiated enough funds to send me here, where I stayed in an orphanage" Hasanabad. He took me there to show me. Why had Uncle Azhar had put him in an orphanage? He had a house here.

"That's heartbreaking... I can understand your anger" I was scared of his anger. His pain was real and raw.
"The pain you feel right now, let it drive you. Let it fuel our mission" Jojo chanted. We mumbled along with her.
"Your mission to eradicate the elite class?"
"Not to eradicate them... to make them an example. For them to live like us"
"What's your problem with Gulzar Mahal?" Zaroon asked.
"Nothing. We expose them for who they are. Greedy suckers who don't care about anyone. Their time is done. Why should anyone have more than anyone else? Just because they were born into it?"

"I agree with you. This is why I want to meet your leader, to tell them something that might be useful" Salaar said in a confident drawl.
"You can tell that to me"
"With all due respect, I can not."
"We are against hierarchal structures"
"And yet, you have a leader"
"We're equals" Jojo countered, her voice getting hard.

"It's about party funding. I can help" I said stepping forward.
"We've got a lot of funders like you, people from the inside"
"Really? I know one or two"
"How could you? They're confidential"
"People like to brag about the good they do," she paused and thought about it I slipped Ammi's ring into my pocket. I took off my earrings and offered them to her.
"An advance, to show that we're sincere" her eyes widened.
"Are these real?" Duh. I nodded politely.
"And we have more. I plan to raid my father's account... we have a small window. I need to meet your leader"
"She's not here today..." She?

"Jojo! Media raid! Pack up now..." Asad said running into the room. He started to put things in a briefcase and Jojo jumped up panicked.

The media was here? We had to leave. They couldn't know I was here. I shared a panicked look with Zaroon.

"We need to meet her... how will we find you?" I said, trying to stay calm as screams sounded outside of the curtain.
"Take this... it's my cell. I'll call you on this" she said handing me a very old silver Motorola. We nodded. As she whirled away, I grabbed a strand of her hair.
"From here... come on," Asad said gesturing to Salaar. We ran outside and I stuffed the two things in my other pocket. We followed them to a narrow alley.
"This is where we leave you... wait for my call," Jojo said. With that, they ran off into the dark. I started to follow them. Zaroon grabbed my arm.
"Joe's on it," he said.
"How do you know that?"

The comms were still not working. He pointed towards a shadow sneaking towards the van. I watched as the two of them sat in the van, not noticing the back door close. I prayed for Joe's safe return. The van started to move away and my ear started to buzz.

"Uncle EJ?"
"Eli? Oh, Eli? Are you okay? Can you hear me? Is Salaar okay?" He sounded hysterical.

Hearing him panic made me realise that my hands and legs were shaking. What had we done? I sank to the ground unable to support my weight. Salaar sat next to me, his face white.

"We sort of did it" I answered, dread creeping into my heart as I looked at the grim expression on Zaroon's face.

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It's coming to a climax.

Zaroon:

Elena: