Volume 6 Numbers 1 and 2 | Apr-Sept 2026

Eyes Beyond the Ordinary

Story idea by Twisha Bisen | Story by Francesca Cotta | Art by Harsho Mohan Chattoraj

Twisha’s pitch:

It was a pleasant morning for 14-year-old Aisha as she was finally going back to school – St Nicholas Convent, after summer vacation. She was an ambivert – an introvert in public, who loved observing people and their habits, but an extrovert around her friends and family. In front of them, she could crack silly jokes and say everything that came to her mind.

She was observant and very aware of others’ moods and behaviours. She was also a very good listener – she always had time for her friends and family if they were sharing their problems or ideas. She was also very good at problem-solving – not only like in school subjects like Maths or Science, but also very quick in resolving matters between others or helping her mother out when there were guests coming over and her mother was panicking.

She had a mix of emotions for the first day of her 10th standard. While she was excited to meet all her classmates again, she was also anxious about the upcoming year. Since it was a board exam year, she was also studying longer hours every day and the atmosphere was made serious for the students by relatives.

On the first day, the teacher introduced the class to the new girl, Jahnvi. The class interacted with her asking about her last school and previous experiences. During the lunch break, when Aisha was in the washroom, she overheard some of her troublemaker classmates planning a bad prank on Jahnvi near the cafeteria. Aisha immediately rushed to the spot and saved Jahnvi from embarrassment. Jahnvi thanked Aisha and this turned into a new friendship.

That night, while Aisha was studying in her room, she heard a soft knock on her window. She was confused at first but when she opened the window, in came flying a tiny pocket owl, white and brown in colour. Aisha was scared, but she couldn’t resist giving a small bowl of water to the tiny visitor. The owl clearly needed it, and after drinking water it flew away. This continued for a week. Aisha now had two new friends – the owl (whom she named Pluto) and Jahnvi.

One day, Aisha woke up to usually loud noises. After inspection, she realised that the noises were not that loud, it was that her hearing ability had increased by many times. She could not only listen to the conversations in her neighbours’ house across the street, but also see clearly inside their house. While falling back in her room in shock, she tripped over a tennis ball lying around but retained her balance with ultra-human capabilities, thus realising she now also had enhanced reflexes!

Slowly in the days ahead, she recognised her superpower of hyper-awareness. It allowed her to observe her surroundings really well, see and hear things from afar, have a photographic memory and quick reflexes – all of these nothing but all her existing skills just enhanced multifold. She also realised that she gained these powers through a magic spell cast by Pluto, the owl. (Surprise, surprise, Pluto is a shapeshifter. More on this later.)

While Pluto (and Janhvi, who also knows about her superpowers) help Aisha gain control on her superpowers, they also decide to get together to serve the city (and eventually the world) with their special skills. Why did Pluto give Aisha these powers? Did she gain these powers or did she always have them? What is the unique relationship between Jahnvi and Pluto?

To know more, read the story in the magazine.