<h4>Chapter 196 - Footing On The Calm Ground</h4>


    Julie felt a sudden gust of air surrounding her. No matter how much she tried to keep her footing on the ground to stand, the ce she was in right now waspletely dark, making it hard for her to see anything.


    "Mel!" She called her friend''s name, "Are you there?" At the no response, Julie turned slightly worried.


    She failed, her hands around her, and then she finally heard Mnie''s voice, "Julie?!"


    "I am here! Where are you?!" asked Julie, and before either of them knew it, both of them were thrown on the ground.


    Both the girls winced because of the impact of force in which their bodies were dropped. Julie brought her hand in front of her eyes because the surrounding had suddenly turned bright, and it was no darker.


    "Ouch! I think I hurt my back," said Mnie, who sat on the ground without moving from her spot. "I think something is stuck in my back."


    Coming to stand behind where Mnie sat, Julie sat down and noticed a little piece of wood had pierced through Mnie''s back. "Don''t move, let me take it out," said Julie, and she carefully moved her friend''s hair to the side. Getting hold of the little piece of wood, she pulled it out.


    "Shit, that hurt like…!" Mnie cursed under her breath. "Are we back?" she asked, noticing the bright light.


    "I think so," replied Julie, but she wondered why there was no one around. She was sure that Roman had stayed here along with Donovan. But when she turned to look around, she saw the bridge, and she noticed it to be intact where they could hear the sound of gushing water flowing below the bridge.


    Mnie, who was still feeling the pain on her back, took a look below the bridge before saying, "The water isn''t supposed to be there, is it?" She could already feel the dread that wasing to fill her mind, that they were still stuck in another time.


    "No, it isn''t supposed to be there," replied Julie, standing up on her feet, and Mnie followed her.


    Her mind had been filled with the screams, scenes of blood and the bad witches and humans killing the good witches. She tried to open the portal again, but for some reason, it didn''t open up like it was supposed to. "Let us take a look at Willow Creek," she suggested, even though it wasn''t an ideal idea, but they would at least get to know what time they hade.


    Mnie nodded her head, knowing Julie had tried her best to get them out of the middle of the massacre. She was d that they were together and that each of them hadn''t been thrown into two different timelines.


    "Are you okay?" Mnie asked Julie, noticing how quiet Julie had turned to be.


    Watching the attitude of some of the humans and the bad witches, who didn''t belong to Willow Creek, attacking and killing innocent people, had put Mnie''s inner sight in a whole different perspective than what her parents wanted her to see.


    Julie shook her head, her face expressionless. Mnie quickly put her arms around Julie, rubbing her back, while Julie stood there unmoving.


    "They died when it was never their fault, all they wanted was peace," Julie said in a low sorrowful voice, her eyebrows subtly furrowing. "There were children among them, and they were killed mercilessly."


    "They did," agreed Mnie, and she said, "I am sorry that you had to go through it," but at the same time, she was d because she was here with Julie to support her.


    "I wish I could have saved them. At least help them ease their pain," murmured Julie under her breath. She wondered if her mother had got the chance to bury her family or if the humans had burned the humans.


    She took a deep breath before exhaling air from her mouth. Mnie pulled away from her, trying to offer her an encouraging smile filled with sorrow.


    "I am d that we were able to meet and get to know them. They will always stay in our memories," Mnie tried her best to console her friend, and Julie nodded her head.


    "This was the breakthrough mother spoke about," said Julie, the pain that her mother had spoken about. This is what she meant. "Come. Let us take a look," and they walked past the bridge. On their way, Julie''s thoughts went back to her family that she lost, and if she knew that was going to be thest day, she would have hugged her mother, just onest time to know how it felt like. Tears started to brim in her eyes, but she blinked them away.


    Suddenly out of nowhere, they heard a collective voice, "Burn the witches!" and both Mnie and Julie looked at each other.


    When they got nearer to the centre of the town where the gallows were present, they saw the crowd surrounding the ce. "I think I know what time period this is," said Julie.


    Julie noticed her mother, who was pulled by guards towards the gallows, and her siblings tied to the post. The humans carried torches of fire in their hands, preparing to burn them. She quickly looked around the ce, noticing a familiar-looking vampire, who resembled the vampire in appearance, whom she had just encountered a few minutes ago.


    "The house!" Julie whispered to Mnie. Mnie''s mouth had fallen, and though it moved, she could barely utter words.


    "Why have the witches been getting tortured for so many years?!" questioned Mnie to herself.


    "Mel! We need to go to the house, quick. Mother must have left something!" Julie ushered her, and they quickly left from there and went to La Fay''s house. They quickly tried to rummage through the cupboards and drawers.


    "What are we looking for?" Mnie asked Julie in a low voice.


    "Potions, mirrors. Wooden boxes," said Julie; while going through the things, she found a hidden drawer that held a letter which was addressed to her. Her hand reached for the white parchment. Picking it up, she noticed a small box ced in there. Opening the box, she noticed two vials that held two different liquid colours in it. One was colourless, and the other was red.


    "What is that?" inquired Mnie, and Julie shook her head.


    Julie didn''t get the chance to respond to it, as they heard someone try to open the front door. The girl''s who had already lived in this house some time ago quickly used the back door and escaped from the house. She wondered if this was all that had been waiting for her here.


    Soon they reached the ce where the crowd was, noticing Opaline was being pushed to sit down, and when the magistrate started to speak, Julie''s hand clenched.


    "We have to leave this ce as soon as possible," said Julie, because she knew soon her mother would curse the people and the town, and if they stayed here, it would only mean that they wouldn''t be able to get out.


    Escaping away from the eyes of the people, both Julie and Mnie started to run away as if their entire life depended on it.


    "How far are we supposed to run?" asked Mnie, huffing for air, and her body was tired because exhaustion was quick to hit her body. She had spent the entire afternoon trying to learn how to fight while also learning how to aim the arrow. Not knowing that they would be subjected to attacks.


    "Probably past the bridge, as the bridge stopped existing since the curse," Julie shouted. She held the front of her dress so that she wouldn''t trip and fall.


    Julie handed the box of potion to Mnie so that she could open the portal. She raised her hands forward, trying to focus her soul energy on opening the portal. The portal slowly started to open, right in front of the bridge. While running, Julie noticed Mnie had fallen behind. She stopped running, turning around and saw Mnie''s foot was stuck between the wooden nks, where one piece of it had broken. She went back to help her out.


    At the same time, she noticed how a bird that was flying disappeared in a blink of an eye.


    "Hurry!" eximed Julie, and she jumped into the portal, to be followed by Mnie right behind her. This time the portal closed behind them faster than before with a zap, while the curse of the witch had been put into effect. Julie had tightly shut her eyes, but instead of falling on the ground likest time, she felt someone catching her.


    She gasped for air, and her breath was uneven as she clutched onto the familiar smell of the person she loved. Her hands clutched on the person, not opening her eyes.


    Donovan caught Mnie before letting her down. But on seeing Donovan, she quickly took a few steps backwards because she knew exactly what he was capable of.


    "Thank you," Mnie bowed her head and murmured while not meeting his eyes, and Donovan offered his charming smile.


    "It is good to see that you both have returned safely. We were getting worried here,"mented Donovan, before he moved his gaze to look at Julie, who Roman held. Again he looked at Mnie and asked her, "How was the trip to the past, Ms. Davis? Anything that you liked? Or if you would like to take another trip anytime soon?"


    "I am good without it," came Mnie''s voice, and Donovan chuckled.


    Roman held Julie closely, wrapping his arms around her body and not letting her go, while she showed no signs of pulling away.


    Roman rubbed her back, "It''s good to have you back. I have been waiting for you."


    Julie didn''t reply, whose head was buried in his chest. She couldn''t believe she was so close to meeting her mother once again, but before she could see the execution, she had to leave the ce, and she doubted if her heart would be able to handle the heart break of seeing more members of her family die.


    Though Mnie had been there to support her, Julie had always relied more on Roman, exposing every single fear of hers to him. And now that he was here with her, the dam of emotions that she had been trying to hold within herself opened.


    A soft sob escaped from her lips, and Roman could feel her heart breaking. Another sob followed, and soon the front of his ck shirt started to turn wet with Julie''s tears.


    "It''s okay now," Roman whispered to Julie, continuing to rub her back. "Everything is okay, and they are all at peace. No one will get hurt anymore," he spoke to her in a soothing tone.


    Donovan turned to look at Mnie and said to her, "How about I take you back to the Dormitorium. You must be hungry?"


    Mnie shook her head, "I-I will go by myself," and seeing Julie was with Roman now, she quickly started to run away from there.


    "Hm?" hummed Donovan, tilting his head to the side, and he said, "What a strange girl. Humans are indeed strange."


    The Elder vampire then walked towards the bridge, which was yet to be mended. In a blink of an eye, he walked to the other side of the bridge and started walking towards Willow Creek.


    It took a couple of minutes for Julie to quieten down finally, and Roman gently ran his hand on the back of her head to calm her shaken heart. She didn''t know how many minutes had passed. She told herself that everything that had happened, it was out of her control, and it was meant to happen, to bring the world it was right now.


    Roman asked her, "Are you hurt?" he picked up her hands, checking her palms.


    Julie shook her head while letting it rest against his shoulder. Roman didn''t force her to speak, and instead, he picked her up in his arms, carrying her away from there. They reached the Dormitorium and entering his dorm, he gently dropped her on his bed.


    "Do you want to sleep?" he asked her, noticing the dazed look in her eyes.


    Julie''s eyes met his eyes, and she asked him, "Will you sleep with me?"


    Roman removed his shoes and got on the bed next to her. He held her in his arms and said, "Close your eyes, Winters. I will take it from here."


    His voice was like a warm nket, and so were his arms. Julie moved closer, and though she closed her eyes, she wasn''t able to fall asleep right away. The screams of the people didn''t leave her mind, and distantly, it kept echoing repeatedly, making her scrunch her face.


    "My mother was with Donovan when it happened," whispered Julie, her voiceing out broken and tired. "She was safe because she was with him. If she stayed in Willow Creek that night, she would have died along with my uncle, my aunts and my grandfather..." her voice trailed. She wondered if the Donovan bloodline was truly cursed as how people believed it to be.


    Roman quietly listened to her, without interrupting what she was saying and letting her little heart pour out all the burdens so that her thoughts wouldn''t darken her emotions, where she would turn bitter.


    "I wanted to help them, wanted to get them out of there so that they could live..." said Julie, but then she remembered the way her thoughts had gone. Before Mnie had even stopped her, she had felt the ache in her heart and a moment of nkness, as if something was trying to remove her existence.


    "A lot of things aren''t in our control, and no matter how much you want to grasp it, you cannot hold it," Roman''s words were gentle on her ears, and Julie understood what he meant. "How were they? Your family."


    "The best, better than I could have ever imagined it to be. My mother, she was a fierce woman, full of life," said Julie, and she pulled herself from his chest, craning her neck to look up at him. "I told the truth to my grandfather. About where I came from, about you..."


    Roman could tell that to hide such a big truth from her family for Julie would have been nothing but a burden, and maybe it was good that she had told the truth to one person.


    "I missed you," whispered Julie, and Roman looked into her eyes.


    "I missed you more. You had me worried, when I couldn''t find you," replied Roman, bringing the back of his hand to caress her cheek and instinctively, she closed her eyes for a moment before opening them. "Did you notice that you are slightly glowing like a star?"


    Julie brought her hand in front of her and noticed the subtle light emitted from her body. She pursed her lips, "It has been like this since thest twelve hours I think."


    "Your powers havee to you in full force. Now all you need to do is control and hide it so that no one notices it," said Roman, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. He took note of Julie''s breathing that was turning more even, and she tried to keep her eyes open before they slowly closed themselves. He pulled her in his arms, tucking her carefully and letting her sleep.


    While Julie was resting in Roman''s dorm, Mnie had made her way to the girl''s Dormitorium. But before she could enter the building, she found her best friend sitting on the stairs.


    Mnie hadpletely forgotten about the possibility of meeting Conner here, and on seeing her, Conner quickly got up and met up with her.


    She should have known that Conner would be here, and she quickly put a smile on her lips.


    "Conner, what are—"


    "Mel! Where have you been?!" questioned Conner, his eyes looking at her in worry. "I have been looking for you and Julie everywhere, but no one knew where you both went."


    Mnie continued to keep her smile, and she patted Conner''s shoulder, "You worry for no reason. What would happen to us? Julie and I went on a little trip by ourselves."


    "Trip?" he repeated the word, his eyes narrowing at her, and Mnie quickly nodded her head.


    "Yeah, we went on a little trip by ourselves, and we got back in the morning. I am sorry we didn''t take you along," said Mnie, letting go of Conner''s shoulder and bringing her hand back to her side.


    "Where did you both go? We have a curfew imposed in the university and you both decided that skipping sses and going was the best way?" he gave her a look, where it didn''t seem like he believed her words.


    "Yeah, we took permission from Ms. Dante, and went out. It was for research materials for the project, and it took quite some time before we could actually get permission," informed Mnie. She then asked, "Seriously, what made you think something would have happened to us?" she lightlyughed.


    A sigh escaped from Conner''s lips, and he said, "I was so worried for you both. I thought some... vampire," he lowered his voice to speak the word, "took you away to torture you, knowing you are a hunter, and Julie knows the truth now?"


    "Yeah," came the breathy reply from Mnie, "Julie knows, "even before either of them hade to learn about the existence of vampires, she thought in her mind.


    "Where is Julie? She''s not with you," Conner looked behind Mnie, and Mnie nodded her head.


    "Julie went to meet Roman. You know how close they are. Lovers," added Mnie to ease the situation, and Conner gave her a nod.


    "I hope she doesn''t tell him anything. But then Julie is good at keeping secrets, so there isn''t much to worry," Conner muttered under his breath before he ced his hand on his stomach. "I forgot to eat, I have been so stressed with both of your disappearance."


    Mnie felt guilt weighing in her chest because lying to Conner was thest thing she had ever wanted to do. But the situation demanded her to lie and hide things. She didn''t know how he would react, once he woulde to know that it was one of the same creatures whom their parents despised, who had killed his girlfriend.


    "I am sorry for making you worry. Next time I will make sure to let you know," Mnie apologized, and in return, Conner shook his head.


    "Don''t be. I am just d it wasn''t anything like how I imagined it to be," replied Conner, and Mnie couldn''t help but think if only he knew what she and Julie just went through. "What''s that thing on your face?" he asked before stepping closer to her.


    Mnie held her breath, and she saw him raise his hand before touching her cheek, "Seems like mud." His hands were warmer, and for a moment, they stared at each other.


    "Mel!" the voice startled her, and Mnie quickly stepped backwards from Conner. It was Simon, who appeared with a bright smile on his face. "It is so d to see you, feels like years have passed since Ist saw you," he chuckled.


    Mnie gave the vampire a quick look.. She passed a small re at him because of his underlying meaning.