“There will always be a loophole.”
Julie saw very clearly what Aleena was doing before she died. The witch pulled a thin thread from her temple. She created a small jar of empty air in front of her and put the thin thread into it. Aleena then removed the jar with a swift motion as Alistair shifted back into his human form.
“The time of witches is over; the glory of werewolves will begin now, Aleena the Great Witch.”
“I curse you; you and your offspring will not live to be 40 years old. There will always be a creature I can rely on to make the curse work.”
“Corpus meum tibi dedico matri naturae… tunc erit anima mea tranquilitas post effugium iter formatum.”
Julie saw Aleena’s body turn into ash particles floating in the air. In front of her, Alistair stood proudly, staring at Aleena’s death. Alistair’s booming laughter was followed by the howls of the wolves who were still in the pack with her.
Julie felt the pieces of the puzzle that had stumped her at the beginning come together. With a sense of determination, she said, “Vincentius is a descendant directly from Alistair and Liam as well. They are still in the same bloodline.”
Julie felt her body begin to be pulled by a large, invisible force from behind. She did not have time to look around her because the force’s motion was also very fast.
“Shit. I’m going to throw up!” said Joan as she held her stomach.
They had both returned to the present. Julie was resting on her hands, bent to the floor, while Joan was lying beside her with a very pale face.
Julian, who heard Joan mumbling, immediately took a vomit bag from Joan’s bag. Before performing the ritual, Joan had told Julian from the beginning that she would always vomit when possessed by the spirit of her ancestor.
While Joan threw up the liquid from her stomach, Julie sat on the floor and did not move. Julian, who saw his sister like that, immediately gave her a glass of water from a table not far from her.
“Is there anything interesting about your two-hour journey?”
“Two hours? It feels so short in there.”
“Witches, you lose your minds after travelling back in time. No wonder you witches often suffer from acute headaches.”
Julie couldn’t argue with her brother’s assertion. She also often felt a severe headache when she felt frustrated from casting the wrong spell. Sometimes Julie would prefer her werewolf genes to be more dominant, like Julian. She also wanted to be able to communicate through a mental link with her pack members.
Her hopes were dashed after her witch gene was more dominant than the others. Of course, Julian was more able to get along with other pack members than he was.
“You’re a witch too, Julian. It’s just that your strength as a werewolf is superior to the wave of your hand. Don’t discriminate against witches, or Mom will kill you.”
“Hey, Julian, take me home. I’m so tired from helping your sister; I need to rest.”
Joan paused their argument. Julie inched backwards to make room for Joan to fix up Julian’s room. Whether this ritual was allowed or not, Julie was always number one in tidiness. Leaving traces of the magic ritual in Julian’s room was tantamount to dirtying her own room.
Julie helped Joan clean up the room that was half messed up by the ritual. She had to collect Julian’s scribbled papers that were blown away by the wind. After that, she tidied up the curtains that had fallen off their rails.
They spent almost half an hour tidying up Julian’s room. It was over when Julie thanked Joan for helping her with the clues.
Julie couldn’t tell the truth to anyone yet, except Julian, who would already know. Not to Edith, who would worry too much, or to Seth, who trusted Liam.
Julie pulled Julian’s hand before he stepped out of the room and said, “Please don’t tell mum and dad about this. I’ll try to find a way to prevent it.”
“Yeah, don’t forget the monkshood,” Julian whispered with a wink.
“I’ll pick it up tomorrow night, I promise.”
“I’ll be going,” Julian said to Julie when they were both in the doorway.
*
Edith forgot something. She turned around and headed back to Seth’s study. After she put away the bottle of monkshood essence, she forgot to lock the storage cabinet. She turned the key and pulled it out.
Edith also turned off the lights in Seth’s study and locked the door after being outside. She led the way to Julian and Julie’s room to check on them.
In Julian’s room, she saw her son sketching. Edith greeted him and told him to get some rest, while in Julie’s room she saw that her daughter was already asleep with the blanket covering her whole body.
Edith closed the door to Julie’s room and went to her room. Along the way to her room, she passed several warriors who were about to take their turn on the night watch at the northern border of the forest.
“Good evening, Luna Edith.”
Edith returned their greetings with a friendly smile. To shorten the time, she made quick movements with her vampire abilities to get to her room. She stepped into the closet and picked up a silk nightgown.
The sound of a knock on the door distracted her for a moment, and she invited the omega into her room.
“Luna, this is blood for you.”
“Thank you. Do you have any left?”
“Only ten more bags of blood are left, Luna.”
“Well, thank you. You can rest.”
Edith immediately drank the blood from the bag in her hand. For once a week, she had to drink deer blood to maintain her vampire stamina. She chose animal blood as a drink to suppress her thirst for blood.
She missed Seth. When he felt the empty place next to him, Seth’s shadow appeared as if welcoming his heart’s call. Seth’s smiling face at her made Edith content enough to accompany her to sleep tonight.
Meanwhile, Julie was uncovering the blanket and getting out of bed. She adjusted the position of her bolster and pillow in such a way that she covered them with the blanket so that it looked like she was the one under the blanket.
Julie heard a soft whistling sound from outside the door. She knew it was Julian’s code to get out of the room. Julie walked to the door. She opened the door and saw Julian leaning against the wall opposite her bedroom door.
“Are you sure everyone is asleep?”
“Only two are on guard in the great hall, one in the backyard, four at the pack house gate; even mum’s been dreaming about mating with dad.”
“You peeping Tom, you’re lucky to be able to use your skills to find out where they are.” Julie smiled before continuing her walk towards Seth’s study.
Sometimes Julian could be so silly just to cheer her up. Julie was a little wary since she had never stolen anything. Her father’s closet was protected by magic so that any werewolf except her father, the Beta and Gamma, and her mother could open it.
“I’ve never stolen before.”
“So you’re scared?”
“I’m not, but I’ve never broken the rules.”
“That feels good. You know, Dad used to break the rules too. I’ve seen his thoughts.”
“Really?”
“He used to get into trouble at school, so you don’t have to worry about breaking the rules now. Let’s hurry; there will be warriors coming this way.”