Julie continued to fall downwards while her hand tried to reach out to grab something or anything. Somewhere, she hoped that the Corvin would come forward and reach out to her, that this was just a test to bring out her powers.

  But the Corvin didn't make a single attempt to move from its place and simply watched her and Melanie fall from the bridge it had broken. Before she knew it, her body fell on the ground, which once used to be filled with water, and it was enough for both the girls to lose their consciousness.

  The Corvin watched both the girls on the ground, their body slightly sprawled, and it stared at Julie for long seconds before turning around and leaving the place.

  Back in Veteris, Roman stood with Simon, taking in the information he had collected from the hunters.

  "Do you know how much Silverwater he has on him?" questioned Roman, standing near the football field.

  "Not much. I believe with the sudden distribution and use of the Silverwater, most of it has turned scarce. Probably just a handful and not more than that," replied Simon. He brought his hand up to brush the side of his red hair, pushing it behind, which only came back to settle on the side of his face. "I think the compulsion wall is breaking."

  "I noticed it," remarked Roman, something he had caught when his eyes had fallen on the human during breakfast. While Melanie was slightly nervous, Conner, on the other hand, was trying to look for something. "The trauma of his dead girlfriend must still be tormenting his mind even after compulsion. Keep a close watch."

  "Yeah, on it," said Simon, and he then asked, "What are we going to do if he turns troublesome?"

  "Let us hope it doesn't come to that. You know how humans have been dealt when they start to question and turn curious. If they try to harm us we'll have no way but to reply to them back in our own way," said Roman, and he brought his hand up to take a drag from the cigarette that was resting between his two fingers. "Conner or Melanie's death, it will lead the hunters here. Keeping them alive is a better option."

  "I picked up the scent of vampires in there. At Melanie's house. But I wasn't able to find where the smell was coming from. As if there were dead vampires," informed Simon, his lips twisting in grimace.

  "Don't hover too much around them, and keep a distance while you keep an eye on them. Too much can bring in suspicion," warned Roman, and Simon nodded his head.

  "Of course," smiled Simon. "You don't have to worry about that. Being tortured by the hunters is the last thing on my wish list."

  Roman dropped the cigarette when he was done with it, stamping on it, and he and Simon went to take a walk in the corridor of the classrooms. When they walked past Julie's classroom, his eyes slightly narrowed when he didn't see Julie in there. And along with her, even Melanie was missing.

  Sensing the change in Roman's demeanour, Simon turned to take a quick look at the class before they walked past it. "Julie skipping classes? How rare," commented Simon.

  From what he knew, Julie wasn't someone to skip class. And this was the second class for the day, and she wasn't in there, sitting in her usual seat.

  "I will go and take a look where she is," said Roman, and Simon was quick to offer,

  "Let me join in, I don't have anything to do in the classroom and would rather like to be outside."

  "Suit yourself," remarked Roman, knowing why exactly Simon was tagging along.

  A bright smile appeared on Simon's lips when Roman agreed, and together they left the building. The two seniors looked around the place, from the lunchroom to the girl's Dormitorium, but there was no sign of the two girls where they could be.

  "Maybe we should have checked the girl's restroom," suggested Simon, "Girls like spending time in there and gossiping."

  Roman was aware of Julie's close friendship with Melanie, and as much as he didn't mind it, he wouldn't like it if the hunters' children tried to pull anything on his girl. An innocent human could be molded and changed depending on circumstances.

  Noticing Caleb walking by, Roman stopped him, "Have you seen, Winters?"

  "Julianne?" asked Caleb, who had skipped his class to grab a quick snack. "I think I saw her in the morning, but haven't seen her after that," he shrugged. "Isn't she in her class?"

  "Do you think we would be inquiring if we knew she was in class?" questioned Simon, slightly raising his eyebrows, and Caleb shook his head. "Off you go," he dismissed the junior and Caleb quickly walked away from them, not wanting to be part of anything with the troublesome bunch.

  Roman brought his hand to rake it through his hair before he let go of it.

  "Where else do you think she can be right now?" asked Simon.

  "Willow Creek," murmured Roman, his eyebrows subtly furrowing, and they headed in its direction.

  When they reached the spot, Roman looked around the place before his eyes fell on the bridge, which was broken. Roman took a closer look, noticing there was no direct way to go to Willow Creek, and one had to take the longer route before reaching the town.

  Roman took a look at the bottom of the bridge and noticed nothing there. The land was clean except for leaves, with no water and one side of the bridge, lightly hung in mid-air. He quickly jumped down to take a better look, and he said,

  "Someone broke the bridge."

  Simon jumped down to where Roman stood, looking at the ends of the bridge rope that did look as if someone had cut it.

  "I don't think any students would ever try to do something like this," he sniffed the air before turning around and looking at a spot on the ground. "Do you smell that?"

  "Julie and the human girl must have walked by this place some time ago. Their scent is very faint, barely enough to know if they left this place," Roman spoke in a serious tone, not pleased with the idea of something did happen to Julie. It was because he couldn't pick up her scent anymore. As if she had disappeared in thin air.

  And when the thought crossed his mind, Roman's jaw clenched, realizing what could have happened.

  "Evans is in his office, isn't he?"

  Simon turned to look at Roman and gave a nod, "Yeah, he must be there."

  Roman didn't leave the place immediately, and he took a look by himself in the town of Willow Creek, trying to find if Julie had come here. When he didn't find her, he left the place with Simon, heading back to the centre of Veteris university.

  [Music Recommendation: The Uninvited- Christopher Young]

  And while the two seniors left the spot, Julie and Melanie were drenched in water. Their bodies soaked as they had fallen into the water after falling from the bridge. But the time was different than the one they belonged to.

  Julie felt a dull ache in her head, and she heard the sound of gushing water around her, which wasn't fast but soft on her ears. When her head submerged further into the water, water entered her nose, and her eyes flew open. Her hands flailed, trying to resurface until she felt someone pull her. She struggled to be free, but despite her attempts, she was pulled out of the water.

  Someone placed their hands on her chest, pumping it to bring the water out of her mouth, which she had earlier swallowed.

  Julie started to cough, her throat itchy and her eyes burning because of the water. She blinked, feeling herself being pulled up to sit straight.

  "Are you alright, lady?!" asked someone while Julie continued to focus on what had just happened.

  When her vision cleared, she noticed a man with brown hair staring at her with a frown on his face. "Can you hear me?" asked the man.

  Julie nodded, and the man let out a sigh of relief. He then said to someone, "She's alright."

  "I am trying to get this one awake," came another man's voice from her left side. When Julie's eyes fell on Melanie, unconscious, her eyes widened.

  Julie quickly scrambled from where she was sitting on the ground, and she made her way near Melanie, who was lying on her back with her eyes closed. "What happened to her?" she asked the man.

  "Ah, you both fell in the river. Did you lose your footings there?" asked the man before he quickly said, "Let me try again. I think she drank too much water. It doesn't look like she hit her head anywhere."

  "Let me do it," said Julie, she started to pump Melanie's chest, but there was no sign of her friend being near to awake. She exerted more force this time, and Melanie coughed up the water that had entered her body.

  Ack! Ack! Melanie coughed, and she brought her hand up to cover her mouth before taking a deep breath.

  "Thank heavens. Looks like we don't have to worry about it," said the man, who had been sitting near them. "Where you both trying to kill yourself? The water is shallow and not deep enough to die and you will only end up injuring yourself."

  Melanie lightly glared at the man, "The bridge broke suddenly, we would never try to commit sucide."

  "Bridge was broken?" asked the man in confusion.

  Noticing the man's expression, Julie turned to look in the direction of the bridge, and she noticed the bridge to be intact. But there was more than that, that she finally came to notice. The sky had turned reddish-orange with a hint of purple in it. But what stood out the most were these men's clothes.

  Even Melanie looked a little confused, but like Julie in the past, she brushed it off as cosplay? or strange clothing sense of these men.

  It wasn't just Julie and Melanie, but the two men, who had pulled them out of the water, who looked at them with a look of wariness. Julie was in her jeans and a blouse, while Melanie wore a skirt and a blouse.

  The men moved closer to each other, and the one who had saved Melanie whispered to his partner, "Do you think these young women ran away from the brothel? Their clothes seem a little different," because it was too snug and tight, while also his eyes fell on Melanie's smooth legs, while she quietly glared at him.

  "I don't know. It looks a little strange for a brothel, but then I don't know because I have never been there," replied the other man, who keenly observed the two girls discussing with each other.

  Melanie spoke to Julie in a whisper, "Why is there water and the bridge intact?"

  "I think we dropped into another timeline," Julie replied in a low voice. But how was that possible, she asked herself. She hadn't opened any portal, and she had been standing on the bridge doing nothing.

  "What do you mean by a different timeline?" Melanie's eyes held confusion. "And that thing, your friend, why did it do it?"

  Julie had no answers to why her Corvin had done it. She remembered the way the creature continued to look at her, and she felt that prick of disappointment and betrayal over its action.

  "I have once opened a portal to another time. Sending one person there. My real mother, she had that ability too," explained Julie, before taking a quick look at the two men who stood there staring at them. "I don't know how the portal opened, but after we fell from the bridge, I think it took us to another time. A time which is far far back from our current time."

  Melanie felt goosebumps appear all over her skin, and the cold evening wind that blew on her wet clothes didn't help one bit either.

  "You know how to return, right?" asked Melanie.

  Julie pursed her lips. She had never tried to open it, and the last time when it happened, it was out of the blue and without her control. She replied, "I can try and see if it will work."

  "Okay," said Melanie, turning worried and wary of the sudden situation they were in.

  "Is there anything you need help with?" asked one of the men, and both the girls turned to look at them. "You both don't seem to someone from this place."

  Julie nodded her head, "Yes, we are from a different place. Thank you for saving me and my friend," and she offered a small bow. On seeing this, Melanie mimicked her actions.

  "That's fine," the one who had spoken waved his hand as if it wasn't a big deal, and he said, "We are just glad to see that everything is okay. Do you perhaps need a ride?"

  "We are heading back to our place, Otis," said the other man with brown hair and had green eyes.

  The man named Otis leaned towards the brown-haired man and whispered, "Do you plan to leave such young ladies out in the cold? It is only right that we should offer help to them."

  "You can offer them your help by your own means. I have a herd of sheep that needs to be brought to the shed," said the brown-haired man.

  Julie said, "That's fine. We have somewhere else to be. Thank you again for your kindness."

  The man gave a short nod, while the man named Otis looked a little torn to see the young ladies walk away from there, with their clothes still dripping wet while giving a small glare to his friend.

  After walking for a minute away from the bridge, Melanie asked Julie, "Do you know which era or time we are in?"

  "I think we'll need to ask someone. I cannot tell the time," replied Julie, and she shivered. "Let me see if I can contact the Corvin."

  "Contact," murmured Melanie, and she pulled out her phone, which when she unlocked the screen, it didn't work. "I will need to buy a new one," she muttered under her breath.

  Julie closed her eyes, trying to connect to the Corvin, hoping that despite what it had done out of the blue, the creature would appear right in front of her. She tried hard, but nothing ever happened. Opening her eyes, she looked around the place, where the sky was quick to head in the direction of darkness, trying to bring in the night.

  She raised her hand, hoping to change the medium so that it could open up the portal, but it was to no avail.

  "It's not working," whispered Julie, not knowing how to open the portal because the only person who had done it apart from her was her mother. But she died years ago.

  "What do we do now?" asked Melanie before she said, "Maybe look for a place to stay?"

  "I wonder if it will go well," replied Julie, pursuing her lips. "Our clothes, they stand out too much, and it might attract unwanted attention." But then they couldn't stand in the middle of nowhere. "I don't know if the time spent here is relative to time in the existing world."

  "It's okay. I am sure someone will find us both to be missing and come to look for us," Melanie assured Julie as well as herself.

  While they stood there, they heard footsteps approaching from behind, and they turned and saw it was the two men who had earlier saved them.

  "Forgive us for intruding but we were wondering if you need any help," Otis politely asked the two girls. "My friend Cillian, finally decided it was alright to help."

  Julie's eyes fell on the man next to Otis, his eyes holding a slight suspicion while his lips were set in a thin line. Cillian spoke, "We thought it would be rude to leave women who were stranded especially and came to check." His voice was slightly hoarse. "Do you have a place to go to?" he asked.

  "Do you know a place where we can stay the night?" asked Julie, and Cillian stared at her before giving a slight nod.

  "There's a hut behind the house. Follow us," said Cillian and Otis nodded his head.

  Julie and Melanie followed them through the same bridge they had earlier walked on, their footsteps cautious. When they entered Willow Creek, Julie could notice the stark difference from the last time she had entered this place.

  As it was dark, people couldn't see them in focus, but that didn't stop people from looking at her and Melanie. When they reached near a house, a young woman stepped out of the house after the door was knocked.

  Cillian looked at the woman, and said, "They need a place for the night. Can they use your hut?"

  "They aren't your……" the woman trailed as if to ask something to Cillian.

  "No, passing by strangers," he said to her and she nodded.

  "Sure," replied the woman, turning to two girls with a polite smile. The two men left, while the woman said, "Let me show you the way to the hut. Luckily it's not raining so it should be usable," while her eyes picked up the clothes that were worn by Julie and Melanie.

  They walked around the house, while the woman smiled said, "You both look drenched like a cat. I will go get you some clothes. It should fit."

  "Thank you very much," thanked Melanie, while Julie continued to stare at the woman. "You've been quiet."

  "I…… I think that's my mother."