Beth flopped across her bed, trembling. Her breath was coming in short gasps, her thoughts racing.
How was something like that even possible? What had happened to her back in that room? What was even in there? She'd seen nothing of the room itself, only the scenes of the past that it had showed her.
Beth had always enjoyed theorizing about the supernatural and the paranormal. But now that it was being thrown into her life, she wasn't sure what to think. Theories were all well and good, but what was she actually dealing with here?
Was Taehyung really a werewolf? If he was, then why had their ancestors been enemies? What had they been fighting over? Was Taehyung just trying to manipulate her so that he could get what he wanted? What did he want anyways? The staff her parents were looking for?
Bernard. Bernard had the sword. He'd made a blood oath to use that sword to protect her family and his. Did Bernard have family elsewhere? She understood why he would've left them someplace else, but surely he missed them. Beth also understood why he hadn't told her parents about the sword. Obviously he hadn't or they wouldn't be looking for it, they'd be trying to get it from Bernard.
What was the staff? She hadn't even seen it in any of the... the visions. Was that what the werewolves and vampires had been after? Why? What could they gain by having it? Hadn't they gotten to it years ago? How had it been taken from them if that was what they'd been fighting over? Obviously they had won, Taeron had killed her ancestor, Callum, after he'd created that spell to protect his family from Taeron and his vampire sweetheart.
Was Taehyung just trying to use her? Sure her parents had been acting weird, but they really did want her to just be safe. And what did she know about Taehyung? Bernard had said he was a good person, but her parents didn't trust him at all. Beth understood why now. She didn't know if she trusted him anymore.
Bernard surely knew something about Taehyung that he wasn't telling, but even as favorably as Bernard portrayed him, he had said Taehyung was haunted by his history.
Why had Beth trusted a complete stranger in the first place? Because he'd helped her out with some spilled groceries?
Beth laid there, trying to think about everything she'd just learned.
She didn't know what to think anymore. She didn't want any of this to be real. She just wanted to go back to the way things had been before.
Well... Not really. She would miss Bernard. And this crazy castle.
Suddenly TJ ran into her room, out of breath.
"BETH!! Hide me, Brandon's trying to tickle me!!"
Beth laughed. TJ hated tickles, so of course, Brandon was always trying to sneak attack him with that very thing: Tickles!
"Alright buddy you can hide under my bed." Beth reached down and lifted the cloth skirt at the base and TJ dove under.
"Beth!! It's dark under here!"
Ever the prepared big sister, Beth pulled a flashlight out of her drawer and passed it to her brother.
"Thanks Beth!" She heard the flashlight click on ad running feet approached.
"Shhh, I think Brandon's coming!" She whispered, and TJ went silent.
Beth grabbed her phone and pretended to be busy.
Sure enough, moments later Brandon raced into her room.
"Beth have you seen TJ?"
Beth glanced away from her phone to Brandon. "Hm?"
"Never mind, I gotta find TJ. Bye Beth!"
And with that, he was gone.
After a few minutes Beth called down to TJ.
"Alright, Brandon's gone."
There was a moment of silence.
Then "I know" from under the bed.
"What're you doing then?" Beth asked curiously, setting her phone on the bedside table.
"Making shadow puppets. Wanna come down and play with me?"
Beth hesitated, then wiggled under the bed with her little brother.
They played making shadow puppets until Bernard rang the bell for lunch.
As they ate and laughed together, Beth knew what she was going to do.
She was going to try and learn more about that spell that Callum had used.
And she was going to re-block Taehyung.
Bernard thought well of him, but Beth couldn't risk her siblings. She loved those little buggers. She needed to know that she was doing everything she could to protect them, or she wouldn't be able to live with herself. Especially with her parents going off the deep end. So much rested on her now.
Beth shook her head. She thought she was a normal girl, and she would have been glad to keep on living that way. But now, there was no way to turn back time, so she'd have to cope one way or another.
When lunch was over, she went back to her room and grabbed her phone.
She had one new text.
Taehyung: Hey, do you want to get some ice cream or something? I could pick you up or meet you there, whichever you prefer
Beth read it, and had to stop herself from responding. If she didn't do it now she didn't think she'd be able to.
But what could a polite decline hurt?
She sent a quick "No thank you" and hurried to act before he texted back.
And she made it.
She blocked him.
Then she flopped across her bed and just laid there.
She felt numb. Like blocking him had turned off her emotions.
Beth didn't like it one bit, but what was she supposed to do? Date a real werewolf? Nobody really knew the truth about werewolves or vampires, there were so many stories and speculations. And it wasn't like she could just ask him, because how would she explain knowing what he was?
Somehow she didn't doubt anymore that Taehyung was indeed a werewolf.
She also knew she couldn't think about it anymore.
Who ever said anything about dating anyways?
Beth shook her head clear and tried to remember how Callum Astria had cast... or rather, woven the protective spell.
Over and over she ran the process through her mind, analyzing and re-evaluating.
Before she knew it, supper time had arrived.
She went downstairs to eat, and ofdered to help Bernard with the dinner dishes afterwards.
Althought surprised, he did not refuse, and Beth sent her little brothers to get ready for bed. Maya excused herself saying she had a book she wanted to finish, and that left Beth and Bernard alone to clean.
They worked silently for awhile, a slight tension over what happened hanging in the air.
Beth knew that Bernard would not ask about what she had seen. He would not consider it his place. She was glad, because she didn't want to talk about all of it. Especially not Taehyung.
There was one thing though.
"To preseve the lineage of both master and servant." Beth repeated the line as she best remembered it. "You basically made a blood oath. What does it mean exactly?"
Bernard had slowed as she spoke the line, but did not cease his activity.
"It means that as long as the one who took the oath bears the sword in their defense, at least one of each family will survive to carry on."
Beth thought about that.
"Do you have children then?" She studied Bernard carefully.
"One. A boy of ten. He and his mother are safely away from here."
Beth felt her heart sadden. "What about you then?"
Bernard continued working, never looking up from his work as they finished the dishes.
"Best not to worry about me Miss Beth. I'll keep you safe, that I promise."
Beth sighed, knowing from the stern solemnity in his manner that he would say no more.
All she could hope was for her siblings to be safe. Her own safety... that seemed to much to expect. After all... she didn't think the spell could be cast from the inside.
They finished the dishes and Beth went to her room after bidding Bernard goodnight as she slipped away, her thoughts consuming her.
She lay flat on her back, staring at the ceiling.
It was going to be a very long night.
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She made her way back to the same clearing yet again, the path closing behind her as ot had every time before.
This time, there were snarls, and the clash of steal from an adjacent clearing.
Despite her sense of dread, Beth could not keep herself from pressing through the brush to see what was happening.
She never saw the hollow tree below the moon, ripped partly open by razor sharp claws.
Because thre, locked in combat, she saw Bernard. Not Bernard from the past, with his hollow eyes and blank determination. This was her Bernard, armed with the enchanted sword she had yet to see in person.
Foghting him was a six and a half foot tall wolf man, his amber-green eyes flashing as he weilded his own dark blade.
Watching them fight was like a battle between moonlight and shadows, and Beth was sickened by her uncertainty in who's side she was on.
Behind Bernard, in the shadows, Beth saw a figure, hands raised as if in surrender and fingers wiggling strangely in the air. Behind the wolf man there was a similar figure, less burly, with their hands raised and fingers twitching.
It was horrendous to see.
Beth wanted to scream at them to stop, but her voice was taken from her once again, her heart pounding with the need to warn the duelers of... of something.
Instead she began to sink into the ground as they fought, struggling silently against the grime that was sucking her in deeper and deeper.
Having no voice, nobody could hear her silent screams. Being locked in battle and encased by the shadows, nobody saw her as she began to drown in the very earth she had stood upon.
Nobody could save her.
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Hello readers!! Have a late night update lol. I wasn't able to write as much over the weekend as I thought I would be able to, but I was able to write this at least! I hope you enjoyed it.
What are you thinking of Beth's decisions in this chapter? What do you think she should have done?
Please comment and vote, I love reading your reactions and thoughts!