Letters to Romeo.

It was apparent that for anyone who stepped foot into the circle, the creatures took them as a sacrifice and wanted to break out of the circle to get more. Cillian gritted his teeth, raised his hands, and a red light appeared and directed at the creature. But the creatures only snickered and cackled at his attempt of rescuing the girl. 

”It’s not working! I need to step in there to get her myself!” Cillian turned worried. He was well aware of the creatures that had spilt out of the forbidden door. 

But this time, when Cillian placed his foot into the circle, his bones started to turn brittle, and the stems of his hands and feet looked as if they were going to disappear. 

”The spell that Julie has placed in here is of pure magic, and if you step in there for a second longer, you will die, Cillian,” Mr. Evans warned him. 

Julie was pulled into the other side of the door, and suddenly the smudgy creatures behaving erratically until now turned calm. They slowly started to crawl on the ground, looking for more prey. 

Julie was dropped to the hard floor with a thudding sound inside the forbidden door, and she winced in pain. While she tried to get up, the creature that had dragged her in let go of her leg and started to take form. 

”Julie…” the creature whispered to her, and Julie froze on hearing the familiar voice. 

She felt goosebumps rise on her skin, and the tension trickled down her spine. Her eyes moved up to look at the creature, who now stood a few distances away from her. 

”It has been a while, hasn’t it?” came the person’s voice. 

”N-Natalie?” Julie gulped, not knowing what was going on. 

”It’s good to know that you still remember me,” there was a series of giggles, and it only turned Julie’s body stiff. 

How was Natalie here? She was supposed to be buried, wasn’t it? Julie questioned herself in her mind. 

When the smudgy appearance started to drip downwards, soon beneath it, a young Natalie appeared in front of Julie. The girl smiled at her. “I waved at you last time, but it seemed like you were in a hurry.”

”You are not Natalie,” Julie shook her head. Was her mind playing tricks, or was this place making her hallucinate?

”What do you mean I am not? Aren’t you a little rude for someone who was responsible for my death? It is because of you, that I was killed. You were the one who sent me to the past, and you say I am not me?” Natalie furrowed her eyebrows, and so did Julie. 

Julie was sure that she had received the closure that she had been looking for all these long ago. With her surrogate mother and her best friend. But the person right now who stood in front of her behaved just like Natalie. 

”What are you doing here?” asked Julie, and in the meantime, her eyes moved around the place, looking for the door, but the door had disappeared, leaving her no way to get back to where she belonged. 

”I think the right question would be, how am I here,” Natalie took a walk, circling Julie like a prey. 

”How are you in this place? You aren’t a witch,” stated Julie, and Natalie smiled. 

”It was your father. Douglas Leighton. He was the one responsible for putting me here.” 

”You mean your husband,” responded Julie, and a malicious smile appeared on Natalie’s face. 

”My husband… Mm,” Natalie replied. 

”Where is the forbidden door?” questioned Julie, standing up, but Natalie was quick to come in front of her. 

Natalie raised her eyebrows and asked, “What’s the hurry? I bring you here for a little chit chat and you want to leave already? I don’t think I raised you to be rude.” 

”Circumstances and time must have turned me that way. Where is the door, Natalie?” questioned Julie, her words were more firm than before, but it didn’t look like Natalie was ready to tell her about it. Natalie only smiled as if she had no intention of letting her go. 

Suddenly Julie used the forbidden magic and lit up the place with balls of fire floating mid-air. With the place around being lit, Julie noticed the black smudgy tentacle that had moved and came too close to her, and she quickly jumped to the other side. 

Julie waved her hand while using a spell on the person that hit right on the person’s face, and she said, “You aren’t Natalie.”

The spell that touched the creature melted the person’s face and showed the skull behind it. The creature cackled, “How can you tell that I am not me? Ask me a question and I shall answer everything. I remember what I did to you that evening in the classroom, running that blade across your wrist while you cried in pain.”

”Because this place is for witches. Deceased witches. And Natalie was a human, not a witch,” stated Julie, and the creature laughed, the sound of its laugh echoing in the place where they stood. 

Soon the creature’s face morphed into something evil, and it said, “Aren’t you a smart little thing. I told you, it was your dear father. He was the one who sent her here,” it finally revealed.

”I don’t get it,” replied Julie, and the creature stretched its smudgy hand towards her and said, 

”Why don’t we two make a deal and I will tell you the truth. Give yourself to me, and you shall receive the answers that you so seek.” The creature had taken Natalie’s form, and she wondered why it was so. She tried to think hard about it while staying away from the other things that were trying to creep up on her. 

”He opened the door?” asked Julie, and the creature stared at her as if she was accepting the deal. “He cannot do that. He’s a human.”

”He used another witch’s help. You think Natalie’s body is resting in peace there?”  the creature asked Julie with a smirk. “He dug the body out, and wanted to know more about you.” 

”You made a deal with him,” whispered Julie, and the creature laughed. 

It meant that the creature had used the remains of Natalie’s body, probably the skeleton that was there and had swallowed the woman—taking in her memories and behaviour as its own. It said, “But you see, it wasn’t enough for me to take the full form. I am still a dead corpse and was tricked into believing that it was a fresh body.”

”What did you tell him?” asked Julie. Until now, she had only believed that he wanted to kill her, but there seemed more to her father’s behaviour who was trying to collect more information about where she came from. 

”That you are the daughter of the great witch Opaline La Fay. And how important you are. He’s probably going to come and kill you, so why don’t you give me your body, while I shall use it well,” the creature offered its solution to her. 

”I think I will pass,” said Julie, and turning around, she started to walk away from there, searching for the exit from this place. 

But suddenly, one of the smudgy tentacles came to attack her from behind. Julie’s protective light appeared from her back to stop the tentacle from hurting her, and the tentacle started to evaporate. 

”How powerful,” whispered the creature, and it licked its lips. “Once I have your body, I shall discard the one I have now, and will make sure it is used well.” 

The creature’s hands changed into the smudgy liquid that moved back and forth to grab Julie, but she was quick to dodge it by whispering spells. Julie and the creature continued to fight, moving from one spot to another as the spells collided to create sparks. After two minutes, she stopped moving and watched the creature while she heaved for air.

”Tired already? And I was having fun with you,” smiled the creature. “Witches often throw these useless humans as a sacrifice to us. But with you I would emerge far more superior.” 

”You aren’t too bright,” responded Julie, and the creature glared at her.

”Maybe we will decide after I consume you,” it opened its mouth, showing its sharp and jagged teeth. 

”Capture!” Julie shouted, and the creature turned startled. Suddenly red light appeared from the ground, which moved in lines and curves to form a circle around the creature. When the creature tried to step out, it was trapped. “I told you. You aren’t too bright.”

”I will kill you!” the creature threatened her. Julie turned her back, with the balls of fire following right behind her as she tried to leave this place. 

But until now, Julie had only been fighting with one such smudgy creature. When she continued to look for the door, more such creatures appeared, and it didn’t take too long where she fought them. And with every second that passed, the creatures moved closer to her. 

Before Julie could be drowned in the darkness of this place, a bright light shot at the creatures. She had covered her eyes with the back of her hand, unable to look at it. When she pulled her hand away, she noticed the smudgy creatures turn into black flakes of dust. 

What just happened?

Her eyes shifted from the black flakes to look in the direction of where the white light beam had appeared. A woman stepped into her vision, she was tall, and her black hair tied into a ponytail. For a moment, Julie questioned if it was Ms. Piper. But the woman appeared to be older, yet she had a spitting image of their ex detention professor. 

”We should leave this place before the door disappears. Else it would be hard to get out,” said the woman, while she looked at a distance in the direction where Julie had trapped one of the creatures. 

The creature struggling to get out of the circle that Julie had drawn and trapped it, stopped on seeing the woman. Julie turned to look in the direction where the woman was looking.

”Mother…” uttered the creature. 

Though the voice was feeble, Julie heard it, and she turned back to look at the woman, who held a blank expression on her face. 

”Time is running,” said the woman, and Julie heard the particular creature scream, while the two of them left the place, heading in the opposite direction.