XXXVI. Nusquam

Raine’s POV:

“You’re telling us,” Helen said. “The abandoned laboratory is the hospital in your hometown? The one that exists in a different world?”

“Yes.” I rush a hand through my messy hair. “I know it sounds crazy, but I think I traveled back in time.”

“In the abandoned laboratory that is the abandoned hospital in your hometown called MistVille,” Cory responds.

They stared at the screen with these dumbfounded faces, mumbling the sentences over and over until it made sense.

Right now, Cory, Helen, and I are face-timing.

Of course, it sounds crazy. I just told them that I legitimately traveled into my world through the abandoned laboratory that is the same one as the hospital in my hometown. Not only that, but I also traveled to a different world through a different timeline. Even I couldn’t wrap my mind around that idea.

I held the carefully preserved flower petal up. “Look! This flower doesn’t bloom around here, and especially not at this time.” They stared at the screen. “I swear, I’m not crazy. I went back to my world. To my childhood. There was a girl’s voice inside that abandoned building.” I point towards the window. “She said my hometown name.”

Cory exhaled, “We never said you were crazy. We’re just trying to wrap our minds around this.”

“You guys have creatures who shift into six to eight feet wolves. You have witches and wizards who can chant out spells. You have mermaids, with upper halves that look like humans and lower halves with tails. You have fairies that defy logic because there is no damn way those skimpy ass wings can help them fly. But, you don’t believe that there are portals to different worlds? Time-traveling isn’t a thing here? But, knowing who your soulmates are by smelling them is a thing?”

I know I come off strong, but I’ve been trying to explain to them for two hours and my brain is about to pop. Plus, I didn’t eat breakfast.

“Fairies can fly because of magic,” Helen mumbles.

I took a deep breath and told myself not to explode. Of course, they wouldn’t understand. After all, we grew up in different environments. This is their normal. My normal does not include cleaning rats and flying trains.

“Okay,” Cory said. He lifts up a book. “I thought what you said sounded kind of familiar, so I looked it up.” He places the phone and adjusts it where we could see all of him. I could see the pile of books beside his bed. He had done some deep studying at Full Moon. “According to myths, some would suggest that dust and dawn are the magic hours.”

“Like the transition time for witches, between light and dark,” Helen includes.

Cory snaps his fingers. “Exactly.” He places his finger in the book. “They believe that fairies, elves, and pixies would appear at this time to do whatever it is that they do.”

“Elves and pixies don’t exist.” Helen pauses. Her eyes waiver towards the ceiling. “Not in this world at least.”

Cory shrugs, “I don’t know. That’s what the book said.” His eyes continue to scan the paragraph. Helen and I waited patiently for the next sentence. “It said that if day and night are two sides of the same coin, dusk and dawn would represent the inside of the coin. The link to both sides.”

“Dusk and dawn? That doesn’t make sense,” I said. “I went in there when the sun was high up. I’m certain.”

Cory brows pitch together and he flips through the pages. He mumbles the words to himself, but exhales critically. “Didn’t you say that you came here after a kidnap?”

I nod, “Yeah.” It wasn’t the easiest part of the story to tell them. Let’s say there were alot of tears, tissues, and unfortunately snots.

“Do you happen to know what time of the day it was?”

I shook my head, “I was blindfolded.”

He scratches his head, and flip through the pages some more. “I don’t know. It only says that the only time the portal would open is between dusk and dawn.”

“What if-” Helen starts, “What if time changed when you went inside?”

“What do you mean?” Cory asks.

“You said, you saw your past self right?” Helen question.

I nod, “Yeah. I saw my parents and I visited my grandma.”

“What if the moment you entered the building, time shifts? It may potentially speed up or slow down. Then, before you knew it, you were in there longer than you thought. I mean, you told us that when you left, it was dusk.”

“I-” Cory puffs his cheeks, “I will research more on that.”

I rest my head on my palm and exhale, “I’m sorry guys. This must be crazy and I shouldn’t do this to you all.”

“It’s fine.” Cory smiles, “This is good because, for all we know, you discovered the next Yggdrasil and we get to name it.” He looks a bit too excited.

“Yggdrasil?” I question. It oddly sounds familiar, but I don’t remember where I heard it from.

"Yggdrasil is considered the tree of life. Legend says its roots all over multiple worlds; allowing Gods and Goddesses to travel to any place they want at any time. It branches all around nine realms and extends from heaven and hell. It’s generally a place where all Gods and Goddesses have their meetings. They say time and space don’t exist at the core of Yggdrasil,” Cory explains.

“How in the world did you remember all of that?” Helen questions.

Cory shrugs, “I read about it last night. It was pretty interesting. What you discover might be something similar to Yggdrasil.”

“Does that mean we have the right to name it?” Helen questions. “Can we name it something like- ”

“Nihil tempus et locus!” Cory shouts.

“What?” Helen and I both question.

“It’s Latin for no time and space.” He smiles, “Cool huh?”

Helen coughs, “Oh my- what a loser.”

“You got something better?” Cory spat.

Helen places a finger in the air and I could see her typing. She smirks, “Nusquam.”

“What?” I ask.

Sometimes I wonder if we all go to the same school. Whether or not teachers are teaching us the same subjects.

“Latin for nowhere?” Cory screams, “Really? You basically stole my idea!”

Helen stuck out her tongue, “If it’s a thing, we’re calling it Nusquam.”

Then, a memory appeared. “I heard about Yggdrasil before,” I said causing their bickering to end.

“Yeah. Because I just told you,” Cory responds in a rude tone.

I shook my head, “No I heard it when I was younger. My dad used to tell me stories about Yggdrasil once in a while before I went to bed. That, and about stars and how our world used to be two. My goodness, he has an overactive imag-” My words trail off and the thoughts proceed.

Wait.

I’m in a different world.

I came back from time traveling too.

“What?” Cory questions.

I close my eyes and shake my head, “It’s just I remember how my dad used to tell me this story when I was younger. How there is this star called Sirius and our world Angels, Protectors, and many others would train and help us. How the reason why the star is so close is because they can come immediately if something happened. And how all the other stars around us have their own world.”

They went quiet.

“And-” I start again. “There’s a star called Polaris and everything magical root from there. That’s the star that links all the worlds together.”

I remember the stories because dad used to tell me about it every night.

I love it.

His bedtime stories.

“And then-” I swallow, “he would always talk about how there’s another world. Filled with magical creatures. That other world used to be one with our world.”

“What happened?” Helen whispers.

“He said that grandma would always say that a war happened. A man traveled back in time and changed history. He split the world into two and drew a line in the middle.”

“Why?”

“He said that humanity was not strong enough to protect themselves.”

“And?”

“And one day, the two worlds will collide and become one again.”

“I need to look that up,” Cory said. Immediately, he ends the call.

“I’m going to go do some paperwork,” Helen said.

“For what?” I ask.

“To enter Crescent Moon and explore Nusquam with you!” She ends the call.

I sat there and stared at the black screen.

Then, it buzzed and my head skipped a beat. “Shit. That scared me.” I pat my chest a few times before answering it.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey Little Piglet,” Wolfie responds. “You seem to be quite popular.”

I laugh, “Sorry. I was talking to my friends and I went off on a tangent.”

“What tangent?”

“Huh?”

“I want to hear your tangent.”

“It’s a personal tangent,” I said. I pick my nail against the pillowcase. I hope I don’t sound too awkward.

Wolfie chuckle, an awful type of sound. Yes. I made it awkward. “Right. I’m just the guy you met online.” Got even weirder.

“Is there something wrong?” I ask.

I can hear Wolfie swallow, “I-” he exhales, “How would you feel if I said-” the silence consumes the other end of the line. “If I said-” he stops again. “If I said I found my mate.”

I sat there and stared at the door. The agonizing tempos of birds chirping didn’t make the mood any better. A light breeze enters the room and I move my bandage feet underneath the cover. “That’s great.” I didn’t know what else to say. Well, maybe one other word. “Congratulations.”

“That’s all you want to tell me?” There’s a hint of disappointment lace inside his tone. It wasn’t difficult to pick it up.

“What else should I say?” I lick my dried lips. “I mean, isn’t this what all werewolves are looking forward to? Their soulmate?”

Wolfie exhales a deep breath.

“I’m dating.” I have no idea why I would say that. The nearest thing to dating for me is my so-called mate next door who’s closer to being my employer then soulmate.

“You are?”

“Yeah.”

“When did you meet him?”

“A few days ago. I-” I scratch my head. “I met him during my trip and we hit it off.” There are definitely a lot of physical attacks.

“Really?”

“Yeah. He wouldn’t stop chasing me, so I gave up.” I laugh slowly. “As a matter of fact, his dad loves me.” I’m not certain if his dad loves me or not, but he does want me to stay in Crescent Moon. He probably wants me here more than Leon.

“Oh,” Wolfie responds. “That’s good. I mean, I found my soulmate and you met another human. We both belong in our respective communities. Yay.” His tone starts upbeat but it slowly dies with each word.

“He’s not exactly a human.”

“What?”

“He’s a werewolf.” I didn’t know why I said it, but it slipped from my mouth before I knew it. Is it possible that I wanted to make Wolfie jealous because of my own jealousy? What exactly am I doing?

“What!”

Someone knocks on the door and enters. It was the girl who would potentially help me escape. I still don’t know her name. I should ask later. Maybe when she doesn’t look like she wants to claw my eyes out.

“I got to go.”

“Wai-”

I end the call.

“What?” I ask.

“Who were you talking to?” she questions.

“Does it matter? You’re about to help me escape.”

She scoffs, “Dinner time.”

I looked out the window and noticed it was dark. I’ve been in bed all day. No wonder why I’m so easily pissed off. “Can’t you just bring it to me?” I don’t want to get off of the bed. Plus, my feet hurt whenever I step on it. I almost cried when I had to crawl to the bathroom.

“Alpha’s parents require your presence.”

It makes me not want to go down there even more. “My feet still hurt.”

She rolls her eyes, “Humans.” She walked over and swiftly, she threw the sheets off then lift me up. I squeak and wrap my arms around her neck just in case she decides to throw me down the stairs. “How in the world did you all manage to survive for so long?”

Sometimes, I wonder the same thing.

Each movement was swift and steady. I barely felt myself bouncing in her arms. Her very slim but muscular arms. I wonder what her work out routine is.

Probably, run in the forest six hours a day.

That sounds about right.

Leon’s door opens.

I never thought I would feel so weirded out in my life, but I did. There I am, in the arms of another woman in front of my supposed lover.

He stared at us, his mouth slightly slack open but no sounds disperse in the air.

The girl nods, “Alpha Leon,” she said in the most formal tone I had ever heard. “I supposed you’re going to the dining room?”

He nods, “Yeah.” He was still staring at me.

The three of us head towards the dining room together.

I cannot wait to see how this plays out.

In a room with my employer, my potential murderer, and the look-a-like mother.