Chapter 19

Emily was in a dilemma.
She kept tossing over that night. She couldn't sleep. Her mother wanted the humans out of their world but she couldn't let them go. It made no sense to her.
The goddess wanted them to stay. The goddess was trying to protect them from whatever they ran from and her mother was completely against it for no good reason other than she didn't want them in her kingdom. It made zero sense. Why would she want that?
What would Emily do?
She couldn't go against her mother's words. She couldn't break her Queen's wishes. She had to do as she was told. But then again, her instructions were from the Goddess herself. She wanted her to help the humans. There was something out there that could harm them and the goddess was protecting them. She couldn't just send them to die out there! They had a part to play in the prophecy and her job in the prophecy was to make sure everything went as planned.
But the question remained, would she let her mother down? Or would she release them to the world and fail the goddess?
The most reasonable thing to do would be to obey the goddess because even her mother, the Queen was answerable to the goddess. So she couldn't refuse the higher being.
If Emily insisted on keeping them in the parallel verse, there was no way her mother would not find out about it and if she let them go, she would have to find a way of protecting them somehow.
"Hey!"
Emily jumped out of her thoughts and checked who had spoken to her. She had been so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't even hear anyone come up to where she sat on the roof.
It was Harold.
"Hey..." She answered weakly.
"Why are you here all alone? In the dark... Is it a witch thing?" Harold inquired.
Emily smiled. That same creepy smile of hers she did every time, even when she didn't mean it.
"It's not a witch thing. It's a Emily thing." She turned her gaze up to the sky, admiring for the first time that night the stars and the way they were arranged.
"If the princess of the witches, says it is her thing... Then I guess it is a witch thing after all." Harold concluded.
Emily smiled at his comment and this time he noticed it was a real smile because there was a genuine spark in her eyes.
Silence fell between them as they both gazed up into the sky. Each is lost in their thoughts. Harold's mind was clouded with thoughts of escaping the parallel verse and finding Laila by all means necessary, while Emily had her problems to think of as well —the human problem.
"Why aren't you sleeping?" Emily suddenly asked, breaking the yoke of silence between them.
Harold stared down at her. He asked himself the same question as to why he couldn't sleep but he couldn't place a finger on it. Except he replies had the urge to see Laila and it was starting to feel like it wasn't just about her role in taking out Dearkson. He wanted to see her. His wolf was starting to rile up at the thought of the woman.
All these were at the tip of his tongue, yet he found it too heavy to blurt out.
"I don't know..." He settled for that instead.
"Your mind is troubled. I can tell that much..." Emily said turning her head back to the sky.
Harold frowned for a few seconds. He couldn't comprehend how their magic or powers worked.
"How do you read minds?" He asked. Since he couldn't talk about how he was feeling, it was best he talked about something else.
"Oh, that's a tricky question but it's simple... It's almost like the same way you transform. You just will your mind to do it and it does," she explained.
Harold nodded his head in understanding. Transforming into his wolf was much easier than trying to read a person's mind. All he had to do was think of it and it would happen. Plus transformation was painful. He had just grown accustomed to the pain and that was it. But it didn't look like Emily was having any pain while reading his mind or while trying to read his mind...
"So, you just tell your mind to read my mind..." Harold pointed it. Saying it out didn't make a kit of sense anymore.
Emily sat up on her rump and shifted so that her back was resting on the roof wall.
"Okay, I just stare at you or close my eyes and focus my energy on whatever it is you are thinking and boom, I hear it. It's like you are looking at me... Well, that's how it works for none Alphas and ordinary witches..."
"But you said it was the same with transformation. Do you feel pains when you try to tap in?" Harold asked her. She was the one who said trying to read minds was like trying to transform, and since transformation was white painful, he had to ask.
"Oh no, it isn't painful. Just like in some cases. You know picking into someone's subconscious is like bypassing so much noise just to get there, so it gets really like sometimes. That's why not all witches can do it, you have to go through a lot of training or you have to be royal."
"Ah, I see. You got it because you are the princess?" Harold asked.
A small frown passed by her face but she quickly hid it and she smiled. "I trained for it as well. Being a royal just made it sort of easier..." She said, getting up.
"Did I say something wrong?" Harold was surprised at her change of mood. She was fine a minute ago and now, she wanted to leave.
"No, you didn't. I am just tired. Maybe I should go to bed." Without turning to bide Harold good night, she walked out of the rooftop door.
Emily and her people were definitely up to something and it wasn't good. Harold couldn't tell exactly if it was against the werewolves or the humans. But one thing was sure, they didn't like the presence of another race around them.
Yet the queen was a werewolf and she wanted him to stay with her people like she had it all planned out.
Harold let her go not bothering to stop from leaving. Whatever was making her uncomfortable was her problem. She gazed at the skies again, she wanted to mention the workers but she decided against it.
Harold then moved his mind to the task in front of him which was to find a way out of the parallel verse. He needed to be out, no matter what.
Emily left the rooftop and retired to her bed. She didn't want to leave the rooftop yet, but Harold's presence and questions made her leave there early. She wasn't certain of what the werewolves had done but she was certain of what she had seen in her visions.
Sleep didn't come to her until very late at night. She couldn't bring herself to sleep. She had so many things in her mind, that her eyes refused to close. What could she do with the humans?
The sound of knocking on her door woke her up from her small sleep. She had managed to lure it abruptly she got up from her bed and went to check who it was.
"We have visitors and it doesn't look good." Harold was standing by her door and as she spoke she felt the energy coming from him. He didn't look happy. He was worried.
"Did they say why they were here?" Emily asked as she straightened herself up to after them.
"They didn't mention anything aside from wanting to see you," Harold told her as they walked to the door.
There were guards all dressed in their usual white color lined up in front of her house. Her heart skipped a beat as she knew exactly why they were in her place.
"The queen mother asked us to escort the humans back to their territory." The leader said, stepping forward.
Emily blinked, not knowing what it say. she thought her mother would give her more time. What was she supposed to do now?
"Princess?" The second guard called when she didn't respond for two long minutes.
"Ermm... I don't think I need help escorting them. You can all go back to your duties!" As she spoke to them she tried to find a way to bypass them, but they were about twelve well-trained guards and others were just one of her. She couldn't fight them off despite her royal blood. This set of guards was specially trained by the queen herself -that was why she sent them so that Emily wouldn't be able to find a way around them.
"I am afraid the Queen insisted that we do not return until we see them out through the border between our worlds." The leader retorted.
Shit!
Harold looked from the guards to Emily, wondering what they were talking about. Why did they have to escort the humans out? Were they not supposed to protect them as Emily had said? It's make no sense?
"Excuse me for a moment..." Emily trailed smiling awkwardly.
She pushed the door suddenly closed, bolting it from the inside. Thankfully Harold was behind her, so he just took a step back and watched warily as she closed the door.
The noise had attracted the humans and the three of them stood in front of her with questions in their eyes.
She rested her back on the door and took a deep breath.
"Emily, what's going on?" Harold asked, voicing out the same question the detectives had.
Emily took another deep breath and practiced her smile in her head. This was not good. This was exactly what kept her awake last night and now she hadn't even gotten the chance to make a plan when her mother sent her guards knocking.
"Can you please tell us what's going on, keeping silent isn't going to solve anything!" Thompson snapped, growing impatient. There was an army of white-dressed people outside and she was here resting on the door and taking deep breaths like nothing was wrong.
Emily finally snapped her eyes open.
"The queen doesn't want you three here..." She spilled out.
Thompson's face immediately morphed into a panic. Jimmy frowned and Mike looked indifferent.
"Your mother doesn't want to help them? I thought that was the scope of your existence to help humans and other creatures?" Harold asked. In a way, he had always known there was something fishy about their queen but he didn't think it would go to an extent! "The council is trying to kill them and you want to let them out?"
As he said the words out loud, he remembered that he also wanted to go out. This could be his opportunity to be out and go find Laila.
"I am trying to think of a solution here, I can't let them take you guys out! I know the dangers and the goddess won't even let me harm you. Just let me think!" Emily barked. She was facing Thompson, but it sounded like she was raising her voice at Harold instead.
"So what's the plan?" jimmy asked.