"So you are telling me there was someone else apart from Ruka, you and the shadows?" Jessi asked me and I nodded my head.

"Yes, none of the shadows had feet and their bodies were hanging just above the ground. It was definitely not the shadows because I doubt you'll get a costume as such," I answered her with my brows furrowed.

We were in our history class waiting for the teacher to come as students threw paper rockets around. I had told Jessi about the shadows and my thoughts on it. I don't know why but my gut told me there was someone there, the night when Ruka and I had been to the dark forest.

"Don't you think Ruka would have noticed it if someone was there?" she asked me.

"I don't know, what if someone hid their aura like a witch or something," I said softly resting my chin on my desk, "Moreover, while leaving one of the shadows was making hand signs which I didn't get one bit. It was like playing charades."

She laughed hearing it, "Maybe the sound was caused by an animal and the shadows were just waving at you."

"Yeah, right," I responded sarcastically but what if it was actually meaning to say bye to me. I felt goosebumps forming on my skin.

"You told me you guys were going to Lark's mansion this week or so, right? Just ask the lady what ever questions you have, Eve. William said she's more knowledgable and wise than an Elder," she said looking at the door and I turned my head to see if the teacher had come but it was just a pair of student walking inside the class, "Any luck with the note thing?" she asked me and I shook my head.

"Nothing yet. Ruka has two of his men living with my parents now to make sure nothing happens to them," I replied sighing.

"Just two?" Jessi asked raising one of her eyebrows and I smiled at her question.

"Well, he has two of them inside the house but six of them outside the house," I chuckled remembering the day Ruka had assigned his men in and around our house. Dad had a frown on his face when he heard about it but didn't say a word, "I don't know why but I have a bad feeling about George."

"You feel he kept the note? But didn't you find a similar note last year?" she asked me.

"Just a vague suspect, Jessi. He's half witch and the only people who were invited home recently where the family members as there was no new scent. I know that also makes others a suspect but..." I trailed looking at my fingers.

"He gives the creepy vibes?" She asked me and I nodded.

"Aiden said he had someone following me in school but Louis made sure it didn't happen again," I said and saw a woman enter the classroom.

The woman was tall and lean, with her hair tied up in a messy bun with a pencil. Looking at her hairstyle I wondered how it was tied so perfectly. She wore a simple floral shirt and a plain skirt, her shoes clicking on the floor and making her presence known as she went to walk in front of the board. Her eye's deep red in color and was captivating.

"Good afternoon class, I'm Ms. Olivia Parker who'll be engaging your history class for the day as Mrs. Berk has gone to attend one of her relative's funerals. I won't deal with introductions as I'm a temporary teacher for the day and not required," she said her voice firm and strong, "So let's start with the class."

The class was silent the whole time she spoke and I could here the birds chirp softly. Both Jessi and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows and turned back again towards the board to see the teacher pick a chalk and write on the board,

The old era

"Does anyone know what the old era is?" she asked turning her back to the board so that she could face us. My eyes moved left and right, glad to know that everyone was in the same boat as I was, "No problem."

"The old era is one of the interesting historical times of supernatural beings when most of the species were trying to make a mark on the land, trying to rule over each other and gain the upper hand. When there was a conflict between the vampires, witches, humans, werewolves and many other beings," she said walking to and fro in front of us. Her sharp red eyes looking at every student present in the class, "An era that changed the species race itself to what we have now. A history that changed the era itself." The last line she spoke confused me.

"What does that mean, Ms. Parker?" Jessi questioned the teacher.

"Do you believe in going back in time Ms..."

"Vernes. I don't think it's possible," Jessi replied and I saw Ms. Parker smile at her. Jessi had used her mate William's last name Vernes so smoothly when actually her name was Jessica Haynes. Even I wanted to tell my name like that,

Eve Wolfric. The name definitely had a certain ring to it but not as much as Ruka Wolfric.

"There are unspoken and unknown things in this world which we aren't aware of. It was a time when a person gave up and traded their life for someone. Let me tell you a story, a story about two lovers who fell in love during the midst of a war when the tension was high between the species," Ms. Parker said trailing her fingers on the table as she walked. All of us sat there interested to listen to what she had to say about the old era, "One of the families during that era had four daughters. The second eldest daughter was sweet and kind. She was gifted to be an angel. We all know that most of the supernatural species have a soul mate but she was destined to a devil. A devil whose eyes when caught sight of her, fell in love instantly."

She was talking about bits and pieces I had read in the book 'The tainted' but there were things she had told that weren't in the book. The book was more like a diary but I had a feeling the two books I found with the same title were two different books.

"Isn't that a happy ending type?" Diane, one of my classmate asked her.

"Patience grasshopper, I haven't completed the story," Ms. Parker said sitting on the edge of the desk, "The angel and devil fell in love deeply no matter what the society had to say then. They made time for each other, meeting in secrecy at night but there was one person who wasn't happy about it. The third daughter was envious about her sister and secretly wanted her sister's mate for herself. She plotted against her own sister, by inducing black magic on her sister's mate which drove him mad with power. It was the year before the stones were formed," she explained.

"What happened after that?" one of the students asked curiously.

"I read something like that a long time back, where the article said both the angel and devil died in the end," a girl answered.

I remembered Sebastian had said something like that too, about how the devil couldn't handle the power and had killed himself. Knowing this the angel killed herself too not able to bare the separation. However, as I looked at Ms. Parker's expression, it didn't seem like the story was right.

"Of course. There are many versions of the same story and no one knows what's the right ending," she said and stood up straight, "Enough of the detour now. Let's get back to the class."

The remaining class went on about the behavioral pattern of the people and the alliance's formed during the old era. The class was interesting and I wished she was our permanent teacher so that we could hear more stories from her. Usually when the class ended the students were the first one to leave the class but today I saw the teacher end the class right before the bell ring and leave.

Picking up my belongings, Jessi and I left the classroom, walking towards the cafeteria. On the way, I saw Mischel standing with two of her friends. When she caught sight of me, she just stared at me without any reaction.

"EVE!" Turning behind I saw Lizzy, Bella and Louis walk towards us.

"Hey," I waved at them.

"Come on, we are going to the ground," Lizzy said pulling me, "Derek and Kyle are having soccer match going on now."

"Wasn't it supposed to be next week?" Jessi questioned her as we followed them. Something smelt rusty as I inhaled the air on the way.

"They rescheduled the matches to have a free slot for the track team. Girls have it tomorrow, I'm so looking forward to it," Bella said smiling at it, "I'm just waiting to win," her hands moved in the air as though she was playing baseball.

We went to the ground and sat on one of the unused bench. In the midst of the players, I spotted Derek and Kyle. Kyle was muttering something under his breath while Derek was yelling to his team members. I felt the rusty smell again and scrunched my nose looking around. When my eyes fell upon Louis who was sitting next to me, he asked,

"What?"

"You smell of blood," I stated and saw him nod as he looked at the game.

"The transfer students don't know drinking blood from a human without their permission is one of the law breakers. I had to clean up the mess after that," he sighed tiredly leaning his back.

"Couldn't you do that eye contact thing to erase a memory? I forgot what it's called.." I said thinking about it, "Compulsion!" I exclaimed like I found a jackpot and saw Louis roll his eyes.

"This isn't a teen drama, Eve. A damage once done is done. You cannot change but only fix it," he said shaking his head. Next, to us, the girls screamed and cheered for our team.

Lizzy was biting her lip as she saw Kyle take the ball from the opponent team and head towards the goal. I guess the date between her and Kyle went great. I was happy for them. I wished Louis and Derek had someone special too, I felt guilty that they didn't have mates because of me.

That night Ruka had to go out again and had kissed me goodnight before leaving. Thinking about everything that happened today, I drifted off to sleep. When I opened my eyes after few minutes hazily, I saw something move. It was the leaves moving softly due to the wind. Leaves? Sitting up straight, I blinked looking around my surrounding. I wasn't in my soft comfy bed anymore but in a forest just like the dream I had a few days back. Was I dreaming again? But it felt so real to call it a dream. I could feel the cold air hit my skin making me shiver and I was sitting on the bark of a tree.

It was night and I could hear a wolf cry out from a far distance and gulped. Turning around, I realized I wasn't in the normal region of the forest anymore but in a section of the dark forest. What now? I pinched myself making me wince in pain and wondered which way to go. Hopefully, someone would wake me up, I thought and began walking God knows where. As I walked I heard a creaking noise and I took a sharp intake of breath. It was like someone was breaking a slender stick slowly and I did the first thing that any normal person would have done.

I ran! Why was I being drawn to the forest over and over again?!

To my luck after ten minutes, I reached the end of the forest which looked like a small hill as I could see many houses below. I could see smoke coming out from the houses and soon all the houses were on fire. Before I could process all of it, I was wide awake looking at the ceiling of my wall in the room. A dream again.

Thinking about what Ms. Parker said in the class, I opened the book and went on flipping the pages until I found a picture of the franchixer, it was an incomplete picture. Something struck in my mind and I threw the book on the bed, heading to the east wing where the articrafts were placed and looked at the franchixer that was framed. It was the exact replica of the picture in the book but something was bothering me.

Not once had I come across a full picture of the franchixer. All of it was made in such a way as though it was torn. Question was who had the other half of it?