" Lamia ?"
" Yes, Lamia Shagues."
Grandfather Posei was silent for a few minutes, he tried to remember this name but alas he heard this name only on the arrival day of Alex and Emmy.
" No my child, before your entry to the Salian clan on the day of your arrival day banquet, I had never heard of this name. I knew about your parents till they left but after that princess had sealed all the entries and exits to that world."
Emmy felt disappointed but still, she thanked grandfather Posei and proceeded for the brunch. The group enjoyed the brunch however towards the end, a servant came with a message that Juliet's parents wanted to see Juliet and her group. Also, they wanted the clan head to make justification for their action of insulting Feona the other day.
Juliet knew that her parents had made her grandfather much angry this time. He never liked anyone messing up in front of respected guests especially the ones he liked.
The clan head stood straight up and marched outside to see his prodigal son.
" Rest of us can enjoy the delicious food, don't worry about it. This usually happens every time I visit."
Although Juliet was cracking jokes about it, deep down she always felt amiss thinking about her parents. Her parents had all daughters but still why they especially hate her only. From the day of her birth, it was said that her grandfather took care of her always. Her parents never let her visit their home even once. She saw her sisters when they came to visit their grandfather. So having a family for the sake of name was torturous for Juliet. That is the main reason why she trained hard, working on her powers from her childhood. She let her frustrations and emotions to her training and turned out to be an excellent water princess at a very young age.
As they had a long day for tomorrow, the group decided to call it a night and dispersed to their respective rooms. But Janet was waiting for her time to speak with Emmy and Juliet alone, so she asked them to meet for a short talk.
" I had been wanting to tell you both that the Dargardians are in cahoots with the core power but the black world leaders do not know about it. My clan leader had asked my family to lock me up so that I would not go against them as well as... "
Janet burst into tears before completing her words. It was the first time that Emmy and Juliet had seen Janet crying, Juliet couldn't decipher what other thing was bothering Janet this much. Janet only had a soft touch for her mother and the rest of the Dagardian family was like strangers for her, even for her father, she didn't pay any heeds. Then what happened now?
" My dear, please let us know what is bothering you. We are you okay. They will never touch a hair on your body with us here"
Janet calmed down a bit as she realised that seeing her cry had freaked out her two best buddies. She hugged them together and all of the three started laughing.
" Actually, the main problem of them retaining me was because of the involvement of the Esbertrazian clan as well as Jordan. They think history shall repeat."
" Ouch, now they poked over my limit. Well, the history shall repeat, of course, our young dashing alpha guard will marry our dearest little Janet. Make sure that within 10 months of marriage, you both have to present me a little Janet or cutey Jordan."
Janet who was crying a little while before now couldn't stop laughing, with Emmy's advice, the guilt over her heart washed away quickly and it gave her the courage to discuss this topic with Jordan.
Meanwhile, Jordan, who was dead tired by the physical work, was still waiting for Janet. As his adamant eyelids were going against him, Janet entered the room. Jordan sprang up with her entry and patted the other side of the bed.
" Jordan, let us go for a swim."
Surprised by the sudden request of his beloved, Jordan still dragged his tired body and lifted Janet in a princess style. At that time only, he realised she lost some pounds of her weight and was always in low spirits. Still, he didn't ask her anything because he trusted her more than anyone else so when it was time, his Janet will surely tell him her tensions.
After reaching the beach, Janet without saying a word, dived into the sea freaking Jordan to his core. All his sleep was long lost and he too dived after her.
After swimming for another ten minutes, both of them returned to the shore. The cold waters combined with the sea breeze made Janet shiver. Taking the chance, Jordan enclosed her in his embrace. The heat from his body was enough for Janet but she wanted more tonight.
" My clan is against our relationship and they will try to make us separate in all possible ways they can. They don't want the history of an Esbertrazian guard marrying a Dagardian girl in their clan, so they locked me up on my previous visit. In the clan, only one person stood up for me when the leader asked my father to lock me up without food and water till I agreed to what they wanted. it was my mother, she set me free and said to live life with the one I love. I want to free her from their clutches."
Jordan was sleepy but still, he heard everything she told. He replied nothing but nod his head. Slowly, the tired Janet drifted to sleep but Jordan was still awake.
He took her to their room and changed her clothes. Even though they weren't married, he had long taken her as his wife. He smiled at his sleeping beauty, and whispered, " Your problems are mine also, your mother is already in a safe place."
The next morning, the group told the grandfather that they are going for a sea venture and as grandfather was still pondering over his son's matter, he allowed the group to do as they wished.
Just as they hit the beach and reached the sea cave, Alex and Juliet took the lead and checked the inside of the place whereas Mike and Emmy acted like they wanted to swim over the area. Janet and Jordan were guarding both the sides simultaneously.
Suddenly, Alex heard a faint voice whispering on his ears.
" The one who you seek is long dead, lover boy! Mark my words, cherish the one in your life now."
Alex stood fixed without even breathing, he tried to concentrate again on his surroundings but further, there was no sound. Juliet had already cleared half the way as per the map and soon they saw an Esbertrazian emblem but in front was not a door but a heavy wall of stones.
" This dead-end can't stop us, there must be a way."
Juliet was searching amidst the rocks whereas when Alex reached the stone wall, he saw visions of someone who was drawing on the stone wall. The person had his back turned so Alex could not recognise the person. He walked a little closer and was shocked to see the drawing on the wall.
It was him and Emmy in some weird clothing and a strange triangular tower in the background. Under the drawing, there were three words written - ' beyond the time'. That person then tapped several rocks on the side of the stone wall and lo behold !! thereby the heavy wall slid open.
Before passing through the gap, the person turned to look at Alex, it was none other than the old innkeeper who he met in the black world.
Alex quickly tapped the rocks on the same pattern which he saw in the vision. Juliet was looking at which all rocks had he touched and then marked it safely for future use. After several taps, the wall moved and a pungent smell made both of them choke.
" Blood, it is the smell of dried blood," Alex said.
Juliet passed the lit torch on her hands to Alex but they both couldn't even enter the other side due to the heavy smell. Juliet as there was no other way, used her power to push water into the gap. The water which came out had skeletons and some other wastes.
" This means, these things were stuck here for years I guess." Juliet looked at the waste and dumped it into the ocean, whereas Alex already entered the space.
�� Julie, it is just four years… these are the guards who were gone missing in that year."
" You mean to say the year when all the three women went missing? and the search party for Lady Vilmon and the Agnartic princess never returned.. But what were they doing here? We Posei family didn't give hands in the search at that time."