Winter

“No way, how is that even possible, I mean he is bound to that place in Scotland but that is not somewhere I want to go.” I was already panicking about it and my hands were sweating and I know I had red spots in my face without even looking at my reflection and Niall looked as worried as I felt.

“I don’t want to go either but what happens if we don’t go?”

“I don’t know but what if we get sucked back in? You know time passes just as fast as here, what if we never can return, what happens then?”

“I know but maybe we don’t have to enter the woods, I mean maybe he is bound to that town.” He was not making sense but we couldn’t ignore this but I wasn’t going to leave Quinn behind, there was no way I was going to risk losing my baby by getting sucked back in. I mean we just had to stay together as a family.

“Does it say when he wants to see us?”

“In two days.” He folded the piece of paper back and put it on the table, it was shocking to see his hands shake, he was afraid, which mirrored my exact feelings but there wasn’t anything we could do about it.

“I will pack our stuff, will you put Quinn to bed?” I asked him whilst backing out of the room, I was not waiting for his answer knowing he would do it, I just had to get out to get some air, this was not happening not again, why did I put that spell on him, he must’ve known but why did he wait this long to contact us, why now, what had changed?

I walked into our closet and just let myself drop on the floor, I pulled up my knees and hugged them, whilst trying to breath properly. This was all my fault I shouldn’t have messed with the time line, then none of this was happening. I couldn’t risk losing Niall and Quinn not over something I did to protect my future, It was a selfish thing to do and now it was going to bite me in the arse. I didn’t notice someone entering the room until Niall put his hand on my cheek. I opened my eyes to see him looking back at me angrily.

“Stop it Winter.” I must’ve looked confused because he sighed and put his hand through his hair. “You are blaming yourself but you did nothing wrong and you are not losing us, so please stop blaming yourself.” I nodded but only to take his worry away from me.

“Niall I want to take Quinn with us, just in case it goes wrong and we get sucked back in again.”

“I agree but we will do everything to protect her from him, if I have to kill him, I will.” I was shocked to hear him say that but I couldn’t disagree with him as he was right, there was no way we would let him hurt our daughter. We went to bed that night with Quinn right between us, we just wanted her to stay close.

The next day we flew to Scotland, we rented the same cabin as the first time we met, it was the closest to the forest, we left a note for our friends and family, I even left a note for my mother, just in case we wouldn’t return. We did everything in a worried state and Quinn noticed this as well as she was really quiet, she just kept looking at the both of us with her bright blue eyes and it broke my heart even though we didn’t know what James wanted, I couldn’t help thinking about him getting revenge on us for doing something like that to him, I mean I ripped away his soul mate, although I wasn’t really sure that she was his soul mate as he kept flirting with me.

“So what now?”

“I don’t know, are you sure that the note didn’t say anything else?”

“No it only said congratulations and that he wanted to meet but there were no specifics.” I let myself fall in the arm chair in front of the window and looked out if I wasn’t so worried about what was going to happen, I would enjoy the sight before me, winter was here and the snow was beautiful.

“Winter?”

“Hmm.”

“I got a note from our neighbour.” I turned my head to look at him, I didn’t even have to guess from whom it was so I just waited for Niall to read it out loud.

“He wants to meet us at the edge of the forest and he wants us to bring Quinn.” My heartbeat picked up when I heard Quinn’s name but there was nothing I could do about it.

“What time and when?”

“At 11am, today” I nodded and turned my head back towards the backyard. I sighed and decided to just go with it, I couldn’t think right now, I just wanted this to be over and the only way for that to happen is by meeting James.

“I will get Quinn.” I stood up and walked towards the stairs when Niall grabbed my arm and pulled me into him. “It will be alright, there is no way he would harm a baby, right?”

I looked him in the eyes, which startled him for some reason. “I really don’t know what he is capable of Niall.” I pulled my arm out of his grasp and walked to Quinn’s room and dressed her so she would stay warm no matter what. I didn’t come unarmed though, I had a pocketknife with me, it wasn’t much but it was something.

“Let’s go.” I told Niall when I came down with Quinn in my arms. He was already waiting for us, he had my coat in his arms. I put it on and together we left the safety of our place. Hopefully we would return not much later today.

We walked slowly towards the edge of the haunted forest and we didn’t set a foot over the edge because last time we did that we ended up in that awful world.

It was really quiet and the hairs were standing straight up even Quinn was hiding her face in Niall’s chest. Niall was holding my hand tightly in his and I know we were being watched but why hadn’t he shown himself yet, it was 5 minutes past 11 by now and I felt myself getting anxious, my breathing was quickening and I know Niall had noticed this. I hadn’t felt like this since the last time we were here and when it stopped we ended up in the past.

“What is taking him so long?” Niall was whispering and I shrugged as my eyes roamed the forest in front of us. “I don’t know but if he doesn’t show up fast, we will leave.” I mumbled back, when we heard a voice from behind us.

“I wouldn’t so that if I were you.”

Notes