The weather had no intention of getting better any soon. Jet black clouds cloaked entire Moonvale, showering the mighty fall upon it. The winds, cold and sharp, were much stronger than what the town had ever experienced. A terrible storm knocked at the doors of the citizens, and in some places, it broke all the doors and made its way straight in.

The people locked inside their houses thought it to be a natural calamity. They had no idea that this calamity was hardly natural.

A woman stood in front of an open window, enjoying the enraged weather as if it was merely a gentle breeze. Her brunette locks danced with the gust.

"Well, I didn't expect this to happen so soon," she mumbled to herself. There was a hint of displeasure in her tone. "They didn't even give me time to relive some memories." A slight grown of frustration escaped her lips as she whined like a child.

"As expected, you're still here." An apathetic voice called from behind. It was of the man who had just appeared there.

The dissatisfaction on her face turned into annoyance.

"Biggest drawback of having acquaintance with teleportation magic brats- kills your privacy," she muttered under her breath, and sighed. She didn't even turn around to acknowledge this person's arrival.

"Says the one who can't stop peeping into other's minds," he said. His tanned face didn't show even slightest of expression, making it really hard to get the sarcasm... if there was any.

She didn't reply, and continued staring outside.

"What are you still waiting for... this town to be washed away?"

"Oh shut up!" she said grumpily. "As if I'd ever let that happe-"

"How can such an important task be endowed upon someone like you in the first place?" His deep set hazel eyes looked at her in disgust, showing some real emotion for the first time. But even that didn't last long. He soon looked away, and got back to his original deadpan face.

The woman turned around and moved towards him, stopping only a few inches away. She raised herself on her tiptoes, to match the man's height, and placed her left hand on his shoulder. Stooping over his ears, she whispered, "You're too egocentric to understand that right now, Theo."

The closeness didn't bother him and he maintained his stiff composure.

"It's Theodore," he said in his grave voice. "You should go and take care of what happened. After all, that's the duty you've been assigned." His face twitched in exasperation.

"Oh Theo, how long have you known me? And still you don't understand me." She backed away, "I don't give anyone the position to order me."

On hearing that, he was like a bear with a sore head. His deadly glare fixed on her. He opened his mouth to speak something but was shut out by the woman.

"You really think this is the right moment for showcasing all that rage you have?" she said as she pointed towards the open window which kept banging against the frame. "Someone out there is already doing that, I guess."

The man realized the gravity of the situation and regained his composure.

"If you are not going to-"

"Where did you get that from?" she said. A sly smile came on her face. "It's time I enter this the way I'm supposed to."

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈․° ☣ °․┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

"H- How did this even happen?" Max mumbled as he fell on his knees. Raindrops made his skin tinge, and he started shivering with cold.

He tried listening for that disembodied voice which tricked him into killing Agna, but there was nothing.

'I didn't do this. How could I?' He tried reasoning with himself. 'It was definitely that voice.'

Agna's painful cry echoed in his ears. He looked up towards the spot where Agna stood a moment ago, just about to grab Julie in her filthy claws, but now there was no one.

'I need to calm down. It was obviously not me- and even if it was, Agna deserved it. I don't have to mourn over that monster's death. But how am I supposed to find Kevin now?' He let out a cry of frustration.

The impact of what happened had thrown Julie away. The scenario reeled in front of her eyes. She just survived a near to death experience. All she wanted to do was to close her eyes, and keep lying down there. But then the thought of Max took over her.

She sprung straight up and looked towards him. He looked so overwhelmed, his patience wearing thin. He was so besieged with all the fervour that he couldn't see the storm forming around him. The winds were slowly getting denser, cloaking Max within.

"Oh crap," she said, as she stood up and rushed towards him. 'I need to do something. But can I even get past it!' Her words stuck in her throat.

The barrier created by the winds was strong enough to make Julie use all her strength. Shielding her eyes with her hand, she pushed herself in. Her hair kept hitting her face like a dust mop, getting in her eyes and mouth. Gross. The moment she entered the wind zone, her long hair, which defined beauty a while ago, turned into a tangled mess.

With every step she took, it was getting insanely difficult to breathe. She felt a dreadful pain creeping down her chest. She should have turned back to save herself from suffocating to death, but she didn't. Some irrational thinking took over her and she kept moving deeper inside that cyclonic sphere. She was no longer able to see anything. She closed her eyes and kept moving.

Just when she started losing hope, she felt the winds calming down and was able to breathe again. She opened her eyes to realize that she had reached the centre of the storm, and Max was right in front of her. In that tiny circle, the atmosphere was completely normal.

"Max," she called as she knelt down beside him. She held his hand firmly, to assure him that she really was there.

"Julie-" He looked at her dumbstruck.

"We need to get out of here." She got up and helped Max get on his feet.

"Wh- What's happening?" He looked around to see the shawl of wind which enclosed them. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even see that happening. The covering had now become so thick that it was impossible to look through it.

"Just after you made that lightening fall on Agna, the weather started getting worse and then this," she said as she looked around. "But how did you do all this?"

"I- I don't know..." Max said as he looked at his hands in astonishment. Suddenly, he realized something and looked straight towards her with his eyes wide open. "Did you just-"

She understood what he was about to say and interrupted in between.

"Yeah I know it was not the smartest choice for me to get in here, and I could have died," she said dramatically, "You can yell at me after you stop all this."

"Me?"

"Yes Max, of course you! It was obviously started by you-" It was only after the words escaped her lips when she realized that stating the obvious wasn't the right thing at that moment.

"But- but I don't know how..." Max somehow started all that, but he had no idea how to set things back to normal. He never intended to bring such catastrophe on Moonvale. He just wanted to get his brother back, but there he was, without a clue about Kevin and on how to get things back to normal.

Fear took over his consciousness.

"Uh- alright, just calm down. We'll work something out once we get out of here," said Julie. She took his hand and made her way towards the casing. 'There is still time, we can get out of here.'

But something felt strange. Even after taking several steps, they stayed away from the barricade.

'Wh- What?! Is this thing moving?!'

She increased her pace so that they could go through it, but it was useless. Every time they moved, the giant sphere of wind moved along with them and they ended up being at the centre. It seemed impossible for them to get out of it at that rate.

"How do we get out of here?" she yelled, tugging Max along behind her.

He remained silent. He had realized something... something that even Julie ignored.

"What? Are going to say anything or not?"

Max sighed, and with a heavy smile, said, "Wake everyone up, and get them inside the house. Call for help if you need." He stopped abruptly and freed his hand from her grasp.

Julie turned around with a befuddled look on her face. "This isn't what I was expecting you to s-"

"You need to get out of here, alone."

"Are you nuts? There's no way I'm leaving you behind," she exclaimed riotously, and was about to get hold of Max's hand again when he moved back.

"That's the only way. Can't you see? I don't want to hurt anyone else." Max kept taking his steps backward, away from her.

Her lips moved, as if about to say something, but then stopped. She noticed what Max was trying to show her. Max gradually moved backwards... and so did the storm enclosing them. She was standing just at the periphery but then she hurried towards him.

"There has to be-"

"I cannot think of any other way at the moment. If I leave, maybe I could take these misfortunes with me... and if you find Kevin, tell him I had no other option." The never-ending rain washed the tears in his eyes.

"I won't leave you behind!" Her voice cracked.

Max pulled her in for a hug. It was too sudden for Julie to react. She closed her eyes and let her body loose in his arms, as she felt his heart beating along with hers. That was the first moment of peace she had since she they left the park.

"I know you won't."

Those were the last words she heard from him before he pushed her out and then everything blacked out for a while.

When Julie opened her eyes, she found herself lying on the moist grass. The coldness flowed through her body. She slowly lifted herself up. Her back ached because of the fall.

'How could you do that, Max? What were you thinking?' she thought as she rubbed the back of her head.

She raised her head and saw that the weather had started clearing up. It was no longer raining. She wanted to follow Max, but there was no sign of him and moreover, he trusted her with making sure that everyone at the party was fine.

'Please don't end up doing something stupid before I find you.' She was trembling, and felt as if she could she could pass out any moment. But there was no time for her to relax.

"You should go after him."

She heard someone's voice. She low-key found it familiar, but couldn't quite remember. She was astounded when she turned around to see the acquainted face.

"Miss Morgan?!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Who are the people that appeared in the beginning of this chapter?

And,

Their new teacher at Lakeside High just showed up at the end.
What role is she supposed to play? Friend or fiend?

Thanks for reading this far! It means a LOT to me!!

~Shubham!