Chapter 172: My Friends Came To My Rescue
So it turns out the mansion is kind of invisible. The witch must have cast a spell or something to keep the whole place hidden from the world. If someone was here, it would be invisible to the eye.
The problem is that I have no idea where I am. We’ve been circling these woods for what feels like hours trying to find Henry, but there’s no trace of him anywhere. The trees all look the same, and the shadows keep shifting.
I told him that if he spotted me, he should make a cuckoo sound so I could find him. It was a simple plan, but there’s been nothing. No sound at all except for the wind and the crunch of our own boots on the dry leaves.
"My patience is running thin. Where is my son?" Helen said. She stopped abruptly and turned to face me, her eyes boring into mine with a desperate kind of hunger.
"I told you, it’s hide and seek. I have no idea where he is exactly. We just have to keep looking. And I’m new to this area, remember?" I said. I tried to keep my voice steady, trying to keep up the act so she wouldn’t drag me back inside.
But honestly, I was starting to think I might never find him. He must be really good at hiding, or maybe he just didn’t want to be found by her.
The sun was already out, peeking through the canopy in sharp, golden needles.
Fuck. I hadn’t seen real sunlight in days. It felt warm on my skin, but it also made me realize how long I’d been rotting in that dark living room.
While we searched for Henry, I knew I had to find a way to escape. I wasn’t going back to that hell of a mansion. I wasn’t going back to being a literal blood bank for a crazy witch and a vengeful idol.
So we kept searching, moving deeper into the brush.
"You should be grateful for your gift," Helen said as we walked. She sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than me.
I snorted, rolling my eyes so hard it hurt. "A gift? More like a curse," I muttered.
Thanks to Yuki and Helen, I hated the idea of being some fucking moon wolf. They made it sound like I was just a walking pharmacy or a weapon for hire.
If my blood could heal the sick, if my bite could raise the dead and make them stronger, I didn’t care anymore. None of it felt worth the price of my freedom.
Sure, I had been curious about what I was capable of. The moment I saw that moon wolf picture in that library, I had no doubt,
but the way Yuki kept trying to make me hate Alphas, just so I could join her and kill them?
Fuck no.
I’m no killer. I’m not staining my hands with blood for someone else’s war.
"You know, because of you, so many tribes, villages, and packs were massacred just to prevent your coming," Helen said. She stopped again and looked me straight in the eye, her face a mask of cold history. "Yuki was one of those survivors. She watched her entire family get killed by Alphas. She has no one left but the desire for revenge... She was just a kid...."
She paused, the silence of the woods pressing in on us.
"You are the moon wolf. You cannot escape your purpose....."
That was it. I’d finally had enough of the lectures and the destiny talk.
"Fuck the moon wolf. I don’t give a damn what I am!" I snapped. The words felt like they were tearing out of my chest. "I don’t care if I’m the reincarnation of some ancient white beast with the power to create armies or kill Alphas. I don’t give a shit about any of it!"
My voice shook as everything I’d been holding back finally spilled out.
"I just want to go home. I want to be a normal teenager. I want to go to school, hang out with my friends, and just be a sister to my brother. I want to build a normal life with my girlfriend. I don’t want to be a fucking moon wolf. I just want to be an omega!"
My head was spinning. My body felt weak from the blood loss and the stress, but I was done listening to their nonsense. If Yuki wanted revenge, she could go get it herself. She didn’t need to drag me and my pups into it.
I wasn’t part of this cycle of hate.
"Do you really think you can escape?" Helen said. Her voice was calm, which made it even scarier. "One way or another, you will find a reason to hate Alphas. Something or someone will trigger it. When you see an Alpha rip out the heart of someone you love, that will be the moment you understand."
"Okay, Yuki 2.0, if you’re done with the villain speech, let’s find your son," I said. I waved my hand dismissively, trying to act like her words didn’t scare the hell out of me.
I needed her to stop talking. I needed to breathe. My body was starting to give out, and I had to stay alert, ready to bolt the second she turned her back.
Just as I was thinking about how to get away, something changed.
Helen suddenly started twitching.
Her body jerked violently, her limbs flailing like she was being stung by a thousand bees or electrocuted. Her eyes rolled back in her head.
I immediately stepped back, trying to avoid whatever was happening to her. I thought maybe Yuki was attacking her from a distance, or the spell was backfiring.
Then she collapsed to the ground, hitting the dirt hard, unconscious.
"Wow..." I muttered. I stood there for a second, totally confused.
I stepped closer and nudged her shoulder with the toe of my foot.
"Helen?" I said, shaking her lightly.
She didn’t respond. She was out cold, but I could see her chest rising and falling. Her heart was still beating.
Just as I was checking on her, I heard footsteps behind me. Soft, quick footsteps on the leaves.
Someone was right there.
I froze.
Fear crept in, cold and sharp. Whatever had just happened to Helen, was it about to happen to me? Was I being hunted by something else in these woods?
I slowly clenched my left fist, feeling the dull ache in my wrist, and turned around. If I was going down, they were coming with me.
The moment I turned and swung my fist with everything I had left....
"Ahhhhhh!"
I stopped my punch inches away from a nose.
The face in front of me was familiar. Too familiar.
"Malo..." I muttered. I was in total shock.
What the hell was Malone Griffin doing here in the middle of the Forbidden Woods?
Then my whole face lit up. All the fear, the captivity, the pain of the last eleven days, it vanished in an instant. Seeing him there, with Kali the snake wrapped comfortably around his arm...
"Malo!" I shouted. I rushed forward and threw my arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug. I didn’t even care about the snake.
"Faye!" he shouted back, squeezing me so hard I could barely breathe. "Guys, it’s Faye! I found her!"
He wasn’t alone.
As we pulled apart, I saw the others emerging from the trees. There was Sasha, looking like she hadn’t slept in a week. Haley was there too, holding what looked like a high-tech taser gun.
My Friends. They actually came for me.
And even Peamah was there, standing back with his arms crossed, looking as moody as ever. How is he here?
After the emotional reunion, with Helen still lying unconscious on the ground like a discarded rag...
"Okay, we need to get out of here before she wakes up and realizes what happened," Sasha said. She kept glancing nervously at Helen.
"Yes, Sasha, we need to leave. I can’t wait to get out of here. I’m done with this place," I said. I started to turn away, but then I stopped. "But first, I need to find Henry."
I had to make sure he was safe. I had promised to play with him, and I wanted to reunite him with his mother. Even if she was a wicked witch, he was just a kid in a grown man’s body. When Helen wakes up, at least she won’t be alone.
"Henry?" Haley asked, her brow furrowing.
"Yes. Did you guys see a tall boy with ginger hair around here? He looks a lot like that woman on the ground," I asked, describing his face.
They all exchanged a very strange look. Nobody said anything for a second.
"Yes... we saw him," Sasha said quietly. She wouldn’t look me in the eye.
"Good. Where is he? I need to know he’s okay so we can leave," I said. I was starting to notice the weird expressions on their faces. Something was definitely not right.
"We saw him earlier..." Malo said. He glanced down at the snake wrapped around his arm, then back at me. "But Kali swallowed him."
"Huh."
