"Sorry I'm late," Thalia said to Casten, who was anxiously waiting at the pack house. He had changed into blue jeans and a black hoodie, which made his startling blue eyes even brighter.
"That's totally okay, Luna," he replied with a relieved smile.
Thalia laughed and said as she walked into the woods,
"You are officially tied to me now."
"That's okay too, Luna," he said again, running after her.
They walked purposefully through the forest, neither of them complaining about the total darkness surrounding them or the chilling breeze that hung around them like a cool fur blanket.
"Do you hear that?" Casten asked in a harsh whisper.
Thalia paused. She had been straining all her senses for a while now, but she heard nothing at all.
"What?" she whispered back.
"The silence. It's like we're the only ones in the forest," he said, and a chill ran through him.
"You're right... and it's really uncomfortable," she whispered again.
Although she had tried to brush it off, Casten's concern made her think more about it. Still, she decided to blame it on her paranoia.
Kyle's cabin had almost blended in with the dark. Only a single lamp glowed faintly. As they approached, Casten asked,
"What exactly are we going to ask him?"
"He's the only clue we have," Thalia said with a shrug.
She knocked once, and the door was silently opened.
Thalia stared at Kyle and couldn't help but feel a little nervous. He looked at them the way someone stares at strangers. There was no hint of their earlier conversation in his expression.
"I've been expecting you," he said—completely at odds with the blankness on his face.
"Can we come in then?" Casten asked, looking around uneasily.
"You said you were expecting us," Thalia added meaningfully.
"It was quite obvious," he stated but didn't elaborate.
He handed them each a mug of water and placed a plate of white wild berries on the small wooden table.
"Really? Berries and water?" Casten muttered before he could stop himself, but neither of the others acknowledged his complaint.
"Is there anything else you can tell us?" Thalia asked Kyle, almost desperately. She felt like an invisible clock was ticking over the pack, and every second spent doing nothing would be dearly paid for.
Without a word, Kyle rose to his feet and headed toward the only door in the cabin. Before he even touched the handle, he turned back and said more seriously,
"The pack is under attack."
Without hesitation, Thalia burst out the door, shifting into her wolf form as she disappeared into the woods.
"Damn it. Couldn't they have given us just a few days to prepare?" Casten muttered before shifting into a grey wolf and following her.
Now, as Thalia ran through the forest as fast as her four legs could carry her, she strained all her senses—but still heard and smelled nothing. She couldn't even hear Casten's panting or footsteps, even though she had seen him behind her. But none of that deterred her. Though her senses picked up nothing, she could feel it—something in the air had shifted, and her muscles were protesting, responding to a force she didn't recognize.
It took all her strength not to shift back into her human form, and her wolf was almost acting against her will the closer she got to the pack.
Kyle, still in human form, was running beside her at the same pace.
When they reached the edge of the forest, she raised her snout but let out a dismayed whimper when she still caught nothing. An equally confused Casten whimpered next to her, resting weakly on the ground.
"I couldn't fight it anymore..."
Casten's ashamed whisper sounded like a siren in the dead silence of the night. He hung his head and added, seeing the confusion in the huge brown eyes of the beast beside him,
"My wolf is not obeying me," he explained.
Thalia nuzzled his leg understandingly.
Seeing no reason to remain in wolf form, she shifted back into her human body and almost sighed in relief. She meant to walk into the pack grounds, because from what she could see, nothing looked out of place.
"Don't," Kyle said calmly, grabbing her hand.
She meant to pull away, but she froze at what she saw.
"We should get out of here," Kyle said, more alert now, starting to pull her back.
"What do you mean, get out of here?" she whispered harshly.
"There's nothing we can do to save them," he replied, tugging her more forcefully.
Then a confused Casten asked,
"What are they even doing?"
They weren't doing anything alarming—but something felt off. The pack moved robotically, as if they had a single mind, but none of them had a scratch or showed any signs of struggle.
"Why are they holding those?" Casten voiced the question Thalia had been too afraid to ask.
Each member held either a knife, axe, or sharp stake—and a few carried burning logs of wood.
Mia. Uncle Zach.
Thalia's thoughts spun as her eyes frantically searched the crowd. Still dressed in her brown skirt, with her black bangs delicately framing her face, was Mia. In her hand was the same knife she had used to cut vegetables—and it knocked the air right out of Thalia's lungs.
She kept scanning, hoping Uncle Zach had stayed away. But there he was too. A burning log of wood in hand. Even as flames licked his fingers, he didn't flinch.
"No. No—Kyle, I have to go save them!" she cried, tears of helplessness burning her eyes.
She thrashed wildly, but Kyle held her tighter, saying nothing.
In the next few minutes, Thalia cried silently as Kyle held both her hands, waiting for what would happen next. No matter how much she had braced for it, what she witnessed would be carved into her soul forever.
Thalia watched on in horror as everything she had ever known was being erased—by an enemy she could not even see. One by one, the members of the pack began to kill themselves.
Too shocked to move, Casten just stood there, senseless.
"You have to remain quiet," Kyle whispered sharply, putting one hand over Thalia's mouth and the other around her waist to keep her from falling apart.
And then fate took its final blow.
Mia looked directly at Thalia—and unable to look away from those lifeless orbs, Thalia watched as her best friend slit her own throat without flinching.
Shortly after, Uncle Zach set himself on fire.
Unable to bear it any longer, Thalia passed out.