Chapter 44: Chapter 44

ADELIE

Daniel and Maximus, our guards, were accompanying us. They seemed to be taking the situation lightly, chatting and laughing as they trailed behind Nathan and me.

Their joviality would have been welcome under different circumstances.

We didn’t hurry towards the forest, instead, we strained our ears for any unusual sounds. As we entered the forest, a chill seemed to envelop us.

“Why’s it so chilly?” Daniel asked, shivering behind us.

“Adelie, are you certain?” Nathan whispered to me, careful not to let the guards hear him address me without my title. I simply nodded in response.

I had a duty to protect my pack. A murder within our ranks couldn’t be overlooked. Pack members didn’t just kill each other.

“It’s okay, Nathan,” I reassured him, though I wasn’t entirely convinced myself. Something about the forest felt off, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

The darkness and limited visibility added to the eerie atmosphere. We had just been celebrating at our festival, and now, one of us was dead: the same man who had forewarned me of impending doom.

I hadn’t appreciated his ominous jokes, but I certainly didn’t wish him dead. I hoped it was all just a sick joke.

As we ventured deeper, Nathan asked, “How much further?” His role as my guard didn’t mask his fear.

Despite his fear, I knew he would do anything to protect me. “I’m not sure, I’ll know when we reach the right spot,” I replied.

Suddenly, Nathan stepped on something that made a distinct crunching sound.

Looking down, we saw animal bones—small ones, perhaps from a squirrel. A few feet ahead, we found more animal carcasses, all bearing bite marks.

Their blood had been drained.

I reached out to touch one of the tiny bodies, but Nathan’s voice made me pull back. “Maybe don’t,” he advised, and I heeded his words. There was nothing I could do to help them now. “No other animal could have done this, and most wouldn’t even bother with such small prey,” he added.

“Witches do this,” Maximus chimed in, and I glanced at Nathan.

Witches were known to sacrifice small animals for their spells, often requiring blood. My witch spell book had many potions that called for blood.

“Witches don’t actually bite them, but there is this Circe. I don’t know if you’ve heard of her. Long ago, similar incidents were reported. Then, they just stopped.

“My grandpa told me she just disappeared. Apparently, many werewolves were killed in the same manner. But this… this looks a lot like…” Maximus trailed off, but he didn’t need to finish.

“We get it,” I said, and the mirth drained from their faces.

Daniel and Maximus exchanged glances. “Luna, do you really think it’s wise to be here if she was just here?” Maximus asked, clearing his throat.

“We don’t know for sure it’s her. But if it is, the sooner I know, the better. Trees have a tendency to forget,” I explained, pushing forward before they could change their minds.

I would have gone alone, but Kairos wouldn’t have approved, and perhaps it wasn’t the wisest decision this time.

After a moment, Kairos mind-linked me.

~“Is everything okay? You’ve been away for a while. I’ve sent everyone to scour the forest. The kids are asleep, and Raphael is at our place with Fala. He gets it, but he’s too hammered to join us,”~ he filled me in.

I had noticed earlier that Raphael was in high spirits, his face full of grins and mischief. Werewolves didn’t get tipsy as easily as humans did, but the right amount could do the trick.

~“We’re fine, but the situation is eerily similar to the tales about Circe,”~ I shared. ~“I don’t know. It could just be our minds playing tricks on us,”~ I added, attempting to soothe his worries.

~“What did you witness? Get back to the pack immediately!”~ he ordered, but I was so close.

~“In a bit,”~ I responded. ~“I’m almost there.”~ I completely shut him out and approached a majestic tree. Even if we all joined hands around it, it wouldn’t be enough.

I tried to be as efficient as possible. I reached out to touch the coarse bark. “Speak,” I whispered softly, my words like a mist intertwining with the tree.

“Tell me,” I urged again, trying to sound as composed as possible in a situation where I was anything but calm and collected.

Time seemed to freeze around me, and I pulled away from the tree, revealing an apparition of a body and face.

He was ancient, his voice gravelly and almost agonizing. “She was here, not harboring ill intentions but resolute in obtaining what she needed.”

She had taken a man’s life. How could she not harbor ill intentions?

“What does she need?” I inquired, but my question was cut short by a woman’s enraged scream echoing from a distance, sounding like a plea for help.

Just then, Kairos rushed to us, checking if everything was okay and positioning himself next to me.

“What was that?” Maximus was the one to question as we all stood there, taken aback. It wasn’t a typical human scream.

“Circe,” I stated. “She was here, and now we know she still is. She’s here for a reason but not to harm us. That’s what I was told.”

“Alpha, someone should escort Luna back to the pack. It might be best for the rest to investigate. She doesn’t usually attack groups.” Nathan suggested.

Kairos shook his head. “We can’t split up. The more of us there are, the less likely she will attack,” he countered. “Let’s get Adelie to the pack and then return,” he proposed, starting to head back.

“We’re all going to investigate now! If she doesn’t mean harm, she won’t attack. We’re five against one. I say we investigate as soon as possible.” I declared this as a fact. I was taken aback when Kairos didn’t dispute but simply nodded.

We headed towards the source of the scream. Kairos held my hand as we led everyone deeper into the forest.

My breathing was shaky, and I could tell that even Kairos was frightened. Even if he didn’t show it, his tight grip on my hand spoke volumes.

We approached a flickering light. We didn’t rush towards it, unsure of what awaited us.

As we neared, the light turned out to be a fire. In front of it stood a gaunt woman. Her skin was a dark grey, and her bones were visible in places.

“Circe,” I whispered, and her head slowly turned towards us. Her movements were so rigid, it seemed to cause her pain.

We all stood still, staring at her. Her face was skeletal, her eyes as black as coal. She had almost no hair on her head—it was a horrifying sight.

“Adelie, can your root creature capture her?” Kairos asked me, and immediately, I released his hand and stomped my foot on the ground.

The creature surfaced from the earth right before her eyes. Circe attempted to flee, but my creature's grip held her in place.

Maximus, Daniel, and Nathan morphed into their wolf forms, charging towards her. Kairos, in his human form, ran alongside me.

The wolves formed a circle around her. We approached cautiously as she attempted to hiss at us, her voice weak. Everything about her screamed weakness.

She didn’t seem capable of causing harm.

“Who are you?” Kairos demanded in his alpha voice. I wasn’t sure if she could respond. She didn’t resemble a normal human. She looked lifeless.

Death was also present, observing the scene from our side.

“Circe,” she spat back at him, struggling to break free. She didn’t seem threatening.

I turned to Death.

“She was confined in the afterworld, but somehow she escaped. I’m clueless as to how,” he admitted. “Someone must have summoned her. It’s not an easy task, but for the right person, anything is possible.”

Summoned? Who would want her back?

“What should we do?” I whispered, careful not to draw attention to the fact that I appeared to be speaking to thin air.

“You don’t need to do anything. She’s already fading. Whoever brought her back didn’t consider that she’s lost all her power,” Death explained, leaving me more confused.

“But she still has powers,” I blurted out, pointing out that she had killed someone. All eyes turned to me.

“Adelie?” Kairos questioned.

I quickly shook my head. “My father is here. He says she’s harmless but…,” I glanced back at Death. “She killed Houdini,” I tried to argue.

“That’s impossible. She’s too weak. She’s been feeding on small animals for energy, but she’s doomed to not even understand herself,” Death clarified.

“You could end her suffering. She’s in pain. If you kill her, she’ll turn to ashes, leaving everyone in peace. She’s already caused enough harm in the past. There’s no need for her to take more innocent lives.”

He said this, looking at the small animal corpses scattered on the ground. Without another word, he turned and walked away.

“Wait!” I called after him, taking a few steps in his direction, but he had already disappeared into the darkness.

“What did he say?” Kairos asked.

“She didn’t kill Houdini.”

I looked at her. She didn’t even attempt to escape. Of course, she didn’t kill him. How could someone so weak do that? She was too preoccupied with trying to stay alive.

I doubted she had the capacity to think about anything else.

“Death says it would be merciful to kill her now. She’s suffering,” I relayed to them. Kairos immediately signaled to Maximus, and I made my root creature vanish, leaving Circe defenseless on the ground.

Maximus swiftly placed one paw on her neck and another on her shoulder. The sound of bones snapping echoed in the air, and then there was nothing but ashes—an anticlimactic end.

We had been terrified over nothing.

“She would have died anyway. Death said that someone brought her back, but that person clearly didn’t know what they were doing. Why would they even want to bring her back?” I pondered.

I couldn’t fathom any reason for her to be here.

~“We hunted her down for nothing,”~ Maximus communicated through our mind link.

~“If she didn’t kill Houdini, who did?”~ Daniel questioned via the mind link.

Kairos appeared deep in thought. “What if they wanted us to believe Circe did it?”

The whole situation seemed poorly planned. If someone wanted us to believe Circe was the killer, why didn’t they ensure she had the power to kill?

She was weak. No consideration was given to whether she could take a life.

The tree hadn’t revealed Circe’s name to me. All it had said was, “She did it.” I was so engrossed in the idea that Circe was the culprit, I hadn’t considered any other possibilities.

“But it would be clear as day that she’s powerless. It’s evident she couldn’t be the murderer,” I argued, trying to dismantle his theory. Then it dawned on me that this could be part of a larger scheme.

“Kairos, who’s at the pack right now?” I asked urgently.

“Just the kids. Almost everyone else is out scavenging in the forests,” he replied.

“Back at the pack, it’s just the kids and a handful of guards. I sent Raphael home. He’d been drinking and wasn’t fit to join us,” Kairos reiterated, echoing his earlier statement.

I shook my head in disbelief. Nathan communicated through our mind link, ~“Someone’s framed Circe. Cutting off oxygen supply was her signature killing method. But Circe never leaves the forest.”~

“This was a setup,” Kairos growled. “Someone wanted us away from the pack.” With that, Kairos transformed into his wolf form.

Kairos sent a mind-link message to everyone, instructing them to return to the pack immediately. As his wolf form crouched beside me, I climbed onto his back, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck.

A sense of dread washed over me…