Adelie
The sound of the door locking echoed in the room. Even Kairosâ body stiffened, trying to make sense of the situation.
I bolted up the stairs, pounding on the door. âHelen!â I yelled, my voice echoing in the hallway.
âLuna, you have to stay put. The pack is furious,â she declared.
So, theyâd rallied everyone who despised me to act. Theyâd finally achieved unity as a pack. It was unfortunate that their unity was built on their shared animosity towards me.
âHelen, I can handle them!â Did she really believe I was that fragile? I could defend myself. Iâd realized that my powers had no boundaries. I wasnât the weakling I used to be.
âLuna, itâs too risky,â she repeated.
I felt a pang of doubt. Sheâd actually locked me in. Was she siding with the majority of the pack? What if she ~wanted~ to lock me in? She seemed to be shielding me, but what if she wasnât?
Voices drifted up from downstairs. I hurried down to find Kairos, unchained and being assisted by two men.
I froze. Kairos looked at me, his eyebrows furrowed. He approached me, his hands trembling as he cupped my face. âAdelieâ¦my love,â he whispered, tears streaming down his face.
âWhy would you do this?â he asked. I was paralyzed. He looked so remorseful. Was this really Kairos? He seemed genuinely pained, as if it hurt himâ¦to hurt meâ¦
He seemed like his true self. His touch was gentle, despite the tremors from the chains.
But my thoughts were interrupted when I felt a grip on my arms and a needle jab into my side. I jerked and tried to pull away.
âWhat did you do?â I asked, my vision starting to blur and my legs giving way.
âI vowed to protect my pack from history repeating itself,â he said, his voice choked with tears. âIâm so sorry, Adelie, I love you. I love you so much.â
I was barely conscious now, struggling against the darkness as the two men dragged me towards the chains. I was laid out on the cold concrete, my wrists and ankles bound in chains.
I looked at Kairosâ face. He smirked, walking away. He flashed me a wicked smile. It was a small victory for him. It wasnât Kairos. It was Christopher.
Unknown
Fala was startled by a knock at her front door. She opened it to find pack guards standing there.
âFala, youâre being arrested for defying your Alphaâs orders and conspiring with Luna Adelie to harm our leader,â one of the guards announced.
She glanced around and noticed a crowd gathered a little distance away. A crowd around Kairos. He was free. But where was Adelie?
Kairos looked unharmed. He seemed like his old self. Had he been okay all along?
~How could Adelie do this~? Fala wondered. She had aided Adelie, but Adelie had deceived her.
And Fala didnât resist the guards. She felt betrayed and lost.
As she was led to her cell, she felt numb. She felt foolish for not foreseeing this, especially after a previous Luna had tried to destroy the pack.
And she felt foolish for how easily sheâd been duped.
There was also a knock at Maeveâs door. It took more persuasion to get her to stop resisting and go with the guards.
Unlike Fala, Maeve understood what was happening, but she had no allies now. No one was powerful enough to save her.
But one thought lingered. If Adelie hadnât been here, what would have happened to Maeve? Adelie was still her friend.
The thought of a world without Adelie, a world where Kairos was a monster, terrified her. What would become of her pack? Of herself? Of the world?
Maeve was certain that Kairos was still not himself.
Predictably, the guards didnât place Maeve and Fala in neighboring cells. Their cells were separated by noise-dampening walls, a precaution against potential plotting.
Adelie
The guards didnât even bother to make my wrist chains comfortable. In fact, they seemed to tighten them even more.
I wasnât sure what they had injected into me, but it had weakened me entirely. My nymph side was inaccessible, and my death side was barely responsive.
I heard the upstairs door creak open and I mustered all my strength to stand. Someone was coming.
I held my breath, hoping it was Kairos, even in his monstrous state, but it was Helen.
She carried trays of food. I had no idea how long Iâd been unconscious or whether it was day or night, but I knew I was famished. If I wanted to survive, I needed to eat.
Her hands trembled as she tried to avoid my gaze. She was the one who had imprisoned me here, but I doubted it was her idea. She wasnât like that.
âYou were supposed to protect me,â I said, my teeth clenched.
She didnât even bother to adjust my chains to restrain me. She walked right into my space and set the tray down, remaining on her knees.
âForgive me, Luna,â she whispered. âI donât have much time. Fala and Maeve are locked up, and they canât help you. And neither can I.â This was a departure from her usual erratic behavior.
âHelen,â I whispered back, kneeling across from her, âgo to the forest and find Esty. Call her, or just wander around and look for her. Tell her I need her.â
Helen nodded and left.
***
Time became a blur, with no sense of day or night. I marked each new day by the arrival of food, but it was never the same person delivering it.
Each time, a different pack member would bring me food, observing me like I was an exhibit. I learned to ignore them and eat. Some showed a hint of pity. Some just watched.
But I was certain that Alpha had instructed them not to speak, as they remained silent. I assumed they were trying to keep me in the dark about what was happening.
Every day, I wondered if Helen had found Esty, if she had even gone to look for her, or if she had been caught and punished.
I felt filthy and weak. I feared that I might lose my mind if I stayed here much longer, overthinking. It felt like I would soon exhaust all my thoughts and be left with nothing.
Only emptiness would remain, repeating everything I knew until it lost all meaning.
***
The arrival of someone signaled a new day. I scratched the wall to mark each meal.
This was the twelfth meal I had received. Twelve days I had spent here with nothing.
I watched the woman from the pack as I leaned against the cold stone wall. She set the tray down, then gave me a once-over, again remaining silent.
She turned to leave, but something fell from her shoe. It was a piece of paper, unlike any other trash.
It was pristine and tightly folded.
I waited until I heard the door close before I moved. Ignoring my hunger, I picked up the paper and unfolded it. âEat before the big run,â it read.
There was nothing else written, no signature, but I knew it was for me. And the handwriting was familiar. It had to be from Esty.
She must have received my message. âThank you, Helen,â I whispered, kissing the small paper in my hands and looking up as if my prayers had been answered by divine forces.
I devoured my mashed potatoes and meat like a savage, emptying my cup of water in seconds.
But then, I found something in my meal.
Buried in the heart of my mashed potatoes was a tiny glass vial. I hastily pulled it out, wiping it clean on my dress. At this point, I didnât give a damn about the mess.
Inside the vial was a clear liquid. No label, no hint of what it could be. I uncorked it and took a whiff, but it was odorless.
What was I supposed to do with this? My meal was forgotten.
I glanced back at the note. It simply read, âEat up.â
What did I have to lose? With a leap of faith, I downed the liquid. I braced myself for a reaction, or even death. I wasnât certain, but I clung to the hope that it might help.
I felt my heart rate quicken. This wasnât anxiety; it was a surge of energy, adrenaline. Was I dying? I stood up, my heart pounding in my chest.
But maybe this was a good thingâ¦
I shut my eyes, focusing inward, on the whirlwind of thoughts in my mind.
Iâd never really imagined what my nymph side looked like, but I could sense when it was close. Just like my fatherâs side.
A wave of warmth washed over me and I opened my eyes to see the familiar smoke curling from my fingertips, coiling around my chains and snapping them.
They clattered to the ground with a resounding thud.
But there was little I could do. Nature, my source of power, was too far away for me to conjure an escape. So, I waited for the run Esty had warned me about.
Just as I was teetering on the brink of despair, the doors creaked open. No one was coming down. So, I sprinted towards the first glimmer of light Iâd seen in what felt like weeks.
I dashed past the open doors, hoping to find Estyâ¦but it wasnât her.