Chapter 2 – The Hunters
639 Words
The next morning, the sun rose pale and weak, as if even daylight feared the night before. Rina walked down the quiet village road with her bag over her shoulder. Behind her, the forest stood like a wall of dark memories, each tree a silent witness. She kept glancing back… searching for the flash of golden eyes.
At the schoolhouse, students buzzed about the full moon.
Some insisted they heard a howl.
Others laughed it off as wind.
Only Rina knew it wasn’t the wind.
And she wasn’t sure it was the last time she would hear it.
Luka stood near the steps, hands in his pockets, eyes fixed on the mountain ridge. He had only been in Evergreen Ridge for a few months—quiet, soft-spoken, and always watchful. His eyes were gentle, but today… something troubled hid beneath them.
“You’re staring at the mountain again,” Luka said as she approached.
“You notice a lot,” Rina replied.
“I only notice what others ignore.”
He looked at her—longer than usual. “Last night was… noisy.”
A cold wind swept across the road, lifting her hair like a dark veil. Rina studied him carefully.
Had he heard the howl too?
Did he know something?
Before she could ask, the bell rang. Students rushed inside. Luka followed the crowd, but Rina lingered for a moment. Her gaze drifted to Blue-Stone Mountain, where the trees swallowed the sunlight.
I know you’re still out there, she thought.
The day crawled by, each minute heavy and restless. She couldn’t focus. Her wrist kept tingling beneath her sleeve. When she dared to peek, the thin silver crescent still marked her skin. It didn’t hurt… but it didn’t fade either. It glowed faintly whenever sunlight touched it.
At lunch, she sat alone under the oak tree, thoughts circling like trapped birds.
Footsteps approached.
“I keep seeing you staring at your arm,” a voice said.
She tensed.
Luka again.
Rina yanked her sleeve down. “It’s nothing. Just a scratch.”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
He sat beside her quietly. “You don’t have to be afraid.”
“I’m not afraid,” she said—but she didn’t convince herself.
Silence fell between them until Luka leaned closer, lowering his voice.
“You heard it too, didn’t you? The howl.”
Rina froze.
Luka’s expression didn’t change. “You’re not the only one who heard it.”
That evening, she rushed home. Her parents cooked in the kitchen—warm light, soft music, the smell of roasted corn. Everything looked normal, painfully normal. But Rina felt far away, as though she no longer belonged in her own house.
She waited until night wrapped itself around the town, then slipped outside. Guided by moonlight, she ran toward the forest. The path felt different now that she knew what stalked its shadows.
She reached the clearing.
No wolf this time.
Instead, on a fallen log, sat the man—the golden-eyed stranger.
Aiden.
His clothes were torn. Blood stained his sleeve. But his voice was calm, steady, almost gentle.
“You shouldn’t have come back.”
Rina knelt beside him. “You asked for help.”
Aiden’s gaze softened slightly. “You’re braver than I thought.”
She looked at his bleeding arm. “Who did this to you?”
His jaw tightened. “Hunters.”
Rina’s breath hitched. She scanned the trees—the silence felt wrong. Too thick. Too still.
“Are they still close?”
Aiden nodded once. “Yes.”
Then he looked her straight in the eyes.
“And they are not just after me. They are hunting anyone touched by the moon.”
He pointed to her wrist.
“The mark has already appeared on you…
hasn’t it?”
- Writer
