CHAPTER 89
1487 Words
Axel’s pov
Karla shuddered a bit before nodding as she decided to tell us what we wanted. I had neither seen her like this before and it scared me. It was not normal.
She released her breath and glanced at me. “It happened the day I found that stupid book.”
“What book?” I asked.
“The one from the hut. The place you rescued me from.” She spoke quietly.
“A book?” I repeated, glancing at my brothers. It seemed impossible for a book to cause this much mayhem.
My brothers all looked at me and they were just as confused as I was.
“This all happened because of a… book?” Kai asked.
Karla nodded. “Yes. It sounds crazy but I believe it’s because of it. Ever since I read it, I’ve been seeing things and having nightmares. They are not fun I tell you.”
Kai leaned forward. “Nightmares about what?”
Karla swallowed. “About her.”
“Her,” I repeated. “Who is ‘her’?”
“The woman I met tonight.” Her voice wavered.
Silence settled as I looked at my siblings in confusion.
Alaric narrowed his eyes. “What woman?”
Karla sighed. “She came out of the forest just before the attack, and she… she spoke to me. She knew who I was.”
Lysander stiffened. “What do you mean she knew who you were?”
“She said she’s been looking for me.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “And you believe her?”
Karla shook her head quickly. “No! I—” She stopped as she looked at her shaky hands. “As much as I don’t want to believe it, the wolves appeared out of thin air. I don’t know what to make of that.”
“That’s not possible. I know the wolves acted strange but they might be fast as…”
“No,” she shook her head. “I’m trying to tell you that she created them.”
My body tensed. "What?"
Karla nodded. "She made them appear. It was like… magic."
It was a silent exchange, but I knew without question what my brothers were thinking. Lysander and Alaric both wore deep furrows in their foreheads as they considered it, while the most drastic reaction came from Kai, who simply looked worried above all else.
I drew in a breath. “Karla… are you absolutely sure?”
She nodded. “Yes. And I think she’s connected to the book somehow. I need to find her. I need to understand what’s going on.”
I didn’t like this. None of it did.
“Sounds like a trap.” Alaric crossed his arms.
Kai nodded. “She wanted to kill you, not talk to you. I don’t know what to make of that but you should know that going to her will only make things worse for you.”
“But…”
I shook my head. “No, it’s too dangerous.”
Karla exhaled. “It might be true but you should know that I need to get to her and know who she is and why she knows.”
I rubbed my forehead. “Karla, you need to rest. Just go in and rest. You and I will talk in the morning.”
She sighed and nodded. “Alright.”
I watched her stand up and started for the palace as she stopped and turned to me. “Please… don’t shut me out of this.”
I nodded. “We won’t.”
She nodded and left as I heaved a sigh and turned to my brothers. “Thoughts?”
Lysander blew out a breath. “Not good.”
"Very bad." Alaric said.
Kai shook his head. "She met a woman, but we didn't see her. The wolves came from nowhere. And they turned to ash." His voice dropped to a whisper. "This isn't just an attack. This is something bigger."
I ran a hand through my hair. “And it involves our mate.”
Lysander leaned forward. “What do we do?”
I gritted my teeth. “We find out who this woman is.”
Alaric’s eyes slit. “And if she’s a danger?”
“Then we end her.”
Lysander agreed. “We should keep Karla close.”
“We will, but we need to find out what we are up against.”
I would know soon enough.
Whatever it cost.
I sat with my brothers, our faces all tense, discussing what we had learnt. The strange woman. The book. The wolves that turned to ash. It didn’t make sense, but one thing was clear.
This had to be witchcraft.
‘We need answers,’ I told them fiercely, meeting Lysander’s gaze. ‘And the only way we’re going to get those is not by sitting here.’
Lysander crossed his arms. “And how do you plan on getting them? That woman didn’t exactly leave us a trail to follow.”
I let out a long breath. “We visit the healers.”
“Sure,” Kai said, still frowning. “But healers?”
I nodded. “Yeah. They’re like… magic scholars or something. I mean, they study magic in general, not just whatever it is that they do with healing magic. If anybody’s heard of witches before, it will be them.”
Alaric leaned back against the wall. “And what if they refuse to tell us anything?”
“We keep asking until we find someone that will.”
Lysander sighed. “Fine. But if it’s a dead end, we go to the next plan right away.”
I nodded.“That’s fair.”
We returned to the palace grounds to collect dust from the dead wolves. We had no idea if it held any kind of energy or—if it did—whether it might help us, but we decided that, since the healers could sense residual things left behind on objects, we would take a small pouch of it with us to use if necessary.
The first healer we went to lived in a little house on the outskirts of town. It smelled funny outside and inside, it smelled of old herbs and chalky powders.
She peered at the bag. “Where did you find this?”
“On wild wolves that had attacked the palace,” I said.
She shook her head. “This is not normal. Wolves don’t turn to dust when they die.”
“We know,” Lysander said.“That’s why we’re here.”
The healer examined the dust, her finger flicking a trace of it before her face.
“That’s weird,” she sighed. “I can’t say what this is. “I have no idea what it is.”
“Do we have witches around the pack?”
She hesitated. “Witches are rare in werewolf packs. If there actually had been one, you would’ve heard about it years ago.”
“Are you certain?” I insisted.
She nodded. “Yes. Look, I wish I can help but I don’t have anything to say on this matter.”
We left, frustrated but not defeated.
The second healer we saw was a younger man who lived in the main village. After we told him what we wanted to say, he frowned and nodded.
“I can’t say much about witchcraft seeing as I’m a healer and not one who curses.”
Alaric groaned. “Can’t you help?”
“I can’t,” he sighed. “But witches are not easy to find.”
We moved away from him after th among him and went to the next one as we saw her smiling at us until we showed her the dust.
“This… feels unnatural.”
Lysander leaned forward. “We know that.”
She sighed and rubbed her eyes. “It doesn’t have the energy of a normal death. It’s like… it was created, not born.”
I frowned. “Created?”
She nodded. “Something that was never meant to be.”
“Can you think of anyone who could have designed this?” Alaric asked.
I shook my head. “I wish I did. But magic like this… it is old. Very old.”
I growled and sighed. “So I’m guessing we’re not having any answers now.”
“I really apologize but I wish I can help. There is a dark healer who loves away from the pack. You can try her out. She might have an idea on what this is.”
We left her home even more frustrated than before.
“This is useless,” Lysander said as we walked through the village.
“It’s not,” I sighed. “We just need to go check that lady at the edge of the pack I guess.”
- Writer
