Silver Rain

Chapter 38

The rain beat down relentlessly, and yet Felix barely heard it anymore. He stood in front of the window, staring out at the dark woods of the forest, his mind too tangled to focus on anything but the gnawing sense of helplessness that had been eating away at him for the past two weeks.

Two weeks since Olivia had disappeared into her coma, slipping through his fingers like she was a ghost in a dream. Two weeks, two days, fifteen hours, and twelve minutes since he'd last heard her voice, seen the glint of her eyes, felt the warmth of her touch. And no matter how hard he tried to hold on to her, to the warmth she left behind, it always slipped further and further away.

Sure, there were moments when he could feel the faintest flicker in the bond they shared, but it remained dormant. Silent. He had spent hours next to her in the hospital, waiting for another sign, another twitch of her fingers.

The weight of those long hours in the hospital bore down on Felix like a mountain. Every tick of the clock felt like a countdown to something he couldn't stop, and yet he stayed by Olivia's side, clinging to those fleeting moments when her fingers twitched or when he felt that faint, almost imperceptible warmth through their bond. It was enough to keep him from spiraling into complete despair, but not enough to ease the growing fear that each day brought.

He had never felt so powerless.

With each passing day, the guilt gnawed at him. He should have done more, should have noticed sooner when Olivia started slipping away. And now, here she was, trapped in limbo while he was left to piece together a puzzle that felt impossible to solve. Eric Rhett's notebook—the damn thing that was supposed to hold all the answers—had only given them fragments of a story. A story they were barely beginning to understand.

Felix dragged a hand through his wet hair, closing his eyes as the sound of the rain beat against the window, its steady rhythm matching the pounding in his chest. The storm mirrored the chaos in his mind, each crack of thunder sending ripples of tension through him. But beneath it all, there was a quiet desperation that ate away at him.

Behind him, the low hum of conversation between Mira and Calvin barely registered. They had been working non-stop, cross-referencing notes, tracking down leads on Olivia's past, and combing through Rhett's symbols for anything that might make sense. They had convinced him to come back to the pack house, to make an appearance.

Felix didn't want to be there, not really. The pack house, usually a place of comfort and solidarity, felt suffocating now. It was filled with too many questions, too many eyes on him, waiting for him to act, to lead. But all he wanted was to be by Olivia's side, waiting for that next flicker in their bond, that next sign that she was still fighting.

But he had responsibilities, a role he couldn't ignore, no matter how much he wished he could. That's why Mira and Calvin had dragged him back, convincing him that he needed to be present for the pack, especially with everything on the line.

Felix crossed the room, his boots heavy on the hardwood floor, and joined them at the table where Rhett's notebook lay open, its pages scattered with indecipherable scribbles and diagrams. Symbols that still eluded them.

Felix had spent hours scouring through that damn book, obsessing over every detail. It had become an all-consuming need to find some way to connect the dots, to figure out what Eric had known and why it seemed so deeply tied to Olivia. Why had Rhett left those symbols, and why had they felt like a warning? Something was coming. Felix could feel it deep in his bones. The pack could feel it too—the air was thicker, the tension higher.

And he realized why Olivia was so gripped with it.

Mira's eyes were focused and sharp as she scribbled something, then tossed the pen down, exhaling in frustration. Felix knew she should be worried about high school--finishing her senior year and worrying about the latest gossip--but she didn't want anything more than to figure out the mystery that eluded them all.