The Wolf Girl

Chapter Thirty Two

Molly's POV

  My eyes widen as I hear my father's voice in my mind.

  I rub my eyes sleepily, crawling out of my bed to get a glass of water. I hear Mommy and Daddy's low voices, so I stand next to my door to listen for a moment.

  "Do you realize how risky it is to announce that to the village?" Mom murmurs. "You never know who's here!"

  "If the worst was to happen, then Nikki would come and find me."

  Nikki. Surely he didn't mean this Nikki.

  But I'm almost positive that he did.

  "Meet me outside," Nikki whispers. I hear some shuffling before her footsteps pad away from us. I close my eyes, opening hem to darkness again. I crawl out of Alex's lap and stand, quietly walking out of the rocky cave. When I emerge at the surface, everyone else is asleep. I rub my eyes and look around.

  I spot Nikki, her back to us, and run towards her, Alex close behind. When we reach her, she turns around, and I inhale sharply.

  She has take her mask and gloves off, revealing pale skin and purple eyes. She puts her hood down and untucks her hair from the hoodie. The ombré purple locks reach her waist. She flashes a light smile, revealing sharp canine teeth.

"You aren't to tell anyone about this," she commands, lifting her hood and putting her mask on, followed by her gloves.

"Got it," I reply. Alex nods vigorously, and she walks back to the cave, Alex and I close behind.

  Before entering the cave, I look up at the stars. "Guys?" I whisper, and they turn to me.

  "Yes?" Nikki asks.

  "I-if it's okay, I'm going to sleep out here."

  "Alright," she sighs. "If you want to."

  I wordlessly walk to the charred remains of the fire, embers still glowing brightly. The others' footsteps echo on the rock before disappearing as I curl up next to the fire pit, shivering from the cold. I pull my long sleeves over my hands, tucking my knees closer to my chest. Shivers continue to run through me, and I wonder if I should stoke the fire.

  After a long while of debate, I hear dry grass crunching under shoes. I turn quickly, thinking they are an intruder, but my muscles relax slightly when I see Alex's brown hair and hazel eyes illuminated in the moonlight.

  "Cold?" he murmurs, and I nod. He motions for me to scoot over, and I oblige, squirming away from the fire pit. He steps over me and sits next to me. He pulls his infinity pouch out of his pocket and fishes through it for a moment before pulling a blanket out. I mentally scold myself for not thinking of doing this sooner as he drapes the blanket over both of us, lying down with his back to me.

  "Thanks," I mumble.

  "You're welcome," he whispers. "Goodnight."

  "Goodnight." I tilt my head to the sky, smiling at the stars before closing my eyes.

  Don't worry, Dad. We'll find you.

******************************************

I wake up and let out a light moan. I open my eyes a bit, coming face-to-face with someone. Their eyes flit to mine.

Green eyes. Black hair.

Zack.

"Get away from me!" I scream, scrambling backwards. "Get away! Stop! Get away!" I throw my hands to my face, closing my eyes. Silence.

I open my eyes again and see a deer, it's head tilted. When it sees my looking, it leaps away, its graceful frame disappearing into the trees. I stare after it, confused. I must have hallucinated him.

"What happened?" Alex mumbles sleepily.

"I-I-I thought I s-saw Zack," I whimper. His eyes shoot open, and he sits up, staring at me. "It was a hallucination," I say quickly. "I just..."

"It's alright," he whispers. "He's not here."

"I wouldn't be so sure," a voice growls from behind us. My eyes widen, and I whip my head around. Zack's green eyes glow with skepticism, and his mouth is set in a tight line. I begin to tremble, and I reach over and grab my bow.

"Get a-away from us," I whisper, backing up, closer to Alex. "I-I'm not afraid to s-shoot." I reach back and pull an arrow into my bowstring.

"I know you're not," he says evenly. "You seem like a girl who has the guts to shoot an enemy." I tilt my head, confused. Zack's body begins to melt into a black ball, and my eyes go wide again. I shrink back against Alex, my breaths quick and uneven.

The orb melts into a young boy with stunning gray eyes and tawny hair. His height and features tell me that he's about eleven or twelve years old.

"I'm Morte," he says quietly. He takes asleep breath. "I'm a demon, and m-my name means 'Death' in Italian."

I gasp and press against Alex's chest, wanting to escape. He carefully pulls me close.

"Why are you here?" he growls.

"I wanted to tell you that Zack is free," Morte says, pained. I begin to tremble again.

"H-how do you know?" I squeak.

"I saw him recently."

The words send a stab of renewed fear through my chest.

"I came to help," he continues. "I'm only twelve, but I don't want to be a demon. I wanna learn to be good, like my uncle wanted me to."

I feel my expression soften. "T-thank you," I mumble, scooting closer. "How did you..."

"Change my appearance?" he finishes, and I nod. "It's my power." He must see he confused look on my face. "Most angels have one or two individual powers. Demons always have one. Mine is taking other life forms."

"Angels have individual powers?" I ask softly, and he nods. "And..." I swallow. "Y-you know Zack?"

"Yes," he says, his face twisted in disgust. "I do, sadly. H-he..." He swallows. "He's close friends with my brother, who is at the demon camp."

Time seems to stop as I stare at him. "I-I..." I start, but nothing else comes out.

"Maybe we need to wake everyone up," Alex says softly. I nod without looking at either of them before pushing myself to my feet, regretting that I ever met Zack.

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Sorry for the slow update! I was at a place without Internet, and I don't like using data.

  And by the way, Morte actually means Death in English. I learned that from google Translate.

Thanks for reading, and stay heavenly!

~Mabel