The Wolf Girl

Chapter Forty Two

  Alex's POV

  When Nikki, Wes, and Morte arrive from their fight with the girl, Nikki is running on her own. She must have healed.

  "What happened?" Nikki breathes, looking from Adrianna to Zack to Molly's mom ZJ to me.

"We have to find Molly," I grunt. "Someone help me up, and someone get Adrianna."

Wes rushes over to Adrianna, and Nikki helps me stand without using the wall for support, even though she's much shorter than me. We all start running up the stairs again. Most likely because of ZJ's unconscious state, running comes with ease for us.

  "Alright, what happened?" Nikki repeats.

  I explain everything from our trek up the staircase to Molly's mother.

  "Could you repeat what she said?" Nikki asks.

  "'Fall into a sleep for five years, on my watch,' I believe," I recall.

"She cast a spell on him," she whispers. "She was able to put him into a deep sleep." She glances up at me. "Five years?" I nod. "She must not have had enough energy to produce a spell any better than that. What really gets me, though, is this: How did she get here?"

"I honestly have no clue," I admit. "But I'm never going to forgive myself for this. I was weak. I could've done better, and Molly's mother would have lived, and-"

"Stop," Nikki barks. "She wouldn't want you beating yourself up over this, and neither would Molly." I nod a little, and we continue to run in silence.

I hear something echo through the structure suddenly. "Stop," I call. Everyone stops running, and I listen closely. Nikki seems to concentrate as well.

A faint scream ripples through the air, and my eyes widen.

"Is that-" I gasp.

"Molly," Nikki finishes. "It's Molly. We have to find her."

  "What are they doing to her?!" I shout as we continue to run. "Why is she screaming like that?"

  "I don't know," Nikki replies hurriedly. "It's hard telling. My assumption is that they're either torturing her to get information about her powers or using a machine to suck it out of her, bit by bit. While it does a good job to get all of the power out of the victim, it's extremely painful for them."

  "We've gotta find her!" I yell, trying to run faster. I stumble, and Nikki helps me up, not faltering with her own sprint.

  "Don't speed up," she says. "I've got this. You can't fall. It'd waste precious time." I nod.

  After a long time of running up the stairs, we arrive in a large room. Two doorways split off into the structure.

  "We have to split up," Nikki commands. "We'd waste time by checking both sides. If Molly isn't-"

  Another shriek cuts through her words, and a lump crawls to my throat.

  "If she isn't at on your path," Nikki continues, "come through to the other path. Wes and Morte, take Adrianna down there." She points to the doorway on the left. "Alex and I will take the right."

  Everyone nods, and Nikki turns us to the doorway on the right, running straight in. She holds her scythe up, and I know that we're both expecting obstacles.

  "This place doesn't seem to be guarded too heavily," I point out.

  "If Zack and ZJ were the 'final bosses', then I can see why," she admits. "They're almost unstoppable."