THE POWER OF TRUE LOVE

CHAPTER 24

CRYSTAL'S POV
As I tried to remain silent while holding my breath, I mentally thanked my mom for forcing me to attend those swimming lessons. I never thought that they would help me like this. I listened through the hole to hear that they had placed something on the small coffee table. I am guessing it's the same box that was in my hands a few minutes ago. "we've gotta hide this box before one of the girls find this" I heard Derek say. So I was right. There is definitely something inside that box. "but they wouldn't enter this room after reading the sign outside" A different voice said and I immediately recognised it was Liam's voice. "well you never know. There are high chances that one of them will find this room and search through it, after all, all of them are such curious cats, especially mine and Derek's" Ethan said with a smirk. Heat enveloped my body as I heard him say those words. "Yes, Ethan's right. We need to hide this box before they find it. We can't have those Alphas coming back and mess everything up all over again" I heard Derek say. What does he mean by alphas coming back, aren't they in the castle?!. Suddenly, thousands of thoughts started rushing in my mind, none of them being positive. "but aren't they dead?" I heard Isaac ask. In that moment, I felt my heart stop. No...this can't be!. Before I could even feel it....tears started falling down my face. I immediately placed my palm over my mouth. I can't make any noise!. My lungs were starting to burn but the pain was nothing compared to the pain my heart feeling at the moment. "no dumbass, they are alive and are on the extreme left island" I heard Aiden say in an annoyed tone. It took me a few moments to register this information. They're alive! "how are you so sure?" I heard Liam ask and my excitement turned to doubt once again. "because when we had dumped them in the river, all of them were alive and the flow of the river was towards that island. I'm sure by now all of them would've regained their consciousness and would most likely be searching for a way to come back to the castle"
Aiden explained. I could feel my heart reviving at his words. They're safe and alive! "but the good news is that all the tunnels which could bring them back to the castle are blocked" Ethan said with a satisfied tone. The burn in my lungs was slowly growing but it was nothing compared to the wave of emotions I was feeling at the moment. "But there is still a way. This way was created by our ancestors in case we ever wanted to escape this castle" Aiden said and I felt the wave come to an end. Focus Crystal!. "and what is that?" I heard Liam ask him. "do you even pay attention to anything that happens in your life" I heard Derek say sarcastically. "It's in this metal box" Ethan said with a sigh while tapping the box. "but I can't tell you what that is since we still have a lot of work to finish. First we'll finish our work and then we'll hide this box, the girls are still sleeping so there is no threat" Ethan said. With that all of them started walking towards the door. My lungs were on fire by this time and I know I will not be able to hold it for long. I heard the door close and the sound of footsteps walking out of the room. It felt like a blessing. The door was slammed shut and I could hear their footsteps getting lighter as each second passed. I waited for a few minutes, just to be safe. The moment I heard complete silence in the corridor, I released the air I had been holding. I took deep breaths in, trying to get back to normal. My heart felt like it was dying. After a few seconds my heart rate was back to normal and the burning in my lungs had subsided. I slowly opened the top of the cardboard box and got out. I turned to look at the metal box. It was indeed placed on the coffee table. I turned back around and slowly walked towards the door, opening it. Thankfully, it didn't creek while I was opening it. I checked the corridor and luckily it was clear. Without thinking of anything else I dashed back towards the room where my friends were. My hunger was long gone and the only thought on my mind was, to get out of this castle and find Tyler and the guys. I didn't take the way through the main hall, just in case they were still inside the castle. Instead, I took the long way, the one that I had found while I was roaming around the castle, to get back to my friends. I was madly running down the corridor, my fear increasing by the second. Soon enough, I saw the door to our room near the end of the corridor. In that very moment, I heard the sound of engines running and cars driving away. God had saved me!. The moment I reached the door, I threw open the door and the loud impact grabbed the attention of my friends. "Crystal where the hell were you?!" Zoey shouted while looking at me with wide eyes. Without answering her question, I turned around and closed the door, taking in a sigh of relief. "ok what the hell is happening" Sarah asked me while crossing her arms in front of her chest. "you guys might wanna sit down for this..." I said....

SARAH'S POV
After Crys was done telling us the whole incident, I didn't know what to say. So many emotions were bouncing inside of me. "guys we have to get them back!" Ashley's voice broke my train of thoughts. "Crystal are you sure that the Lycans will not be returning back to the room any time soon" I asked her and she nodded. "guys this is the right time. We should go back and check what's in that box. We might not get such opportunity in the future" I said and all of them nodded. With that all of us walked out of the room without making a single sound. Crystal was leading us to the room and within a few minutes we were there. All of us got in and Crystal showed us the box. It was a rusty metal box with chains and a heavy lock. "guys this is the box. But we might need a key to open it" Crystal said while looking at us. "now where the hell will we find a key to open this" Rose said getting slightly frustrated. "we should search this room. Maybe we'll find something" Zoey said and all of us agreed, searching the place seperately.

Half an hour later...
"guys! I found it" I heard Rose say and all of us gathered around the table. Rose lifted her hand to show us a small, rusty key. "let's see if it is the one" I said. Rose placed the key inside the lock and turned it. I wasn't expecting anything but then we heard it....that satisfying click of a lock opening. Once we removed the chains off of the box, Rose slowly opened it. "Well...this is it" Zoey said eyeing the items inside the box. Inside the box was a rolled sheet of paper, most probably a map. "guys we have to get back to our room. They can be here any minute" Crystal said and all of us agreed. Rose grabbed the map and I locked the box, placing it back at the coffee table, just like how Lycans had left it. We made sure that every object thag we had touched was covered with dirt. That was the best way we fould hide pur scents. Then all of us exited the room, trying to maintain as much silence as possible. All of us started making our way back to our room. Once all of us were inside Zoey locked the door and all of us took in a sigh of relief. "we are lucky we didn't encounter them during this little secret mission" I sighed. "we need to hide this before one if them notices that it's missing" Ashley said and we hid it in our room itself. Suddenly Zoey froze in her spot. "Zoe what's wrong" I asked looking at her with concern. "what if the Lycans catch our scents inside the room" she said and I could feel my heart drop down to my stomach. "don't worry about it" Crystal said as she sat on the bed. I looked at her, confused. "We'll tell them that we were searching for the kitchen and it was in the middle of that search that we stumbled across that room. There was a warning notice at the door of the room so we didn't enter it" she said and I nodded. That was the half truth. Crystal had been searching for the kitchen for the entire day anyways. "Besides, we had covered up the place pretty well. Just be confident when you answer them" Crystal added and all of us nodded....

LATER THAT NIGHT...

ZOEY'S POV
As all of us were sitting in the room thinking about how can the map help us in getting back to Zayn and the boys when we heard the similar 'click' and the door to our room opened, revealing the people who had turned our life upside down. Derek was the first one to enter the room, followed by the other Lycans. All of them were glaring at us. " Did you guys go down to the lower corridor" Derek said. "Yes we did" Crystal answered. My fear had come true. "and can we please ask why" He said, noe glaring at Crystal. "All of us were dying from hunger and we had no clue as to where the kitchen was. So all of us had to roam around the entire mansion in order to find it" she answered back without a second of hesitation. Derek looked a little bit taken aback. "did you guys enter the room" This time it was Liam who spoke. "No. There was a warning notice outside of it so we didn't enter the room" Crystal continued. "All of us were too hungry to care about it" I added while looking directly at them. All of them nodded. "sorry about the food and all. All of us were really busy today" Ethan said and to say that we were shocked would be an understatement. None of them had ever apologised to us!. "Anyways, we came here to inform you that me and the boys have to go back to our hometown for some work. We will leave tomorrow morning after breakfast" Derek said. His scowl had left his face and he was a bit more calm. "But don't get any ideas. All of you will be kept under tough security and if we hear that any of you tried anything...well let's just say, there would be consequences" Aiden said with a dangerous hint in his voice. "and once we are back. We can complete what we started" Ethan said and a chill ran down my spine. "Come on now. It's time for dinner" Isaac said and with that all of us went down the stairs, not wanting to push that 'talk' any further.

We need to do something....

and we need to do it now!

Hey guys. So this was chapter 24. I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading!
Bye!❤️