Discovering [COMPLETED]

Chapter 23

By dark, we had made it to the village. My memory had forsaken me, so much that I had forgotten the name of my own village. I thought back hard, trying to see if I could remember if my parents had said something about it, or if I could remember seeing a sign on the postal wall. I couldn't. Then I remembered what Jay had said when he was trying to convince me to take him with me on my travels. 'Your parents, are the long lost queen Clarice and king Micheal of Scoprire.' Scoprire! I thought. The name of my village is Scoprire! I was so happy I had figured it out, that I almost fell off of the giant rock we were climbing down.

"Ava! Be careful!" Datas called from the bottom of the rock. I rolled my eyes and continued to climb down. It had been 3 days since we had last seen Jay and my parents in the field. I had cleared my head of all of them, and surrounded myself with my friends. I had started opening up with them. Telling them about my journey from my village to the school. I told them everything except the part about me being royalty. I still wasn't sure who I could trust.

"I'm fine!" I yelled back down to Datas. He gave me a 'mhm' and helped me down off of the rock when I was close enough. "Let's keep going." They all nodded, and started walking ahead of me down the narrow paths through the tree. The sun poked through the high branches of the trees, and lit our path. It was a beautiful day. No rain clouds appeared in the sky. The animals seemed to be everywhere that day. I smiled. I loved the outdoors!

"Ava. Look." Danny said, with a hint of sadness in her voice. My smile faltered. I walked past all of my friends, and looked to where Danny had pointed. There, in the middle of the path. Was a man. He was bleeding out from his neck, and he had claw marks on his stomach. He was still alive. I walked quickly to him, and kneeled down next to him.

"What happened to you?" I asked quietly. His body twitched before he turned his head painfully to look at me.

"The beast. Wolf. Unnatural. Run. The beast." He said. Repeating the words over and over again. "The village. Attacked. The beast. Killed many. Run. Far aw-" He stopped talking. His whole body stilled, and he passed away. I bowed my head and took his hand in mine. I touched my forehead, my chest, my right shoulder and my left shoulder, and prayed. It was a weird feeling for me, but it felt necessary. I prayed for his soul to travel to where it belonged.

"May your soul rest in peace stranger." I whispered, so that if he had still been alive, only he would have heard.

"Ava. What did he say?" Fadel asked. I stood and turned to my friends. I looked long and hard at their faces. The faces I might only have for a few more hours, if that beast was still in the village.

"This man was murdered by a beast. Maybe a giant wolf. He said it attacked Scoprire. He said it killed many people. I won't ask you to continue with me, but if you choose so, your lives are, from this point on, in danger." I told them. I saw each and every one of them breath in a sharp breath and look to each other.

"We are with you until the end." Kris said. I smiled. I thanked them each, and turned back to the man. I found a palm leaf and covered his body. Since this beast was a wolf, he'd pick up a scent very quickly. He'd see us, take our smell into him, and never leave us be until he killed us all. I looked around the trees, until I found exactly what I needed. Berries. Stink Berries to be exact. They smelled rotten, but they discard our scent. I took off my bag and opened the zipper, seeing Bella jump out and sit next to me. I petted her head a few times before looking for something to carry the berries in.

I found a small piece of wrap, inside of my first aid kit. Under my first aid kit, I saw the necklace in my bag from the night Dav- Jay, had turned into that thing. I started to wonder, if he was the beast that the man had spoken of.

I took the necklace out, careful not to let the others see, and I made sure that I still had mine around my neck. It was tucked safely inside my shirt. I put the necklace back in my bag, under everything else, to keep it hidden in case any of my friends had my bag.

"I am going to split these berries with you all. We will squish them and rub them across our faces and arms to disguise our scents. But only when we need it, or the beast will get used to finding us by the smell of the berries. Then we won't be able to get it off. Understand?" I said to them, as I walked around our little mini circle, handing each of them some of he berries I had found in the bush. I was scared for Bella's safety. The wolf would be able to smell her. I decided, if I had to, I'd coat her with the berries as well to keep her safe. "Are you guys ready to go?" I just hoped I remembered the way to my house through the village.

"We've always been ready for this Ava. We won't let you down. We won't fall. We will succeed. We will live." Adri said. I nodded to her, as thanks for saying the encouragement. I knew I needed it. Just as everyone else did. We were going into a battle zone. With a beast! It was time for our survival skills to kick in at that point. We will live.