The Wolf

Ch. 40: The Monochrome Forest and Its Ghosts

~Nico~

Black and white. Those are the first two things you would notice about the forest. The lack of color is unsettling, it's as though all the vibrant colors have been drained away to leave a foreboding place behind.

I squat down beside a thick tree, looking around the clearing for any signs of movement. No birds are chirping in the trees, no rustling bushes. It's as though this place were dead. It only helps to further sets my nerves on edge.

"Noct, what do we do?" I whisper under my breath. I have a feeling that these woods are nothing like the ones that the Pack inhabits.

A long silence stretches out. "Noct?" Again there is no answer. I feel my heart drop. This can't be happening.

Noct is gone.

A large hole is left in the spot he used to be. Nyx must've pushed me out but forgot Noct, or she left him there on purpose. I take a deep shaky breath. My hands begin to tremble and I force myself to sit. I can barely breathe as I close my eyes to calm myself.

I'm officially all alone in the middle of some magic forest that Nyx has set up for people like me. What am I going to do? I've never been alone in a situation like this. Even if I didn't have Dom, Alex, or Luca to stand by me, at least I always had Noct to have my back. But now, I'm on my own and I don't know the first thing about survival in the woods without any supplies or surviving in the wild in my human form. Without Noct's spirit, I'm not a werewolf. I can't shift.

My breathing turns ragged and I begin to hyperventilate. I am so screwed. I'm going to die here and Nyx is going to sabotage our mission. She's going to hurt the Pack. She's going to hurt Alex. I rock back and forth with my arms wrapped around my knees comfortingly. How can I possibly survive on my own? Me? I have no skills or survival instincts. I'm as good as dead. Tears soak my cheeks as I fall deeper and deeper into despair.

The dark forest seems to press in on me and I still can't gather a useful breath. I deserve this. I've done nothing but lie and hurt others. No one will even notice that I'm gone. Nyx will have them fooled and then ruin the mission and everything will be blamed on me. The trees around me rustle and giggles ripple through them. This time it's not Nyx's laugh, but my friends.

"Stop," I whimper, putting my head between my knees.

"Nico," Kayla says.

My head snaps up to look at Kayla. All the color is gone from her too in this monochrome world. "Kayla? What are you doing here?"

"I'm just here to tell you the truth," She says, her face contorted in disdain. "You're pathetic and weak. You'll never be good enough for Alex or anyone. Even Luca is putting up with you. He's sick of your whiny, insignificant self."

"She's right," Luca interjects, appearing out of thin air.

My throat tightens at their words. Everything I was afraid that they would say and they're saying it. So it was true.

"I am so sick of you, Nico," Luca spits. "You're pathetic. Even though you're a hybrid, you're unworthy. You know, I knew you cut yourself after I left the room."

My eyes widen in horror. How?

"I knew, but I didn't do anything to stop it. Want to know why?" He leans in close to me, his blue eyes dead and dull.

I sit there dumbly, frozen in place with tears streaking down my cheeks. I can only look at him with a stupid expression, hoping he'll stop his diatribe.

"Because I was hoping that you would just cut yourself and die!" He hisses in my ear.

I choke on a sob. It feels as though I've just been stabbed through the heart. This can't be happening. This isn't Luca or Kayla. They're just figments of my imagination. But they're both so realistic that it doesn't make it hurt any less.