-Tilly-
I couldn't sleep at all. I wasn't even able to close my eyes. To be honest... I was scared to death. The courage I thought I had vanished the second Arch got shot, and no matter what I did, I couldn't get it back. I stared at the ceiling throughout the night, battling against the fear of losing my loved ones that was trying to paralyze me.
And just when I thought that I was finally getting a grip, I heard loud noises coming from the hallway.
"Where are they?!"
It was my mom, and the panic in her voice sent me flying off the bed as I hurried to the door, feeling fear suddenly strangling my throat. I pushed the door open almost at the same time as Arch, and when I looked past him, I saw my mom going into the room where Oliver and Jaden were sleeping.
Or were supposed to.
"They're gone!" I could hear her yell at the guards who were quickly changing into their human forms.
Both Arch and I hurried to her, and to my horror, the room really was empty.
"No one has stepped a foot out of the door, Huntress," one of the guards said, his face turning pale. "We were watching it the entire night!"
"They are not here!" Mom said loudly, looking around in stress, while I was getting really scared.
"Impossible!"
"What's going on?" I asked in a whisper.
Mom turned to look at me, grabbing me by the shoulders. "Did you see or hear anything? Do you know where they could've gone?!"
"Nothing," I muttered, staring at the empty beds. "I didn't notice anything..."
"Arch?" Mom turned to look at him, but he shook his head as well.
"You must've missed them!" Mom turned to yell at the guards, who were shaking their heads.
"There is no way they could've walked out that door, Huntress," one of them hurried to say, getting seemingly angry at her for suggesting that they hadn't taken their job seriously. "There's ten of us patrolling this floor alone, and none of us closed our eyes even for a second!"
Mom snapped her mouth shut, and let go of me. She turned to look at the room, like she hoped Jaden and Oliver would still be there, hiding from us. I was nearly panicking when the situation finally sunk in. If they didn't leave the room...
"Maybe Oliver phased out? Maybe they're in the spirit realm," I suggested, but Mom shook her head.
"Jaden isn't a Spirit Walker. He can't go into the spirit realm."
"Mom... The Book of Shadows," I gasped, almost starting to cry on the spot. "They got Jack here with that thing!"
"No..." Mom muttered, placing a hand over her mouth. She, too, looked like she was about to cry. "That's not... They couldn't have..."
I turned to look at Arch, who looked sicker than ever. "Did you not notice anything?" I asked, partly hoping he had answers to everything, but he only shook his head again. "You should know if they're in danger!" I added, maybe a bit too harshly, but I couldn't control myself at that moment.
"We're all in danger all the fucking time!" he said, turning to look at me. "I can't tell the difference anymore!"
"Search the whole place!" Mom told the guards, and most of them hurried off. It was also when Rayleigh stormed into the room.
"What's going on?" he demanded to know, glaring at all of us. "Why are you all shouting at this hour?"
"We can't find Jaden or Oliver," Mom said, trying to keep her posture under his eyes, but failing at it.
His eyes widened in shock. "What?!"
"They're not here. I don't know where they are, or what happened to them," Mom spoke with a high-pitched voice.
"You're telling me that you lost my son?" Rayleigh spoke with muffled anger in his voice.
"Alpha – no one left this room. Neither of them stepped out during the night," a guard spoke, and Rayleigh turned to glare at him.
"What do you mean they didn't leave? They're not here!" he yelled at his face.
"No one has opened the door after they went to sleep, not until Huntress came to see them," the guard explained.
Rayleigh just stared at him, breathing heavily like he was having hard time containing his anger. Then, he turned to look at the room. "What about the window?"
"It can't be opened," Mom almost whispered. "There's... They may have been kidnapped..."
Rayleigh let out a rage-filled roar, making us all flinch, and turned his attention back to the guards. "What are you waiting for?! Go find my son!" he growled at the rest of the guards, and they all left in a hurry. "And get me a Spirit Walker, now!" he yelled after them, before he turned to look at us.
"No one noticed anything," Mom told him apologetically. "I was patrolling the hallways and wanted to check up on the kids, but the room was empty. I didn't see or hear anything out of the ordinary."
"There's only one way they could've left then," Rayleigh said, trying to hold back his rage.
This had to be a nightmare. This was not happening. How could they be gone? Where were they? Were they hurt? How? When? Why?!
"We need to go help search for them," I said, unable to stay put a second longer, but when I took the first step towards the door, Rayleigh grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, and pushed me back harshly.
"You two are not going anywhere," he said with a furious frown.
"We have to find them!" I told him, but he shook his head.
I turned my back on him, trying to take deep breaths to stay calm, but how was I supposed to stay calm?! Jaden and Oliver were gone! What if Anthony had them?! What if they were dead already?!
Arch noticed me panicking, so he hugged me with one arm, pressing me tightly against his chest. I could feel how powerless he felt as well. I felt so weak and useless and I couldn't stand it. I wanted to do something, anything to find them!
A short moment later, I could hear footsteps coming towards us, and Natalie stormed into the room. "They said Oliver is missing?!" she screeched when she stopped to a halt in the middle of the room, her eyes jumping from face to face until she noticed the empty beds. "Where is he?!"
"Jaden is missing too," Rayleigh said, and hurried to tell her what was going on.
"How can they be gone?" she breathed out, looking like she was going to pass out. "That's impossible!"
"There's no way they could've left the room without anyone noticing. Do you think Anthony used the same trick he did with Jack? Could he have kidnapped the kids under our noses?" Rayleigh spoke hastily.
Natalie stared at him, then at the beds. She didn't answer him, but she didn't need to – the fearful expression on her face told us enough. My heart dropped and I felt like I was suffocating.
"Natalie!" Rayleigh spoke her name loudly, making her look at him. "We need to find them, but how?"
"I... I don't..." Natalie stammered, and it was clear that her panic was making it hard for her to think, but then... "Cedric!" she breathed out and stormed out of the room just as fast as she did coming in. We all hurried after her, and found her in Arch and Jack's room, trying to wake up Cedric.
"Natalie...?" Cedric spoke with Jack's voice, trying to understand what he was seeing. "What's going on?"
"Oliver and Jaden are gone – you need to find them!" Natalie rushed to tell him.
"What you mean, gone?" Cedric asked, sitting up with wide eyes – it was weird to see worry on Jack's face.
"They're not in their room," Mom told him. "The guards said they saw no one leaving, but they're gone."
"But... how?"
"We don't know – you have to go find them," Natalie said with a pleading voice. "You're the only one who can."
Cedric was about to say something, when suddenly we could hear loud horns in the distance. We all froze by the sound of it.
"No..." I breathed out. "No, no, no!"
Battle horns!
"We're under attack!" Rayleigh yelled in frustration as the whole Hall suddenly got much louder when the people started shouting orders, getting ready for battle. "Not now!"
"We don't have much time left," Natalie said, turning to look at Cedric. "You have to go to Oliver! If Anthony has him, and they get through our wards, they'll head straight to the catacombs!"
"How can he find them?" Rayleigh asked, restlessly spacing back and forth while looking out the window as the sounds of the horns grew louder.
"I am Oliver's guardian, I can teleport straight to him," Cedric explained.
"Do you know where they are now?" Rayleigh asked, stopping to stare at him.
"No, I can't feel Oliver close by," Cedric spoke apologetically. "But I will find them and bring them back."
"Go – we will deal with this," Mom told Rayleigh.
The Alpha's internal battle was visible on his face as he tried to decide if he should stay to find his son, or go lead his pack against the enemy that was now coming for us.
"If Jaden is with Oliver, I can find him," Cedric told him. "I will protect him."
Rayleigh took a deep breath, grinding his teeth together, but then he nodded. "Find them," he commanded, before he left the room, yelling at his guards to follow him.
"You have to go find them now," Natalie told Cedric, who let out a deep sigh.
"This body will die if I leave it," he muttered.
"What? No!" Mom said, stepping closer to him.
"We don't have a choice," Natalie whispered. "We... We need to return Jack's spirits into his body. That way the body won't die."
"He is too weak! He'll die anyway!" Mom said, grabbing Natalie's arm. "There must be another way!"
Natalie gave her an angry look. "Oliver and Jaden might be in great danger, and the only one who can go help them is Cedric!"
Mom stared at her for a short moment, her expression turning hopeless just before she stepped away from her, turning her back on us. The horns quieted down, leaving behind an eerie silence.
"This is going all wrong..." I muttered.
We had to decide who we were going to sacrifice.
Arch put his arm around me, pulling me into a hug. "Take his spirits," he said to Natalie. "He is strong enough, and we need to find Jaden and Oliver."
Mom turned to look at him briefly with disbelief in her eyes. "Can't we put another spirit in him?" she then asked, turning to look at Natalie.
"Only guardians can possess bodies," Natalie said quietly.
"Then put yours in him!"
"We need Annabelle in order to win this war."
"No! Jack will die!" Mom hissed at her.
"Quiet!" Arch suddenly boomed, silencing them both before they could start arguing. "We don't have time for this! We have to put Jack's spirits back into his body so Cedric can go find Jaden and Oliver before it's too late, and then we need to go help Rayleigh."
"Careful now," Mom said with a warning tone. "I am still your superior – you are not Beta yet."
"With all due respect, but I am," Arch said, letting go of me. "Not Rayleigh's Beta, but I still am a Beta, a protector of the Blue Moon pack. And that's exactly what I'm going to do – protect the pack."
"Even if that gets your mate killed?" Mom asked.
"The enemy may have my Alpha and his mate – two people out of the only three that can open the door to the catacombs – and if we don't get them back, we're all as good as dead," Arch spoke calmly, and then turned to look at Natalie. "Do as I said. I have faith in Jack even though our Huntress doesn't."
Natalie nodded and placed her hands on Arch's chest, pulling a small, purplish ball of dim light out of him and placed it in Jack's body. Mom glared at Arch as Natalie took Jack's human spirit from her.
"I never thought you could be so cold," Mom said.
"Cedric, go find Jaden and Oliver," Arch spoke to the guardian spirit, who left with a flash of light.
"We could place another guardian spirit in Jack's body!" Mom said angrily, stepping right in front of him.
"You can't feel the size of our enemy," Arch snapped at her. "I can. I don't have the luxury to pretend that we can save everyone. You know damn well that the enemy has Jaden and Oliver because that's the only way they could've gotten out of their room. They might be opening the catacombs as we speak, and if Cedric can't stop them, we're going to need every single guardian we have so we can even try fighting them off!"
There was a short moment of silence in the room as we all stared at him. Then, Arch marched to his bed to get fully dressed, while the rest of us still stood there in shock. He was done in a matter of seconds, and he then turned to look at us again.
"I do feel bad for Jack, but his life isn't the only one that matters. Besides, he's stronger than you think, and I know he'll pull through like he has done so far," he said, before leaving the room.
Mom looked angry, but I knew she had to agree with Arch.
"Jack has been through a lot, and he's still alive. His will to live must be much stronger than we thought," I said carefully.
"I hope you're right," she said, but I could hear doubt in her voice. "I do hope Cedric finds Jaden and Oliver and brings them back unharmed... I just can't understand how Anthony could've come here and snatch them away from us without anyone noticing it. My guards were right outside the entire time!"
"Is it possible that Oliver went into the spirit realm by accident?" I asked Natalie.
"He has been doing that a lot lately, but that doesn't explain why Jaden is gone as well," Natalie said making sure Jack was comfortable in his bed.
"I was awake the entire night," I said, trying to use my head like Arch and Oliver would. "I didn't hear anything or smell anything or even feel anything weird. I mean, I can feel it when Jaden gets angry or protective. It's usually so bad that my transformation starts even though I'm trying to stop it. I didn't feel a thing this time. Whatever it was, Jaden didn't feel threatened, or then they vanished in thin air before he even noticed it."
"When I first opened their door, I couldn't smell anyone else in the room," Mom added.
"I don't know if Anthony has the ability to pull anyone into shadow realm. That's not usually possible, but I have no idea what kind of spells the Book of Shadows has," Natalie said, but it was clear that she was starting to feel hopeful. "But if it wasn't Anthony, then how did Jaden disappear too?"
"Is it possible that he followed Oliver into the spirit realm?" I asked.
"I don't know... I've never heard of anyone being able to travel between the realms without being a Walker or using a portal, but... Their spirits are linked. I don't know nearly enough about werewolves to say if it's possible for them to follow their Walker mate."
"That sounds logical to me," Mom said quietly.
I nodded, but the blaring of the battle horn started again, reminding us of the danger we were all in, and we turned to look out the window.
"This is it... The battle begins."
My mother's words echoed in the room, nearly suffocating me with fear, but I didn't let it control me this time. I was a protector of this pack, after all.
Alpha Jaden's Beta.
"I have to get going," I said, starting to walk towards the door.
"Sorry? Where exactly do you think you're going?" Mom asked and I turned to look back at her.
"To wherever I'm needed," I said, before exiting the room.
I was surprised that Mom didn't try to stop me. I went to get dressed as well, before hurrying outside to find Rayleigh or Arch. I stopped at the top of the stairs and turned my gaze up to the morning sky, sending my prayers to Moon Goddess.
"You better keep everyone safe," I muttered and started running towards the catacombs.