CHAPTER 24: 24-BEHIND THE TREE WITH HIM

Clementine:

The mate bond had ruined my whole personality. I felt pain in my chest when I heard the truth about my mate and that girl. No wonder Haiden had been so worried about her.

"Oh, okay," I shrugged, trying to seem like I don’t care.

"Why? Why would you be interested in who he is paying attention to?" asked Yorick, not looking very pleasant. It was probably the air here.

"Nothing. I was just curious," I groaned at them for not giving me a pass for a single question.

The air there felt different, heavier, like it was pressing down on my skin. It was cold, yes, but not in the usual way. It was the kind of cold that made my throat dry and my lips crack. I kept swallowing, wishing for water, something warm, something clean. Every breath felt thick, like the air was filled with something unseen, something old. It made me want to cough.

"Here," Troy gently nudged my arm with a teeny tiny water bottle that he had probably snuck with him when nobody was watching, because we weren’t allowed to bring anything with us.

"Save it for yourself. I don’t want to get bullied for drinking your water and leaving you thirsty," I taunted. I had become bitter after everyone had treated me in a way that they made me believe if I didn’t fight for something, I wouldn’t get it.

"Don’t be stubborn. Your lips are—getting dry," Troy grinned, showing urgency before the others caught him requesting me to drink water from his bottle.

I accepted the water bottle because I was indeed craving some. I took a few sips, but they were honestly enough. The water going down my throat felt like heaven.

"Thank you," I returned the water bottle to him while stepping forward to examine the area better. Haiden and Yorick were exploring the area as well.

The fog was everywhere. It wrapped around the train station, around the trees, even around my thoughts. I couldn’t tell what time it was. There was no sun, no shadows. Just this pale, quiet light that could have belonged to either morning or evening. I remembered leaving homeland in the afternoon, sometime after lunch, maybe close to two. The ride hadn’t been long.

Yorick was doing his own thing, looking around and furrowing his eyebrows a lot, almost as if he noticed something. But if I asked him what it was, he would brush me off. So I didn’t bother him.

The station we had arrived at didn’t match the train at all. The train had been sleek, silent, something from the future but the station was old, broken in places, made of red stone and rusted beams. The roof creaked in the wind, and the wooden platform felt like it could fall apart under our feet. It was the kind of place that shouldn’t have been able to hold a train like that. But then again, it wasn’t an ordinary train. It had come, and then it was gone. Just like that.

There was a clock on the far wall, above what used to be the ticket window. It was a big one, with black hands and a face that had yellowed from age. It was stuck at nine. I didn’t know if it was nine in the morning or nine at night. I didn’t even know if clocks worked the same way here. The fog had stolen all the clues.

When I looked around, I realized we were surrounded by trees. Thick, tall, shadowy woods in every direction. The kind that feel like they’re listening. There were no roads, no lights, no towns. Just the train station, sitting in the middle of the forest like it had been waiting for us. And maybe it had.

I noticed some movement out in the faraway trees and decided to check it out. It was also my subtle way to part ways from my squad. I could not trust them. Not after how things went between us in the past.

The trees were really tall once I was walking among them. There were birds chirping and the insects were chittering around. Once I was deep into the woods, the fog started to clear up, and that’s when I acknowledged it wasn’t that late.

"How are we going to find it?" I asked my wolf, trying to get her to communicate with me so that I don’t feel alone.

"Ugh, I don’t know. Maybe when he plays the flute and, goddess, this place is so dry. What has become of North?" After struggling for a bit, Mint began to growl.

She was right. It seemed like a graveyard to me.

"Mint, did you notice something?" I suddenly stopped in my tracks and looked around. The trees had stopped moving with the wind, the insects had gone silent. And the birds flew in flocks, far away from this very specific area where I was.

I didn’t move either, but I was looking around for a clue. This place wasn’t all just about Eliot the fawn. There were other deadly creatures who could at any point come to the woods, or the edge of the border, which this place was.

While trying hard to figure out what was going on, I heard a bone-chilling tune from behind me and for a moment, my body froze. I could not even turn around to check it out. I felt like my legs had been glued in place.

The tune was coming from a flute, sad and full of agony. It was as if it wasn’t only entering my ears, but my heart and eyes as my eyelids felt heavy.

About a few seconds in, a hand pulled me out of its way, rushing me behind a big tree. My back met someone’s back as he spun me around while placing his hand over my mouth from behind.

Now I was facing the flute-playing monster in my view, with someone behind me, hiding me behind a big tree.

"Stand still," I heard from behind, and goosebumps spread across my skin.