The Mouse and The Wolf - Chapter 41: Chapter 41

-Oliver-
While we followed Mrs. Bundt to her house, I couldn't stop myself from peering over my shoulder every two seconds. All the figures were gone, and so was Jack, but I feared he would return with more of his... friends? Minions? I guess I wasn't the only one who was worried about it. Jaden was holding me tightly against his side the entire time, while Arch and Tilly walked right behind us, keeping an eye on our surroundings.
It was... nice and warm under Jaden's arm, with his scent all over me... I looked up at him, and he noticed it. When he looked at me, I saw a trail of blood on his cheek, but there was no wound.
"Are you all right?" I asked quietly. "Did you get hurt?"
"Nah, it's just my pride that took a hit," he muttered.
"That sure was embarrassing," Tilly said quietly, wiping some snow off her jacket. "I can't believe he possessed us..."
"We didn't know he can do that," Arch said. "Now we do."
"What were they?" I asked. "Those... black, smoke things?"
"Black smoke, huh..." Tilly spoke. "I didn't see them. I could feel them though. Nasty things..."
"No, we can't see them, because we're not connected with the spirit realm," Arch spoke slowly. "Am I right, Spirit Walker?"
Mrs. Bundt stopped in front of a tiny house. "That is correct," she said quietly, before walking up the stairs to her front door. "Let's not talk here in the cold, where everyone can hear us."
"Spirit Walker?" I repeated, but the werewolves didn't seem surprised at all. "What is that?"
I had a million more questions in my mind, and I was more than eager to finally understand what was going on, but no one said a word to me. Mrs. Bundt opened the door and stepped in. I was about to follow her, but Jaden wouldn't let me.
"Tilly," Jaden muttered, and she nodded.
Arch stayed outside with us, when Tilly walked in with Mrs. Bundt. It took me a moment to understand that she was making sure it was safe for us to enter. They didn't trust Mrs. Bundt. Suddenly I started feeling more insecure. The thought of not being able to trust Mrs. Bundt had never even crossed my mind, even after everything I had found out about her.
Had I been stupid?
"Clear," Tilly came to tell us, and Jaden led me inside, Arch following us a couple of steps behind.
I just couldn't believe Mrs. Bundt could be evil. She had always been so nice to me, and... and I had just started to believe she was one of the few who actually cared about me. The only one besides these werewolves.
No, I refused to believe she would want to harm me. I could sense when people wanted to harm me, and she never did, so I pushed that thought out of my head and studied the house instead.
I had never been in her home before, and it surprised me to see how ridiculously small it was. There was a bathroom on our right when we stepped in, and the kitchen immediately on our left. A few steps brought us into the living room. I peered in through a door on our right just after the bathroom and saw a tiny bedroom. That was it. The whole house.
There wasn't enough room for all five of us in the living room. There was only one couch for three people to sit on, and an arm chair in the corner right next to the kitchen. There was no wall between the kitchen and the living room, just a big archway. Everything in the house was decorated with green and brown, and everything the Bundts owned were old and worn-down. Even the TV looked older than me.
Mrs. Bundt went to close the curtains in a hurry, while the rest of us tried to squeeze into the living room. Then, she turned to look at us again.
"I'll explain everything, but first we need to take care of that Echo," she spoke, and stepped in front of me, but she looked at Jaden. "I believe it's yours."
"What?" Jaden frowned.
"Let's see..." she muttered and turned to look at me again. She lifted her hand in front of me, like she expected me to give her something. I stared at her hand and then at her face, but before I could say anything, a tiny ball of blue light emerged out of my chest and landed on her hand. Suddenly I felt cold and emptier inside, and for some reason, I wanted that tiny light back.
"This is what he wanted," Mrs. Bundt said quietly. "This is called an Echo, a part of someone's spirit."
"What would he do with such a small thing?" I whispered, staring at the beautiful light. I could see tiny, golden sparkles flickering around it.
"Terrible things," Mrs. Bundt said quietly. The tiny light jumped off her hand, and it looked like it was trying to get back to me, but Mrs. Bundt grabbed it gently in midair. "Now now, you need to go back to your spirit, little one."
She stepped in front of Jaden, and placed the light against his chest, and it vanished in him. Then, she stepped back and waited for a moment, before she smiled. "I was right. It was your Echo."
"Why would Jack want it?" I asked, and the expression on her face turned sour.
She turned to look at Jaden. "First, I need to return all your Echoes back to you," she spoke to him. "That boy seemed determined to get a hold of one of them and I'm afraid he will try to find another one."
She carefully placed her hand on Jaden's chest again, closed her eyes, and muttered something under her breath. A few seconds later, I saw two Echoes leaving Arch and Tilly's bodies, and going in Jaden.
"I don't like this," Jaden said with a dark voice.
"I know," Mrs. Bundt said. "But it must be done."
"Could someone explain what Echoes are exactly?" I said, watching as a new Echo appeared through the wall, and went straight into Jaden.
"Echoes are quite literally echoes of our spirits. We leave them in places and people we love and care about," Mrs. Bundt spoke. "The things we miss the most, like home or best friend or a loved one," she said.
"And what does Jack want to do with it?" I asked.
"Let's sit down," Mrs. Bundt said and went to get a chair for herself.
I looked at Jaden, who was avoiding my gaze for some reason, and it horrified me to realize that I didn't know why. "I can't feel what you feel anymore," I whispered as we sat down on the couch with Tilly.
"You don't have his Echo anymore," Mrs. Bundt said apologetically.
"But what does that mean?! What is going on?" I asked a little too loudly, turning to look at her. "I'm so confused! What is a Spirit Walker? What were those smoke things? How could Jack possess my friends? What does he want with Jaden's Echo and why did you take it away from me?!"
I stopped to stare at her. I was so frustrated and angry and scared and tired and confused!
"A Spirit Walker is connected with the spirit realm. We can see them and communicate with them and even step into their realm," Mrs. Bundt said calmly. "We call that phasing."
"So those things were spirits?" I asked, and she nodded. "All of them? The black ones and the blue ones?"
"The blue ones are spirits," she said. "The black ones are shadows. They are from the shadow realm, but we can see them as well."
"But I could see them too," I said. It took me embarrassingly long to understand what it meant. "Wait. I'm...?" I pointed at myself.
"Yes, you are a Spirit Walker," Mrs. Bundt nodded with a smile. "You can see and hear and talk to them, just like I can."
I turned to look at the werewolves. They didn't seem surprised. "You knew?" I said quietly.
"Arch figured it out last night," Jaden said, as another Echo went inside him. "We were supposed to tell you first thing this morning."
"I told you he's the brainiac," Tilly smiled and reached over Jaden to pat my hand. "It's so awesome – I thought there were no Walkers in this part of the world anymore."
"We'd love to keep it that way," Mrs. Bundt told her. "I'm sorry – we haven't been properly introduced yet. I'm Natalie Bundt," she said. "I'm guessing you guys are Blue Moon werewolves?"
"I'm Jaden, and these are Tilly and Arch," Jaden spoke, making it clear he wasn't going to give their full names.
"Rayleigh's boy," Mrs. Bundt said in a whisper. She stared at Jaden for a long time without even blinking. "That's not good."
"You know my father?" Jaden spoke, but Mrs. Bundt ignored him, and stood up again to walk to the window. "What's wrong?"
"Who was that boy... Jack?" Mrs. Bundt asked.
"He's a Black Thorn. His father is their Alpha," Jaden said, and stood up as well. "What is it?"
Mrs. Bundt was quiet for a moment, before she let the curtains fall back down, and turned to look at us. "I have a bad feeling about this..." she muttered.
"What is it?" I asked as well, and she took another deep breath.
"You and I are Spirit Walkers, but that boy, Jack... He's a Shadow Walker. He can command shadows just like we can command spirits. Their kind used to be Spirit Walkers, but they turned from the right path... His kind can possess people."
"Like he possessed them," I said, turning to look at my friends.
"No, not exactly. You have to be a powerful Shadow Walker to possess a werewolf. Werewolves and vampires cannot be possessed as easily as you can possess humans," Mrs. Bundt explained. "That kid was a fool to even try. Three at the same time! He would've lost his control over them in a matter of seconds even without our interference."
"Why is that?"
"We have two spirits," Arch spoke. "One human, one wolf. Vampires, on the other hand, don't have spirits to possess."
"Exactly," Mrs. Bundt nodded. "But they can possess Echoes. If Jack had gotten his hands on your Echo, he could have infected it with his shadows. Since you and your Echo are linked, that infection would have spread through both of your spirits. You would have turned into one of his minions without anybody noticing it. Even you wouldn't know until it's too late. Not until your spirits were infested with shadows."
"Which is why you needed to return them all back to me. Now he has nothing to possess," Jaden spoke quietly, and another of his Echoes emerged out of nowhere and went in him.
"But why you?" I asked, looking at Jaden.
"Because I'm the Alpha's son," he said with a dark voice. "He could've made me kill my parents in their sleep. Or worse."
"Jaden has Echoes from his parents," Mrs. Bundt nodded. "He could have infected them. He could have infected the entire pack."
"He might try it with someone else's Echo," Arch said.
"No, he wants Jaden's," I said, remembering the time I was supposed to follow Jaden to find out where his hiding place was. "He said... he... said..." the darkness started to surround me immediately. "I... I needed... to... find... find... I..."
"There it is," Mrs. Bundt said, but I couldn't see her anymore. All I could see was blood and dead people around me. "Jack's spy!"
"Oliver!" Jaden yelled my name, but I could hardly hear it over the mean laughter.
"Step back! I've been waiting for it to show its ugly face!" Mrs. Bundt spoke loudly. "Annabelle! Fredrick! Seymore, Diane, Artemis! Get rid of that thing once and for all!"
'Yes, milady.'
'Gladly.'
I was suddenly surrounded by bright light. It was so bright I thought my eyes were melting away. I could hear something horrible roaring in pain inside me. I felt like I was exploding. I could feel them all inside me, battling against the darkness that was in me. A shadow, I guess.
I had no idea how long it lasted. Maybe for a second, maybe for an eternity. It almost did feel like I exploded when the five of them cast that thing out of me. I could hear it scream as it vanished. It was like it was being burned alive.
And then it was gone. The light disappeared, but it took me a while to regain my sight. I could tell I was lying on my back, and someone was holding my hand.
"Oliver?" Jaden spoke my name softly.
The first thing I saw was his face. I was lying on the couch, and he was sitting right next to me, hovering over me with a worried gleam in his eyes.
"That was... not fun," I managed to spit out, and they all let out deep breaths. "Is it gone now?"
"Did you get it?" I heard Mrs. Bundt's voice, and I pushed myself upwards to see her. She wasn't talking to anyone of us.
'Yes. It's gone now,' she spoke. Annabelle.
I could only stare at the spirit. She was radiating with gentle light, but now her figure was clearly human. She had long hair and big eyes and she was taller than me, but otherwise her form was slowly changing, like swirling mist.
"Is she an Echo as well?" I asked, still feeling a bit groggy, and they both turned to look at me.
'No, I'm a guardian spirit,' she spoke inside my head. 'Natalie's guardian.'
"Oh," I said. "And the four others?"
"Fredrick is my husband's guardian," Mrs. Bundt explained. "Artemis, Diane and Seymore belong to my friends, but they came to help us when I called for them. We Walkers usually have guardian spirits, you see."
"Oh, okay," I said, trying to understand this new information, but I wasn't given any time to do that.
"Yours is called Cedric," Mrs. Bundt said quietly.
"Cedric?" I repeated in confusion. "But he's... he was my imaginary friend when I was a kid."
"Oh, he's not imaginary at all," Mrs. Bundt said. "But... he's locked inside you."
"What? Why? By who?" I asked, touching my chest.
"By you," Mrs. Bundt said with a sad gleam in her eyes.