The Mouse and The Wolf - Chapter 67: Chapter 67

-Arch-
I stopped in the middle of the yard once I was outside of the Hall. The sound of the horns grew louder again as I stared at the sky. Every move I made sent jolts of pain through my body, and the worst was my shoulder, but I didn't have time to be sick.
I looked back at the Hall, but I had no time for regret. I could only hope that Jack would survive and Aurora could forgive me for putting him in danger, but this was what Jack himself wanted. I had felt it. His wish.
"You better survive," I muttered, continuing my way down the main street.
The poison in me was still eating up my strength, and I had no way of turning into a wolf, but there had to be something I could still do. Even with one arm.
"Where the fuck are you, Jaden?" I asked, hoping to hear his answer, but I couldn't even feel his presence. It scared the shit out of me. Where were they? There was no way the two of them would've left on their own. Jaden would never abandon me or Tilly like that. They would never leave us without a word, so they had to be kidnapped.
Right?
I spotted Rayleigh at the end of the main street, surrounded by a huge crowd. I hurried the rest of the way and stopped to listen while he yelled his orders. People left in a hurry to do whatever he said, and soon there was room for me to step closer.
"You should be resting, boy," Rayleigh growled at me.
"And how the hell am I supposed to do that?" I asked.
He stared at me for a brief second, before he turned his attention back to his Betas. "The catacombs must be protected at any cost. I can't go anywhere near it, so it is up to you two to take care of it."
"We are not leaving your side," Ryder said angrily.
"I must be at the front of this battle – you know that! The catacombs must be protected, but If I'm there, we're making it too easy for them to take my blood and open the door!"
Both Ezra and Ryder glared at him for a moment. "Fine," Ezra finally said. "But you're not allowed to get killed, understand?"
"Neither are you two," Rayleigh spoke. "I have Thisalee by my side – we'll be fine."
At that moment, we heard a big explosion, and we all turned to look at the road that led to the town.
"Go," Rayleigh spoke to his Betas. "Let's hope that Moon Goddess is watching us today."
After the Betas left in a hurry, Rayleigh turned to look at me. "Can you turn?"
"I'm too weak," I said, hating that fact. "But there has to be something I can do."
He let out a deep sigh, rubbing his unshaven chin while turning to look around. "I'd rather not make a sick child fight," he said.
"I'm not a child anymore," I said. "Not that sick either."
He let out a growl and turned to grab me by my arm, starting to lead me to the road. "I heard there's possessed humans coming our way," he spoke hastily. "You're not strong enough to fight other werewolves, but you can help to stop the humans. And make sure they won't get injured."
"The humans?" I asked, and he nodded.
"They are innocent people. Anthony is using them as a distraction. He doesn't give a shit if they get killed, but I do. I'm not letting them get murdered in my lands, by my own pack and allies," he spoke almost angrily and stopped to stare at me. "You hear me? Do whatever it takes to stop them – tie them up if you have to – but do not let anyone get hurt."
"I will do my best," I nodded.
"You better do better than your best," he said. "You don't have innocent blood on your hands. Keep it that way. Be the hero we need today, Joseph."
"Yes, Alpha," I said, and he stopped.
"Make us proud," he said. "Go. Keep everyone safe."
I nodded and hurried to the road, leaving Rayleigh behind. My body was slowly getting used to the movement, but I was growing tired way too fast. I still kept going, following the road towards loud noises, and understood the explosions were coming somewhere ahead of me. It took me a moment to reach the rest of those who were tasked to deal with humans, and to my horror, there weren't that many of us.
"Who is in charge?" I asked loudly when I approached the small group.
"That'd be me." I saw Tilly's father, Alastair, stepping closer. "You should be resting."
His words were followed by another explosion coming from somewhere behind the gate.
"Yeah – I'll just go take a nap," I grunted at him, earning a few chuckles from the group. "Alpha told me to come help here. I'm still stronger than humans even though I'm poisoned."
"And one-armed," Alastair said, peering at my nonexistent limb.
"Are you serious? Now we get to babysit a sick pup?" someone muttered. I turned to look at him without saying a word.
He looked away soon. For some reason, none of them dared to make eye contact with me.
"All right – the humans are coming, and they should get here any minute now. Scouts say they are armed with silver knives and guns, but I doubt they're going to be an issue. All we have to do is capture them and make sure they don't get past us," Alastair explained loud enough for everyone to hear him. "They must not be harmed – Alpha's command."
Everyone nodded at his words. He turned to look at the gates, and we all listened in silence. I could already hear the humans...
"How many are there?" I asked.
"A few hundred. No big deal," one of the scouts spoke.
"No," Alastair said and patted my shoulder. "Not when we have a Beta with us."
For a second, I thought he was making fun of me, but no one laughed. Hell, no one even looked at me funny.
"I'm here! I'm here..." I heard the voice of an older man and turned to look back. A tiny figure was jogging our way, huffing and puffing and holding his chest. We all watched him stop in front of us, leaning against his knees to catch his breath. I realized it was the oldest of the group of Spirit Walkers.
"Okay...?" Alastair said slowly, giving me a questioning look. I shrugged and turned to look at the old man again.
"I'm here to... to... de-possess them..." he croaked between his heavy breaths, and then stood up again. "Seymore!"
A guardian spirit appeared next to him. 'You called, sir?'
"Get off your pompous ass and go help those poor spirits!" the old man scoffed at the guardian, pointing at the gates.
'As you wish, your annoyance,' the spirit said, and dashed up to the sky, heading towards the humans.
"Is everything all right between you two?" Alastair asked, watching the spirit go.
"Never has been and never will," the old Walker scoffed. "That damn spirit..."
'I heard that, you old fart.'
"Just go do your job, you old cock!"
"I'm sorry – I didn't catch your name," I said politely.
"Augustus Cornelius," the man said. "I remember you," he then said, squinting his eyes at me. "Your friend called us dwarfs!"
"I'm sorry, but can we just focus on the matter at hand?" I asked, pointing behind the gates. "I can hear the humans."
"Fine, fine..." Mr. Cornelius muttered. "Seymore should be able to deal with most of them, but I need you to catch the rest and bring them to me. I can try to get rid of the shadows in them if they're not horribly strong."
"You heard him," Alastair said. "Spread out and catch everyone you can and be careful! They may be humans, but there are loads of them, and they have silver."
We nodded and did what he asked. I was about to follow the rest of them, but Alastair stopped me.
"Maybe you should stay with me – my daughter would be very upset with me if I let anything happen to you."
"Fine," I sighed.
Suddenly, I could see fire rising up behind the trees in the distance and the humans started to yell. I could hear them running towards us.
"Two hundred?" I asked.
"Maybe more," Alastair said with a worried tone. "Come – let's go greet them."
It was a mess. The humans appeared soon in front of us, and there were many of them. Seymore could only handle them one at a time, so the rest were on top of us very fast. At least they couldn't match our strength, but they were still dangerous with their weapons and explosives. We stayed in our human forms so we wouldn't give them bad injuries, but it soon became clear that we had to use force in order to restrain them.
I felt bad for these people. They were not acting like humans at all. More like zombies. They ran straight towards us, waving their weapons and screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs. They fought back with all their might, squirming and biting and kicking and hitting even after they were tied up. There was no humanity in them left, and I could only hope the Spirit Walkers could fix them.
One of the women who attacked me was a teacher at my school. She had a big knife in her had when she dashed straight at me, screaming so loudly I feared for her vocal cords. For a short second, I stopped to stare at her madness. She didn't even look like a human with blood-shot eyes and pale face. She even looked like she had lost weight. And she was only wearing pajama pants and a tank top. No shoes, nothing.
"We need to get them somewhere warm!" I yelled at Alastair who was trying to keep an older man to stay still for long enough that he could put a zip tie on his wrists. "They'll freeze to death!"
Oh, how I hated Anthony at that moment. Alastair and I took our prisoners to the guard station to get the people out of the cold. My teacher kept thrashing around so hard I stumbled a few times, almost losing my hold on her. Her feet were blue already... I feared we were too late...
We let the two inside the guard station and told the rest of our group to do the same. Mr. Cornelius came to us and started to get rid of the shadows, but it was a long process.
When we thought we finally started to get the hang of it – lure the people to us, catch them, put the still possessed ones in the basement of the guard station and those who were already free upstairs – something very, very bad happened.
We all turned to look up at the sky when we heard the weirdest snapping sound. It was like a massive, metallic chord that had snapped in half, the sound echoing all around us for the longest time.
"What was that?" I asked with wide eyes.
"The wards..." Mr. Cornelius whispered, staring at the sky as well. "They are failing."
Only a second later, we heard another similar sound. Then another. We couldn't stay there and listen for any longer since the humans were on top of us once more, but as I fought against them, trying to hold two of them at bay while Alastair tied their hands, I heard the fourth snap.
"How many wards are there?!" Alastair yelled his question over the screams.
"Sixteen left!" Mr. Cornelius yelled back, trying to get rid of the shadows in one of the humans.
That was the worst countdown I had ever encountered. I could still hear them over the screaming. Sixteen turned fifteen, fifteen turned fourteen... and then, when there were only six left, they all came crashing down all at once.
"Shadows!" someone yelled, but it wasn't necessary. I could see the sky turning black again, even though the sun was now above the trees.
The humans started screeching in victory as their kind filled our lands. My heart almost stopped beating when I realized just how many there were. Thousands. Thousands...!
But we weren't alone! Suddenly the sky was filled with spirits, and the two waves of light and dark crashed into each other right above us. My hope was still fading when I realized how vastly outnumbered we were...
"We can't let the shadows repossess these people!" Mr. Cornelius yelled at the door. "I'm lifting wards around the house, but you need to act fast! Bring everyone inside!"
So far the shadows didn't seem to notice us, but I had the feeling that it wouldn't last long before they would get past the army of spirits. We hurried to bring every human we could catch inside without bothering to tie most of them up. We needed to hurry and deal with them once the wards were up. The station was getting very crowded by now, and we had to find another place soon in order to get everyone indoors. There were a few houses down the road, but the closest of them was pretty far away...
"We need to start luring them deeper into the territory!" I yelled over the ruckus.
I didn't hear anyone replying to me. Not anyone friendly.
'There you are...'
I lifted my gaze up at the sky just in time to see a big, black cloud rushing straight at me. I froze when I recognized his voice.
"Henry!" I yelled in anger.
There was nothing I could do. Henry hit me with such force I flew a few feet backwards, hitting the wall behind me. My lungs were cleared out of all air by the impact. I tried to get up on my feet but to my horror, my body wasn't obeying me.
'Aah... such an easy target to possess... just like your mate...' Henry laughed inside me. 'Tell me, is he still alive?'
"Get... the fuck out... of me...!" I growled, fighting hard to force those words out of my mouth.
Last time I was being possessed by four spirits, and it had been extremely hard for them to gain control over my body. But Henry... He just took it. He took the control with ease, laughing at my futile attempts to stop him.
I lost the battle in seconds. I had no way of trying to fight him off.
'I'm not surprised that Jack's little slut is this weak,' Henry said. 'I see you lost an arm as well.'
'Get the fuck out of me!'
'No... This is a nice body. Strong. Big. I think I'm going to enjoy my stay here. Permanently.'
"Arch?! Are you all right?" Alastair yelled at me, trying to get to me past all those humans that were swarming the road.
"Just a little tired," Henry spoke with my mouth. "Say... Do you have a knife?"
"What?" Alastair asked, pushing the last human out of his way.
"You don't? No matter – there's plenty just lying around," Henry said, leaning down to grab a knife one of the humans had dropped.
"Arch, what are you doing?" Alastair asked. I tried to scream, tell him to get the fuck away from me, but Henry kept my lips sealed.
"I have an important mission," Henry told him.
"We need to get these people inside," Alastair said, but the second he reached me, Henry hit him as hard as he could, sending him flying to the ground.
'NO!' I yelled, but Henry only laughed.
Alastair wasn't getting up.
"Let's see now..." Henry muttered, looking at the knife.
'I swear to God, if you hurt him...!' I screeched at him, but he ignored me.
"I didn't expect you to have only one arm, but no matter... I'll just do this," he muttered, sticking the knife suddenly on my thigh. I was forced to watch as he drew some kind of symbol on my leg, then two more. It hurt like hell, but he didn't let out a sound. Once he was done, I realized what he had done.
The symbols were the same that Jack had all over his body.
Without a warning, everything went dark around me for a short second, but that second was the worst of my entire life. I felt like I was suddenly caught on hellfire. The pain was so massive I thought I passed out. I would've screamed if I had control over my body. Even losing my arm hadn't hurt that bad.
And then, just as fast as it had happened, the darkness faded, and I could see again. But what I saw froze my heart. We were right next to the Forest of The Dead. The pathway down to the catacombs was right in front of us.
"Good. You made it," Henry said, clearly speaking to me. "Not everyone survives the trip to the shadow realm."
'Fuck... off...' I told him, feeling strengthless.
"Arch?!"
Henry turned around, and I saw Ryder and Ezra in front of me with dozens of guards prowling around. Mr. and Mrs. Bundt were there as well, giving me worried looks.
"How did you get here?" Ryder asked, taking a few steps closer to me, but Ezra stopped him.
"What happened to your leg?" Ezra asked.
"I'm looking for the Alpha," Henry spoke.
"Who are you?" Ezra asked angrily. "Is Arch all right?"
Henry laughed at his words. "How did you know?"
"Arch heard it when Rayleigh said he won't come here," Ezra said. "He doesn't want to make things easy for you. Who are you?"
"My name doesn't matter," Henry said. "Go fetch your Alpha – I want to get this over with so I can enjoy my new... toy."
Toy was definitely me.
"Arch? Are you there?" Ezra asked, worry gleaming in his eyes.
"Oh, he's here. He can't wait to let me do all kinds of nasty things to him," Henry said, sounding angrier now. "Your Alpha, NOW!"
"He's not coming," Ezra said.
"See this?" Henry asked, raising the knife up for them to see. "It's silver," he added, pointing the blade to my stomach.
"I'm here!"
I wanted to start screaming when Rayleigh walked down a hill, glaring at me. He was not supposed to be here! He was putting everyone in danger by being here! Did he not understand that this was a trap?!
"You already took one of my children," Rayleigh said angrily. "I won't let you take another one."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Henry said, but he didn't even care.
He didn't have Jaden! He really had no idea what Rayleigh was talking about!
"Jaden...?" Henry muttered when he heard my thoughts. He cloaked his own thoughts so I couldn't tell what he was thinking about, but I knew he had no idea about Jaden. I tried to use that moment to gain back my voice so I could tell them about what I just learned, but Henry was still holding my body in his tight grip.
"What do you want?" Rayleigh asked, pushing past his Betas.
"The key, please," Henry replied. "If you cooperate, we'll let everyone go. I promise."
They were not going to do such a thing!
"Over my dead body," Rayleigh said.
"That can be arranged," Henry said, raising his hand up. "Brothers!"
The sky was suddenly swarmed by shadows, and when I looked up at the hill, I could see the air moving restlessly. At first, I thought I was just passing out, but all of a sudden, the hill was filled with people. And werewolves.
"Abner!"
Rayleigh turned to look behind him while the rest started turning into wolves as well. Alpha Thorn took a few steps closer to Rayleigh, and I could see his hate all the way to where I was standing.
"Thorn," Rayleigh spoke calmly. "How did you get into my land?"
Another man stepped forward, holding a black ball in his hands. It looked exactly like the portal we had in the catacombs. It had to be a portal to the shadow realm.
"Anthony!" Mrs. Bundt screeched. "What did you do to Oliver?!"
"Your pathetic orphan?" Anthony asked with a snort. "I have no use for a rat like that."
He didn't know! I almost fainted in relief, but I should've known.
"He's what?" Henry asked me, forcing his way into my memories. "What is this?!"
'No! Get the fuck out of my memories!'
One of the memories appeared right in front of me. The one where we stood in front of the tombstone.
"This is your legacy, Oliver Attwood."
"Attwood?" Henry breathed out in shock. "Anthony! Oliver is Kevin's son!"
"What?" The Shadow Walker coughed. "Are you sure?"
"This body saw him opening the door!" Henry told him, while I was crying inside. I failed... I failed to protect his secret...
Anthony seemed shocked, to say the least.
"I must say, you are a massive idiot," Rayleigh snorted at him.
"Doesn't matter! I have you!" Anthony yelled at him.
"Do you now?" Rayleigh said. "I'm still a free man."
"Attack! Don't let any of them escape!" Anthony yelled in anger, and the wolves obeyed his command.
Even Alpha Thorn changed his form, his eyes fixed on Rayleigh, who was changing as well. All I could do was stand there, watching how the battle began. My heart was in pain because I already knew it was hopeless. We had no hope. Rayleigh should've run, not come for me...
"I love the taste of your desperation," Henry chuckled. "The sadness, hopelessness... It reminds me of Jack."
'Stop...'
"What does it feel like to know you'll soon be the only one left of your precious pack?" he asked, mocking me. "You'll live a long life, and this will be the last memory you have of your loved ones. Look! My brothers are already possessing your allies. They'll be used to kill the rest of your people. If they're useful, we'll let them live as our vessels."
Tears fell down on my cheeks as I watched the battle, hearing the screams of those who were injured. Rayleigh tried to get to Thorn, but he had three, four, five enemies on top of him, biting him wherever they could. The Shadow Walkers appeared right next to him, each of them holding massive chains in their hands. Rayleigh couldn't fight back when they tied him up, making it impossible for him to fight back anymore.
"Is Jack still alive?" Henry asked like he was asking about the weather. "Let's see... Oh, he is! Kind of... Well, if he survives, I definitely want him back. Imagine his pain when I make him watch while I torture you... Oh, I've been dreaming about it for so long..."
'Please, Moon Goddess... Stop this madness...'
"I'm afraid she can't hear you," Henry chuckled.
Thisalee appeared on top of the hill, and my hope was restored for a brief moment. She ran down towards Rayleigh, trying to save him from the enemy, but Thorn was now there, hovering over Rayleigh who was being pinned on the ground.
The enemy Alpha sank his teeth into Rayleigh's neck, and I could see the blood dyeing the snow red beneath him.
'No... Rayleigh!'
Thisalee never made it to her mate. She, too, was overwhelmed by the enemy, by our own, possessed people. I could hear her cry over the sounds as she was forced to watch her mate die.
'Why did you come here, Rayleigh?!' I tried to yell, but nothing came out.
"This will be over soon. Just sit back and relax," Henry mocked.
Rayleigh was still fighting back, but I knew it was useless. The enemy won. We already lost.
'Fuck off already.'
Something big hit me, sending me down on my knees. I couldn't breathe and my vision turned blurry when a wave of pain hit me, making me collapse on the ground, but it was soon washed away. I looked up and saw someone hovering over me. Oliver!
And then I heard the most beautiful howl I had ever heard.
I turned my head a little and saw Jaden. Alpha Jaden. His wolf form was now just as big as his father's, but his howl... I almost cried when I listened to it. Then I realized that Henry was gone. My body was my own again...
"Rayleigh...!" I gasped, getting up on my knees to look at the hill.
Rayleigh wasn't moving anymore.