"Okay, no one should panic. Let’s just breathe in and out..." Faye said. She held her hands out, her chest rising and falling with a fast, shallow breath that completely gave away her own rising anxiety as she looked around, empty road.
"You are panicking, Faye," Sasha said, then looked at Malo, who happened to be much worse. Sasha was standing with her arms crossed, her breathing relatively steady, but her eyes were wide as she watched Malo’s fingers tremble against his screen.
"This is where it stops. The dot is right here, so where is the car?" Malo said, still staring at his phone.
"Maybe they found out and left the tracking device here," Peamah said. He was leaning against the van, not caring about whatever was happening. He let out a long, slow yawn, his heavy shoulders sagging as his chest expanded with a completely relaxed breath.
"Okay, everyone, let’s just look for the device to confirm," Faye said. She didn’t want to think about the possibility of their plan failing already, her throat tightening as she forced herself to keep moving.
Then everyone started searching the area, checking for any sign of the tracking device.
"Find anything?" Faye asked. She straightened up, her chest heaving with a frustrated breath as she wiped her palms on her pants.
"No. What about you?" Malo replied.
"If I had found it, I wouldn’t be asking you," Faye replied and was calm but it sting..
Finally, they stopped searching. The device was nowhere to be found, yet the tracking app still showed it in the same spot. The bright green dot sat perfectly still on the screen, mockingly resting right in the center of their coordinates.
Malo then brought out a metal tracker from the van to locate the tracking device. While he was doing that, Sasha called Haley to ask what she was seeing from her end.
While everyone was busy looking for the device, Henry noticed something in the woods. His head snapped toward the thick brush, his eyes widening as his lungs suddenly filled with a deep, sharp scent. He immediately shifted and ran into the forest. The sound of tearing fabric and cracking bones echoed through the air in a fast, wild second, and then a massive wolf burst through the branches.
"Yo Henry, wait!" Faye shouted, but the massive wolf was already gone.
"Did he bring spare clothes?" Sasha muttered as she hung up the call. She let out a long sigh, her shoulders dropping in disbelief.
"Peamah, go after him," Faye said. She turned to her beta..
"You must be joking, right? That dude just shifted without the presence of a full moon. He’s far gone," Peamah protested. He didn’t move from the van, his lungs letting out a short, stubborn huff.
"Track him. He left his scent behind." Faye ordered leaving no room for arguments..
Peamah had no choice, so he started running in the direction Henry had disappeared.
"And then we walk. What a long night this is going to be," Malo sighed. His lungs let out a long, dramatic exhale, his shoulders slumping under the weight of his backpack.
He properly parked the van, grabbed three flashlights and a backpack.
He handed Sasha and Faye a flashlight each.
"Really? Flashlights?" Sasha said. She looked down at the black plastic in her hand, her eyebrows drawing together as her lungs let out a dry, sarcastic puff of air.
"Yes. It’s dark. We need light to see," Malo replied. He clicked his own light on, the bright white beam cutting through the misty air.
"What happened to phones?" Sasha asked.
"What if the battery dies?" Malo shot back.
"What happened to our night vision, they were given for a particular reason?" Sasha insisted, her voice full of annoyance.
"Really? You want to compare what we see in the dark to what Henry sees right now?" Malo said, his chest puffing out as he tried to defend his logic.
"I can see just fine. That is a tree and a green lizard," Faye said, joining their unreasonable argument. She pointed a finger toward a nearby branch, her breathing turning short and irritated as she tried to get them to focus.
"That is not a lizard. It’s a chameleon," Sasha corrected.
"Whatever. Let’s just get out of here. The boys are waiting," Faye said as she took the lead, leaving the two behind.
Sasha shoved the flashlight back into Malo’s hands before following Faye.
"Fine then. Two flashlights for me. And wait for me, please!" Malo said as he ran after them. He stumbled over a loose root, his lungs pumping out panicked gasps as the dark woods threatened to swallow him up.
They finally caught up to Henry.
Henry, still in his wolf form, was circling around something. His massive paws moved in a tight, repetitive circle on the ground, his fur shining in the dark as his chest rose and fell with deep, low huffs.
"What is he doing?" Malo asked, pointing his flashlight at the giant wolf. The bright beam danced across the thick fur, making the giant animal blink, but he didn’t stop his movement.
"He has been doing that," Peamah said. He was standing nearby with his arms crossed, his breathing steady and slow as he watched the wolf’s strange behavior.
Everyone watched in confusion until Malo’s metal tracker suddenly started beeping. The loud, high-pitched chirping broke the quiet of the woods, the speed of the beeps increasing rapidly as Malo stepped closer.
Malo moved closer to where Henry was circling. He ended up standing in the center. He knelt down, cleared away some leaves, and found a concealed hatch.
"Wow... an underground tunnel. This is going to be fun," Sasha said. She leaned over his shoulder, her chest rising with a sudden, curious breath as she stared at the dirty iron door.
"Really? Let me guess, you want to go down there," Malo said, already having a bad feeling about the small hatch.
When he checked his phone, the tracker still showed the signal directly beneath where they were standing.
"I’m guessing whatever we’re looking for is down there. What are we waiting for? Let’s go," Faye said. She gripped the cold iron handle, her lungs expanding with a deep, resolute breath as she prepared to pull it open.
But then a voice stopped them.
"It would be a bad idea if any of you went down there..."
The sudden, smooth voice cut through the dark woods like an icy wind, making everyone freeze instantly.