Chapter 143 Investigation
POV: Nova
Luna was missing.
She hadn't shown up for dinner. Wasn't answering through the pack bonds. Her dorm room was empty.
And I was trying very hard not to panic.
"Maybe she's with Liam?" Lyric suggested.
"I already checked. He hasn't seen her since the roof earlier."
We were gathered in a study room, all of us feeling the same cold dread through our bonds to Luna.
The connection was there. Faint. Muffled somehow.
But she was alive. That was something.
"We need to tell the Headmaster," Aria said.
"And say what? That we lost our incredibly powerful friend?" I shook my head. "He'll blame us for not protecting her."
"He'd be right to," Sienna said quietly. "We're her pack. We should have been watching closer."
"Stop." I forced my voice to stay steady. "Blaming ourselves won't find her. We need to think. Where would Luna go?"
"The training room," Lyric said. "The library. Selene's suite. We've checked all those."
"What about Cole?" Aria asked.
We all looked at each other.
"She wouldn't go to him," I said. "Not after everything."
"Unless she confronted him," Sienna suggested. "Luna's impulsive when she's angry."
"Or scared," Lyric added.
That was true. Luna acted when she felt cornered.
"Okay," I said. "We find Cole. Maybe he knows something."
But Cole was missing too.
His office was empty. His quarters locked. No one had seen him since afternoon combat training.
"This is bad," Lyric said.
"It's worse than bad." I pulled out my phone. "We need help."
"From who?"
"Anyone we can trust."
I texted Liam first. He appeared within minutes, looking worried.
"Still no sign of her?" he asked.
"Nothing. And Cole's gone too."
"That's not a coincidence."
"I know."
Then Marcus showed up. The senior who'd sparred with Luna in combat class.
"Heard you're looking for Eclipse," he said.
"Why do you care?" Aria asked suspiciously.
"Because I owe her an apology. Cole made me target her weaknesses during that drill. Said it was training, but it felt wrong."
"Cole made you?"
"Yeah. He's been manipulating a lot of us. Making us think we're helping when we're actually hurting people."
I exchanged glances with my friends. "What else do you know about Cole?"
"Enough to know he's not what he seems." Marcus pulled out a folder. "I started digging after that drill. Found some things you should see."
We spread his findings across the table.
Old yearbooks. Academy records. Family registries.
All pointing to connections between Cole and Victoria's clan.
"I knew he was hiding something," Aria muttered.
Lyric had her laptop out. "I'm going into the faculty records. Maybe there's something there."
Her fingers flew across the keyboard.
"This is illegal," Sienna warned.
"So is kidnapping students. Which is probably what happened to Luna."
She had a point.
After ten minutes, Lyric frowned. "Guys. Look at this."
We crowded around her screen.
Cole's employment history.
"It looks normal," I said.
"That's the problem. It's too normal. Too clean." Lyric highlighted sections. "All his references are from packs that no longer exist. All his previous employers are dead or disappeared."
"So his entire background could be fake," Aria said.
"Exactly."
"But why would the Academy hire him without verifying?" Sienna asked.
"Maybe someone helped him fake it," Marcus suggested. "Someone with influence."
"Victoria's family has Council connections," I remembered. "They could have pulled strings."
The pieces were coming together. And I hated every single one of them.
"Okay," I said. "Let's say Cole's been working for Victoria's clan from the beginning. Why? What do they want?"
"Luna's power," Liam said quietly. "Eclipse wolves are rare. Valuable. If they could control one—"
"They could do anything," Sienna finished.
"But Luna would never willingly help them," Lyric said.
"Which is why they'd need leverage," Aria said. "Or force."
My stomach dropped. "We need to find her. Now."
Marcus pulled out more papers. "I found these old yearbooks in storage. Look."
He showed us photos from Thornheart Academy. Victoria's family school.
There was Cole. Younger. Wearing their uniform. Standing with Victoria and her clan.
"He's been with them for years," I breathed.
"There's more." Marcus pointed to a family crest in the corner. "That's Cole's family symbol. It matches the It-Girls' clan mark exactly."
"He's not just connected to them," Aria realized. "He's one of them. Has been all along."
"Luna's going to be devastated," Sienna said softly.
"She probably already knows," Liam said. "That's why she went after him."
"Or why he took her," I added.
We needed more information. Hard evidence.
"Lyric, can you access surveillance footage?" I asked.
"Already on it." Her fingers were flying again. "Looking for anything from today with Cole or Victoria."
Minutes passed. Then she stopped.
"Found something. Cole meeting someone in the restricted corridor. Two hours ago."
She pulled up the video.
We watched Cole talking to members of Victoria's clan. The audio was too faint to hear, but their body language was clear.
They were coordinating something.
"Where is this corridor?" Liam asked.
"Near the old dungeons," Lyric said. "The section that's supposed to be sealed off."
"Supposed to be?" Aria asked.
"Yeah. But the seals were broken recently. Someone's been using that area."
I stood up. "That's where they took her. Has to be."
"We don't know that for sure," Sienna warned.
"My wolf knows. She's down there. I can feel it."
Through the pack bond, I pushed toward Luna's presence. It was faint. Muffled. But definitely coming from below ground.
"I'm going down there," I said.
"We're all going," Aria corrected.
"No. If this is a trap, we can't all get caught." I looked at Lyric. "Keep digging. Find out what Victoria's planning. Why they want Luna."
"On it."
"Sienna, go to the Headmaster. Tell him everything. We need backup."
"He'll want proof."
"Show him the footage. The yearbooks. Everything Marcus found. That should be enough."
"And me?" Marcus asked.
"Help Lyric. You know the Academy's history. Maybe there's something in the old records that explains what they're after."
We split up. Me, Aria, and Liam headed toward the dungeons. The others went to gather evidence and help.
The restricted corridor was dark. Dusty. Clearly hadn't been used officially in years.
But there were fresh footprints in the dust.
"Someone's been through here recently," Liam observed.
"Multiple someones," Aria added. "Look at the different shoe prints."
We followed the tracks deeper into the corridor.
It ended at a heavy door. Locked with both physical and magical wards.
"Can you break the wards?" I asked Aria.
"Maybe. But it'll take time."
"We might not have time."
Liam studied the door. "What if we don't break them? What if we just trick them?"
"How?"
He pulled out a small crystal. "My family uses these for bypassing wards. It mimics authorized magical signatures."
"That's illegal," Aria said.
"So is kidnapping. You want Luna back or not?"
Fair point.
He pressed the crystal to the ward. It shimmered, then dissolved.
The door swung open.
Beyond it, stairs led down into darkness.
We descended carefully, every sense alert.
The dungeon was old. Ancient even. Built when Silverwood was first founded.
Cells lined the walls. Most empty. Except one at the end.
Luna was there. Sitting against the wall. Looking exhausted but alive.
"Luna!" I ran to the bars.
She looked up, relief flooding her face. "Nova? How did you find me?"
"Long story. Are you hurt?"
"No. Just trapped. The cell's warded against Eclipse power."
Liam was already examining the lock. "This is sophisticated. Victoria's clan knows what they're doing."
"Can you break it?" Aria asked.
"Give me a minute."
While he worked, I asked Luna, "What happened? Why did they take you?"
"Victoria wants to use me. Force me to open otherworld gates. Channel ancient magic." She looked pale. "She threatened everyone. You guys. Selene. Said she'd kill you all if I didn't cooperate."
"We're okay. All of us."
"For now. But Victoria's planning something big. Something involving the otherworld."
The lock clicked. Liam pulled the door open.
Luna stumbled out and I caught her.
"Easy. When's the last time you ate?"
"This morning. I think. Time's weird down here."
We needed to get her out. Back to safety.
But as we turned to leave, footsteps echoed above.
Multiple people. Coming down the stairs.
"They know we're here," Liam said.
We were trapped. Between the cells behind us and whoever was coming from above.
"What do we do?" Aria asked.
Luna straightened, pushing away from me. "We fight."
"You're exhausted."
"I'm angry. That's better."
Her mark flared to life. Eclipse power flooding through her despite her exhaustion.
The footsteps got closer.
Then Victoria appeared. With at least ten clan members behind her.
"Well, well," she said. "A rescue party. How touching."
"Let us go," Luna demanded.
"Why would I do that? Now I have all of you. This worked out better than I planned."
"You planned this?"
"Of course. Let you escape. Let your friends track you. Lure them all down here." She smiled. "Now Eclipse's entire pack is mine."
"You really think you can hold all of us?" Liam asked.
"I don't need to hold you. Just her." Victoria pointed at Luna. "The rest of you are leverage."
More clan members appeared, cutting off the stairs.
We were surrounded.
"Luna, don't—" I started.
But she was already moving.
Eclipse power exploded from her mark in a wave of silver light.
It washed over Victoria's clan, sending several of them flying.
But more kept coming.
We fought together. Pack coordinated. Protecting each other.
But there were too many.
One of them grabbed Aria. Another got Liam.
I shifted fully and attacked, but someone hit me with a stunning spell.
I went down hard, consciousness fading.
The last thing I saw was Luna, surrounded but still fighting.
Then everything went black.
When I woke, we were all in cells.
Luna was across from me. Aria and Liam in cells beside her.
"Everyone okay?" Luna called out.
A chorus of pained affirmatives came back.
"Now what?" Aria asked.
"Now we wait," Victoria said, appearing outside Luna's cell. "Wait for the full moon tomorrow night. When the otherworld gate is easiest to open."
"I won't help you," Luna said.
"You will. Because if you don't, I'll kill your friends one by one while you watch."
She left us there in the darkness.
Through the pack bond, I felt everyone's fear. Determination. Anger.
But also hope.
Because Sienna and Lyric were still free. Still investigating.
And Lyric had found something on those surveillance videos.
Something that might save us all.
Back in the study room, Lyric stared at her screen in horror.
The surveillance footage had just corrupted. All of it. Every file related to Cole or Victoria.
Someone had been watching their investigation.
Someone knew they were getting close.
"Sienna," Lyric said quietly. "We have a problem."
"What kind of problem?"
"The kind where someone just erased all our evidence and probably knows exactly what we've been doing."
They looked at each other, the same realization dawning.
They weren't just investigating anymore.
They were being hunted.