Chapter 141 141. Peanut Butter and Honey
Chapter 141 141. Peanut Butter and Honey
Isolde and Drake walked toward Arcane Academy, both of them on the lookout for a creature of any kind. They finally found the trail, but neither of them saw anything. "There is nothing here!" Drake exclaimed. Isolde, too, had seen nothing.
"I told you I didn't think anything was going to be this close, Drake, but let's get off the trail, and we can have some of the food we snagged from the kitchens, then maybe read the books. I, for one, don't like the idea of wandering around aimlessly."
Drake nodded, and they set off away from the trail. After another half an hour, they sat down on the forest floor, pulling out the peanut butter. "Fuck! We didn't bring utensils." Drake said. Isolde looked around and handed him a stick.
"What am I supposed to do with this?"
"I figured it was better than having sticky fingers," Isolde said. Drake huffed but took it, making peanut butter and honey sandwiches for them and tossing the stick away. They ate both of their noses in their books. "Wait, I think I got something," Isolde said, looking up at Drake, who gave his full attention to her.
"Okay, so with werewolves, they like to sleep in dens, kind of like real wolves do."
"Okay, but how does that help us? I thought werewolves are only all wolfed out on full moons?"
Isolde nodded and went on. "Yes, that's true, but they sleep when they aren't wolfed out, as you call it. Which means, other than for three days, sometimes two depending on the month, they are sleeping in their den. Don't you see?"
Drake shook his head, not knowing what she was getting at.
"Drake, listen, it's not a full moon tonight. If we can find a den, we can capture them easily; they will be asleep."
"Yes, but that means we have to find a den, and not only that, we don't even know if they are around her, or if they're extinct; maybe Dragons are the only creatures left."
Isolde stared at him in disbelief. "I told you before the chances of all the creatures being extinct are improbable. Especially when a lot of the afflictions that make them happen to Wielders. Not to mention, I seriously doubt that whoever is controlling these beings is going to stop at a dragon. Then, of course, there is our encounter with a banshee, or the kids that met one years ago you told me about it being in the paper."
"Isolde, we don't know that was a banshee, and we have no idea if all the creatures are back; maybe it was just that one dragon," Drake replied.
"Why would it just be that one creature? Why not others? From what I understand, there are tons of different creatures."
"But one would only need one Dragon to take control; they are actual monsters."
Isolde shook her head. "No, it has to be more than that. Look what happened at the Nexus of Power; it was going on at the same time as a Dragon descending on the mundanes."
"It could have been wielders, though. I mean, how hard would it be for someone to set- you called them bombs?"
"I mean, Mundanes set them off all the time, so I suppose you're right; it could have been a wielder, but I don't see how they could have gotten around the keepers," Isolde questioned.
"I don't know; maybe they had been hiding out the whole time, but you can't just say it was creatures that did it. Especially considering many aren't of higher intelligence."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, think about it, a lot of them have suffered greatly, right?" Isolde nodded at his question, and Drake went on. "Right, so the weaker suffers from something or a circumstance out of their control. Then they start to change; they morph into a creature, sometimes suddenly, like in the case of werewolves; then they are subjected to their worst instinct, in some cases, like the Banshee, it is slower, right?" Again, Isolde nodded, following what he was saying.
"But with Banshees, it is a process that could take time, but once they are in the last stage, are they even able to think clearly? Or are they just pure monsters? With werewolves, it is almost an instantaneous transition; are they even able to have cognizant thought?" Drake said.
Isolde froze then; she needed to find out which creatures could have cognizance. If they limited it to that, they could figure out who was leading them. "What are you thinking?" Drake asked.
"I am thinking either the person doing this, who we think is Ashford, has to be a creature or split-tongued, but if he is a creature after all, there has to be information on which type of creature can think regardless of their affliction freely. If we find that out, maybe it would be useful."
Drake sat for a moment, thought about it, and then agreed. "When the sun gets lower, we can search some more; most of these things aren't out and about during the day, right?" Isolde nodded.
"Great. Hey, Drake, do you happen to have a map of these woods?" Isolde asked him. He shook his head.
"No, I don't think the Whispering Woods have been mapped in a long time. I would guess hunters might have, but I have never seen a map of them. Not only that, but remember at the Academy Ashford warned people from going off the trail at all. Because of the incident with those students."
Isolde analyzed that. "Okay, two things. First being who made the trails by the Academy, and second, do you think it was more than that incident a few years back?"
Drake considered, "I mean, it could be something else, especially if he didn't want anyone discovering that he had hold of creatures, but we don't know he is behind them. Just that he is a creepy bloke."
Isolde ground her teeth; she was sure he was responsible. She was so sure of it, and she thought it was likely he was a creature himself, though his motives were so unknown. Couldn't it just be that he wanted power? That seemed stupid; then again, Malachi wanted power, but he also wanted more freedom to explore whatever he wanted without regulations. Isolde didn't understand.