Chapter 9 Blue eyes
Naomi
The weather was freezing. And we were expected to step out and hunt werewolves for crying out loud. I wrapped my hands tightly around my body, my teeth clattered against each other. At exactly 6: 30.pm, we stood outside the school gates waiting. As usual , Calix and her mignons were still to show up.
She was our leader and we had to wait for her.
"Hi" someone greeted me as they came to stand next to me. My gaze moved to my side and I saw Benita with a shy smile on her face. That was new. She had never greeted me. While the rest of the class avoided me like I was some kind of infectious diseases, she on the other hand, never said a word. She kept to herself.
"Hey." I waved reciprocating her greeting. It would be good if I left her hanging. She might have tried to come close to me in the past, and probably stepped back due to what she must have heard.
"Do you think Calix and her friends would come? This assignment was given by the school."
Okay, I wasn't in the mood for a chit-chat, especially not about Calix. She was nothing to me and I had no right to know anything about her.
All I did was shrugged. I had no idea if they would come or not. It would be better if they don't show up. I didn't even want to be on this hunting thing anyways. Who knew what awaited us in that damn forest? They should send an army down to Aetheria and erase the entire race of werewolves.
This was supposed to be carried out by trained personnels and not students like us. Werewolves weren't some cat or mouse that you could cajole and bring them close to you. They were beats and could kill you in just an instant.
Orange lights flashed in front of us. The car came to a halt. Calix and her friends stepped out. Each one of them dressed in black cover up clothes. They had their swords in hand.
"We need to move right now. We're ordered to start the hunt in the woods behind the school."
Without a glance in my direction, she led the way. And I was truly grateful for this. She meant business this time. We went round the extremely large school gates into the thick woods and dense forest. We stopped at the narrow stream that ran across it.
She paired us into groups. Benita, me and one other student were paid together.
"We will go come to this spot in an hour's time. Make sure to be here. Again, keep your swords and needles right next to you. You don't want to be taken down by a werewolf if you see one."
We took our various paths. The forest floor was slipery. The leaves were damn due to the cold weather.
"How are we even supposed to do this?" The other, who was with us, asked. All I could do was rolled my eyes. She should have asked Calix that.
"I'm not sure how." Benita replied. They started talking. I held my flashed light in my hand and positioned my sword in a defensive mood.
Twenty minutes in and still nothing. Only the sound of running stream, crickets chirping even the birds had gone to sleep.
We walked further down to the edge of the forest. I was beginning to wonder if there were any werewolves around here.
"Wait. I hear something." The other whose name I came to know as Vivian said, stopping us all in our tracks. My eyes frantically looked around. Then I heard it. Heavy footsteps thumped against the soil. Then there was heavy breathing so loud that I could hear where I was standing. I turned to the girls who were now plastered against each other like they could disappear if they had the chance.
"Do you hear the breathing?" It kept increasing. They denied hearing it except the footsteps. We formed a circle, our backs to one another. Our flashed lights caught in the forest.
Then I see something in the darkest part of the forest. My heart almost stopped beating for a moment.
Two small bright glows of blue, like tiny light bulb had been lit. "Do you see that?" My light flashed in that direction.
"Oh my God..." Vivian screamed, her sword left her hands and to the floor. Everything left Benita's hands to the floor as she let out a loud scream.
"I'm not ready to die yet. Let's go back. I am my mother's only child."
Their screams sounded like whispers in my ears. I watched the light source. It was advancing towards us, that's when I noticed the eyes were moving. Those eyes definitely belong to something.
Like I had been hypnotized with the light, my legs started to move on their own. I advanced towards the light as it walked towards me. I had no sense of what I was doing, except that I wanted to reach that.
"What are you doing, Naomi?"
"You can't go close to it. It's dangerous. We need to leave right now."
One of them tried to hold my hand and I roughly pushed them away.
"Naomi!" They screamed in unison. "We have to go back now."
Then I heard it. That scent. The one that always got my head in disarray.
Whatever the blue eyes belonged to, turned its back to me and started running deep into the forest. I picked up running as well.
This must have been the thing that had been tormenting me with that scent and I was not going to stop until I got a hold of it. The voices of my team faded as the distance between us broadened. They could find their way back without me.
The scent kept following me whenever I went. Was it made to torment me? I ran behind it. It descended down a steep hill down into a valley and I didn't give up.
There was a little moonlight on this side of the woods. I stared down at the valley. There stood a giant animal in the form of a dog. It turned back to face me. The bright glow is still in its eyes. The scent kept increasing, even when I tried to push it to the back of my mind. I watched it paced beneath the valley like it was waiting for me to follow it.
My lips quirk up. It wanted us to play the hunting game right?
Like a sudden burst of energy got into me, I raced down the hill without a second thought. I ran behind it and definitely came to a stop and then the scent instantly disappeared.
Fear watched over me. What did I do? Benita, Vivian? Where was I?
No! I needed to find my way back to them. I shouldn't have left them.
Just when I turned my back to go back into the forest, I heard voices. I looked ahead of me. There was a tall building in front of me. When I looked further, I noticed it was the school gates across from where I was standing.
I didn't waste any time as I hurried towards it. I came face to the face with the rest of the members. Calix was pacing around. She stopped when other members pointed at me.
She darted towards me and before I could even digest what was happening, a resonating slapped landed across my cheek.
"You and your team kept us waiting for more than two hours. Didn't I say we were supposed to be back after an hour?"
My hands reached to my cheek. I glared at her. Anger bubbled inside of me and I tried to keep my cool. I looked around for Benita and Vivian, they were not here yet.
Panic coupled with the pain burning at the side of my cheek surged through me.
"Naomi, you made us worried. Why did you do that?" Benita rushed towards me, looking at me like she was scared something might have happened to me.
Vivian walked over and handed my flashlight and sword.
"I see. You ran and left your team behind. You would have to answer the school authorities.”