Chapter 163 Crescent Valley Is Changing

Chapter 163 Crescent Valley Is Changing
Luna’s POV

By Thursday, nobody in Crescent Valley was pretending things were normal anymore. Not even the humans.
The news called it mass hysteria, animal violence and environmental instability.
But people were locking their doors before sunset now. Parents stopped letting their children walk home alone.

Churches filled overnight. And Crescent Valley High felt less like a school and more like a building waiting for something terrible to happen.
I felt it the second I stepped onto campus. Fear, it was thick and everywhere.
It clung to the air like smoke. Students whispered in nervous circles across the courtyard.

Three more teenagers had disappeared this week. One of them was from our school.
A sophomore named Daniel Reyes. He was last seen near the forest edge after football practice. They found his backpack hanging from a tree. Covered in claw marks.
I shut my locker harder than necessary. The sound echoed down the hallway and several people flinched. Yeah.
That still hurt.
Hurt since the transformation incident two days ago, everyone looks at me differently now. Not openly. But subtly and fearfully. Like instinct was warning
them before logic could. And honestly….Their instincts were right.
I barely recognized myself lately. My hearing kept sharpening randomly.
My eyes reflected gold in mirrors when I got angry and food barely satisfied me anymore unless it was meat.

Raw meat.

Which was deeply concerning. And the worst part, was that the moon was getting closer. Not physically, but emotionally. Like I could feel it watching me now and waiting.

“Luna.”

I looked up sharply.
Professor Hale stood at the end of the hallway holding several papers against his chest.
But something about him felt off today. Not physically, but behaviorally.
He looked tired and worried. And under that, he was afraid.
“You’re late for class,” he said quietly.

I frowned slightly.
“You’ve literally never cared before.”

His expression tightened. “Things are different now.”

That landed heavier than it should have. Because he wasn’t talking about attendance.
I could smell tension on him. Stress and adrenaline.
And something else. It was wolf. Not fully, but enough.

Wait.
My eyes narrowed slightly.
“You already knew,” I whispered.

Professor Hale froze. Interesting.
Then carefully, he glanced around the hallway before lowering his voice.
“Meet me after school.”

Before I could answer, he walked away quickly avoiding eye contact.
That was definitely suspicious. Fantastic.
Another secretive adult. Exactly what my life needed.
A sudden scream echoed from outside and the hallway erupted instantly.
Students rushed toward the windows. I smelled panic immediately. It was sharp and violent. I moved before thinking.

By the time I reached the courtyard, chaos had already exploded.
A girl from the junior class convulsed violently on the pavement surrounded by terrified students.
Her eyes glowed pale silver and foam lined her mouth. Her fingernails scratched claw marks into the concrete below her. It was moon sickness.
The term slammed into my head instantly.

Kai appeared beside me seconds later. His face darkened immediately.

“She’s human,” I whispered.

“She was.”

Cold spread through my chest. The girl suddenly screamed again, and lunged at another student with unnatural speed. Kai intercepted her instantly and the crowd panicked. Phones came out. Teachers shouted uselessly.
But the worst part, was that the girl growled. She actually growled low and animalistic. I stared in horror.
“This isn’t supposed to happen.”

Kai’s jaw tightened. “The seal weakening is affecting humans now.”

The courtyard fell into terrified silence as the girl collapsed unconscious in Kai’s grip. Nobody knew what they had just witnessed.
But they knew it wasn’t normal. Rumors would spread by lunchtime.
And there would be no stopping them this time. A police siren wailed outside the school gates. And another one joined it. Then another, soon there were too many.
A teacher nearby whispered shakily, “There was another attack near the woods this morning…”

Students immediately started talking over each other. “My mom said animals are coming into town now…”

“Someone saw wolves behind the hospital…”

“The forest spread another mile overnight…”

“I heard people are disappearing from their houses….”

“Shut up!”

But nobody could. Fear was becoming contagious. And underneath all of it…Something deeper was happening.
I could feel it. The town itself was changing and by lunch, half the school was gone.
Parents were picking students up early. The principal made announcements nobody listened to and rumors spread faster than wildfire now…wolves in the sewer tunnels with glowing eyes outside windows, people hearing voices at nigh, teachers secretly disappearing and claw marks appearing on houses
And honestly…Some of them were true.

I sat at an empty cafeteria table trying to control my breathing when Ethan suddenly appeared across from me. He looked exhausted and worse than exhausted. He looked changed. There were dark circles below his eyes now.

And something colder in his expression. Determination replacing uncertainty.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I said quietly.

Ethan ignored that.
Instead he slid a folded newspaper across the table toward me.

LOCAL WOMAN FOUND DEAD NEAR FOREST LINE

Animal attack suspected. But that wasn’t what made my stomach drop.
It was the image below the headline. Claw marks, massive ones. They were too large for wolves and too familiar.
“I didn’t do that,” I whispered immediately.

Ethan studied me carefully. “I know.”

“Then why show me?”

His jaw tightened slightly. “Because it’s getting worse.”

I stared at the newspaper silently. And another article caught my eye.

UNEXPLAINED FEVER SPREADING THROUGH CRESCENT VALLEY

Moon sickness. They just didn’t know the real name yet. Ethan leaned closer slightly.
“There are more cases.”

“How many?”

“Too many.” He replied.

Something in his tone made me look up sharply. “You know something.”

Silence. Then….
“I found a way to stop this.”

Every instinct inside me immediately reacted badly. That it was danger.
My claws nearly extended automatically under the table. “What did you do, Ethan?”

His expression flickered briefly with guilt. Then disappeared.
“Nothing yet.”

Lie. I could smell it instantly. Before I could push further, every light in the cafeteria suddenly flickered. Once and twice. Then died completely.
Darkness swallowed the room and students screamed immediately.
My wolf senses sharpened instantly. I heard heartbeats, fear and movement. And outside….Howling. Hundreds of them were close. Too close.
The emergency lights finally flashed red overhead. And through the cafeteria windows….We all saw it.

The forest, it was moving.
Trees stretched slowly across the football field like living shadows creeping toward the school. Students began panicking instantly, some crying, some recording and some running. Nobody could deny it anymore.
Crescent Valley was no longer normal. The supernatural world had stopped hiding.
And deep inside me…
The wolf responded with terrifying excitement.