Chapter 6. Nightmares

A 14-year-old girl stood behind a white oak tree, peering at a house. A while ago, before she sulked and left because her father didn't fulfill her wishes, the house still looked neat and quiet. But now the house looked very eerie.

The girl slowly came out of hiding. Her little legs stepped carefully towards the house where she grew up. The creak of the front door opening made the girl gasp. The fishy smell of blood instantly pierced her sense of smell. She faintly heard a moaning voice from inside.

"Who's there? Mom? Dad?" The girl joked while enduring the pounding of her heart.

She kept walking with a tense body. She heard nothing but the sound of her own rough breathing and heartbeat. The smell of blood was increasingly pungent, making the girl feel a bit nauseous. But curiosity forced her little legs to keep going.

The groaning sound was getting clearer. The girl stopped at the doorway with both eyes perfectly wide. She breathed heavily as her nerves caught the pool of blood filling the living room.

"Mom? Dad?" she called out in such a small voice.

The groaning sound came back. She turned her head to the left side of where she stood. There, she saw a woman's head separated from the body. The girl screamed and suddenly fell backward. Her eyes were glued to the dead body. She knew the face, but it was so hard to name it. Her tongue was stiff, and her whole body was frozen.

She saw the body's hand move to point at her. Then the head lying near the body opened its eyes. Staring straight at her, it said in a hoarse voice, "You!"

"No! It wasn't me! I didn't do it!" The girl screamed as she closed her eyes and covered her ears.

"Ryn! Hey, wake up!" The voice sounded like it was coming from very far away.

Ryn took a long, deep breath. Then she opened her eyes and got up quickly. She was breathing heavily, with sweat pouring down her face.

"Hey, you okay?" Lance held the girl's shoulder while showing concern in his facial expression.

Ryn's head swiveled around, and she found that she was in her room. Then she shifted her gaze to Lance, who was looking at her worriedly.

"Lance!" Ryn hugged the man tightly. "I'm scared," she said.

"Hey, hey, what's the matter? Did you have a nightmare?" asked Lance. The man hugged Ryn while stroking her back.

Ryn pulled away and scanned the man's eyes in turn. The annoyance was obvious in both eyes. The girl was frightened.

"That house... blood...." The girl's eyeballs fluttered furiously. "There's a body with its head cut off. I'm scared, Lance! I'm scared," the girl croaked.

"Hey, look at me!" Lance framed Ryn's face with both palms, keeping her eyes focused on him. "It was just a nightmare. There was no dead body. You just had a bad dream, Ryn. It's okay." Lance spoke in a low voice to reassure the girl.

"But... I-I-"

"Sssh!" Lance put a forefinger to Ryn's lips. "It was just a bad dream, okay? Come here!" The man continued as he reached out and pulled Ryn into a hug. "Everything's gonna be fine. You just panicked and fainted. Actually, it wasn't just you, we all panicked. During the time we've been living here, Albert hasn't--"

"Albert!" Ryn pulled away from Lance's embrace. She stared at the man with bulging eyes. The girl just remembered that Albert was heading to Freemega. Then she squeezed Lance's hand and said, "Did he do it already? Did he kill them all? I'm sorry. This is my fault. I didn't mean to lure him here. I'm sorry."

The man furrowed his brows deeply. "What are you talking about?" he asked, confused.

"Albert! He came here to chase me. It's my fault. It's my fault, Lance. I'm sorry," she whined.

Lance turned his head toward the door of the room. He then looked back at Ryn with a serious look.

"Ryn, listen to me! Albert never came here. Yes, he did come to Wolfsbane Hill by himself, but he never passed through Wolfsbane Gate. He left," Lance explained.

"Really? You're not lying to me?" the girl asked, to which Lance nodded his head in reply.

"Thank goodness! I was so scared." Ryn breathed a sigh of relief. The fear that Albert would slaughter the entire herd made the girl feel nearly dead.

"Now, tell me! Are you hiding anything from me?" Lance held both of Ryn's shoulders and looked into the girl's eyes seriously, demanding an answer.

The expression on Ryn's face instantly changed. After feeling a little relaxed, she now felt nervous. She forgot that she had lied to Lance about Albert. The girl opened and closed her mouth several times. It looked like she wanted to say something, but not a single word came out of her mouth.

"I promised I wouldn't tell anyone, including Walter. But I want you to tell me the truth," the man said again.

Ryn licked her lips and bowed her head while fiddling with her fingers.

"I'm sorry," Ryn said in a soft voice. She then looked up with teary eyes. "I lied when I said they didn't see me. They not only didn't see me, Lance, but they caught me. Albert got me."

"What?!" Lance exclaimed in a stifled voice.

"Like I've already said. I didn't come there on purpose. Then suddenly, Albert and his wolves came. They surrounded me," Ryn explained.

"Then how did you escape?" Lance asked.

"I attacked them with wolfsbane powder. Then I ran as fast as I could until you found me nearly dead of thirst and exhaustion," Ryn replied.

Lance rubbed his face as he sighed.

"The way I see it, you weren't running away from Albert, but he let you go. You've entered his territory, and you even attacked him. Albert wouldn't be so kind as to let you go. He did it on purpose, Ryn." For a moment, Lance paused his words as he looked deeply at the girl. "I'm sorry. I think I should tell Walter about this," he regretted.

"Don't! Please, don't do that!" the girl pleaded.

"Look, you're in danger. Merry can make a concoction or something that will disguise your scent, so Albert won't detect you." Lance took both of Ryn's hands. "This is a serious situation. We need to find a way out before Albert actually comes here and attacks the entire pack," he coaxed.

The girl pulled her hands from Lance's grasp, then shook her head. The visions she was getting felt very real, and Ryn was afraid they would come true.

"Maybe I should get away from here," the girl said.

One of the reasons Ryn chose to leave was because she didn't want the entire pack to end up like the ones in her visions. She thought that getting as far away from them as possible could save Freemega from that terrible calamity. Although she was not sure she could survive in the Wolfspring Forest, far away from Freemega.

"Don't be silly! You're not leaving. We're going to find a way out of this," Lance said.

"You don't know what I've seen, Lance. It was horrible. I can't let you guys go through that," Ryn said.

Lance looked at Ryn cluelessly.

"What are you talking about? You saw what?" he asked.

Ryn licked her lips and took a deep breath. She tried to get rid of the doubt in her heart and tell him what she had been going through.

"You know what made me run and end up crossing the territory?" Ryn looked into Lance's eyes in turn, waiting for his reaction as she began to explain.

"You looked really scared that time," Lance said.

"Yes, I was so scared. That's because I had a vision of a massacre. There are lots of dead bodies lying around. Blood everywhere. I saw one person left—the culprit. Do you know who that person is?" Ryn looked into Lance's face. "Me," she continued.