SILENCE!

Jemima's POV

After Adrian finished talking to me, I lay back on the makeshift bed, staring at the shadows on the ceiling as my mind raced with too many questions. The forest, the runes, Adrian’s cryptic warnings—it was all too much. My eyelids became heavier by the second, and I allowed the whole exhaustion I felt swallow me whole.

But even the sleep wasn’t so good. It was anything but.

I had a dream, and in that dream, I found myself standing in the living room of my childhood home. The familiar scent of the place giving me a feeling that I had not felt in a long time. Everything looked just the same as I last remembered. The worn out couch by the window, the ugly coffee table with the markings on top of it that was there. But something felt wrong.

Terribly wrong.

My cheeks were wet. I reached up and touched my face, surprised to see that I was crying. My chest felt as if someone had punched a massive hole in it, as if all the joy had been scooped out and replaced with a void I couldn’t fill even if I tried for a thousand years.

“Mom?” My voice cracked as I called out. “Dad?”

Silence.

I walked through confines of the house, every step I took heavy and deliberate. Everything and every emotion I remember having from here was gone and was replaced by the way everywhere was still and calm and so quiet. When I reached the back door, I hesitated. My hand trembled as I turned the door knob.

Outside, the world seemed to change so quickly before my eyes. I was no longer at home but instead, I was standing in a forest clearing at the base of an ancient tree. Its ragged branches reached out like hands that were twisted, and the bark was carved with strange runes, the same ones Adrian and I had seen in the forest earlier.

I felt something cold run down from my chest to my stomach and down my spine. “What…?”

The air felt as if it was charged with electric, as if the forest itself was alive. I looked up, and my heart stopped. There was a snake, its scales shining in shades of green and black, coming down from the trunk of the large tree. The snake had its eyes staring right at me, as if it was boring into the back of my head and to my soul. I tried to scream, but no sound came out.

I woke up with a start, my chest going up and down in ragged breaths. Before I could gather my thoughts or even say anything, I felt a hand closing over my mouth. All the antennas and bulbs in my head went off with alarm and my instincts kicked in. I struggled, kicking wildly against whoever was holding me captive.

Maybe they were here. Maybe they had come for the weak wolf just like Adrian said they would.

“Jemima,” Adrian hissed, his face very close to mine. “Stop! It’s me.”

My thrashing about slowed down as I began to recognize him. His hand still stayed closed firmly over my mouth as if he didn’t still trust that I wasn’t going to scream, and his eyes went to the doorway.

“Listen,” he whispered.

I froze, my ears on alert straining to hear what he had to say. At first, I heard nothing but the intense and loud pounding of my heart. Then faintly, there was the sound of heavy footsteps. They were not just there, there was something about them that wasn’t just random or any footstep. There was a rhythm to them, like something—or someone—was moving with purpose.

Adrian slowly removed his hand from my mouth. “Stay quiet,” he mouthed.

My heart was racing so fast I thought whoever—or whatever—was out there would hear it. I leaned closer to Adrian and whispered to him in a low tone of voice. “What is it?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know yet.”

We stayed like that for what felt like a hundred years, listening to the noises grow louder, then fainter, then louder again. My mind by itself, came up with images of creatures coming to us, their eyes glowing a dark green in the dark.

Finally, Adrian motioned for me to follow him. “We need to move,” he said softly. “Quietly.”

I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. I heard that voice again, telling me this wasn’t just a warning, it was a threat. And my wolf didn’t make it any better. She was practically screaming at me to stay back. My legs felt like jelly as I stood, but Adrian steadied me with a firm grip on my arm.

We came out of the small cabin we were staying in, the cool night air embracing us like it was there for us the whole time. The forest was very quiet now, as if it was holding its breath, waiting for us to come into the middle before it devoured us. The light from the moon casted a dull glow on the forest, lighting up the path ahead of us.

“Do you know where we’re going?” I asked, my voice barely audible.

Adrian glanced at me. “To find whatever it is that’s doing this. That’s all that matters, both for you and the pack. But first, we’re going to where all the pack members are.”

I didn’t argue. The tension in his voice was enough to tell me this wasn’t the time for questions. Still, a dozen thoughts bounced unevenly in my head. I wondered what was happening. I wasn’t as strong as other wolves.

It was as if he knew the exact question that was on my mind. “That stone you touched that gave you visions, that’s why I’m bringing you here. If the stone can show you visions, it means, no harm can come to you.” He hesitated for a moment. “At least that’s what I think. Whatever it comes to, I will protect you.”

“Adrian,” I whispered after a few minutes. “In my dream, I saw those runes again. The ones on the tree.”

He stopped immediately and turned to face me. “What else did you see?”

I hesitated. “A snake. It was watching me.”

His expression became dark. “That’s not just a dream, Jemima.”

I frowned. “What do you mean? It felt so real, but dreams can feel that way sometimes.”

Adrian shook his head. “No, this is different. Those runes, that tree, they’re connected to something very old, something very powerful. And if the snake appeared to you…” He trailed off, his jaw tightening.

“What? If the snake appeared to me, what does that mean?” My voice was a little bit more loud but the way Adrian’s looked at me silenced me.

“We’ll talk about it later,” he said, his tone firm. “Right now, we need to focus on dealing with all this first.”

I wanted to press him for answers, but the urgency in his eyes stopped me. We continued walking, the silence between us heavy with all the things that were left unsaid.

After what felt like hours, I sank onto the log, my legs trembling with exhaustion. “Adrian,” I said, my voice cracking. “I need to know what’s going on. You keep saying we’ll talk later, but I can’t keep being blind about all this.”

He hesitated, running a hand through his hair. “Fine,” he said finally, turning to face me. “But you have to promise to stay calm.”

I nodded. “I promise.”

He sighed and said something to the pack through the mind link then looked at me. “We need to keep moving though, the pack won’t meet us here.

My stomach dropped again. “What about the snake? What does that mean?”

He looked at me, confused. “What snake?”

I sighed. “The one I told you I saw in my dream, just before you woke me up, it was coming down from the large tree in the forest and I didn’t know what it meant when you wone me up.” I finished and looked up at him.

He hesitated again, his eyes locking onto mine. “The snake is something I don’t even know. Honestly, I don’t know what it means, but we have to find out and we have to do it quick. We don’t have much time.” 

His words hit me like a punch to the chest. That’s it, Jemima, stop with the questions already. It’s not helping anybody.

I looked away, my mind racing. The dream, the runes, the snake, it all felt too much, too overwhelming. Like it was pulling me under. Right under it all. “So, what do we do now?”

“We keep moving,” Adrian said firmly. “We find out what the snake’s message was, and we figure out how to stop whatever’s coming.”

I nodded, although I felt a little bit of doubt in my chest but I quickly brushed it off and replaced it with the faith and the confidence I had in Adrian. Adrian sounded so sure, but I wasn’t. How could I be? I was just Jemima, an ordinary wolf that had managed to be in the middle of something extraordinary.