Free Web NovelChapter 75: Chapter 75
Alois rose to his feet to get a better look at the fire works going off high above the trees, the rest of his group members doing the same.
"What do you think happened?" One of the trio of Alphas asked curiously, his gaze fixed on the fading sparks.
"Someone got stung or probably caught a cold." Terrell shrugged, sitting first.
Cecil sat down as well, huffing. "How careless could they be to have to forfeit on the first day?"
The rest followed suit, sitting gradually one after the other, leaving Alois who remained standing.
The sparks had come from a campsite too far for him to check out but he couldn’t help but feel an unease that he couldn’t shake off. Although, it was probably as the suspicious senior said and nothing serious.
Terrell calmly tossed a couple more sticks into the fire, watching the broth on the fire bubble, filling the campsite with the scent of cooking.
He hadn’t been intending to mislead anyone with his answer but now that he got more time to think about it more, the possibility that the sparks could have something to do with Seton grew higher.
Although Seton kept his plans hidden from them and Terrell hadn’t been expecting him to make a move so soon, it could very well be the Alpha. He wasn’t to be underestimated after all.
"Something funny in the fire?" Alois leaned over to say to a softly smiling Terrell.
The Alpha caught a bad fright, almost falling over. "I don’t appreciate you sneaking up on me." He forced himself to say politely, hoping that Seton would let them teach the cocky Alpha some manners after the field trip was over.
"I bet you don’t." He said dryly, getting up to head to his tent.
Terrell glared viciously at his retreating back, his anger barely kept in check.
"I’d back you up, you know." Hunt said quietly, bending over to pick up a smooth pebble.
The usually hot-headed Alpha had been surprisingly tolerant and calm throughout the day but it was evident that he was also close to snapping.
Terrell spun the idea over in his mind. Seton had said they only had to occupy his attention but wouldn’t it be even better if they got rid of him entirely?
It would be easy to ambush him in their current setting and enough blunt force to the head should make him forget what happened and even if it didn’t, all they needed to do was to push him down some ravine and prepare a trustworthy alibi.
"I know." Was all Terrell said, returning to his duties.
-*-
"Don’t stick to me if you’re still feeling nauseous." Audie complained, moving away from Valentin who just followed right after him.
"But there’s no one else for me to stick to." Vale pouted, still a little shaken from what had happened.
Audie looked around to refute Valentin’s statement only to find everyone paired up... "Stick to Dio then."
Valentin glanced at the quiet Alpha that seemed even more gloomy that night, his attention taken up by the fire. "Don’t be cruel to me Audie, I thought we were best friends."
Audie looked traumatised. "Don’t say that while gagging."
Eventually he gave in and let Valentin sit as close to him as physically possible, his expression one of unavoidable dread.
Errol still held onto Nael’s hand because the other Alpha didn’t pull away and he was a little bit greedy. They sat quietly side by side on a trunk, feeling quite peaceful.
Cedric and Jann were in their own corner chatting away and munching on some of the leftover fruit from afternoon time.
At the other end of their trunk was Dio who fiddled with the silk ties around his wrists, the blazing fire reflected in his mismatched onyx and emerald eyes.
"Nothing you say is going to convince me to return to the academy." Henri grumbled, lighting the edge of a stick so he could mess around with it.
"I wasn’t about to." Louis said warily.
"You don’t have to say it out loud."
"But wouldn’t it be better for you to..." Louis blurted out.
He quickly clammed his lips shut when Henri shot him a look. "You said you wouldn’t. "
"Fine, fine." He grudgingly accepted, getting to his feet. "Dinner is ready!" He announced to the whole group.
After dinner they all crowded around the fire, it was still too early for sleep. The campsite was quiet but not out of tension. It was more everyone trying to decompress the events of their day.
It was broken by Valentin nearly bursting Audie’s eardrums by screaming his head off when a bug landed on his cheek.
Audie’s reaction was to smack him hard across the face, earning him a scolding from Errol.
"What?" He called back defensively. "The bug’s dead now."
Valentin however was frozen in shock. "D-Did you kill it on my face?" He asked in a dry whisper, his dark blue eyes wide open in palpable horror.
"Yeah you might want to wash... no, no, no, Vale! Don’t bloody throw up on me!" He immediately panicked, scrambling backwards when Valentin started gagging.
"I’d appreciate it if you didn’t throw up at all." Louis said, unimpressed. "You just had dinner."
"Want to bet that he’ll throw up again?" Jann turned to Cedric.
"What are we betting with?" Cedric smiled deviously.
"No betting." Errol immediately stopped them, trying to get to his feet to attend to his little brother only to be stopped by Nael still latching onto his hand.
Having no other option, he pulled the clingy Alpha along with him to Valentin’s side. "There, I’ve cleaned it up." He said after wiping his brother’s cheek.
There was actually nothing there because Audie hadn’t actually killed the bug, the bug flew away in time so all he had done was smack Valentin across the face.
Errol knew that telling Valentin this would result in an endless smacking session so he just want along with it.
"Thank you." Valentin sniffled. "I don’t know what I would have done without..." He immediately trailed off, freezing up. "E-Errol, t-there’s something on my hair."
Errol looked up in time to see Audie tickling Valentin with a stick, an exasperated expression on his face.
"Let me get that for you." Audie immediately offered, smacking him again.
Beside the chaos, Nael had his eyes fixed on Errol, paying no attention to his friends’ shenanigans.
Another pair that was unbothered by the growing chaos was Henri and Dio who were too busy playing with the fire, Louis keeping a sharp eye on them as he tried to stop Valentin from throwing up for the umpteenth time.
This was exactly how their field trip should have been from the start but even without lifting a single finger, Seton managed to subdue everyone.
Valentin’s assault by invisible bugs only to get smacked by Audie and try not to throw up thinking the bugs were smashed on him was interrupted when Audie tried to pull the prank on Nael, thinking the Alpha wasn’t paying attention. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
The result was Nael actually going off to find a handful of bugs to shove down Audie’s shirt.
Errol just took his jittery younger brother and sat him beside the fire. "Bugs are scared of fire so you’ll be fine here." He reassured him, settling down beside Louis to watch Audie get chased around the campsite by Nael.
"Shouldn’t we stop them?" Louis murmured, displeased by all the running around so soon after dinner.
"After a couple more minutes." Errol was quick to say.
It was acceptable if it was Nael doing the payback because he was far stronger than Audie.
Audie’s bloodcurdling scream rang out when Nael finally caught him and shoved the bugs down his shirt.
"Errol." Louis called, looking concerned.
"Alright, fine." He finally gave in. "That should be enough karma for him. Nael!" He called out.
The Alpha immediately strode over, abandoning Audie was was actively trying to tear his shirt off.
"It’s just small stones." Nael said to Audie after getting comfortable beside Errol and taking his hand again.
The campsite quickly became quiet again, all of them sitting closer to each other so that they could get closer to the fire.
"It’s a little too quiet, why don’t we tell some stories? What’s a camping trip without horror stories?" Audie said, rubbing his hands together.
After getting all the cold stones out of his clothes, he squeezed in beside Valentin, Jann sitting on his other side.
Henri perked up. "Horror stories?"
Louis glanced at Valentin who was starting to get jumpy again, for someone who had jumped at the chance to be their leader, he sure lost his moxie rather quickly after the sun went down.
"Or we could just tell normal stories." He suggested tentatively.
"Noo, those are boring." Audie countered.
"I know some pretty decent horror stories." Errol spoke up much to Louis’ surprise. "And these are true stories too." He leaned closer to the fire to say in a creepy voice. "Word is that they happened during past field trips..."
Valentin’s scream interrupted his words, making Jann frown.
"He hasn’t even started telling the story yet."
Louis sighed as Errol went back to telling his story, they would be getting interrupted a lot of times by screams.
*A/N: the usual update schedule will resume tomorrow. does anyone know any really scary stories? you’re free to tell me in the comments although i’m a real life Valentin. xx*
