Free Web NovelChapter 145: Found Pali
We followed Shelley as she led the way deeper into the thick woods. The canopy was so dense that it felt like the trees were leaning in to listen to our footsteps. It was already past 9 p.m., and the darkness felt heavy, like a physical weight pressing down on us. Princess was right by my side, her fingers laced tightly with mine. She held my hand the entire time, and I could feel the effort she was putting in. Every time she looked over at me, she forced a little smile, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. I smiled back, trying to give her some of the warmth she was missing.
We were deep in the belly of the woods when Yuki started questioning the path. She asked Shelley if she was actually sure about the direction, or if she was accidentally leading us straight into some kind of trap. Shelley didn’t hesitate. She insisted she could feel Pali’s presence close by, like a humming in the air. She kept talking, mostly to reassure herself, saying Pali wasn’t some helpless child who could just vanish into thin air. She said he was probably just being reckless, like he always was, rather than actually being in real trouble. According to her, he was the type who always stayed just on the edge of danger without falling in.
After a few more minutes of trekking through the brush, we found his cellphone lying in the dirt. It was switched off and the screen was badly cracked, reflecting the crescent moonlight in jagged lines.
Shelley’s whole posture changed. Her senses sharpened instantly. She said Pali’s scent was strong now, everywhere, like it was clinging to the very leaves. She got confused for a second, turning in circles, then she looked up. She gasped and pointed. He was sitting way up on top of a tall tree. He was alive, thank goodness, but he was completely naked, shivering against the bark.
We huddled at the base, trying to figure out how to bring him down. If Sasha had been here, she would have just used her powers to float him down, but we were on our own.
Yuki didn’t wait for a plan. She just started climbing. She was fast and agile, moving up the trunk until she could reach him and help him navigate the way down to the forest floor.
The second his feet touched the dirt, Shelley pulled off her coat and wrapped it around him. He was freezing, his skinny skin pale and covered in goosebumps. We all looked at him with a mix of pity and absolute confusion. Questions were bubbling up in my head. He was supposed to be headed out of town for a business meeting, so how on earth did he end up naked in a tree in the middle of Baywood?
His aunt didn’t waste any time and asked him directly what the hell happened.
Pali shivered, clutching the coat to his chest. He explained that on his way back home, he decided to stop and search for a specific, rare flower he’d heard about. But luck wasn’t on his side. He got jumped and robbed by a group of bandits. They stripped him of everything, his clothes, his wallet, even his shoes. Just when he thought the coast was clear and he could run for help, he spotted a Loco tribe moving through the underbrush. He panicked and climbed the tree to hide. He claimed they had been camped right underneath him for weeks, and he was too terrified to even breathe, afraid they might catch him and eat him.
Loco tribes were the stuff of nightmares. They were packs that practiced cannibalism, feeding on their own kind. They were known for being wild, violent, and completely unpredictable.
The moment Pali said they were still in the area, a cold chill went down my spine. We rushed to turn back, needing to leave before we ran into them.
But our luck had finally run out. Before we could even take ten steps, we were surrounded. They came out of the shadows like ghosts.
Immediately, Pali lost all his dignity and jumped onto Shelley, clinging to her like a terrified toddler. Shelley looked more annoyed than scared. She let out a huff and dropped him right back onto the ground.
"##$$$$$$$##$$##$#"
One of the Loco tribe members stepped forward, hissing something in a language none of us could understand. The air felt electric with tension. Then, without any warning, one of them charged at us with terrifying speed.
Yuki moved before I could even blink. She intercepted him mid-air, slamming him against a thick tree trunk with a sickening thud. Her eyes began to glow a deep, intense purple. I noticed Aunty Sali nearby, and the look in her eyes was pure, unadulterated fear.
"La Vengaza," she muttered under her breath, her voice trembling.
Princess didn’t move at first. She just stood there, looking bored and numb, until one of the tribesmen reached out and tried to grab me.
She reacted instantly. It was like a switch flipped.
In a blink, she was there. She grabbed him by the throat and, with a brutal, fluid motion, ripped his heart right out of his chest. They were no match for her..
The whole fight ended almost as soon as it started because of her. Princess moved like a shadow, tearing through every single one of them at a speed that didn’t seem normal. It was the same terrifying, empty speed I had seen when she went into that numb state in her game room.
When the last one fell, she just stood there. There was no remorse, no anger, just a blank stare as she looked down at the bodies. I wasn’t even sure she was breathing.
We were about to leave that nightmare behind, but Yuki stopped us. She insisted we couldn’t just leave them like this. She said we had to gather the bodies and burn them to give them a proper rite, even if they were monsters.
We piled them together in a clearing. Aunty Sali stepped forward and summoned a column of fire that licked at the sky, turning the bodies to ash and bone.
I stood beside Princess, my eyes fixed on her hands. They were covered in dark, sticky blood. I didn’t know what to do or what to say. A part of me was genuinely scared of her. I had never seen her kill with that kind of cold efficiency before, except for that one time with the hedge-wolf. But despite the fear, I still wanted to be near her. I wanted to comfort her.
I gathered every bit of courage I had and reached out, taking her hand in mine.
She looked down at our joined hands, her expression unreadable. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
"You don’t have to hold me right now... you might get infected with the mess," she muttered. Her voice was hollow.
"It’s okay. When we get back to the car, we’ll wash up together," I replied, squeezing her fingers.
"It’s a good thing I followed you tonight. You always seem to end up in some kind of danger whenever you step foot outside of Oakland," she said.
"I wasn’t the one in danger this time... it was just a crazy coincidence. And you didn’t have to kill every single one of them," I said quietly, looking at the fire.
"I’m sorry if that was hard for you to watch. Truly. When I’m in this state, I try to avoid my enemies... because once I start, I don’t stop until they’re dead," she said. She leaned over and rested her heavy head on my shoulder. Fuck how many people has she killed?
I saw Yuki walking ahead of us, her usual calm, detached expression back in place.
"You Alphas and your habit of making sure no one survives to tell the tale... always needing to be the last one standing," Yuki said. There was a clear hint of disdain in her voice before she walked off to check on Pali and the rest of the group.
By the time we finally made it out of the woods and back to the cars, it was already 3 a.m. The sky was just starting to turn a bruised purple.
Malo and the others were leaning against the cars, waiting for us. Judging by the grins on their faces, they had succeeded in whatever secret mission they were on. They definitely noticed the heavy tension and the blood on Princess, but they were smart enough not to ask any questions.
Princess walked over to her car and slumped into the passenger seat. I told her I would drive us home. She didn’t even argue; she just reached into her pocket and handed me the keys.
Pali and his aunt climbed into Yuki’s car and drove off first, their headlights cutting through the dark.
As Shelley was about to get into her sister’s car, I stepped forward and stopped her. I couldn’t let it go anymore.
"Why do you keep giving me those looks?" I asked, my voice echoing in the quiet clearing.
"What are you talking about?" she replied, her hand on the door handle.
"At the cemetery, I heard what you told your sister. You told her to stay away from me. And when she actually became my friend, you stopped giving her an allowance. Do you judge me because I’m a pregnant teenager? Do you see me as some kind of bad influence? The way you look at me... it makes me so uncomfortable."
Shelley went quiet for a long moment, looking down at her shoes.
"I’m not judging you for any of those things," she said softly. "Pregnant or not... the truth is, I’m afraid of you. My sister is the only family I have left in this world. There’s no one else. So I’m begging you Faye... please, just stay away from her. I don’t want to lose her a second time."
She didn’t wait for an answer. She got into the car, closed the door, and drove away.
I stood there in the dust, watching her taillights disappear, wondering what on earth she could have meant by that. Why was she afraid of me? And how could she lose her sister twice?
