Nature is not a place to visit 12

Chapter 12
*”The moment before your life changes feel like any other moment.”*
*Unknown*
I hadn’t been kidding when I told Marcus I had a terrible sense of direction. I got lost driving to the same coffee shop I went to three times a month. My ability to find some ancient hidden temple in the middle of the woods? Not great.
It didn’t help that Marcus’ directions to the crypt weren’t exactly Google Maps-worthy. In fact, there wasn’t even a
physical map involved. Just a bunch of vague directions Marcus was pulling from his own memory.
“He said to turn left at the big oak tree, right?” Luke asked. After parting ways with Marcus and the remaining warriors, we’d ventured off to find the crypt and pray as fast as possible. The sooner we got it done, the sooner we could get back
to the real mission.
“Pretty sure it was right…right?” I asked, blowing my hair out of my face. My hair was even frizzier and more unkempt
than usual – perks of sleeping outdoors with no hairbrush in sight. If we all managed to survive, maybe I’d take a play out
of Rae’s book and just shave it all off.
“No, it was definitely left,” Luke said, his eyebrows scrunched up as he stared at the big oak tree in question. “Yeah,
definitely left.”
I simply followed Luke’s lead. He was no Magellan, but at least he knew where North was. We began to head down the
path, brushing stray branches and vegetation out of the way.
We walked in silence for a minute, nothing but the sound of cracking branches under our boots until Luke spoke. “I can
practically feel your anger from over here,” he said, “It’s palpable. You can talk about it.”
“Not sure I really want to talk about it,” I said, “At this point, I’d much rather punch someone. Preferably Rae but I’m
willing to settle for any of the Blood Moon warriors.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll get your chance,” Luke said, snapping off a branch that almost smacked him in the face. “We both
will.”
“Assuming we make it in time,” I replied, “Assuming Marcus or the others even make it in time. Doesn’t she understand
what she’s done? She’s literally doomed us all to die. We had one thing – the element of surprise. We don’t even have
that anymore. They may not realize Rae or the first group is coming, but they’ll sure as hell sniff out Marcus and the rest.”
“And us,” Luke added, “Don’t forget about us. When they’re finished with Rae and Marcus and all the rest, we’ll be the
final stragglers for them to cut down.”
The amount of bitterness in Luke’s voice surprised me, and I found myself glancing at him with raised eyebrows.
“Come on,” he scoffed, “You don’t think you’re the only one who’s angry about what Rae did, do you, Ollie? I’d like to make it out of this alive as much as anyone else.”
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“Guess not,” I said, “It’s just…it feels so personal. I know that Rae is probably the most stubborn person I’ve ever met
and she hates to be wrong, but I’ve never seen her so blinded by revenge. It’s as if she’s running on pure bloodlust right
now and she’s lost all reason.”
“Well, revenge does do that to people,” Luke said.
Now that I’d begun venting about it, the words spilled out of me like ink on paper.
“And I think there’s a small part of me that feels betrayed that she didn’t even take me with her,” I confessed, “She just
left. I woke up and she was gone with half our pack. No goodbye, nothing. This may be the last time I see her, and I don’t
even get a goodbye? All we’ve done for the past few days is argue about her stupid ideas. What if those are the last
memories I have of her?”
When Luke didn’t immediately reply, I kept talking. “I don’t want to remember my best friend like that,” I said, “I don’t want our last words to be a bunch of things we said because we were angry and frustrated with each other. I always
thought that if we did die, at least it’d be together. Probably doing something stupid. Not like this.”
“Do you ever think Rae might’ve left you behind because she was trying to protect you?” Luke asked.
“She’d be stupid to think I wouldn’t come after her,” I scoffed.
“Maybe she was worried that you’d talk her out of it too,” Luke said, “Let’s face it. Rae couldn’t care less about Marcus’
opinion or mine…but she cares about yours, Ollie. And maybe she might’ve hesitated if she’d told you she was leaving.”
“That or I would’ve tackled her to the ground and physically kept her from moving,” I muttered, feeling sick to my
stomach. It felt like I was slowly turning into a giant ball of fear and anger – perhaps because that’s all I’d felt over the
past twenty-four hours. I worried that, if I managed to make it out of this alive, fear and anger might be the only
emotions I had left.
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And if Rae died, I couldn’t see myself feeling anything else.
“Okay, wait,” Luke suddenly stopped, and I froze in my tracks next to him. “Marcus said we’d go down a hill and see a
cherry blossom tree, right?”
“I have no recollection of that but it sounds correct to me.”
“A cherry blossom tree and then – holy shit, there it is.”
I followed Luke’s gaze to the spot in the distance he was staring at and gasped.
I didn’t gasp because I could make out a stone staircase that led to a decaying stone temple hidden behind thick foliage
and trees.
No, I gasped because when I caught sight of the temple in the distance, I felt a tug in my chest so strong that I almost
toppled over.
It was immediate, like someone had tried to jerk me forwards.
In my mind, I could feel my wolf stirring for the first time since I’d shifted back into my human form.
I had no idea why I’d felt such a strong pull or why it caught the attention of my wolf, but I had a pretty good idea it had
something to do with that temple.
“Come on,” I told Luke, pushing ahead of him, “We’ve got some praying to do