Chapter 42

Forest's POV

We all stared at the piece of paper, silently reading the message over and over again, trying to make sense of it.

Well, I say all, I mean all except Lucy, who was currently lying on the grass, staring at the sky muttering about light and colour under her breath.

She has been in a dark cave, deep down in the earth for years.

Now in the sunlight, I could finally see Lucy properly. She looked about 17, although from what I'd heard, she was much older, with waist length, pink hair. Her eyes were bright blue with a mysterious twinkle shining in them, as if you dipped a paintbrush in the ocean, caught a shooting star, and placed them in her eyes. She looked nice, although I could tell she had a mischievous streak.

Hopefully she could help us.

I read the message again but couldn't make head or tail of it.

"Has anyone heard of the fire wolves before?" Skye quietly asked, I had been wondering that too, the name rang a bell, but I wasn't sure where from.

Everyone shook their head, "Why don't we head back home, and we'll look into it," My dad suggested.

Glumly, we walked back. Even though we were one step closer to winning, I still had no idea where my mate was, and time was running out.

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The silence was broken by Lucy, "Why is everyone so glum? It's sunny, you should be happy."

We all just stared at her, "Remember that person we were telling you about, my missing mate, who is still missing," I raised my eyebrow at her.

She seemed to think for a minute before she replied, "Sorry, I was so excited I forgot, I'll help in anyway I can,"

I nodded my thanks and we fell back into silence.

Fire wolves, fire wolves, the name kept ringing in my mind. I couldn't place where I knew it from, I knew I'd heard it somewhere before. I just couldn't place where.

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The first thing I noticed as I entered our house, our home, was the envelope. The exact same envelope as the first message from Elias.

I grabbed the envelope and ripped it open, a small piece of card fell out, a letter.

I realised, even though I sent you on this grand hunt, and told you the prize, I never told you what happens if you lose. If you lose, you lose everything.

In two days, at exactly 10 AM, my daughter is getting married.

If you want to stop it, you better hope you find the location, and get here in time.

I hope you can come to such a happy occasion such as my daughter's wedding.

All the best,

Elias.

I lost it. My parent, Ash and Skye all had to hold me back to stop me from running out that room to kill him, even though I had no idea where he would be, and my dad had to use his Alpha powers to stop me shifting.

"She will not marry him, I won't allow it," My dad said calmly, "Calm down, We'll find her."

We only had two days left, including today, to find her. The day after tomorrow was the deadline, the wedding.

We all sat in silence, reading books, searching the web, or racking our brains, to try to figure out what the fire wolves were, and how they linked with Aria.

I read the note again,

Wow, I am impressed, you managed to bypass the faeries. One more victory for you, but still more challenges lie ahead. You look for what you seek, but like many before you, it may lead you astray. Just look at the Fire wolves, they searched for redemption, but all they found were sins.

Then I placed it next to the corresponding lines of the riddle,

The home to many, and yet to none.

The home of the greatest sins and the greatest redemption,

Find her before the silent bells will ring out or face defeat.

It was obvious now the bells ringing out would mark the wedding, so one line down.

The words that matched, and therefore the obvious key words were redemption and sin. That wasn't much to go off.

But it was a start.

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After hours of searching, we had our first break through.

Lucy suddenly shot up from her seat, sitting rigidly upright, "Fire wolves! Of course," She suddenly rushed out the room, yelling behind her, "I'll be back, I need to nip home."

That left the rest of us to keep looking, although most of us were just staring at the open door, what could she of found?

I continued sitting on the sofa, thinking and waiting Lucy to return.

I pulled out my phone, I might as well see if I can find something else on the web, Lucy may not have found anything, I need to keep looking.

I unlocked my phone, my wolf whimpering quietly as he say my lock screen. A photo we had taken a few weeks before she was taken. We were so carefree, so happy. I had my mate by my side and my wolf didn't just sulk in the back of my mind all day, begging me to get our mate back.

Sighing deeply I checked the date, 23.2.19, only two days left. I set a timer on my phone. A timer, a countdown, counting down to the deadline.

It was now 9 PM, 37 hours left until the unthinkable, until she marries him.

I would rather die than let her marry him.

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After another half an hour Lucy finally returned, she looked happy, relieved, smiling like a cat who's got the cream, as if, as if she'd found something.

"What is it?" I asked, scared of her answer, what if I was reading her expression wrong. What if she was happy about something completely unrelated.

"I found it," She admitted, perching on the edge of her chair, "Last time I came to the surface I found a book, it was full of folklore, one of such, the fire wolves. I went to the library to see it was still there, but apparently someone checked it out."

"But that's a bad thing, you look happy?" Skye asked, "What's so happy about that?"

Lucy shook her head, "I was sad, but then as I was leaving the library someone came up to me, they'd found another version, but it was written in a dead language.

I felt my heart sink. My one chance, ripped away. I felt the hope that had started blooming in my mind, shrivel up and die.

"A dead language?" I asked, annoyance lacing my tone, "How does that help us?"

"Oh Forest, you underestimate how long I've lived on this earth. I know all the dead languages, this one is modern compared to some I speak."

"Can you translate it?" Ash asked, hope blooming in his eyes and my heart. She nodded.

"Just give me some time."

Time ticked on.

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It was about 2 AM when Lucy found the passage on Fire Wolves, "I'll translate it now, it should be ready for the morning,"

My parents sent everyone to bed while Lucy translated, I was slightly worried about her but she soon reassured me that the Fae don't really sleep anyway. I was too tired to see straight and so I reluctantly agreed.

I dragged myself up the stairs, nearly tripping and flying down them on numerous occasions.

32 hours left.

As I drifted to sleep a book on Aria's dressing room caught my eye, something seemed familiar about it, the name seemed familiar, but before I could look into it I was asleep.

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I woke up the next morning at 6 AM, I had only got about four hours sleep but I couldn't sleep for any longer, not without Aria.

6AM, 28 hours left.

Dragging myself down stairs I saw everyone else already blearily sitting round the table, quietly discussing where Aria could be.

"How far through the translation are you?" Skye asked Lucy from across the table.

"I'm nearly done, this is what I've got so far;

The fire wolves were wolves of myth and legend, until a few hundred years ago, when they returned.

The had eyes the colour of embers and hearts that burnt like a raging fire. They were dangerous and stood for what they believed in with no regrets or hesitation.

It is thought they were born from the dying embers of the immortal fires to serve the earth and to save it from treachery and evil.

She translated the rest of the page and continued reading;

But the fire wolves from hundreds of years ago met a bitter end when the wolves of fire, burnt with the embers in.....

She turned the page but was met with the jagged edge of ripped paper, "Damit," She yelled out, "It's gone. Someone has ripped out the paper, the clue."

I sunk down in my chair as tears threatened to spill from my eyes, she was out of reach from me, close but too far.

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We spent the rest of the day looking for the other pages, but they were really gone, a cruel trick from Elias, to give us hope before ripping it away from us.

10 PM, 12 hours left.

"What was the book called again?" Skye asked from the sofa where she sat with her computer, she was searching for another copy but was so far unsuccessful.

She sighed before answering, "It was called 'Wolves of Folklore', but the pages are missing, and the only other copy is gone."

I blame the limited hours of sleep I have had the last few weeks, or maybe the fact that my mate was missing, but either way I am ashamed at how long it took for my mind to register the name, and them register where I recognised the name from.

But it did finally register and I jumped from my seat around the table, like a bullet shot from a gun I rushed upstairs to my room.

I rushed to Aria's side of the bed, and grabbed the book from her bedside table, glancing at the cover I let out a sigh of relief, The book title, 'Wolves of Folklore'.

I almost skipped down the stairs and carefully put the book in front of Lucy, "I found who borrowed the book."

Ash started laughing, "Please don't tell me this book has been sitting in your room for weeks, when did Aria borrow it, she'll be getting a late fine if she's not careful."

I glared at him and he quickly shut up.

"What does it say about the fire wolves?" I asked Lucy as she flicked through the book.

That's where I had heard about the fire wolves from, Aria had been telling me about them, the day before she went missing. I couldn't remember what she had said, but she was very interested in them.

I was suddenly struck by a thought, "Is anyone else freaked out by how much Elias knows about us, knows about Aria and her life."

Skye looked slightly scared, "He does seem to know a lot about everyone, how else would he have known about the fake trees, the faeries and the book."

Everyone stayed silent for a while, silently freaking out about him, "Do you think he's been spying?" My Mum asked.

"Probably, who knows, he may have spies watching us now," Lucy said. My dad protectively pulled my mum closer to him, at the same time as Ash did the same to Skye.

"But probably not," I countered, he doesn't care about us. I just wanted my mate back. No spies were going to stand in my way.

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I kept pacing. Over and over, the same six steps, waiting for Lucy to finish reading the book and to summarise what the fire wolves had to do with Aria.

"YES!" Lucy exclaimed, "This has the missing pages, and they are written in English, not some dead language, so saves me time translating it."

"What does it say?" Ash, Skye, my parent, and me all exclaimed at once.

But the fire wolves from hundreds of years ago met a bitter end when the wolves of fire, burnt with the embers in their temple. A temple dedicated to their moon goddess, for these wolves made from embers still originated from the moon.

One day their temple was set on fire. Hundreds died, since it was in the middle of a big festival. Their temple is now left abandoned in the woods, a burnt, abandoned wreckage.

It is now known as the The home of the greatest sins and the greatest redemption, as the temple was there for forgiveness, and yet they murder of hundreds of wolves, the entire species of fire wolves.

She stopped reading, "I think we found our location."

I sighed in relief, we can find her in time.