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The blood froze in my veins.

A war.

I never wanted any of this. Couldn't I just live my life as a clueless literature student without having to deal with any of this?

The urge to be human grew stronger and stronger. It had started back then when I had involuntarily put Julian and Emely under this spell, and it had become stronger the day I had stood in front of the mirror and seen my purple irises. Just like some minutes ago...

“Is... Is Julian there?” the words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them.

I had been trying not to think about him for three weeks. It was January, for crying out loud, and my supposed best friend hadn't been in touch, hadn't been next door, even though it was semester break, and I hadn't been able to find him at his student accommodation in our residential park either.

Winter break at Vanderwood was slowly coming to an end, and I hoped to see him again on campus.

“No, the boy just disappeared.”

My stomach clenched.

Disappeared. How could Julian disappear just like that?

I was worried. Every damn day. About whether he was okay. But after that night, I hadn't heard a word from him.

“Don't think I haven't tried to get in touch with him.”

Why did Alarik want to talk to Julian? What did the pack want from him now that his father was no longer around to make sure they didn't pressure him to join them?

Alarik drove carefully through the snow-covered forest landscape, and I looked out the window.

The Copeland Forest seemed denser, but not as gloomy as Fogs Forest. This place was the embodiment of Winter Wonderland. Deceptively beautiful.

Nothing about Blairville was Wonderland.

That was the only thing I was sure of on this cursed island.

The itching sensation in my wrists was begging for me to scratch.

They hadn't itched like that in ages, but now that I no longer had the pills which – placebo effect or not – had helped me block out that sensation, I had no choice but to distract myself, so I tried desperately to focus on the ravens that occasionally darted across the street from the treetops.

“Julian’s gone into hiding. And we should give him time.”

Alarik said it as if there were more people waiting for him.

Mia, his little sister, whom I had felt most sorry for that evening. I could still see her tear-stained face in my mind's eye, and I could still hear her deeply disturbed scream.

Then there was Emely, who had feelings for Julian. And the fact that he was gone now couldn't possibly leave her cold.

I gazed into the deep forest and let my thoughts wander to the person who had understood my desire to leave this island and who had been there when this town had stretched out its greedy claws toward me.

The last evening with him was like a beautiful fragment of our friendship, trapped in a soap bubble that had just flown up into the gray sky. Never to come back.

Where are you? My gaze returned to the forest. I hope you're okay.

Chapter 2

Emely

Free Animal

Foreign Air