Bastien’s mood grew heavier and sadder as the night wore on. And I knew why. I felt worse than ever at the thought of abandoning him. But I had to remind myself that I had other responsibilities. I had my family to think about. Maybe once I managed to make it back to The Shade and reunite with them, I could persuade the League to lend a hand to the werewolves to try to lessen their plight caused by the hunters. I didn’t know how that would all work out with the governments once the hunters found out we were trying to work against them, but nobody in The Shade would stand for what was going on here. My parents wouldn’t, and my uncle, Derek, certainly wouldn’t. These thoughts were the only way I could comfort myself as we left the cave at the first signs of morning.
Gathering up the satchel and the belt, Bastien dutifully clambered down the mountainside with me on his back and re-entered the woods. The journey passed quickly this time—perhaps because I had so much on my mind. It was certainly the first time I could make such an observation since arriving in The Woodlands.
The shore came into view, another pebble beach, though much longer than the one where Bastien and his pack had their hideout. As we emerged onto it, leaving the shelter and shadows of the trees, we looked around cautiously. Bastien looked left and right, up and down the shore, while I scanned the skies for mutants. Or maybe even helicopters. God knew what else these hunters had brought through the portal.
So far, so good. The coast seemed clear. He began to run again, bolder now, along the beach.
“How do you even know about this gate?” I asked him.
“My older brother was the one to discover it,” he replied. “This one is less known to other werewolves than the one that the hunters have occupied…”
Bastien’s voice trailed off as his eyes moved further up the beach. They fixed on an area in the distance. He sped up again and then stopped after about half a mile. There appeared to be nothing different about this stretch of beach than the one we had just traversed. There were no signs of holes or indentations anywhere. I was not sure why he was stopping here…
My heart sank as he said, “The portal should be here. I swear, it’s on this stretch of beach.”
And yet there was nothing. He raced further up the beach and then further down it, along the path we had already traveled, as though he might have missed it. But we hadn’t. No portal was anywhere to be seen along this beach.
“Are you sure this is the right beach?” I asked.
“I’m positive,” Bastien said.
“Then what could’ve happened to the gate?” I breathed. “Could the hunters have… closed it?”
“Not without the help of a powerful witch,” Bastien murmured. “But maybe they do have witches at their service… That would explain a number of things.”
Closing gates was something that Ibrahim and Corrine were able to do, as well as Mona—since she had regained the strength she’d lost after Lilith’s death. In the past we had fantasized about the three of them traveling the world with Mona’s map of portals and closing off all of them to solve this whole supernatural problem once and for all. But they had discovered even before I was born that the map was in no way comprehensive. Even if they managed to close them all, there were possibly hundreds of others we would never locate without a new map.
I wondered what kind of witch would ever want to side with the hunters.
“I wonder why they would want to close this gate,” I mumbled.
Bastien shrugged.
Maybe it was for more control. They wanted as few points of entry—and exit—as possible while they were here. Hmm.
“But there must be other gates in this realm?” I asked hopefully.
Bastien began moving away from the center of the beach and toward the shelter of the trees again. “I don’t know,” he replied. “I am sorry.”
Oh, great. What am I going to do now?
Once we were deep within the woods again, Bastien halted and let me get off. I began pacing up and down—or rather, hobbling up and down. “I need to get back to my family,” I said. I was just praying that Heath and Grace managed to escape and had made their way back through the portal, and would hopefully now be safely returned to The Shade.
“It’s possible we might come across some other wolves who know of another portal… if you come with me,” Bastien suggested.
I turned on him. “And where exactly do you plan to go now?” I asked, dreading to think how many more bumpy hours—or maybe even days—lay in wait for me atop Bastien’s back.
“As I said last night, I need to find allies. I plan to head east, toward one of the few packs that the Blackhalls are—or were—actually friends with. I believe they might be far enough away for the hunters to not have reached them yet. But I have to hurry.”
“And how long do you estimate that journey will take?” I asked, steeling myself for the answer.
“It’s hard to say,” Bastien said. “I’ve not made the journey since I was a boy. I would estimate perhaps a day. It could be less or it could be more, depending on whether or not we meet with any obstacles along the way.”
I drew in a deep breath. “Okay,” I said, my voice deep with resignation. My choice was hardly a difficult one. There were no other options on the table other than to go with Bastien.
I couldn’t miss the flicker of relief in his gray eyes. At least someone has benefited from this turn of events. He would no longer be left on his own.
Grace
Day had broken by the time we reached the end of the woods and arrived at a mountain range.