Chapter 204. The Escapee
Nina
That night, I laid awake in bed puzzling over our plan to save Enzo. I only hoped that I was right and that this would all work. There was always the possibility that these two new students weren’t actually Selena and Enzo, but were rather sent by Selena to trip us up. But if they were in fact Selena and Enzo, and the plan didn’t- work, we ran the risk of them running away for good. I already didn’t have a way to get to the werewolf realm; the witch never answered, Myra was gone, and Luke was gone, not to mention the fact that neither I nor anyone else in my friend group knew how to open a portal.
All I could do at this point was wait and hope that the plan worked. If we did manage to separate Enzo and Selena at the party, then we would also need to ensure that I had enough time alone with Enzo to help him remember
… And there was no knowing how long exactly I would need to make that happen. Now, more than ever, I was kicking myself for leaving him behind at the dance. Maybe if I had just stayed and talked to him then, all of this would be over by now.
But I didn’t listen to him, and now we had to find a new way to help him remember. Thankfully, I knew already that he was susceptible to breaking the spell; we just had to give him the opportunity without Selena being there to get in the way.
As I laid in bed, wondering how all of this would work and what I would say when and if I finally had him alone, I was suddenly alerted by the sound of soft tapping on my window. My window was cracked open to let the cold night air in. I at first brushed it off as the tree outside my window scraping against the glass, so I ignored it; but when I heard the soft sound of a voice saying my name, I suddenly shot up in bed with wide eyes.
“Hey…” the voice said, sounding strained. “Nina. It’s me. Let me in.”
I blinked as the voice registered. It was too dark to see into the tree, but I was almost certain that it was Luke’s voice.
“Hurry!” he whispered, more urgently this time. “They’re coming.”
My heart caught in my throat as I bolted out of bed and over to the window. I peered out just to be safe- and, just as I thought, none other than Luke was out there. He was perched in the tree with his hood up, and was peering out at me from beneath hishood with wide, frantic eyes.
“Luke?” I whispered. I flung the window open, and he instantly leaped in like a cat. He landed on the floor beneath my window and stayed crouched down there, then gestured for me to join him. I furrowed my brow, confused at first, but I finally understood what he was insinuating when I glanced out the window and saw three men who I recognized as Lewis’ followers walking across the quad. Cursing under my breath, I quickly ducked down below the window with Luke and huddled with him there.
Before either of us spoke, we both threw our arms around each other and hugged tightly for what felt like an eternity. I was so happy to see my friend again, alive and well, that everything else seemed to melt away. during those moments.
Finally, when we pulled away, I had too many questions to ask.
“What happened?” I whispered. ” Where did you go?”
Luke sighed and shook his head, his fluffy blond hair falling into his face as he stared down at the floor. “It’s a long story,” he replied, keeping his voice low while the mencontinued to patrol outside. “I was heading out to meet you that day when two masked men suddenly grabbed me and dragged me away. I realized later that they were Fullmoons, of all people.”
“They didn’t want you to help me find Richard and Enzo,” I replied.
Luke nodded. “Yep. I’m still not sure why exactly, but I think that Lewis guy is trying to take over as the new de facto leader. Not only that, but I think he might even be working with the Crescents. They kept me tied up in a barn a little ways away from the cabins the same barn where Ronan and Lisa were planning on filming Enzo’s execution, funnily enough. They didn’t do anything, though. Just kept me locked times.” up there with a guard at all
I frowned as I thought about Luke’s imprisonment. Lewis really wanted me to fail in my mission to find Richard and Enzo so badly that he simply tied Luke up… For no reason other than to keep him from helping me. To think that he was willing to waste the man power on something like that when the Fullmoons were supposed to be dedicating themselves to protecting our town made me sick.
“How did you escape?” I asked.
Luke chuckled. “Well… They decided they wanted to leave, I guess. And they were gonna take me with them. They came and grabbed me late last night, but they only made it about as far as twenty miles out of town before they had to stop because some of the others decided to break off from the group, steal a bunch of supplies, and run away. I took it as my chance to sneak out, but a few of them followed me. I guess I’m too much of a threat to Lewis ‘little reign.”
I couldn’t help but laugh quietly at Luke’s story. Imagining Lewis and his followers being outsmarted by Luke, as well as having a bunch of their stuff stolen by Myra and the others, was a funny sight to picture in my head. It sounded like chaos.
Either way, I was still glad to have my friend back and I had good news for him, too. “Well, Lewis is gonna have a rude awakening soon,” I replied with a smile. “Enzo is back.”
Luke’s eyes widened. “Really? How? When?”
As I explained everything about the two new transfer students to Luke, his eyes widened even further. He didn’t seem to believe me at first, but the more details that I told him, the more that he finally understood exactly what was happening. I told him about our plan to separate Selena and Enzo as well, and how I would try to make Enzo remember everything. Not only that, but I also told Luke about the antidote.
But my voice faltered as I mentioned distributing it.
“We’re still not sure if it works,” I said with a sigh. “We might need someone to volunteer to be a test subject, which means that they would have to be bitten. Otherwise, with the Fullmoons no longer here to protect the town, we can’t risk sending any of the hockey team to go out and try the antidote on anyone. And it would be too difficult for myself, Lori, or Jessica.
Luke paused, scratching his chin as he thought. Finally, he nodded and lifted. his blue eyes to meet mine.
“I’ll take it,” he said.
My eyes widened. “No, Luke, it’s too
“Dangerous, I know,” Luke said. “But haven’t I already proven enough that I can handle myself? I can be in and out in a day, maybe two. I’ve spent over a hundred years perfecting my methods of not being seen if I don’t want to.”
I swallowed, then finally nodded. He was right; he could handle it. It was just a matter of administering the antidote to one rogue to see if it worked. He could get it done quickly enough, and within a couple of days we would be able to know whether or not we could produce more. By that rate, we would know by the time the party came.
Finally, Luke and I peered over the windowsill to see that the men were gone; they likely realized that they wouldn’t find him and decided to give up. Luke pulled his hood up again before standing.
“It’s in the infirmary,” I said quietly. ” In the cupboard at the back of the office. You can’t miss it; it’s bright blue.”
“Gotcha,” Luke replied with a nod.
And then, with one final, tight hug, Luke disappeared through the window again like a black cat in the night.
Finally, everything seemed to be coming together. With Luke handling the issue of the antidote testing, I could just focus on saving Enzo.
I only hoped that our plan worked, and that he would finally remember me.
