Circle Quartet: 23

Chapter 23

His sorrowful eyes tell me everything. I make no attempt to ask him more. The reminiscence of the past quietly appears into my mind. I couldn’t forget the night when he turned into a werewolf, the night where he left the scar on my arm, the night that change our bonds.

“Tell me this isn’t happening,” I mutter. Stefan frowns at me. “Don’t look at me with that kind of face, Stefan. We’re in the middle of jungle and this is between life and death. If you don’t turn into werewolf, you’re going to die. We are going to die,” I grit my teeth. This anger is abruptly taking control of my mind. I need to calm myself down.

“I know, Alice. But this is not a question of can’t. It’s a question of won’t. I’ve hurt you for so many times. I don’t want to hurt you anymore,” he slowly shakes his head.

“Stefan, look at me!” I grab his collar and stare straight into his eyes. His face is just an inch from mine. “This is not a time to joke around! That bear will find us soon and we have to fight it. The only way to kill that bear is you to turn into a werewolf, you got that?” I shove him hard and make him stumble backward.

I jump above him and send a flying kick. Not toward him, but to the bear. It has found us and this time I need to kill it. One of my swords is still stuck on its arm.

“Look likes I have to finish this ugly thing on my own,” I grip my other sword and attack the bear by swinging the sword as hard as I could. I still remember Stefan taught me swinging the baseball bat. All I need to do is cut of its head.

But the bear is smart and it has thick fur and steel body. I attack it once more and this time is from below. I roll under it and punch its belly. The bear growl in pain and I punch it again and send it flying. The bear stands up and swings its claws randomly. I dodge to the left and right but it hit me hard. I fall into the river. It is shivering cold and I need to get on the surface as fast as I can.

“Alice!” I hear Stefan shouts my name.

I manage to jump to the surface and slowly swim to the bank. I’m now wet and cold and shivering. Stefan helps me up to the ground and I’m panting hard. I can feel the warm blood trickle down from my cheek.

“My cheek!” I shriek. I hate when I get a cut on my pretty cheek.

Stefan glares at the bear and I can see his eyes are turning into silver. He’s changing into werewolf. He doesn’t take much time to transform himself because tonight is full moon. Stefan is now a werewolf with shimmering silver fur, not brown colour like his first transformation. He growls and howls at the moon.

The bear growls ferociously and attempts to attack him. Stefan is fast. He runs to the bear and bites its neck. It takes only one bite to break the bear’s neck and it turns into black sand. As I thought earlier, that bear is not real. It’s the work of magic. And there’s the last flag that we need before reaching the Old-Willow tree.

Stefan turns to me and he’s still in werewolf mode. I can’t move. My body becomes numb. I’m shivering, not because of the cold but this is what exactly happens when the first time Stefan turns into werewolf. I gulp nervously and close my eyes and pray.

Suddenly I feel something warm covers my shivering body. I slowly open my eyes and see Stefan curls besides me, wrapping his bushy tails around my body so that I don’t feel cold anymore.

“You feel better?” He asks.

“Ye-yeah. Th-thanks, Stefan,” I nod.

“I’m sorry, Alice. I’ve hurt you that night. After that incident happened, I was trying to tell you that I didn’t do it on purpose. I couldn’t control my power yet. And when my family moved, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. The night that we met again at your party, I couldn’t utter a word. I didn’t know what to say and how to react. I wanted to talk to you but I can’t. One day, Jeff came to my house and told me that he will help me to win your heart back. He told me everything about you and what I should do. That’s why I’ve tried so hard to get close to you like we used to be.”

Jeff’s behind this? I’m going to kill him, twice!

“I’m sorry for hurting you. I’m sorry for breaking your heart. I’m sorry for not keeping my promise. Will you forgive me?”

I’m now speechless. Stefan apologizes to me and yes, he’s being honest. I don’t know what to say. That is the word that I wanted to hear from him these years. I know it’s hard to say the word. Stefan rests his wolf’s head on my arm and looks at me with his sorrowful eyes.

I remember what Grandma Zelda had told me yesterday. Let bygone be bygone. I need to give him one more chance to say sorry. I can’t change the past but I can do something for the future.

I slowly wrap my arms around his furry neck. “I forgive you, Stefan. And sorry for not giving you any chance to apologize. And sorry for calling you ‘stupid dog’,” I whisper to his ear.

“Thanks so much, Alice.” He sounds quite happy this time.

“Can I scratch under your chin?” I ask.

Stefan chuckles. “Sure. I would love to”.

I scratch under his chin. “I always want to have a dog.”

“Well, you already have one. I will keep my promise as I promised you ten years ago. I’ll protect you, Alice. I swear.” He makes a vow, again. And this time, I know that he’s telling the truth.

“I think we should hurry to the Old-Willow. We got the last flag,” I ruffle his head.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He slowly stands up. “Hope on my back. I’ll give you a ride.”

Now this is cool! I never ride a werewolf before. I take his bag pack and put the last flag in it and hop on Stefan’s back. Suddenly we heard music not far from here. And it’s getting louder and louder.

“Do you hear that?” I ask and look around.

He nods. “Isn’t that song from The Lion King?”

I listen carefully to the song that is getting louder. Stefan is right! It’s Can’t You Feel The Love Tonight song. I look up on the tree and see Jeff carrying a small radio while singing the song.

“And can you feel the love tonight!” he sings while his other 3 companions be the backup singers.

“Jeff, you jerk!” I yell at him. Jeff waves at me and jumps down from the tree. His other companions are still on the tree.

“Hey there, little buddy. Sorry for ruining your romantic mood with your big pet over there. I need to tell you something,” says Jeff. Meanwhile, Stefan has turn back into human form.

“What is it?” asks Stefan as he’s now standing next to me.

“Congratulations! You guys have reached the Old-Willow!” he announces.

I jump with joy and hug Stefan. “We did it! We did it, Stefan!”

Stefan blushes as I hug him and I let go off him when Jeff is smiling weirdly at us.

“Are we the first pair to arrive here?” I ask.

“Nope. The first one is Abbie’s pair. She already went to the base camp,” Jeff shakes his head. “Well, at least you got the second place.”

I pout. There’s no way I lost to Abbie. It was all that big, fat, ugly bear’s fault!

“But where’s the Old-Willow tree?” asks Stefan.

Jeff points to the small willow tree with a sign ‘Old-Willow’.

“That’s the Old-Willow? I thought it was big,” I say.

“Okay, lovebirds. Let’s go back to the base camp. The foods have been served and you can gobble them up. I know that you’re now hungry, am I right?” Jeff pats Stefan’s shoulder.

I am hungry right now! And I need to drink more blood. I grab Stefan’s hand and teleport to the base camp.