CHAPTER 120: 120-A MARK ON MY FOREHEAD.

Clementine:

"So then who is it, Mr. Genius?" Jack taunted, making only his squad laugh. Even with their bloody faces, they still managed to bully someone.

"I don’t know. I just know it’s not our ringleaders. Are you seriously that dumb that whoever sounds like your ringleader, you’ll follow them?" Ian taunted Joshua, who suddenly straightened his shoulders.

"I think this dude doesn’t know anything. He doesn’t even show interest in anyone, and here he is making rules. We should follow the voice," Jack said, gesturing at the other squad members to lead the way.

"Why would we listen to you?" Oriana said, hands on her waist as she walked ahead of everyone. "Aren’t you guys the ones who got a girl killed?"

I was shocked she wasn’t even worried that her squadmates wouldn’t help her when she was messing with the White Squad.

"That was an accident!" Xenia screamed.

"Oh, you better not scream at me, you lousy-mouthed girl. There are no accidents in the North. You did it on purpose. And let’s not even talk about how you’ve been bullying her for the past two days. Why? What triggered you guys so much against her, huh?" The way Oriana spoke, I could tell she knew more than we did. The White Squad just stared at her, almost like challenging her.

"We’ve seen you around, princess," Suki jumped in. "You walk around like you’re such a dainty little thing, and it’s fine. You’re keeping yourself busy since nobody else likes you. But make sure you don’t cross us. Because whoever crosses us—" Suki pointed at her chest.

"They end up dead, right, Suki?" I taunted, and she clenched her fists.

"Anyway, I just let you guys know what I think. The rest is up to you. You want to go and follow these idiots, be my guest," Ian said with a shrug. But then suddenly, the speakers started to blare again.

"This grey-eyed boy is going to get you all punished. Unless you don’t want to end up in punishment, just listen to our orders."

The voice sounded like Ms. Lenora.

Everybody began to look at each other, but then I guess it finally hit them, it wasn’t possible for the ringleaders to be here. And the darkness ahead of us was a clear sign that something was wrong.

Thankfully, they didn’t listen to the voice. After some time, the darkness began to fade away.

"Do you think it’s safe to go to the city now?" one of the members from the blue squad asked.

"I mean, we weren’t going anywhere, it was obvious someone had tried to trick us." Now that it was clear the voice came from an imposter, Jack from the white squad was suddenly acting like a hero. We ignored him.

Everybody started moving forward while our squad stayed back. Ian turned to us, rubbing his chin.

"This could be Medusa. At least now we know she has the power to change her voice and imitate anyone," Ian said, sounding almost too busy trying to figure out more.

"We should find a place to stay, somewhere safe enough to avoid Medusa for a few hours, at least until we figure out how to fight her," Ian suggested, his eyes wandering around. I noticed a clear change in his body language and behavior today. He wasn’t acting like himself, more like a broken version of him. It felt strange, but I couldn’t help noticing.

"Are you okay?" Haiden asked while Yorick and Troy walked ahead, shoulder to shoulder with Ian.

"Yeah," I replied.

"What happened?" Haiden wondered, and I frowned, keeping pace with him.

"What do you mean?" I asked, unsure what he was getting at.

"Back when you passed out, you were saying some stuff in your sleep," Haiden pressed. "Something about the shadows, the hammer, and your stepmother." He kept his eyes on my face as we walked.

"I don’t know, Haiden. It was just a weird nightmare. I’m pretty sure that’s all it was," I said, trying to convince myself. I was certain, until he said something that threw me off.

"Are you sure it was just a nightmare? Or maybe a lost memory that is triggered now?"

His words made me go numb. I stopped when we reached the big city. Now I understood why it was called that. It was stunning in a way, yet not at all. The buildings were mostly in ruins, with clear signs of heavy damage, not from one monster, but many.

Some buildings were brown, the next set light green, then beige, then ivory. It formed a pattern. Nowhere could I spot a lone house standing in a different color. There were always three or four houses of the same shade before the color changed, repeating over and over.

We passed parks as we walked, but there was no way to explore the entire city, not on foot, not while starving.

"That’s the worst part about not being in the woods," Troy muttered. "At least you can find food in the woods."

Before I could answer, Yorick pointed toward a huge mall.

"And you think that place will be safe?" Haiden asked, eyeing the massive building. The bigger the place, the higher the chance monsters could be hiding inside.

"We can at least try," Troy said. "Maybe there’ll be some food or something in there."

Next thing we knew, we were heading toward the mall.

As soon as we entered the mall, I stopped in front of a large window. In its reflection, I could see myself clearly. I gently lifted my bangs, spotting a faint mark on my forehead. It was barely visible, but it looked like I’d been struck once with something.

"Maybe a silver hammer," my wolf murmured, reminding me of my dream and the object I’d seen my stepmother holding.

"But wouldn’t it have healed?" I asked her.

"Did Haiden’s mark heal?" she replied.

That question stayed with me. Why do some marks never heal? The thought made me more certain, and more afraid, that the dream might be true. If it really happened, did that mean my stepmother had hit me with a silver hammer, and the memory had been erased from my mind?

"Are you okay?"

I almost jumped when I heard Troy’s voice behind me. Quickly, I lowered my bangs and gave him a small nod before walking away. Something terrible was happening to me. Ever since I’d stepped into the north this time, and the closer I got to the big city, the stranger, and sadder, I felt.