Izzy

Something told me that Charlie wasn't as pleased to see us as he let on. After the last words between Charlie and Chris, he was tense throughout the whole rest of the walk. He led us further through the town where hundreds of houses were spread everywhere along with nearly a dozen different buildings. We had already passed what looked like to be a small school house on our way.

It was quite a surprise to me, to be honest. I didn't realize that they were so... well, developed. Obviously, they didn't have much access to technology like phones and computers, but they didn't seem to need that. From as far as I could tell, they were doing completely fine on their own.

One thing that caught my attention while we were walking was the fact that nearly every house we passed had their doors wide open. I doubted that the few doors that were closed were even locked. Considering how humans always had to lock everything up whether it be their houses or cars, it was definitely a new sight to see. Apparently, I wasn't the only one to notice it either.

"Why are all the doors open?" Bryan asked Chris before I had the chance to do so myself.

"Why wouldn't they be?" Chris asked in return, sounding just as confused by the question as Bryan did asking it.

No one bothered to say anything in response to it. Apparently, theft wasn't a common thing among The Grove inhabitants. I made a habit of peering inside every house and building we passed as best as I could to get an idea of how this town was laid out.

The somewhat large store that was built on the banks of the stream and had the water wheel attached to it was a food market. Seeing the array of fruits, vegetables and meats lined in the store made that much clear enough, but there didn't seem to be nearly as much meat left as there was of other foods. Wasn't Chris supposed to be hunting for food before he stumbled upon us...?

If it was even possible, his face grew even paler after taking a look inside the store. Picking up his pace, he quickly led us past more and more buildings. The next one we passed was even larger than the food market. From what I could see on the inside, dozens of beds were arrayed around the bottom floor while metal carts and shelves displayed various vials filled with different substances, most of them containing black liquid. The floor above it was a mystery to me, but even without knowing, it was obvious that this building was the infirmary Chris talked about.

"Hey, Chris," I said, snapping him out of his dazed thoughts. "If your own blood can heal you of any injury much quicker than humans heal, then why are there still a few werewolves in there?"

"Broken bones won't heal properly without some medical assistance. And besides, our blood can't heal things such as bacterial and viral infections," he muttered, never even bothering to slow down or face me.

It was turning into a real struggle to keep up with his fast pace. Before running into his brother, he seemed to have been in a good mood for the first time since meeting him. He was somewhat opening up to us. Now it seemed like that through unspoken words between him and Charlie, he was now embarrassed to have us following so closely behind him. I only hoped that we could get treated for our injuries before getting expelled from the town.

The next large building we passed was quite frightening. Blood red paint covered the walls while several target dummies were littered around the room with multiple daggers sticking out of their heads and chests. On shelves and racks laid daggers, swords, hunting bows, you name it and it was there. This building alone held enough weapons to supply an army. Padded mats were also laid out in the center of the room to aid in any sort of fight.

After a few more minutes of walking, Chris finally came to a halt outside a rather plain two-story building. It didn't take much to tell that no one else was living inside due to the lack of personality the place had. Every other house we passed had an assortment of colorful flowers neatly planted outside, but this building had nothing.

"This here is the living quarters," Chris explained, noticing our curious glances. "It's normally used to provide a comfortable place to stay for werewolves visiting from another town on business or even for werewolves of this town whose homes are under construction."

"It's... big," Austin summed up.

"Not big enough," Chris said, finally turning around to face us all. "There's only ten bedrooms in here with two beds per room. Don't worry, though, each room is decently sized and I'm sure you'll all be able to fit comfortably."

"We'll be fine. Thank you for giving us a place to stay," I told him.

He only nodded in response and opened the door to allow us all to go inside. Similar to the outside of the house, even the inside was very plain. There were hardly any decorations - just basic furniture necessities. A tan couch sat a few feet left of the front door along with a few different chairs scattered about that all surrounded a coffee table. White curtains were hung over every window and were draped shut so that very little sunlight made its way inside the house.

To the right of the front door were stairs that led upstairs while across from the door was a narrow hallway that led to more rooms located on the bottom floor. Almost immediately, the majority of the Rescuers ran upstairs to try and get a bedroom there. I tried to take another glance at Chris before finding a room for myself, but he was still outside and didn't seem like he'd be walking inside anytime soon.

Shaking my head, I started walking down the narrow hallway until I reached the room located at the farthest end. Nobody had taken the room yet so I collapsed onto the bed with an exhausted sigh. I honestly wanted nothing more than to take a long nap on, but I knew that I had to make sure the others were doing okay. Well, maybe closing my eyes for just a little wouldn't hurt anyone... A gasp of pain escaped my mouth when I subconsciously put my hands behind my head and leaned back, forgetting momentarily about my broken fingers.

"Very smooth," Austin chuckled from the doorway as he made his way inside the room.

"I hope you don't plan on staying here," I told him as I sat up and soon got off the bed.

"Ouch. You don't want the lovely company of your best friend?"

I rolled my eyes, knowing that he understood what I meant but just didn't want to acknowledge it. If he didn't understand, then he really must've been even dafter than I thought. I would've hoped that the questionable looks the girls entering the room gave him would be obvious enough that his presence was odd here.

"Austin, the other guys are all probably sharing a room together. Go stay with them," I told him with a sigh.

"But I want to stay here with all the girls."

I was ready to throw a pillow at him just by the grin he had on his face, but Alyssa walked in right after Austin said that, causing her to raise an eyebrow at him. The look I shot him was far from playful.

"Just kidding, just kidding," he said as he threw his hands up in surrender. "But you know I don't like being around the other guys. I don't know, I just get along with you guys better so please let me stay."

"Well, I guess there's only way to settle this," I said dramatically as I threw my hands up in the air, a small smirk appearing on my lips. "You're sleeping outside."

"Wait, what?" he asked frantically, a scared look in his eyes.

I couldn't help but laugh at his reaction. "Just a joke. You can stay here, just don't be weird."

"Yes!" he exclaimed as he pumped his fist in the air.

Shaking my head and trying to hide my grin at his silly act, I made my way across the room to where the bathroom was located. After walking inside, I realized that likewise to the bedroom, it was decently sized. It even had a shower which I was relieved to see. I wouldn't be surprised if all the other bedrooms had a bathroom that looked similar to this one.

Facing the mirror, a scowl immediately appeared on my face as I finally got a glimpse of how I looked for the first time in hours. Leaves and small twigs had somehow found their way tangled in my pulled back hair, and I had smears of dirt all over my face. I quickly ran the water from the sink and washed my face off before taking my hair out of its ponytail to remove all the leaves.

It was only after that did my eyes finally land on the silver necklace that was still wrapped around my neck. After all the events that had happened that day, I completely forgot about the necklace Liam had given me as a final present. Just thinking about it brought tears to my eyes and it took everything I had to keep my lower lip from quivering.

A sudden knock on the open bedroom door snapped me out of my thoughts. Stepping out of the bathroom, I saw that Bryan had already let himself in and had his arms wrapped around Alyssa.

"Hey," I said as I walked out.

"Hey," he said in reply, a grin appearing on his face as his eyes were still fixed on Alyssa. "Sorry for the sudden appearance, Chris sent me here to tell you guys to head outside."

"You think he's finally taking us to the infirmary?" Austin asked, gesturing towards his broken arm.

"No idea, but I hope so. Alyssa really needs to get her hand checked out."

"It's okay. I'll be fine," she said reassuringly.

"He's right, you know," I told her as I started to make my way towards the bedroom door. "Come on, guys. We shouldn't keep him waiting."

Bryan and Alyssa stuck close together as they walked down the hallway staying far behind the others and I. As we all walked out the front door, I saw that nearly everyone else was already outside. Chris was standing a few feet away from the house, watching us as we all gathered in front of the large building. It wasn't until everyone was there that he began to speak.

"I'm sorry that you've all had to wait so long, but I can finally take you guys to the infirmary," he said, causing a sigh of relief to escape my mouth. "But the thing is that there won't be enough beds for everyone here. To make this easier, everyone with serious injuries form a line to the right while ones who can wait form a line to the left."

Austin and I immediately moved to the right and I made sure that Austin was the first person on the line. I got a good look at a lot of their injuries and Austin's arm was definitely the most severe. Taking a glance at the opposite line, I was surprised to see Alyssa standing there when she obviously shouldn't be. The cloth ripped from Bryan's shirt to tie around her hand was soaked through with blood.

"Alyssa, you really need to go to the infirmary now," Bryan told her as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

Before she could argue with him, even Chris stepped in.

"He's right. You need to come with us now," he told her.

Knowing that she couldn't win this, she sighed and walked over until she reached the end of the line. Chris looked at the people standing on the left line to make sure no one else there needed immediate medical assistance. Seeming satisfied with the people on the right line, he began to lead us back towards where we first passed the infirmary.

The trip wasn't long at all. In only about ten minutes of walking, we were all standing outside the infirmary. Chris didn't waste any time to walk inside and head over to where the presumed to be doctors were standing, leaving us to find empty beds ourselves to wait to be attended to.

Austin immediately turned right after entering inside and hopped on the bed that was closest to the door. Following in suit, I laid down on the bed to his right and examined the inside of the building. There were at least two dozen beds arranged in a semi circle around the room while about five doctors stood in the middle of the room talking to Chris. Even from the distance, I could tell her was getting more and more frustrated talking with them. It wasn't long until he furiously turned away from them and started walking towards where Austin and I were.

"I'm sorry guys, but it looks like the two of you will be stuck with Wingard," he said as he stopped right in front of our beds.

"Wingard?" Austin and I asked in unison.

"I worked hard to earn my title as doctor," a man said in a bored tone, appearing behind Chris suddenly. "I would appreciate it if you could use it more often, Christopher."

Chris flinched away and scowled at the sound of his full name being spoken by this man. Moving towards me, he let the doctor pass so he could examine Austin. I gave Dr. Wingard a questionable look as he did so. The other doctors were probably in their mid-thirties at the earliest, but he looked no older than twenty-five. I don't think anyone could blame me for questioning him.

"What the hell is that?" the doctor asked, pointing towards the homemade sling I made for Austin with my jacket.

"A sling," I told him, already growing impatient with him.

"Well, it's obvious someone here won't be a doctor anytime soon," he commented before walking off.

I wrinkled my nose in distaste of his words. I came here to get treated, certainly not to get criticized by a man who probably shouldn't even be a doctor.

"Are you sure he's qualified to be a doctor?" I asked Chris, making it clear that I didn't like him at all.

"Dr. Aaron Wingard," he muttered bitterly. "He's rude, sarcastic, and a smartass, but he's also one of the most intelligent people in the Grove which makes him all the more irritating."

Wingard started walking back with a vial full of the black liquid I spotted earlier along with a syringe. It didn't take me long to realize that the black liquid was actually werewolf's blood.

"As much as I love having your hot-headed self around, Christopher," he said, "I've had enough of it to last me a lifetime so you can kindly leave now."

"Shut it, Wingard," Chris growled. "I'm staying here to make sure the blood actually works."

"Why wouldn't it work?" Austin asked nervously, taking the words right out of my mouth.

Wingard sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before shooting a glare at Chris who covered his face with his hands, making it obvious that he said something wrong.

"And this is precisely why I didn't want you here. Do you want to tell them now?" he asked Chris furiously.

"I'm sorry, okay? It slipped."

"Tell us what?" I asked hesitantly,

Chris and Wingard exchanged wary glances before looking back at me. I was quickly starting to grow impatient. Chris didn't look like he'd be saying anything anytime soon so Wingard finally cut in.

"The blood has only been tested once over sixteen years ago," he told us as he placed the vial and syringe down before crossing his arms. "The first humans to ever enter the Grove discovered it. The man was a scientist and he discovered the healing properties of it on humans by testing it on himself."

"So as far as you know, it only worked on him? No one else?" Austin asked.

"From what I've heard, his wife was pregnant at the time so he didn't want to risk testing it on her. We've never had any humans until now to test it further," Chris explained.

"So we're basically just lab rats now," I summed up.

"Lab humans would be more accurate..." Wingard trailed off, causing Chris to turn on him.

"You're not helping!" he screamed before facing Austin and I. "Trust me, we would never give you the blood without your consent. Werewolf blood only had negative effects on vampires, not on humans. The worst that can happen is that your wounds won't heal. That's it, I promise."

"Still, I refuse to go first," Austin said. "I want to see it be done first before I even let you come near me with that syringe."

Wingard immediately turned towards me, an unreadable expression on his face. He didn't seem to expect to me to oblige to it. To be honest, I wasn't too sure myself.

"Well?" he asked expectantly. "I don't have all day. I would hope you're braver than your friend over there."

"Hey!" Austin exclaimed.

As much as I wanted to wait with Austin to see how it worked on someone else, who in their right mind would ever want to do it first? Everyone else was probably just as nervous as Austin and I were so how was it fair that we hoped that they obliged first. I was the leader; it was my job to do this.

"I'll do it," I told him, earning a nod from him in response.

"Are you sure, Izzy?" Austin whispered, a concerned look on his face.

I nodded, afraid that any words that I tried to form would only come out in a series of stutters or mumbles. I was more afraid than I was comfortable with letting on. He would surely make a scene and try to stop it if he knew how terrified I was and that was the last thing I needed. I just had to hope this would be over with soon.

As Wingard approached me with the syringe that was now full of werewolf's blood, I couldn't peel my eyes away from it. It was a known fact that I have extreme hemophobia, the fear of blood, and just seeing it inside the syringe was enough to make me feel lightheaded. Shutting my eyes tight, I just laid there and prayed that it would be over soon.

"Izzy, are you-"

"I'm fine," I replied quickly, cutting Chris off. "Just get it over with. Please."

"Wingard, you can't do this," he said, ignoring me and turning to the doctor.

"Last I checked, you have no authorization to tell me what to do. She's agreed to it so that's what I'll do," he replied curtly as he grabbed my arm roughly and began to examine the veins.

Clearly not in agreement with Wingard, Chris stood back next to Austin and watched with his arms folded tightly over his chest. I held my breath as Wingard picked up the syringe once again and brought it closer to my arm. Without any warning, he stuck the needle in and injected the blood. I sighed in relief, thinking that the worst part was finally over, but I was so wrong.

In only seconds, the black blood he injected started to visibly move down my arm and towards my broken fingers until the once blue veins in that hand were as black as their eyes. My heart started to rapidly speed up until I was hyperventilating. This was almost worse than seeing blood splattered around me; seeing the black blood moving around in my veins was like a nightmare come true.

"What's going on?" Chris asked, noticing how panicked I was.

"I-I'm not sure," Wingard stuttered, quickly grabbing my arm and feeling for a pulse. "There was nowhere in the medical documents that said the heart would rapidly speed up due to the blood."

"She has a fear of blood! She might pass out," Austin shouted, jumping out of the bed to rush to my side.

"Do something, Wingard!" Chris screamed furiously.

"I can't!"

My vision was growing increasingly blurry and despite the fact that sounds were starting to dull for me, their voices sounded too loud. I wanted to tell the three of them to stop shouting, but no sound left my mouth. Before I knew it, I was spiraling into a void of darkness.

I was in Eclipse Park again, except this time it was completely empty. Not a soul to be seen. I walked over to my favorite spot, the giant fountain located in the center of the park, and sat down on it. Every so often, little water droplets spraying from the fountain dropped onto my back and made me shiver. The sky was a stormy gray and it looked like it would begin to rain at any moment, but it never did.

I had no idea what I was suddenly doing here, but I had no complaint. It was always calm and peaceful here. It was my favorite childhood memory. For some reason, though, it didn't feel as calm and peaceful as I remembered. It felt just as dark as the sky as if something would ruin the serenity.

As if on cue, I heard footsteps coming from behind me. Thinking it was Hunters, I instinctively reached for my dagger, but it wasn't there. Before fear could wash over me, I spun around to face the possible attacker to see someone who I never thought I'd see again.

Liam.

My heart skipped a beat. It couldn't possibly be him yet here he was in the flesh. All sense of logic dispersed in my brain and before I could second guess it, I ran as fast I could to him and hugged him tightly. He just stood there, not reciprocating the hug, but I couldn't care less. I was only glad he was there.

"How is it really you...?" I asked as I pulled away and cupped his cheeks with my hands. "Oh, never mind that! I'm just so glad you're here. I've missed you so much."

"Really?" he asked doubtfully.

A small frown appeared on my face. Why did he say it like that?

"Yes, of course."

He pushed me away and took a step backward away from me. The smile I once had faded completely from my face.

"You could've fooled me," he said, his once friendly face now stony. "I told you this morning that someone would get hurt, did I not? Now you have to live with the fact that you didn't listen to me."

I started sobbing just as hard as I did when I saw his body earlier. Does he really blame this all on me...? As much as it hurt me, I couldn't disagree with him. I could've stopped it but I never did.

"I'm so sorry, Liam. I never wanted this to happen to you."

I moved to hug him, but something stopped me. Before I could take even a step closer to him, something red started to appear on his shirt right where his stomach was. In only seconds, his shirt was covered in it. It didn't take long for me to realize it was his blood. It dripped from his once blue shirt and started trickling down the corners of his mouth. I quickly slapped my hands over my mouth to keep me from screaming.

He opened his mouth to speak again, but the next few words that left wasn't in his voice. It was Austin's voice. He said, "Come on, Izzy. You have to wake up now."

His voice sounded so loud in my ears and when I tried turning on my side, to block out the sound, my hand collided with the side of his face.

"Ow!" he yelped, backing away from me. "Good morning to you, too, Sleeping Beauty."

"Why the hell were you screaming in my ear?" I asked groggily as I sat up, rubbing my ear.

"I've been trying to wake you up for the past twenty minutes. You kept tossing and turning - I thought you were having a nightmare or something."

My face blanched as I remembered the dream with Liam. That was something I didn't want to have to relive again. I think it was obvious that something was troubling me because even Austin noticed.

"You were mumbling a lot. Iz, what was the dream about?" he asked.

I hesitated, debating whether or not I should tell him. Liam was his brother, he has a right to know but yet, I didn't feel like I could get the words out. It's bad enough that I had to see Liam in my dream like that, telling Austin about it would almost be just as bad as forcing him to have the dream himself. I couldn't put him through that.

"I can't remember."

"Maybe it was about me," he teased.

"Possibly," I said, a smirk tugging on my lips. "Did you hear me say, 'Austin, stop playing with firecrackers before you set another thing on fire'?"

He made a mocking face at me and I couldn't help but laugh. I moved to get up and instinctively put all my weight on my hands. It was only after I did so that I remembered my broken fingers and braced for the searing pain, but it never came. Slightly confused, I examined my hand and none of my fingers were broken. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that getting my fingers broken was also a dream.

"Cool, huh?" Austin asked with a grin. He raised up his broken arm which was now in an actual sling. "My arm is almost completely healed, too. That doctor told me it would take a little longer since it's a larger bone."

"It seems so unreal..."

"Oh, trust me. It's definitely real," a new voice said.

I looked up to see Chris walking over to us. He had new clothes on so I couldn't tell if his injuries were healed or not, but seeing that he was finally walking without limping was a good sign.

"I'm glad to see you're feeling better," he told me with what looked to be a forced smile on his face.

I was confused by what he said at first, but then I remembered what happened before I had the dream. A small blush appeared on my face at the mere memory of me passing out at the sight of the werewolf's blood in me. I always knew my fear was bad, but never that bad.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. Blood really freaks me out," I replied sheepishly.

"You could've said that earlier. If you did, then-"

"Well, it's over now," I said quickly, really wanting to change the subject. He nodded understandingly.

"Anyway, I just stopped by to see if you were awake and to tell you both something. Charlie thinks it's a good idea that we give you and the other humans a sort of training class for self-defense and such."

"Sounds good," I told him. "Will you be teaching it?"

"Yeah. Probably along with a few friends, too."

"Please tell me not Drew," Austin said.

I was glad to see that him and I both felt the same about Drew. I know Dakota told us that Drew's not a bad guy, but I still couldn't get over all the things he said. He seemed to be the type of guy who wouldn't hesitate to hurt us if he got the chance.

"Don't worry," he said with a sigh as he sat down on the bed next to mine. "He wanted to teach it, but I don't trust him alone with you guys."

"Thank you," Austin and I both said in unison.

"Anyway, it'll take place in the training room which is just around the corner from here."

"Yeah, I remember where it is."

I didn't think I'd ever be able to get the image of that creepy room out of my head. Thankfully, I didn't have to dwell on the thought of it for much longer.

"Well, I'm glad the two of you are feeling better. I should get going now to check on everyone else, but I hope to see you guys later on," Chris said with a curt smile before leaving Austin and I to ourselves.

A yawn escaped my mouth followed by a sudden wave of dizziness. I may have been asleep for hours, but thanks to the nightmare, it didn't feel like I got any rest at all. Even though it wasn't in my best interest, I was ready to lay back down and take another nap.

"Please don't tell me you're planning on sleeping again," he said with a laugh.

"Don't worry about me, I can just sleep later. After all, we do still need to explore this town before training starts later on."

Standing up from the bed, I was already excited to start exploring. It was something I was looking forward to from the second Chris told us he would take us to the Grove. It's not every day that you got to stay in a werewolf town and something told me that my opportunity to explore would be fleeting. Unfortunately, the time for that would have to wait.

"About that... While you were passed out, I ended up taking a look around for myself and met this girl. She and I were planning on meeting up in a little bit."

"Wow. I'm passed out only for a few hours and here you are going around getting dates," I said with a slight chuckle.

"Hey, who ever said a guy couldn't have a little fun while his best friend is unconscious," he replied back with a grin. "But in all seriousness, I think she's one of the few werewolves here that are accepting of us. Maybe I can find out some things from her while I have the chance."

I nodded and looked down at my hands. Everything was going so utterly wrong for me that day. To add onto it, now I felt something that I hated to admit; useless. I was the leader of the Rescuers because I enjoyed being in charge and having all the responsibility. I felt so useless right then after realizing that while I passed out over something as stupid as blood, Austin took it into his own hands to try to find someone that we can get information out of.

"Don't worry, Iz. I know how much you hate to sit idly by. If you want, I think I got something you can do," he said as he leaned in closer to me.

"What's that?"

His eyes darted around the infirmary quickly to make sure that no one was within earshot of us. His eyes were wide and it was obvious that a mix of emotions were swirling around inside him.

"Liam's death only proved that there are spies among us. The only problem is that we don't know who."

"Yes, yes. You've mentioned this before," I snapped unintentionally. Whether it is obvious or not, it was still hard for me to believe that the people in our group who've been with us for years could turn on us like this.

"I was kinda hoping that you could go around keeping an eye on some of the Rescuers-"

"You want me to spy on our members, the people who trust us the most?" I asked in shock.

"Yeah..."

"I can't do this, Austin," I told him as I shook my head vigorously.

"We don't know who we can trust anymore. It can honestly be anyone or everyone in the Rescuers. Both us and the werewolves are in danger until we can figure out who it is."

I opened my mouth to argue but quickly shut it. As much as I didn't want to admit it, he was right. Even if it wasn't the werewolves who were also at risk, I couldn't risk losing Austin. He was all I had left after Liam. Although it meant going against my morals, I would do it just to protect him.

"I'll try to," I told him. "But there are so many people in the Rescuers, it would be nearly impossible for me to do it on my own. We need someone else to help us."

"Chris?"

I was almost about to say yes until I thought about it a little more. As impatient as he was, Chris wouldn't be the best person to send to spy on others. Besides, it would look awfully suspicious if a werewolf started questioning the members. No, we needed someone who was a part of the Rescuers so no suspicion could be raised. So that it would just look like an everyday conversation. Someone who everyone likes and trusts...

"Alyssa," I told him, positive that she'd be the best choice.

"Are you sure about her?" he asked me.

His doubt may have seemed a little harsh, but well-placed. She may have been one of few people to have been with us the longest, but we still hardly ever talked to her. I didn't know much about her, but what I did know and was positive about was her kindness and passion for saving innocent people such as the werewolves. I couldn't think of one reason that she would ever dare to side with the Hunters.

"I'm positive," I said as I nodded my head.

"Alright then. Go try to find her before we all leave for training tonight and let me know what she says."

"I will."

"Good. I'm gonna have to go now, I'm meeting up with that girl at the park in only a few minutes," he said as a wide grin spread across his face.

As he started heading towards the door to leave the infirmary with the happiest look I've ever seen on his face, I couldn't help but call after him.

"Hey, Austin! Remember you're there to gain new information about all this, not to learn about her body!"

"Why can't I do both?" he asked just before he left, causing me to shake my head and chuckle at his words.

My laughter soon faded when I realized that I was now alone. I was never good at socializing with others and as a result, my only real friends were Austin and Liam. With Liam... gone and Austin off flirting with some girl he just met, I had no one else. Self-pitying wouldn't get me anywhere, though. At the very least, Austin going off on his little date gave me the opportunity to be productive by finding Alyssa and hopefully gaining one more person on our side that we could trust.

The sun burned my eyes the second I stepped foot outside of the infirmary showing me just how long I was passed out in there. I stood there for a moment, confused as to where I was supposed to go. I couldn't remember exactly how we arrived at the infirmary in the first place and there were so many different directions I could go. Asking one of the many werewolves walking past didn't seem like an ideal option to me considering how many hateful looks I was receiving from them all. With a deep sigh, I turned right and prayed that it would soon lead me to where Alyssa was.

Twenty minutes must have passed until I ran into another Rescuer, and I mean literally ran into them. As I turned around a corner, I didn't expect to smash into Bryan who looked like he was in a hurry.

"I'm so sorry," I quickly apologized as I rubbed my aching head which took the hardest hit.

"No, it's my bad," he replied back, sounding distracted.

He tried to move around me, but I quickly stepped in his way before he could get past me.

"Before you go, do you know where Alyssa is? I've been trying to find her."

"I'm heading to go meet her right now. Sorry, but I should get going now."

Before I could question him, he was already off on his way. Something seemed off by the way he said that. He replied almost a little too quickly... Is this what everything's come down to now? I'm so paranoid of spies that my mind automatically goes to being suspicious of everyone? We'll never get anywhere if I keep doing that.

I never bothered to follow after Bryan. If he was meeting with Alyssa, it wasn't right for me to disturb them. I still had the whole day to find her so I might as well let them have their time together for now.

I felt so relieved when I ended up stumbling across the living quarters that Chris had brought us to earlier. Despite my long nap, I still felt exhausted probably due to that nightmare I had. There was nothing I needed more than a long and peaceful nap. To my surprise, though, there was someone else already in my room and definitely not someone I expected to be there.

"Hey, Izzy," Alyssa said to me as I stepped inside the room.

"Hey," I replied, still shocked to see her. "Aren't you supposed to out with Bryan right now?"

"I wish. We were supposed to, but he canceled last minute because he said he needed to go find someone and ask them something."

Her statement completely contradicted his, but I wasn't going to say anything. Quite a few minutes passed by between the time I ran into him and when I came back here, anything could've happened between that time. I wasn't going to pass any judgment at that moment. But this did give me the perfect opportunity to finally ask her.

"So you realize that there are spies in our group, right?" I asked cautiously as I took a seat next to her on the bed.

She slowly nodded her head. "After what happened earlier, there's no doubt that there are. Do you have any idea who it could be?"

I shook my head with disappointment. If only I knew, then this would be so much easier. Then I wouldn't have to resort to spying as well.

"Sadly, I don't, but that's why I'm here. Austin and I can't investigate everyone in the group ourselves. We need one other person who we can trust without any doubts. You're that person."

"Wait, why me?" she asked hesitantly.

"You're one of the nicest people in the Rescuers and I can't ever see you doing anything to harm the werewolves no matter what the reason is."

She nodded slowly but continued to stay quiet. I couldn't blame her. After all, I was basically asking her to spy on her friends for me. I would've said no if I was in her shoes.

"You don't have to help us spy," I told her reassuringly. "I know it's a lot to ask for, so you don't-"

"I'll do it. I'll help you spy if it means helping the werewolves."

I couldn't help but smile at how determined she sounded. I liked her attitude - she almost reminded me of myself. Before I could reply, she hopped off the bed and started sprinting towards the door.

"Hey, where are you going?" I asked before she could get too far.

"I'm going to start now! Do you want to join me?"

"Yeah, sure," I said just before a loud yawn escaped my mouth. "On second thought, I think I might go take a little nap."

I only hoped that my nightmares wouldn't continue to follow me.