Page 242 of The Blairville Legacies

“I'll take that as ayes!”

Chapter 54

Bayla

By the time we drove through the part of the forest marked on the map as theBlairs' territoryand crossed the border into theDeLoughreys' territory, dusk had fallen.

You could tell because the asphalt was suddenly rougher, and the thicket next to the road became denser. The forest seemed deeper, darker, almost dead. As if, if you dared to set foot in it, you would be instantly devoured.

I swallowed and wrapped my arms tighter around Larissa's wasp waist.

I didn't want to end up like the woman on the forest border.

As much as I would have liked to tell Larissa everything, I didn't want to burden her unnecessarily with this creepy werewolf stuff if we were leaving here soon anyway. But I couldn't just let her drive here on her own, either.

I had to protect her, because if I told her about all the shit that was going on here, she probably wouldn't want to leave. And I didn't want to lose my best friend to a serial killer, hungry werewolves or a crazy cult.

And then there were theDeLoughreys…

I didn't understand why these rich people were buying up forests as if they were obsessed with wood. Besides, I hadn't yetunderstood the DeLoughreys' role in this whole game about the town. If they were human, the Blairs and the Copelands would certainly have an easy game. Something really stank about this family, and the fact that Larissa was throwing herself headlong into it worried me all the more.

We took one curve after another on the dark asphalt.

The fog was getting thicker and thicker.

I didn't really think we were going to find anything.

Did I even want to find anything?No.I didn't even want to beherein the late evening. Especially since I knew there werefucking werewolvesin the woods surrounding the town, I'd always tried not to be out after 7pm. No offense to Julian and the professor, but you never knew...

Larissa hit the gas, apparently assuming that we were alone on the road and that this road would never end...until it did, abruptly as it had started.

Larissa stopped a little gruffly and took off her helmet.

“What the... This can't be...”

She sounded disappointed by the forest piling up in front of us, leading toward the three higher mountains of this surprisingly big island, surrounded by misty dark woods.

Somehow, I didn't feel comfortable here at all. It was freezing cold, even though I had put on many layers of clothing.

There was a rotten crackling in the undergrowth. Or was it the bony branches of the few deciduous trees that were overhanging the road?

“I don't get it...” Larissa muttered and got off before securing the motorbike from falling.

How could shenotfind this place creepy? The dark sky, the black thicket, the snarling branches and the noises made by the wind...

I would have loved to go back.Now. Right now.

But Larissa went to the side of the road and bent down to take a photo.

The branches creaked a little louder, and the wind suddenly whistled ice-cold through my hair.

I shivered.

“We should go. There's nothing here, Larissa,” I insisted, hoping that therereallywas nothing out here.

I had the feeling that it was getting icier and icier.

But Larissa didn't seem to be so convinced, because she continued forward to where the forest began.