8 Chapter 7

Ellen was still missing, and no one seemed to be able to lay a finger on what had happened. The police didn't have a lead for three days. Not even a tip or a sign. In the meantime, life had to keep going on, and I went to school.

On my way, there was a poster of Ellen missing. They were all over the place, before every etalage, even at widows in houses and on street lanterns. When I passed the forest, the trees were also hanging full of posters. It gave me a sad feeling. I thought the search was going to get a faster result.

Most girls were scared that they could have the same faith as Ellen if they passed the forest, but I knew that was the safest place to be. Of course, they didn't know that. Only wolves knew about it.

Over the weekend, Ellen's friends had been constantly asked questions. Hoping they knew more. Not only were the police doing their job, but they also had other people who showed an interest in the things that could have happened. Journalists from all over the world were all over the place, and when people from school came home, the neighbors would ask about it. Also, social media are full of it now.

I couldn't hate Ellen anymore for bullying me. How could I? She has been a missing person for more than twenty-four hours now.

I only felt unease when I saw her parents coming from school for another questionary. The gym at the school looked like a police station, and it still felt a bit strange that a missing person case was going on at a school.

Ellen has been missing three days now, and I came up with a fantastic idea. I got to the gym where the police station was now and asked if I could help them in any way.

'We could use a bit of help. Maybe you can start a search party with us. Get some children together.'

I knew it was not going to be dangerous. Otherwise, they wouldn't have done that.

I tried to convince some people on the way back to class, and many agreed to help. Even Marnik and Ivan came to me to ask if they could help.

A few hours later, I got permission from school and the police to start the search. I used the packhouse as a hotel. I did all the work that needed to be done.

While putting on the cheats on the bed, the bell was already going, and the people kept coming in preparing off their stuff for the night.

That day, I yelled through the packhouse.

'Everyone pay attention, please. Three days ago, Ellen went missing, and we want her back, right?'

People started to yell, 'Of course we want her back.'

Also, whistling on fingers made a lot of noise in our packhouse.

Some people knew my secret by now. Some didn't, so I needed to sound as human as possible while I was talking to them.

Every wolf was in a rage, so it was a hard time to keep control for everyone. Sometimes, it could happen that we use a very unnaturally loud voice. That sounded more like a howl.

Everyone here missed Ellen, which was clear on their faces. The sadness came through the excitement of the search.

Since we were with ten wolves, I hoped we could pick up her scent.

Everyone was done unpacking, and we could start. I gave them all a letter.

The wolves stayed apart from the humans for their safety. You never know that a wolf lost control over a human. Werewolves also had strict rules not to change in front of humans.

The wolves were also covering the forest ground to search because it was a big piece of land. That would make everything go faster.

'Team with letter A come forward. That team will cover the whole forest. Every counter has to be searched! Understood!'

'Yes, madam.' Everyone from A started yelling.

'Team B searched the school grounds. The same goes for you as for team A. Cover all the ground and also keep an eye open to everything.'

I never thought I would have the courage to lead a team like this. Now I knew I could do it. Also, being an alpha.

I was surprised I would even stand up for Ellen like this, and I think after that, I would get a great reward from her parents.

Would I accept it or not? I don't know yet. What I did know was that if I accepted it, I would feel uncomfortable.

'Search party C will cover the ground in between the school and the forest. It's important for this search to look everywhere you can and also stay on your part. Otherwise, it's double work, and we will take more time. The person who doesn't have a good reason to take another way and I see. Will be taken off from the search. Is that understood?'

'Yes, madame!' They yelled.

When the noise went down, I ordered all the teams to go outside and start the search. All the search parties went their own way as said, and when everyone was gone, we shifted.

Also, Marnik and Ivan were running in between. So far, they hadn't said a word to me, and I felt a bit sad about that. Ellen was Marniks' friend, but it was like they didn't care. It was like they knew something more, but what was their secret?

The trees in the forest just got their leaves back, and the light green leaves whispered things in the air. It was like they told me something. One moment, I thought the wind told us where to find Ellen. It leads us to a big three, so high that it could touch the clouds.

She would never have climbed in there, right? I wasn't sure about that.

Maybe she got really scared of something and tried to climb but didn't make it in time, and she was taken. I know she was also afraid of heights. How would we find her here?

The wind came back, and I swear the three told me something. It was so silent that I didn't hear it because of every wolf that was breathing too loudly in my ears, but I couldn't ask them to keep in their breath. So, I tried to concentrate and in the end I heard something interesting. The name was Ellen, but I didn't hear more.

We started to run further, but the wind tried to say to turn back. There must be something that we were missing on the way past the tree. Maybe a whole.

We had to go back home because it was getting darker and everyone needed to eat something. The humans also needed to get safe at my place. They were not that strong since they were humans, and it wasn't that safe in the areas around the school in the evening when it was dark. For sure, not now, since Ellens is missing. We were all scared of being taken by the person, but that ebbed away because the police let us search for her. That meant it was safe.

Still, we thought about scenarios where she was killed or trapped by the person.

Ivan and Marnik were acting weird all the time. They were misleading us every step of the way. Maybe they were the voices and was it in our heads.

Did they know more about Elen's missing case?

If they did, why did they mislead us?