Pushing ever deeper into the forest, they left footprints in the snow, marking their fleeting passage. The wind began to blow in a « fffff… shhhhhh… » The branches groaned softly.
This time, the group stayed very close together, almost pressed against one another. Yumiel watched Jùnyǔ's friend, trying to learn his way of tracking. He studied the footprints, compared them, sometimes touched the snow or the earth. At times, he even smelled the scent rising from it.
The tracks led to a cave. Everyone exchanged glances before Yumiel went inside. They followed her.
The inside was very different from what one might imagine of an ordinary cave. The walls were slashed by deep claw marks. On the ground lay piles of fur. At the back of the cave, there was some kind of collection of human skeletons—or at least… what remained of them.
Yet the most surprising thing was the clothing, set up and suspended there. Jack stepped closer and turned toward Yumiel.
« Yeah, looks like this really is our werewolf's cave. »
Jùnyǔ's friend stepped forward and spoke in Chinese while looking at Yumiel; Jack translated for her.
« This seems to be his cave. What do you want to do now? »
« Well, it seems he's not here, and time is starting to run out to keep tracking him. Let's head back for now. »
They started to turn back. Jack moved closer to Jùnyǔ.
« Tell me, your friend is pretty obedient. How does that work? »
« Ah, you're wondering why he's doing all this while risking his life? Nothing complicated. I promised him a very large sum of money. »
« Yeah, I heard you talking about money when you were translating, but I didn't think he'd accept without knowing the amount. »
« We've already worked together. He knows I pay well. »
Jùnyǔ rejoined his friend. Yumiel looked thoughtful. As for Jack, he was doubtful; he had the feeling something was off. Alan hadn't spoken for a while. After a few minutes, they set off again.
Still grouped together, Yumiel grabbed Jùnyǔ and moved closer to his friend.
« Junyu, translate for me. Are you sure this is where the werewolf lives? »
Jùnyǔ waited for an answer to translate, but the man kept walking, not saying a word. Yumiel looked at Jùnyǔ; only after several long steps did he finally begin to speak, and Jùnyǔ translated.
« What do you want me to tell you? I'm simply doing my job. The tracks lead here. But know this: the alpha is unpredictable and impulsive. He wiped out more than half of my village. And no one expected it. »
« I don't know, I feel like we found it too quickly, as if he wanted us to find his cave. »
Once Jùnyǔ translated what Yumiel had just said, the man began to get angry, turning around and staring Yumiel straight in the eyes.
« US? I'm the one who found it, not you! That monster destroyed more than half my village. I've been tracking him for several weeks. I knew about the existence of this cave long before, and yet I had never seen it. »
As Jùnyǔ's friend spoke, Yumiel felt an animal presence emanating from him, as if a beast were about to burst out. She had trouble explaining it. She said nothing more and simply set off again.
On the way back, they encountered no wolves—only their howls echoing through the forest night.
After about an hour of walking, they reached the house. Entering inside, Jùnyǔ's friend led them to a room with two bunk beds, said something in Chinese, and left.
Alan climbed onto the top bunk.
« Your colleague is weird, Junyu. I can understand him being angry about our visit or about the werewolf, but he's not very compassionate. Anyway, I'm wiped. See you tomorrow. »
Alan turned over in his bed, pulling the blanket over himself. Jùnyǔ settled on the lower bunk under Alan, Yumiel took the top, and Jack lay on the lower bunk of the other bed. Jùnyǔ, visibly very tired as well, wrapped himself up in his bed. After several minutes, Jack asked Yumiel to step outside for a moment. Both of them left the room, closing the door.
« We need to talk. »
« No kidding. »
« I hate this situation. »
« Funny, me too. Wait—remind me who had the brilliant idea to go to the other side of the world to recruit a werewolf? »
Jack ran a hand behind his head, rubbing it slightly.
« Yeah, I admit it wasn't the best idea. But we're close to the goal. Gotta see the positive side. And by the way, we need to talk about the hunter. That guy is shady. Yumiel, the wolves didn't attack him—they didn't even try. »
« Yeah, I find him strange too. When I'm close to him, I feel something, like a force, some kind of animal presence buried inside him. It's hard to explain. »
Jack made a face as if he'd just had a brilliant idea.
« I know—obvious answer. He's the werewolf. I'm a genius. »
She crossed her arms, rolled her eyes, and sighed.
« You think I haven't already thought of that? Personally, I don't think so, even if there's something strange about him. Of course, I'm not saying it's impossible—you might be right. But let's wait until tomorrow nightfall and confront him then. »
They both went back into the room. Jack lay down on the bed. Yumiel closed the curtains and turned her daggers into blood, playing with it until daybreak. Yumiel cursed himself for not having brought his notebook to test new experiments.
When the first rays of sunlight came, Yumiel was there, waiting. Tired of waiting, she went out and went downstairs. Jack saw her but didn't follow. Going down the stairs, she came upon the curtains open, letting the light flood the living room.
She closed the curtains very quickly, burning herself very slightly, but nothing more. Once they were closed, she sat down on the couch and turned on the TV—then stumbled upon an event she hadn't expected at all.