Chapter 295: Return of the Princess
Nina
When we came out on the other side of the portal, we found ourselves standing in the middle of the athletic field where we had last gone through. The campus was alive with activity, and I could see students rushing around as they packed up their vehicles to go home for winter break.
The war was mostly over, after all. The Crescents had retreated to the place where they had set up their headquarters, and as Enzo and I walked
back to campus with my father’s guards at our heels, I quickly began to realize that it was safe enough outside of Mountainview for people to go home. Since the end of the semester had come around, it seemed as though many people were itching to get home to their families, who were no doubt worried about them.
As Enzo and I walked across the quad, however, I started to notice something else: people were giving us and our guards odd looks, as though they were completely confused as to why we had guards with us. I looked up at Enzo, who seemed just as baffled as I felt.
“Why does everyone seem so confused?” I asked quietly as I looked around. “It’s like they don’t have any idea…”
Suddenly, I heard a voice coming from behind me.
“They don’t remember,” Jessica’s voice said. Enzo and I whipped around to see Jessica and Lori standing behind us, along with Matt and Luke. Before anything else was said, before I even thought to ask what she meant, all of us hugged tightly. I felt tears well up in my eyes as I hugged my friends.
“I’m so glad it’s over,” I whimpered as I hugged Lori and Jessica tightly. “I was so scared for you two…”
“We were scared for you, too,” Lori said. “But now, we don’t need to be scared anymore.” T
I stifled a chuckle and took a step back,
wiping my eyes. “What did you mean
when you said-”
“They don’t remember,” Jessica repeated. “Did Enzo not tell you?”
I looked over at Enzo then, who looked utterly dumbfounded. Neither of us had heard a single peep about anything that involved people’s memories. I felt initially worried that the Crescents had done something bad, but none of my friends seemed concerned about it. Both of us shook our heads, and Jessica laughed. “I guess the news didn’t make it to you somehow,” she said. “I’m assuming that Enzo was glued to your side while you slept, so maybe he didn’t get the news from your dad. But your dad sent a few witches with us. Really powerful ones. They wiped everyone’s memories of all of the shit that went on this semester. The whole island’s memories got wiped. It was quite an interesting ritual, actually.”
My eyes widened. “I had no idea,” I
said. “So everyone doesn’t remember
anything?”
“Nope.” Lori chuckled. “Everyone except for us had their memories altered. To them, it was just another normal semester.”
“What about the recruits?” I asked, feeling even more confused. “We still need to give them the antidote. That’ll be difficult if they don’t understand what’s going on.”
Matt shook his head. “It’s already been done,” he said. “We gave most of the recruits the antidote as soon as we returned. Although some decided that they wanted to stay as werewolves and join the pack… I told them that they’d have to talk to our Alpha, of course, but they promised not to mention
everything that happened to anyone who did have their memory wiped. Maybe tonight, we can initiate some new members. What do you say, Enzo?”
I looked over at Enzo then. His brown eyes were wider than I expected, and his mouth hung open slightly from the shock of it all. Neither of us had any idea that my father had sent such
powerful witches to accomplish a task that huge, but I was relieved in a way. I supposed that it was within my dad’s best interests to keep the werewolf
realm a secret; after all, it had always been that way for the most part. In fact, now that I thought about it, it made sense that no one except for Enzo and the other werewolves remembered the
last fight between the Crescents and the Fullmoons twenty years ago. They must have had their memories wiped then, too, to keep the peace.
At the very least, I was glad that my friends remembered. Without their support, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.
That night, we threw one last party at the cabins. Jason and his hockey team, who had been temporarily staying in the cabins along with the men that my dad had sent with them, built a massive bonfire that practically reached up to the treetops. Copious amounts of food and alcohol were brought by everyone, and soon enough it was just like the parties that I used to attend with Lori and Jessica before any of this happened. And with the remaining
students who didn’t remember the events of the semester, who thought that it was just like any other normal semester, it really did feel just like a regular college party to close out the semester and the end of the year.
However, there was still the issue of initiating new people into our little pack. As it turned out, several of the recruits did in fact refuse the antidote. Jason and his team wanted to join as well, and now it was only up to Enzo whether they joined or not.
While the party raged on and our classmates got increasingly drunk around us, all of us stood around one of the cabins discussing it and waiting for Enzo to make his decision. Enzo was inside the cabin, thinking by himself. He had been in there for quite some time, and I was debating going in there to check on him when he suddenly came out with a grin on his face and a beer in his hand.
“I’ve decided,” he said, holding the beer up to our little group. “The more the merrier.”
Cheers erupted over our group, but were quickly drowned out by the loud music of the rest of the party raging on behind us. We all raised our glasses and drank to our little pack growing in size.
I looked up at Enzo as he stood at the top of the steps. His soft brown eyes focused on mine. In the light of the fire, they began to glow red. I felt mine glow too, a bright purple color. He held his hand out for me and I took it, and we kissed at the top of the steps, right in front of everyone. When we pulled away, I felt my face go red, but at the same time I felt happier than ever.
Now that everything was over, I felt overjoyed. Mountainview was safe. Our
entire island was safe, and I was embracing my mate by the light of the fire while my friends danced and drank and laughed below me.
I just hoped that it would stay that way, and that we could keep peace in Mountainview from then on out.
