?Chapter 0361


    "Can you tell us at all about this ce, Frank?" I asked, feeling unreasonably confident.


    Frank froze. I felt Enzo''s hand tighten on my leg beneath the table, but I wasn''t afraid. Frank, just like everyone else around here, was just a normal working man. In fact, he had done nothing except prove that he was incredibly kind, in his own way. Sure, he seemed a bit rough around the edges, but he went out of his way to give two strangers a ride and was even willing to sit down and have a meal with us.


    Finally, licking his cracked lips, he spoke.


    "Yer goin'' after the Luna, aren''t ya?" he suddenly asked.


    Both mine and Enzo''s eyes widened.


    "N-No," I responded, which wasn''t a lie. We weren''t going after anyone except Selena. I didn''t even know anyone who was named Luna.


    Frank shrugged. "I know what yer thinkin''. This ce is as run down as can be."


    "Well, no, I"


    "It''s alright. Ya know, it used to be a good town. A hard workin'' town full''a good people. A lumber mill... I was the Beta, actually."


    Enzo raised his eyebrows. "Really?" he asked. We were both surprised at the old man''s sudden candidness.


    Frank nodded. "Yup. Sure was."


    "Well... What happened?" I asked, leaning forward with my elbows on the table. "Did something change?*This is property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    There was another pause. Frank seemed to be thinking hard, as though he wanted to choose his words carefully. I could tell that he didn''t want to say anything too revealing.


    "I''ll just say this," he said. "Ever since that new Luna married the Alpha King all those years ago, things ain''t been good for us little people. But we''re mostly good. Even the ones who turned to crime to feed their families... They''re good."


    I thought back to the eyes that we saw peering out at us from the woods. "The rogues," I said quietly.


    Frank nodded. "Yup. Matter o'' fact, ye had a few of ''em followin'' ya earlier."


    My eyes widened. When we first walked into that town, I remembered seeing Frank staring out his window at us. I didn''t know it at the time, but I suddenly realized that he wasn''t watching us with distrust; he was watching us for our own safety. If Frank hadn''t offered us a ride, we probably would have been attacked.


    Suddenly, our food came. Three burgers, dripping with grease and cheese, with mountains of French fries on each te. The waitress didn''t offer any ketchup or anything else of the sort, but when I took the first bite, I realized that it didn''t need it.


    "This is..."


    "Delicious," Enzo finished for me, his mouth full of burger.


    I couldn''t help butugh. Even Frank let out another gravelly chuckle and stuffed three fries into his mouth at once. "Told ya," he said.


    The three of us ate in silence, but it wasn''t ufortable; instead, it was the sort of silence that only came about when the food was simply so good that everyone was too focused on eating to even think about talking. And, when Enzo and I finally finished our massive burgers, I swore that I could eat another.


    "Listen," Frank said suddenly, after finishing hisst bite and wiping his mouth with a brown paper napkin. He looked up at me then, and his eyes were burning an even brighter shade of yellow than before. I got an odd feeling then; it almost felt as though my brain had been scrubbed, like someone had gone through it with a fine toothb and picked out all of my thoughts, one by one. Frank''s eyes narrowed a bit, and I felt a lump rise in my throat.


    "I''m listening," I said, finding myself unable to break away from my gaze.


    And then, all of a sudden, his voice echoed in my mind without his lips moving an inch. "No one needs to die. You can fight the dark sister without anyone getting hurt."