Chapter 106: _ Path Of Light
There’s a weighted pause, then, almost naturally, the decision tips like scales. The group leans toward the path of light. Fear makes the dark look too much like suicide, no matter what logic says.
The herd begins to shuffle, bodies moving as one toward the glowing path. Shoes scuff on the stone floor. The sound of their nervous chatter builds like buzzing bees.
Heidi doesn’t move.
Amias’s words echo in her skull: Not everything in here is what it seems.
She inhales, unease rolling through her like cold fog. Her feet feel glued to the ground. Her wolf stirs, hackles prickling. "I love danger, but I wouldn’t want us to die, Heidi. So maybe stop your minions, huh?"
Heidi doesn’t even realize she’s opened her mouth until the word bursts out: "Wait!"
The stir it causes is immediate. Dozens of students halt in their tracks, twisting back toward her with impatience scrawled across their faces. The silence is heavy with irritation.
A boy groans loudly from somewhere in the crowd. "Seriously? Now she wants to add something?"
"Yeah, why not ten minutes ago?" another voice snaps, exasperated.
"Don’t waste our time, we need to move!"
The backlash makes Heidi’s hesitant, but she plants her feet. Her wolf pushes from inside, bracing her spine. She lifts her chin. "It’s important," she says firmly. "I wouldn’t stop everyone if it wasn’t."
Alpha Boy’s gaze narrows. He doesn’t say anything, but his stare grants her exactly one chance to make this count.
Heidi swallows. "I have... a source too. Someone who told me not everything in this labyrinth is what it seems. The light might look like safety, but that doesn’t mean it is. The path could be a trick."
At first, her words cause an intense silence until the crowd erupts.
"You’ve got to be kidding me."
"Of course it’s the obvious one! Don’t try to confuse everyone."
"Yeah, sure, mysterious ’source.’ Who even is she talking about?"
The girl with the braid—the one who first mentioned her mate, steps forward, eyes flashing at Heidi. "So, what, you’re saying my mate lied to me? That he just spun me some fantasy story for fun?"
Her tone is sharp, more hurt than angry, but the group eats it up, glaring daggers at Heidi like she just called someone’s grandma a fraud.
Heidi lifts her hands, palms open. "No, I’m not saying he lied. I’m saying maybe he doesn’t know everything either. Or maybe... maybe he only told you what he thought would keep you calm."
The braid girl’s cheeks flush, fury sparking. "He would never..."
"Guys, stop!" Junie jumps in, throwing an arm around Heidi’s shoulder like she’s refereeing a sibling fight. She flashes Heidi a pointed look. "Babe, no offense, but I’d rather walk into a path with light than into... that."
She jerks her chin toward the dark corridor, which obligingly emits a fresh chorus of mournful groans, like tortured whales on autoplay.
The sound alone makes a couple of students whimper.
Valentina, however, doesn’t move. She keeps her arms folded, analyzing. "She has a point though. If we’re smart, we need to consider every possibility before blindly marching in. Light doesn’t guarantee safety. Sometimes that’s exactly how you bait prey."
"Prey?" someone scoffs. "We’re not deer."
Valentina raises a brow. "Oh? What are we then? The hunters? Look around, sweetheart. We’re freshmen tossed in a magical blender. Right now, we’re the deer."
The jab earns a few nervous chuckles, but most ignore it. Fear is too loud, drowning out reason. Already, feet are shifting again, ready to move toward the light.
A boy from the back hisses, "This is a waste of time. We either move, or we die here."
"Yeah, enough stalling!"
"Pick the safe-looking option and let’s go!"
Heidi’s chest burns. She wants to shout at them, shake, and force them to listen. But the momentum is against her. She feels the tide pulling and dragging everyone toward the light.
Junie leans closer, whispering urgently. "Heidi, please. Don’t get us separated. You, me, and Val, we should stick together, right? Let’s just go. Don’t make me drag you."
Her grip tightens on Heidi’s sleeve.
Valentina, to her credit, hesitates another beat. Her sharp gaze darts between the paths, then back to Heidi. "You’re sure about your source?"
"Yes," Heidi whispers fiercely.
Valentina exhales, long and low, but the crowd is already moving in a mass migration. She shakes her head. "We’ll think about it on the way. But if we don’t keep up, we’re dead before the demons even show up."
Junie tugs harder. "Please. Come on."
And just like that, Heidi is left with no choice. Her warning is drowned under the weight of a hundred footsteps. No one listens. No one wants to believe the light could lie.
Her wolf mutters grimly. "Congratulations, we’re going to the shiny death disco after all."
Jaw tight, Heidi lets Junie and Valentina pull her forward, blending into the nervous herd as they step together toward the glowing path of light.
But her chest is heavy with the cold certainty that they’re all marching straight into something very, very wrong.
The light is strangely inconsistent; one corner glints gold like a cathedral’s stained glass, while the next turns dim into a milky haze. It doesn’t feel like sunlight, but more like the glow of a computer screen left on overnight. It is supposed to be comforting at first, then unsettling if you stare too long.
Heidi keeps close to Junie and Valentina, pressed into the crowd’s nervous tide. But every step weighs her down. Amias’s words circle her like vultures: Not everything is what it seems.
The group turns another corner, and that’s when the glow begins to morph into... shapes. At first, Heidi thinks her eyes are playing tricks on her. But then, unmistakably, the blur resolves into the straight lines of walls, then windows, then rooftops.
Houses.
Yet, not normal houses. What is before them are sloped roofs with peeling paint or familiar picket fences. These look like something dreamed up in a fever dream: tall, narrow structures, each leaning slightly as if gossiping with its neighbor. Their surfaces shine faintly. And threaded through it all is music. Faint and cheerful music like a lilting tune carried on an invisible wind.
Melodic laughter floats next, rolling from behind the strange walls.
Junie slows to a stop, tugging on Heidi’s arm. "Uh... did we just walk into a creepy fairytale?"
Valentina tilts her head, sharp eyes sweeping over the bizarre architecture. "Fairytale? More like the kind of student art installation you politely clap at and secretly hope collapses before it reaches finals week."
Heidi swallows hard. Her throat feels tight, because the laughter is wrong. It’s too... pretty and polished. Like recorded sound, looped without end.
"Not everything is what it seems," her wolf reminds her again.
Before Heidi can respond, the Alpha boy yells at the top of his voice...
"Who lives here?"