Chapter 237

Ava

“Moonbite,” we said in unison.

The realization hit us like a ton of bricks.

“But… But how can we be sure?” Ophelia asked, her voice trembling as she pressed a damp washcloth to her bloodied forehead. She was still shaking from the ordeal, her eyes darting nervously to the bedroom door where Leonard was locked away.

Chris ran a hand through his hair, his expression grim. “We need to analyze that medication. But we can’t risk taking it to the lab at the clinic. If Elise is involved, we can’t trust anyone in Moonstone right now.”

“I might have a solution,” Patrick offered. “I’ve got a small drug testing kit for… personal use. It’s back with my surveillance equipment. It’s not as thorough as a lab, and it’s not designed to test for moonbite, but it should give us some answers.”

None of us cared to ask Patrick why he had a drug testing kit for personal use; all that mattered was that this could be extremely useful for us. And so, while Patrick returned to my cottage to retrieve the kit under the cover of darkness, we waited.

And we listened to Leonard’s snarls fade.

“Do you think he’s alright now?” Ophelia whispered when we hadn’t heard a sound in some time.

Chris and I exchanged looks, but then shook our heads. It was best to err on the side of caution; there would be no opening that door until we heard Leonard—our Leonard—call out to us.

Finally, Patrick returned with the kit.

We watched in tense silence as Patrick carefully opened the bottle and extracted a small sample of the ‘medication’. He worked methodically, his brow furrowed in concentration as he ran the tests.

The room was eerily quiet, save for the occasional thud from the bedroom where Leonard was still pacing and knocking about.

After what felt like an eternity, Patrick looked up, and his face was pale. “It’s positive for an unknown substance—I’m assuming moonbite, in this case. But the trace amounts are fairly small.”

“But Leonard took so much…” Ophelia whispered, her eyes wide with horror. “He kept saying it wasn’t working, that he needed more…”

I nodded, the pieces falling into place. “That’s why he went feral. He overdosed on the moonbite. The more he took, the worse it got.”

Chris paced the room, his fists clenched. The floorboards creaked under his heavy steps. “But why? Leonard definitely has the fungus in his lungs, because he was sick before he started taking the moonbite. So why would Elise microdose him with poison if he’s already on death row?”

We all fell silent, desperately trying to make sense of this twisted puzzle. The ticking of the clock on the wall seemed unnaturally loud in the quiet room. Suddenly, a chilling thought occurred to me.

“What if…” I started, almost afraid to voice my suspicion, “what if Elise heard about Leonard’s illness and saw it as an… opportunity?”

Patrick caught on quickly, his eyes widening. “That would be a perfect cover-up. Make Leonard become addicted to the moonbite, then go feral over time, and if he hurts or kills someone…”

“Everyone would chalk it up to his illness making him lose his mind,” Chris finished. He slammed his fist against the wall, leaving another small dent in the already-wrecked surface.

Ophelia let out a strangled sob and buried her face in her hands. “But why? Why would she want to hurt Leonard, of all people? Or any of us?”

I shook my head, feeling sick to my stomach. “Maybe she already had this plan before, and Leonard’s illness just provided the perfect timing. We know there’s a mole in Moonstone. And we’ve had our suspicions for weeks now that it could be her.”

And now, it was all but confirmed.

Chris growled again, his fist still pressed into the wall. “We spend almost all of our time together. Turning one of our own against us… It’s sick. But it’s also smart.”

We spent the rest of the night grimly monitoring Leonard’s condition, taking turns to check on him through the locked bedroom door. His snarls and growls gradually subsided, replaced by whimpers and then finally, complete silence. Each time we approached the door, we tensed, ready for another outburst, but it never came.

As the first rays of sunlight began to filter through the windows, casting long shadows across the destroyed living room, we heard a soft knock from inside the bedroom.

“Hello?” Leonard’s voice, weak and confused, called out. “What... what happened?”

Chris approached the door cautiously, motioning for the rest of us to stay back. “Leonard? Are you... yourself?”

There was a pause, then a shaky reply. “I... I think so. Chris, what’s going on? Why am I locked in here?”

Slowly, carefully, Chris opened the door. Leonard stood there, looking pale and disheveled, his eyes clear but filled with confusion and shame. The bedroom behind him was in shambles, furniture overturned and claw marks scoring the walls.

But he was Leonard again. Our Leonard. Pale and thin, but clear-headed, and most importantly…

Alive.

“Oh, Leonard,” Ophelia cried, rushing forward to embrace him. She hesitated for a moment, as if afraid he might lash out again, but then threw her arms around him.

Leonard hesitated, his eyes scanning the destroyed room before landing on Ophelia’s bruised face. “Did I... did I do this?” he whispered. His hands hovered over Ophelia’s injuries, not quite touching, as if afraid he might hurt her again.

We spent the next hour explaining everything to Leonard—the moonbite-laced medication, Elise’s involvement, his feral episode. With each revelation, Leonard’s face grew more and more ashen, the weight of what he had done clearly taking a toll on him.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, his voice breaking. “Ophelia, my love, I... I could have killed you. Any of you. I remember... flashes. The rage, the need for more of that medicine, the need to... to hurt. I couldn’t control it.”

Ophelia shook her head fiercely, hugging him tighter. “It wasn’t your fault, darling. You didn’t know. None of us knew.”

Leonard pulled away, his expression tormented. He looked around at the destruction he had caused, at the ruined cottage, the cuts and bruises on Ophelia and Chris and Patrick. “But what do I do now? I can’t keep taking that medication, but without treatment…”

“You and I are going to the human world,” Ophelia said firmly, her tone leaving no room for argument. She stood up straighter, her eyes flashing with determination. “Tomorrow. Whether you like it or not. I’m not going to let you die here, poisoned by people we thought we could trust.”

For once, Leonard didn’t argue. He simply nodded, looking utterly defeated. The fight had gone out of him, replaced by a bone-deep weariness.

We all fell silent as the sun continued to rise, casting a warm glow over the destroyed cottage. The weight of everything we had discovered, everything we still had to face, hung heavy in the air. The ticking clock, the birds chirping in the apple trees outside, the distant sounds of the village waking up—it all seemed surreal after the night we’d had.

Chris stood by the window, his silhouette outlined by the morning light. His fists were clenched at his sides, his jaw set in a hard line. I could almost see the gears turning in his head, planning our next move.

Suddenly, he turned to face us, his eyes blazing with a fierce determination.

“I’ll be back,” he said, his voice low and dangerous.

Without another word, he stalked out of the house, the screen door slamming behind him.