Once Upon a Time: Ever After High (Book 14)

Ch.32 Claws and blood

As Aaron waited anxiously for news, he was too glued to his phone that he didn't notice the door opening as Shannon and Dean walked in.

"Dad," Shannon called out as Aaron looked up and gave a small gasp.

"Shannon," he breathed in relief as he ran up to her and into a hug "Where did you guys go?"

Shannon let out a sigh, "We just wanted to see the haunted house."

"I know," he sighed back "But you guys can't run off like that."

He then looked up and spotted Brooke who gave him a small smile.

"Thanks," he thanked satisfied.

"No problem," she replied just as Ross entered from behind her "But uh- it was actually Ross who found them."

"What?"

"And now I'm returning them to you" Ross muttered, "I've had enough of the little ghouls for one night."

The kids gave a snicker when he added- "There's an hour left of trick-or-treating. You should go, all three of you."

"But, what about Paula?" Shannon asked.

"I will handle her."

"Ross," Aaron spoke, "Thank you."

"Yeah, I am not doing this for you. Anyway, later losers."

And with that, he walked out as Aaron turned to Brooke.

"So, what do you say?" he asked her with a smile "Too much candy? A crazy night on the town?"

"Yeah," Shannon nodded with a grin "And you can help dad paint my face. Come on, it's a family tradition."

Brooke gave a small laugh as she turned to Aaron.

"Thanks. But um, I feel like this is your thing. I don't want to get in the way of that."

"No," he assured "You'll fit right in. Oh um, what were you gonna ask me earlier?"

"Oh-" she froze "Um- if you would take a look at my blog post. I write some things on it about interesting stories from my life, and if you want, you can read it when it's finished."

"Oh. Um, sure."

Brooke could have sworn he had a hint of sadness in his tone, but before she could say anything else, Shannon suddenly called out from the side.

"I got the makeup ready, dad!"

Seeing how she was ready, Aaron turned back to Brooke as they both smiled while gazing into each other's eyes.

"Happy Halloween, Brooke" he smiled at her.

"Happy Halloween to you, too," she said back.

He gave her one last smile before joining the kids at a table. And as she watched them, all Brooke could feel was joy, knowing she was glad to have these people in her life now.

(Flashback) As the sun got lower, everyone kept waiting for Cerise to arrive, but with no sign from her, they were beginning to worry.

"What's taking Cerise so long?" Daring wondered "I thought she'd be back by now considering her incredible speed."

"You think she got lost?" Ashlynn questioned.

"I doubt it," Hunter responded "Cerise pretty much knows every forest like the back of her hand. She barely gets lost. And if she did, we all know she uses her other senses to find her way back."

"That's true," she nodded.

"But she's still not here" Darling put in "And we all know what we think when a friend of ours doesn't show up on time."

"You think something happened to her?" Brooke asked a bit nervously.

"There's only one way to find out. Delilah, show us the way to your house."

Following Delilah down the path of the woods, everyone stayed close until they came upon the house where everyone immediately noticed that the door had been broken down.

"What the hell?" Delilah gasped "What happened to my door?"

Brooke walked up to the door and spotted what happened to be claw marks in the wood.

"Claw marks," she reported.

"Claw marks?" Delilah remarked, "From what?"

But as she looked around, Brooke suddenly spotted something that answered Delilah's question as her eyes widen.

"Um-" she spoke nervously while picking up the object "More like from who?"

When she held up the object, everyone stood there in shock when they saw that it was Cerise's hood.

"Isn't that Cerise's hood?" Delilah pointed with her eyes widen.

"I know it from anywhere" Brooke stated, "But she never takes it off."

"Then what's it doing on the floor of my house? And what about those claw marks?"

"Let me look at those" Hunter offered as he walked up to the door and began to study the mark.

But as he was doing so, Brooke started to look around Delilah's living room where she soon spotted the sketchbook that had the drawing of the wolf mask.

"Okay," Hunter suddenly spoke, "I think I've seen these claw marks before. And if I'm correct, they belong to a wolf."

"A wolf?" Daring remarked, "What wolf makes scratches that deep?"

"A werewolf perhaps" Darling suggested when her face lit up with a thought "Wait, you don't think-?"

"Hey, Delilah" Brooke called as she walked out of the house with the sketchbook and showed her the sketch "Did you draw this?"

"Yeah," the artist nodded "Why?"

"Because this is the exact wolf mask that belonged to Cerise."

"Whoa, seriously?" Delilah gasped.

"Did you by any chance copy this drawing off the real mask?"

"I did, I remember I found it in some river."

"Where's the mask now?"

"Didn't you see it? It was there near the coffee table."

"No, it wasn't."

"What?"

She then entered her house as everyone waited outside. After a minute or two, Delilah came back out with a look of confusion on her face.

"I don't understand," she remarked, "I remember I left it in my living room."

"You think Cerise took it?" Danny questioned.

"Probably," she shrugged.

"But why?" Brooke wondered, "She threw that mask in the river to get rid of it. Why would she just take it back all of a sudden?"

"Um, guys!" Ashlynn suddenly called from the side "You might wanna look at this!"

Everyone hurried to where she was as she pointed to the ground where they froze in shock by the sight of the body of a buck deer that had it's throat ripped out.

"Oh my God," Darling gasped while putting her hand over her mouth.

"It looks recent," Hunter observed when he pointed "And there's a blood trail."

"Wait a minute," Brooke suddenly spoke when she bent down to pick up something shiny.

When she held it up, everyone instantly recognized it as Cerise's silver leaf locket that was now stained with blood.

"Guys," Brooke said with fear in her voice "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"We gotta find Cerise now" Danny declared "If we're correct, and I'm really hoping we're not, I think her wolf side just took over her."