THE ALPHA’S VENGEFUL LUNA

CHAPTER 12: MONSTROUS CONTRAPTION

FREYA

I stared at Icarus in disbelief, wondering if I had heard him correctly.

“The human world?” I re-echoed, completely bewildered by his words.

Icarus nodded, a satisfied smile lingering on his lips.

“Why, I have heard quite a number about it…” I said, trying to recall if I have actually been to the human world.

I had little contact with the outside world in my past life, but it was about a hundred years before my reincarnation so some memories were pretty hazy.

“Wait... why do you ask?” I gasped, my hands flying to my mouth in shock. “Are we... Are we going to the human world?”

“Affirmative.” He replied, leaning back in his seat with a lazy smile on his lips.

I was not sure if I should feel excited or terrified. I had heard really horrid stories about how humans treated supernaturals. They were the reason for all the segregation in the first place.

Their world might be beautiful with so many fascinating places, but they were filled with so much fear and hatred for whoever seemed different from them, even though we all looked the same.

They were the first sect to incite violence against us, and some of them even dedicated their lives to hunting us down.

Did Icarus have any idea on what he was doing? He was leading us right to our doom!

“Why are we going to their realm?” I asked, staring at him incredulously.

He seemed shocked by my outburst, staring back at me in confusion.

“Er… to have some fun?” he shrugged. “You sound concerned...is anything the matter?

“You call us walking towards our possible death fun? Do not tell me you have no idea what humans think about supernaturals…” I deadpanned.

“That they hate us and would kill us whenever they get the chance?” Icarus replied. “Please, they can barely stand a chance against two powerful wolves even with their evil machines and guns.”

“So, you know about these things and you are still taking us on this rigorous journey to their world?” I shook my head. “You never cease to amaze me, Icarus.”

“You are forgetting one very important fact, Freya.” Icarus mentioned, looking unbothered by everything I had been saying.

“They can't hurt us if they do not know who we are. We literally look exactly like them, and there would be no cause for us to transform and reveal our wolves. The full moon is still a far cry from today.”

As much as I wanted to argue further, he was right. But I was not about to back down without a fight.

“You speak like you are allies with these people.” I fired back. “When was the last time you visited their land? Do you know if they have invented something that can sense our presence and alert them when we are on ground?”

With my arms crossed over my chest, I waited for his response

“We have not been bothering them for a long time now, Freya. They have no reason to invest so much time in such an invention when they have their own societal problems to deal with.” Icarus replied, somewhat amused. “Look, there is nothing to worry about. We will be fine, okay?”

He was so confident that we were safe. A little too confident for my liking. The desire to prove him wrong welled up within me as I huffed, frowning.

However, my sullen mood did not last for long as we drove into the heart of the city.

“Woaaah, would you look at that!” I exclaimed. It was obvious we had left our realm and we were now in the human realm.

The buildings, busy streets and fancy clothes worn by the people enthralled me. I had not seen anything like it.

“Welcome to the human realm, Freya.” Icarus announced.

“Yeah…” I breathed. “It is... Fascinating.”

It truly was. The machines they operated and drove, their fast-paced life, everything made me a little dizzy, but in a mesmerising, hypnotic way.

“The.. amuse...ment park.” I squinted my eyes, trying to read the large sign beside us as we drove in.

“The amusement park, Freya.” Icarus corrected, humour lingering in his eyes. “Have you ever been to one?”

I shook my head from side to side, looking through the window.

What was this place? It was like a...fun carnival of some sorts.

Squeals of excitement rang in my ears and the happy laughter from children and adults alike made me smile. Several giant spinning wheels with seats mounted several places in them and people...rode on them?

“Maurice, find somewhere to park the car.” Icarus commanded the driver and while he did, I kept drinking in the fun, thrilling scenery with my eyes.

As the car came to a stop, Icarus turned to me with a smile on his face.

“Are you ready to have some fun?” He asked, and I nodded in excitement.

“Let us do this!”

Before Icarus could go round and open the door for me, I had already jumped out, light in my toes with anticipation and the beam never leaving my cheeks.

“Come on, come on, Icarus. Let us go!” I called out to him, dragging him as I walked ahead.

“Do you even have an idea where you are going?” Icarus chuckled, staggering after me.

“Nope.” I replied, looking around in wonder. “But we are here to have fun, aren't we? So let the fun begin then!”

“Okay, fireball.” Icarus stopped us, trying to keep me calm. “First, you need to calm down, woman.”

“I am calm...very calm.” I said, bouncing on one foot.

“Are you…” Icarus stared at me in shock. “How are you even doing that?”

He shook his head, placing his hands on my shoulders. “I know there are so many fun things you want to try, but you need to calm down and decide which you want to do first. You can't do them all at once.”

I sighed, dropping my other foot on the ground. “Fine.”

“Good…” Icarus replied. “Now, look around. Which would you like to try first? Mind you, I will be making the next pick.”

“Huhhh…” I let my eyes roam round and a certain booth caught my eye.

“Oooh, oooh, over there!” I said, a grin marring my features.

“Ring toss, huh? Nice choice.” Icarus chuckled. He was about to take my hand in his but I had already skipped away towards the booth.

As I jumped happily over to the booth, I noticed a lot of people, especially men, were staring at me in a funny way. I waved at some of them, but their stares only intensified and it made me feel really conscious of myself.

Was something on my face? Was my zipper open? Did I wear my sweater inside out?

I quickly checked but I was alright. So, why was I getting a lot of stares?

I almost forgot Icarus was with me until I heard a low growl rumble behind me as his protective arms wrapped around my waist.

“Bunch of pervs.” he spat, glaring at a group of men who were leering at me.

“Come on, let us get away from here.” Icarus said, before steering me in another direction, still keeping his hands on me.

“Heyyyy, I have not played my game.” I whined, trying to wiggle out of his grip but it only made him hold me tighter.

“We will come back for this, let us grab something to eat first.” Icarus said, glaring at anyone who spared me the briefest glance.

As we walked towards a food truck, I noticed something interesting. A man was serving what looked like pink cotton on a stick and people were eating it!

“Wait, is that...cotton?” I gasped. “They are eating cotton!”

Icarus broke into a deep chuckle, his defined shoulders shaking in wicked amusement. It was annoying watching him laugh at me for showing concern for those people.

“That is... that is cotton candy, Freya.” Icarus managed to cough out in the midst of his laughter.

“Woaaah…” I stared at the pink cluster in wonder. “So this is candy? I want to try it!”

We walked over to the cotton candy machine and we got two sticks.

“So...fluffy…” I said, face scrunched up as I eyed it suspiciously before taking a bite. My eyes bulged in excitement as the candy melted on my tongue. “Hmmmm…so good.”

“You like?” Icarus smiled at me.

“I loveeee.” I squealed.

We headed back to the Ring toss stand and a young man welcomed us.

“Hello, I am Martins and welcome to my booth!” He greeted with a smile, taking my hand in his. “And you my dear are astonishingly beautiful.”

“Why, thank you kind sir.” I smiled back as he planted a kiss at the back of my palm.

Icarus cleared his throat. Really loud. If Icarus's eyes could spit fire, then Martins would have been ashes by now.

He quickly dropped my hands like hot coal, scratching his neck awkwardly.

“Well, you stand a chance to win any of these beautiful, exotic animals stuffed with candy if you are able to get these rings over all six bottles.” Martins explained the game.

“Alright, let us do this!” I said, rolling up my sleeves.

“You sure you will not let me help you?” Icarus asked.

“No, I have got this.” I replied, retrieving the rings from Martin's hand.

In my past life, one of my favourite things apart from casting spells and making potions was archery. I knew how to take down targets from a distance, so this particular game excited me. It was an opportunity for me to flex my skills for a moment.

I took a stance, eyeing each bottle and calculating the angles. Before Martins could blink twice, I had thrown all six rings over the bottles. Icarus and Martins both stared at me in shock, their faces a mixture of fear and reverence.

“H-how did you…” Martins whimpered, looking from the bottles then back to me.

“Where in the world did you learn that?” Icarus asked, wide eyed.

“It is one of my…talents.” I winked at Icarus.

The booth owner, alongside the little crowd that saw my display, began to applaud me.

“So…. make your choice. Which of these cuddlies are following you home?” The booth owner asked, gesturing at the stuffed animals on display.

“Hmmm…” I rubbed my chin, scrutinising the stuffed animals.

“There!” I pointed at a white wolf with piercing blue eyes. Nice adaptation of a Luna they did there.

“Great choice.” The booth owner handed it over to me and I thanked him, walking away full of pride.

“You never cease to amaze me. I’m impressed.” Icarus said, “Now, it is my turn to choose an activity.”

“You better pick something fun.” I said, taking a piece of candy from my stuffed animal.

“The Ferris wheel.” Icarus said with a devilish smile on his lips.

He pointed to the giant wheel and my heart flew to my throat.

“No way am I riding that.” I whimpered as I looked at the monstrous contraption before me.

“Stop being a chicken.” Icarus teased, pulling me along. “Come on, this ride just ended. Let us join the next ride.”

He dragged me to the registration point and paid off a few people so we could join the next ride. I was terrified by that metallic monster, but I could not let it show. I will not let Icarus get the chance to laugh at me again.

We got seated, and one of the officials helped us wear our seat belts to prevent accidents.

“Hey. We do not have to do this if you do not want to.” Said Icarus softly, gorgeous eyes full of concern. “Look at you... you are shaking.”

“I am fine.” I growled, but my voice ended up coming out like a whimper. How embarrassing.

“I hope so, because the ride is about to start,” said Icarus. It was at that moment I began to really panic.

“3, 2, 1…”

I screamed at the top of my lungs as we moved with full speed, ascending a height that made me feel nauseous and dizzy at the same time.

But the brief moment I looked around the park at the peak of the Ferris wheel, the beautiful scenery was captured in my mind. Unintentionally, I clung to Icarus desperately and while I screamed for the rest of the ride, he held me warmly to himself until it finally came to an end.

“Finally, the wheel of death is over.” I said as I came down from my seat after the ride, my legs shaking like a reed dancing in the wind.

“And I was surprised you did not faint. Maybe you’re not as much of a chicken as I’d assumed.” Icarus teased, and I whacked his arm.

“That is for putting me through such torture.”

“But you enjoyed it, fireball.” Icarus didn’t even flinch on my assault.

He was right though. I did enjoy it. I felt queasy and I looked around for a bathroom but could not spot any one within eyesight.

“I am off to pee. I will be back here in a bit.” I said, before wandering off to find a bathroom.

I pushed past a throng of excited fun-seekers, squealing children and tired parents. As I walked around in search of a bathroom, a cute little girl walked up to me, handing me a flower with the loveliest smile on her face.

“Awww, thank you.” I said, giving her a hug before she happily skittered away.

I looked at the strange flower, about to toss it in the trash when a wave of recognition coursed through me.

“Wait…” I stared at the flower for a moment and my eyes suddenly widened as it hit me. “Is this not feral bloom?”

Now, this was about to be the highlight of my day.