Polly returned to the house with Blake. She went up the stairs to check Norman's room, as he was nowhere in the living room or the dining room, but when she walked in, she was met with an empty space.
"Norman?"
She called out in a soft voice, knocking on his bathroom door, but was met with no response at all. Her earlier worries returned, and she surveyed his room, but there was no sign that gave her the hint that he had been here, which means he hadn't returned from the feast gathering.
"Norman!"
She went downstairs and checked the library, but he was not there either.
Stepping out of the house, Polly's worried eyes lingered on Blake waiting at the porch. The minute he saw the concern on her face, he immediately sensed that something was off.
"Did you see him?"
Polly shook her head as she dialed her brother's phone number, scanning the environment in the hopes that she might spot him, but none of those two were effective. He wasn't answering her calls.
Could he still be in the hall?
As if Blake had read her thoughts, he suggested, "maybe he's in the feast gathering, he couldn't be anywhere else if not the gathering, right?" to Blake, that was the only place Norman would be familiar with, including the house.
"There were too many people in there, maybe we missed him." Blake softly uttered, looking around the vicinity as well. "There's no one here, let's check the feast gathering again. If we don't see him, then we'll start a search."
Polly could only nod her head. She didn't want to assume the worst, but there was this heavy feeling in her heart, except she was unable to decipher why it carried so much weight. It made her restless, paranoid for absolutely no reason, and she hoped to find her brother soon.
They continued along the path that guided them back to the feast gathering, but along the way, Polly looked to her left and spotted a sparkling object lying on the ground. Puzzled by the familiarity of its shape, she stopped walking and approached the object that seemed to have caught the moonlight's rays.
Blake, who noticed that Polly was no longer at his side, turned around just in time to see her pick something from the ground. He watched the puzzlement in her face morph into anxiety, and he quickly made his way to her side.
"Polly?"
"Blake, this is…" with trembling hands, she showed him the golden bracelet that was smeared with blood, "this… this belongs to Norman, I… I gave him this bracelet. It has his initial in the middle, see? But… but… but what is this paint… blood?"
"This is Norman's?" Blake collected the bracelet, a mix of confusion and apprehension painting his visage, but that wasn't the only horrific thing they were yet to discover.
Polly looked at the exact same spot where she picked up the bracelet, and she turned on the flashlight of her phone. Blood trails were leading directly into the forest that was several meters away from them, and Blake tried to pick up his scent.
"Norman?"
Polly's feet were already moving in that direction, but Blake's hand made her stop in her tracks. Her heart was pounding, her brain was sending her wrong signals, but this… why is Norman's bracelet covered in blood? And what are these blood trails?
"Don't go in there. Head to the gathering and find Serra or anyone else you see," Blake snapped, breaking Polly out of her trance. "Tell them to send the pack guards. I know my way through the forest. I'll see what's going on, but listen to me and go."
Polly hesitated, torn between following his instructions and her instinct to stay. Before she could respond, Blake disappeared into the woods, leaving her standing alone. He told her to find Serra, but she didn't want to leave him. And Norman—there was no way those blood trails could belong to him. Why would they?
Someone was approaching from a distance. It was a teenage boy who seemed to be coming back from the feast gathering and was humming to himself along the way.
"Excuse me." Polly rushed towards the boy in haste. He stopped humming and looked startled, but his expression softened as she spoke.
"Do you know Albin, the pack's historian?"
The boy was quiet for a moment before nodding.
"Can you do me a little favor? Can you get Albin to this spot and tell him that Norman might be in danger? If you mention the name to him, he'll know exactly who you're referring to, please? It's urgent!"
"Uhm, sure." The boy agreed, sounding slightly confused, but he turned around to go deliver the message to Albin.
Polly dialed her brother's line on the phone again. It rang, but he wasn't picking his calls. She faced the wood Blake had run into, squeezing her phone tightly in her trembling grip, and she marched in after him.
"Norman!" She called out, turning on her flashlight to see better.
"Norman!" No matter how hard she called out to him, there was no response. Her voice only echoed back at her, as if mocking her futile attempts, but Polly was not one to give up that easily, so she kept searching.
She continued to call out to him, ignoring the potential danger she could bring to herself. Her brother was the only thing she could think of, and finding him was her number one priority.
"Norman!"
At this point she was starting to get really worried, so much so that tears were starting to bubble up in her eyes. The wood was silent, except for the night creatures making their usual hoot and cricket noises. The blood trails didn't lead her that far before disappearing from sight.
Maybe he isn't here. Maybe she's blowing the situation out of proportion and is getting worried for nothing.
She has been walking for so long, but there was no one in sight.
"I must have panicked and assumed things out of fear." Thought Polly, "if he was here, he would have heard my voice by now, he would have called out to me. He has to be in the gathering, he has to be there, I'll go back to the gathering and see."
Polly was starting to turn around, but once again, her instincts made her pause. She slowly turned back, as if drawn by what was behind the bushes. It seemed to be covering something she hadn't noticed until now, and when she parted it with her hands, a different clearing emerged.
It seemed to lead to a dead end, and she could hear the sound of water clashing beneath.
She stepped into the clearing, taken aback since she has never come across an actual dead end before.
"POLLY!"
The sound of her name being uttered out of the blue made her freeze, and her heart stopped functioning for a millisecond. She whipped her head in the direction of the familiar voice, and she saw Norman.
His white shirt was smeared with blood all over, he had this panicked look in his eyes, one she has never seen in them before, but before she could register if what she was seeing was true, the sound of a gun was fired three times, all aimed at Norman.
Time stopped, and Polly's face was white as a ghost. Her shock and fear paralyzed her, unable to move or scream as she watched the life drain from him.
Instead, she looked in the direction of where the gunshot came from, and there was someone in the bushes, holding out a gun towards Norman. The leaves obscured everything except the gun, and Polly's eyes shifted to her brother who just stood there, with blood flowing freely from the three wounds in his chest, each aimed at his heart.
"NORMAN!!" Polly screamed.
She was running towards her brother, desperate to reach for his outstretched hand, but his eyes went upward, and his body fell off the cliff.
"NORMAN!!" she cried again, her voice echoing in the empty air.