Louisa's POV
When I woke up in the morning, Finn had already left.
I rubbed my eyes and saw Mana and Mata sleeping on the bed and snorting.
As I was walking out of the tent, I saw Will and Alex running towards me.
Will was wearing the cloak that I had made for him yesterday, whereas Alex was bare-chested. I could see some open claw marks and wounds on his back.
Both of them looked very upset.
"Louisa! You're awake!" Will hugged me and said.
I held him in my arms and said, "Where have you been, Will?"
"The stable! I wanted to check out Josephine's maid. But she's gone! There was a pool of blood on the floor and she was nowhere to be found!"
Alex looked at me and said, "I'm sorry, Miss Louisa. I should have kept an eye on the maid last night. I remember clearly that I bolted the door and locked it up before I shifted into a wolf. But this morning, when I woke up in the haystack, the door of the stable was opened with the opened lock lying beside. It seemed that someone had unlocked the stable's door."
He looked very shy and embarrassed at the same time.
"Sorry, Miss Louisa. But... Do you, by any chance, have some clothes for me to wear?" he asked.
I looked at his naked upper torso and said, "I'm sorry. Sure. Come into the tent and I'll bring some clothes for you."
Alex looked a bit hesitant.
"Get inside, Alex. I've got something to ask you to do," I said.
Alex nodded and got into my tent.
As soon as he got into the tent, I lowered my voice and said to Alex, "Darren's in danger right now and Colt is badly hurt. I need you to help me to arrange a carriage, so I can go to the Cliff of Fear. I'll be outing with Akela this morning to Skagen City for her wedding dress measurement. I want you to arrange a pick-up carriage for me at the crossroad in front of Skagen City. Then, we'll go to the Cliff of Fear together."
"Yes, Miss Louisa," Colt nodded and said. "I'll see to it right now."
Then, I said to Will, "Go look for Mick and Lynel. Let them go to the stable and collect anything that looks suspicious or out of place. Let Fokka stay in the dark and keep a close eye on people who go near the stable. Whoever takes Josephine's maid away will go back to the stable to check out what's going on."
"OK, I'll be back in a minute. Please don't go anywhere without me, Louisa," Will said.
"OK. Go ahead. Stay in the shades, Will," I said.
"Yes, mom!" Will ran out of the tent.
Alex scratched his head. He looked as if he was about to say something, but he wasn't sure.
"What's wrong, Alex?" I asked.
"Miss Louisa, I wonder if you could get some potion for me from your potion box," Alex pointed the wounds on his back and said.
"Sure!" I took out the potion box and picked up a bottle.
"Turn around. I'll apply some potion to the wounds on your back," I said.
Alex followed my instructions and looked into the potion box.
I quickly cleaned his wounds, applied some potion, and put bandages on his wounds.
"Do you remember anything about last night?" I asked while I was attending to his wounds.
"Not really. When we wake up from a Full Moon's Day party, we usually completely blank out. I woke up this morning and saw a lot of soldiers being hurt or wounded. I talked to them, and none of us remember what happened last night."
"What time does Akela need her carriage today?" I asked.
"Around 11 a.m. Her maid told me yesterday about it," he replied.
I looked up at the clock and saw it was only 7:25.
"You know what," I told Alex, "You can let the wounded soldiers come to my tent and I'll treat them. Spread the words out," I said.
"OK, Miss Louisa. It's very kind of you," Alex said. He looked very distracted. I knew he was worried about Colt.
"Alex, don't worry about it. Colt is a very smart guy. With the flying machine you made for him, he will be fine," I tried to comfort him.
"Thank you, Miss Louisa," He said and lowered his head. His white hair looked almost translucent under the first ray of sunlight.
He then stared at the potion box and said, "Sorry, Miss Louisa. I can't help but notice there's a bottle missing from the box."
I lowered my head and saw an empty slot in the potion box.
"Sativamus Grass?" I frowned and read the label on the slot.
That must be the bottle that had been taken away by Josephine's maid.
I had never heard of this potion before.
Alex looked at me and said, "Miss Louisa, do you know what this kind of potion does?"
I shook my head.
"I've never heard of it before. Uma... well, the Shaman doctor who gave me this potion box, has never told me about it. But there's supposed to be a prescription inside the slot..." I said.
Alex stuck my finger into the slot and picked up a piece of prescription paper.
He looked at it upside down, scratched his head, and passed it to me.
"I can't read, Miss Louisa," Alex said with a shy look on his face. "I couldn't go to school for obvious reasons, and my father couldn't teach me anything other than building things."
"I can teach you," I said. "It's not that difficult. It's much easier than making a flying machine."
"Colt was trying to teach me something, but eventually he gave up. I guess I have some learning difficulties. I can only remember the exact patterns of the words, but I can't read them," Alex said.
When he talked about Colt, he immediately looked very sad.
"People are talented in different ways. I'm sure Colt will be happy to see you again tomorrow." I smiled at him and said.
He put on the shirt and said, "Thank you, Miss Louisa. I'll be on my way now."
I nodded at him and he left.
I looked at the prescription in my hands.
"Sativamus Grass potion. For anesthetic purposes only," I whispered and read. "Take precautions during Full Moon's day, for it leads to violent ecstasy."