October 20, 2015. Grimstone Asylum Grounds, Northern Pack Lands.

The cold was bitter and unforgiving.

I made my way through the dimly lit corridors of Grimstone Asylum, weaving around my guards and patients, all headed in different directions.

When I looked outside, there was nothing but snow as far as the eye could see. Everything was covered in the powdery white substance. A beautiful sight to enjoy during the first snowfall, but in this environment and under these circumstances, it seemed rather claustrophobic.

This was week three.

I had to stop counting at some point—it was the only way that the days would pass by quicker.

There was no ray of sunshine, even from a distance. Last night, it snowed so heavily that I could see some inches of snow on the ledges of my windows in the morning.

With each step I took around the building, I felt like I was descending deeper into a maze with no way out. The asylum seemed to twist and turn around me, it was confusing, but I continued walking further, driven by only one single purpose, that was to find Cassius.

I'd spent the last five days using the most minuscule details of information I could gather from around the asylum to begin my search, slowly.

There was no way I could go up to someone and ask them—they'd assume that something was up.

Since it was the early hours of the morning, everyone was either having breakfast or taking their supervised morning runs around the grounds. Snow didn't really slow us werewolves down, neither did harsh weather conditions.

We were trained to be more resilient against the elements, mentally and physically.

I didn't know where I was heading too, but I managed to map out the entire area of the Grimstone Asylum in the past couple days, including all the blocks, where which patients were put, and where the doctors and nurses resided.

But, I had only seen what was above the ground, nothing beneath.

The basement.

There was an abundance of that below. However, I had no clue how to go down there, or where one could even access it.

Hushed whispers reached my ears while I walked down a corridor. There was someone talking to someone else, and then heavy footsteps leaving one of the rooms.

"Fallon," I stopped on my steps and counted to three before turning around. "Surprised to see you here. What are you doing?" Dr. Frost asked, a notepad in her hand and a nurse behind her.

I stepped closer to her and acted dumbfounded, "I got lost."

"Oh, where were you going? Perhaps, I can show you the direction."

"I think she was walking around aimlessly, Dr. Frost." The nurse, who I didn't know, standing behind her had stated, looking over at me.

Dr. Frost caught onto it. Her face suddenly filled with worry when I didn't say anything. "Are you alright, Fallon?"

Maybe it was better being crazy than sane.

"I'm not sure..." I trailed off. "I can't remember."

She stared me down for a second, I could tell her blue eyes were observing me carefully. She wasn't sure whether to believe me or not.

"Well, it's fine. Come along with me. I'll take you to where you are supposed to be." She said gently.

I followed her without saying anything. Wherever I was taken right now didn't matter. It wasn't like there was anywhere I needed to go, anyway. I was just mapping out the last block and I believed I was done with it.

Dr. Frost took me to the running grounds where other wolves, and patients were scattered around, taking a run. She dropped me with Dr. Victoria before leaving with her nurse.

Without catching anymore attention, I shifted into my wolf form and did the morning cardio that I was meant to do.

My paws hit the blanketed floor, leaving imprints in the snow. The fur coat on my body kept me warm despite the cold. The good thing about shifting was that I could gather scents, scents that I couldn't notice if I was in my human form.

My heart rate raised when I inhaled the crisp, cold air. I took one round of the grounds, noticing how high the walls surrounding the asylum were. One couldn't even escape if it wanted to.

There was no way a wolf, like me, could jump and make their way out so easily. They made it impossible for anyone to get out and get in. It made me question how D—that man, Dom Stone, managed to come and leave whenever he wanted to.

Was there another exit?

Lana's wolf tackled me to the ground and I only caught onto her scent a moment later. She was a rather gray wolf, born in winters, unlike me. I had a brown wolf as I birthed during the summers, mid of June to be specific. Everyone had either of these two main seasons as their color, with different markings and shadings.

Only born-warriors had black wolves. The guards that surrounded the asylum all had black wolves, while others around the land, didn't.

"I was looking for you all around," Lana said, slipping on her shirt. "Where did you disappear too?"

I pulled up my pants and heaved heavily, "I was just—walking around the fifth block until Dr. Frost found me and then bought me here."

"And did you find anything?"

I shook my head, "No, nothing really except for the fact that the fifth block is filled with patients that are kept in isolation. They don't interact with us, they never leave their rooms unless required. I could hear some of their conversations, and when I realized that they were alone, I was spooked."

Lana laughed a little, "Ah, you would've probably gone there if your hallucinations had come back."

I threw on my cream-white shirt and buttoned it up. "Thankfully, none of those hallucinations were real. Just a trick of that man to set me off track."

A sneer slid into her face as she pulled on her sweatpants, "You'll deal with him at the end, and I swear I'll be standing right there next to you, knocking his balls in—that's if I ever see him."

We walked back to the main area and showed our faces to Dr. Victoria before heading inside the building and to our rooms where we intended on taking showers after the run.

"There was something I wanted to ask you."

"Ask away." Lana waved her hand in the air while stifling through her small cupboard with her other hand.

"I don't really want to talk to you about this if it's going to make you upset," I told her. "But I need your help in getting access to the basement. Only if you're comfortable with it."

"That man won't be the basement." She turned around and said.

I crossed my leg over the other one, "How do you know that?"

"I would've known if he was there. I was down there for a year, and I took notice of anyone that was there. Most of them were patients of Dr. Crow and when I got out, I looked into one of those files where they keep lists of patients, and their duration. I would remember if I saw any name similar to Cassius Vane, but I didn't."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm certain," she shook her head again, eyes wide. "That man is definitely not in the basement."

"But I have been scouring around all the blocks and I can't seem to find anything, or any location about him." I mentioned to her my worries.

She sat down on the edge of her bed, deep in contemplation. After a moment, she looked up at me with determination in her eyes. "There's one place you haven't checked yet. It's not in the official blueprints of the facility, or even the map, but there was this woman I used to talk to before. She was really old—a little crazy as well but she mentioned something along the lines that there were tunnels underneath the blocks."

My heart began to race at the thought of a hidden area in the facility that even the staff didn't know about. "Really?"

She nodded, and continued, "Yeah, I remember her mumbling a lot and it felt like nonsense because of how old and gravelly her voice was but she mentioned the thing about tunnels which I completely brushed aside. I think she's still here, if alive—we should go to her."

"But won't she tell people if we approach her?" I lowered my voice.

"No, people didn't talk to her then, and don't talk to her now, so don't worry. If you just start a conversation with her, you can ease her into your concerns."

"Okay, let's go after lunch. We get an hour of social time and we can use that time to see her—if she's still here."

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