#Chapter 239: The Bell Tolls

Ava The death bell tolled in Moonstone. The sky was dark and gray, a storm threatening to spill over the horizon—almost as though the sky, too, knew the gravity of what we had to do today. Today, we would be burning our friend’s casket. Today, we would say goodbye for the last time. It had been three days since Dr. Foster’s visit, three days of preparation and planning and tears. And now, as we made our way to the pyre, the reality of what we were doing was finally sinking in. Ophelia walked alongside me behind the casket, her slender form leaning on me for support. I rubbed her back in large, slow circles, my head bent. Her face had been hidden behind her mourning veil all morning, but I could hear her soft sniffles and whimpers as we made our way toward the pyre. “Beta Leonard… Oh, Leonard… Dear Leonard…” The pack’s whispers seemed too loud in this dense quiet, their voices pressing in from all directions. Trembling hands reached out as we passed,