Wolf's Grace

Chapter 180: Grace: Fan Club

Awkward silence reigns in the car, and there’s no way I'm breaking it. Andrew’s tension is palpable even from

here, but you know what? He deserves to feel anxious and off-kilter after having the audacity to question my

relationship with Caine.

He’s a Rafe loyalist. He's the second to last person on this pl| want poking his nose into my affairs.

Well—third. Ellie exists, after all.

| pull out my phone, needing something to focus on besides my irritation. My thumb hovers over my messages

app.

No new texts from Lyre.

| type out a quick message asking if she’s okay and to text back when she can.

The message changes to "Delivered", but even five minutes later it still doesn’t show "Read."

My skin crawls as | consider the strange sounds in the background. No matter how | try to convince myself |

might be mistaken, they sounded distinctly... violent-against-people-y.

But Owen's there. I'm sure he’s helping keep her in check.

Maybe.

Then again, I'm not really sure anyone can keep Lyre in check outside of Divinity Connect.

Speaking of which...

My gaze shifts to the notification I've been avoiding. The one about "Lyrielle’s Fan Club" on Divinity Connect.

Taking a deep breath, | tap on theicon. The interface looks a little different today, but still says (Limited).

But now there's a new chat thread at the top of my inbox, saying "Lyrielle’s Fan Club" in bold letters.

My thumb hovers over it. Curiosity wins out, and | tap.

A notification immediately appears.

[Grace Harper has accepted the invitation to join Lyrielle’s Fan Club.]

The messages flood in within seconds, but not before I notice | have no access to backchat.

[WRATH: ? Who the hell is this? Who the fuck sent out an invitation? This is our safe place, remember?]

[TIME: Maybe it was you in an alternate timeline.]

[WRATH: Stop fucking with me. You know that shit makes my brain hurt.]

[MADNESS: Join the dark side, baby~]

My eyes widen. What the hell kind of usernames are these?

Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt

[WRATH: Was it you, you piece of shit? We said no more invites.]

[MADNESS: Wasn't me~]

[TIME: Perhaps you should stop living up to your name.]

[WRATH: Perhaps you should take the stick out of your hourglass.]

[TIME: How uncouth.]

[WRATH: I'll show you uncouth.]

[TIME: Do you know what the word means?]

| scroll through the messages, my unease growing with every exchange. These people definitely know each

other, and | have no idea who they are.

[MADNESS: More importantly~ why isn’t she talking? Hello? | know you're reading us~]

How do they know? No; they don’t. They're guessing.

[TIME: Are you drunk?]

[MADNESS: Yup~1]

[WRATH: @Lyrielle was it you?]

I slam my thumb against the hbutton, exiting thein inexplicable panic.

What the actual hell is this, and who the hell is Lyrielle?

At a quick glance, it makesthink of Lyre. And it would make sense, because who the hell else do | know

associated with this app? Except the strange, face-shifting man in my dreams.

My phone chimes again with another notification. Despite my better judgment, | check it.

[CHAOS: This time, it isn’t me, little anchor. Do you miss me? | miss you.]

My skin crawls. He reeks of stalker vibes.

| open my messages and frantically type out a text to Lyre.

[GRACE: Someone just addedto a chat called "Lyrielle’s Fan Club" on Divinity Connect. There are users called

Wrath, Time, and Madness in there. Is Lyrielle you? Also, Chaos senta message and he sounds like a stalker.

Should | be worried? Because I'm seriously worried. Please answer as soon as you can!]

| wait, watching for the read receipt, but it doesn’t happen. I’m not panicking, not exactly—this doesn’t feel like

the bone-deep dread from before the last storm. This is just regular (I think) human anxiety about being

contacted by strangers with weird names on a magical social media platform.

Totally normal reaction.

Panic versus anxiety aside, the message keeps bouncing around my head like a stray ping pong ball. "This time,

it isn’t me." Isn't what him? The storm? The invitation? But he used present tense, so he’s probably not talking

about something that’s already happened. He's talking about something happening now.

So, the storm. Right?

My head throbs, a dull ache building

behind my eyes. Wrath. Time.

Madness. Chaos. Eg entiiet

ok inteHand es, not when

Divinity Connect involves... well,

divinities. These are entities. Forces.

Or just people with really bad naming

sense. The content is on

novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

But why are they in Lyre’s fan club?

The white cat rolls onto its back, and

I rub at its stomach without thinking.

All four paws Wrap Qraupd@prist

ag itlg Bily@news against my

knuckles. It acts like a perfectly

normal cat, just like Sadie acts like a

perfectly normal dog, but... The

content is on novelenglish.net! Read

the latest chapter there!

"Are you okay?" Andrew asks, finally breaking the silence.

"I'm fine."

"You don’t seem fine."

"I'm fine."

"Okay, okay. | was just worried."

"| don't need you to be—" Cutting

myself off, | suck in a deep breath.

My annoyance with him aside hen

hasn't done anting est ask if

eVenything's okay. Sniping at him only

makesthe immature one here.

"Nothing's wrong. | just want to get

settled in for the night. This storm's

makingnervous." The content is

on novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

We lapse back into silence.

Occasionally, Caine checks in via the walkie talkie, asking if I'm okay. Sometimes it’s Ron.

The children stay asleep through it all, even an hour into the drive.

Then another hour.

We're almost there, and storm clouds have begun gathering in the sky, dark and menacing.

My phone keeps buzzing, but it’s always Divinity Connect, never Lyre. Andrew keeps givingstrange looks

over it, but | don’t offer, and he doesn’t ask. It's two hours of awkward nothing between us.

Ten miles from our destination, | finally check it again, only to see:

[Lyrielle’s Fan Club: 573 new messages.]

How long is it going to take forto read through them all?

Maybe | shouldn't have ignored all the buzzing.