Destiny [D.H.]

97

Eliana's POV:

Scott and I sat in the hospital waiting room as we waited for news on Melissa. We had our hearing tuned to everything going on with his mom.

Malia walked over and placed a hand over Scott's clenched hands.

Scott glanced at me and we walked into Melissa's room.

The nurse said, "You have about a minute before the sedative kicks in. And let her rest."

Scott grabbed my hand and I let him. He needed some sense of comfort. We walked to Melissa's bedside. She was pale and looked exhausted, but smiled. "Hey, kids."

Scott looked at his mom and said, "We're gonna wait outside, okay?"

Melissa shook her head and answered in a shaky voice. "No, wait, Scott. Wait. Listen to me. You didn't do this. You didn't either, Eliana."

Scott let out a sigh. "But I'm responsible. You need to sleep."

"I just need to... tell you..."

"It can wait. It can wait. Mom..."

Melissa's breaths sounded heavier as she began drifting off to sleep. "Don't run. You fight."

Scott placed a hand on his mom's head and placed his head to hers. He kissed her forehead.

Melissa's eyes closed and I followed Scott to his dad's room and we found the bed empty.

"Where's my dad?" Scott demanded.

"Transferred to San Francisco Memorial," the sheriff replied. "He's gonna be fine."

Scott nodded. "Okay. And what about Mason?"

"Already out of surgery," my dad informed.

"Lydia?"

"She's all right, too," the sheriff reassured. "Bullet missed everything that matters, thank God. Scott, Eliana, we almost died."

Scott pursed his lips. "They almost died."

"But they're gonna live. We're gonna have two deputies posted here around the clock. Nobody sets foot on this floor without my authorization. Scott. Eliana. Officer Hart and I got a pretty good idea how you're both feeling right now. But the whole sheriff's department is gonna be on this. We are gonna find out who did this."

"We all know who did this."

Scott and I walked through the halls and Malia caught up with us. "Hey. What do we do?"

Scott sighed. "No more peace summits. No more warning. No more half measures."

"What's the plan?"

"We fight back," I answered.

"I'm good with that plan."

"And Gerard?" Scott said. "Monroe? The hunters? We take them all."

"Then we're gonna need more firepower."

"Not just firepower. We're gonna need an army."

Scott, Malia and I made our way back to his house to see Deucalion walk in, glass crunching between his feet. "You know my fighting days are over."

Malia and I glared at him. "That's hard to believe."

"You once said you'd kill any living thing that got in your way," Scott said.

Deucalion sighed. "I said a lot of things. But eventually, the bodies pile up so high that even a blind man can't ignore them."

"So what? You moved into a case and took a vow of uselessness?" Malia asked sarcastically.