IN TOO DEEP || Liam Dunbar [3]

NINETEEN

By the time Malia got there, Mason was still poking the pile of gross with a stick. Katherine greeted her with a cheeky hug and a repeated promise of cupcakes, then forced her stomach to settle so she could stand with the three of them. Malia just stared at it for a moment without even looking phased, which she was supposed was fair, before finally saying "you have two minutes."

"What do you think happened?" Was the first thing Liam asked.

Malia knelt down, and Katherine fought down a wave of nausea. "The rats freaked out, crawled all over each other, got their tails knotted up and—" she reached out and pulled a single rat free of the grossness without even flinching "—tore each other apart trying to break free."

"You read up on rat kings?" Mason asked curiously, though he still looked a little green.

She glanced at him as she held the rat up into the light. "What's a rat king?" Malia rose onto her feet and gave it a sniff before turning to look at the three of them, and Katherine was suddenly thankful for her boyfriends werewolf reflexes because if he hadn't tugged her out of the way she would have been too up close and personal with the rat to keep her sane.

"Well that's just horrifying," she choked out, looking over at Mason enviously. He now held his poking stick as a weapon. He'd moved out of the way fastest thanks to the fact that he was on the furthest away.

"Take a sniff," Malia rolled her eyes, holding the rat out to Liam.

There was a flurry of I'm good's from him and Mason, who scooted further away as the rat swung by it's tail.

Katherine snorted quietly to herself and took a careful step forwards to get a better look at it, knowing that if she had plans to help the supernatural from a position of law enforcement she was going to be seeing a lot worse.

"It's fear," Malia rolled her eyes irritably. "They smell like fear."

"Honestly dude, that might be me," Katherine grimaced as her eyes scanned the thing over. She gagged slightly. "Because I promise you I don't smell like deodorant right now."

Still cringing, Liam pushed her hand away and back towards the pile until the rat fell out of her grasp while Malia continued to roll her eyes at him. "It's the same as the ones in the science room."

There was a moment of silence, then; "why were there rats in a science classroom?"

The three of them — Mason was still hiding on the other side of the room with a chalky pale face and a cringe — turned to look over at her, and Katherine felt her jaw drop. She stared at them all and flailed her arms briefly, brown eyes wide. "Okay me and Liam figured this out last year; I'm not cat Jesus, and apparently I need to say I'm not rat Jesus either!"

"They ran in during second period," Liam amended, rolling his eyes at her commentary. "About fifty of them."

Malia blinked at them. "Your two minutes are up." She stalked away calmly, and Liam spluttered out a gasp.

"Wait but — Mal — where are you going?" He spat out finally.

She hummed calmly. "Paris. This isn't my problem."

"So you're saying this is a problem?" Mason choked, eyes widening.

"Maybe," Malia yelled back without even turning her head. "Probably! But you've got it covered and I've got a plane to catch."

"I thought it was delayed?"

"Rerouted."

Then she was gone. The three of them stood there in silence for a moment, processing what just happened, and then Katherine slapped a hand to her forehead. "Okay," she muttered, eyes shut and hand still on her face. "Liam, you grab a thing from the pile of gross and put it in the cardboard box without a lid over there — I think it's a shoe box — and then put it in the plastic bag Mason has in his pocket."