True North

51

BEACON HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

The next morning, Nolan, who looked tired and anxious after the previous night's events, walked into the school library. The rest of the students, who were mingling throughout the aisles of books and the study tables as they gather to do schoolwork, looked up at him and began whispering amongst each other. Their heads all turned to look at him warily, only serving to make Nolan more uncomfortable than before. When one teenage boy walked out of one of the aisles and saw Nolan, he immediately became panicked and walked in the opposite direction from him. After a moment of Nolan standing awkwardly in front of a shelf of books, Liam and Lena's voices called out to him as they approached the young Hunter.

"Doesn't feel good, does it?" Liam and Lena said.

Liam and Lena gave him a hard look as if to silently communicate the parallel between how Nolan was feeling now and how Liam and Lena felt after he and Gabe turned the school against Liam for being a Werewolf. Liam and Lena gave Nolan a moment to appreciate the connection before they jerked their heads in the direction of the other students.

"You know why they're all looking at you like that?" Liam asked.

Nolan looked around anxiously before turning back to Liam and Lena. "They're afraid of me?"

"They're afraid of what you're gonna say, and who you're gonna say it to," Lena corrected in a sharp tone. Nolan looked down at his feet and gulped nervously. "Nobody trusts you anymore."

"Then why are you two here? How come you texted me back?"

Liam, clearly still holding a grudge for everything Nolan did, sneered at him in an intimidating fashion while Lena glared at him.

"Because this time, maybe I'll kick your ass," Liam said. "Or maybe I'll let Lena." He tool a step closer to Nolan in a silent warning, and Nolan immediately began explaning himself to prevent any bodily harm.

"I said I was going to help. I can show you two something -- something I know you're both gonna want to see."

Liam and Lena paused for a moment, clearly torn between their distrust of Nolan and their need to gain more information about the Hunter threat.

"Where?" Liam and Lena asked.

Nolan replied nervously, "At-at the hospital."

Liam and Lena looked at Nolan suspiciously as the former said, "Why can't you just tell us what it is?"

"Because I have a plan."

Lena spoken in a skeptical tone. "You? You have a plan?"

Nolan continued to stutter his replies, clearly desperate to prove to Liam and Lena that his intent to help was legitimate. "Yeah. Yeah, I-" He stopped talking and took a deep breath to calm himself down before he continued. "I'm gonna show you two what you need to see at the hospital. Then, you're both gonna kick my ass so that Ms. Monroe thinks you two had to beat the information out of me."

Liam and Lena considered this for a long moment before raising their eyebrows at Nolan and nodding, the former's tone of voice changing from aggressive to agreeable. "Yeah, we're good with that plan."

BEACON HILLS MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

Liam, Lena and Nolan arrived at the hospital. Just as they walked into the ground floor lobby, Nolan saw a familiar face and immediately yanked Liam and Lena back into the doorway, choosing instead to peer at the nurse's station from around the corner.

"You see that guy?" Nolan asked as he pointed at a dark skinned man in light blue scrubs who was smiling and assisting a patient in a wheelchair. "That's why we didn't come in the front door."