Afterlife ↠ Argent [1]

15. Rising Tide

Well, I ended up telling Allison what I had found, leading us to find a file on Gerard's keychain that was there the whole time. When I had finally reached the school that night, Scott had scared that creature off and Stiles and Derek made it out of the pool alive. Allison kept telling me that if I hadn't have told them then they could be dead, but I didn't feel like much of a hero. After all, I was the one who ran away instead of staying to help.

Before we even had a chance to plug the Bestiary in, Derek had already known what that creature was all along, making me hate him even more than I already did. That thing is something called a Kanima; but that's about all we know about it so far. When we eventually did pull up the file, we found that it was all in some other language that I sure as hell didn't know. So that was a major setback.

Allison has been trying to translate some of it, staying up way past her bedtime. I usually will stand behind her and watch, trying not to be too distracting, but we all know how big of a blabber mouth I am. However, most of the things I do say to her are telling her to get some sleep and things like that. I don't want her to work too hard.

"Have you found anything yet?" I ask her as we walk down the school hallway, heading to some class I could care less about.

Allison shrugs as she pulls out her phone, acting as if she was on the phone with someone rather than talking to a ghost. "Just some stuff about where it originates but that's about it. Apparently this thing is a werewolf gone wrong; because sometimes the shape you take can reflect the type of person you are."

I think for a moment, my mind getting lost in coming up with possibilities of who is might be. "I hate to say this, but what if it's Lydia? You did say she was bitten and didn't turn."

"I've thought of that too," Allison says, her voice distant as if she didn't want to imagine her friend being that monster. "But Lydia isn't a snake. She just can't be."

"I don't know Allison," I say, looking over at her as we walked into one of the classrooms. "What other possibilities are there?"

The second I say this, I look up and see Allison's eyes pause on someone, causing me to follow her gaze. For a moment I thought she was looking at Scott, but instead she was looking at some boy behind him. He seemed sort of familiar, but I didn't know his name.

"What about Jackson?" Allison says, her voice at a very low whisper. The boys eyes flash up for a moment at the sound of his name, which causes me to raise an eyebrow. Only I should have been able to hear Allison, other than Scott who has werewolf hearing. Maybe Allison was right.

"Get in your seats," I hear the teacher say, who happened to be the school coach. I watch as Allison shoves her phone back into her purse, walking over and sitting beside Lydia. The two exchange words as I walk over to Scott and Stiles, listening to what they were saying to Jackson.

"Hey testical left and right," Jackson says, already causing me to not like him. He seemed like a dick from the very start. "What the hell is a Kanima?"

I raise my eyebrows as Scott and Stiles turn and look at him, confused as to how he knew what that even is. Before they get to ask any questions, Coach is already yelling at the class.

"Alright listen up!" he yells, slamming a book onto the table. "Quick warning for you all. Some of you, like McCall, might want to start study groups. Because tomorrow's mid-term is so profoundly difficult, I'm not even too sure I could pass it."

I hear the whole class groan as Coach laughs, finding amusement in teenagers pain. You know, I couldn't tell if I liked this guy or not. He was funny as hell but also very...strange. I just couldn't describe it. Either way, I won't have to take this test because I'm dead. Another perk.