Insidious ✖ Theo Raeken

s e v e n

"The Dread Doctors, by T.R. McCammon." Lydia read the title of the book she held in her hands. It was some kind of old, tattered book that Malia found yesterday in Tracy's room after she left the library.

Our walk down the school corridor came to a halt when Lydia suddenly stopped and cocked her head at the thin book, staring at it suspiciously with her mouth slightly agape.

"What?" Malia questioned, eyeing Lydia the same way latter eyed the book.

"I don't know." Banshee whispered before we started to move again. "There's something about it. Has anyone actually read it yet?"

"Just me." Malia assured. "And I didn't understand any of it."

"We should probably all read it."

"Kira's working on that."

Speaking of Kira, she and Scott are in the library, making copies of the book so that all of us could read it. We assume that this particular book had to do something with Tracy's behavior.

A lot of things happened while I had a struggle at the library. Scott, Kira, Liam, Mason and Brett were at the Sinema, where they witnessed another Chimera get killed by the masked men. It was a guy named Lucas, the one who injured Corey, the boy who was delivered to the hospital earlier. He was the one to direct Scott and Kira to the club.

I haven't told anyone about Donovan, like I planned to. I barely slept at night, maybe 2-3 hours only. I must look like a poo now. Stiles almost saw the deep gash on my temple, but I managed to hide it with my hair just in time, like I do now. Also, I used loads of foundation to hide these hideous bruises on my neck.

We approached Lydia's locker and stopped there to chat about the book some more.

"Stiles says he can't find anything on the author. He thinks it's a pen name." Malia spoke, loading her things into her locker, which is next to Lydia's.

"In a small New England town, teenagers are taken in the night and buried alive." Lydia started to read the description of a book but slowed down her pace when the sentence seemed to relate to the happenings. "Days later they emerge transformed, wreaking havoc and spreading terror, commanded by an ancient order of parascientists know only as The Dread Doctors." She nodded her head curtly and clicked her tongue. "Sounds vaguely familiar. How does it end?"

A shady figure drew my attention further away and I squinted in order to see it. It was, of course, Theo, standing beside his open locker and staring at me. I felt my cheeks heat and I bit my lip slightly before turning my attention back to the girls.

"It doesn't." Malia snapped, leaning her fist on her waist. "This is supposed to be volume one."

"Oh, let me guess." Lydia rolled her eyes. "There is no volume two?"

"I think we're living volume two."

"Then maybe the real question is... Is this a novel or someone's prediction?" Lydia asked rhetorically, her voice silencing eventually.

As my friends drowned in silence, I drowned in the sight of Theo, loading his books to the locker. Our eyes met again as his lips flashed me a cheeky smile before he went his way.

I sighed and when I raised my eyes I startled at the two sets of eyes that were now trying to make a dent into my skin. "What?" I muttered, widening my eyes in surprise.

"What are you looking at?" Lydia asked slower than usual and followed my previous sight beeline. "Theo Raeken?" She raised her voice in surprise, forcing me to hiss at her.

"It's not him." I objected feeling my face turn red and furrowed my eyebrows only to make them believe what I say. Of course, I failed miserably.

"Then what is? His locker?" Malia snickered as she slightly nudged me, making me wince in pain from the yesterday's encounter with Donovan. "What was that?" She quizzed, furrowing her brows.