Perpetual

Chapter 6

Tessa stood beside Theo, leaning against the bookshelf with an open book in her hands. They heard the sound of two pairs of footsteps approaching and they shared a glance, before going back to their books.

The two boys walked past where they stood, stopping in their tracks as they saw them. Scott and Stiles glared at Theo before their eyes moved to Tessa, a mixture of hope and despair in their expressions.

"What are you doing here?" Scott asked.

Theo turned towards them, closing the book in his hands. Tessa placed hers back on the shelf before standing beside him.

"We still need to graduate," Theo told the two boys.

"No. No. What you need," Stiles pointed at Theo, "is to be beaten severely with a lead pipe wrapped in barbed wire."

Tessa raised her eyebrows, chuckling at the boy. He looked at her in alarm.

"Okay, I admit that mistakes were made," Theo said.

"Murders." Stiles corrected him. "Some murders were made."

"You know how the Soviets helped us win World War II?" Theo asked. "They knew how to make it through a Russian winter."

"That it? Okay." Stiles threw his hands up. "Thank you, Theo. Very informative."

"If you're planning to break Lydia out of Eichen House, you still need to get past the mountain ash."

Theo glanced down at Tessa before looking back at the boys. "We can make it through. You can't, Scott."

Scott squinted at him. "What do you really want?"

"I know you saw the fresco," Theo said. "Two seriously pissed off creatures, the Hellhound and the Beast, fighting over a pile of dead bodies. I don't want to be one of the bodies, it's that simple. I can get you to Lydia."

Scott and Stiles didn't look convinced.

"Or we can see who gets to her first." Theo placed the book back on the shelf before walking away.

Tessa started to follow him but Scott called her name.

"Tessa."

She turned back towards him expectantly, her eyebrows raised and her hands tucked into her pockets.

"Your face," Scott said quietly, reaching out to trace the scar that hadn't healed.

She held her breath, resisting the urge to flinch away as his finger barely grazed the scar.

"That's from me?" he asked, his voice soft.

"Down in the tunnels, yeah. It never fully healed." She shrugged.

Scott sighed, "Tessa you have to remember something. Anything," he pleaded. "Theo's not who he says he is. And I don't know what he's told you, but he's not the good guy. He's just using you for his plan. Just like he used all of us before."

Tessa frowned at the boy, wanting to roll her eyes and leave but some deep, nagging feeling was telling her that maybe he was right. Maybe Theo was the bad guy. But he had brought her back to life. He had saved her. And with the Beast coming, she couldn't afford to question these things right now.

"Sorry, Scott," Tessa said. "I don't know who I was before all of this or who's side I was on, but I'm with Theo now. I trust him."

The two boys looked devastated as Tessa turned and made her way to the door where Theo was waiting. He held out his hand to her and she took it, glancing back once more over her shoulder at the two boys before letting the door swing shut behind her.