Dark Side of the World // S.S. [Book Two]

Chapter 51

Scott and I head to the Animal Clinic to meet up with Liam, Mason, and Theo. Scott plays the voicemail we'd found in the Primal Pack compound.

"Hey, it's me again. I, uh, don't know why you can't seem to call me back. Maybe because you think you're punishing me. But this is too long. It's too much. And it's not about us. Something is happening in Beacon Hills, to the people here. I just...I just, I need to know everyone there with you is okay, so can you just, please, call me, please? One call, that's all I'm asking for, and if you can't call me back, then...I'm going to get my answer anyway. That means I'm coming up there myself. If I don't get a call from you, I'm coming up there. So just try, try to remember. It's my pack too."

Theo frowns. "You pulled this off one of the bodies in the woods?"

"Malia did." Liam replies.

Scott nods. "Yeah, there were six dead bodies, and one of them had no face."

"Okay, so the one with no face, you think that's the woman on the phone?"

"Maybe."

Mason looks at us with a puzzled expression. "It's the same thing that happened to Aaron. It took over his body, basically stole his face and his DNA. So that means whoever this woman is, she could be the other half of the Anuk-Ite."

Theo glances to Mason grimly. "Which means she's just half of the problem. The other half we already know about, Aaron."

Scott shakes his head. "We don't know where he is, though."

I frown. "We're supposed to keep both halves apart, though."

"If we know about one half, let's just go for that one, that's Aaron." Theo adds.

Mason steps closer to me and theo. "I'm not agreeing with Theo, but I do think it'd be easier to track down Aaron over a voice on the phone."

Liam narrows his eyes. "That's agreeing with Theo."

Mason shrugs half-heartedly. "Yeah, but I thought I'd try to soften the blow a bit."

Theo seems surprised. "Is everyone completely shocked that I might be right?"

Liam shakes his head. "No, we just don't like it."

Scott comes up with a compromise. "Maybe we're all right. Maybe we should be looking for both Aaron and the woman on the phone. I mean, since you guys agree..."

"Wait, you mean, her, me and..." Mason says, cutting Scott off.

"Him?" Theo finishes.

Scott nods. "Yeah. You three, find Aaron. Liam and I will try to find out whose voice is on the phone."

Liam looks between us. "If we find either half, maybe we don't have to fight it at all. Stop the Anuk-Ite..."

"Stop the war."

As Theo, Mason, and I leave, Scott grabs Mason's arm. "Make sure she doesn't kill Theo."

I glare at Scott as Mason nods. "Glad to know of your faith in me."

"Meg, you don't like him. You've made that blatantly obvious. Just...control your temper, okay?"

Mason, armed with a partially melted baseball bat, leads the two of us down the tunnels. He goes on a small rant. "That's a pretty egotistical thing to say, don't you think. "You'd never be able to find Aaron on your own, "you're not smart enough."""

Theo glances at Mason. "So if you found him, what were you gonna do? Beat him up with your AP Calculus book?"

"I can be resourceful." Mason answers, holding up a partially melted steel rod.

Mason picks the pipe back up and sighs. "Was that necessary?"

Mason shoots him a look and he says, "Okay, so you're the smart one."

"Why precisely are we down here?" I protest. "Wouldn't it be better to look around the school or somewhere with better lighting?"

Mason's eyes flick to me. "Aaron hasn't been in class in days. The last sighting of the Faceless was in the tunnels."

I nod slowly. "The last time we were here, Parrish burned the body. We haven't been down here since."

"Why not?" Theo asks.

Mason, understanding what I'm getting at, replies, "Because we're scared. We're all scared to come back down here."

"You're afraid." Theo notes.

"That's the exact reason why we should be looking down here."

"I feel it, too. Looks like Megara does as well."

Mason sighs as we come to a fork in the tunnel. "Okay. Nice and bright, dark and spooky..."

"You're right." Theo interrupts, grabbing Mason's shoulder. "We need to follow our fear."

He starts down the dark and spooky tunnel and turns to Mason who's frowning. "Hey, it was your idea."

We trek through the tunnels and Theo eventually lets out a sigh of annoyance. "These tunnels go on forever, and we've been down here for hours."

Mason shakes his head. "No real news from the last time you said it 20 minutes ago."

"I wasn't doubting the plan 20 minutes ago."

"If you're so concerned, just go. I mean, no one's forcing you to stay here."

"Yeah, and leave you and our army in charge of my survival? Don't think so."

"Whatever it takes just to save your own ass, and nobody else's."

Theo frowns. "I'm here, aren't I? Maybe I wanna be in the pack."

I let out a scoff. "You? In the pack? You really expect us to believe that?"

Mason continues on. "A pack is about trust. I mean, the first thing you'd do is figure out a way to kill all of us. And it doesn't matter who forgets. I won't. I saw Scott's mom. I saw what you did. And as much as I'm terrified of what's down here, I'm way more terrified of turning my back on you."

"Enough, boys." I say before hearing something. "Oh, gods."

Theo suddenly looks at his hand and growls as his eyes shift yellow.

Aaron appears and attacks us. Theo pushes Mason out of the way in time as I draw my sword. Theo and Mason are lying against a wall, staring up at Aaron.

He sits Mason up and asks, "You okay?"

Mason nods. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

"Where is he?" I ask moments before Aaron appears with something in his hands. Maybe a pipe?

"What was that?" Mason asks.

Theo glances to me and says, "I don't know. But we gotta find him."

We try to get Mason up and he says, "Wait, wait. Something's happening. We need, we need to figure it out."

"So figure it out."

Theo grabs Mason's arm and after a moment, says, "I can't..."

"You can't take it away if you don't care." Mason explains.

Aaron reappears and Theo and I stand up.

Mason yells, "Theo. Megara. Hey, Theo, Megara...Guys, don't fight him! It's what he wants!"

We ignore Mason and we attack Aaron, slashing him with claw and sword. He's hurt, but the wounds that should be there aren't showing.

"Ti diáolo?"

Aaron soon realizes his wounds aren't showing and steps back into the fight. He grabs Theo's hands and thrusts his claws into his own stomach before running off.

After that colossal failure, I make my way back to Scott's. I continue packing stuff up for my move back to New York.

I hear Scott's door click and see Malia slip in. The water turns on and then turns off moments later. Then, the shower turns on. A small smile overtakes my face as I know they're realizing their feelings for each other.