Broken: the Ultimate Crossover

Chapter 16

Betty's POV

Kavinsky has been asleep on the couch for almost an hour now. Lara Jean and Nancy have gone upstairs to see if they could research anything on the demagorgan, leaving me and Peter to watch over the sleeping boy.

"I can't believe he got attacked by a demagorgan and lived to tell the tale," Peter eventually says, his eyes fixated on his sleeping stepbrother.

"I know," I reply quietly. "I'm just glad I happened to look out the window at the right time."

He nods and swallows, his Adam's apple bobbing as he does so. "Thank you. He might not be my favorite person, but he is family."

I give him a small smile, not sure what to say as I've never been great at taking compliments. We sit in silence for a long minute and then he looks at me with an almost proud smile on his face.

"Nice work with the fire trick by the way," he says with a slight laugh. "You'll be a master in no time."

"Helps if you have a good teacher," I respond playfully, and then we share a laugh and a fist bump like we've been friends for two years instead of two days. It's weird to think that it hasn't even been that long, because I've spent every minute of my past couple days with these other kids.

Our lightheartedness is suddenly cut off by a very annoyed groan coming from the next floor. Peter and I share a confused glance as Nancy comes stomping down the stairs, Lara Jean coming down cautious behind her.

"Nancy, this is a bad idea," Lara Jean tells her friend in a warning tone as Nancy angrily makes her way to the door.

"You know, Lara Jean, I actually think it's a wonderful idea," Nancy replies sharply as she shrugs her coat over her shoulders.

"What's going-" I start before Lara Jean cuts me off with an explanation.

"Steve texted Nancy acting like he's not a piece of cow shit and wants to make things work again, so Nancy's going to go give him a piece of her mind," she explains to me.

"Who's Steve?" Peter asks from behind the scenes.

"Why doesn't she just dump his sorry ass?" I ask, scrunching my eyebrows.

"You can't break up with someone if you're not dating, apparently," Lara Jean says with a shrug. "I wouldn't know, I don't think a boy has looked my way in my whole life."

"Guys, who's Steve?" Peter asks, a little louder this time, but we all still ignore him because none of us have the energy to tell him.

"Nancy, please tell me you're not going to go over there and look at his fluffy hair and big brown eyes and lose your sense?" I inquire, hoping that she won't disappoint me with her answer.

"You know, I honestly don't even care anymore," Nancy tells me with an animated shrug. "If he wants to ruin my school life because I tell him what I truly think of him than so be it. I hope he gets eaten by a demagorgan."

"Guys," Peter starts again.

"That's a little harsh don't you think?" Lara Jean asks her best friend softly as Nancy opens the door.

"No, not really," Nancy responds as she exits the house. "Come on Lara Jean. Bye Betty, you too Peter."

The door closes behind them and Peter looks at me with a sigh. "Who the hell is Steve?"

Archie's POV

"I swear to you Mrs. Blossom I have no idea where your daughter is," I explain to Penelope, Cheryl's mother, as she hounds me and Veronica for the millionth time about the whereabouts of her teenage daughter.

"You two are her best friends, you have to know something," she insists, her thin red lips pursed in a harsh line.

We can't tell her about the demagorgan, she won't believe us. If anything she'll have a mental breakdown and accuse us of hiding Cheryl's information from her, which we are, but still.

"Cheryl was kidnapped, Mrs. Blossom," Veronica reminds her. "If we knew anything about where to find her we could have started looking by now."

Penelope's face twitches and her eyes glaze over. "I can't afford to lose my only child. First my son, then my husband, and now my daughter. I can't stay in this house alone with...that thing for the rest of my days."

She flings her arm carelessly in the direction of Nana Blossom, who sits in her wheelchair in the parlor, licking her wrinkled lips.

"The police are working on it," I promise her. "But Will Byer's is also missing, so the most likely explanation is that they've been kidnapped. Trust me, we miss her too."

She smacks my cheek immediately and I feel the sting of her hand, even if it was through her red silk glove. My face jerks to the side and Veronica gasps.

"You know nothing boy," she hisses as she glares down at me, not a hint of sympathy in her eyes, then turns her back on us. "Now leave me, both of you."

As we exit the gates of the Blossom estate, Veronica sighs and stops momentarily.

"Not that my parents are saints, but they look like it compared to that witch," she tells me and rubs her temples.

"Are you okay?" I ask her. Veronica and I have been friends since birth, basically, and she hasn't been herself recently.

"Am I okay?" she scoffs quietly and shakes her head. "No, I'm not. My best friend was eaten by a monster and I haven't slept for forty-eight hours. Every time I close my eyes I see it. I can't escape from something that shouldn't even be real."

I don't know how to respond. I can't relate to what she's been through, what she's seen happen, but I know that I will do my best to help her no matter what.

"I'm here for you," I tell her, grabbing her shoulder gently. "I always will be, no matter how crazy the story."

A single tear falls down her cheek as she nods. "Okay. I...I just don't know Archie. I want her to be alive, but I don't even know why I believe that any more. I should have stayed..."

"But if you had stayed we would have never learned," I remind her. "And you and Cheryl would just be added to the list of mysteries in Riverdale. I can't wait to get out of this place."

"None of us can," she mumbles. "But I don't think I'll ever be able to get away from that, that stupid monster."

I look at her. Her eyes are dull and her under eyes are a deepening shade of purple. Her hair looks greasy, like it hasn't been taken care of in a couple of days, and her skin is broken out, red dots framing her cheeks and hairline. I've never seen Veronica in such an unkept state. She's always taken such good care of herself, and now she hasn't even drawn in her eyebrows.

"I...I'm sorry," I tell her with a shrug. "I really want to help you, but I don't know how. Peter is working on the testing and stuff, I think Betty's helping him. It's all a mess."

"Those step-brothers sure are something aren't they?" she asks, immediately changing the subject. "Kavinsky and Peter? They're very interesting. Peter always seems kind of suspicious, and Kavinsky, I don't know. They're different."

"I guess I haven't really had a conversation with either of them," I admit with a shrug. "The only we've talked is when we were trying to get the Death Mass out of Kavinsky's locker."

"I kind of like everybody," she tells me quietly. "They're weird and very different from the people I'm used to, but they aren't nearly as aggressive or mean."

"Maybe after this is all over we can all be friends," I think aloud.

Friends...