Morningstar

61

Scott and Luci made their way to the Animal Clinic to meet up with Liam, Mason and Theo. Scott played the voicemail they'd found at 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 frowned. "You pulled this off one of the bodies in the woods?"

"Malia did," Liam replied.

Scott nodded. "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 looked at them with a puzzled expression as Scott continued. "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 pick the other half of the Anuk-Ite."

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

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

Luci frowned. "We're supposed to keep the two halves apart."

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

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

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

Mason gave a half-hearted shrug. "Yeah, but I thought I'd try to soften the blow a bit."

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

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

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

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

"Him? Her?" Theo finished.

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

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

"Stop the war."

Theo, Mason and Luci left.

---

Mason was armed with a partially melted baseball bat as he led Theo and Luci through the tunnels. He went on a 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 glanced 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 replied, holding up a partially melted steel rod.

Theo knocked it down and Mason picked the pipe back up and sighed. "Was that necessary?"

Mason shot him a look as Theo said, "Okay, so you're the smart one."

Luci frowned. "Why are we here? Wouldn't the school be better? Or somewhere with better lighting?"

Mason glanced at her. "Aaron hasn't been in class in days. The last sighting of the Faceless was in the tunnels."

Luci leaned against the wall. "Well, the last time we were here, Parrish burned the body. We haven't been here since."

"Why not?" Theo asked.

Mason glanced at Luci understanding what she was getting at. "Because we're scared. We're all scared to come back down here."

"You're afraid."

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

"I feel it, too. And from Luci's expression, she does as well."

Luci scoffed. "I'm not scared. I'm bloody furious."

Mason sighed as they came to a fork in the road. "Okay. Nice and bright, dark and spooky..."

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

Luci was already making her way down the dark corridor when Theo and Mason followed.

Theo frowned at Mason. "Hey, it was your idea."

They trekked through the tunnels and Theo let out an irritated sigh. "These tunnels go on forever, and we've been down here for hours."

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

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

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

Luci scoffed. "You? In the pack? Really?"

Mason continued. "A pack is about trust. I mean, the first thing anything 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, you two," Luci warned as she heard something. "What is that?"

Theo looked at his hand and growled as his eyes shifted yellow.

Aaron appeared and attacked them. Theo pushed Mason out of the way in time. Theo and Mason were lying against a wall, staring at Adam.

He sat Mason up and asked, "You okay?"

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

"Where'd he go?" Luci wondered.

Aaron appeared seconds later with an object in his hands.

"What was that?" Mason asked.

Theo's eyes flicked to Luci. "I don't know. But we gotta find him."

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

"So figure it out."

Theo grabbed Mason's arm and after a moment, said, "I can't..."

"You can't take it away if you don't care," Mason told him.

Aaron reappeared and Theo stood.

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

They ignored Mason and attacked Aaron, slashing him with claws and fists. He was hurt, but the wounds weren't showing.

"What in Dad's name?" Luci muttered.

Aaron realized his wounds weren't healing and stepped into the light. He grabbed Theo's hands and thrusted his claws into his stomach before running off.