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"I told you, I don't know what the Primal is. I don't know what an Anuk-a-whatever is. I, I was just trying to call my daughter. Where did you get this?" Mrs. Finch asked, looking back and forth between Scott, Liam, and Melanie.
"You said you were in a pack. That was you on the phone, that's what you said." Liam said, taking a small step towards her so he was now side by side with Melanie. The woman's face reddened in anger at Liam's words. Without Melanie noticing, Liam placed his arm in front of her and pushed her slightly behind him.
"I don't know what business it is of yours, my personal life. I am the teacher, you are the students. I don't go digging into your personal life outside of these walls, you shouldn't be digging into mine." Mrs. Finch reprimanded, walking closer to her current students rather than Scott.
Scott walked towards her, reaching out to her shoulder gently so she would face him. "Did you reach any of them before they died?" Scott asked quietly. Melanie's heart dropped with her teachers as she watched the woman's face pale, tears immediately brimming in her eyes.
"W- what... What are you talking about?" Mrs. Finch muttered, looking between the three. Melanie bit her lip and shook her head. "Mrs. Finch, I'm sorry, but your family," Melanie took a deep breath when Mrs. Finch started to shake her head in denial. "They were attacked, and they died." Melanie finished and a single tear fell from Mrs. Finch's eye.
"Dead? They... No, they can't be dead because... They were just, they were... They were in the woods, they were just, they're hiding out. They're scared." The woman stumbled out, looking at Melanie with big eyes as she continued to shake her head.
Melanie felt the woman's pain and closed her eyes to contain her own emotions. "We found that phone on a body. Three men, two boys." Melanie explained, her voice almost sounding shaky. At her words, Mrs. Finch perked up as her brows raised. "What about my daughter?" She asked and Melanie took in another sharp breath at the woman's hopefulness.
Melanie's eyes flickered to Scott, silently asking him to take over and Scott nodded. "Well, there was another body, but, uh..." Scott started, his words freezing when Mrs. Finch looked at him with the same big eyes she was just looking at Melanie with. "But what?" She asked, growing impatient. Melanie grabbed Liam's hand and squeezed it, Liam almost immediately squeezing back.
"We couldn't identify it. The skin was stripped down to the muscle. There was no DNA. Pack tattoo was still there." Scott explained and Mrs. Finch let out a small sob, shaking her head. "No... no, this doesn't make sense. I mean, this isn't how biology works." Mrs. Finch stuttered out, raising her finger to shake it.
"That's what the Anuk-Ite does. It finds a body and it takes its face. It takes the whole identity of that person." Liam explained and Mrs. Finch bit her lip to hold back any cries. "Not my daughter. No, not my daughter."
"There's a way to find out." Melanie blurted, making Liam, Scott, and Mrs. Finch all turn to her. Melanie kept her eyes on her teacher, part of her worried to look at Scott and Liam since she was going against the plan. "Call her."
