The 7th Stone

Prologue

The last few days hadn't been what Betty Cooper thought they would be like. She wanted to have fun with her friends and be with her boyfriend. She wanted to have a normal teenage life just for a little while. The murder of Jason Blossom started all of this. Maybe she shouldn't have got involved and investigated, but she thought she had to do it. At least that's what Nancy Drew would have done. She just wanted to be like her favorite character. She thought she could do the same for the Black Hood, but it back fired on her.

He had gotten in contact with her just a week ago and asked her to do things she never ever wanted to do. The first was to expose her mother as a South Side Serpent. She didn't want to hurt her mother by ruining her reputation, but soon enough she believed it was for the best. After all, there are good Serpents getting hate for things they never did all thanks to her mother. The next thing was to cut off ties with her friends, starting with Veronica. She hated to insult her best friend like that. As soon as it happened, she wanted to take it all back, but she couldn't. It was either push Veronica away or Veronica was dead. She had no choice. And with her insults to Veronica, she managed to push all her other friends away as well. Just the other day she tried talking to her best friend in the school halls. Kevin was walking with Veronica and defended her, but she said Betty wasn't worth it. She thought if she could talk to Veronica, she would get her friend back and some comfort for the third task sent by the Black Hood. He wanted her to break up with Jughead or he would kill him.

Archie confronted her the day after Nicks party about how Betty treated Veronica. She told him the truth. He knew about the first call and was there when he called again. If anyone understood what was happening, it was Archie. He almost called the sheriff about the calls, but Betty stopped him because she didn't want anyone else to die. The attacks had stopped since the first call. She wanted to make sure they stayed like that. Betty quickly came up with a plan regarding breaking up with Jughead. She asked Archie to do it for her. She figured it was better that way because she wouldn't be able to do it herself. At least Jughead would be safe until the Black Hood was caught. Archie was reluctant to do it, but she convinced him. And he did it.

Now, Betty was sitting by the window in her room crying from his psychological torture. She wished for things to go back to normal. Back to when she had a stupid crush on Archie. Back to when there was no Polly and Jason relationship. Back to when Kevin was still her best friend. Even back to no Veronica or Jughead, so she wouldn't be hurting this much. And back to when her parents were still happy together. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine what it would be like, but it still hurt because she knows she can't live without Veronica and Jughead by her side at this point. She knows her friends hate her now. She knows that her sister and her twins are far from here and she doesn't know when the next time she sees them will be.

Then, her phone began ringing that awful lollipop song. Betty hesitantly picked it up and put the phone to her ear.

"Is it done?" His voice came in a harsh tone. She couldn't move.

"Yes." A tear fell from her eye.

"Ask me your question."

"There's only one I care about now."

"You wanna know who I am. Well, there's an abandoned house on the edge of Fox Forest, at the end of the service road. You'll find your answer there," the Black Hood informed her before hanging up.

Betty quickly put on her shoes and grabbed a flashlight. She kneeled down next to her bed and lifted her mattress. She grabbed the gun she had hidden and tucked it in her jeans. Her shirt covered the weapon well.

She quietly walked downstairs. Her mom was in the kitchen working as she tiptoed to the front door. Quietly grabbing her coat, she opened the door. She turned back to see if her mom caught her, but she was still working and completely oblivious of her daughter sneaking out of the house. Once Betty was half way down the street, she put on her coat with her phone and flashlight inside the pockets.