Shadow People (The Forbidden Darkness Chronicles, #2)

Thirty-Four: Hayden Williams

It seemed like for the first time since this all started, Heather finally snapped. Though it was sad seeing her like this, I could understand where she was coming from.

We left the chill room to give her some time alone. All of us were in the classroom with the door closed, talking about what to do for her.

"I am pretty sure that was an anxiety attack," I said. "I may be wrong because I've never had one, but when I was in the hospital, I saw it happen to a few patients."

"I'm pretty sure it was, too," Philip said. He sat the desk, facing all of us. "It was definitely minor, minus the desk throwing. Did she break anything, Kristen?"

Kristen shook her head. "No. Not that I could blame her if she did. I don't even think she realized what she was doing."

"What happened that made her snap like that?" I asked.

Kadin, who sat beside me, sighed. "I told her that I think the Darkness is being controlled by Abaddon now. Frostbite, you told us that the Darkness disappeared while you were fighting it. The only reason why it would have disappeared is if it found some new to control it. Someone that told it to stop."

Frostbite didn't say a word. He just stared at us, waiting for someone to say something.

"Abaddon has the Darkness," I said. "Doesn't he?"

"I'm assuming so," Kadin said. "Which is why I'm so scared of him finding us. That's what I told Heather. I think she just kind of snapped after that."

She was going through a lot—even more than me—so it was clear why she would freak out. How long was it going to be before I got to that point? Then I remembered that I did get to that point. With Blayne. What if all of this just kept piling up? Would I try to kill myself again?

One thing I knew was that thing were different now. I had friends. The fact that it took me this long to realize it shocked me. Heather, Kristen, Philip, Kadin—even Frostbite—were all my friends. My support system was here. And right then, Heather needed our help. I couldn't fall apart. Not when she needed us the most.

"How do we stop him?" I asked.

"That's what we need to figure out," Kadin said. "Heather's a complete mess right now. We can't ask her to help, so that leaves us."

As much as it sucked, I knew he was right. Asking Heather to help was a bad idea. So that left the five of us. "What do we do?"