Enid's POV
We were practically running back to school. We immediately went to Sheila's room. She was sleeping there alone without any roommate.
Ezra started banging loudly on the door and calling her. There wasn't any reply. Gary tried to forcefully open the door but he couldn't.
"Can I try?" I asked quietly.
Ezra raised an eyebrow yet nodded her head. Gary stepped aside. With a few forceful maneuvers and a little push, the door was opened. They both looked at me in shock.
"What? I'm a werewolf." I simply replied.
Ezra smirked and kissed my cheek before we all entered Sheila's room. It was all neat and perfect except for one thing. I pointed to the window: it was opened.
"She ran away..." Gary whispered. "But why would she if all she did was curse your obsidian?"
My eyes widened. "What if she has something to do with the Hyde and the murders?"
Ezra shook her head. "I used 'the voice of truth' on her. There's no way she can resist it."
Gary pursed his lips. "What if she was protected?" He pondered.
"By a spell or a crystal?" I questioned.
Gary shrugged and motioned for us to look in her belongings in order to find clues. We started searching without exactly knowing what we're looking for. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. We raided the room, each corner. Nothing at all.
Ezra huffed in frustration. "Let's go sleep and we'll handle this tomorrow."
We sighed in agreement and left for our respective rooms.
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Ezra plopped down on my bed. She looked exhausted. I sat beside her and started stroking her arm.
"You know we'll figure it out, right?" I said softly.
She gave me a sad look. "If she resisted 'the voice of truth', I don't know what else to do to beat her and the Hyde. That is IF she has something to do with this whole mess." She exhaled and laid down.
I laid beside her and gazed at her. Her jaw was clenched. She was tense. I felt helpless.
"Why do you think she cursed your stone?" I randomly asked.
"Perhaps to get back at me for not responding to her approach." Ezra shrugged, her eyes on the ceiling.
I smiled cheekily. "And why did you not 'respond to her approach'?" I teased.
Ezra looked at me with furrowed eyebrows. She looked so confused, it was almost comical. "Because I liked you..." She stated bluntly.
I started laughing and snuggled closer to her, pecking her cheek softly. "I was just messing with you."
She gave me a lopsided smile before kissing my forehead. "Let's change our clothes and head to bed." She proposed.
When we got in our pajamas, Ezra laid down on my bed and I joined her, putting my head on her chest as she wrapped her arms around me.
We tried to have as peaceful of a night as we can get.
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I woke up and Ezra wasn't there. I felt the panic building up. My lungs were contracting and suddenly it was harder to breathe. I curled up into a ball and started crying. The tears came out on their own and I couldn't stop them. I was struggling to take a small breath.
Where was she?
I decided to calm myself down and check my phone for a message. There was none.
Except for one from an unknown number.
You shall lose.
I felt even more worried. My heart was beating insanely fast and I was shaking. I decided to take a shower and get ready to start looking for her with Gary.
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When I was done, I ran to Gary's room. He opened the door while rubbing his eyes, seems like I woke him up.
"Ezra is gone." I blurted out.
"Good morning to you too." He yawned.
"Gary, I'm serious. She's gone. She didn't leave a message or anything. I only received this weird anonymous message!" I was hyperventilating at this point.
He furrowed his eyebrows. "Come in. We'll talk about this inside."
I got in and started walking around his room like a crazy person.
"Enid?" He said in a low, quiet voice.
"WHAT?!" I snapped angrily.
"Okay... You have to calm down. Ezra knows how to defend herself. Let me freshen up and we'll go look for her. In the meantime..." He extended his arm and suddenly there was a cup and a tea bag inside of it. "Make yourself some tea. Go to the cafeteria, add some hot water and come back to drink it here. I would be done."
I nodded my head, mumbling an apology under my breath for snapping at him. He smiled and squeezed my shoulder.
On my way to the lunchroom, I bumped into a few students and I asked them if they had seen Ezra to which they replied 'No' and some of them had said 'We're scared of her so we avoid her at all costs'. That last statement obviously earned them a glare.
When I got back to Gary's room, he was almost ready.
"Took you some time!" He chirped.
I shook my head. "I was asking a few students if they had seen her."
"And...?"
I shrugged, feeling the tears burn at the corners of my eyes.
"Come here..." He cooed, wrapping his arms around me. I started sobbing heavily. After a while, I pulled away.
"I-I don't even know why I have been so clingy these past couple of days..." I managed to let out in between sobs.
"I guess with everything happening and the truth unfolding, you've been extra scared AND extra protective of her." He said softly.
I nodded my head. "I know she's powerful. Hell, even more powerful than every single person in this school combined. But I can't help it! I'm so attached to her." I choked out.
Gary nodded his head. He had a sad smile on his face. "I feel you." He muttered.
I turned to him with a confused look on my face. "How so?" I sniffled.
He took a deep breath. "Remember Tyler?"
My eyes widened. "You had a thing with Tyler?!" I exclaimed, standing up.
"Shhhh!!!" He shushed me. "Yes. Tyler and I were an item. That was until he disappeared and never came back to the Weathervane. He left without a message. Without a warning. He just vanished like dust. And it was a struggle at first because how could I get closure? So I found it within myself and now... I'm trying to move on..." He explained, his voice dark and his eyes filled with sorrow.
"Oh my God..." I murmured.
He chuckled. "I'll live, well ironically, I won't. But it's not the end of the world." His smile was back, the happy one. Or at least the 'trying to be happy' one.
I smiled back then he ushered me to grab my stuff for us to go look for Ezra.
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Ezra's POV
Everything was dark. I had finally woken up only to find out I was tied up. I looked around and found myself in a cave.
"Well, well..." It was someone's voice whom I instantly recognized.
"Sheila." I said behind gritted teeth.
She laughed, that enchanting laugh and stroked my cheek. "First your brother and now you. The Marshall family reunion. Soon you will be a mere spirit."
I jerked my face away from her touch and spat at her. "Do not bring up Elliot. Or I will end you."
"Aw..." She cooed mockingly. "How so, darling?" I tied you up, you cannot summon any spirit or use any of your useless spiritual spells on me."
I growled. "You're a coward. Cursing my obsidian because I didn't want to side with you? Pathetic."
She gave me a devious smile. "It goes beyond that, sweetheart. You rejected me. No one rejects me. The point of the curse was to eventually make you break up with the puppy." She then scoffed. "But that girl is attached to your heart like a leach. I couldn't get rid of her that easy."
"And you won't. Ever." I said, untying myself suddenly and dropping to the ground with a smirk.
Sheila was shocked but the look of shock was soon replaced with mischievous grin.
"Tyler, ATTACK!" She called.
What?
Tyler? The barista?
Soon Tyler, or should I say the Hyde, leaped towards me. I dodged him quickly and revived James who battled with him.
I was still not assimilating that all this time Tyler was the Hyde.
"Shocked?" Sheila asked.
"Beyond words. But that's not the point." I took a step forward. "What made you kill all these people? What made you kill your own brother?"
She sighed dramatically. "A thirst for power. BLOOD-thirst for power." And then she started laughing.
James came back to me heavily wounded. I ran to him. "The Hyde is stronger than before. Only an Alpha can kill him not even you." He coughed out some blood.
"Are you going to be okay?" I asked worriedly.
He smiled. "Don't worry. I can heal quickly. Go back to her." He looked at her in disgust before vanishing.
As I turned towards her, I didn't have time to react.
She stabbed me.
In the heart.
I dropped to the floor.
"That will teach you and your dead pet a lesson. Rest in peace, Ezra Marshall." She smiled before leaving.
I was in immense pain as I crawled to the nearest wall in order to rest my back.
I never got to hold her one last time...
I never got to tell her I love her...
"Ezra..." Someone said softly. I turned around and found my older brother leaning down on me with the same crooked smile on his face.
"Elliot." I replied back weakly.
"This is not the end. You should keep on fighting." He stated proudly.
"Dude..." I spat blood. "I'm fucking dying."
He chuckled. "No. You're not. I'm here to revive you. You must know though... You will never see me again."
"No!" I pleaded. "I'd rather die than never see you again."
He shook his head. "You have a purpose here. You have to save both the town and your school. I was unable to, but you can."
I pursed my lips. "Do what you can, then. I will miss you." I whispered the last part.
He placed his hand on the dagger that was in my heart. "You must use 'the Blood Sacrifice'. It's a very strong power where you will have to do a small blood sacrifice. In other words, a small cut. That will therefore, enable the strength of this powerful curse. You will be convoking all the spirits and using the blood they shed as martyrs or victims and kill Sheila Cortez."
"Okay." I weakly nodded my head.
He nodded his head back and kissed my forehead. All of a sudden, he quickly removed the blade and pressed both of his hands on the hole. He vanished but got inside of me through the wound in my heart. I watched it close slowly and choked on my own breath.
I was alive and ready to kick ass.
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So... Sheila was behind all of this.
I felt like doing some parallelism between what happened in the series and my book.
OF COURSE!!! I was NOT going to let Ezra die a pathetic death. She still has some asses to kick.
I got my inspiration for the Blood Sacrifice curse from my favorite anime: Rising of the Shield Hero. Y'all should watch it, it's amazing.
2 more chapters and the book will be done.
Chapter 29 will be the final battle that Enid and Ezra saw in the vision with Aurora.
Chapter 30 will be a short one (I think). Otherwise, it will be the Epilogue.
Thank you once more for your support, it means the absolute world to me.
Love you, puppies <3.
~M