"What the fucking fuck?" Emma shouts as soon as the doors open.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down," Destiny lets her in.
"No, what the fuck?" Emma is in such a frenzy it takes her a moment to notice she's not alone. "What was in that?" She whispers trying to backtrack her energy.
"Just some herbs, plants, and stuff," she replies, shrugging.
"Herbs? Plants? Stuff?"
"Just a little bit of salvia and some Ambien," Emma's jaw drops.
"You can't just give someone salvia. Or Ambien. Much less both at the same time!" She's getting tenser by the moment. "Plus, I already take Ambien! What if I had overdosed?"
"Well, you didn't. What's done is done," Destiny tries to soothe her. "Have a cup of tea. We'll talk." Emma nods and sits. She tries to breathe but she's fucking furious. She's not drinking the tea, though. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...
Emma sits on the other side of the table, as far away from Roman as physically possible. She gives Peter a nod instead of a hello and crosses her arms. Roman sits still, looking at her with as if she were a rotting corpse. Destiny returns with a teacup and places it in front of her. Roman still stares. She takes a deep breath for courage and looks up at him. "What?" She spits at him. He shrugs but doesn't look away.
"Okay, okay," Destiny tries to tame them, "children. We've got more important matters at hand."
"What happened?" Peter asks.
"Your cousin drugged me?" Emma says to him, enraged. "Look, I had some weird dreams, but that's pretty normal right now, so I don't know what to tell you."
"The same ones?" Destiny asks and Emma nods. "Nothing else? Nothing new?"
"I was at the steel mill at one point," she tells her, unsure of how much to reveal. "That's it. That was the only thing that was different."
"Was anyone with you?" Emma thinks for a moment.
"No."
"Are you sure?" Peter asks.
"Yes," she nods. "Just me."
"Did you see anything else?" He asks her.
"Just the weird snake thing."
"Alright," Destiny smiles to the table. "We've got our workout cut out for us."
"You actually think that this dream is reliable?" Emma asks, looking between the cousins. "It was salvia."
"It's the best we've got," Peter pats her shoulder and stands. "So the next full moon is next Thursday. That gives us some time to think through an attack plan. We should drive out there and you can show us where the ouroboros was in your dream. There might be something there."
"Okay," she says quietly.
"Then next Thursday, the three of us will kill this thing," Roman finishes for Peter.
"Hopefully," Peter adds.
"No?" Emma quirks her head to him. "I'm not coming."
"We need you there-" Peter starts.
"You tell me this thing wants to kill me then you ask me to go to it? I don't think so."
"Are you going to waste our fucking time, or go?" Roman asks, clearly annoyed with her.
"I guess I'm going to waste your fucking time," she replies back coldly then stands. She haphazardly throws on her coat and slams the door on her way out. The audacity of them to ask her to step into the belly of the beast boils her blood. She could expect it from Roman, but she thought better of Peter.
"Emma!" She hears Peter call followed by the crunching of snow below his feet. "Em!" He runs to catch up with her.
"I don't want to hear it, Peter."
"Em, please," he reaches forward and grabs her by her shoulder. The forcible and unwelcome touch puts her defense mode. She jerks around and smacks him. Peter barely flinches, but Emma feels terrible. She doesn't let it show, and she knows she shouldn't feel bad- people shouldn't just grab you. But still, it wasn't that big of a deal. It didn't warrant a reaction.
"Don't," she shakes her head and tries to stay as composed as possible. "Don't make up some dumb fucking excuse to get me back in there," she comes closer to his face. Behind him, she can see that Roman and Destiny have stepped outside of the apartment to watch the altercation unfold. "I told you I didn't want to be around him. You said- no you promised-"
"I know but-"
"Let me finish," she demands. "I told you that and you lied. I've been lied to, I've been offered up as bait, and I've been drugged. So I'm going home now. If that thing kills me I can promise you it won't be anywhere near you or him. If that's even the truth."
"You're right," Peter concedes. "I lied to you, I'm sorry. I didn't think it was that serious." Peter doesn't genuinely believe he lied to her, maybe was a bit misleading, but not lie. Right now though, there are more important things at stake than his pride. "I won't ask you to come next week, but please show me where you saw the ouroboros. Just me, no Roman." Emma thinks it over for a minute before nodding hesitantly.
They take Destiny's car out to the steel mill and park as close to the fence as possible. The place she had seen in her dream is now in utter decay. While they were in the habit of going to most parties, Roman would never come to ones here. They did go out there occasionally, but after seeing it at it's state nearly a decade ago, it's shocking. It's like how you don't realize you're growing taller.
Peter helps her hop over the fence and navigates there way through all the icy patches. Once inside she walks him over to the wall from her dream. There's nothing there now but cracks and small pieces of graffiti. "This is it," she shrugs.
"Oh," he says, hand dragging along the wall. "I was hoping for something more. I guess that was dumb, huh?" She nods in agreement. "Look, are you sure this is all you saw?" Emma opens her mouth but he pauses. "Because whatever happened can stay between us. I just feel like you're holding back."
"There was some sort of poem or verse, but I can't quite remember it," she traces where the symbol was in her dream. "And I knew I was dreaming, even in my nightmare. I knew I was awake, but I still couldn't do anything about it."
Peter reaches out to put a hand on her shoulder. She's surprised at herself for letting him. "And in the room," she contemplates finishing it or not, but Peter gives her that look and she has to tell him. "Roman knew I was asleep too. And he- or whatever he is in the dream- just kept yelling at me to wake up."
"Sounds scary."
"Yeah," she says slowly. He's being too sympathetic and it's confusing her.
He drops her off at home before heading back to Destiny's. When he comes in, both she and Roman are more excited than they should be. He figures the tension between to two of them must've been high while they waited. Upon further inspection, he finds that the two of them also got high while they waited.
"How was it, loverboy?" Roman asks him.
"Okay, first: I'm dating your cousin," Roman shrugs at that. "Second: fuck off."
"I'd rather you be with her," Roman digs into his pocket for a cigarette, "and leave Letha alone." Peter rolls his eyes.
"Find anything?" Destiny tries to change the subject.
"Nope. Nothing out of the ordinary. It's just like last time I was there, but colder." Destiny nods as he speaks.
"Alright, let's go," Roman stands. "I'm hungry."
The boys say their goodbyes to Destiny and get in the Jag. Roman drives them to the diner around the block. "Did she say anything else?" Roman asks, glazed eyes grazing over the menu.
"I mean, we didn't sit in silence if that's what you mean."
"No, about the whole," he motions widely with his hands, "situation."
"No, nothing, but uh- we're gonna go out next week, just the two of us, and we'll see if we can find anything."
"You didn't get her to say she'll come?"
"No, I told her it was her choice." They both look up as the waitress approaches. She only has eyes for Roman and he knows it.
"Hi," he winks at her.
"What can I get for you?"
"I'll get a cheeseburger and fries. Oh, and a strawberry shake," he hands her the menu. "Oh, oh, and a patty melt."
"You're sure hungry, aren't you?" She giggles and blushes.
"I'll just have a coffee," Peter says interrupting their moment. The waitress nods and leaves, glaring at Peter.
"So what are we going to do about it?" Roman asks, turning back to his friend.
"I mean we'll go and hopefully she's right."
"But it's not going to show up if she's not there," Roman points out.
"We don't know that-
"But we think that." Peter sighs knowing he's right. "Look, we gotta get her there."
"What're we gonna do? Kidnap her?" Peter laughs but is struck by Romans seriousness. "Seriously, we're not kidnapping a girl."
"We're not going to kidnap her," Roman smiles at him. "We're just going to suggest that she do as we say if she doesn't want... Repercussions."
"Roman," Peter is stunned. "We're not going to blackmail her."
"Okay, fine, fine fine," he puts his hands up. "Keep brainstorming, because that's all I got."
.........
Roman gets home later that night for dinner. Olivia and Shelley have already begun their first course when he enters the dining room. "So nice of you to join us," his mother says disdainfully.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," he rolls his eyes and grabs his fork.
"Manners, please," Olivia glares to him.
"Sorry, Mother-dear. I'll try to be better," he says dripping with sarcasm.
"Where were you today?"
"None of your business." She grabs his chin and looks straight at him.
"Where were you."
"At Peter's cousins." She lets him go and returns to her plate.
"Thank you," she returns to her food. Roman forces down his food hoping to get out there as quickly as possible. "Roman, slow down. You'll choke."
"I'm not that lucky," he mumbles and downs the rest of his wine glass.
Once in his room, Roman lays on his bed a stares up to the ceiling. The truth is, he feels terribly overwhelmed and helpless. Peter has all the power and responsibility, Destiny has the information, and even Emily fucking Parker has things to do. Roman just drives the car and is pessimistic. His stomach turns ambition and a desire to do good.
He's not good, and he knows it. Roman looks at himself in the mirror but can only see a monster. An ugly monster incapable and undeserving of love and affection. But he'll be damned if he admits that.
.........
The first day of school for the semester starts out normal, well as normal as it can be for Emma. The feeling of Roman's eyes are burning holes in her skull and leave her with the hair on her neck sticking straight up. He's not even sly about it, she looks back and he won't even look away. He's absolutely shameless.
Every day that the full moon gets closer her anxiety gets a little worse. She's beginning to completely avoid the cafeteria, settling into the silence of the library during lunch. There were too many people yelling or laughing everywhere for her to relax even in the slightest. She'd never been particularly great at relaxing, but now she couldn't find a settled bone in her body.
She hasn't felt like herself, or this newly evolved form of herself, since New Years, but the potion Destiny gave her has made matters much worse. She feels quite clouded and overwhelmed by almost any movement. She's on her way to sit alone in the library when a body blocks her way.
"C'mon, come sit with us," Kim says. "I haven't seen you since school got back in."
"Okay," Emma forces a smile. She doesn't want to cause a scene so she grabs a tray of food and sits at the old table. The girls talk and occasionally she peeps in, but she's overall quiet. Ally sits snuggled up next to Tyler and giggles at everything she says, not matter how unfunny. She and Kim are discussing a double date they have coming up.
There are so many people around and she feels a bit overwhelmed. From the corner of her eye, she can see Peter sitting at a table with Roman, Letha, and Shelley. She sees Peter wrap his arm around Letha and kiss her cheek. Emma pushes and stabs at the green beans on her plate.
"Hey, Em-" a voice pulls her from the activity on hand. She looks up to meet Tyler's eyes. "If you're not going to eat your pizza can I have it?"
"Oh," she says then holds out the tray. "Sure." He grabs the piece of pizza and she puts the tray back down at her. Stabbing at the green beans again, she keeps stealing glances at the couple across the cafeteria. She can see it in his eyes, he's so in love with Letha. She doesn't stop glancing over until he catches her. They both look away quickly.
Tyler and some guy at the table next to them are shouting and joking around and it's loud. She puts her head in her hands. It's so loud, oh it's so so loud. "You okay?" Kim asks her. "You don't look so good." It sounds like she's speaking from the other side of a tunnel. Emma nods, feeling a bit of sweat form on her forehead.
"I gotta go," she stands up and stumbles to the bathroom. She barely makes it to her knees in front of the toilet before spilling the contents of her guts out.
"Are you okay?" She hears Kim get a paper towel and cover it in water. "Maybe you should go home?"
"I'm fine," Emma takes the towel and wipes her face with it. "I'll be okay," she says then vomits again.
Kay comes into the office to check her out and thanks the nurse for calling. "How are you feeling?" She asks once they're buckled in and driving away.
"I'm fine," Emma leans her head against the cold window. "I think lunch didn't settle so well."
"Well, let's get you comfy when you get home and I'll make you some soup or something." Emma nods to her mom.
She comes back to school the next day still feeling a little off, but better overall.
Emma had long moved her seat in Lit to the other side of the room, as far away from Roman as possible. The day of the full moon she takes her seat like any other day. Roman enters the room and casually drops a folded piece of paper on her desk. She glances back at him before opening it but he won't meet her eyes.
We're getting close to the end of season 1!! Reading the theories you guys have sent has me THRIVING and it's such a struggle to not say if they're right or wrong😬😬😬😬😬 Please keep them coming!