Chapter Twenty - Five ✧Death Omen✧

As soon as we got to my room last night and Liam's head had hit the pillow, he had been asleep, and he hadn't stirred a single bit since. What ever the dread doctors had done to him and Hayden had clearly taken a toll on him, and I'm also pretty sure this was probably his best night's sleep in a long time. 

I didn't sleep nearly as well as Liam. There was something about my anxiety not letting my forget what it felt like when Liam was missing that was mixing with the realization that we were as close to understanding the dread doctors as we had been a week ago that wasn't letting me close my ekes. I think I was awake longer then I was asleep, and that was mostly because I felt like if I stopped looking at Liam then I would wake up and he would suddenly be missing again. 

So instead of sleeping, I laid awake most of the night feeling only slightly creepy as I watched over him, jumping at every sound I heard outside and only starting to feel remotely secure when he reached out in the middle of the night and pulled me into a hold that was tight enough to bundle up all my worries but not quite tight enough to keep me from breathing. Sleeping in the same bed as Liam brought a level of comfort that I suspect a weighted blanket would. 

The lack of sleep that I got did give me ample time to think about how I was going to tell Liam about Genevieve and all the other weird things that had been happening to me. By the time the sun had risen, I had come to the conclusion that there was simply no good way to break the news. 

When it got to that time in the morning that I realized I need to start getting ready for school and saw him still snoring softly with his head buried under one of my pillows, I tried to move around my room as  silently as I could so as to not to wake him as I got ready for school. 

I had figured that by the time I was done getting ready and getting dressed, he would begin waking up for himself. As it turns out I was very, very wrong and I was starting to worry that Liam was nearing drowning in a puddle of his own drool. 

There felt like there wasn't really any right way to wake up a sleeping beta werewolf, but I still tried to take the path that would startle him the least amount, both for his sake and my sake. That meant that I slowly and quietly climbed back into the bed until I was sitting next to Liam's slumbering form. All that I could actually see of Liam under all of the covers and pillows was a bare arm and the bottom half of his face, but I decided to work with what I got. 

"Liam, it's time to wake up," I coaxed softly. Carefully, I reached out and poked his bicep. The first poke was more of a tap. The second poke was a hardy poke. The third one, which I was sure would be the one to wake him, was something nearing a small shove. 

Liam still didn't budge. 

I took a moment to let out a long sigh. "Liam," I repeated. "You need to get ready for school." 

My next plan of attack was to pull down the covers that was wrapped tightly around Liam's body, which I will admit was a harder task then I expected. Liam help on to them tightly for a moment, but eventually I managed to tug them down enough. Liam's reaction to this was to curl up in to an almost-ball and roll away from me. 

"Liam." At this point I was trying not to let off the fact that I was holding back a laugh. 

"No. No school. Lay back down with me. This feels so much safer then school, anyways," Liam grumbled from under his –well, my– pillow. His voice was muffled but I could still tell that it was entirely genuine. 

"We have to go to school," I reminded Liam. "We both can't really afford too many more absences, you know." 

It was silent for a while. Just when I was beginning to worry that Liam had fallen asleep again, He uncurled his body, pulled the pillow down from over his head and into a hug on his chest, and laid on his back so he was staring up at his ceiling. 

"But we know the dread doctors can get into the school now. How do we know they're not going to attack whenever." 

The question was as sincere as Liam's expression was fragile. I knew the look in his eyes to well because it matched the feeling I almost always had in my gut. He was filled with fear. Whatever he had seen when the Dread Doctors had taken him hadn't exactly made him confident that we would be able to figure out how to defeat them. 

Gently, I reached out to put my hand over one of Liam's which was still gripping the pillow rather tightly. "But won't it be better if we're all at school, together, as a pack if the dread doctors do come back?" I asked. 

"What pack?" Liam asked. His voice suddenly had a sharp edge to it. Somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered that tomorrow night was supposed to be a super moon. "Scott and the others, they didn't even tell us the plan they had for the school. They used Hayden as bait and put you in danger because of it. And I don't even want to think about what they would've kept doing to Hayden and I if Theo hadn't found us when he did," Liam hesitated for a moment. "We can't beat them, whether we're all together or not." 

For a while, I didn't know what to say. I wanted to tell him that what he was saying wasn't true, but something in my gut told me he was more right then I wanted to admit. We were going up against something new. Not even just supernatural new, but it felt like we were entering a new world altogether and none of us had any idea what we were going up against. Trying to convince him otherwise felt... hopeless. So instead I decided to tell him something else entirely. 

I unconsciously gave Liam's hand a small squeeze although I think it was to reassure myself more then it was to reassure him. Liam seemed to somehow notice the change in my mood almost instantly and turned his head from looking at the ceiling to looking over at me. There was a little bit of worry sparkling in his eyes. I guess there's no turning back now. 

"There's something that I need to tell you," I explained quietly. My voice was probably technically a whisper but it wasn't because I was afraid Scott would hear from his room across the hall. I knew both Scott and his mom were gone and the only thing keeping my voice so low was the millions of thoughts rushing through my brain as I tried to figure out what was the right way to tell Liam what had been going on with me. 

Liam seemed more alert now then ever. I was no longer worried that he would fall asleep again. 

"What's wrong?" Liam questioned. 

I bit my lip. The right words weren't forming in my head and suddenly I had no idea how I was going to talk about this. Then, I remembered my sketchbook. "I think it's better if I show you." 

Liam sat up and scooted closer to me as I grabbed my sketchbook from next to my bed. Carefully, I began flitting through the pages until I found the ones that hadn't been drawn by me. Over the past few days, the drawings had multiplied and I hadn't even fully allowed myself to think about what that meant. 

"I don't understand-" Liam began to say, but he cut himself off. I had just flipped to a page that was almost an exact replica of the picture I found of Genevieve Carodine. He frowned. "That's the chick you were doing an extra credit project on for history, wasn't it?" 

"I-I was researching her, yes, but not for class," I answered slowly. 

Tucked in the back of the book was a piece of folded up paper that I pulled out and handed to Liam. It was the drawing of Genevieve's tombstone, the very piece of paper that had been haunting me not too long ago. 

"Her name's Genevieve. She lived in Beacon Hills... a long time ago. I don't know much about her." I hesitated just long enough to take a deep breathe. "Other then the fact that she's been sending me messages." 

"Are you... are you saying that you're being haunted by the ghost of some lady from the 1800's?" Liam's voice was more serious then I'd ever heard it. 

I flipped to the next page, and it was a drawing of a forest on fire. The next page was the dread doctors, at an angle that made it seem like they were looking down on me. Liam stopped me from flipping any more pages. I looked up at him, and realized he was staring at me expectantly for answers that I wasn't entirely sure I had. Still, I owed it to him to at least try to provide an answer to them. 

"I wouldn't say she's a ghost haunting me," I explained. "Her trying to contact me has felt more like premonition trying to warn me." 

"A warning for what?" 

I really, really wish he didn't ask that, because I did know the answer to that question, and it wasn't a good one. 

"She said I'm going to die," I said quietly. I could no longer meet Liam's eyes. "I mean, it's complicated, but she basically said that I'm supposed to die soon and it's going to be because of Hayden." 

I felt Liam tense beside me. Suddenly, his body felt warmer, as if anger was actually making his blood boil. "Hayden is going to kill you? Then- then maybe the dread doctors should get her." 

I knew he didn't mean what he said, especially by the way his voice broke at the end of the sentence, but I still reminded him, "Liam, we're not the kind of people that trade lives. Plus, it doesn't really feel like I'm supposed to, like, die at her hands, you know?" 

"Okay, well, what does 'join' mean?" Liam asked next. "Join her at the Beacon Hills cemetery? Or join her in some horrible form of torture in the afterlife?" 

I cringed at the thought. "I don't know, Liam." 

Liam shook his head. "It doesn't matter," Liam decided. "It doesn't matter because you're not going to die. I'll find a way to protect you. And maybe you misunderstood what Genevieve  –or whoever she is– was trying to tell you. Or maybe it's just the Dread Doctors somehow messing with your mi-"

Liam's rant of possibilities that I was finding hard to believe came to an abrupt stop when a gust of wind startled both of us and caused the pages in my sketchbook to flutter around wildly. 

Both of us had the immediate initial reaction to look at my window. Confirming my fears, my window was tightly shut. Liam turned to give me a confused look, maybe to ask me if there was a fan in my room, but I already knew what the gust of wind meant. I looked down at the sketchbook and noticed that the drawing we were now looking at was entirely new to me. 

I thought I had my fill of eerie drawing that I was pretty sure I hadn't drawn, but none of the ones from before held a candle to this. Skectched beautifully on the page was a drawing of my dead body. 

When I say dead, I don't mean surrounded by blood or at an angle that a living body would never lay in. The drawing itself was actually somewhat peaceful, but that didn't fool me. I was laying down, hands stiffly at my side, eyes shut, and lips tightly closed. I was laying on a table and covered by a sheet that reminded me a little to much of a sight you would see in the morgue of the hospital. Why I was there or how I had gotten there was in no way clear, but one thing was certain. I was dead. 

I knew Liam had come to the same conclusion I had by the way he hadn't said anything, hadn't moved, and possibly hadn't even let out a breathe since his eyes had fallen with mine to the page. 

There were a million feelings bubbling up in my stomach, but none of them felt like what I should be feeling. I had just been shown what could be my future by a gust of wind, I should be terrified and yet I just felt... confused. There was no reason that I shouldn't be having a panic attack at the face of my imbedding doom and yet my heart beat was beating at it's normal pace, if not slower. 

"Liam, I um, don't think I misunderstood Genevieve's messages," I murmured. 

Liam took the book from me and flipped through the pages, as if on one of the other ones there'd be an answer or a message from Genevieve that said 'Just Kidding!'. Whatever he was hoping to find, though, didn't seem to be there. He closed the book quickly, tossing it to the end of my bed, and turned so he was completely facing me. 

"Why is this happening?" Liam asked. His voice was ragged and worn down and it broke my heart into a dozen peices hearing him like this. "Why you?" 

These were questions I couldn't even pretend to know the answer too. 

I sat there and tried to find something to say that would get Liam to not look so grief-stricken, but instead all I could do was watch as his eyes slowly got more and more watery. It was hard to look at him, at his sorrowfilled face that was desperately searching mine for some kind of reassurance, and not feel bad for putting the weight of this knowledge on him. Him knowing had to be for the better, right? 

"Liam." I said his name softly and slowly, like I thought I could make this moment where we were both safe and together last a little bit longer. I bit my lip, contimplating saying the thought that has been on my mind all night before I finally got it ff of my chest. "I'm not scared." 

As I watched, the expression on Liam's face seemed to fade from sorrow to confusion to disbelief and back to sorrow. 

"How can you not be scared?" 

His question had several different levels to it. For starters, when we first met, I had been so anxiety-ridden that my eyes refused to meet his and I would be lucky to get out a full sentence. Not to mention to fear-induced stutter I had only recently started having more control over. For most of our relationship, I had been scared of something, which makes sense because there's been at least one thing that I needed to be constantly afraid of growing up. 

And then there was the that we we're talking about death. We were teenagers, of course we we're supposed to be terrified of the idea of dying. Our lives were only half-lived, if that. There should be so much more that I wanted to do and the idea of not being able to complete my dreams should make me want to run and hide. 

But then here I was, thinking about the idea of passing on and seeing Genevieve and I felt... peace? Like, even though I didn't know who she was just weeks ago or the fact that I still don't entirely understand how this was all supposed to be happening, it somehow still felt meant to be. Unfortunately, there was no way I could explain that idea to Liam without making it seem like I was ready to leave our relationship in the dust, which also wasn't true. All of these feelings were just complicated and indescribable. 

Since I knew that there was no good way to explain any of this to Liam, I instead reached a hand out to him. Carefully, I touched the side of his face which elicited an almost satisfied sigh from him. Liam closed his eyes for a moment and took a few deep breathes. Under my finger tips I could swear I felt heart go from racing at an alarming rate to just punding at a somewhat concerning pace. 

"I don't really understand a-any of this," I admitted. Liam opened his eyes as I continued to speak. "I just know that all of these other problems aren't just going to stop because I may or may not die. I-I just can't hide. I mean, Derek didn't hide when he thought he was losing his powers. My brother didn't hide from the kanima or all the other terrifying things we discovered when he was turned. So, I'm not going to hide now. I want to try to be as brave as all the other people who have spent so much time trying to protect me." 

Liam's eyes still held a concoction of emotions that made me feel guilty for causing. Nonetheless, he nodded his head slowly. 

I knew he didn't complete understand where I was coming from, but he was trying his best to understand me. And that was the best thing I could ask for from him, so without even thinking I leaned forward and kissed him lightly. The hand that I had on his cheek began to fall away, only to have Liam's hand reach up and hold on to it. When I began to pull away from this kiss Liam leaned in and pressed his lips against mine once more. I quickly realized I wasn't the only one wishing this moment could last a little longer. 

When we finally did pull away, my heart did feel heavier. Maybe I wasn't scared of death, but I was scared of losing Liam, not to mention to many other people who had come to be my family over these past few years. 

As if reading my mind, Liam asked, "Does Isaac know?" 

My eyes fell to my lap. "No," I shook my head somewhat shamefully. "I don't know how to tell him that his little sister is probably going to die and there's nothing he can do about it. He'll blame himself and feel even worse for not being hear and he probably will drop everything to come here and if he does that and it's too late, he'll never forgive himself." The fear that I didn't have earlier seemed to all be because it was directed towards what was going to happen Isaac. Sighing heavily, I continued, "I know it's not fair to him but... I don't know how I would even tell him any of this. And he would tell everyone and make sure I never left this room again and I just, I don't want that to be how it all goes down." 

I'm not sure if Liam agreed with what I was thinking, but he still nodded slowly at what I was saying. "Does anybody else know?" Liam asked. 

"Mason kind of walked in the other day when I have having a... vision, I guess?" I explained. "So he knows. He's been trying to figure out what's been going on but I don't think there's anything in the library that could explain what this is." 

Again, Liam nodded. "What do we do now?" 

I mustered the most encouraging smile possible. "We go to school and try to be normal for a little longer." 

This time, Liam shook his head. His mouth fell open ever so slightly and I could tell he wanted to protest, but then he looked into my eyes. I don't know what happened, but I guess he accepted that if this is what I want, then he shouldn't try to stop me. I couldn't have been more thankful for having Liam in my life then how I felt in that moment. 

"I'll come find you after every class and check on you. We'll spend free period together and I'll walk you to and from every class," Liam decided. "And we'll keep an eye on Hayden and Corey. Maybe something about them and the dread doctors will help us figure this all out." 

When I smiled this time, it was a little bit closer to being genuine. 

"Liam," I replied tenderly. "You don't need to check on me every period. I'll text you if something goes wrong." 

"I know you don't need me to check on you, but I need me to check on you, okay? I don't care what Genevieve or whatever says, you're not going to die. You can't. I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure of that," Liam declared. My smile was suddenly complete. 

"Thank you," I whispered. I didn't really know what else to say. There were no words I could say that would explain how I felt when Liam had taken the weight of my problems away so quickly. 

Liam tried his best to mirror my smile, but when that didn't work out for him he leaned in for another kiss. It was soft and quick, but even when the kiss was over Liam stayed leaning in. 

"Do we really have to go to school today, though?" Liam asked. 

I let out a soft laugh. "Yes, Liam, we really have to go to school." 

✧✧

Walking through the hallways of the school, I could feel the tension in the air. Even the people who weren't as involved in this mess seemed to know something was seriously wrong in our town. It felt almost silent in the hallways. Like there was a heaviness hanging over the shoulders of every student and none of us could shake it. What ever the Dread Doctors were doing, it was effecting everyone. 

Hayden was the first person I saw that even managed to make eye contact with me. She was at her locker and while I should've really been heading to mine I decided to make a pit stop. Liam wasn't a fan of the idea of me having any sort of interactions with Hayden after I told him, but if anyone could understand  and get her to open up the confusion and fear she probably was feeling currently, it was me. Like I said, I wasn't scared of Hayden. 

"Hey," I greeted the girl. I tried to give her the most supportive smile I could, but it wasn't exactly my area of expertise. "How are you feeling?" 

Hayden stopped pulling books out of her locker and turned to me. "Honestly, I don't know." 

"Liam didn't really talk about what happened with the Dread Doctors, and I don't blame him for not wanting to relive whatever you guys went through, but if you feel like you want to talk about it, I'm always here," I explained to her in a low voice so those passing by wouldn't over hear. 

Even though I was speaking quietly, Hayden's eyes still darted around anxiously. Maybe she was just worried that me saying the Dread Doctors would somehow summon them. 

"I don't really know how to talk about it," Hayden admitted. 

I felt my entire soul soften at her words. "Trust me, that's a completely normal reaction," I assured her. 

Hayden's expression took a step away from being fearful and a nudge closer to being quizzical. 

"Liam really didn't tell you anything about the Dread Doctors?" 

I shook my head. "No, why?" 

"It's just that, well, anytime the pain got particularly bad, and I told him he had to think about anything else, he would start talking about you," Hayden sighed. Her voice sounded almost... bitter? "I mean, when we were both terrified he would tell stories about you like his life depended on it. The only reason we weren't both, like, crying the entire time was because he would just sit there and remind himself what it was like to meet you the first time. And then the first time he talked to you. And how he knew you weren't going to ever stop looking for us because you are way to good of a person to give up on the people you care about. Knowing that you and the others were out there... it was the only thing that gave either of us any sort of hope." 

"He said all of that?" I tried and failed to bite back a smile. 

"Yeah, he did." Hayden nodded. She slowly closed her locker only to lean her shoulder against it and look over to me. "Look, I still don't completely understand what you see in him, but I do see what he see's in you." 

There was absolutely nothing I could do about the blush that was running rampant across my cheeks. "So," I murmured, my voice a little sheepish. "Does that mean you guys aren't enemies?"

"Oh no, we are still absolutely rivals until the bitter end," Hayden assured me. She shot me a grin that I was proud of her for being able to produce at a time like this. "But I am hoping that doesn't mean you and I have to be, too." 

"There has never been a moment where I wanted to be your enemy, Hayden," I joked. I put out my hand as if making some grand gestures. "I hereby announce a truce, at least between us." 

Hayden looked down at my hand and laughed lightly before clasping her hand around my lightly. Giving it one firm shake, the two of us pulled away beaming happily at what I should've known was a moment that was too good to be true. 

By the time I looked back up at Hayden, I noticed her nose was bleeding. At least, it was almost bleeding. But instead of blood slowly dripping from it, there was mercury. 

"Hayden," I breathed.  

I didn't need to say anything else, because Hayden seemed to feel the liquid coming from her nose. She touched her hand lightly to her upper lip, and pulled away only to see the shimmering grey substance on her finger tips. She looked up at me with horror-filled eyes.  

"You can't tell anyone," She begged. 

this chapter is very long but i felt like larlotte needed to have such a long moment. like scared to death was about them falling for each other and finding someone they can open to and understand but fear can break is them finding out who they are outside of their relationship while also navigating this relationship that is still developing. I hope that makes sense?? 

also to all the people that really wanted me to have hayden and charlotte hating eachother.... sry but that's not what my stories about. in this house we love girls supporting girls and like if hayden is maybe gonna have a phat crush on charlotte then so be it. and no, I will not be taking criticism at this time. 

question - what should hayden and charlottes ship name be?? Romahey?? or harlotte lol??