Mia hasn't said a word since Cory handed us the keys to his dad's car and I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable because ever since the day we became friends, Mia has never been silent around me. She's always talking, making fun of me, bitching about the coursework, or telling me about how I could make my life better by listening to her.

"So where does your mom work?"

"The hospital in the next town" she taps her fingers on the window, "she should have been home three hours ago".

"Maybe there was an emergency at the hospital".

She stops tapping, "She always lets me know when she's going to be late, and if she can't, she tells Mary to call me instead".

"Mary?"

"The receptionist"

"Well, you may get the call in a couple of minutes and you're going to have to tell her that you're out alone with a boy."

To my relief, she chuckles, "You know I've had guy friends before, right?"

"Wait, you had friends before you met me? Are you being serious right now?"

She laughs and I grin. Mission accomplished.

I swerve as a car comes a bit too close for comfort. Mia slowly slides her seatbelt into place, and I give her a dirty look, "Hey, I got us this far".

"I'd like to go further while still breathing," she says, "so I really hope that learner's permit is valid".

"It is," I say, accelerating, "next stop, the hospital".

Mia bites her lip, "Do you think something bad happened to her?"

"I think you're spiraling, there are a lot of perfectly valid reasons for her not to call".

"She's not like your parents, okay, she cares about me" she snaps.

I open my mouth to say something and close it back again because honestly there's nothing left to say.

"I'm sorry" she whispers, "that was uncalled for. I just meant that it's always been just the two of us, she would never willingly put me through this. She knows how much I need her. If she'd been able to call, she would" she paused, "and she hasn't."

"We'll find her," I say, although I'm not sure whether we will. I have no idea what's going to happen, just that Peyton probably hates me now cause my phone hasn't buzzed since I sent her the apology text.

"STOP" Mia yells suddenly and I slam on the brakes, my heart thudding in my chest. She points shakily to a car parked on the other side of the road, "That's her car".

"Mia, wait," I say, but she's already out the door, running across the road.

I grab the umbrella from under my seat and follow her. When I reach the car, she's already banging on the glass, "Mom, open the door."

I peer inside and see a woman asleep in the backseat. I press my face against the glass to get a better look, "Oh shit".

"What?" Mia stops hitting the window, "What happened?"

"She's shivering" I look at Mia, "I don't think she's asleep".

"Mom" she yells, she resumes hitting the glass, "Wake up" she sobs "please".

I run back to our car and pop open the trunk, hoping Cory's dad was a responsible car owner. He wasn't but he was a hoarder and that worked too. I grabbed the hammer, which was half hidden under some loose newspapers and dead flowers, and ran back to Mia. She wasn't even trying to wake her mother up anymore; she was just hitting the glass more out of frustration than a need to break it.

"You might want to move aside," I say, steadying the hammer in my grip, "this is going to be messy".

I whack the front window with all the force I can muster. A spiderweb of cracks forms but it doesn't break.

"Give me that" Mia grabs the hammer from me and slams it against the window, it splinters, sending glass in every direction. I take my jacket off and wrap it around my hand before thrusting in inside the open window and manually unlocking the front and back doors.

Mia dives into the backseat, "Mom, hey wake up". Her mother doesn't budge, and I start to get a very bad feeling that things are very close to going really badly.

I hold the door open, "Hey, the hospital's just a few miles from here, right? They'll know what to do."

She takes a deep breath, "yes, of course, they'll know what to do. Um, can you help me with her please?"

I help Mia drag her mother out of her car and deposit her in the back seat of ours. I get back in the driver's seat while Mia sits at the back with her mom.

"Hey, Lucas,"

"Yeah"

"Step on it"

I nod, "will do".

We don't talk on the way to the hospital because frankly, I'm too busy trying to make sure I don't skid off the slippery road. The rain isn't showing any signs of slowing down and the dark is just making matters worse.

"Mary, we're on our way, Something is wrong with Mom, she's just so cold and she's not waking up."

I crank up the heater and shift to fifth gear as the car roars down the empty road. Six minutes later, we pull up outside the hospital and there's already a team waiting for us outside. They wheel Mia's mother in, and I follow them through the doors before I realize Mia is not with me.

I walk back outside and there she is, standing by the car. "Hey," I jog to her, "let's go".

She doesn't look at me, "I think my legs are asleep and my arms are too".

"That is probably cause its cold as fuck and you're wearing like two layers of clothing, one of which is definitely soaked" I open the passenger door and grab the jacket that I had flung there after using it to open the door through the broken window, "maybe this will help"

She doesn't move so I arrange it across her shoulders, "this will do till you can find some dry clothes."

She turns to face me, "Thank you".

"That's okay, I'm already wearing like four layers, so I don't need it"

"No, not for the jacket, for this, for everything, I don't know what...I would've..."

"Um, there's glass in your hair".

"What?"

"Yeah there's.... may I?"

She nods and I carefully pull out the pebble-sized glass shard lodged in her dark hair. My hand brushes against her cheek and I realize it's wet. I'm not sure whether it is cause of the rain or her tears but either way, it's probably not very comfortable for her, especially when we're standing here in the nearly icy wind. I use the edge of the jacket to gently wipe her face and she doesn't even seem to notice, staring straight ahead with a hollow expression on her face. After I'm done, I dust off her shoulder for good measure in case of any stray glass pieces.

I gently guide her inside the hospital, taking one last look at the full moon outside.

************************

"So, she's okay?"

"She'll be fine" the doctor smiles at Mia, "it was a mild case of hypothermia, but you got here in time so I'm positive that she'll make a full recovery"

My phone buzzes and I unlock it to find a text from my dad, 'I won't be able to make it home tonight, there's some dinner in the fridge and some dessert in the freezer, don't stay up too late. Love, Dad.'

It's 2 am and I'd forgotten to text my parents about the fact that I was out with Mia. She was right in a way, my parents weren't like her mom, I could stay out an entire night and there was an 80% chance they wouldn't notice because most nights, they themselves weren't home.

"Lucas"

I look up, "yeah?"

"I'm going to see her," Mia says, "you should go home, you must be exhausted".

"You go on," I say, "I'll stick around for a while".

She nods and leaves and I lean back against the wall. The hospital really needed to invest in comfortable chairs cause the one I was sitting in felt like it was going to break any second. I must have dozed off because the next thing I knew, I was startled awake by a loud wail.

"Nice nap?"

"Yeah," I say, "except for the debilitating back pain".

Mia laughs and she sounds so much like her usual self that I smile too, "How's your mom?"

"She's doing great, she'll probably come home in two days".

"Well then, that's my cue".

I stand up and stretch and Mia stands up too, "if you need anything..."

"I'll call you".

Once the night air hits me, I don't feel sleepy anymore, but I don't feel like going home either, so I send a quick text to Cory that I'll drop off the car in the morning and drive in the opposite direction. Two minutes later, I see a 24-hour coffee shop and pull into the parking lot. I order a cappuccino and fries and settle into a corner booth, scrolling through my phone. Fifteen minutes later, my order arrives, and I chew on a fry, mulling over the events of the day. Peyton still hadn't texted me back and I was starting to think that maybe I should have called her to tell her the exact reason why I couldn't make it. Maybe the text was worded badly, maybe she had made preparations that had been wasted on me, either way, whatever we had, it was probably over.

Help them.

The café was well-heated, but I felt a chill run up my spine. If she was back, it meant...

You have to help them, save them please, you have to.

I grabbed my coffee, threw some bills on the table, and ran to my car. I wasn't going to make it in time, but I had to try.

The entire drive, I had just one goal in mind, get to town as fast as possible. Twelve minutes later, I passed the outskirts of town. I stopped outside the high school. All the murders and attempted murders had taken place here, somehow, I knew I needed to be here. The question was, was I in time?

The gate was open, and I could feel my heart beating loudly in my chest as I walked in. My Swiss army knife was useless in a fight, but I still felt safer with it in my hand. I circled the building, making my way towards the back. The moon was bright as ever but it did little to allay my fear. Something was wrong, I could feel it.

I rounded the corner and almost lost my dinner. There was a body, facedown on the ground, the ground was wet with equal parts water and blood. I was too late; the killer had claimed their third victim.

For Rhys, who I'm a huge fan of and who hopefully is a huge fan of this book.