🪐

"Rayne!" Malia rushes into her room
"Yes?" Rayne asks looking up from her laptop
"You like to read, right?" She asks.

"Yes."
"Scary stuff?" Malia asks
"If dark romance is scary then yes. But I do read Stephen King books as well." Rayne says.

"Here." Malia throws her a book
"You want me to read this?" Rayne asks
"'The Dread Doctors' by T.R. McCammon." Rayne reads.

"Can you please read it?" Malia asks
"Okay I'll read it." Rayne says
"Have you see Stiles?" Malia asks.

"I don't think he's came home yet, sorry." Rayne says.
"Okay. Thank you." Malia says and walks out the room
"Okay." Rayne sighs and then opens the book to the first page.

"Rayne!" Stiles rushes into her room
"Yes?" Rayne asks
"I need to tell you something." He says.

🪐
Rayne's outfit

🪐

The next day at school Malia, Rayne and Lydia walk into school
"'The Dread Doctors' by T.R. McCammon..." Lydia says and looks at it
"What?" Malia asks
"I don't know. There's something about it..." Lydia says.

"Has anyone actually read it yet?"
"Just Rayne, and I didn't understand any of it." Malia says
"Yeah, she practically threw the book at me." Rayne says.

"We should probably all read it." Lydia says
"Kira's working on that." Malia says.

🪐

"Stiles says he can't find anything on the author. He thinks it's a pen name." Malia says
"'In a small New England town, teenagers are taken in the night and buried alive. Days later, they emerge transformed, wreaking havoc and spreading terror, commanded by an ancient order of parascientists know only as the Dread Doctors.'" Lydia reads.

"Sounds vaguely familiar. How does it end?" Lydia asks
"It doesn't. This is supposed to be Volume One." Rayne says
"Oh, let me guess-- there is no Volume Two?" Lydia predicts.

"I think we're living Volume Two." Malia says
"Then maybe the real question is... Is this a novel or someone's prediction?" Lydia wonders
"One hell of a psychic." Rayne says.

🪐

Rayne, Theo and Scott all stand in the locker room
"Sorry, but I'd never even heard of the Kanima until a few days ago. You want me to read this?" Theo asks
"Well, not yet. I'm still only on chapter one." Scott says.

"You guys do this a lot, huh?" Theo asks
"Do what?" Rayne asks
"Get involved." He says.

"Yeah, I guess..." Scott says
"What about the author? If he knew all about these guys, shouldn't we be talking to him?" Theo asks
"We thought about that, but it's pretty much a dead end." Scott says.

"What about this guy?" Theo says showing them the acknowledgment page
"'For providing scientific perspective and invaluable insight... this book is dedicated to Dr. Gabriel Valack.'" Scott reads
"Do you know him?" Theo asks.

"Yeah. And I know where to find him." Scott says.

🪐

The others went to Eichen house while Rayne sat in the library scanning each page of the book
"Page turner?" Rayne looks up to see Theo sitting down
"Not exactly." She sighs.
"Neither is this." He says holding up his precalculus book and Rayne smiles.

"I don't think my brain can read anymore words." Rayne says and puts her head on the desk and Theo looks at her with a smile while Rayne looks up at him with her arms slightly covering her face.

🪐

Hours had past and Rayne started to pack up
"Need a ride, princess?" Theo asks
"I can take the bus." She says.

"Last one left an hour ago..." Theo says
"I'll walk." She says
"Haven't I seen you coming out of driver's ed?" He asks.

"God, I hope not..." She sighs
"I'm pretty sure I saw you destroy a couple traffic cones the other day... And nearly take out a sophomore." He says
"It was a junior, and he shouldn't have been standing there." Rayne defends.

"Sounds like you could, uh, still use some practice..." He says holding up his keys.

🪐

"Oh no. Your car is too pretty." Rayne shakes her head as they walk to his car
"I can't drive this." She says
"Yes you can." Theo laughs.

"No I can not. The last time I drove on an open road I nearly killed a tree." She says and he grabs her hand
"Yes. You can." He says
"Fine." She sighs and they get in the car and Rayne starts to drive out of the parking lot and onto the road

"We can go a little faster, if you want..." He says
"I'm doing the speed limit." Rayne says
"No one does the speed limit." He says and she sighs and grips the wheel.

"You also don't have to hold the wheel like that. Put your hand here." He takes her hand and slides it to the bottom of the wheel
"Like this. Better?" He asks and she nods with a smile.

Rayne then sees something on the road and starts to speed up
"Okay, I said a little faster, not Mach 5." Theo says
"Rayne, you okay? Hey, slow down. Rayne, stop! Stop the car! Stop the car!" He shouts and Rayne stops the car and gets out.

"Aiden?" Rayne asks and then the figure turns around
"Aiden?" Rayne repeats and sees the oni sword in his chest,
"You did this." He takes the sword our and plunges it into hers.

"Please." Rayne whimpers with tears in her eyes and he lets go of her and she falls back. Theo catches her and a car drives past them, Rayne looks down to see nothing there.

Tears fall down her face and Theo holds her tightly.