Love And War-Theo Raeken

Part 19- risky

THEO POV

When I woke up the next morning, the sky was surprisingly bright blue. Large clouds did fill the majority of the view though. The day was dry and crisp despite the morning dew generously covering the grassy landscape. To my surprise, regardless of the fact that it was early in the morning, Cassie was awake. Sat on the grass with more than a few blankets covering her body while she hugged her legs closely to her chest rocking back and forth. Every instinct told me not to go near her, that she was happy alone but I just couldn't ignore the small percentage that wanted to go talk to her.

"hey, may I sit?" I asked gently so as not to startle her.

"uhh sure" she replied hesitantly

I glanced at her and smiled before turning away to acknowledge the cool breeze that whipped by my face. The silence was not awkward, rather comfortable. Something came over me in that moment, I grabbed her face with both of my hands on either side of her face and gently brought our lips together. For a sweet second, she kissed me back but when she realised what was happening she pushed me away as fast as she possibly could.

"Theo what the fuck do you think you're doing!?" she exclaimed angrily

" I don't know Cass, I'm sorry I have no idea what came over me, I thought-"

" well you thought wrong Theo, very wrong" she said before heading back into her tent.

The commotion seemed to have woken up Liam. He stomped out of his tent to ask me what was going on. I denied the idea that anything was happening before announcing that I was going to take a walk and I would be back in a few hours , in time to set off.

I began to walk, run, jog in any direction I didn't care I was desperate to get away. Shame coursed through my veins. Then guilt. I wish I had the chance to explain what really happened that night. Why Brett asked me to do that. Why Cassie should hate someone else instead, someone a lot closer to home than she thinks. I wish it could go back to the way it was.

When my wandering came to a stop, I found myself coming to a stream coursing through the middle of no where. I sat for what seemed like hours. The sun had long finished coming up so it must be around 9am at this point. I decided it was the right time to head back to everyone as they should be awake by now, meaning they would be ready to start the journey.

As I approached where we were camped, I see some sort of issue as everyone is awake crowding around something with panicked looks. That's when I noticed that Cassie was not in that crowd. I rushed over to find her switching in and out of consciousness lay on the ground, she was cold to the touch clearly shivering.

"Does anyone know what's going on with her" Scott asked angrily

"She has been falling ill for the past few weeks, it started off being a minor inconvenience, I was the first to notice but she told me not to mention anything as she swore she was fine. Malia noticed but kept quiet on the bus, and Stiles noticed last night and we all swore to keep an eye on her but it seems she was in worse health than she thought." I stated

"so you all saw Cassie getting ill and not one of you decided it was a good idea to mention it to me, what's wrong with you?" Scott shouted back

"we just wanted to respect her wishes, we believed her when she said she was fine, we thought we could trust her to look after herself" Malia said barely louder than a whisper

"Guys do you get this on any level? Cassie could die, we are in the middle of nowhere and we have no idea what's wrong with her" he said defeated

The sheer reality of that sentence hit us all harder than we thought. She can't die. We all looked around at each other then at Cass in her fragile state. We sat in an eerie silence for many long minutes before we were brought back by the sound of Cassie coughing and spitting up blood in her hands.

"okay that's enough, I know a way that can save her but its incredibly dangerous, I didn't mention until now because its risky but I think it will work" I said quietly

"go on..." Scott said

" well, as you know I spent some time with the dread doctors and I think this has something to do with them, when they took her they obviously tested on her and I think this is a delayed reaction which her body is rejecting. they are basically trying to zap her supernatural power which is why she is so weak. There is an antidote that they keep on them if they ever want to reverse something and restart, all I have to do is get it" I stated sceptically.

" okay so you can just go get it yes?" Stiles asked

"Not quite, the risky part is that I would have to draw them to Cassie and take it off them, they always keep it with them. Problem is if they find out I'm on your side, I'll be as good as dead"

"Don't do it, I'm not fighting them again it's not worth it" Liam said grumpily

" Are you insane? of course we are doing it. I can't believe you're really saying my sister isn't worth it when you know damn well she'd fight her hardest for all of you. I'm ashamed of anyone that disagrees" Lydia yelled before heading into Cassie's tent.

Cass had been unconscious since she was found and placed in her tent with blankets and someone on constant watch of her condition.

" I agree with Lydia, no one gets left behind, especially not Cassie. Theo do whatever you have to do" Scott announced.

That night I slept anything but peacefully. I was really going to willingly talk to the dread doctors again. Cass. No one knew if she would make it to tomorrow never mind the time when she gets the antidote. Could I even get it?