How hard could it be? • LM / SS

Chapter 125

"You don't play with fire,
unless you wanna get burned."

Max twisted a ring on his finger nervously, standing at the sidelines of the crowds with Lilith by his side. It was bonfire night, a party that was used as an excuse for all the students to get blackout drunk and hook up with their lifelong crushes in the courtyard. Deputy's acted as security guards, although they apparently couldn't spot the teenagers that were stumbling around in a drunken state, not even bothering to hide how wasted they were.

The pair were waiting for Jade to turn up, the fact that she was never on time starting to show. She hadn't come to school but at least her day had been productive, bringing them a step closer to ending this mess; she and Lydia had cracked the last half of the cipher key.

'Ariel' had been the final part of the puzzle, a book that Lydia and her grandmother had read as a child, the girl only responding to the name for months at a time. It had revealed the last list of supernaturals, Lorraine Martin being smack bang at the bottom.

"What did you want to tell me?" Jade sipped her drink, finally reaching her brother and best friend after having to fight her way through the sea of people. Walking all the way from her house had proved to be longer than she remembered, especially when she had no one to talk her ear off. Lydia had ventured off alone to the sheriff's office, hoping to find out about some of the other names on the list, despite her girlfriend's offer to tag along.

Lilith exchanged an anxious glance with the empath beside them, motioning for Jade to come closer to the group. The blonde quirked a brow at the level of secrecy, setting her cup down on the wall beside her. Letting people overhear the conversation would be the worst possible scenario, the information being fatal if it fell into the wrong hands. "You've both gone up on the dead pool."

"What do you mean?"

"You're worth one hundred and five million now. Max has gone up to seventy-eight, too. Liam's at eighteen," they whispered, smoothing out the creases in the paper that had been shoved quickly into her pocket. The printer in Coach's office had gone crazy just a few hours ago, spewing out countless copies of the new and improved dead pool. "There's Malia," they nudged Max in the ribs, pointing to the dancing figure in the crowd. She hadn't been on the school grounds for a second this morning before she was being filled in on what had happened between Max and Stiles the previous evening. "Do you want us to come with you?"

"No, I'll be okay. Stay here so I don't lose you," Max swallowed his pride, rushing forward before he could overthink it and chicken out.

Jade had had just about enough of being targeted, throwing the paper onto the bonfire that was lit up in the centre of the dance floor. Her breath hitched in her throat, the burns that were covering her body igniting with pain. Calliope's words echoed in her head, almost as if the woman was standing right behind her, breath tickling her hair as she spoke, her bony fingers harshly strapping her into the death contraption that was going to burn her alive. She was right back there, in that car, feeling utterly helpless again.

"You're okay. It's just a memory, it can't hurt you. Breathe with me," Lilith kneeled on the gravel, demonstrating breathing in a hope that the witch would follow suit. Bringing someone who was still recovering from nearly becoming toast, to a place that had an actual bonfire wasn't a good idea when she looked back on it. Yeah, sometimes they lacked a tiny bit of common sense.

It took a few minutes, but Jade finally calmed down, getting a hold of her surroundings. She was just glad that Lilith hadn't gone with Max because she had no idea what she would have done. It had been so real. It was hard to believe it had been in her mind, given that she had been right back there. Her chest was still falling and rising rapidly, hands reaching for her drink on the wall. More people were starting to arrive, lacrosse players even wearing their jerseys for some reason. "Fuck me, that's vile," she grimaced, firing the cup into a nearby bin and popping a piece of gum into her mouth to rid the taste.