REAPING INNOCENCE ◦ STILINSKI [3]

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xxv. BAD INFLUENCE

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CARTER WAS HAVING a bad week.

    She knew that essentially everything had changed. The Dread Doctors were not giving up, but she had never dreamed for one moment that they had. Their appearance had only confirmed what she'd already known. No reason for fresh panic.

    In theory. Not panicking was easier said than done.

    Her wounds still hadn't healed; she was healing slightly faster than any normal human, but it wasn't fast enough. And she wondered if it wasn't a little foolish to sit around, weak and injured, waiting for the next disaster. It seemed too dangerous to be practically human—just begging for trouble. Someone like her shouldn't be human. Someone with her luck ought to be a little less helpless.

    But no one would listen to Carter. Even after she mildly explained just how evil the men in masks were and explained that they were willing to do anything to get what they want. She even said that they would be—more than likely—planning to come after her...again.

    Stiles had said, "We'd never allow anything to happen to you, Car. You know that. Please don't be anxious." And then he'd kissed her forehead.

    Malia had said, "I'm really upset that you didn't stay dead. Everything's so much more life-threatening with you around."

    Everyone glared at her.

    Logan had rolled his eyes and said, "I'm offended. You're not honestly worried about this, are you?"

    "If it's no big deal, then why was I hiding from them for six months?" Carter'd demanded.

    "Haven't any of you noticed yet that Carter is just the teeniest bit prone to overreaction?"

    Malakai had mentally erased all the panic and tension in her body with his curious talent of controlling her emotions—since their minds were connected. She'd felt reassured, and let them talk her out of her desperate pleading.

    Of course, that calm had worn off as soon as she and Malakai had walked out of the room.

    So the consensus was that she was just supposed to forget that three deranged masked men were stalking her, intent on her death. Go about her business.

    Carter did try. And surprisingly, there were other things almost as stressful to dwell on besides her status on the endangered species list...

    Because Malakai's response had been the most frustrating of them all.

    "You need to go back to school," he'd said. "Since the news of you miraculously going back from the dead has practically spread through the entire state, the people need to see you out-and-about. So, next Monday, you're going back to school."

    Sometimes she wondered if he was only pretending not to read her mind, since they had control over when they could access one another's thoughts. How else had he struck upon the one thing that she would have trouble accepting? The one thing that would expose her to everything and everyone. The one thing that would slow her down from destroying The Dread Doctors.

    All in all, a very bad week. And today was the worst day in it.

    It was always a bad day when Malakai was away. He had foreseen nothing in the near future that would gain him any leverage on finding Raeven, and so she'd insisted that he take the opportunity to go out and search for her. She knew how it bored him to sit around and feel useless. He needed something to occupy his mind and finding Raeven was perfect.