REAPING INNOCENCE ◦ STILINSKI [3]

xxviii.

xxviii. ECHO HOUSE

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THE VOICE FORGOTTEN, Carter ran her fingers over her tingling lips.

This was like—it was like she'd been doing drugs all day and finally was experiencing her high. It was the most indescribable feeling she'd ever had. She'd been so hellbent on fighting the monster that surfaced when she came back to life, but now, she realized that she'd been holding herself back. She was keeping herself from actually enjoying being what she is.

With Malakai behind her, she raced through the forest, jumping over felled branches and skipping over stones. As they cut through the thicket, squirrels and moles scattered from the underbrush, their blood quickening in the presence of predators. Laughing, she leaped over the waist-high iron gate of the old cemetery, turning briefly to make sure Malakai was still following.

They zigzagged around the headstones, until she tripped and fell when she was looking back at him. Malakai slowed and dropped to the ground beside her. Their laughter echoed around them, their heavy breathing like low-rolling thunder.

Her laughing instantly ceased when her phone began to ring and she snatched it out of her pocket. "Hello?"

"Carter!" It was Scott. "Where are you? I thought you were meeting Stiles at the house?"

Carter furrowed her eyebrows at the urgency in his voice. "I'm with Malakai—"

Scott cut in. "Wait. Malakai's back? You said he was searching for Raeven."

"I did say that, but he's back now." She said, shaking her head. "Scott, why'd you call me?"

Malakai didn't bother in listening to their conversation anymore. He laid back, placing his hands behind his head to keep it from lying in the dirt. Everything was so peaceful—the air was clear and the sky was cloudless—he relaxed against the ground with grass tickling his cheeks. He was close to drifting off when he felt Carter's body stiffen beside him. He immediately sat up, alert.

"Yeah...um, where? What are you talking about? That doesn't make any sense." She rushed out, running her hand through her hair. Pieces of grass falling out of her curls.

"I-I'm at the Animal Clinic with Kira." Scott said, panicking. "Tracy's body is gone. The lock on the door was broken from the outside. And my mom told me Lucas' body is missing from the morgue. They're searching the whole hospital for it. Someone's stealing the bodies."

Malakai looked at her with wide eyes, waiting for her to tell him what happened. Carter nodded to herself, mumbling a goodbye before hanging up.

"What the hell is going on, Carter?"

"Someone is taking the bodies, Mal."

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Carter found out last night, that after Malia left the library she did some private investigating on her own. She knew that Scott and Stiles didn't believe her about the "men in masks" so she wanted to get answers and find some actual proof to show them that she wasn't crazy. So, Malia went to Tracy's house to see if she could find anything useful and she did. She found a book lying on Tracy's bedside table titled: THE DREAD DOCTORS and the front cover was of three scientists wearing mechanical masks.

They decided it would be best if they all read the book, since Malia was the only one that had. Kira made some copies of it in the library the next school day and they each had their version to read. And during everyone's time of flipping through the book, they found a name that was all too familiar.