Through the Dark // S.S. [Book One]

Chapter 29

Allison nears the bus and worries, "Am I getting too close? I'm getting way too close, aren't I?"

Lydia looks up from her book and shrugs from the back. I'd persuaded her to let me have the passenger's seat for once. "That depends. Are you just following the bus, or are you planning on mounting it at some point?"

"You're gonna make them suspicious." I tell Allison. "Especially my boyfriend."

Allison nods. "Yeah, I should also back off."

Lydia speaks up again. "Well, that also depends. Oh, do you mean the bus, the ex-boyfriend you're currently stalking, or Megara's boyfriend?"

Allison glances in the rearview mirror at Lydia. "Well, after it happened, I'm not letting him out of my sight, and I know Meg is worried about her friend."

"Hm." Lydia replies simply.

"And by the way, this all started when he came knocking at my door."

"For what?" Lydia inquires.

She doesn't get an answer and I turn to Allison. "Are you gonna keep following them? And are you taking the "not let them out of your sight" thing literally or generally? I mean, I'm taking it literally, but I don't know if you are."

"Why?" Allison asks.

"You're nearly out of gas." I state bluntly.

"Ugh." Allison groans.

Lydia nods. "Yeah. And I'm pretty sure that bus holds a lot more gas than this Toyota."

Once again, Allison glances to Lydia. "What if we stop?"

Lydia rolls her eyes. "Is it really that big of a deal? I mean, so we lose them. We know where they're headed."

"I'm not leaving my boyfriend alone." I protest.

Allison nods. "You didn't see what happened."

"I know who started it." Lydia states.

"Is that what Aiden told you?" I tease, looking back at her.

"Aiden?" Lydia questions. Then, she narrows her eyes at Allison. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a second. Is that why you invited me on this whole little road trip thing? Oh, my gosh. You're keeping an eye on them and me."

"So there's nothing going on between you two?" Allison questions.

Lydia purses her lips. "I'm appalled by the insinuation."

"Nothing?" I inquire.

"Nothing." Lydia confirms.

Traffic stops and I groan in annoyance.

Lydia gets a call and she answers. "Hey, Stiles. Yeah, we're just about to walk into a movie, uh, you know, the popcorn and..."

After a moment, Lydia says in defeat, "Okay."

Her phone lets out a beep and my boyfriend's voice comes through. "Okay, look, Scott's still hurt."

I see Allison frown slightly. "What do you mean still? He's not healing?"

"No, he's not healing. I think he's actually getting worse. The blood's turning, like, a black color."

"What's wrong with him, Stiles?" I ask. "He was injured hours ago. He should be healing, if not healed."

Lydia nods and Stiles adds, "I don't...do I have a PhD in lycanthropy? How am I supposed to know that?"

"We need to get him off the bus." Allison says.