𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑─𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦 𝐝𝐮𝐧𝐛𝐚𝐫

96.

The next day, a group of us stood in the animal clinic, listening to a voicemail. Last night, Lydia had led Scott and Malia out to the woods, and what they had found sounded horrible. Six bodies...and one had no face, just like the one Mason, Corey, Liam and I had found that night at the school. Our best guess was that whoever that body belonged to, was the Anuk-ite's second face.

As I listened to the voice on the other end of the phone, I felt sick to my stomach. Whoever this woman was, she sounded worried, scared. She begged the owner of the phone to call her, to let her know they were okay. It was unlikely that that would ever happen.

But as the voice continued, something else struck inside of me, and that something else was recognition...I recognized the voice.

"Remember," the woman finished, "It's my pack too."

Scott pushed himself up off the wall, moving to flip the top of the phone closed as the message ended.

Theo turned from where he had been staring out of the front door. "You pulled this off one of the bodies in the woods?" he questioned.

"Malia did." I answered, my brain still trying to figure out how I knew the voice.

"Yeah," my brother confirmed, "There were six bodies, and one of them had no face."

I shuddered at the thought, the image of the first body we found popping into my head. The memory still haunted me.

"Okay," Theo breathed, moving closer to the group of us, "The one with no face, do yo think that's the woman on the phone?"

Scott shook his head, holding up the phone slightly, "Maybe."

Mason, who was luckily discharged from the hospital, spoke up for the first time. "It's the same thing that happened to Aaron." he pointed out. "It took over his body, basically stole his face and his DNA. So that means whoever this woman is, she could be the other half of the Anuk-ite."

Everyone shared weary looks. What Mason was saying made us all uneasy. If the other half of the Anuk-ite was out there, it meant that for every minute we were unsure of its identity, it could be closer to finding its other half.

"That means she's just half of the problem." Theo announced, "The other half we already know about, Aaron."

Liam stood up from where he had been sitting on the bench, "We don't know where he is though." he argued.

"Hold on," Theo declared, "Aren't we supposed to keep both halves apart?"

I nodded, focusing my gaze on him, "Yeah, but how do we keep them apart when we don't know who the other half is."

It was Theo's turn to nod, "We know about one half," he explained, "So let's just go for that one, that's Aaron."

For once, what Theo was saying was actually agreeable. It made perfect sense.

Mason seemed to mirror my agreement. "I'm not agreeing with Theo, but I do think it'd be easier to track down Aaron over a voice on the phone."

Liam wore a small scowl, "That's agreeing with Theo." he pointed out.

Mason nodded, cringing slightly, "Yeah, but I thought I'd try to soften the blow a little."

I let out a sigh as I nodded, "I hate to say it," I admitted, "But I agree too. We should work with what we have."

Theo looked between us with a look of offence. "It's everyone completely shocked that I might actually be right?" he demanded.

"No," Liam grumbled, "We just don't like it."