𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑─𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦 𝐝𝐮𝐧𝐛𝐚𝐫

98.

The next few minutes consisted of Scott explaining to Mrs. Finch that we knew who-rather what- she was. He explained the Anuk-ite, and our theory that whoever the phone belonged to was it's second face.

Mrs. Finch hid any sign that she knew what we were talking about. Instead she wore a wildly confused face as she shook her head. "I told you, I don't know what the Primal is. I don't know what an A-Anuk-whatever ever is. I was just trying to call my daughter." she stammered, looking between the three of is. "Where did you get this?" she demanded, now looking only at Scott.

Scott just stared back at her, an expectant look on his face...when was she going to tell us the truth?

"You said you were in a pack." Liam spoke, pulling Mrs. Finch's attention toward the two of us who stood behind her. "That was you on the phone." he accused. "That's what you said on the phone."

Mrs. Finch shook her head at him, immediately becoming defensive. " I don't know what business it is of yours, my personal life." she snapped. "I am the teacher, you are the students. I don't go digging into your personal lives outside of these walls. You shouldn't be digging into mine!" her voice was mixed with tones of anger and panic as she spun around to look at my brother once again.

Scott's face remained calm as he spoke. "Did you reach any of them before they died?" he questioned.

Even without seeing her face, I could see Mrs. Finch physically deflated. "What?" she stuttered. "W-what are you talking about."

Scott met my eye briefly before he looked back to Mrs. Finch, sympathy dripping from his features. "Oh. Mrs. Finch, Im sorry." he whispered, his voice breaking slightly. "Your family...they were attacked. They're dead."

Her voice alluded to the fact that she was crying as she shook her head. "No." she cried softly. "Dead? They can't be dead because they were just- they were-they were in the woods. They were just hiding out." Her words came out in soft cries jumbled together. I felt my heart break for her as she turned to look at Liam and I, tears pooling in her eyes. "They were scared." she whispered.

"We found that phone on a body." Scott explained. To many, his tone and words would have sounded harsh, but I knew that he was only doing what needed to be done. We needed to find the other half of the Anuk-ite, or everyone would be dead. "Three men, two boys."

Mrs. Finch turned back to my brother. "What about my daughter?" she questioned, hope and desperation in her words.

"There was another body." Scott answered, quickly shaking his head as he looked down. "But-"

Mrs. Finch visibly leaned forward, awaiting what he was going to say next. "But what?"

Liam glanced over at me, sorrow in his eyes over what Scott was about to tell our teacher. I looked back at him, my eyes beginning to sting with tears.

"We couldn't identify it." he admitted. "It was stripped down to the muscle. There was no DNA. But the pack tattoo was still there."

Mrs. Finch let out a breath. "Okay, I'm sorry but this- this doesn't make sense." she whispered, turning to look at Liam and I. "Biology doesn't work like this."

"It's what the Anuk-ite does." I explained, finally finding my voice. I decided it was unfair to Scott to take on the burden of explaining all of this to Mrs. Finch. "It finds a body, and it takes it face. It takes the whole identity of that person."

Mrs. Finch's face fell as she let out a small cry. "Not my daughter." she whispered, moving past us to brace herself against her desk. "Not my daughter."

I gave her a sad look as Liam took a small step toward her. "There's a way we can find out."

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