EIGHT LETTERS || Liam Dunbar [2]

TWENTY EIGHT

Scott decided not to give Hayden the bite.

Katherine crouched down next to Hayden and leaned her limp body against her own as Liam stood up, jaw clenched. "What do you mean, no?"

"Liam look at her," Scott reasoned with a hint of force. "She's too weak, it'll kill her." Theo was crouching down on the other side of Hayden, checking for any sign of change. So far, it hadn't been anything good since they'd left Sinema. "We don't even know what the mercury's doing to her...we don't even know if it actually is mercury."

"How're you feeling, Hayden," Katherine asked calmly, using the same I-need-to-be-brave-for-this-dying-person voice she'd used with Corey just hours earlier. "Are you hot? Cold? In any pain?"

The last question was stupid, but anything that could keep Hayden awake was helpful.

"Little bit of pain...and I'm warm," Hayden answered weakly, leaning her head over onto Katherine's shoulder.

I can help with that, at least. "Here you go," she murmured. She took the ice pack off the back of her neck and laid on Hayden's forehead, and watched the girls eyes flutter shut.

"You said you'd do everything you could," Liam bellowed, causing Katherine to look over her shoulder.

"Which is why I'm not gonna do something I think is gonna kill her," Scott hissed back. He inhaled a wheeze. "There has to be—" another wheeze "—there has to..."

Katherine watched, her brows furrowing worriedly as Theo shook Scott's inhaler twice and tossed it to him.

1) why does he have it

2) Scotty wasn't even doing anything to need it, so what the hell is going on with that?

But regardless, Scott took a puff of Ventolin and stuff the inhaler in his pants pocket. "There's another way to save her."

Katherine immediately glanced down as she felt Hayden begin to shudder, then her breathing increased. "Okay, okay," she murmured, lightly rubbing the side of her arm for comfort.

"Guys, I don't know the statistics for surviving a werewolf bite but she's definitely not surviving this," Theo cut in. "We need to do something."

Whatever argument Liam had planned to use died in his throat at the sight of Hayden, and Katherine had to look away from him. Because she was almost certain that, not matter how promising he'd been about going crazy if he lost her or Mason, she was one hundred percent certain that losing her wouldn't make him look that angry and terrified and hopeless all at once.

And it hurt.

This isn't about you, she reminded herself weakly.

She took a glance out side, and felt a surge of surprise at the notion that the sun was beginning to rise already. Geez, if Dad didn't have the night shift he'll be leaving for work already...and be worrying because I didn't ever come back from school, crap.

Katherine stepped aside so Liam could fall into the empty space beside Hayden, and she pulled her phone out of her pocket. She had eleven texts from her Dad with generally the same context, but one really stuck out to her.

MELISSA
Are you with Scott?

She slapped a hand to her forehead. "Oh my God I'm an idiot; Scotty!" He peaked his head around the corner from where he'd been looking for inspiration. Held the phone up. "Momma McCall."

He stared at her blankly, processing, and then with wide eyes stepped out of the room to make his call.

Then Katherine moved herself into Deaton's office and pulled her hair out of the messy bun she'd kept it in all day, put her contacts back in the little portable case she kept in her backpack and grabbed clean towels from a cabinet to use for a blanket so she could take a nap. She ended up curled up in the foot space underneath his desk, a towel stuffed into a backpack for a pillow.