The Second Coming (Sequel to Taken)

Chapter 4

I put my hand on my chest, as I feel the double-beating of my two hearts. One of which belonged to my best friend. She's gone. Beatrix is dead. The girl that I've known for most of my life, the girl that got way too hyper if she had more than one cup of coffee, she's gone. 

I sink to my knees outside of the taped-in square, tears streaming down my face. This is all my fault. They did this because of me.

"I'm so sorry Beatrix," I whisper. If the supernatural stuff is real maybe ghosts are too. And maybe her ghost would be here right now. "I didn't know they were going to do this, I didn't want them to do this. I'm so sorry." I put my head in my hands and begin sobbing. The girl I grew up with is dead. The heart that pumped blood through her body is now pumping blood through my own. The closest thing I ever had to a sister had her heart ripped out so I could be turned into a second species. It's not fair.

I turn around and see two guys walking through the woods. One has dark skin and black hair, the other has blond hair. 

"Who's out here?" one of them calls out. How could they hear me crying from that far away? Are they supernatural?

One of them, the one with the dark skin, sees me and points to me. "Found the source."

The other guy turns to look at me, and when he sees me he stops moving. 

After the first guy gets his friend to move again, they walk over to me. Why didn't I run away? Ugh, stupid Echo.

"Hey," the blond-haired boy says while kneeling down next to me. "What happened?"

I look at Beatrix's body, then back at them, and shake my head.

"Was that your sister?" the dark-skinned boy asks.

"She-she was like my sister. Closest thing I ever had."

They both shake their heads in unison.

"I'm Mason, by the way," the dark boy replies.

"And I'm Liam," his friend adds.

"E-Echo," I say while wiping tears from my eyes.

"Wait, Echo? As in, chimera Echo?"

I nod. "How do you know about that?"

"I'm a werewolf, I'm in Scott's pack. Scott McCall. The guy who gave you the book."

"The book. As in, the Dread Doctors book?"

He nods.

That book, in a way, ruined it all for me. If I hadn't read it, maybe I wouldn't have failed so quickly. Maybe I wouldn't have failed in general. I could've stayed alive, not known that Theo works for the Dread Doctors. I could've possibly avoided all of that. Scott made me read that book. He did this to me. "Scott's the bad guy."

"What? Scott's not the bad guy-"

I cut him off. "Yes, he is! He made me read that book, and as soon as I finished it, I'm talking the second I closed the book, the mercury started dripping. Maybe it wouldn't have if I didn't remember. They killed me because of that. He's the bad guy."

"Those things aren't connected. If you're destined to fail, you were gonna fail."

"But what if I hadn't? If reading that book made me not fail? At least not as quickly."

"Echo, you don't want to be what they're looking for."

"I wanted to live! I wanted to believe that I could trust Theo!"

"Why on Earth would you trust him?!"

"Because he's my boyfriend! I want to be able to trust my boyfriend!"

He shakes his head. "You're dating that thing?"

"He's not a thing!"

"He's working with them. He's the bad guy!"

"He's my boyfriend, he's my alpha, he's-"

"Wait a minute," he cuts you off. "Your alpha?!"

I nod. "Yes."

"Theo isn't an alpha!"

"Well he is now."

"No.He tried to make me kill Scott."

"Then it's a shame you didn't succeed." I stand up and take another look at Beatrix. Why did the Dread Doctors pick her? Why not someone else?

"Whatever Theo's telling you, he's lying about."

I shake my head. "I'll believe it when it's proven to me." I take one last look at my sister-at-heart then storm away from Liam, back towards my mother, who is waiting for me with open arms.