The Second Coming (Sequel to Taken)

Chapter 19

A few minutes later, once Liam is mostly healed, he drags me to the school library.

"What the hell were you doing?!" Liam yells at Scott as he drags me into the room. "Did you really think you could fight that thing?!"

"What?" I ask. "The Beast?"

"Of course I didn't think I could beat it," Scott sighs. "But I got its scent."

"Let's go find this thing!"

The three of us run out of the library, out to the parking lot.

Scott starts sniffing the cars looking for a scent match, as I look around nervously.

"It's not gonna hurt you," Liam says to me quietly. "You don't have to look for it."

"How do you know what I'm looking for?"

"Is it what you were looking for?"

I sigh. "It's here. I'm scared. Is that so bad?"

He turns his body so he is facing me. "I won't let it hurt you."

"That's what Theo said."

"But I'm not Theo. I promise you'll be safe."

"Don't make a promise you can't keep."

"But I will keep it."

A feeling sinks into my stomach again. The feeling of death. This time... It feels stronger.

"Scott?" A guy asks. Oh my god, that's the guy that was in the woods with Liam the first time I met him... Um... Mason! "What're you doing in my car?"

Liam's eyes widen, and he turns to his friend. "It's you."

"What?"

Corey appears behind Mason, grabs his arm, and the two of them disappear.

"What?" I ask.

"He's the Beast," Scott says.

My eyes widen. "What are we gonna do about him?"

He sighs. "I don't know."

--

The Beast of Gévaudan was once a man. Known as the Man of Gévaudan. He embodied the Beast. Sebastian Valet. He was killed by his sister, Marie-Jeanne, at the end of a silver spear.

Once the Beast remembers who it was, the teenager inside will be dead, and the Man will prevail.

I shoot up as my eyes open, deep and ragged breaths escaping my lips.

"You okay?" Lydia asks me.

I take a deep breath. "Mason. Once he remembers the Man of Gévaudan, he's gonna die. Sebastian Valet is gonna come back to life and live instead of him."

Her eyes widen. "Scott!!"

Scott runs into the room. "Yeah?"

"Why were you getting rid of the frequencies last night at the game?"

"That's how the Beast shifts."

My eyes widen. "Transformation... Without frequency. That came from the Dread Doctors. Once Mason remembers the Man of Gévaudan, he's gonna shift. Without frequency."

"You're predicting this?"

I close my eyes. "I feel it. I felt a death, when I heard that. Mason is gonna die."

They both sigh.

"Well," Lydia says, "don't tell Liam."

I nod as I stand up.

"Where are you going?"

"To find Theo. I need to speak to the Dread Doctors."