Chapter 9

My parents came back home before midnight, and I told them about the police that came looking for them. Mom and dad didn't tell me what the council told them, instead they walked to their room immediately after my news. I looked at Arden and gave him a quick smile.

"I know that look." He said as he sat down on the kitchen stool.

"What look?" I asked as I poured cereal into a bowl.

"The look you give when you want me to tell you stuff."

"So, tell me, what happened there?" I asked as I sat next to him.

"They said I shouldn't tell you anything, but you have to feed on blood in the next month or you die." Arden spilled.

"Is that what the council said? I thought you all went there for the animal information." I said.

"We did and the beast you saw is called the wendigo. I think they are controlling it and the head also said that witches are trying to break the barrier and the barrier isn't strong anymore. You are the only one that can save us, so you can't die." Arden replied me.

"I'm not dying," I said as I looked at him. He brought out a bag of blood as I sat there in shock. "Do they know you have that?" I ask as he begins to feed.

"They don't, but I need it to survive. I can't survive with human food, so you also have to drink this." He said as he threw a bag of blood at me.

"I can't do this, Arden. I can't." I shook my head. If I drink the blood, I will become a monster, and then I will lose myself. I didn't want that.

"Yes Inez, you can...you need to live and I know you like that boy because I sensed he was here."

I ignored him. My fangs started coming out, but the thought of Chase made me throw the blood on the floor, and I ran to my room immediately.

It was Friday, so that also meant having Mr. Lovato's class. The thought of Chase leaving yesterday made me sad. I wanted him to stay, but I think letting him go was for the best.

We sat as a group in the lab, and Denise was sitting next to me. I looked at Chase as he removed his eyes from me and focused on the board as Mr. Lovato taught. We finally stood up and went in a circle, standing around the lap table as Jada started the solution. We started with endosmosis.

Jada took some raisins out and put them into a baker full of water. We waited for some time and observed as the raisins started swelling up. We noticed that there was also an increase in their weight. Chase jotted it down as Jada started Exosmosis next.

Jada put other raisins into a baker full of sports drinks with a lot of salt in them. We waited for a while and observed that the cell started shrinking. We noticed that the raisins started losing water content and shrinking. Chase jotted it down as Mr. Lovato came to take it from him. We sat down and watched as Jada rearranged the bakers and tubes and chemicals on the table.

I screamed the moment I felt something like a water drop on my hand. Everyone looked in my direction as Denise came to me immediately. She looked at my hand. "Her hand is red and now blood is coming out of it," Denise said as she looked at the teacher. I looked at Chase, who was just sitting next to me but ignoring us and didn't seem bothered about what was going on.

He must have been really mad that I turned him down yesterday.

Mr. Lovato walked to our seat and held the baker that was beside me. "This doesn't look like water." He said, as he carefully lifted it to observe.

"It is water," Maddie replied.

"No, this is sulfuric acid ... how did it get in here?" Mr. Lovato asked as he looked at everyone in the class.

"Maybe the janitor put it there by mistake," Jada said as she looked at Chase. I could see that she was happy that he didn't come to me when I screamed. She put it there. She was the one who made my hand burn from the accid. My instinct told me she did. "Chase." She called.

"What?" he asked as he looked at her.

"You are also bleeding." She pointed to his hand. He looked at it and then looked at me and back at his hand again. Now everyone's eyes were on me again.

"Are you guys connected or something?" Denise asked. "That's the same spot Inez is bleeding."

"Take her to the nurse's office." Mr. Lovato said.

I was getting tempted as I focused on Chase's blood. My fangs were fighting their way out again, and I tried to control them, but it wasn't going well. Instead, the bulbs in the lab were increasing in current and were decreasing. Everyone started panicking, and I, on the other hand, tried not to make it obvious that I was doing all that. Jada looked at me as I sweated and called me a freak. The same word I never wanted to hear. I didn't think she figured, but if she did, then I would be exposed.

Denise finally made me lose concentration on Chase's blood and took me to the nurse's office. My teeth also went back to normal.