Chapter 23.

Scarlett's POV

The library was closed by the time I got there. I sent Zion a text to meet me at the library.

“Damn, how did you get here so fast?” I asked, and he chuckled.

“You're my only friend. So, I'm always ready to chill with you.” He shrugged, and I chuckled.

We found a way to sneak into the library. I switched on a few of the lights. I made sure they were the ones that I'd easily be able to switch off in case of an unexpected circumstance.

I dropped the first book on the table, and it made a loud noise. I hit my hand on it to attract Zion’s attention.

“So, I lied.” I said, and he frowned, wrinkling his face.

“About what?” He asked.

“Several things.” I shrugged. “But the main thing now is that the beast actually exists and it's not my history assignment.”

Zion only nodded calmly. He wasn't shocked like I expected him to be. He was taking it way better than I would have. He looked surprised, but not as surprised as I wanted him to be.

“You knew?!” I asked, feeling betrayed.

“Yeah.” Zion shrugged.

“How?!”

“History class?” He scoffed. “You don't do History. You sent me the courses you're offering, and History isn't one of them.”

“I was just seeing how long it'd take you to tell me the truth.”

“Oh.”

“Goddamn, you need to get creative with the lies you tell.”

“Whatever.” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Well then, you have it right there.” I sighed, and he nodded.

“The beast is real?” Zion asked, and I nodded.

“And I need your help to save him.” I muttered.

“Okay. What do you need?”

“The families that have the ability to draw from people's pain.” I said, and we got to work.

We spent almost two hours in the library, checking family records and other historical records. Every name we found, we wrote on a piece of paper.

“So, we have the Smiths, the Vargrs, the Wests , the Kravens, and the Sutherlands.” I muttered, checking out all the names.

“What if there are other families and we don't have them here?” Zion asked a very important question.

“Well, as of now, we are only going to hope that his family's name is here, if not, we'll find some other way out.” I said, and he nodded, yawning.

“Alright.” I muttered, yawning and stretching. “I think we're both tired.”

“Yeah, should we retire for tonight?” Zion asked.

“I just need to get a book about the history of every notable family.”

“You have it already.” Zion hissed. “We took it the last time, yeah?”

I replied to the innumerable messages Michelle had sent me. She was apparently worried sick.

We left the library like we were never there.

***

It was time for the travel already. It was the third day of my cramps, and the blood flow had reduced greatly. There was relatively no pain also.

Thane didn't sleep in the room the previous night, and according to Zion, it had something to do with the competition.

Whilst I was preparing to leave, Thane walked in, growling and yawning. He jumped on his bed without saying a word to me.

I had packed a very huge back compared to what Thane was carrying along.

“Are you a lady?” He scoffed, mocking me. “Even ladies don't carry bags this big.” His voice was croaky, and if I were in love with him, that'd have made me needy.

“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes at him, considerably lessening the things I was taking along since it was just a three-day trip.

Thane and I got ready at the same time. I spent a lot of time trimming my hair and making myself ready for the trip. I had pepper spray in my bag, just in case Alpha Harry was going to move mad.

We headed out of the room with our bags. I said my goodbyes to Zion before leaving.

We stood outside the gates, waiting for goddess knows what! We were pretty close to Lunaris Academy, and I was almost feeling nostalgic. Staring at their gates had me weighing the pros and cons of being in Clawstone.

It was dirtier with the boys, but it was also more fun. The best thing about being in their school was seeing an infinite number of abs on a daily basis.

“Why are we still here?” Simon, one of the contestants, asked, shaking his head.

“Well, you're going for a competition.” Mr Harry said, and we all looked at him as if to ask the next most important question, “So?”

“And so, you'll need to go with female counterparts.” He said, and the atmosphere became one of joy. The boys were literally grinning from ear to ear at the thought of having fun with the ladies.

“Since the ladies are also going, and they're taking the most brilliant ones…” I thought to myself as the gates into the Lunaris Academy gave way. “Does that mean that…”

“Michelle!” I screamed as soon as I caught sight of her. I hurriedly ran over to hug her. She met me halfway and we hugged. I could only hope that I hadn't exposed myself in anyway.

“Girl, I've missed you.” Michelle hugged me again. She was the only junior, and the others were newbies, so they most likely hadn't seen me with her.

“It's Seth on this trip, and when we're alone, I'm going to do things to you.” I said, grabbing her butt playfully.

“Oh girl, I won't give you the opportunity to mess with my chances of being with any of these hot nerds.” Michelle muttered, and we laughed.

It was then that I looked back to see Thane and Rose hugging.

“That's your roommate, right?” Michelle asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded, breathing heavily, “and that's his girlfriend.”

We boarded the bus that'd drive us to the North, and we sat in twos. Mr Harry addressed us, but nobody really listened to him. We had the exact number of boys as we had girls, so everyone was either making a move, or making a move.

Mr Harry particularly stared at me for a while, in a failed effort to intimidate me.

“That's the bitch that wants to fuck your ass?” She asked, and I scoffed.

“Yeah, that's him.” I muttered.

“Well, the only person fucking you this weekend is me.” She giggled.

This might just be better than I had planned.