Chapter 17: Divine Intervention

It all seemed to happen in slow motion, each fervent heartbeat painfully squeezing my chest. Kate stepped off the roof. In the free fall, her limbs jerked about, some primal instinct in her trying against gravity to save her life. I didn't want to watch, but I couldn't tear my eyes away as she plummeted toward the ground.

Then, a collective gasp from the crowd sounded. Halfway down, a giant, black mass shot up and broke Kate's fatal descent. The mass crashed to the ground effortlessly, pausing for just a moment to turn to the crowd.

Stripes!

This thing wasn't some tiger-sized beast five times Alex's size. It must have been twenty-five times her size, every bit as big as a fucking truck! The moment ended as quickly as Kate's fall. Stripes, with Kate still on her back, sprinted away. She disappeared behind the dorm, leaving everyone stunned.

Most of the crowd just stood there, gawking. Kate may have survived the fall, maybe, but that didn't make her safe. Alex hated being touched. And even Alex admitted that her self-control dropped to zero when she became Stripes. Kate wasn't the only one in danger, either. Anyone dumb enough to go in the woods after them could be ripped to shreds.

I took off after them, fishing in my pocket for my cell phone. I had to get through to Max. If shit went south, only she could fix it.


My fall didn't end. The warm, fuzzy black beneath me writhed and jerked. I clung tightly to the fur of the beast that spared my life. Thoughts barely came, only instinct drove me to hang on. The adrenaline ebbed away as the lurching came to a stop. I felt an expansion beneath me, followed by a deep voice that tore through my very being.

"Get. Off."

Everything shifted to the side, and I tumbled down. Hitting the rough ground hurt, giving me some indication that I failed to make it to heaven. I struggled to understand exactly what just happened. As best I could tell, I had been taken to the woods outside the school grounds by a thing. A thing that intercepted my attempt to end my life.

I struggled up onto my hands and knees before rising to my feet. "Why?"

I turned to my savior with angry, sorrowful eyes. The very sight of it banished my anger and regret. No creature on earth came close to the presence of this… this Divine Beast. It saved me. Spared my very soul from eternal damnation.

Its massive head turned toward me, and I watched as its jaw and lips moved, producing human words. "I. Need. Food." A massive paw landed before me as the beast stood over me.

My eyes closed, a serene calm taking hold. Even on the ledge, my heart beat tumultuously. But here, about to be devoured by a holy beast, no more doubts or fears remained. A divine will sent this beast to devour me. To free me from this world in a way that absolved me of the sin of suicide. This was the single greatest kindness the Lord ever bestowed upon me.

I accepted my fate.

Spreading my arms wide, I invited the beast to tear my flesh. But no teeth came. No claws.

I opened my eyes, and once again, I stood all alone.

No signs existed that the beast ever existed. "No…" I whispered to the trees and dirt. "Don't leave me!" I shouted, begging for the horned beast to return and free me from the endless nightmare my world had become. "Please…"

Sinking to my knees, I buried my face in my hands, and I cried. The Lord didn't send the beast to kill me. He sent it to save me. The message couldn't have been clearer: my suffering had only begun. "I can't. I can't…" I muttered as the tears and sobs consumed me. "Why?"


Panting, I leaned against the rough bark of a pine tree. Everything went to shit so fast. I couldn't find Kate or Stripes, and Mr. Caulfield still refused to let me talk to Max. Some part of my mind kept telling me that this would be fine. Too much time passed already. Either Stripes left Kate alone, or Kate… Or I would have to make Max jump back.

But I still felt a driving panic. As if I could actually do something to intervene if I found them. And I needed to know. There still existed a chance that Max wouldn't have to rewind.

Stumbling forward, I shouted again, "Kate! Stripes!"

It didn't take two minutes for my lungs to start burning again. Goddamned cigarettes. I wasn't even able to really run. Instead, I slogged through the trees until I managed to trip over my own feet, slamming to the cold ground.

I just lay there, hating everything. Could I even find Kate—or what might be left of her? My mind haunted me with memories of my desperate search for Rachel. I dispelled the thoughts with a couple of bitter tears as I pushed myself up.

Max fixed that. She'll fix this, too.

I sat against the nearest tree, pulling out my phone. There wasn't anyone for me to call, but I still felt like I couldn't get anywhere on my own. I unlocked my phone, scrolling through the contacts.

I'm such a fucking idiot!

Right in front of me was Kate's number. How could I have forgotten that I asked her for it? "Fuck me," I muttered, hitting the dial button.

It rang. And again. On the third ring, I noticed that I didn't just hear a ringing from the speaker. Pulling the phone away, I heard a distant musical tone. By the time I got to my feet, it went to voicemail. I dialed it again and followed the sound.

After it went to voicemail again, a new sound reached my ears. Crying.

It didn't take me but a few steps to find a small clearing. I found her there, curled tightly into a ball as she sobbed. "Jesus! Kate!"

I rushed over, checking the small girl over for any signs of injury. Dirt stained her clothes, skin, and hair, but I didn't see any blood. "Hey. Hey, it's me, Chloe," I said, keeping the panic in my voice at bay. "Are you hurt? Is anything broken?"

When I placed a hand on her shoulder, she let out a whimper and shook her head. "Why?" I heard her ask, though she stayed curled up.

Kneeling down at her side, I did my best to wrap her up in a hug despite her insistence on remaining a ball. I couldn't tell if her jump or her encounter with Stripes left her in this state. In the end, it didn't really matter. As long as she stayed unhurt. "It's gonna be okay. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

Kate released her hold on herself, choosing to latch onto me instead. "It's not okay! Nothing is going to be okay!" she shouted between sobs. "I'm alive… Why?"

I felt a ball of pressure in my stomach. It didn't upset Kate that she nearly died. The very prospect of living haunted her. I redoubled my grip, holding her tight. "Hey," I said, licking my lips as I tried to find the right words. "I… I've been there before, you know. Up on the ledge, thinking that everything would be better if… if there wasn't a tomorrow."

Though a whimper left Kate's throat in-between sobs, she didn't otherwise reply.

I did my best to clear the lump in my own throat. "I, um… I've been in some dark ass places, Kate. My dad died, and the day of his funeral my best friend—my only friend—moved away. I didn't hear from her again." I ran my hand in circles on Kate's back, not sure if I sought to comfort her, or myself. "My life went to shit until I met Rachel. She pulled me back from that ledge. I literally owe her my life."

"Was it really worth it?" Kate said, her voice weak and hollow.

"Hell yeah," I replied. "It's kind of a super-fucked up story where everyone dies, but without Rachel, I don't think I would've been able to make it to meet back up with Max again." Giving Kate a reassuring squeeze I continued, "You'll meet her again soon enough. Today maybe. And believe me when I say she's totally fucking worth it."

She didn't reply to that, leaving us in awkward silence as she started to calm down. Though I kept her in my arms, my attention fell on the clearing around us. Of course, I couldn't find any sign of Stripes. Though Kate lay safe in my arms, the rest of Blackwell could be at risk so long as she stayed at large. Especially anybody brave or stupid enough to come into the woods like I did. I really needed to track her down before someone got mauled, but I couldn't leave Kate alone in her state, either.

"Hey, do you wanna talk about it?" I asked. "Why you… feel like this is harder than the alternative."

Kate pushed against me, and let her free from my arms. She sat back, looking at me with those puffy, forlorn eyes. "It-it's all because of that stupid video!"

Her words tore through me like a storm. Like the storm. "Fuck no!" I shot to my feet, pacing manically. "Jeffershit is dead! You were supposed to be safe from that bullshit!"

"Chloe, what are you…"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I muttered, trying to stop the runaway train of thought before it got too carried away. "Okay, this… video," I said, my rancor seeping through. "You got drugged and made out with some people? That video?"

Kate shrank in on herself. "Did Rachel tell you that?"

"Fuck!" My hands tussled my hair as the reality set in. Stopping Jeffershit wasn't enough. We stopped his reign of terror, but not before he twisted Nathan fucking Prescott into his sick little protege. "Okay, I need you to listen, and listen good," I said, turning back to Kate. "This is all that sick fuck Nathan Prescott's doing. He drugged you at that party and—Shit! Do you remember what happened after that? He didn't get you away from the party, did he?"

Kate stared at me, her head slowly shaking a bit. "I… Rachel was there. I don't remember it, but I know Rachel took me back to my dorm."

"Oh, thank fuck," I muttered, breathing a sigh of relief. "But seriously, you need to stay the fuck away from Nathan."

"Ch-Chloe… how do you know all this? You're so certain that Nathan…" Kate hugged herself. "Why would he do something so terrible?"

I muttered a few curses. Max gave me permission to tell Rachel about her power. Not Kate. "Look, I… I remember shit I shouldn't, and can't remember shit I should. But I know for a fact that Nathan was Mark Jefferson's apprentice. And if he drugged you at that party, it means he's trying to pick up where Jeffershit… left… off—Fuck! Rachel!"

My hands scrambled to find my phone. It wasn't just Kate at risk. Rachel must've been on his hit list too, and she might've still been at Blackwell. Alone and vulnerable. Calling her might've been out, but no matter how much we fought, she should at least read the texts I sent her.

[Me]
[S.O.S.! your life is in danger right fucking now! stay the fuck away from nathan prescott and don't let yourself be alone around blackhell for even a second!]

I just prayed that she would listen, or at least catch a glimpse of the S.O.S. and stop to read the whole text. Now, I didn't just have Kate and Alex to worry about. Rachel—and frankly every other girl at Blackhell—was in danger.

"Kate, can you stand?" I asked as I turned back to her. "We gotta… Fuck, I don't know. There is so much shit going on right now!"

Slowly, Kate climbed to her feet, brushing some of the dirt and pine needles from her skirt and jacket. "Is Rachel okay?"

"I don't know," I said, looking again at my phone. "We're fighting right now, so she's not gonna answer me."

"S-should we go to the police?" Kate asked. "You said that you knew it was Nathan that-that drugged me…"

I shook my head. "Police won't listen to us. We could have his fucked-up stash of date-rape drugs, him on camera drugging you, and a goddamned taped confession, and the police would still take his fucking side over ours."

"B-but then, what can we do?" Kate asked, hugging herself.

"No fucking clue," I muttered. "Max is actually way better at coming up with plans. Fuck, and we gotta find Alex, too." Cupping my hands around my mouth, I shouted for her.

Kate looked around the little clearing, her hands rubbing her arms. "Did… did she come looking for me, too?"

I nodded. "Something like that."

What the fuck should I do? Rachel could be in the fucking Dark Room right now, dying all over again. But leaving Stripes alone in the woods, to prey upon anyone who might stumble upon her? Max would know what to do, but she wasn't here.

"Fuck," I muttered, turning back to Kate. "What do we do?"

"You're asking me?" Kate pressed a hand to her chest. "I didn't even know what happened to me at that party. You're the one that seems to know everything that's going on."

My decision didn't matter. If I fucked it up, Max could fix it. I had her selfie, I just had to get it to her—if it came to that.

Okay, think, dumbass.

Rachel was probably fine. Nathan nor Jeffershit abducted girls in public in broad daylight. Even if she wasn't, it wasn't like Nathan would kill her right away. As disgusting as the thought was, it rang true that he, like Jeffershit, would revel in torturing her for hours. In the unlikely event he snatched her the minute after our fight, we'd still have like, half a day to find her before it was too late.

Alex, or rather Stripes, on the other hand, would likely kill anyone foolish enough to make eye-contact. No hours-long torture. Just a quick, violent death by a two-thousand-pound murder machine. And it wouldn't necessarily stop at just one victim, either. Should she make it back to campus… It could be a goddamned massacre.

I shouted for Alex again. "Okay, we find my friend, then we try to figure out which fucking way is back to Blackhell."

Parroting my calls for Alex, Kate joined me in the search. Not knowing which way she might've gone, we aimlessly began to trek through the woods. A needling thought tore at me, that I couldn't remember where we were or how to get back to Blackwell. Not that it really mattered at the moment, just so long as we actually found Alex. We could worry about dying in the woods later.

We wandered through the woods for all of five minutes before we found her. Alex, not Stripes. She sat against a tree looking two shades paler than I remembered. "Alex!" I ran up to her, reminding myself to keep my hands off her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm hungry. Tired," she muttered.

"You poor thing!" Kate said as she rushed up.

I grabbed her before she got to Alex. "Probably should've mentioned this before, but Alex hates eye-contact and touching. Don't do either, or she will lose her shit." With Kate safely rooted out of arm's reach from Alex, I turned back to the little shapeshifter. "Alex, did… did anyone get hurt?"

Alex shook her head. "I couldn't find anything to eat."

I took that as a "no." Was this a side-effect of her transformation? I know it took a lot out of Max for her to use her power. Maybe the same thing happened with Alex and Stripes. "You look like hell. Can you walk?" I asked, not having a fucking clue what to do if she couldn't.

"I'll be okay." She pressed her hands against the tree behind her, trying to get to her feet. Only making it halfway, she slipped and tumbled to the ground. "No!" she shouted as she struggled to just get to her hands and knees. "I don't need help. I can do it."

I looked over at Kate, who looked way more worried than perplexed. "Chloe… we have to do something."

"We can't touch her, I'm telling you," I said, holding my hands up. "Seriously, she punched Max in the face. You should see the fucking gnarly-ass bruise she left."

"I'm… strong," Alex said through grit teeth as she pulled herself up to her knees, using the tree to brace herself. Slowly, she clawed her way to a standing position, though from the looks of it, most of her weight rested on the tree, and even I could see her knees shaking. Then, she did the unthinkable. She let go of the tree, pushing all her weight onto her legs. Though she managed to keep herself upright for a second or two, she fell back, leaning her weight on the tree. "I'm really hungry," she muttered, her little fingers gripping into the bark.

Kate patted herself down before looking over at me. "I don't have anything to eat."

"You think I do?" I asked, holding my hands out to prove just how empty-handed I was. "I got keys and cigs. That's it."

Clasping her hands in front of herself, Kate turned back to Alex. "We can get you something to eat back at the dorms. But… How can we get you there? Can we carry you?"

Alex shook her head. "Don't touch me."

"Maybe… maybe one of us should stay here and the other can go get help?" Kate suggested, sending a look my way.

I couldn't argue with that logic. "Sounds good," I said. Then, I stopped to look around. "So, uh, which way is Blackhell?"

Kate responded by retrieving her phone from her pocket. After toying with it for a moment, she held it in front of her as she slowly spun a circle in place. Then, she pointed. "About a half a mile that way."

"Sweet!" I rushed over, taking a look at the GPS on her phone. "Okay, so I go back and get help, and I'll bring them back…" Glaring at the phone, all I saw was a little arrow in the midst of a sea of green. "Here?" I asked, pointing. "Can this thing remember where this spot is?"

Kate shook her head. "I don't think so."

"This… isn't gonna work, huh?" I asked rhetorically as I looked back over at Alex. She still stood there, leaning on the tree.

"I can make it," Alex said, stepping away from the tree. Stumbling a couple of steps, she made it to another tree before collapsing against it. "Shut up! I'm fine!" she ground out, defiance broken by the wavering quality of her weak voice.

Kate rushed over to her, stopping short of touching her. "I'm so sorry, Alex. This is all my fault, isn't it? You came out here for me…"

Alex cast her a sidelong glance before looking away. Releasing her grip on the tree, she staggered a couple of steps. This time, she didn't make it to the next tree, instead collapsing in a heap.

"Stop this!" Kate begged, tears spilling free from her eyes as she knelt down at Alex's side. "I'd never forgive myself if you got hurt because of me!"

Grabbing fistfuls of dirt, Alex turned her head away from Kate. "I'll stop," she said. Her hands relaxed, and she just lay there.

"Hey, you were never gonna make it on your own in this state," I said, circling around to Alex's other side. "You're gonna have to let me carry you or something."

"Don't touch me," she said, glaring up at me.

"How did she get in such bad shape? Did she come out looking for me like this?" Kate asked, her fingertips pulling tears from around her eyes.

I glanced down at Alex and back to Kate as I struggled to find an answer that didn't make it sound like I needed a straight-jacket. "That's, uh…"

"I just need rest… food," Alex said. Pressing her palms against the dirt, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. I feared she'd try to stand up again, but instead, she just sat there, swaying just a bit.

Kate leaned forward, getting dangerously close to Alex. "Please, we can get you those things, but you have to let us help you out of the woods. Even if we don't carry you… You could lean on me for support. Would that work?"

"I… Don't like touching," Alex said, her head turning toward Kate. "Do you have to touch me?"

Kate nodded. "Just until we get you back to safety. I promise I won't hurt you, and if you want me to stop, just say so and I'll let you down, okay?"

Alex bit her lip, staring numbly forward. Then, she nodded. "Okay, Glow."

Kate reached an arm around Alex's shoulders, hovering just above her. "I'm going to touch your shoulder to help you up, okay?"

"Okay."

Kate lowered her arm, her hand grasping Alex's shoulder. "Good," Kate said in a honey-sweet tone. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

An uneasy whine escaped Alex's lips and she gave a little shake of her head.

"Can you do the same? Put your arm around me so I can help you up," Kate instructed, all the while giving Alex a reassuring smile. Slowly, Alex put her arm over Kate's shoulders. "You're doing great," she said, readjusting herself just a bit. "Okay, now we need to try to stand up. And you can lean on me just as much as you need to."

The duo moved in unison, getting to their feet. It made me wonder just how much Max might've overblown Alex's touching thing. "Shit. Well, okay. Let's get the hell outta here."

Trudging through the woods took a painful amount of time, especially with Kate having to drag Alex along. All the while I found myself worrying about Rachel and Max. I had enough presence of mind to text Trevor and Justin, the only Blackhell peeps I had in my phone other than Kate, letting them know I found Kate and that she was safe. Apparently, they'd already sent out search parties. Fat lot of good that shit was. I never heard a single goddamn shout.

At least not until we broke the treeline. A whole goddamn crowd waited for us. That would've driven Alex insane. I thanked whatever deity had pity on my soul that I led Kate and Alex by a good thirty paces. I had just enough time to double back and warn them. A few hushed whispers and we settled on leaving Alex just out of sight. I'd grab some grub for her and sneak her out once everyone found better shit to do.

The whole crowd cheered when Kate stepped out, and the next few minutes were a blur. A pair of paramedics intercepted Kate, throwing a dozen questions at her as they led her to an ambulance. I didn't even get to say shit to her, as a fucking cop started hassling me. Asking me about Kate and the shit that went down. Like it was his fucking business.

I did my best to brush him off as I headed to the girls' dorms and the vending machines within. Worrying about Kate and even Rachel would have to wait five minutes. I needed to make sure Alex was okay. After that, I could try to track down Rache and check in with the hospital. They could give me an update on Kate and Max. Finally, it seemed like everything just might be okay.

A small smile crept onto my lips as I fed the machine and got out snacks and a soda for Alex. I did it. No rewinds, no fucking superpowers at all. Max would be hella proud that I kept everything together well enough that she wouldn't have to use her powers. Somehow, I managed to do everything right, for once.

I mean, I hella owed Alex for saving Kate, but I managed to keep everything from going completely to shit. No one died. So long as Alex recovered from whatever-the-fuck drained her and Rachel turned up okay. She still hadn't replied to my text. My stomach churned as I tried to reassure myself that everything would be okay. She was probably fine. And, if she wasn't—fucking superpowers.