Through the thin sheet of paper a second message stared back at them. Flipping it over, they tried to decipher the image. It was a map, crudely drawn with Pop Tate's at the centre and three more town landmarks in their appropriate areas. Leading to each location was a line, three different colours and snaking their way through the boroughs of the city.
The red line ended at the school.
The blue line ended at Sweetwater River.
The green line ended at the Town Hall.
Underneath, written in the same ominous black ink was a time: 12AM.
"Does this mean he's keeping Betty in one of these places?" Veronica asked, pulling the map from Archie's hands to get a closer look.
"Must be," Jughead said. "Looks like he wants each of us to take a path."
Archie shook his head. "We should stick together. What if this is a trap? I don't want you out there alone, Ronnie," he said, taking her hand in his.
"I don't think any of us should be out there alone, Archie, but what choice do we have?" Jughead asked, raising his phone to show them the time: 10:01PM.
"Your chivalry is graciously noted, Archiekins, but Jughead is right. We have less than two hours if what's written on this map is true. That's not enough time for us to check all three places together. We have to do it on our own. For Betty."
Archie sighed, knowing they were right but scared for his friends. "Take the school, Veronica. You can stick to the main roads and run to any of the houses if you run into trouble. I'll take Sweetwater River."
"Which leaves me with Town Hall," Jughead agreed with a nod.
"What do we do when we get there? There's no instructions." Veronica looked expectantly at the boys, trying to push down the fear that was slowly rising up the back of her throat.
"Look for her, I guess," Jughead offered unsurely. "We can call each other when we get there and stay on the phone, that way no one is out of contact."
Archie nodded. "Good idea."
Their silence hung in the air, each antsy to look for Betty but reluctant to leave the safety and security of each other's company.
"Who knows, maybe we'll be back here in a few hours with Betty, milkshakes as usual," Veronica said with false hope as they pushed themselves out of the booth and into the cool night air.
"Maybe," Archie replied quietly.
The stood in a small, tight circle, anxious eyes darting between them.
"Everyone stay safe, okay?" Jughead said with a swallow.
"Promise," Veronica said. "Nothing else bad will happen to us tonight." With a small smile and a quick kiss on Archie's cheek, she turned and left them.
The boys, with one last look at each other, turned and walked away as well.
Veronica, standing on the precipice of the school, dialed Archie as he was approaching the outskirts of the river.
"You made it there okay?" he asked her, concern sitting under his skin. "Nothing happened?"
"I'm okay, Archie," Veronica reassured. "I'm just scared for Betty."
"Me too," he said with a heavy sigh. "We're going to find her though, Ronnie. We won't let anything bad happen to her."
Veronica wished she shared her boyfriend's optimism.
"Hang on, Jug is calling me," Archie said as Veronica opened her mouth to reply. "I'm going to three-way him in."
The line beeped as Archie answered the other line, then clicked back into place as the calls merged.
"Everyone there?" Archie asked.
"I'm here," Veronica answered.
"Me too," said Jughead. "What now?"
"We look for Betty," Archie answered with more confidence than he felt. "But we stay on the phone. No one goes anywhere, agreed?"
"Agreed," came their answers.
They each approached their destinations slowly, eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary, hearts beating wildly in their chests. As she approached the doors to the school, Veronica quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching before trying the door, heart stilling as it clicked open under her hand.
"I'm inside, guys," she whispered into the phone, creeping quietly into the darkened halls.
"So am I," Jughead answered. "The door was unlocked."
"Same here," Veronica said. "He knows we're coming."
"I'm just walking the bank of the river, I don't really know what to look for," Archie said with uncertainty.
"Anything that looks out of place," Jughead answered.
"Hang on a sec," Veronica whispered into the phone. "I think I see something."
Slowly she crept through the halls, making sure to stay in the darkened areas where the emergency lighting didn't reach, hiding in the shadows. Up ahead, just outside one of the pools of light, was something wet.
"What is it?" Archie asked.
"I don't know yet," Veronica answered, heart hammering against her ribs. "I think…"
"Veronica?"
"I think its blood," she said, terror crippling her.
As Jughead and Archie began to answer her a static noise sounded from the phone and the line dropped, losing them all. Desperately they tried to call back but no calls were going through, the cell signal was jammed.
Horrified, the realization dawned on them that they were all completely on their own.
Archie sighed, he felt like he should have seen this coming. Nothing happened in Riverdale that the Black Hood didn't know about and pretending like he wasn't watching them now wasn't doing them any favours. While he may not have been able to predict which person went to which location, there was no doubt that he was still the one in control.
Half of him wanted to turn back and grab Veronica, find Jughead and have the three of them go look for Betty together. But a quick glance at his watch, 10:52PM, let him know that if there was any chance of finding Betty before midnight he had to continue his mission alone and hope that Veronica and Jughead were safe.
Archie took a deep breath and walked ahead.
Jughead stopped, glancing up and down the deserted halls and checking his phone once again. Still dead. He moved forward, peering into each dark and empty room as he passed. He stopped at the doorway to a room near the end, sensing rather than seeing a movement of some kind. He stepped in, eyes adjusting to the darkness and scanned the room, eyes locking on a fluttering curtain against the far window.
Cautiously, Jughead stepped towards it.
Veronica swallowed, inching towards the pool of liquid and realizing with both relief and horror that it was not blood. Too dark, too sticky and smelled faintly sweet. She had no idea what it was. She pushed on, stepping around it and turning left into the far wing, stopping at the sound of movement echoing from somewhere up ahead.
She froze in place, desperate to turn around and run for safety but pushed forward by the thought of Betty.
It was there, just up ahead, that he spotted her. Twenty feet away and lying against the ground, her blonde hair spread out around her like a fan, she lay with her eyes closed. He could see the wound, wide and dark against her temple as he ran towards her, dried blood matted into her hair and caked against the side of her face. It was as he approached that he saw it: a halo of blood spread around her head and in a pool for her to lay in.
He reached her at last, pulling her cold body towards the warmth of his chest and pressed his palm against her face, trying to stir the life into her.
"Betty," he cried, pressing his face against hers and feeling the transfer of her blood onto his skin. "Please, Betty," he pleaded, his tears mingling with her blood.
Her body, tightly wrapped within his arms, remained still. She was cold, her clothes soaking wet and skin damp. But he could feel the flutter of her heart against him, weak but hanging on.
Betty was alive.